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#happy 2.8 everyone i hope you all get the units you want!!
sumerun · 2 years
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Summer Fantasia banners: Kaedehara Kazuha, Shikanoin Heizou, Klee, Yoimiya
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gelo-p · 4 years
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Am I qualified to write this? ^^;;
Also known as just “putting T10 into perspective” because frankly this isn’t any different from just telling someone to “play like hell” XD
First things first: FLAMES (which means... STARS)
You’re going to need a lot of stars, so if you don’t have an ungodly amount of them yet, please support the game buy the premium / happy boxes since they give you the most stars for the lowest price. HOWEVER, you will need to log-in for 25 days to reap the full benefits.
If you don’t have enough time until the event you’re gunning for, you’re gonna have to really support the game buy the standard star packs instead.
Second: BESTDORI IS YOUR FRIEND
Create an account on Bestdori to get specific numbers about your team (EP gain, CP gain, Band power, Max score, etc.), using the Team Builder. Please note that Bestdori assumes you’ll always FC (there’s a setting to account for Perfect-Great, but no setting to account for Good / Bad / Miss), and it’ll give you the maximum numbers possible. We know that’s not the case in real life, so we’re going to account for that later.
Also, familiarize yourself with the various pages (Events, Event Archives, Team Builder) while you’re at it. ^^
Ready? WE CAN DO IT GO GO GO~
I. Setting your Target EP
Okay, so getting into a desired tier (T1, T2, T3, T10, T100, etc...) is all about your final Event Points (EP). Nothing else. Problem is, you don’t actually know how much points you’ll need - the moment you think you’ve figured it out, everyone else goes nyooooom~ *insert Lamborghini sounds here* and raise the bar for you. So, you got no choice but to overestimate right from the start (if you underestimate and find out later on, you won’t have enough time to catch up no matter how hard you try) and just believe that your final EP will be good enough.
I really wish there was a good method for estimating the final EP needed, but the sad reality is, there isn’t. You’re going to have to rely on past data and even then, you’re going to have assume that everyone else trying to do the same thing is going to outcraze you.
Let me give my case as an example.
I wanted to T10 Cycling Seasons, which is a Challenge Live Afterglow event. This being a major event (major just means “all members involved are from the same band”), I knew that I had to check other major events as basis. The last major Challenge Live was My Ideal, so I headed over to Bestdori’s Event Archives page for that event to get a feel of how much EP I’ll need.
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From this, I saw the final cutoffs for each tier. We know that the event took 9 days 6 hours (click on the event banner for more info; also an event is always N days + 6 hours), so this page is essentially saying,
“To get T10, you need to play at a pace of 65,320 EP/h continuously for 9 days and 6 hours.”
Now, we know that you can’t actually play 24/7, so we have to translate this to something more reasonable. If you’re only going to play, say, 14 hours a day, then realistically you’re looking at:
9 days x 14 hours/day + 6 hours (you want to be awake for that final 6 hours) = 132 hours
Which means:
14,501,103 EP / 132 hours = 109,857 EP/h. For every hour that you’re awake.
Now, again, this is just for My Ideal. I want to translate this for Cycling Seasons, an event I would later find out to be 8 days 6 hours. So, I actually want to get:
8 days x 14 hours/day + 6 hours = 118 hours
110,000 (rounded up) EP/h x 118 hours = 12,980,000
“Hmmm, that doesn’t sound right, Afterglow fans are crazy AF.”
Let’s recompute that using 16 hours a day instead: 14,740,000
“This is enough I guess..?”
Spoiler alert: the actual T10 cutoff for Cycling Seasons is 18,497,685.
I personally did 19.2M.
This brings us back to:
“you’re going to have assume that everyone else trying to do the same thing is going to outcraze you.”
I would later learn from T1′s post that they originally contemplated if “18M would be enough for T10”. This just goes to show that you’re just gonna have to sell your soul to Babanbo-sama and hope you get to be the highest bidder.
THERE WAS NO POINT TO THIS CHAPTER WAS THERE :’D
You can’t just base your target EP from some past event. Shoot for the moon and go. Go hard, or go home. T10 or bust.
II. Setting your actual Target EP, and then some
TL;DR - use Bestdori to check your team’s power, assume you’ll play 14 hours a day, and do the Math.
I’m not kidding. Unless you can find a friend who will play the remaining 10 hours per day for you, that is the maximum EP you can get. Okay maaaaybe if you play 16, maybe 18 hours a day. But you’ll need to take breaks. Eat food. Take baths. Talk to your Ran Nesoberi and ask them why you’re doing this. Realistically speaking, you’ll really only have 14 hours of gameplay per day. You can play for 7, rest for 5, play for 7, rest for 5 if you want (again: be awake during the final 6 hours). But completing your daily quota is important. It’s easy to think “I’ll just... catch up tomorrow”, which I did once, not gonna lie, but you’ll find out that you’re just waking up earlier than usual and getting tired earlier in the day than you planned to.
And then you’ll find yourself playing juuuuust a little more each day. Which is very good for your score, but bad for your health. But hey. You’re already crazy enough to try T10 solo anyway ^o^
So. Go to Bestdori, and use the Team Builder.
1) Select the event you’re gunning for.
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2) Select Multi-Live (never play Free Live for competitive) and set the parameters. Make sure your team is actually good enough to join the Grand Room (any less and you’re fucked), and assume you’ll be playing with reasonably strong players.
This is where having friends/private rooms come in handy: you know exactly what their team is, leaving much of the guesswork out.
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3) Select a META SONG you’re comfortable with playing a lot. Meta songs give you the most points for the shortest amount of time, that’s why you see them get picked a lot.
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Relax, you’ll rarely encounter players who pick 27+ Meta songs. Most of the time it’s going to be Jumpin’, Home Street, Fuwa Fuwa time, Unite from A to Z... so practice those songs a lot.
(Nyan Poi, Tokimeki Poporon, and Initial also makes that list. Also, if there’s a newly released song, expect it to be played a lot. Looking at you, Kyu~Mai Flower... just glad Fire Bird was released after my event)
FC’ing in Hard is better than getting inconsistent results in Expert. If you’re already tired, pick Hard. No shame in that.
My personal pick is Home Street. ^^ I sometimes pick Tokimeki Poporon though, even though it’s not as good meta-wise, just because my fingers can auto-pilot it even when I’m half-asleep.
Also pick how confident you are in getting Perfects / Greats. There’s no setting for Good / Bad / Miss, so be careful. Realistically you should be able to clear 90 / 95 if you’re aiming for T10.
4) Set your cards and items, although you should have set this already in the Cards section under Profile. This subsection is mostly for cards you’re planning to get, or you just wanna see what a fully-decked team can do.
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That reminds me - make sure you have all Area Items for your Band / Attribute maxed out! This will help a lot. Prioritize the items based on the band you’re going to be using.
5) Calculate!
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“Park” is there to help you get a very specific number of EP. It’s what people use to get exactly 10,000,000 points / 7,777,777. So for now, choose Maximize Event Points.
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Always pick 3 Flames (you won’t have time for anything less), and take note of the EP in the left side (4,380). For Challenge Lives, also note the CP (219).
Now, CP is actually just EP / 20 rounded up, so you can still derive that even if you only note the EP.
IMPORTANT: This is the maximum EP you can gain. I find that -200 (in my case it was 4275 EP, and thus 214 CP) is more realistic. Initially I set it to 4200, but found after Day 4 that I was waaaaay above target, so I set it to 4275 later on.
Also, note the “Afterglow - Powerful” below. This refers to the Area Items you have to use.
As you can see, I cleared 250k Band power, so I’m actually able to use the Grand Room.
6) For Challenge Lives:
Go back to the Live subsection, and pick Challenge Live.
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For the song, you have to pick one of the songs that’s actually available for the Challenge Live. Click on the event info, and see what the songs are.
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In my example, for Cycling Seasons, it’s best to pick Scarlet Sky (either EX or Special, note the color under R). However, I find that picking the song I can FC consistently is better (for both my hands and for estimation), so I stuck with Brand New Days on Hard. It’s okay if you don’t know which song to pick yet, you can just decide during the event once you’ve tried them. However, for the purpose of planning this early, stick with the first Hard song.
Recalculate for the Challenge Live.
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Again, as a safety net, assume you won’t always get 26,380. In my case, I estimated it to be 25k (initially 26k). It’s a little drastic, but I’d really rather assume the worst case. Realistically I was getting 26k most of the time, but when I was really tired it’ll dip down to 25k (I got 24.8k sometimes...).
And that’s from playing in Hard.
For other event types, you’ll find that the same team will give you different scores. Challenge lives just have lower Multi-Live scores because you’re expected to compensate using the Challenge Live.
OKAY~! Now we have the EP and CP / Multi-Live, and EP / Challenge Live. Time to estimate how much points we can actually get from that.
(The calculation is going to be different for other event-types, I’ll provide that later)
Multi-Live Score: 4275
Challenge Points gained: 214
Challenge Live Score: 25000
A Challenge Live is going to require 800 CP (you won’t have time for the 200/400 variants), so...
Number of games to activate CL: 800 / 214 = 3.74
Each Multi-Live game requires, on average, 3.5 minutes (this number drops to 2.8 minutes if you can find friends to consistently quickly pick songs with) to complete, so that’s 3.74 x 3.5 = ~13.1 minutes. Add to that the time required to complete a Challenge Live, which is around 2.37 minutes, and we get 15.47 minutes to complete a “set”. (Again, this is just on average)
In one hour, you can complete 60 / 15.47 = 3.87 sets (round down for safety!).
So how much score can you get per set?
Well, a set is 3.74 Multi-Lives (@ 4275 EP each) + 1 Challenge Live (@ 25000 EP), so:
3.74 x 4275 + 25000 = 40988 EP / set. You have 3.87 of those per hour, so
40,988 x 3.87 = 158,623 EP/h.
That is going to be the final EP/h (at least for every hour playing).
Multiplied by the number of active hours for the entire event (14 x 8 + 6), we get:
18,717,514. But I scored 19.2M, remember? Which means I played some more, and had a good safety net based from my estimates.
That is how you get your final EP target.
To just summarize...
FOR NON-CHALLENGE LIVES (which I didn’t give an example for XD ):
*** for VS lives, assume you’re in 3rd place; safer to assume you’re in 5th
0) Active hours = (num hours per day playing x num days) + 6
1) Get (safe) Multi-Live score from Bestdori
2) Assume each Multi-Live is 3.5 mins long
3) 60 / 3.5 = 17.14 games per hour
4) 17.14 games x Multi-Live score = your EP/h for every hour you’re playing (let’s call it active EP/h)
5) Active EP/h x Active Hours = final EP
6) Number of flames needed = 17.14 games x 3 flames per game x Active Hours
FOR CHALLENGE LIVES:
0) Active hours = (num hours per day playing x num days) + 6
1) Get (safe) Multi-Live score, and CP gained per multi-live
2) Get (safe) Challenge Live score
3) Assume each Multi-Live is 3.5 mins long, assume each Challenge Live is 2.37 mins long (adjust for the actual song)
* note that this is the duration OF THE LIVE, not THE SONG. From when you press the “Live” button to the next time you do.
4) A “set” is an 800-CP Challenge Live + the Multi-Live games required to collect 800 CP
5) A set takes (800 / CP gain x 3.5 mins) + CL song duration to complete
6) A set score is worth (ML score x 800 / CP gain) + CL score
7) 60 / Set duration = sets per hour
8) Set score x sets per hour = your EP/h for every hour you’re playing
9) Active EP/h x Active Hours = final EP
10) Sets played = sets per hour x Active Hours
11) Number of flames needed = 3 flames per ML x 800 / CP gain x Sets played
Probably easier if I just provide a Google Sheets link :))))
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At this point, you’re really just going to have to pray that this is enough to get you to the tier you want.
Whale for cards if you have to. Get the best team possible. All members should belong to the same band (THIS IS REQUIRED); all members should have the same attributes as much as possible. For now, events let you get away with different band members, as long as you get the same attribute:
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But some time in the future, events doing the opposite - you’ll need the exact members to maximize your gains.
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(this is widely considered a dick move to force players to try and roll for specific characters... but that’s a business for ya’).
Get Level 5 skills. Maximize your area items (I’ve already said that...). Get cards with score-boosting skills (preferably the +90/+110% based on HP, +100%, +115% for Perfecs, etc) - this is very important for Challenge Lives. For Multi-Lives, only your leader’s skill matters. Stay awake for 1 or 2 more hours per day (hahahaha...) The point is, when gunning for T10, you’re going to need every help you can get.
Find private rooms to shorten that 3.5-min-per-live thing. You get to cram more points per hour this way. You can also ensure people only pick Meta songs, to keep your score average higher than the safety net.
If you can find someone to play for you while you sleep so you can maximize 24 hours per day instead of being limited to 14 hours, please do so. You can play for 7 while they play the other 7. This way you’re not as dead. T1 and T2 accounts usually have ~4 to 6 of these people, that’s how they can get crazy high scores.
IF YOU HAPPENED TO CHALLENGE 10x 24/7 ACCOUNTS, YOU HAVE NO HOPE OF GETTING INTO T10. No amount of effort will get you there.
Thankfully most of the time there’s only like, 1 to 3 24/7 accounts. If by the end of Day 2, you see that you’re outside T10 and all of them have crazy high scores (even though you’re on track), cut your losses and play for T100.
“Don’t put in effort for T11.”
III. Some Tactics, I guess?
For non-Challenge Lives, there are no tactics involved: just keep playing. Seriously. If you wake up and you’re outside the tier you want, keep playing and hope the others are sleeping.
For Challenge Lives, it can get a little bit interesting.
See, everyone wants to get as many points as they can, buuuuut nobody wants to put in more effort than they need to (unless they’re making a statement).
And that’s where the Challenge Live mechanic comes in. See, in other event types, what you see is what you get: the EP/h by the other people is consistent. You know that if you sleep for 3 hours, they’ll get ahead with an EP equivalent to 3 hours.
But in Challenge Lives, it’s possible to get your EP to accelerate. To nyooooom~. It’s not a secret that playing a game that’s 2.37 minutes long but gains you 25k points is waaaaaay faster than 3.5 minutes per game but only 4275 points. And that’s why you should hide your CP as much as you can. You’ll still consume some CP per day (it’s not possible to consume all that CP is just 6 hours...), but leave enough to do a final 6-hour sprint.
“Is there a point to this?”
Well... yes and no. If your opponents are reactive, e.g. only puts in effort when they feel like the others might surpass them, then it’s a huge advantage for you, because once you start nyooooming during the final day, they’ll have no time to react anymore. That’s what I did, and went from T11 to T6 in 5 hours 11 minutes. You just want them to “relax” during the first few days, so that they don’t put in too much effort (they’ll all still nyoooom during the last day anyway!). The worst you can have is an opponent that decides midway to be a 24/7 account, because they felt threatened by your score.
HOWEVER, if your opponent thinks the same way as you do, and only believes in the final EP, then chances are they might also do the same thing. Then it’s anybody’s game.
But maaaybe you can catch one or two off guard.
NOTE: Playing the same song over and over again for 5 hours is... tiring. At the end of it you might have broken fingers like I do (my left thumb barely works right now) XD
IV. Some Tips, I guess? Is this different from Tactics...?
Also compute how much effort to get into T100 (basically the exact same process; however, you CAN use the T100 EP tables found in Bestdori. Just double that. That’s still a reasonable estimate). You’ll be able to see how many flames are needed to do so; once you reach that amount of flames (but while going at a T10 pace; so around 2 full days), decide if you can actually keep up or not. If yes, then by all means, keep going; if no, relax a bit, and just try to stay around T50. If you kept up with T10 for 2 days, you’re almost guaranteed to be in T100 with minimum effort during the remaining days.
You should prepare an Excel Sheet to track your progress. One column for “Flames” used, another for “Challenges Played”. Every multi-live, you insert a “3″ into flames. Every Challenge Live, you insert a “1″ into CL’s. Kinda like this:
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I personally add an “estimated time of completion” (see the value in E?) just to make it easier to visualize what time I’ll be done for the day. For this screenshot, it shows I’m actually ahead by -0.3 flames and -17.32 challenge lives.
In a separate sheet (but same file), I have the target for the current “iteration” / “day”. This lets me divide the effort into days / half-days.
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Again, it’s probably going to be easier to explain if I just provide a Google Sheets for this ^_^ (or an Excel template)
...I’m not sure if “track T10″ scores has any use at this point. THEY WILL TRACK YOU, that’s for sure. However, I did gain confidence that they’ve already used up their CP during the last day, because I was tracking them. I also knew how much their ML and CL scores were. So I knew I still had enough CP to catch up. So maaaaybe it’s useful after all..?
As for the free flames... forget it. Don’t rely on the flame regen. Recover 90 flames every time (which is around 1 hour 45 mins of gameplay to consume) so you don’t break your momentum. “There’s only 10 minutes left until the next flame, maybe I should wait it out?” Nah-ah. Unless you’re in the middle of a major break (e.g. sleeping), don’t wait for the flames to regen. Assume that you’re going to pay for every flame you’re ever going to need. While you’re taking breaks you can probably watch ads, but it’s not going to make much of a dent. You’re gonna get some free flames from leveling up, but don’t account for that.
When playing in the dead of the night, have some Netflix in the background. Or just some TV. Anything that’ll keep you awake.
IF AT ANY POINT YOU FIND THERE’S NO INTERNET, start consuming your challenge points (use mobile data). You’re not allowed any downtime. It’s a sad reality, and it might ruin your pace / surprise, but nothing you can do about it.
During Multi-Lives, join the sticker spam. It’ll at least make you smile. Dooon’t join too much though, sometimes they keep that going and cost you so much time... Xp
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I can’t think of any more tips aside from these ones ^_^; I’ll update this once I have those Excel sheets ready / cleaned up.
Good luck and have fun~ ^o^
EDIT: Here’s a Dropbox link to the T10 Calc. You’re going to need Excel though.
1) Estimate using the EP Estimator sheet. This will give you all sorts of info.
2) Input the current day into the Tracker Meta sheet. (Nothing else to change there) This will give you your flames / challenge live targets for the day.
3) Input your progress in the Tracker sheet. It’ll give you an estimate of when you’ll be able to complete the current iteration. ^^
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*thinks about it*
*really thinks about it*
How is this any different from just “play like hell” ?? @_@ There’s nothing new about this advise at all XD (except maybe put into perspective just how much time and resources it’ll consume)
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cokestuff-blog1 · 5 years
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Unless you live under a rock, we all know what Coca Cola is. It is the world’s leading soft drink and sells in more than 200 countries around the world. Only two countries do not sell Coca Cola, those countries are obviously Cuba and North Korea. Must be hard to live in a world without Coca Cola, right?
Want to know an interesting fact? Coca Cola’s logo is familiar to people all around the world, its font its unmistakable in almost any language. 94% of people knows the red & white log. It’s one of the brands with most recognition in the world.
This beverage is very popular in Mexico, and it’s the leading country in per capita consumption. 80% of Coca Cola’s profit comes from outside the USA.
The marketing strategy they use helps them target a specific segment and developing products. Coca Cola keeps reminding us that we want a nice and cold soda, do you see what they are doing? Their strategy is so good that we are constantly thinking that we want a nice and cold soda, even though our idea of its taste is better than the actual soda. The thing is, they train our brains to associate Coca Cola with a good feeling, with happiness, friends, family, love, etc. rather than the actual beverage. They are geniuses! They now changed their slogan to “Taste the feeling”.
You may remember other techniques they used for marketing which were very successful. For example: the “share a coke” campaign where they put people’s names in the bottles/cans so now the customers could feel closer and more related to the brand. As a spinoff of that campaign, the brand started to put song lyrics on the bottles, now they are telling us to share a coke and a song. So, in summary they are once again reminding us in a creative way that we in fact want one of its beverages.
Moving on from all the facts and interesting things about Coca Cola. In this business case, we are concentrating on Coca Cola’s business model in Great Britain. The business environment in this country is mainly known for its communication and business etiquette.
When we talk about business environment, we mean all the factors that can affect the company’s operation and function. It can be social, political, relations, economic factors, etc. In the case of Great Britain, its recommended to understand the culture and the people when doing businesses. A social factor that can affect businesses, could be that people in the UK are very private and very concerned with personal space. They may take things you do or say in an offensive manner, so your communication style is important when talking to people. For instance, we as Mexicans are very touchy with people, even when doing businesses, we tend to talk or act in a very comfortable way, like greeting people with a kiss on the cheek, handshakes, hugs, etc. In the UK this can be misinterpreted, British people value people’s kindness and courtesy above everything.
Thanks to all the different trade agreements Coca Cola is able to sell its products in different countries. For example, the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), before known as NAFTA, enabled stores in Latin America to replace US coke with Mexican Coke and importing legally. The reason for this is that Mexican coke is sweetened with cane sugar, rather than corn syrup, which according to most people, Mexican coke tastes better.
This is what I mean when I talk about coca cola adjusting its beverages depending on the region and the culture. Coca Cola uses cluster analysis for segmentations of consumers, products, stores, etc. Similar products can be clustered into segments that are based on specific characteristics, such as flavor.
On this specific case, the way they wanted to approach their consumers from Great Britain, was through football. They talk about their communications skills and their focus in this sport to connect with people. Coca Cola mainly focuses in big events such as the World Cup and Champions League. This way they can create strong relationships with their clients by sharing values and interests such as football. They aim to inspire everyone to be active and have a healthy lifestyle by participating in sports.
The company’s marketing strategy claims they are not acting much like a sponsor, but rather as an insider who promotes playing and watching sports.
As an organization, Coca Cola understand that it is very important to be well informed and professional when wanting to connect with your customers, this is the reason the company has mastered that area.
Diversity is an important topic regarding Coca Cola, it’s the heart of its business. They are always trying to create an environment that emphasizes equality. They constantly come up with different campaigns / ads / commercials which celebrates people and diversity. For example, “A Coke is a Coke” ad which points out the fact that Cola Cola is for everyone, and its meant to bring people together regardless of race, gender, religion, culture, etc. and acknowledge and toast to their differences over a cold coke. Another example of Coca Cola’s commercial commemorating diversity is the ad “It’s beautiful” featured by different actors singing “America the Beautiful” in seven different languages. And last, but not least, the ad I’m about to talk about its one of the world’s most famous ads, and I would say it’s my personal favorite. This ad is a legacy, and the impact it had back in the 70’s was just amazing. Yes, I am talking about “Hilltop – I’d like to buy the world a coke”. I get chills when I talk about this. In this commercial Coca Cola gathered people from all types, shapes and colors to sing at a hilltop in Italy. This ad portrayed a positive message of hope and love for everyone. It represents optimism and that exact moment that bonds people together. The scene of all these people united holding their coke bottles and singing this melody was very moving to many people at that difficult time. There was the Vietnam War going on and it was at its worst point, there were interracial conflicts happening. So, Coca Cola made a call to everyone to be united and stop the hate. It invited everyone to share a coke in a creative way and most importantly they incorporated the company’s values of inclusion as well.
Although, Coca Cola is aimed at anyone, their demographics say the key markets for the company are Mexico, Brazil, China and Japan. And key consumers are ages 24 and under (there is expected a 50% increase in this demographic) and people age 45 - over 65.
F U N  F A C T S
Did you know the number of servings of Coca Cola products that are consumed around the word on the everyday basis is: 1.7 billion?
The company makes so much money that its incoming revenue every year is greater than 120 countries where coke is sold.
The estimated market value of Coca Cola is at $74 billion.
Coca Cola owns 2.8 million vending machines around the world.
 The average Mexican drinks around 728 servings of coke products during the year.
Metal suppliers are also a demographic for Coca Cola, since the company uses 300,000 tons of aluminum to produce cans.
Health concerned consumers are also a demographic for the company, it offers more than a thousand kinds of juice drinks.
19% of Americans don’t keep track of the amount of sugar they consume daily.
28% of Americans drink one serving a day, 20% drink two or more servings, 7% drink 4 or more servings every day. (Guilty confession: I think I am one of those people, I love coke so much even though is not great for your health. Ups).
Diet Coke has a larger market in the United States than Pepsi.
A blind taste test was made where Pepsi won, but people still prefer to buy Coca Cola. This means that its marketing is so great, that even though it loses in blind taste tests, the brain is trained to want it more than Pepsi. If you think about it, they are kind of controlling us, huh? We just don’t realize it.
 Coca Cola policies and programs share a common goal: to operate in a responsible, productive and profitable way. Sometimes political factor like taxes, trade restrictions, government regulations, tariffs, economies, etc. can affect the company. All these elements need to be considered because they vary in every country, so Coca Cola must examine their policies for every new place they open a business. For example, an economic factor could be in poor or underdeveloped country, since it affects the price of the products.
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Preparation for decoration and decoration
Decoration is a very troublesome thing, and various problems are emerging one after another. Although I have to understand before the decoration, after all, I have little experience in personal decoration, and the things to consider are not very comprehensive. The following is the construction preparation work, I hope to help everyone.
Decoration construction preparation
Construction preparation
1. Design and construction pre-commitment:
The construction team leader and quality supervisor must pre-examine the design drawings with the designer before the technical presentation on site.
2. On-site technical briefing:
2.1 Participants: customers, construction team leaders, quality supervisors, on-site foremen, water and electricians, designers, and personnel of professional subcontractors (if there are systems such as central air conditioning, geothermal heat, cabinets, etc.).
2.2. The designer introduces each person's work responsibilities to the client.
2.3. The designer will explain the design plan and construction drawings according to the actual situation on the spot, determine the final opinion of the customer, and sign for confirmation.
2.4. Before construction, check whether the original pipeline, water meter and various valves are intact and whether the water is unblocked.
2.5. Determine the location of water, electricity (strong and weak) and gas terminals according to the floor plan and customer requirements. Determine whether to install the whole kitchen, bathroom, and set doors so that the construction personnel can see at a glance during the construction.
2.6. Determine the position of sanitary ware and gas stove, and determine the corresponding model.
2.7. The electrician must check whether the original leakage protector works reliably, check whether the quantity and capacity of the original air switch can meet the use requirements, and check whether the TV, telephone, network cable entry point and line are standardized.
2.8. Check the flatness of the wall, ground and top surface, and the angular scale of the yin and yang angles. If the ground level error of a single room is estimated to be less than 30mm, use cushion blocks to flatten; more than 30mm, it is recommended that customers use double-layer keel laying technology and mortar large area leveling technology; wall surface flatness error is less than 10mm, can be flattened with putty; Need to use cement mortar to level or putty and strengthen. In general, the yin and yang angles need to be straightened and leveled.
2.9. Arrange the construction signs on site, fill in some of the contents on the signs (buying materials purchase time, variety, contact information, schedule) and then fill them in gradually.
2.10. Protect the facilities on the construction site (water, electricity, gas meters, junction boxes, intercom phones, radiators, etc.).
2.11. Accompany the client to go through the construction procedures in the community and hand over the room key.
2.12. If there are a lot of changes in the process of account submission, please go to the company to go through the drawings and budget change procedures; for small changes, you need to fill out the 'Construction Content Change Visa Form'.
If you want to know more decoration solutions and decoration cases, you can pay attention to home online and give you a high-end decoration trick!
In the 1990s, the United States gave birth to the 'Xanadu 2.0', which is regarded as the original form of smart home.
In this house, the floor temperature is automatically controlled by the computer, and visitors can use the touchpad to adjust light brightness, temperature, and music. Its owner said: 'In the not-too-distant future, houses without smart homes will be out of trend.'
But how far is this near future?
According to the '2018 White Paper on China's Smart Home Industry Development', China's smart home market penetration rate is 4.9%, which is still in its infancy. With the country's recent proposal for 'new infrastructure', the pace of smart home industry upgrading and household entry needs to be accelerated.
For this <a href="https://www.bainengkitchen.com/simple-style-stainless-steel-kitchen-design-from-china-kitchen-cabinet-factory.html">musical fountain manufacturer</a> problem, Haier Zhijia put forward the 'scene ecology' solution idea: In the era of the Internet of Things, technology is just a tool and a means. The real pain point is to provide a high-quality experience that meets the needs of users; and the construction of scenes and ecology is the key point and the difficulty. Where.
The pain point of smart home is not the hardware but the experience
In 20142018, capital rushed towards smart home hardware projects. Nowadays, the voices of those small factories devoted to hardware projects are getting lower, leaving only those big household appliances and technology giants.
Last year, the 'smart screen' triggered a further upgrade of the smart home market-in May 2019, Xiaomi established the Home Appliances Division; in December, Hisense Electric changed its name to 'Hisense Video'; in January 2020, TCL Group also became ' TCL Technology <a href="https://www.bainengkitchen.com/new-arrive-lacquer-kitchen-furniture-with-luxury-kitchen-cabinets-design.html">a2 size UV printer</a> '.
However, the smart home seems to be in a high-gloss moment, but it is still undergoing a transition period of general experience and low repurchase. Many smart home companies are more concerned about the interconnection of products, the degree of intelligence, etc., while neglecting the user's scene experience requirements.
Taking the example around me, the common voice control at this stage is still passive 'execution of commands', but it is only the optimization of traditional home appliances in control. Simply upgrading such functions does not bring a creative new experience.
The really good experience should be the non-sense interaction and full-process service between the smart home and the user. Imagine putting clothes into the washing machine and it “knows” that you want to wash the clothes, immediately recognizes the clothing fabric's optional care mode; after <a href="https://www.bainengkitchen.com/">pool heat exchanger</a> washing, the dryer is “conscious” that you want to dry, and set the program according to the type of clothes in advance ; If you like to dry, then when you take out the clothes from the washing machine, the smart clothes hanger will automatically fall down and wait for hanging.
This is a description of the experience of Haier Zhijia's 'smart balcony' scene. The highlight is that this set of operations is not only 'full automatic', but also a 'full process' covering a package of solutions from laundry care, drying to storage.
Let the whole family's smart products meet all your needs at any time and any place in the whole process. This is the experience that consumers should have when the smart home is truly integrated into life. It is also the key to clearing the crux of the smart home 'landing' .
The difficulty in constructing a scene experience lies in the scene ecology
As the person in charge of the Huawei IoT product line understands: 'When one day, the smart home can always be with us as an invisible personal assistant, always serving us, so that we can be free from the tediousness of life, the popularity of smart home will be Expand further. '
To achieve all this, two difficulties must be overcome. First, the company must first have the ability to provide a scenario-based service for interconnection and interoperability of products in the entire house; second, it is necessary to establish an ecological mechanism of multi-party cooperation and win-win cooperation, and provide group services. To sum up these two points, that is, 'products will be replaced by scenes, and the industry will be covered by ecology.' What Haier Zhijia is doing is such a layout.
The first is the necessity of constructing the scene. At this stage, users are no longer satisfied with a single household appliance product function, but need a full-process package service that can solve essential demands. For example, you buy a refrigerator to eat healthily, but if the dishes are not clean and the kitchen is not clean, your needs will not be met. Therefore, in the scenario solutions provided by Haier Zhijia, not only smart refrigerators, but also equipped with disinfection cabinets, no-clean range hoods and other products, from food storage, cooking to tableware disinfection after meals, provide a whole process of healthy diet guarantee.
The second is to build an open ecosystem, which is the 'door to life' for the company's future development. Kevin Kelly has a famous saying: 'All companies can't escape death, all cities are almost immortal.' Because the company's goal is to make an autistic system, the original intention is to create competitiveness; but the city is doing an ecosystem, the purpose is Make everyone happy—Combined with the industry, some companies focus on price wars and focus on product hardware upgrades, which is intended to shape market competitiveness. Haier Zhijia is building an open platform to attract high-end companies and high-quality industries to join the ecosystem and create a win-win situation. The purpose is to improve the user experience.
Starting from the pain points of user needs to build a scene, according to user needs in the process of timely linking to different brands and different industries of ecological services, Haier Zhijia proposed a clear path to break the barriers of smart home landing, and passed the market test. According to the data, the Haier Zhijia 001 Experience Center in Shanghai achieved an average price of 250,000 yuan for a single store scene through 'selling scenes', and the scene-oriented 'new retail' model is emerging; looking at the financial report, Haier Zhijia Wisdom 2019 The family's ecological income was 4.8 billion yuan, an increase of 68%, and the potential for ecological layout continued to be released.
In the 'Blue Ocean Strategy', there is a sentence: 'As the competition in the Red Sea becomes more and more cruel, managers must change the current habitual pattern of overwhelming bridges and transition to the blue ocean.' Similarly, facing the era of Internet of Things With the new blue ocean of gifted smart homes, companies should also break away from the hardware thinking of the traditional market and use the 'playing' of the Internet of Things to accelerate this industry into the daily life from the future.
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The countertops on the market include artificial stone countertops, fireproof countertops, quartz stone countertops, stainless steel countertops and natural stone countertops, among which quartz stone countertops are a common one. Many owners are entangled in choosing countertops. I do n’t know how to choose them. Let ’s take a look at the countertops of quartz stone countertops and the selection techniques of countertops.
1. How about the quartz countertop
1. Quartz stone countertop is a kind of man-made stone countertop, generally made of broken glass and quartz sand. The production process of quartz stone countertops is: first crush the quartz, then purify the quartz, mix the raw materials, make the quartz stone crystal, resin and trace pigments into large-sized plates under vacuum conditions, and then polish and polish through more than 30 processes.
2. Advantages of quartz stone countertops:
1), not easy to scratch: the quartz content of the countertop of the quartz stone cabinet is as high as 9095%, and its surface hardness can be as high as 67.5 Mohs.
2) Extremely high temperature resistance: The quartz stone countertop is a typical refractory material, the melting point exceeds 1300 degrees, most of the quartz stone is completely flame retardant and will not burn.
3) Non-radiation: The natural stone crystalline minerals used in the countertops of quartz stone cabinets are inorganic materials, the silica of which is over 99.9%, and the radioactive elements are strictly controlled within the allowable range, which will not cause adverse effects on the human body and the environment and are safe Environmental protection, no radiation
4). Not easy to break: The thickness of the quartz stone countertop reaches 20mm, and the inside contains high-strength glue and resin components. It has strong elasticity and is not easy to break.
5) Easy maintenance: The surface of the countertop of the quartz stone cabinet is polished and polished after more than 30 processes, and has excellent physical and chemical characteristics. Daily cleaning only needs to be wiped with a neutral detergent, which is simple and easy to perform.
3. Disadvantages of quartz stone cabinet countertops: Quartz stone cabinet countertops are too high in hardness, difficult to process, and expensive.
Second, the purchase skills of countertops
1. Look: See if the color of the cabinet countertop is pure and not turbid, whether the surface is similar to plastic glue texture, and the good countertop plate has no small pores on the reverse side.
2. Touch: Whether the countertop of the hand cupboard is smooth, and the surface of the good-quality countertop has a silky feel, no astringency, and no unevenness.
3. Scratches: Use nails to scratch the counter surface of the cabinet, with good quality and no obvious scratches.
4. Test: Soy sauce can be used to test the permeability of the countertop, edible vinegar can be used to test whether calcium carbonate is added, and whether the countertop has a lighter taste.
Summary of the article: How about the countertops of quartz stone cabinets, and the purchase techniques of cabinet countertops purchase techniques are introduced here. I hope that it will help you when you buy cabinets.
If you want to know more decoration solutions and decoration cases, you can pay attention to home online and give you a high-end decoration trick!
The wallboard is a new type of environmentally friendly wall material that has emerged in recent years and is more and more widely used in home improvement. There are many colors of siding, different home decoration styles, the color of the siding is also different. Let's take a look at the colors of the wallboard and the color matching skills of the wallboard.
1. What are the colors of the siding
1. According to the material, the decorative wall panels include solid wood wall panels, glass fiber reinforced plastic wall panels, plastic veneer wall panels and hot-pressed plastic wall panels, the most common solid wood wall panels in home improvement.
2. Different types of wallboards have different colors. There are many types of wallboards on the market, generally white, gray, red, orange, yellow, ocher, etc. Different home decoration styles will be matched with different color wall panels.
Second, the color matching skills of the wallboard
1. The main points of the color matching of the wallboard:
1) The color matching of the wallboard, except for the black and white colors, the color matching of other colors cannot exceed three.
2) The color matching of the wallboard, the same color scheme must be used in the same space, and different color schemes can be used in different spaces.
3). If you don't know the color matching of the wallboard, and you don't know any skills, you can choose the color matching scheme of shallow wall, ground and furniture.
4). The color of the ceiling must be lighter than the wall or the same color as the wall. When the color of the wall is dark, the ceiling must be light;
5). The color matching of the wallboard, try not to choose something with printing, you can use plain design, such a look looks brighter and brighter.
2. The color matching method of the wallboard:
1). Warm color matching method of the wallboard: warm colors include red, orange, yellow, ochre and other colors. This kind of color matching makes the whole home look more warm, warm and warm.
2). The cold color matching method of the wallboard: the cold color includes cyan, green, purple and other colors. This kind of color matching can make the whole home look quieter, cooler and more elegant.
3). Contrast tone matching method of the wallboard: that is, to match several colors with completely opposite colors, such as red with green, yellow with purple, orange with blue and so on. This collocation method can produce strong contrasting visual effects, making the whole home look brighter, brighter and more festive. Contrast hue must master the principle of 'large harmonization, small contrast'. If it is not used well, it will be counterproductive and produce tacky and dazzling adverse effects.
Summary of the article: What are the colors of the wallboard and the color matching skills of the wallboard are shared here, I hope to help everyone.
If you want to know more decoration solutions and decoration cases, you can pay attention to home online and give you a high-end decoration trick!
In an ordinary life, we can embrace happiness. A refined life seems to be more ceremonial, and it will also make our life more comfortable. Have you noticed the details of those homes? Today, the decoration network will explain from four aspects Can enhance the details of home happiness.
bedroom
To make sleep full of sense of life ritual, in addition to choosing a comfortable and comfortable nightgown, the most needed is a soft and suitable bed, so that the body and mind can be fully stretched here.
The rest never needs to be done, a little sense of ritual makes the rest life more stable and quiet, and gives you a reward for working hard with the most comfortable arrangement.
The second is to use aromatherapy products, such as scented candles, thread incense, aromatherapy machine, etc., choose your favorite flavor, so that the space is filled with romantic and gentle flavors, and at the same time, some aromatherapy also has the effect of soothing nerves, purifying the air, eliminating odors, etc. ,Very practical.
cloakroom
For modern people, clothes and hats always occupy the 'big head' of home storage, and the most appropriate way to deal with clothes, shoes and hats is to find a refined space for them, so that the time of daily careful selection and wear becomes a A joy.
Standing in the exquisite cloakroom to choose the clothes to match, as if you are in a clothing store, surrounded by your favorite clothes, feeling the touch brought by different clothes, has become a wonderful expectation of life.
restaurant
Many people's restaurants are just placed in the table and chair area at the door of the kitchen. What's more, the coffee table in the living room serves as a dining table, ignoring the sense of the ritual of family eating together.
The simplest sense of ritual at the restaurant can start by adding a favorite tablecloth to the table, putting on delicate tableware and objects, sitting with the loved one, and enjoying the food seriously. Life is not rushing to hurry for survival. Mind is a piece of quality life.
balcony
In order to maximize the use of space in home improvement life, the balcony area is often set as a functional area with washing + storage + drying.
The balcony is not only a 'drying table'. If you have enough space, you might as well live a more poetic life. Put on a tea table soft chair to create a relaxing corner of the home, a pot of tea, a few good books, and start a leisurely slow time. Fine taste of life.
Presenting the 'ritual sense of life', you can also use some exquisite items for soft decoration, such as green plants, flowers, etc., not only play a role in decorating the room in the ordinary trivial daily life, but also feel the natural fresh breath . Home is not a model room, not only needs high value, but also needs high practicality, creating a sense of ritual to make the home more warm.
If you want to know more decoration solutions and decoration cases, you can pay attention to home online and give you a high-end decoration trick!
A sudden outbreak has made China's economic and social development face unprecedented challenges. Under the test of the outbreak, it has also stimulated all major home appliances companies to accelerate the pace of transformation and upgrading.
'Although this epidemic has caused a great impact on the industry, it is also a good time for Huafan to accelerate the development of science and technology and promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises.' The leap forward will always be the main tone of our Huafan development. '
(Zeng Xiaocheng, Chairman of Huafan Electric)
Strong rise to make Chinese good goods
Huafan Electric was established in 2012. At the beginning of its establishment, it was clearly positioned to focus on professional R \u0026 D, production and sales of water heaters, and is committed to being a favorite water heater brand of the Chinese. At the same time, Zeng Xiaocheng, chairman of Huafan Electric, proposed the idea that enterprises should 'become a model of China', which is the origin of the name of 'Huafan' company.
In the early days of the company's establishment, Zeng Xiaocheng was the father. Whenever he bathed his children, he used the temperature to measure the water temperature to prevent the children from being scalded by hot water or getting cold. Because the water heater at that time was prone to problems such as water leakage, cold and heat, and leakage of thermostatic valves, in order to create a safe and comfortable bathing environment for children, Zeng Xiaocheng and Huafan ’s research and development team determined to develop Huafan ’s first precision constant temperature, no leaking speed Thermal electric water heater.
As the company's technology continues to upgrade and mature, in June 2016, Huafan Electric successfully developed a new type of high-tech full-intelligent thermostatic valve to solve the pain points such as the leakage of the thermostatic valve. The first fast-heating electric water heater of Huafan was released. . Relying on the superior performance of constant temperature and no leakage, Huafan's fast-heating electric water heater stands out from many water heater products, quickly opens the national market, detonates the sales frenzy, and this move has also started Huafan's 'speed hot model' Reputation.
2019 is a year of rapid development of Huafan. This year, Huafan Electric proposed the after-sales commitment of 'non-artificial quality problems within one year, only replacement and no repair'. In this regard, Zeng Xiaocheng said that this measure is a milestone for Hua Fan, because Hua Fan mastered the core manufacturing technology of fast heat, he dare to make this commitment. In the same year, Huafan's first intelligent voice water heater and the 1999 yuan strategic machine were officially launched. In late December, Huafan Electric successfully held the 'First Intelligent Water Heater Development Forum' in the Great Hall of the People, which undoubtedly laid the foundation for Huafan to become the 'strength bearer' of the instant-heat electric water heater industry.
Winning by quality
Products are the foundation of an enterprise's development and the foundation of an enterprise's foothold in the market. High-quality products can further enhance the combat effectiveness of enterprises and brands in the market and help enterprises enhance their popularity.
In terms of quality, Zeng Xiaocheng emphasized that quality is the only guarantee for maintaining customer loyalty, which is also one of the reasons for the high loyalty of customers and consumers of Huafan dealers. In order to maintain the high quality of products, Huafan Electric adopted a series of measures to control the quality of products.
It is understood that Huafan Electric started to consider the stability of the product in the later stage of development from the product development stage, to develop products, improve product structure, upgrade product technology, etc. for the use of pain points. In addition, Huafan Electric also cooperates with high-quality suppliers, from raw materials to accessories to finished product assembly, and carries out multiple inspections for each link. After the products are assembled, they must undergo rigorous testing. In terms of after-sales, Huafan promises to replace the quality of its production line with independent liner within 8 years.
It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of this year, Huafan Electric upgraded the exhibition hall, workshop production line, etc., aiming to do a more reasonable and refined management, so that the product quality can be upgraded to a higher level, and the stability of each product quality is guaranteed. . Moreover, on the basis of professionally making instant-heat electric water heaters, Huafan has added kitchen appliances, water purification and other categories to enter the high-end kitchen and bathroom market with a high attitude.
Encourage support and actively implement corporate responsibility
Compared with traditional electric water heaters, fast-heating electric water heaters are a new category on the market and are still in the stage of popularization. In order to solve the sales pain points, Huafan attempts to open an experiential sales channel and provide profit support to core dealer customers, including booth upgrades, sample support, subsidy profit, etc., hoping to work with dealers to allow more consumers Have a correct and comprehensive understanding of fast-heating electric water heaters.
In terms of market layout, although the sales of Huafan Electric have been affected by this year's epidemic, it does not hinder the company's strategic advancement. Zeng Xiaocheng revealed that Huafan will focus on building 100 kitchen and bathroom living halls and 3,000 physical sales experience this year. The store, on the one hand, helps dealers quickly enter the market, on the other hand, it provides an experience platform for consumers to ensure that high-quality products are truly introduced to thousands of households.
In addition, Huafan Electric also plans to actively develop a smart water heater development forum nationwide, promote the popularization of healthy and energy-saving water heaters, actively practice corporate responsibility, and promote the implementation of the Huimin Project in 2020 to allow enterprise development to benefit more users. Comprehensively promote the construction of a comprehensive well-off society in the country. It is reported that Huafan also optimizes the supply chain to reduce the purchase cost of consumers on the basis of ensuring product quality, so that consumers can purchase better products at affordable prices.
Development does not forget the original intention! In the future, Huafan Electric will still insist on quality first, continue to pioneer and innovate, and strive to make Chinese-loved kitchen and bathroom products!
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Wall decoration materials on the market are very diverse, the most common of which is the use of wallpaper materials, so how to choose a better wallpaper? Let's take a look!
First, the wallpaper selection points
1. Wallpaper color and pattern selection
When choosing, pay attention to both the color and the pattern. Studies have shown that color will have a certain impact on people's psychology. Therefore, before buying a wallpaper, make a plan to prevent color pollution.
2. Good scratch resistance, anti-pollution and easy maintenance
If there are children at home, it is inevitable that the wallpaper will be scribbled and scribbled, so when buying the wallpaper, you should consider its abrasion resistance and scratch resistance, and also see whether it is easy to deal with the oil.
3. Calculate the wallpaper pavement area in advance
The price of the wallpaper is generally more expensive, in order not to cause waste, before buying the wallpaper, you need to measure the wall wallpaper surface area in advance. Then according to the area to buy the required number of wallpaper rolls.
The common specification of wallpaper is 0.53m10m, there is a reasonable loss of about 8% of the wallpaper, and the loss of the big flower wallpaper is greater, so the consumption should be set aside when purchasing, so that an appropriate amount can be achieved without waste.
Second, the wallpaper selection method
1. Check the wallpaper appearance
The appearance characteristics of different types of wallpapers are also different. You can judge whether they are counterfeit products by judging their appearance. When you buy, you can see whether the wallpaper surface has color difference, whether it is flat, whether the surface pattern is clear, and whether the edges are neat. Through the judgment of these small details to identify the quality of the wallpaper.
2. Test the environmental protection of the wallpaper
Detecting the environmental protection of the wallpaper is actually very simple. You can burn a piece of wallpaper to see if it is a gray-black powder. If it is, it means that the wallpaper is made of pure plant fiber, and the environmental protection is relatively high; if black smoke occurs And if there are curled black pieces, they are made of chemical substances, which is relatively environmentally friendly.
3. Test the stain resistance of the wallpaper
Generally, children like to paint with a pen everywhere, so it is required that the wallpaper has good anti-smudge ability. You can write a pencil on the surface of the wallpaper, and then use an eraser to check whether the wallpaper still has fonts left. If it can be easily wiped off, and the surface of the wallpaper is not discolored or lint-free, it proves that the wallpaper has good stain resistance.
4. Test the wear resistance of the wallpaper
The wall surface may often encounter scratching problems, so the wear resistance of the wallpaper is required to be good. You can use a key or something made of iron to gently scratch the wallpaper to see if it is easily scratched. It should be noted that due to the different raw materials, some environmentally friendly pure paper wallpapers have weak wear resistance and need to avoid artificial scratches. Therefore, when choosing a wallpaper, it is necessary to measure whether it is more environmentally friendly or wearable.
5. Test the waterproofness of the wallpaper
The waterproofness of the wallpaper is very important, because it is inevitable that the liquid will be splashed on the wall after staying, and the surface of the wallpaper has been waterproofed, which can effectively prevent the penetration of moisture. A drop of water, to see if the water will penetrate, if it penetrates immediately, it means that the waterproof performance of the wallpaper is very poor, you should be careful when choosing.
The above is the introduction of how to choose the wallpaper shared for you this time. I hope it will be helpful to the decoration of your home!
If you want to know more decoration solutions and decoration cases, you can pay attention to home online and give you a high-end decoration trick!
Since entering May, high temperature weather has been ushered in all parts of the country, and the 'roasting mode' has been started in many places. As the air conditioner just needed in summer, it has also become the focus of market attention. However, unlike previous years, with the promulgation of new energy efficiency standards for air conditioners, the air conditioner market is facing a major reshuffle, and 45% of products will be eliminated because they do not meet the standards.
In the face of this 'big test', whoever is more prepared will be able to seize the opportunity and gain consumer recognition. As a leader in the industry, the young brand Leader has taken the lead in achieving the achievement of 'full-line compliance', with the energy efficiency performance exceeding the new national standard, giving consumers more choices.
The new energy efficiency standard greatly improves the energy efficiency rating of existing air-conditioning products, and fully promotes the achievement of green, energy-saving and environmental protection goals. Compared with the old version, the new standard divides the energy efficiency into 5 levels, with the highest level 1 and the lowest level 5. The current standard of frequency conversion is reduced from level 1 to level 2, frequency conversion from level 2 to level 3, and constant speed from level 1 to level 4. .
Leader took the lead in responding to the call, fully upgrading the air conditioner and meeting the standard across the board. Among them are the newly-launched up-to-date series on-hook energy efficiency value of 5.20, cabinet energy efficiency value of 4.36; 'sterilization light' air conditioner 2P cabinet energy efficiency value of 4.66, 3P cabinet energy efficiency value of 4.36, not only meet the user's first-level energy efficiency air conditioning consumer demand It is more in line with the concept of energy saving and environmental protection for young users.
At the same time, the Leader also comprehensively improves the wind experience, the Extreme series brings fast cooling and heating scenes in ten seconds and ten degrees; 'sterilization light' air conditioning UVC deep ultraviolet sterilization technology, the sterilization rate is 95%, and the virus removal rate is 97%, bringing medical treatment -Level healthy air scene.
Leader air conditioner not only supports the new energy efficiency standard, but also has perfect product performance such as high efficiency, health and intelligence. It is definitely the best choice this summer.
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Every year on May 20, it is regarded as a confession of love. Some people use commitment to express love, while others use ability to convey care. Casa Emperor belongs to the latter. By creating the 520 Heart Day for the fourth consecutive year, Casa Emperor brings a high-end smart ecological scene solution with a full range of high-end appliances to help everyone better express their love.
For love confession, Casa Emperor creates surprises with scenes
Unlike previous years, not only did everything recover in May this year because of the epidemic, but people's lives also slowly returned to the right track. After a storm, we better understand the meaning of 'home' and are more eager to bring a comfortable and warm life to our families.
The Casa Di 520 Heart Day event is to use high-end smart scene ecology to satisfy all people's imagination of 'home': when you come home from work in the evening, the Casa Di refrigerator has already prepared nutritious recipes for the family. The refrigerator end orders directly to purchase ingredients, and the kitchen appliances such as the oven, steamer, range hood, etc. have also received orders to start preparations before cooking synchronously, and no longer have to mess around with cooking; the changed clothes, Casa Di washing machine will automatically identify the fabric , And start the 'air wash' to wake up; want to take a hot bath, Casa Di water heater will actively remember the family's water habits, just have hot water at any time; before bed, you may wish to open the Casa Di ice bar for a drink Red wine, apply a mask; after falling asleep, Casa Di Air Conditioner will also detect changes in indoor air quality and turn on purification in real time to make breathing smoother ...
It is these little details in life that are difficult to detect, which bring heart and soul moments to family members and loved ones. During this year's 520 Heart Day, Casa Di also cooperated with high-end brands such as Hermes to prepare multiple surprises for users.
Reshaping the lifestyle, fighting for the brand 'ability'
The home appliance market is never short of high-end brands. What is missing is a pioneer who has the ability to reshape the lifestyle of users. For every user, a quality life is not a piece of isolated household appliances, nor is it simply 'eat and wear', but from a deeper level of life needs, get a complete and systematic The experience of the scene, the emergence of Casa Emperor, happened to fill such a vacancy for users.
Casa di's ability is first manifested in technology. Such as the MSA oxygen control and preservation technology of the ACME refrigerator, the 'air wash' of the twin cloud clothes washing machine, the UVC deep ultraviolet sterilization function mounted on the Tianjing air conditioner and the Tianyue air conditioner, the three-dimensional scale and four-layer antibacterial technology of the Tianmu MAX series water heater Etc. to fully upgrade the high-end life experience for users.
The upgrade from technology to scene is another great capability possessed by Casa Di. For example, most people who buy refrigerators focus on technical parameters such as capacity and length of storage, and Casa Di refrigerators provide users with more than that, from the 7-day storage of fresh food without losing nutrition to intelligence Manage food ingredients, and then provide help for the family's dietary health and physical fitness improvement, step by step, to upgrade the high-end smart kitchen scene for users.
In a nutshell, consumers are now not only pursuing the basic functions of home appliances, but also a more high-end and quality consumer experience. Home appliances must not only have innovative technology and excellent functions, but also carry personalization. Solutions for life scenarios.
It is precisely because of this forward-looking concept that when the home appliance industry is stalling overall, Casa Di still maintains a stable market share: according to the 20th week monitoring data released by Zhongyi Kang, Casa Di has a refrigerator of more than 15,000 yuan. The market accounted for 41.3%, the home air conditioner market for more than 15,000 yuan accounted for 50.68%, and the washing machine market for more than 10,000 yuan accounted for 78.3%, maintaining a long-term share advantage. It is foreseeable that a brand that has the ability to give users a high-quality life will inevitably have a place in the increasingly fierce market competition in the future.
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Should children watch TV and indulge in TV? What is it because you did not choose the right TV? On May 26, Haier will release the Smart Screen 2.0, a course for the development and improvement of the scientific measurement and training system. According to reports, this set of brain science system courses allows children to enjoy the latest brain science education through the tailor-made learning plan, the combination of artificial intelligence and science and education, and the use of AI technology, the smarter they watch TV.
Too much addiction to TV does affect the child's intellectual development. Watching TV properly can increase children's awareness of things, but watching TV for a long time can cause harm to children. Because ordinary TV provides people with a large amount of information at high speed, and attracts children's attention with rapidly changing images and dazzling light and colors, children passively receive information. Repeatedly receiving the same stimulation, the creativity of the brain will become stiff and lacking. It is not easy for children to concentrate on a task after watching TV for a long time, and there will be daze, hyperactivity, and rapid decline in imagination.
Through scientific guidance and interaction will enhance the child's intelligence. In order to prevent children from indulging in TV and developing their brain power, Haier TV launched the Smart Screen 2.0 brain science course, which has an international leading level, innovatively uses TV smart screen, and uses game interaction as the main body of the course implementation, scientifically and effectively improves children's observation ability Five comprehensive abilities: attention, imagination, thinking, and memory.
Haier Smart Screen 2.0 brain science courses make children more and more intelligent. The Smart Screen 2.0 brain science course that Haier TV will release on May 26 has the characteristics of parents can participate, students are easy to learn, and the results can be feedback, so that every school and every family becomes a brain science classroom for children.
So what more surprises will the Haier Smart Screen 2.0 brain science course bring to the industry and users? May 26, let us wait and see!
Disclaimer: This site is a media website. Copyrights such as pictures and text uploaded by merchants have been reviewed by relevant measures, but the accuracy and reliability of their contents are not guaranteed. The relevant responsibilities are the responsibility of the merchants who uploaded the above contents. !
说起中国的家电发展历程,终究绕不开海尔!从做冰箱起家,到覆盖全产业链的家电产业,再到成为世界第一,海尔可以说是中国用户心目中最具代表性的家电品牌。现如今,海尔已经在冰箱、洗衣机、空调等多个产业做到了龙头位置,海尔冰箱一家独大,洗衣机是“行业一哥”,空调“三分天下”,对推动行业发展起到至关重要的作用。
但是,如果说你了解海尔冰箱,就等于了解海尔智家,那就错了。在物联网时代下,科技的进步带动用户需求迭代升级,海尔智家也已经不再只是一个单纯的家电品牌,而是基于5G、AI、大数据及云计算等技术应用加速转型,成为了为用户定制美好生活的智慧家庭生态品牌。以前的海尔卖最好的家电,而今天的海尔智家卖的不止是家电,更是用户需要的美好生活场景。
海尔智家“卖场景”?是的,用户需要场景!
场景是什么?是海尔智家基于物联网时代下的用户新需求,提供成套的智慧生活场景解决方案。用户在购买过程中,想要的不再只是单独的冰箱、洗衣机、而是基于衣食住娱等生活需求提供的场景解决方案。
在吃的方面,海尔智家带来了吃、买、存、做、洗、安一站式全流程健康美食场景。做饭前,冰箱提供无菌、新鲜的保鲜方案;做饭时,厨房内的烤箱、烟灶互联互通提供主动服务;吃完饭,消毒柜通过光波巴氏消毒技术有效杀灭细菌,保障餐具健康。
在穿的方面,洗衣机只是健康洗护场景中的一个网器,通过联动洗衣机、烘干机、智能鞋柜、智能晾衣架等网器,带来的是涵盖洗、护、存、搭、购、收的一站式场景解决方案。此外,针对用户的差异化需求,还搭建了健身阳台、运动阳台、晾晒阳台等场景方案,合理使用空间满足用户需求。
在住的方面,针对目前大多数人最关心的空气除菌、健康运动与舒适睡眠,给出了专业空气解决方案。其中,海尔智家不仅提供空气除菌解决方案,通过56度C空调除菌保障用户呼吸健康,同时还为用户带来专业化设计、专业化安装等场景,提供一站式健康居住解决方案。
在娱乐方面,海尔智家针对用户生活中遇到的辅导孩子、家庭清洁和居家安全问题,打造了多个场景解决方案。娱联网搭载丰富教育资源,可以轻松辅导孩子学习;智能清扫场景解决居家清洁问题;智能安防放场景保障娱乐品质和居家安全……
整合资源构建生态圈?是的,给用户完整的智慧生活!
当然,这些场景不是海尔智家自己就能实现的,背后还需要巨大的生态资源网作为支撑。通过整合设计师、渠道商、生态合作方等,海尔智家生态圈满足了用户在场景内的所有智慧生活需求,这也代表了海尔智家的生态能力。而在“云对话”时代,用户体验海尔智家场景生态的最直观方式,就是“体验云众播”。
在衣联网场景中,海尔智家带来的不仅有海尔智家的产品,还有超声波清洗机、智能水杯、挂烫机、颈椎按摩仪、晾衣机、洗鞋机、洗衣凝珠、清洗剂等众多生态方产品。以解决用户需求为目标,基于衣物的全生命周期整合国内外5300余家生态资源方,覆盖服装、家纺、洗衣液、皮革等13个行业,为用户提供洗、护、存、搭、购、回收全生命周期的衣物解决体验。
以场景和生态作为基础,5月30日,海尔智家将从用户生活需求出发构建场景,围绕衣食住娱等生活难点和痛点,带来全面升级场景方案。据了解,此番海尔智家将携手客户、生态方、以及众多线下门店,共同推进智慧家庭场景方案的入户普及,以美好生活方案改变用户的生活方式。
值得期待的是,为了让用户更好的观看场景体验,海尔智家将在现场直接搭建一座“海尔智家小镇”,涵盖涵盖衣、食、住、娱4座时尚街区。时尚潮流“衣”街区带给你前卫的穿搭,还有深层的衣物清洁与护理妙招;“食”街区带来健康生活的理念,打造健康的食材管理方案;“住”街区给你向往的美好生活体验,让你体验健康呼吸和用水;“娱”街区让智慧带给你酷玩新场景,体验在线学习、健身娱乐和游戏轰趴。
想要这样的智慧生活场景,现在就下载海尔智家APP,在这一次“体验云众播”中尽情体验吧!
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sailorrrvenus · 5 years
Text
When You Feel Your Reputation as a Photographer Slipping Through the Cracks
There are a great number of differences between professional photographers and those that shoot only as a hobby. Surprisingly enough one, of those differences isn’t always talent. There are many amazing and talented photographers that shoot for a hobby and they take my breath away.
Being a professional photographer doesn’t always mean being a great artist. Regardless, your reputation for getting s**t done does matter and that reputation is everything.
With that in mind, one difference between a working photographer and many nonworking photographers is the ability to get the shot under pressure. Most importantly a professional needs to “know” that they will get the shot. You can never “hope” that you will. This is what our reputation rests on. If a hobbyist doesn’t get the shot it can be disappointing but it will never be a career-ending disaster. They can always come back and try again when they have the time or inclination.
Nothing Was Working As It Should
This is the story of one instance where nothing was working as it should. First off, the amount of time I had to get the shot was short. From start to finish, including setting it up, I had less than one minute. I’ve actually learned this from looking back at time stamps on my photos. In the end, I wound up having only forty-one seconds from start to finish to land my hero shot. Now that’s what I call a damn mini session!
Anyway, for the last 9 years, part of what I do is shoot campaign advertising for US Congressmen, Senators, and other politicians. In February of 2016, I was shooting a commercial for Lloyd Smucker. At the time he was running for a seat in the 115th United States Congress to represent Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional district. This is where our story starts.
The Day Didn’t Start Off Bad
The day didn’t start off bad. I can say for certain that Lloyd was the bomb! He was amazingly photogenic and working with him was easy as pie. It’s almost as if the photos just made themselves. I firmly believe that the most important aspect of getting a great photo is when your subject is relaxed. Well, Lloyd was relaxed if nothing else. Where many people would rather have a shotgun wound to the head than have a photo snapped of them, Lloyd didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it was more like he could have cared less if I was there or not. Now, I don’t mean this in a bad way but a good way. I wish everyone that I photographed was as nonchalant about the process as he was.
Part of any good political campaign photography is that it’s real. Not only does it need to be real, but it also has to look real. This stuff can’t be staged. This is where Congressman Smucker excelled. He did his thing, I snapped a few photos and it was magic!
Even so, we worked a pretty grueling pace that chilly February day. In total, we shot for 8 hours at 7 different locations and 18 different sets. Frame after frame, shot after shot Lloyd was a trooper.
Then came the nightmare. It was time for the “hero shot” and this is where I felt my reputation slipping through the cracks. Abject self-loathing and the prospect of no more gainful employment was looming over me like a dark cloud. Nothing was working as it should and this all-important photograph was going to be an epic fail!
The Hero Shot
Of the many locations we shot that day one of them was a steel plant. While we were there, we didn’t stage many scenes or ask for special treatment but when one of the steelworkers started cutting an I-beam, everyone knew that the sparks flying off of it would be perfect for the background of an industrial shot. The first cut had already been made and there was only one more left to make. It was decided that we should shoot the “hero shot” in front of it as it was being cut. There’s just something about fire flying through the air that brings out the pyro in all of us! This was going to be the shot that rocked!
Yeah, Right!
With that in mind, we set Lloyd in front of the scene. The video crew had already done their thing so the grip, lighting guy, was still holding one simple incandescent light on our subject more for effect than anything else. As the steelworker was getting ready to finish his second and last cut I didn’t have time to arrange for fancy lighting. The grip crew had their truck parked good 100 or more yards away in another part of the plant so that option was off the table. We had to work fast and use what we already had on hand. As torch started cutting through the I-beam and sparks started to fly I guessed my exposure and snapped a test shot.
My Exposure Was Way Off!
My guess was way off and the cut was in progress! Lloyd looked great but there was way too much light from too many spectrums. The overhead lighting from the fluorescent lights produced a nasty, unflattering green cast with little or no contrast. The large windows in the background were blowing my highlights and overexposing the entire background. My shutter speed was to slow and rather than capturing cool sparks flying from the torch all I got was a white mess behind my subject. On the inside, my heart sank, but on the outside, I remained cool and composed.
Tick Tock
God, I hate chimping each and every frame I shoot but this time there was no choice. I had to see the results I was getting and make quick corrections to compensate for them. There simply was no time to even walk over and take a reading with a light meter! I had to shoot.
My first shot was at ISO 800, 135mm, f/2.8 at 1/100 sec. I knew the only way to capture the sparks in the background was to speed things up so I bumped my shutter speed up to 1/250th of a sec. Still no good! Tick tock, tick tock. The clock is running out of time.
The background is starting to look a bit better but Lloyd was in the dark. He was little more than a silhouette and the sparks behind him were still overexposed and nothing more than a hot mess. This was not going end well! I had a sinking feeling deep in my stomach. Even so, I remained cool as an ice cube on the outside, but only on the outside.
I Had To Capture the Sparks
Having a dark and underexposed foreground and subject or not I had to shoot a fast-enough shutter speed to capture the sparks and freeze them. I wanted them to appear as balls of fire flying through the air. With that in mind, I bumped my shutter speed up to 1/320. This would certainly make my subject even darker but it should freeze some of the sparks behind him.
If I could capture the sparks then I could correct the image in post. So much for that “getting it right in the camera” garbage we all like to talk about but there was no other choice. It would have been fine for journalism or even an editorial photo where we do what we need to do. Getting the shot is the most important thing. Of course we want great photos, but in editorial, it’s often better to get the shot, any shot, than nothing at all and technical precision isn’t always so important. The difference was that this was not editorial. This was an advertising campaign and precision is everything.
Tick tock, tick tock. The steelworker had nearly finished making his cut!
Pretend This is the Damn Marine Corps!
Super fun thoughts were rushing through my head. Stuff like, “It’s been a great ride but my days of shooting political candidates were over. Word would go out and no one would hire a has-been loser that can’t grab a simple photo when the pressure is on.”
I snapped my shot and PRESTO! It worked!
The photo was dark but I could work with it. Sadly, the ever-relaxed Lloyd, for which I was so thankful all day, just didn’t work for this photograph. He looked more like he was kicking back on the block having a grand old time. I didn’t need a friendly, happy subject. I wanted a badass!
Dude! Pretend this is the damn Marine Corps! Tick tock. One more frame. I needed just one more frame but the last cut is almost finished. I told Lloyd, “Dude! Pretend this is the damn Marine Corps! Drill a hole down through the center of my lens with your eyes. I want you to be the most hateful son of a b**ch that ever lived!” It had to work. If it didn’t the whole set would be a bust and the campaign needed this shot. I needed this shot!
Thirty-Eight Seconds into the Shoot
Thirty-eight seconds into the shoot, I snapped my last frame. It was dark as hell, the tonal curve was flat with nearly no contrast, and the color was s**t because of the mixing of four different colored light sources. Even so, the sparks from the torch were in the frame the way I wanted them. Three seconds later and the cut was finished. There would be no more chances to get it right but with a bit of Photoshop magic things could still work out.
My Reputation Was Saved
In the end, Lloyd never did look like, “The most hateful son of a b**ch that ever lived.” Perhaps it’s just not in him. I can’t say but he did look stern enough for the shot to work. My clients loved the final shot and my reputation was saved. In fact, as the photos started being passed around the political circle I was quickly picked up for two more gigs. Both were special request looking for me by name. One for another Congressional run and the other for a Senatorial campaign.
Sadly, even now, I’m still not satisfied with the contrast and color of the image. Though Photoshop is a fantastic tool it’s not a silver bullet that will fix everything. Junk in still results in junk out but I am happy with the overall result and more importantly, I get to keep on working!
Hero shot of Congressman Lloyd Smucker. This is the one single photo that placed my entire reputation as a photographer at risk.
About the author: Barry Kidd is a corporate, commercial, and political photographer based in York, Pennsylvania. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Kidd specializes in political photography shooting campaign advertisements and public relations to the candidates. He also shoots corporate and commercial photography. You can find more of his work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.
source https://petapixel.com/2019/04/16/when-you-feel-your-reputation-as-a-photographer-slipping-through-the-cracks/
0 notes
pauldeckerus · 5 years
Text
When You Feel Your Reputation as a Photographer Slipping Through the Cracks
There are a great number of differences between professional photographers and those that shoot only as a hobby. Surprisingly enough one, of those differences isn’t always talent. There are many amazing and talented photographers that shoot for a hobby and they take my breath away.
Being a professional photographer doesn’t always mean being a great artist. Regardless, your reputation for getting s**t done does matter and that reputation is everything.
With that in mind, one difference between a working photographer and many nonworking photographers is the ability to get the shot under pressure. Most importantly a professional needs to “know” that they will get the shot. You can never “hope” that you will. This is what our reputation rests on. If a hobbyist doesn’t get the shot it can be disappointing but it will never be a career-ending disaster. They can always come back and try again when they have the time or inclination.
Nothing Was Working As It Should
This is the story of one instance where nothing was working as it should. First off, the amount of time I had to get the shot was short. From start to finish, including setting it up, I had less than one minute. I’ve actually learned this from looking back at time stamps on my photos. In the end, I wound up having only forty-one seconds from start to finish to land my hero shot. Now that’s what I call a damn mini session!
Anyway, for the last 9 years, part of what I do is shoot campaign advertising for US Congressmen, Senators, and other politicians. In February of 2016, I was shooting a commercial for Lloyd Smucker. At the time he was running for a seat in the 115th United States Congress to represent Pennsylvania’s 16th Congressional district. This is where our story starts.
The Day Didn’t Start Off Bad
The day didn’t start off bad. I can say for certain that Lloyd was the bomb! He was amazingly photogenic and working with him was easy as pie. It’s almost as if the photos just made themselves. I firmly believe that the most important aspect of getting a great photo is when your subject is relaxed. Well, Lloyd was relaxed if nothing else. Where many people would rather have a shotgun wound to the head than have a photo snapped of them, Lloyd didn’t seem to mind. In fact, it was more like he could have cared less if I was there or not. Now, I don’t mean this in a bad way but a good way. I wish everyone that I photographed was as nonchalant about the process as he was.
Part of any good political campaign photography is that it’s real. Not only does it need to be real, but it also has to look real. This stuff can’t be staged. This is where Congressman Smucker excelled. He did his thing, I snapped a few photos and it was magic!
Even so, we worked a pretty grueling pace that chilly February day. In total, we shot for 8 hours at 7 different locations and 18 different sets. Frame after frame, shot after shot Lloyd was a trooper.
Then came the nightmare. It was time for the “hero shot” and this is where I felt my reputation slipping through the cracks. Abject self-loathing and the prospect of no more gainful employment was looming over me like a dark cloud. Nothing was working as it should and this all-important photograph was going to be an epic fail!
The Hero Shot
Of the many locations we shot that day one of them was a steel plant. While we were there, we didn’t stage many scenes or ask for special treatment but when one of the steelworkers started cutting an I-beam, everyone knew that the sparks flying off of it would be perfect for the background of an industrial shot. The first cut had already been made and there was only one more left to make. It was decided that we should shoot the “hero shot” in front of it as it was being cut. There’s just something about fire flying through the air that brings out the pyro in all of us! This was going to be the shot that rocked!
Yeah, Right!
With that in mind, we set Lloyd in front of the scene. The video crew had already done their thing so the grip, lighting guy, was still holding one simple incandescent light on our subject more for effect than anything else. As the steelworker was getting ready to finish his second and last cut I didn’t have time to arrange for fancy lighting. The grip crew had their truck parked good 100 or more yards away in another part of the plant so that option was off the table. We had to work fast and use what we already had on hand. As torch started cutting through the I-beam and sparks started to fly I guessed my exposure and snapped a test shot.
My Exposure Was Way Off!
My guess was way off and the cut was in progress! Lloyd looked great but there was way too much light from too many spectrums. The overhead lighting from the fluorescent lights produced a nasty, unflattering green cast with little or no contrast. The large windows in the background were blowing my highlights and overexposing the entire background. My shutter speed was to slow and rather than capturing cool sparks flying from the torch all I got was a white mess behind my subject. On the inside, my heart sank, but on the outside, I remained cool and composed.
Tick Tock
God, I hate chimping each and every frame I shoot but this time there was no choice. I had to see the results I was getting and make quick corrections to compensate for them. There simply was no time to even walk over and take a reading with a light meter! I had to shoot.
My first shot was at ISO 800, 135mm, f/2.8 at 1/100 sec. I knew the only way to capture the sparks in the background was to speed things up so I bumped my shutter speed up to 1/250th of a sec. Still no good! Tick tock, tick tock. The clock is running out of time.
The background is starting to look a bit better but Lloyd was in the dark. He was little more than a silhouette and the sparks behind him were still overexposed and nothing more than a hot mess. This was not going end well! I had a sinking feeling deep in my stomach. Even so, I remained cool as an ice cube on the outside, but only on the outside.
I Had To Capture the Sparks
Having a dark and underexposed foreground and subject or not I had to shoot a fast-enough shutter speed to capture the sparks and freeze them. I wanted them to appear as balls of fire flying through the air. With that in mind, I bumped my shutter speed up to 1/320. This would certainly make my subject even darker but it should freeze some of the sparks behind him.
If I could capture the sparks then I could correct the image in post. So much for that “getting it right in the camera” garbage we all like to talk about but there was no other choice. It would have been fine for journalism or even an editorial photo where we do what we need to do. Getting the shot is the most important thing. Of course we want great photos, but in editorial, it’s often better to get the shot, any shot, than nothing at all and technical precision isn’t always so important. The difference was that this was not editorial. This was an advertising campaign and precision is everything.
Tick tock, tick tock. The steelworker had nearly finished making his cut!
Pretend This is the Damn Marine Corps!
Super fun thoughts were rushing through my head. Stuff like, “It’s been a great ride but my days of shooting political candidates were over. Word would go out and no one would hire a has-been loser that can’t grab a simple photo when the pressure is on.”
I snapped my shot and PRESTO! It worked!
The photo was dark but I could work with it. Sadly, the ever-relaxed Lloyd, for which I was so thankful all day, just didn’t work for this photograph. He looked more like he was kicking back on the block having a grand old time. I didn’t need a friendly, happy subject. I wanted a badass!
Dude! Pretend this is the damn Marine Corps! Tick tock. One more frame. I needed just one more frame but the last cut is almost finished. I told Lloyd, “Dude! Pretend this is the damn Marine Corps! Drill a hole down through the center of my lens with your eyes. I want you to be the most hateful son of a b**ch that ever lived!” It had to work. If it didn’t the whole set would be a bust and the campaign needed this shot. I needed this shot!
Thirty-Eight Seconds into the Shoot
Thirty-eight seconds into the shoot, I snapped my last frame. It was dark as hell, the tonal curve was flat with nearly no contrast, and the color was s**t because of the mixing of four different colored light sources. Even so, the sparks from the torch were in the frame the way I wanted them. Three seconds later and the cut was finished. There would be no more chances to get it right but with a bit of Photoshop magic things could still work out.
My Reputation Was Saved
In the end, Lloyd never did look like, “The most hateful son of a b**ch that ever lived.” Perhaps it’s just not in him. I can’t say but he did look stern enough for the shot to work. My clients loved the final shot and my reputation was saved. In fact, as the photos started being passed around the political circle I was quickly picked up for two more gigs. Both were special request looking for me by name. One for another Congressional run and the other for a Senatorial campaign.
Sadly, even now, I’m still not satisfied with the contrast and color of the image. Though Photoshop is a fantastic tool it’s not a silver bullet that will fix everything. Junk in still results in junk out but I am happy with the overall result and more importantly, I get to keep on working!
Hero shot of Congressman Lloyd Smucker. This is the one single photo that placed my entire reputation as a photographer at risk.
About the author: Barry Kidd is a corporate, commercial, and political photographer based in York, Pennsylvania. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Kidd specializes in political photography shooting campaign advertisements and public relations to the candidates. He also shoots corporate and commercial photography. You can find more of his work on his website, Facebook, and Instagram. This article was also published here.
from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/04/16/when-you-feel-your-reputation-as-a-photographer-slipping-through-the-cracks/
0 notes
noplacecalledhome · 6 years
Text
10 Best Hotels To Stay In Pearl Mississippi – Top Hotel Reviews
Pearl Mississippi is beautiful and has lots of hotels. Ofcourse we are only looking for the best hotels in Pearl Mississippi. It’s important to compare them because there are so many places to stay in Pearl Mississippi. You’re probably wondering where to stay in Pearl Mississippi. To see which hotel sounds better than the other, we created a top 10 list. The list will make it a lot easier for you to make a great decision. We know you only want the best hotel and preferably something with a reasonable price.
Our list contains 10 hotels of which we think are the best hotels in Pearl Mississippi right now. Still, some of you are more interested in the most popular hotels in Pearl Mississippi with the best reviews, and that’s completely normal! You can check out the link below.
Skip to the most popular hotels in Pearl Mississippi.
10 Best Hotels In Pearl Mississippi:
Super 8 Pearl / Jackson / East
Description:
One of our top picks in Pearl.Located just off Interstate 20, this hotel is 2.8 miles from Jackson- Evers International Airport. It serves a continental breakfast every morning and features a free airport shuttle.Free Wi-Fi access and cable TV with HBO are included in every room at Super 8 Pearl. Rooms are equipped with a microwave and a refrigerator and are furnished with a work desk.The front desk at the Pearl Super 8 is staffed 24 hours a day. There is a business center on site, as well as guest laundry facilities.The Russell C Davis Planetarium is 9.1 miles from the hotel. Niknar Country Club is 3.3 miles away.
Reviews:
The front desk clerk was precious. She gave us a shuttle ride at 4am to the airport.
The hotel was in a great location, not much traffic and to have a Waffle House in walking distance was awesome.. hope to get some great deals because I will come again.. thanks !! You
The room was clean and amenities were updated. Front desk staff was courteous and helpful.
location to town very near, was able to walk there, hotel staff at reception very helpful and friendly. A little overpriced, as was the taxi to the airport on the day I was leaving
Please give Anna our compliments! Her customerservice is first-class , all the way. Rick Watson and Michael Strawn.
For more info click here.
La Quinta Inn & Suites Jackson Airport
Description:
One of our best sellers in Pearl! In Pearl, just 4 miles from Jackson Zoo, this hotel features a hot breakfast and an outdoor pool. Free Wi-Fi is included in all rooms. The Agriculture Museum is a 9-minute drive away.A flat-screen TV with cable is featured in all rooms at La Quinta Inn & Suites Jackson Airport. All rooms feature a small refrigerator and microwave.Guests at the Jackson Airport La Quinta Inn can start their day with a breakfast of waffles, eggs and sausage. A variety of baked goods and cereal are available. Fresh fruit, coffee and juice are included.LeFlur Bluff Park is 6 miles from this hotel.
Reviews:
Stayed a few tears ago while under renovation and was not. Happy with staff, no breakfast and very mousey, and very expensive. This visit was reasonably priced, very friendly staff, and beds were new. Great imorovement.
Food was amazing! Made waffles and the staff helped! They made us feel right at home and safe which is hard to do these days! I will definitely come again and recommend
The staff was very friendly, the breakfast was great and the beds were comfortable. Very pleased! Will stay there again!
Everything especially the breakfast. Had all you would want for breakfast. Very nice and clean room. Also they aren’t pet friendly.
I love the purple wall since that’s my favorite color! I came here to relax from a stressful work week and I was able to enjoy the peace and quiet. This was a great stay.
For more info click here.
Holiday Inn Pearl – Jackson Area
Description:
Featuring free WiFi and a restaurant, Holiday Inn Pearl – Jackson Area offers accommodations in Pearl, just 2.7 miles from Jackson. Guests can enjoy the on-site bar.Some units include a private bathroom with a hot tub, and others have free toiletries and a hairdryer. Certain rooms feature a sitting area to relax in after a busy day. A flat-screen TV is available.You will find free shuttle service at the property.Jackson-Evers Airport is 5 miles from the property.
Reviews:
Everything was great will stay here every time I’m in the area! Rooms were super clean, beds were so comfy! It was located next door to bass pro and a great outlet mall! Seconds from great restaurants!
Love holiday inn hotels. Kemmons Wilson was one of my favorite people to read about in history.
The bartender he was awesome. The location was perfect with so much to do right there..Rooms where clean and staff very friendly.
This was an anniversary gift to my son and daughter-in-law. I’m writing exactly what they said to me about your facility and that was everything. Apparently their stay was really lovely and for that I want to say a special Thank You to Shaun at the front desk. She was wonderful in getting things done.
We were running away from hurricane Irma and happened on this facility. Can’t say enough good things about the staff, motel services and the sports bar type restaurant. The food was outstanding and we did not find anything we did not like. The room was wonderful and housekeeping was outstanding. Everyone was friendly and sympathetic to our problem. We certainly chose a great place to stay.
For more info click here.
Baymont Inn & Suites – Pearl
Description:
In Pearl, Mississippi, this hotel features a daily continental breakfast and an outdoor swimming pool. Free Wi-Fi access is available.A microwave, refrigerator and coffee-making facilities are included in each room at the Baymont Inn and Suites Pearl. A cable TV is included as well. Extras include a desk and ironing facilities.Barbecue facilities are on site at the Pearl Baymont Inn and Suites. Vending machines are available for added convenience.Jackson-Evers International Airport is 7 miles away. Guests are a 15-minute drive from Jackson Zoo and the Mississippi Air National Guard.
Reviews:
Great rate for a clean room and friendly, helpful staff.
When you walk into the lobby we were immediately met with a sour smell. The rooms were ok but had an odor, staff was ok.
Location of the hotel to our destination for Thursday morning. Twyanna was an excellent staff member. She was very friendly. Did not have breakfast since we had to check out at 5:00 am and no one had anything started. I could not eat anything by my husband would have liked a cup of coffee.
It’s comfortable and in a good location with restaurants and entertainment options.
Staff was good, extremely close to good restaurants. Movie theater across the street as well as a safe area. No highway noise to speak of him and very clean.
For more info click here.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Jackson/Pearl International Airport
Description:
Located off of Interstate 20, this Jackson hotel features an outdoor pool, daily continental breakfast, and free Wi-Fi. Guests will also be 6 miles from the Jackson Convention Center.All guest rooms feature a cable TV, alarm clock, and coffee-making facilities. Holiday Inn Express and Suites Jackson Pearl International Airport provides a private bathroom with a hairdryer as well.Access to a business center and fitness center are provided to all guests throughout their stay at this Jackson Holiday Inn Express and Suites. A laundromat and free on-site parking are available.Pearl city center is 6 miles away. Trustmark Park, home of the Mississippi Braves American baseball team, is a 5-minute drive from the hotel.
Reviews:
Latoya Williams, was outstanding! went above and beyond to make sure she greated with the most welcoming smile and greating ever! I will defintely come back Alicia and Stacey were very friendly as well! these ladies made my trip coming to an empty room because traveling for business is hard but not coming back to this Hotel! Thank YOU Ladies!
This facility was awesome. I will be telling everyone how nice this place was.. the breakfast offered plenty of selections. Something for everyone. I will certainly stay there again.
I loved everything except breakfast didn’t start early enough
The desk clerk was great and worked hard to get us into an alternate room.
The lady at the front counter was great. She was so friendly and helpful. She was on 7-3 sift when we check ed in and out and she was so friendly!!
For more info click here.
Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Jackson-Airport, MS
Description:
Showcasing a barbecue and sun terrace, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Jackson-Airport, MS is located in Pearl, just 3.7 miles from Jackson.You will find free shuttle service at the property.Jackson-Evers Airport is 5 miles from the property.
Reviews:
I liked the view from my window, it overlooked the little pond in the back. I got to take some pictures of a Great White Egret, some Red and Yellow Eared Slider Turtles and a pair of Canadian Geese. My favorite part of this hotel.
The rooms were clean, the beds were comfortable, and the breakfast was awesome.
The staff was warm which can always make a stay great! The facility itself was better than I expected considering the price was so reasonable! Clean, (included) breakfast was yummy, pool area was well kept, over all great presentation!
The hotel is only a few minutes away from the busiest parts of Pearl, which is on the outskirts of Jackson. Therefore it is extremely quiet but not too far from anything from the theater to the outlet malls, restaurants etc. The rooms are beautiful and very modern. Everything was clean and the bedding was extremely comfortable. I can’t wait to stay here again. Also, the staff was super awesome.
This is an OK motel. Very standard room and a good enough bed. Nothing special here except the small Lake view.
For more info click here.
Days Inn Pearl/Jackson Airport
Description:
One of our best sellers in Pearl! Featuring free WiFi throughout the property, Days Inn Pearl/Jackson Airport offers accommodations in Pearl, just 3.4 miles from Jackson.Some rooms feature a sitting area to relax in after a busy day. All rooms are equipped with a private bathroom. A flat-screen TV is available.You will find a 24-hour front desk at the property.Jackson-Evers Airport is 4.3 miles away.
Reviews:
EVERYTHING WAS OUTSTANDING!!! LOCATION, ATMOSPHERE, CUSTOMER SERVICE, HOUSEKEEPING, BREAKFAST ETC… WE WILL BE BACK AGAIN, HOPEFULLY REAL SOON!!!
The exterior of the property looked a little sketchy…but we were pleasantly surprised with the room! The bed was very comfy, the room was spacious and very clean and modern!!! We had only booked for one night in case we wanted to change hotels, but we both immediately decided to spend the next night here as well. I have already told a couple of friends how pleased and surprised we were
Breakfast was great! The room was very clean and comfortable.
Food was good it would been nice to had bacon for breakfast.
The desk staff was very welcoming. They really wanted to make sure that out stay would be comfortable. The hospitality of the staff was really good. The rooms actually look like the picture posted, really good.
For more info click here.
Comfort Inn Pearl
Description:
Featuring free WiFi throughout the property, Comfort Inn Pearl offers accommodations in Pearl, just 3.5 miles from Jackson. Free private parking is available on site.Each room has a TV with satellite channels. Every room is fitted with a private bathroom fitted with a bathtub or shower.The nearest airport is Jackson-Evers Airport, 4.3 miles from Comfort Inn Pearl.
Reviews:
The bed and pillows were wonderful. Could have been a little cleaner. There were crumbs in the corner of the room and an earring on the floor. Tub had a ring!
Location was good for me .. beds were comfortable….
Bed was very good, lady taking care of breakfast did a good job,
The bed and pillows were very good. Gave you a choice of soft or firm pillows.
Very conveniently located near the airport and shopping.
For more info click here.
Quality Inn and Suites Jackson Int’l Airport
Description:
The Quality Inn & Suites Jackson Int’l Airport is located four miles from the Mississippi Braves Stadium and within 10 miles of Jackson State University and the Mississippi Colosseum.The Jackson-Evers International Airport is less than three miles away from the property. The Mistletoe Marketplace and Mississippi College are less than 18 miles from this Pearl hotel.The Jackson Zoological Park, USA International Ballet Competition, LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, CelticFest and downtown Jackson are nearby. Several restaurants and cocktail lounges are in the area.Guests will enjoy many superior amenities, including: free airport transportation, free full breakfast buffet, free (wired and wireless) high-speed Internet access, free long distance and local calls, and a free weekday newspaper. Guests can also use the fitness center and the outdoor pool.For business travelers, the hotel provides modern conveniences like free high-speed Internet access in all rooms. Some rooms feature spacious work areas. This Pearl hotel also has meeting facilities that accommodate most events and business functions. The 24-hour business center features a computer, printer and fax and copy services.All guest rooms include safes, coffee makers, hair dryers, irons and ironing boards. Some rooms feature microwaves and refrigerators.In addition to standard rooms, non-smoking rooms are available. Whirlpool King Suites are also available.A public microwave and laundry facilities are available for guest convenience.
Reviews:
It was only 15 minutes away from our destination for Saturday
The cleanliness of the place was great. Very comfortable
The beds were super comfortable. I like a soft bed tho so if you like a hard bed, well….. The staff was very accommodating. Since we were having a family reunion/birthday party they let us hang out in the lobby till 1:30am. We appreciated that very much. The location is very convenient and was a great hotel for the money we paid.
breakfast variety was great, and if you get a room with two beds but only use one, then you get ALL the pillows. there were 8 pillows. fyi: that’s enough for a modest throne of pillows.
My bed was very comfortable and I was satisfied with the breakfast.
For more info click here.
Candlewood Suites Pearl
Description:
This hotel in Pearl, Mississippi is a short drive from the Jackson-Evers International Airport. It features full kitchens and free high-speed internet throughout the hotel.Every suite at the Candlewood Suites Pearl includes a DVD player and cable TV. The suites feature a separate living area with a spacious work desk.The Pearl Candlewood Suites features a 24 hour fitness center, a business center and guest laundry on-site. The hotel offers a convenience store and barbecue grills on the patio.The JungleQueen Tropical Isle sightseeing/dinner cruise and the Riverwalk Arts and Entertainment District are within driving distance of the Pearl, Mississippi Candlewood Suites. There are many museums, parks and shopping located near the hotel.
Reviews:
It was very convenient to have the washing machines on sight, but what was even better, they were free!! The beds were very comfortable and the duvet cover was soft and very luxurious.
I service was excellent and helpful. Hotel was quiet, clean and comfortable.
A nice place to stay. We had no problem parking both our car and the moving truck. The room was clean and spacious.
Nice clean place … would definitely stay again if in the area.
The cost was good, plus the hotel was nearby local stores and restaurants.
For more info click here.
Top Hotels In Pearl Mississippi Conclusion:
The above is a top selection of the best hotels to stay in Pearl Mississippi to help you with your search. We know it’s not that easy to find the best hotel because there are just so many places to stay in Pearl Mississippi but we hope that the above-mentioned tips have helped you make a good decision.
We also hope that you enjoyed our top ten list of the best hotels in Pearl Mississippi. And we wish you all the best with your future stay!
Related links:
https://www.noplacecalledhome.com/top-10-best-car-amplifiers-5-channel-top-reviews/ https://www.noplacecalledhome.com/top-10-best-replacement-remotes-for-roku-top-reviews/
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A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel
Two years ago, I wrote about how privileged and lucky we are to be able to travel the world. No matter our circumstances, we are doing something most of the world will never get a chance to do. Most people never leave their own country, let alone their continent.
Even if we’re barely scraping two pennies together as we couchsurf the world, we’re pretty fortunate. I wrote back then (and sorry for quoting myself):
In the “quit your job to travel the world” cheerleading that happens so often on travel websites (including this one), we often forget that it’s not easy for everyone.
There are those for whom no mindset change, spending cuts, or budget tips will help them travel — those who are too sick, have parents or children to care for, face great debt, or work three jobs just to make rent.
After all, 2.8 billion people — nearly 40% of the world’s population — survive on less than $2 USD a day! In my home country of the United States, 14% of the population is below the poverty line, 46 million people are on food stamps, many have to work two jobs to get by, and we have a trillion dollars in student debt dragging people down.
Nothing any website can say will magically make travel a reality for those people.
Those of us who do travel are a privileged few.
That’s not to say that hard work doesn’t count, but hard work doesn’t exist in a bubble — the circumstances that create the opportunities for hard work to bear fruit are often just as important as the work itself: support from family and friends, jobs that allow for overtime, a strong currency, cheap flights, or golden passports allow you to find work overseas. All these things matter. Most of us who travel aren’t barely getting by or on social assistance nor do we wonder if we can afford the next meal.
Whether you are traveling the world on $10, $50, or $200 a day, the simple fact you are traveling for pleasure puts you in a global minority.
We’re a privileged bunch.
Traveling constantly teaches me to appreciate just how lucky I am to do what I do. It reminds me never to forget the fact that I have access education, support systems, and resources most of the world doesn’t. My visit to Madagascar in September was my most recent reminder of this. Madagascar is a country of 20 million people that sees only 300,000 tourists a year. In Madagascar, 90% of the population lives in poverty, and 25% live in areas prone to natural disaster. Almost half of all children under five are malnourished, and the GNP is just $420 per capita (with 92% of the population living on $2 a day). Madagascar is also one of the ten countries most at risk from the effects of climate change. The country is 152 of 188 on the UN Human Development Index. Things are so bad there was actually a recent outbreak of plague. Yes, THE PLAGUE.
While I’ve seen poverty before on my travels, it’s never been as open, vivid, and widespread as what I saw in Madagascar.
My guide Patrick told me about Madagascar’s plight: corruption, environmental degradation, poverty, poor infrastructure, and a lack of education (including sex education) that has led to overpopulation, too many kids, not enough jobs, and a vicious cycle.
In Madagascar the roads have more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese, and there are too many cars and frequent accidents. Going 250km can take up to eight hours. While I was there, a bridge on the only north-south road collapsed because a truck was too heavy for it (weight station bribes are frequent). We had to wade through a river for another bus to pick us up on the other side.
And trains? The three train lines, built by the French in the 1960s, run only a few times a month, are mostly used for freight, and frequently break down. They are worse than the roads.
Madagascar is a place where houses reminded me of early colonial US settlers: dirt and mud homes with straw roofs and one tiny window for air. I visited a few villages, and inside these homes, I immediately noticed the musty air and lack of ventilation. I thought to myself, This is how people get respiratory diseases.
It is a country where kids wear an amalgamation of whatever they can find — and more often than not, it is filled with holes.
It is a place where people live in shantytowns and on riverbanks where they also dry their clothes (and where it floods constantly during the rainy season). They fish and farm in urban areas next to factories dumping pollution.
It is a country where I saw people mining for sapphires in conditions so harsh it could only be described as a scene out of Blood Diamond. This is place where the mining industry keeps people in company towns under terrible conditions simply because they know the people have no other option.
It is a place where the kind of poverty you read about became very, very real.
This is not to say I never knew this stuff existed. I’m not naïve or stupid. I read the news. I’ve been around the world. I’ve seen corruption, political turmoil, and poverty before. But it’s one thing to read about stark poverty in the news and it’s another to see it in front of you. It’s another to be confronted with it and have it confront your views.
This isn’t a situation where it’s like “Ohh, wow, it’s poverty! Let’s go take a look!”
This is one of those situations where you feel like you’re seeing for the first time.
This is one of those situations where your bubble bursts and what you see on TV and the news goes from abstract to real.
It’s become so easy nowadays to travel in your comfort zone and never come face to face with aspects of the world that may utterly change who you are and what you think. It’s easy to visit developing or developed countries, stay on the backpacker trail, and never see anything that makes us confront our privilege. It’s easy to only see what you want to see, to stare at Facebook in hostels, visit backpacker bars, take big-bus tours, fly from resort to resort, and attend cultural events designed for tourists.
If travel is meant to push you out of your comfort zone and expand your mind, you need to visit places that do so. To me this is part of the beauty of travel. It forces you outside your bubble, which adds great perspective to life.
You realize how lucky you are to be able to travel — while getting to know how most of the world really lives. To see it, to experience it. While we argue on Facebook and debate Twitter memes, kids go to bed hungry across the world (and sadly too often in developed countries too).
This is not to say I am arguing for “poverty tourism,” but going to places so different from your own can open your mind to different cultures, lifestyles, behaviors, and income levels.
The locals in Madagascar were friendly, welcoming, and hospitable. They were genuinely curious in our conversations and appreciative of the fact we were there. They never made me feel like I didn’t belong. I loved all my interactions with people in the country and the happy smiles they had on their faces. I’m sure they would all love a little bit more fresh water, health care, food, and basic infrastructure. But it was nice to see kids playing in the streets not glued to their iphone. It was nice to remember that there’s so much beyond consumerism.
My trip to Madagascar was a deeply profound one because it pulled me out of my bubble and made me remember that’s there is stark inequality in the world and made want to do more about it.
It was a reminder to resubscribe to the Ralph Waldo Emerson school of thought:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Words without action are nothing. I must not become too selfish and I must endeavor more to give back to the places that give me so much.
So, as I end this article, I want to highlight some good local development organizations that are working to improve the living conditions in Madagascar. I donated $250 to each already and will match every dollar you all contribute up to another $500 per organization.
Feedback Madagascar is an organization that helps to alleviate poverty by working directly with communities to recognize the relationship between poverty, environmental degradation, and poor health. It gives priority to project sites in remote areas.
SEED Madagascar specializes in sustainable development and conservation projects in the southeastern part of Madagascar. Its projects include school building, natural resource management, environmental conservation, and more.
Madalief is a nonprofit organization run by a small group in the Netherlands, and it aims to give poor children in Madagascar a better future. Madalief also helps offer employment to locals on the project site, like at its eco-social hotel in Ambositra (which I stayed in).
Hope For Madagascar – With a focus on disadvantaged children and women, Hope For Madagascar builds and repairs schools and offers scholarships to children in need. It also works to improve village self-sufficiency through clean water and permaculture projects.
Reef Doctor – This non-profit has been implementing conservation projects in southwest Madagascar for 15 years. Reef Doctor works to restore and preserve vulnerable habitats and overexploited resources, while also creating projects to alleviate poverty in Madagascar.
In a country where a meal is less than a dollar, corruption is rife, and higher education is uncommon, a little can go a very, very long way.
I encourage you to seek out destinations that make you rethink your life; to find organizations that help others and the environment when you travel; to get off the tourist trail, expand your mind, open your heart, and, as Gandhi said, be the change we wish to see the in the world.
P.S. – I’m hosting a community travel meetup in NYC on November 30th! If you want to meet other travelers, enjoy some cheap drinks, and hang out with the Nomadic Matt team then be sure to come by! You can find all the details on Facebook!
P.P.S. – Want to win a free trip around the world? I’m giving away over $18,000 to one lucky person so that they can travel the world! Check out the contest details to find out how you can make your travel dreams a reality!
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A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel
Two years ago, I wrote about how privileged and lucky we are to be able to travel the world. No matter our circumstances, we are doing something most of the world will never get a chance to do. Most people never leave their own country, let alone their continent.
Even if we’re barely scraping two pennies together as we couchsurf the world, we’re pretty fortunate. I wrote back then (and sorry for quoting myself):
In the “quit your job to travel the world” cheerleading that happens so often on travel websites (including this one), we often forget that it’s not easy for everyone.
There are those for whom no mindset change, spending cuts, or budget tips will help them travel — those who are too sick, have parents or children to care for, face great debt, or work three jobs just to make rent.
After all, 2.8 billion people — nearly 40% of the world’s population — survive on less than $2 USD a day! In my home country of the United States, 14% of the population is below the poverty line, 46 million people are on food stamps, many have to work two jobs to get by, and we have a trillion dollars in student debt dragging people down.
Nothing any website can say will magically make travel a reality for those people.
Those of us who do travel are a privileged few.
That’s not to say that hard work doesn’t count, but hard work doesn’t exist in a bubble — the circumstances that create the opportunities for hard work to bear fruit are often just as important as the work itself: support from family and friends, jobs that allow for overtime, a strong currency, cheap flights, or golden passports allow you to find work overseas. All these things matter. Most of us who travel aren’t barely getting by or on social assistance nor do we wonder if we can afford the next meal.
Whether you are traveling the world on $10, $50, or $200 a day, the simple fact you are traveling for pleasure puts you in a global minority.
We’re a privileged bunch.
Traveling constantly teaches me to appreciate just how lucky I am to do what I do. It reminds me never to forget the fact that I have access education, support systems, and resources most of the world doesn’t. My visit to Madagascar in September was my most recent reminder of this. Madagascar is a country of 20 million people that sees only 300,000 tourists a year. In Madagascar, 90% of the population lives in poverty, and 25% live in areas prone to natural disaster. Almost half of all children under five are malnourished, and the GNP is just $420 per capita (with 92% of the population living on $2 a day). Madagascar is also one of the ten countries most at risk from the effects of climate change. The country is 152 of 188 on the UN Human Development Index. Things are so bad there was actually a recent outbreak of plague. Yes, THE PLAGUE.
While I’ve seen poverty before on my travels, it’s never been as open, vivid, and widespread as what I saw in Madagascar.
My guide Patrick told me about Madagascar’s plight: corruption, environmental degradation, poverty, poor infrastructure, and a lack of education (including sex education) that has led to overpopulation, too many kids, not enough jobs, and a vicious cycle.
In Madagascar the roads have more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese, and there are too many cars and frequent accidents. Going 250km can take up to eight hours. While I was there, a bridge on the only north-south road collapsed because a truck was too heavy for it (weight station bribes are frequent). We had to wade through a river for another bus to pick us up on the other side.
And trains? The three train lines, built by the French in the 1960s, run only a few times a month, are mostly used for freight, and frequently break down. They are worse than the roads.
Madagascar is a place where houses reminded me of early colonial US settlers: dirt and mud homes with straw roofs and one tiny window for air. I visited a few villages, and inside these homes, I immediately noticed the musty air and lack of ventilation. I thought to myself, This is how people get respiratory diseases.
It is a country where kids wear an amalgamation of whatever they can find — and more often than not, it is filled with holes.
It is a place where people live in shantytowns and on riverbanks where they also dry their clothes (and where it floods constantly during the rainy season). They fish and farm in urban areas next to factories dumping pollution.
It is a country where I saw people mining for sapphires in conditions so harsh it could only be described as a scene out of Blood Diamond. This is place where the mining industry keeps people in company towns under terrible conditions simply because they know the people have no other option.
It is a place where the kind of poverty you read about became very, very real.
This is not to say I never knew this stuff existed. I’m not naïve or stupid. I read the news. I’ve been around the world. I’ve seen corruption, political turmoil, and poverty before. But it’s one thing to read about stark poverty in the news and it’s another to see it in front of you. It’s another to be confronted with it and have it confront your views.
This isn’t a situation where it’s like “Ohh, wow, it’s poverty! Let’s go take a look!”
This is one of those situations where you feel like you’re seeing for the first time.
This is one of those situations where your bubble bursts and what you see on TV and the news goes from abstract to real.
It’s become so easy nowadays to travel in your comfort zone and never come face to face with aspects of the world that may utterly change who you are and what you think. It’s easy to visit developing or developed countries, stay on the backpacker trail, and never see anything that makes us confront our privilege. It’s easy to only see what you want to see, to stare at Facebook in hostels, visit backpacker bars, take big-bus tours, fly from resort to resort, and attend cultural events designed for tourists.
If travel is meant to push you out of your comfort zone and expand your mind, you need to visit places that do so. To me this is part of the beauty of travel. It forces you outside your bubble, which adds great perspective to life.
You realize how lucky you are to be able to travel — while getting to know how most of the world really lives. To see it, to experience it. While we argue on Facebook and debate Twitter memes, kids go to bed hungry across the world (and sadly too often in developed countries too).
This is not to say I am arguing for “poverty tourism,” but going to places so different from your own can open your mind to different cultures, lifestyles, behaviors, and income levels.
The locals in Madagascar were friendly, welcoming, and hospitable. They were genuinely curious in our conversations and appreciative of the fact we were there. They never made me feel like I didn’t belong. I loved all my interactions with people in the country and the happy smiles they had on their faces. I’m sure they would all love a little bit more fresh water, health care, food, and basic infrastructure. But it was nice to see kids playing in the streets not glued to their iphone. It was nice to remember that there’s so much beyond consumerism.
My trip to Madagascar was a deeply profound one because it pulled me out of my bubble and made me remember that’s there is stark inequality in the world and made want to do more about it.
It was a reminder to resubscribe to the Ralph Waldo Emerson school of thought:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Words without action are nothing. I must not become too selfish and I must endeavor more to give back to the places that give me so much.
So, as I end this article, I want to highlight some good local development organizations that are working to improve the living conditions in Madagascar. I donated $250 to each already and will match every dollar you all contribute up to another $500 per organization.
Feedback Madagascar is an organization that helps to alleviate poverty by working directly with communities to recognize the relationship between poverty, environmental degradation, and poor health. It gives priority to project sites in remote areas.
SEED Madagascar specializes in sustainable development and conservation projects in the southeastern part of Madagascar. Its projects include school building, natural resource management, environmental conservation, and more.
Madalief is a nonprofit organization run by a small group in the Netherlands, and it aims to give poor children in Madagascar a better future. Madalief also helps offer employment to locals on the project site, like at its eco-social hotel in Ambositra (which I stayed in).
Hope For Madagascar – With a focus on disadvantaged children and women, Hope For Madagascar builds and repairs schools and offers scholarships to children in need. It also works to improve village self-sufficiency through clean water and permaculture projects.
Reef Doctor – This non-profit has been implementing conservation projects in southwest Madagascar for 15 years. Reef Doctor works to restore and preserve vulnerable habitats and overexploited resources, while also creating projects to alleviate poverty in Madagascar.
In a country where a meal is less than a dollar, corruption is rife, and higher education is uncommon, a little can go a very, very long way.
I encourage you to seek out destinations that make you rethink your life; to find organizations that help others and the environment when you travel; to get off the tourist trail, expand your mind, open your heart, and, as Gandhi said, be the change we wish to see the in the world.
P.S. – I’m hosting a community travel meetup in NYC on November 30th! If you want to meet other travelers, enjoy some cheap drinks, and hang out with the Nomadic Matt team then be sure to come by! You can find all the details on Facebook!
P.P.S. – Want to win a free trip around the world? I’m giving away over $18,000 to one lucky person so that they can travel the world! Check out the contest details to find out how you can make your travel dreams a reality!
The post A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
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theladyjstyle · 6 years
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Two years ago, I wrote about how privileged and lucky we are to be able to travel the world. No matter our circumstances, we are doing something most of the world will never get a chance to do. Most people never leave their own country, let alone their continent.
Even if we’re barely scraping two pennies together as we couchsurf the world, we’re pretty fortunate. I wrote back then (and sorry for quoting myself):
In the “quit your job to travel the world” cheerleading that happens so often on travel websites (including this one), we often forget that it’s not easy for everyone.
There are those for whom no mindset change, spending cuts, or budget tips will help them travel — those who are too sick, have parents or children to care for, face great debt, or work three jobs just to make rent.
After all, 2.8 billion people — nearly 40% of the world’s population — survive on less than $2 USD a day! In my home country of the United States, 14% of the population is below the poverty line, 46 million people are on food stamps, many have to work two jobs to get by, and we have a trillion dollars in student debt dragging people down.
Nothing any website can say will magically make travel a reality for those people.
Those of us who do travel are a privileged few.
That’s not to say that hard work doesn’t count, but hard work doesn’t exist in a bubble — the circumstances that create the opportunities for hard work to bear fruit are often just as important as the work itself: support from family and friends, jobs that allow for overtime, a strong currency, cheap flights, or golden passports allow you to find work overseas. All these things matter. Most of us who travel aren’t barely getting by or on social assistance nor do we wonder if we can afford the next meal.
Whether you are traveling the world on $10, $50, or $200 a day, the simple fact you are traveling for pleasure puts you in a global minority.
We’re a privileged bunch.
Traveling constantly teaches me to appreciate just how lucky I am to do what I do. It reminds me never to forget the fact that I have access education, support systems, and resources most of the world doesn’t. My visit to Madagascar in September was my most recent reminder of this. Madagascar is a country of 20 million people that sees only 300,000 tourists a year. In Madagascar, 90% of the population lives in poverty, and 25% live in areas prone to natural disaster. Almost half of all children under five are malnourished, and the GNP is just $420 per capita (with 92% of the population living on $2 a day). Madagascar is also one of the ten countries most at risk from the effects of climate change. The country is 152 of 188 on the UN Human Development Index. Things are so bad there was actually a recent outbreak of plague. Yes, THE PLAGUE.
While I’ve seen poverty before on my travels, it’s never been as open, vivid, and widespread as what I saw in Madagascar.
My guide Patrick told me about Madagascar’s plight: corruption, environmental degradation, poverty, poor infrastructure, and a lack of education (including sex education) that has led to overpopulation, too many kids, not enough jobs, and a vicious cycle.
In Madagascar the roads have more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese, and there are too many cars and frequent accidents. Going 250km can take up to eight hours. While I was there, a bridge on the only north-south road collapsed because a truck was too heavy for it (weight station bribes are frequent). We had to wade through a river for another bus to pick us up on the other side.
And trains? The three train lines, built by the French in the 1960s, run only a few times a month, are mostly used for freight, and frequently break down. They are worse than the roads.
Madagascar is a place where houses reminded me of early colonial US settlers: dirt and mud homes with straw roofs and one tiny window for air. I visited a few villages, and inside these homes, I immediately noticed the musty air and lack of ventilation. I thought to myself, This is how people get respiratory diseases.
It is a country where kids wear an amalgamation of whatever they can find — and more often than not, it is filled with holes.
It is a place where people live in shantytowns and on riverbanks where they also dry their clothes (and where it floods constantly during the rainy season). They fish and farm in urban areas next to factories dumping pollution.
It is a country where I saw people mining for sapphires in conditions so harsh it could only be described as a scene out of Blood Diamond. This is place where the mining industry keeps people in company towns under terrible conditions simply because they know the people have no other option.
It is a place where the kind of poverty you read about became very, very real.
This is not to say I never knew this stuff existed. I’m not naïve or stupid. I read the news. I’ve been around the world. I’ve seen corruption, political turmoil, and poverty before. But it’s one thing to read about stark poverty in the news and it’s another to see it in front of you. It’s another to be confronted with it and have it confront your views.
This isn’t a situation where it’s like “Ohh, wow, it’s poverty! Let’s go take a look!”
This is one of those situations where you feel like you’re seeing for the first time.
This is one of those situations where your bubble bursts and what you see on TV and the news goes from abstract to real.
It’s become so easy nowadays to travel in your comfort zone and never come face to face with aspects of the world that may utterly change who you are and what you think. It’s easy to visit developing or developed countries, stay on the backpacker trail, and never see anything that makes us confront our privilege. It’s easy to only see what you want to see, to stare at Facebook in hostels, visit backpacker bars, take big-bus tours, fly from resort to resort, and attend cultural events designed for tourists.
If travel is meant to push you out of your comfort zone and expand your mind, you need to visit places that do so. To me this is part of the beauty of travel. It forces you outside your bubble, which adds great perspective to life.
You realize how lucky you are to be able to travel — while getting to know how most of the world really lives. To see it, to experience it. While we argue on Facebook and debate Twitter memes, kids go to bed hungry across the world (and sadly too often in developed countries too).
This is not to say I am arguing for “poverty tourism,” but going to places so different from your own can open your mind to different cultures, lifestyles, behaviors, and income levels.
The locals in Madagascar were friendly, welcoming, and hospitable. They were genuinely curious in our conversations and appreciative of the fact we were there. They never made me feel like I didn’t belong. I loved all my interactions with people in the country and the happy smiles they had on their faces. I’m sure they would all love a little bit more fresh water, health care, food, and basic infrastructure. But it was nice to see kids playing in the streets not glued to their iphone. It was nice to remember that there’s so much beyond consumerism.
My trip to Madagascar was a deeply profound one because it pulled me out of my bubble and made me remember that’s there is stark inequality in the world and made want to do more about it.
It was a reminder to resubscribe to the Ralph Waldo Emerson school of thought:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Words without action are nothing. I must not become too selfish and I must endeavor more to give back to the places that give me so much.
So, as I end this article, I want to highlight some good local development organizations that are working to improve the living conditions in Madagascar. I donated $250 to each already and will match every dollar you all contribute up to another $500 per organization.
Feedback Madagascar is an organization that helps to alleviate poverty by working directly with communities to recognize the relationship between poverty, environmental degradation, and poor health. It gives priority to project sites in remote areas.
SEED Madagascar specializes in sustainable development and conservation projects in the southeastern part of Madagascar. Its projects include school building, natural resource management, environmental conservation, and more.
Madalief is a nonprofit organization run by a small group in the Netherlands, and it aims to give poor children in Madagascar a better future. Madalief also helps offer employment to locals on the project site, like at its eco-social hotel in Ambositra (which I stayed in).
Hope For Madagascar – With a focus on disadvantaged children and women, Hope For Madagascar builds and repairs schools and offers scholarships to children in need. It also works to improve village self-sufficiency through clean water and permaculture projects.
Reef Doctor – This non-profit has been implementing conservation projects in southwest Madagascar for 15 years. Reef Doctor works to restore and preserve vulnerable habitats and overexploited resources, while also creating projects to alleviate poverty in Madagascar.
In a country where a meal is less than a dollar, corruption is rife, and higher education is uncommon, a little can go a very, very long way.
I encourage you to seek out destinations that make you rethink your life; to find organizations that help others and the environment when you travel; to get off the tourist trail, expand your mind, open your heart, and, as Gandhi said, be the change we wish to see the in the world.
P.S. – I’m hosting a community travel meetup in NYC on November 30th! If you want to meet other travelers, enjoy some cheap drinks, and hang out with the Nomadic Matt team then be sure to come by! You can find all the details on Facebook!
P.P.S. – Want to win a free trip around the world? I’m giving away over $18,000 to one lucky person so that they can travel the world! Check out the contest details to find out how you can make your travel dreams a reality!
The post A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel http://ift.tt/2jc3Aqv
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tamboradventure · 6 years
Text
A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel
Two years ago, I wrote about how privileged and lucky we are to be able to travel the world. No matter our circumstances, we are doing something most of the world will never get a chance to do. Most people never leave their own country, let alone their continent.
Even if we’re barely scraping two pennies together as we couchsurf the world, we’re pretty fortunate. I wrote back then (and sorry for quoting myself):
In the “quit your job to travel the world” cheerleading that happens so often on travel websites (including this one), we often forget that it’s not easy for everyone.
There are those for whom no mindset change, spending cuts, or budget tips will help them travel — those who are too sick, have parents or children to care for, face great debt, or work three jobs just to make rent.
After all, 2.8 billion people — nearly 40% of the world’s population — survive on less than $2 USD a day! In my home country of the United States, 14% of the population is below the poverty line, 46 million people are on food stamps, many have to work two jobs to get by, and we have a trillion dollars in student debt dragging people down.
Nothing any website can say will magically make travel a reality for those people.
Those of us who do travel are a privileged few.
That’s not to say that hard work doesn’t count, but hard work doesn’t exist in a bubble — the circumstances that create the opportunities for hard work to bear fruit are often just as important as the work itself: support from family and friends, jobs that allow for overtime, a strong currency, cheap flights, or golden passports allow you to find work overseas. All these things matter. Most of us who travel aren’t barely getting by or on social assistance nor do we wonder if we can afford the next meal.
Whether you are traveling the world on $10, $50, or $200 a day, the simple fact you are traveling for pleasure puts you in a global minority.
We’re a privileged bunch.
Traveling constantly teaches me to appreciate just how lucky I am to do what I do. It reminds me never to forget the fact that I have access education, support systems, and resources most of the world doesn’t. My visit to Madagascar in September was my most recent reminder of this. Madagascar is a country of 20 million people that sees only 300,000 tourists a year. In Madagascar, 90% of the population lives in poverty, and 25% live in areas prone to natural disaster. Almost half of all children under five are malnourished, and the GNP is just $420 per capita (with 92% of the population living on $2 a day). Madagascar is also one of the ten countries most at risk from the effects of climate change. The country is 152 of 188 on the UN Human Development Index. Things are so bad there was actually a recent outbreak of plague. Yes, THE PLAGUE.
While I’ve seen poverty before on my travels, it’s never been as open, vivid, and widespread as what I saw in Madagascar.
My guide Patrick told me about Madagascar’s plight: corruption, environmental degradation, poverty, poor infrastructure, and a lack of education (including sex education) that has led to overpopulation, too many kids, not enough jobs, and a vicious cycle.
In Madagascar the roads have more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese, and there are too many cars and frequent accidents. Going 250km can take up to eight hours. While I was there, a bridge on the only north-south road collapsed because a truck was too heavy for it (weight station bribes are frequent). We had to wade through a river for another bus to pick us up on the other side.
And trains? The three train lines, built by the French in the 1960s, run only a few times a month, are mostly used for freight, and frequently break down. They are worse than the roads.
Madagascar is a place where houses reminded me of early colonial US settlers: dirt and mud homes with straw roofs and one tiny window for air. I visited a few villages, and inside these homes, I immediately noticed the musty air and lack of ventilation. I thought to myself, This is how people get respiratory diseases.
It is a country where kids wear an amalgamation of whatever they can find — and more often than not, it is filled with holes.
It is a place where people live in shantytowns and on riverbanks where they also dry their clothes (and where it floods constantly during the rainy season). They fish and farm in urban areas next to factories dumping pollution.
It is a country where I saw people mining for sapphires in conditions so harsh it could only be described as a scene out of Blood Diamond. This is place where the mining industry keeps people in company towns under terrible conditions simply because they know the people have no other option.
It is a place where the kind of poverty you read about became very, very real.
This is not to say I never knew this stuff existed. I’m not naïve or stupid. I read the news. I’ve been around the world. I’ve seen corruption, political turmoil, and poverty before. But it’s one thing to read about stark poverty in the news and it’s another to see it in front of you. It’s another to be confronted with it and have it confront your views.
This isn’t a situation where it’s like “Ohh, wow, it’s poverty! Let’s go take a look!”
This is one of those situations where you feel like you’re seeing for the first time.
This is one of those situations where your bubble bursts and what you see on TV and the news goes from abstract to real.
It’s become so easy nowadays to travel in your comfort zone and never come face to face with aspects of the world that may utterly change who you are and what you think. It’s easy to visit developing or developed countries, stay on the backpacker trail, and never see anything that makes us confront our privilege. It’s easy to only see what you want to see, to stare at Facebook in hostels, visit backpacker bars, take big-bus tours, fly from resort to resort, and attend cultural events designed for tourists.
If travel is meant to push you out of your comfort zone and expand your mind, you need to visit places that do so. To me this is part of the beauty of travel. It forces you outside your bubble, which adds great perspective to life.
You realize how lucky you are to be able to travel — while getting to know how most of the world really lives. To see it, to experience it. While we argue on Facebook and debate Twitter memes, kids go to bed hungry across the world (and sadly too often in developed countries too).
This is not to say I am arguing for “poverty tourism,” but going to places so different from your own can open your mind to different cultures, lifestyles, behaviors, and income levels.
The locals in Madagascar were friendly, welcoming, and hospitable. They were genuinely curious in our conversations and appreciative of the fact we were there. They never made me feel like I didn’t belong. I loved all my interactions with people in the country and the happy smiles they had on their faces. I’m sure they would all love a little bit more fresh water, health care, food, and basic infrastructure. But it was nice to see kids playing in the streets not glued to their iphone. It was nice to remember that there’s so much beyond consumerism.
My trip to Madagascar was a deeply profound one because it pulled me out of my bubble and made me remember that’s there is stark inequality in the world and made want to do more about it.
It was a reminder to resubscribe to the Ralph Waldo Emerson school of thought:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Words without action are nothing. I must not become too selfish and I must endeavor more to give back to the places that give me so much.
So, as I end this article, I want to highlight some good local development organizations that are working to improve the living conditions in Madagascar. I donated $250 to each already and will match every dollar you all contribute up to another $500 per organization.
Feedback Madagascar is an organization that helps to alleviate poverty by working directly with communities to recognize the relationship between poverty, environmental degradation, and poor health. It gives priority to project sites in remote areas.
SEED Madagascar specializes in sustainable development and conservation projects in the southeastern part of Madagascar. Its projects include school building, natural resource management, environmental conservation, and more.
Madalief is a nonprofit organization run by a small group in the Netherlands, and it aims to give poor children in Madagascar a better future. Madalief also helps offer employment to locals on the project site, like at its eco-social hotel in Ambositra (which I stayed in).
Hope For Madagascar – With a focus on disadvantaged children and women, Hope For Madagascar builds and repairs schools and offers scholarships to children in need. It also works to improve village self-sufficiency through clean water and permaculture projects.
Reef Doctor – This non-profit has been implementing conservation projects in southwest Madagascar for 15 years. Reef Doctor works to restore and preserve vulnerable habitats and overexploited resources, while also creating projects to alleviate poverty in Madagascar.
In a country where a meal is less than a dollar, corruption is rife, and higher education is uncommon, a little can go a very, very long way.
I encourage you to seek out destinations that make you rethink your life; to find organizations that help others and the environment when you travel; to get off the tourist trail, expand your mind, open your heart, and, as Gandhi said, be the change we wish to see the in the world.
P.S. – I’m hosting a community travel meetup in NYC on November 30th! If you want to meet other travelers, enjoy some cheap drinks, and hang out with the Nomadic Matt team then be sure to come by! You can find all the details on Facebook!
P.P.S. – Want to win a free trip around the world? I’m giving away over $18,000 to one lucky person so that they can travel the world! Check out the contest details to find out how you can make your travel dreams a reality!
The post A Journey Through Madagascar: Notes on the Privilege of Travel appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.
from Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site http://ift.tt/2jc3Aqv via IFTTT
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melindarowens · 7 years
Text
What Rich Used To Be
From the Slope of Hope: I’ve had a lifelong fascination with wealth and, more recently, wealth disparity (for proof, look no further than the SocialTrade stack on this very topic). I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in a happy, financially-secure, but very much middle-class family. We lived in this house:
Everyone I knew had the same situation. We all had pretty much the same kind of house, the same quantity of toys, the same simple vacations………everything was so equal, you’d think we were living in some kind of socialist paradise.
We weren’t, of course, and there was, naturally, one “rich kid” in the neighborhood. Everything about his life was just a little bit nicer, starting with the house he lived in:
Doesn’t look too much different, does it? Well, that’s kind of the point of this post.
As a youngster, I was acutely aware of many differences between the life I had and the one my friend Steven (AKA the rich kid) had. Although many decades have passed since then, I don’t have to even try hard to remember some of those contrasts:
The White Carpet One of my most vivid memories was walking into Steven’s house and seeing stark-white wall-to-wall carpeting. In my house, we had four kids, and white carpet would have been just nuts to have. But in Steven’s, there it was, white and looking good as new. It helped, I suppose, that there was plastic runners, so you had to walk on them, as if it was a plastic sidewalk in the middle of the house. Even as a child, I thought it was kind of silly to carpet a house and then lay down a strip of plastic to protect it, but who was I to say?
The Treehouse In Steven’s back yard, there was the most gorgeous treehouse. His dad ran a Ford dealership, so I guess he could pretty easily afford a carpenter to come out and construct it for him. Now, when I say “gorgeous”, all I mean was that it looked good to my ten-year-old eyes. It was just a simple cube – – but it was made of high-quality wood, was obviously professionally-constructed, and conjured up much envy within me. I asked my dad every summer if I could have a treehouse, and the response was always the same: “I’ll think about it.” It never came.
The Thunderbird As I mentioned, Steven’s dad had a dealership (well, at least he was the general manager there), and their family had a nice, new “luxury” car. It was certainly fancier than our station wagon, and I was amazed that it had this thing called “Cruise Control”, which to my young mind meant the car would actually drive itself. Steven and I were in the back seat, and he told me that the little windows were called “opera windows”, which likewise sounded like something far more elegant and expensive than I’d ever own personally.
Dad Salaries I distinctly remember one conversation my friend and I had in which our father’s salaries came up. Now, I actually had no earthly clue what my father made, but for some reason I was feeling competitive and insecure that day, so I told Steven my father made $ 35,000 a year, which sounded tremendous to me. He countered that if MY dad made $ 35,000 a year, then HIS dad must make $ 50,000 a year. I shut up at that point, because I figured it must be true, given their apparently luxurious lifestyle.
The Boom Boom Cannon This one seemed to sting the most of all: one Christmas, my “big gift” was a plastic UFO that could fly by way of a motorized propeller. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the damn thing to fly, in spite of my father’s best efforts. So it was pretty disappointing. I visited Steven to see what he got for Christmas, and he was the proud owner of a tiny working cannon called the Boom Boom (yeah, safety concerns weren’t as prevalent those days……….this was actually a working cannon, with gunpowder, albeit very small). It was made of nice, heavy metal, and I’d never seen one before. It seemed like just about the best toy imaginable.
Looking back, it was as if my dad was 6 feet tall, just like everyone’s else’s dad, and here was my friend who had a dad that was 6 feet and 1 inch tall. Steven’s toys were just a LITTLE bit nicer. His house was a LITTLE bit cleaner. His vacations were a LITTLE bit fancier. But, in truth, the difference between his life and everyone else’s was really, really small. Back then, though, I always felt poor when I was with Steven.
These days, the difference isn’t between a 6 foot guy and someone 6’1″. It’s more like suddenly there are some people who are 900 feet tall – – 1500 feet tall – – 5000 feet tall. Their wealth is just as absurdly large as such heights would be, while at the same time the mass of humanity seems to be getting shorter by the week.
For decades – – mainly the 40s, 50s, and 60s – – wealth distribution in America was incredibly even. Someone very middle-of-the-road could still aspire to be “the rich guy” in town. If my father, for instance, got it in his head that he wanted to win the rat race in our neighborhood, it wouldn’t have been that difficult. It was totally feasible. That extra inch wasn’t unattainable.
Starting in the 70s, thought, and picking up speed in the 1980s, things started to change. Over the past third of a century, policy has clearly handed the wealth of the country over to the rich kids.
Notice the change that took place in 1982. Interestingly, that was exactly the same year that the original Forbes 400 list came out. Their timing couldn’t have been better, because the very existence of such a “rich list” was the equivalent of ringing in an era of plutocracy. But read what the list was like in the inaugural issue………
In the first Forbes 400 list, there were only 13 billionaires, and a net worth of 75 Million USD secured a spot on the list. The 1982 list represented 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. The 1982 Forbes 400 had 22.8% of the list composed of oil fortunes, with 15.3% from manufacturing, 9% from finance and only 3% from technology driven fortunes.
Being a billionaire was a big, big deal. Only 13 entries! These days, just to on the list at ALL, you need a net worth of at least $ 1.7 billion, 23 times higher than the original list. Amazingly, there are nearly 200 people who are billionaires that don’t even make it on the list at all, because they don’t have enough! So the 1982 list seems absolutely quaint in the modern era.
Life tends to move in cycles, and I doubt the scenario in which this massive disparity exists is a permanent feature of life. However, it will take many decades – – and probably more than a little social pain – – to share the wealth again.
All I can say to my younger self regarding my rich friend……….it really wasn’t so bad, and Boom Boom Cannon notwithstanding, financial life was a lot more evenly-balanced back then than it is now. And I still don’t have a treehouse.
source http://capitalisthq.com/what-rich-used-to-be/ from CapitalistHQ http://capitalisthq.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-rich-used-to-be.html
0 notes
everettwilkinson · 7 years
Text
What Rich Used To Be
From the Slope of Hope: I’ve had a lifelong fascination with wealth and, more recently, wealth disparity (for proof, look no further than the SocialTrade stack on this very topic). I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in a happy, financially-secure, but very much middle-class family. We lived in this house:
Everyone I knew had the same situation. We all had pretty much the same kind of house, the same quantity of toys, the same simple vacations………everything was so equal, you’d think we were living in some kind of socialist paradise.
We weren’t, of course, and there was, naturally, one “rich kid” in the neighborhood. Everything about his life was just a little bit nicer, starting with the house he lived in:
Doesn’t look too much different, does it? Well, that’s kind of the point of this post.
As a youngster, I was acutely aware of many differences between the life I had and the one my friend Steven (AKA the rich kid) had. Although many decades have passed since then, I don’t have to even try hard to remember some of those contrasts:
The White Carpet One of my most vivid memories was walking into Steven’s house and seeing stark-white wall-to-wall carpeting. In my house, we had four kids, and white carpet would have been just nuts to have. But in Steven’s, there it was, white and looking good as new. It helped, I suppose, that there was plastic runners, so you had to walk on them, as if it was a plastic sidewalk in the middle of the house. Even as a child, I thought it was kind of silly to carpet a house and then lay down a strip of plastic to protect it, but who was I to say?
The Treehouse In Steven’s back yard, there was the most gorgeous treehouse. His dad ran a Ford dealership, so I guess he could pretty easily afford a carpenter to come out and construct it for him. Now, when I say “gorgeous”, all I mean was that it looked good to my ten-year-old eyes. It was just a simple cube – – but it was made of high-quality wood, was obviously professionally-constructed, and conjured up much envy within me. I asked my dad every summer if I could have a treehouse, and the response was always the same: “I’ll think about it.” It never came.
The Thunderbird As I mentioned, Steven’s dad had a dealership (well, at least he was the general manager there), and their family had a nice, new “luxury” car. It was certainly fancier than our station wagon, and I was amazed that it had this thing called “Cruise Control”, which to my young mind meant the car would actually drive itself. Steven and I were in the back seat, and he told me that the little windows were called “opera windows”, which likewise sounded like something far more elegant and expensive than I’d ever own personally.
Dad Salaries I distinctly remember one conversation my friend and I had in which our father’s salaries came up. Now, I actually had no earthly clue what my father made, but for some reason I was feeling competitive and insecure that day, so I told Steven my father made $ 35,000 a year, which sounded tremendous to me. He countered that if MY dad made $ 35,000 a year, then HIS dad must make $ 50,000 a year. I shut up at that point, because I figured it must be true, given their apparently luxurious lifestyle.
The Boom Boom Cannon This one seemed to sting the most of all: one Christmas, my “big gift” was a plastic UFO that could fly by way of a motorized propeller. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the damn thing to fly, in spite of my father’s best efforts. So it was pretty disappointing. I visited Steven to see what he got for Christmas, and he was the proud owner of a tiny working cannon called the Boom Boom (yeah, safety concerns weren’t as prevalent those days……….this was actually a working cannon, with gunpowder, albeit very small). It was made of nice, heavy metal, and I’d never seen one before. It seemed like just about the best toy imaginable.
Looking back, it was as if my dad was 6 feet tall, just like everyone’s else’s dad, and here was my friend who had a dad that was 6 feet and 1 inch tall. Steven’s toys were just a LITTLE bit nicer. His house was a LITTLE bit cleaner. His vacations were a LITTLE bit fancier. But, in truth, the difference between his life and everyone else’s was really, really small. Back then, though, I always felt poor when I was with Steven.
These days, the difference isn’t between a 6 foot guy and someone 6’1″. It’s more like suddenly there are some people who are 900 feet tall – – 1500 feet tall – – 5000 feet tall. Their wealth is just as absurdly large as such heights would be, while at the same time the mass of humanity seems to be getting shorter by the week.
For decades – – mainly the 40s, 50s, and 60s – – wealth distribution in America was incredibly even. Someone very middle-of-the-road could still aspire to be “the rich guy” in town. If my father, for instance, got it in his head that he wanted to win the rat race in our neighborhood, it wouldn’t have been that difficult. It was totally feasible. That extra inch wasn’t unattainable.
Starting in the 70s, thought, and picking up speed in the 1980s, things started to change. Over the past third of a century, policy has clearly handed the wealth of the country over to the rich kids.
Notice the change that took place in 1982. Interestingly, that was exactly the same year that the original Forbes 400 list came out. Their timing couldn’t have been better, because the very existence of such a “rich list” was the equivalent of ringing in an era of plutocracy. But read what the list was like in the inaugural issue………
In the first Forbes 400 list, there were only 13 billionaires, and a net worth of 75 Million USD secured a spot on the list. The 1982 list represented 2.8% of the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. The 1982 Forbes 400 had 22.8% of the list composed of oil fortunes, with 15.3% from manufacturing, 9% from finance and only 3% from technology driven fortunes.
Being a billionaire was a big, big deal. Only 13 entries! These days, just to on the list at ALL, you need a net worth of at least $ 1.7 billion, 23 times higher than the original list. Amazingly, there are nearly 200 people who are billionaires that don’t even make it on the list at all, because they don’t have enough! So the 1982 list seems absolutely quaint in the modern era.
Life tends to move in cycles, and I doubt the scenario in which this massive disparity exists is a permanent feature of life. However, it will take many decades – – and probably more than a little social pain – – to share the wealth again.
All I can say to my younger self regarding my rich friend……….it really wasn’t so bad, and Boom Boom Cannon notwithstanding, financial life was a lot more evenly-balanced back then than it is now. And I still don’t have a treehouse.
from CapitalistHQ.com http://capitalisthq.com/what-rich-used-to-be/
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