#it’s been around since 2018 apparently but either way it’s best to just opt out
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Saturday, April 24, 2021
Burned out by the pandemic, 3 in 10 health-care workers consider leaving the profession
(Washington Post) It’s been months since Justin Meschler, 48, practiced medicine. And he wonders if he ever will again. He quit his job as an anesthesiologist during the pandemic last spring when fear began seeping into every part of his life. And what began as a few months off has now turned into something much longer. “I feel guilty for leaving. I think about the others who stayed on. I think about the patients I could have helped. I feel like I abandoned them,” Meschler said. “But mostly, I feel relieved.” A year into the pandemic, many others are joining Meschler at the door—an exodus fueled by burnout, trauma and disillusionment. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, roughly 3 in 10 health-care workers have weighed leaving their profession. More than half are burned out. And about 6 in 10 say stress from the pandemic has harmed their mental health. Many traced their disillusionment to how the pandemic exposed and magnified the broken parts of America’s health-care system. “You look at staffing, preparedness, what the priorities were for many hospitals during the crisis, and it’s clear the industry is driven by profits rather than well-being of patients or health workers,” Meschler said from his home in Louisville, Colo. “It makes you question the whole system.”
House Democrats pass D.C. statehood, launching bill into uncharted territory
(Washington Post) For the second time in history, the House passed legislation Thursday to make the District of Columbia the nation’s 51st state, bolstering momentum for a once-illusory goal that has become a pivotal tenet of the Democratic Party’s voting rights platform. The bill now heads to the Senate. But the political odds remain formidable. Republicans, who hold 50 seats, have branded the bill as a Democratic power grab because it would create two Senate seats for the deep-blue city. Not even all Senate Democrats have backed the bill as the clock ticks toward the 2022 midterm election. Voting rights groups have described a city of second-class citizens, a plurality of whom are Black, living in the nation’s capital without any say in the nation’s laws.
Bringing Up Baby, And Charging Them For It
(NPR) Foster care is a public service that federal law and all 50 state laws require the government to pay for. Foster care agencies are funded through a web of federal and state grants and subsidies, which, again, taxpayers are supposed to pay for. 10% of children in the US foster care system are entitled to Social Security (SS) benefits, either because their parents have died or because they have a physical or mental disability that would leave them in poverty without financial help. This money—typically more than $700 per month—is considered the children’s property under federal law. Congress never intended that the SS benefits owed these children would be a funding stream for their foster care services. The Marshall Project teamed up with NPR to expose how foster care agencies in at least 36 states and Washington, DC have been appropriating money owed to children in foster care to pay for the very services the government is supposed to provide with taxpayer dollars. Agencies do it by combing through their case files to find kids entitled to these benefits, then applying to SS to become each child’s financial representative, a process permitted by federal regulations. Once approved, the agencies take the money, almost always without notifying the children, their loved ones, or their lawyers. Child Trends research shows that state foster care agencies collected more than $165 million from foster children in 2018 alone. And SS data indicates the number is likely much higher.
Biden to recognize Armenian genocide
(Foreign Policy) According to multiple reports, U.S. President Joe Biden is to break a long-standing taboo this Saturday by officially recognizing the massacre of 1 million ethnic Armenian by the Ottoman Empire as a genocide. Biden had commemorated the Armenian genocide as a presidential candidate last year, but Saturday’s proclamation would make him the first sitting president to do so. The announcement is certain to anger NATO ally Turkey, which disputes the historical record and the use of the term.
Mexican mobile data law
(Foreign Policy) On Tuesday, a judge blocked part of a new Mexican law that requires cellphone users to submit biometric data, such as fingerprints and eye scans. The measure had drawn pushback from privacy and consumer safety advocates. The judge wrote there was no causal relationship between such data gathering and better investigations of crimes—one official justification for the new law. It will now face further examination in the courts.
Human excrement ‘increasingly serious problem’ as Britain opens up but many bathrooms don’t
(Washington Post) With Britain slowly easing its way out of its third nationwide lockdown, people across the country are enjoying a return to a sense of normalcy. Shops and gyms have reopened and parks are once again heaving with groups of up to six people—for many, it’s a welcome step forward and a joy to be back socializing outdoors. But what happens when nature calls? The issue of where to relieve oneself in a world where so many facilities have been shut in recent months has long been a concern in Britain. Many public bathrooms, in particular, were closed during the various lockdowns and remain unavailable. Across the country, police patrols have been stepped up in a bid to deter people from urinating in bushes, on beaches and on private allotments. The problem isn’t just in parks, with towns and cities complaining that people spending time outdoors had no choice but to defecate in the street—much to the horror of local residents who said the odor was so bad on certain streets they were unable to open their windows and had to clean up after others with bleach and water. The lack of facilities has also meant people were unable to wash their hands—an instruction the government has repeatedly used in its messaging to curb the spread of infections over the past year.
Many in Western Europe and U.S. Want Economic Changes as Pandemic Continues
(Pew Research Center) The coronavirus outbreak has caused, among other things, a debate around how to best rebuild national economies ravaged by the pandemic. Across the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, significant shares believe their economic system needs either major changes or a complete overhaul, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in the late fall of 2020. Few in the four countries say their economy does not need any changes. The desire for change is strongest in France, where seven-in-ten believe the economic system in their country needs either major changes or to be completely reformed. Half share this view in the U.S., UK and Germany, while around four-in-ten in these three nations say minor changes are warranted. Few would opt for no adjustments to the economic system, ranging from 3% in France to 12% in the U.S. Of the five policies tested, the idea of government-sponsored job and skills training for workers garners the highest shares. Sizable shares in these countries also believe it is very important for their government to implement policies targeted at helping those struggling financially, building more public housing, and increasing government benefits to the poor, all three of which are of high import for around four-in-ten or more in each country.
Russia orders troops back to base after buildup near Ukraine
(Reuters) Russia announced on Thursday it was ordering troops back to base from the area near the border with Ukraine, apparently calling an end to a buildup of tens of thousands of soldiers that had alarmed the West. A confirmed pullout of the troops brought in on top of the permanent contingent will likely be welcomed by Western countries that had been expressing alarm at the prospect of further Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine. Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian government in the region since 2014. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said he had ordered troops involved in exercises to return to their bases by May 1, as they had completed what he called an “inspection” in the border area.
US troops in Afghanistan begin packing gear in pullout prep
(AP) The U.S. military has begun shipping equipment and winding down contracts with local service providers ahead of the May 1 start of the final phase of its military pullout from Afghanistan, a U.S. Defense Department official said Thursday. The pullout under U.S. President Joe Biden marks the end of America’s longest war after a 20-year military engagement. Currently, some 2,500 U.S. soldiers and about 7,000 allied forces are still in Afghanistan. In February last year, the U.S. military began closing its smaller bases. In mid-April, the Biden administration announced that the final phase of the withdrawal would begin May 1 and be completed before Sept. 11. Since then, the military has been shipping equipment and winding down local contracts for services such as trash pickup and maintenance work, the U.S. official told The Associated Press. The Taliban, meanwhile, were non-committal when asked by the AP whether the insurgents would attack departing U.S. and NATO troops. “It’s too early for these issues, nothing can be said about the future,” said Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem.
Indian coronavirus cases surge as health system staggers
(Reuters) India reported the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus infections for a second day on Friday, surpassing 330,000 new cases, as it struggles with a health system overwhelmed by patients and plagued by accidents. Deaths in the past 24 hours also jumped to a record 2,263, the health ministry said, while officials across northern and western India, including the capital, New Delhi, warned most hospitals were full and running out of oxygen. The surge in cases came as a fire in a hospital in a suburb of Mumbai treating COVID-19 patients killed 13 people, the latest accident to hit a facility crowded with virus sufferers.
Violence in Jerusalem
(Foreign Policy) Dozens were injured in Jerusalem on Thursday night as anti-Arab protests led by far-right Jewish activists turned violent. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 105 people injured in the clashes as Haaretz reported more than 30 were arrests. The violence follows a week of assaults on Arab Israelis and Palestinians by Jewish Israeli residents. Tensions rose between the communities last week after videos of Palestinians assaulting Jews were posted on TikTok.
Crew Of ‘Ever Given’ Could Be Stuck On The Big Boat For Years
(Jalopnik) The news cycle may have moved on from the Ever Given, but the Ever Given still hasn’t moved on from its holding spot in the Great Bitter Lake in the middle of the Suez Canal after almost a month. The crew still stuck on the ship is very concerned about this, as there seems to be no sign that an agreement will be reached between Egypt and the Ever Given’s owners any time soon. Until there is an agreement in place, the crew is stuck there, and they could be for years. Apparently, it isn’t unusual for crew members to get trapped on ships caught in the middle of international shipping disputes. The Guardian details the fate of one sailor who has been the lone guardian of a ship for the last two years in the Gulf of Suez only 50 miles south of where the Ever Given has been held since it was freed back in March. He’s only allowed off the ship for two hour intervals to get food and water. The crew is stuck in the middle of a legal battle between the Suez Canal Authority, which is basically a stand-in for the Egyptian government, the owners of the Ever Given, Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd and the operators of the ship, a German company called Bernhard Schulte. The SCA is demanding $916 million in damages due to the blockage while Shoei Kisen disputes those charges. Until the company pays up, the government of Egypt is holding on to the ship. The 26 crew members are reportedly in good spirits, but apprehensive according to representatives from the National Union of Seafarers of India, the trade union representing the Ever Given’s crew.
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11/01/2018 Ottawa Recap
I ended up getting to the venue way earlier than I wanted to. The venue was also a community center, and I was too cautious to go in and ask about the situation (a few braver souls got to wait inside). Eventually, I saw a pair who were evidently heading for the show, and chased after them, figuring they knew what they were doing. It turned out to be Ana and @shred-flanders, who I had met in Milwaukee and Chicago in March! They had no idea where we were supposed to be either, and we huddled outside until the people waiting inside were kicked out of the warm lobby to become the start of the line. I then met Mel, who was attending every Canadian show on the tour. We all stood around making small talk and trying not to be hit by the cars, as we had been directed to form a line in an active driveway. Regardless of the venue’s planning skills, they did manage to get us into the venue fairly efficiently, and I ended up to the left of the keyboard, far enough over to see the drums. The stage was on the smaller side, curved, and not too tall.
As we waited, we watched Fresh setting up. At one point he chucked a roll of duct tape from the drum riser all the way across the stage towards the mat for the Quiet Storm section. Later, when he went to retrieve the tape and use it to secure the mat, Mel asked about his socks for the day. He showed them off, and then commented on our conversation, which he apparently had overheard, about the new pre show mix. He told us all that Flans had just redone the whole thing.
They came onstage not to Gypsy but to Nude Clown, which was the first time I’d heard it used as intro music. They had Marty start things off my going crazy on the drums, as is usual for the tour. What was unusual was Dan adding in a bit of a guitar riff. He got surprised looks from Danny and Marty but continued on, much to Danny’s amusement.
They started off with Damn Good Times, which was unsurprising. Flans had expanded his taking advantage of the song’s interlude since New York, telling us all “There is an indeterminate amount of time between the first chorus and the second verse of this song, so we will now being the question and answer portion of out show. People will becoming around with microphones. Saul, turn the house lights up.” The house lights did go up, briefly, before being turned down again while Flans announced they would be playing two sets and they continued with the song.
From there, they played I Left My Body, and then Your Racist Friend. Towards the start of the song, Dan aimed his guitar offstage and, staring along the neck with the body up near his face, ‘shot’ someone (I think it must have been Curt) offstage, laughing as he did so. Despite being hit with Dan’s imaginary bullet, Curt’s grand entrance as fantastic as ever. He took his place on his riser as the song ended and they went straight into Particle Man. I believe it was during this song where Danny recognized me with a smile. Linnell played Here You Come Again for the interlude, playing a whole verse on accordion alone before adding in the lyrics. Flans gave Jade his pick after the song was over. I knew what was coming, but I’m not sure if she realized as they started into Famous Polka. Flans and Linnell executed a wonderfully in-synch kick, then Flans headed back over to Jade and she got her chance to play his guitar.
I’m not sure when it began, but Dan ended up playing his acoustic guitar for the majority of this set. John Burnette had taken his electric offstage to fix some issue with it, and evidently Dan had opted to stick with the acoustic rather than have his backup brought out to him.
Flans stopped to tell us all that the next two songs were new. He warned us that they had already locked the doors, but asked us to “pretend you are at another show and it’s about to be the best part of that show.” After cajoling us into cheering for the new songs, Flans introduced the contra alto clarinet. He explained that it was called the paper clip model but “we’d love to see the paper it clips.” They decided that the paper must be 8 foot by 11 foot before starting into All Time What.
After they finished, Flans introduced Dan on the keyboard while Linnell went to get his accordion. We cheered for Dan, who played a single chord before declaring “That’s it.”
By that time, Linnell was passing by Dan’s right shoulder and Flans commented that it would be funny if Linnell told Dan to “Get out.”
“That would make my ‘World’s Best Boss’ mug ironic.”
Everyone onstage was suddenly fascinated by the mug. Dan picked it up to look at it, asking Linnell off-mic “Who got you that?” As he set it down, Danny leaned over to take a look, and Flans walked all the way around from his mic stand so he could see.
“It’s pretty much what it says on the mug,” Linnell muttered, a bit embarrassed, and they started into Let’s Get This Over With.
After the song was over, Flans brought up the mug again. I think he may have genuinely been feeling a little jealous about it. Linnell admitted that he had just found it backstage, then claimed he was drinking coffee that was already in it.
Someone in the audience shouted something about needing the mug back, and Linnell thanked them for letting him use it. He then claimed that there were ‘World’s Best Audience’ mugs hidden under all our seats “We weren’t going to tell you unless you were the world’s best audience.”
Flans claimed there was an exception; one of the mugs said ‘World’s Grumpiest Grandpa’ and that whoever got that mug would automatically become a grumpy grandpa. They went back and forth on this idea for a bit before Flans, in his best grumpy grandpa voice, said “Fox News all night long? Yes please.” There were a few “ohhh”s from the crowd, which Flans addressed directly “Oh no, I made it political. We were all enjoying being boiling frogs together.” He ranted about it for a while, ending with “I’m done,” which got a big cheer as they started into Doctor Worm.
While Linnell put down his accordion, Flans told us all that he had redone the playlist that day, and while he was doing it he had come across a song called Funky Worm, and thought maybe they could learn how to play it and have a whole worm-themed portion of the show. Linnell, returning to the keyboard mic, brought up Michael Jackson’s song Centipede, and asked if that counted as a worm enough to be included.
“Whatever, you’re the world’s best boss,” Flans told him.
They played Birdhouse in Your Soul, then went straight into The Guitar. During the Future of Sound, Linnell looked over at Curt, obviously waiting for him to start, but Curt refused and indicated that Linnell should begin instead. Linnell used a lot of different settings on his keyboard this time around, relying on those interesting sounds more than on the Kaoss pad.
After the song ended, Flans told us that they were in the middle of the first set and “fast approaching the end.”
The crowd cheered a bit, but quickly lapsed into a relaxed silence that neither John seemed particularly anxious to fill. After a few moments, Linnell commented that this was “the most mellow dead air we’ve ever had.” Flans didn’t have a reply ready, instead, a guy in the back shouted “New song!”
The next song apparently was new, as the Johns both leaped at the exit, telling us that the next song was new and thanking the guy for saving them. As Linnell put it “We were unsure of what to do and then, out of the darkness, a voice demanding a new song.”
Danny had been upstage the whole time, obviously going over his part, so I wasn’t sure what song it was going to be. But it turned out it was Mrs. Bluebeard! I’d missed this song a lot when it had dropped from the set, and was happy to hear it again. I think they’ve changed Dan’s part since the spring, which he seems more than a little frustrated by. During the second verse, he gestured to Danny that he’d messed up a little bit. The effect they have on his guitar for this song is a bit overpowering, so it makes even the littlest mistakes stand out.
As they finished, Linnell turned to say something to Danny, who relayed it to Dan, and they started into Museum of Idiots. On the setlist, “Metal” is crossed out here and “Museum” written in next to it. Maybe they were trying to bring Metal Detector into the set? It seems unlikely since they haven’t really played it in recent years, but whatever it was, it clearly didn’t work out.
They finished out the set with Spy. Linnell switched from his sample to simply shouting “Now the night is gone” over the band. Flans started with the band all playing single notes one at a time, then switched to moving them higher and lower pitched while the crowd cheered for extended periods. After a few rounds of non stop cheering, I was out of breath by the time they finished the song and with it the set.
During the Last Wave video, Marty, Linnell, and finally Flans, all snuck onstage in total darkness. It was several seconds before the crowd at large realized they were there. They started the Quiet Storm portion of the show with Older. Linnell held a note on his clarinet during the pause. When his breath ran out and he stopped playing, Flans took a breath and acted like he was going to continue the song. Instead they remained frozen as Linnell took a breath and restarted the note, playing it for several seconds more before the song reumed.
Flans introduced Curt as he came onstage, asked “what better way” they could have an unplugged section than with the electronic drums, and introduced the next song as the title track off their new album. This led into I Like Fun, of course.
Afterwards, Curt started to leave the stage, walking towards the edge of his riser, then realized he played on the next song, pausing and turning around mid-step. It may have been here that Flans tried the ‘tmbg show not going so well’ bit. I saw a few pictures taken around me, but didn’t go for one myself, ducking my head until Flans moved on. When he announced that the next song was from their Dial-A-Song service, which got a huge cheer from the crowd as they started into Applause Applause Applause.
Flans then attempted to introduce How Can I Sing Like A Girl as from John Henry. He was immediately corrected by someone in the front row shouting “Factory Showroom!”
Linnell had already begun the song, but Flans squeezed in a quick “That’s what I meant!” before he started singing. Afterwards, he promised us that he did know the song was on Factory Showroom. He apparently has something hanging up at his apartment that list the Facotry Showroom tracks, although he didn’t elaborate on what exactly it was.
Flans then reintroduced Curt on trumpet and valve trombones and welcomed the Dans back to the stage. Istanbul had only one fake ending this time around, and the song was more mellow than a typical performance. This was contrasted by the ending, which was very Dan-heavy seemed more wild in contrast to the rest of the song.
As Curt was leaving the stage after his killer outro, Flans announced him as just out of “a 20 year residency at the virtuoso hotel.”
Returning his mic to it’s stand, Flans told us that he had been trying to supress a coughing fit during that last song. It reminded him “of those Indian singers, you know, that cough as a part of the performance.” Linnell and Flans both demonstrated a bit by coughing deliberately into their mics. Eventually Flans decided that they were going to start doing that for their songs “Playing what we want to play. It’s less about music than an endurance test!”
Linnell reminded Flans that, if he wanted, he could cough at the beginning of the next song, since it “starts with four drum beats and then we all play ridiculous noises.”
Flans and Linnell both demonstrated what noises they were going to play, Flans’ involving holding his strings up against the mic stand and Linnell lifting his hands up as high as they could go and bringing them down forcefully on the high end of his keyboard.
Flans then asked Dan what noise he was going to do, reporting to us in his mic what Dan said in response.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Dan told him.
“He hasn’t decided. You should do some of that repeating stuff.”
Dan chuckled and told Flans “I’m saving it.”
“He’s saving it.” Flans announced, and just like Linnell had said, the next song started with four drum beats and some ridiculous noises. It was Ana Ng, which I had been missing in the live set and was wonderful to hear. Unfortunately though, this song prompted a very drunk woman to push her way up to the front row next to me, where there really wasn’t enough room, and shout at the people onstage. I think she wanted them to look at her shirt, which was related to the song. She made the next few minutes a bit uncomfortable for me, but moved back into the crowd partway through the next song, which was Twisting.
After that, they played the always-entertaining Fingertips. Flans did his heartthrob bit during Heart Attack, singling out a tall guy in the third row. During Dan’s whispered bit, the crowd cheered after the first “Fingertips!” but not the second, leading to a moment of dead air, as those onstage had evidently expected more cheering. During Dan’s amazing guitar solo at the end, Flans walked offstage, not coming back on until it was over.
This made a segue into the next song, as was stated on the setlist, impossible, and Linnell stalled by telling us that it was a long time since they had been to Ottawa, and that after seeing Sparks Street and Queen Street he was “happy to see Ottawa honoring glitter rock.”
Flans, now back onstage, suggested that there were more streets in the city along the same vein, trying out “Franz-Ferdinand Avenue.”
With Flans’ usual line about it being their single, they started into Why Does the Sun Shine. Linnell kept on with his slow, plodding voice. Before announcing how far away the sun was, he waited for the crowd to quiet, then leaned closer to the mic and deliberately coughed before moving on. He did, at one point, beg forgiveness for something he had forgotten from last night, although I can’t remember anything specific to this time around. The real gem was when he got to the nuclear reaction bit, the heat and light were “caused by the nuclear reaction between Queen!” A cymbal crash from Marty, “Sparks!” Another crash, then a long pause. Eventually, half-losing his slow voice, Linnell admitted “There’s a third, but I can’t think of what it’s called.” Counting this as a part of the list, Marty added cymbals to the end of the pronouncement. This went on with Linnell refusing to give up, telling us if he did he would just remember it later and appealing to the room at large for help “you know, the guy had a super high voice?”
Marty embellished each statement as if each was part of the reaction. By the time Linnell remembered “Pavlov’s Dog!” my sides hurt from laughing. After the song, the Johns took the chance to discuss Pavlov’s Dog, who apparently “Took glitter rock to the extreme.”
Flans then called them “One of those bands that never sold any records but bought a lot of ads in Billboard Magazine.”
Linnell, now with his accordion, was a bit kinder saying that they had gone super-high which never caught on. “We went the opposite way. That never caught on either.”
This made the perfect transition into the low-pitch singing of Whistling in the Dark. Afterwards, while Linnell put his accordion away, Flans told us that he couldn’t get an Uber that day. “I caught a cab, and I got a cab driver who really hates Uber.”
Linnell wanted to discuss Uber a bit more, asking about a point last year where “Uber became really uncool.”
“Of course it’s uncool. It’s named Uber.” Flans retorted.
Linnell tried to bring him back to the originally question, recalling that Uber had done some politically shady things, but Flans had more to say about the name. He ranted for a bit, asking why anyone would name their company Uber, and how terrible it sounded.
“I’m no master of marketing,” he finally declared. “I’m in a band called They Might Be Giants. It doesn’t even fit on a marquee, so we’re in no position to criticize.”
Linnell broke in, declaring “But that’s all we can do!”
Flans was looking for an Uber, evidently, because he had done three interviews that day. He praised the first one, which was at the CBC, for being the best organized he had ever seen. Apparently the person interviewing him had seemed to have everything under control “Even the sound effects they did!”
The second interview, which he did by phone, was less impressive. The first question was apparently “You’ve been in a band for thirty years. How does that feel?” and that set the tone tone for the entire interview.
Linnell thought that he should “turn it around on him. ‘How didn’t it feel?’” and be a “hostile witness.”
“That’s the premise of how I answer all interview questions,” Flans responded and then introduced the next song, Let Me Tell You About My Operation.
Dan got up next to Curt on his riser part way through the song. As they finished, something fell off the riser from right in front of Dan. His eyes got huge, turning to Curt he said “That was NOT my fault.”
Afterwards, Flans made his regular round of stage announcements, reusing the 1800-GOT-JUNK joke, and reminding us all of the IFC signups and the free download of the next song.
Linnell then brought up that they had played Ottawa once before, 30 years ago. He asked Flans if he remembered.
“I can’t remember last night!” Flans told him, and they finished the set with The Communists Have The Music.
They left the stage, but they were back on soon, without Dan or Curt, to play Don’t Let’s Start. The drunk woman from earlier, who was now second row to my right, had been holding up her phone with ‘Don’t Let’s Start’ displayed on it, and was ecstatic when that was what they played. She used her phone to make another request, but after they finished the song, Dan and Curt returned to the stage and the Johns left it, with Flans doing band introductions from the wings.
After being introduced, Curt played with his ability to produce echoes, playing a bit, then letting the echoes fade and die away before continuing. Dan, having saved his repeat pedal the whole evening, showed off by tracking a few layers over top of each other, then leaving stage with the sound still going. After a few moments he returned, hands raised over his head, making a huge show of turning it off. During his introduction, Danny jokingly imitated Dans performance, walking over as if to change his settings with a grin. Marty, always willing to outdo himself, played at an incredibly fast speed for an extended period until the crowd burst into cheers then got even faster before ending with a flourish.
With that, the Johns returned to the stage. Flans told us that “A few years ago, we toured with the band Cub.” Dan and Danny thought the “few years ago” was hilarious, sharing a laugh over it. “They were kind enough to let us record this song,” Flans finished. They finished the encore with New York City and left the stage.
They returned, with Flans thanking us since he knew “you have your choice of They Might Be Giant-like bands.”
Linnell introduced the next song as about “A near-eastern rock band, or something.” He paused, then added “All these songs are made up.”
They played the Mesopotamians, then finished the evening with Hey Mr. DJ.
Afterwards, as Flans, Marty, and Danny returned to the stage with stickers for us, I got caught in a big crush as people who had been in their seats stood up and pushed towards the front. I got a setlist, and said a brief goodbye to those I would be seeing at the next show before leaving the venue.
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“A damn good local guy main event on a card with plenty of latin flavor” The UFC Fight Night Argentina Preview
Joey
November 12th, 2018
The UFC schedule churns onward and upwards and we're back on the international loop, fellas! After toe touching in Chile, the UFC heads to Argentina for what feels like a way overdue debut. They're not bringing their A game card (and injuries have hurt it) but like some of the other Fight Nights we've seen recently; a really decent top three filled with prospects underneath give the illusion of depth and intrigue. It helps that this card has a ready made main event with Ponz heading home to Argentina to take on Neil Magny in a battle of bottom top 10 welterweights. Darren Elkins vs Ricardo Lamas is an acceptable if absolutely dull co-main event. Helping assist the main card you got a tremendous women's strawweight fight and an intriguing light heavyweight fight. The rest of the card is a combination of debutants, short notice dudes, filler fights with "local" guys and a few intriguing lighter weight fights.
Fights: 12
Debuts: Anderson dos Santos, Jesus Pinedo, Ian Henisch, Johnny Walker, Laureano Staropoli
Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: 7 (Veronica Macedo OUT, Ariane Lipski IN vs Maryna Moroz/ Maryna Moroz vs Ariena Lipski CANCELLED/Enrique Barzola OUT, Sergio Giglio IN vs Nad Narimani/Sergio Giglio OUT, Anderson dos Santos IN vs Nad Narimani/Tom Breese OUT, Ian Heinesch IN vs Cezar Mutante/Alessio DiChirico vs Jared Cannonier CANCELLED, Claudio Puelles OUT, Jesus Pinedo IN vs Devin Powell)
Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 6 (Neil Magny, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Ricardo Lamas, Darren Elkins, Cynthia Calvillo, Cezar Mutante)
Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: (Austin Arnett)
Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: (Santiago Ponzinibbio, Neil Magny, Poliana Botelho, Michel Prezares, Bartosz Fabinski, Cezar Mutante)
Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2016 (in the UFC): 35-14-1
Neil Magny- 4-2
Santiago Ponzinibbio- 5-0
Ricardo Lamas- 2-3
Darren Elkins- 6-1
Cezar Mutante- 5-1
Ian Heinesch- 0-0
Khalil Rountree- 3-2-1
Johnny Walker- 0-0
Guido Cannetti- 1-1
Marlon Vera- 4-3
Poliana Botelho- 2-0
Cynthia Calvillo- 3-1
Divisional Breakdown:
Welterweight- 3
Featherweight- 3
Women's Strawweight- 1
Flyweight- 1
Middleweight- 1
Bantamweight- 1
Light Heavyweight- 1
Lightweight- 1
Too Low- Poliana Botelho vs Cynthia Calvillo
What if I could make an argument, somewhat compellingly, that this fight should be the co-main event. Think of it this way; the 115 lb division is beginning to start to take steps towards bringing in a new crop of talented female fighters. Calvillo and Botelho are apart of that run---compared to Ricardo Lamas and Darren Elkins who have basically been checked back to the outskirts of the elite at 145 lbs. What's more, these two are proven finishers at 115 lbs and could be what's needed as women's strawweight is the division that throws the most strikes with the least amount of KO/TKO finishes behind it. This is a more compelling fight than Lamas vs Elkins is.
Too High Up- Michel Prezares vs Bartosz Fabinski
This fight is the prelim header and I'm disappointed. I simply can't imagine this fight being remotely entertaining to anybody. Fabinski and Prezares are like minded grapplers who just sort of collide into each other willingly at short distances. It's not for me, man.
Stat Monitor for 2018:
Debuting Fighters (Current number: 28-36-1): Anderson dos Santos, Jesus Pinedo, Ian Henisch, Johnny Walker, Laureano Staropoli
Short Notice Fighters (Current number: 29-25): Ian Heinisch, Anderson dos Santos, Jesus Pinedo
Second Fight (Current number: 36-29-1): Hector Aldana, Nad Narimani
Cage Corrosion (Current number: 22-37): 0
Undefeated Fighters (Current number: 31-22-1): 0
Keeping An Eye On But Not Really: 0
Twelve Precarious Ponderings
1- This main event is all kinds of intriguing, even if the names on the billing aren't going to make you consider this destination viewing. Neil Magny has been pretty damn tough to topple since about 2014 or so. His only losses are to Demian Maia, Lorenz Larkin and Rafael Dos Anjos and those three are no small jokes. In between that time he's got wins over Carlos Condit, Kelvin Gastelum, Hector Lombard, Johnny Hendricks and Erick Silva which may not sparkle now but were credible quality wins then. He's a tremendous "test" opponent who comes prepared, has the grappling to trouble anybody, is blessed with outstanding cardio and just wears on fighters. He's a blanket I suppose (3 finishes in his last 10 fights) but he has the tools to finish dudes and lit up Kelvin Gastelum a bit before opting to go with his wrestling. The danger with Magny is this feeling of inevitability whenever he's on the feet. You just get this sense that eventually something is going to touch him and he's going to lose his legs or have to fight off a big barrage. Against Lombard and Gastelum it worked; against Lorenz Larkin it didn't. He's the sort of guy who makes the best with what he has while also potentially hiding some hopeful untapped potential. Even if this is who he is, he's sort of a poor man's version of Kamaru Usman which is still a really good 170 lber.
Santiago Ponzinibbio is a different story entirely. It's not a joke to say that around this time last year, there were some who were frothing at the mouth of the idea of an all violence sort of takeover of 170 lbs led by dudes like Ponz, Darren Till, Mike Perry, Colby Covington and other members of the meatier parts of 170 like Elizeu Zaleski, Lyman Good, Vicente Luque and others. Ponz is the one dude of that group who hasn't had a chance to prove us either wrong OR wrong in 2018. We saw Till in two fights this year, we saw Covington (ONCE), we saw Perry perhaps more times than we've needed to and we've seen the action glut at the bottom half of the division have brawls while Covington, Usman and Maia have hurt out feelings at the top of the heap. Ponzinibbio beat Mike Perry in a Rock Em Sock Em war (after finishing Gunnar Nelson in the first round) and then disappeared. A late May headline spot in Chile vs Kamaru Usman was derailed due to a hand injury (the same hand Ponz broke on TUF and the same hand he might've hurt vs Mike Perry as well if memory serves) and now he gets the chance to headline in his native country of Argentina. Ponzinibbio is not without his flaws; he's defensively woeful at times, way too willing to engage and gamble on his hands and he often times lacks the back up plan needed if he gets hurt. That said, he's one of the funnest strikers in the UFC's 170 lb division and he'll be at home with a marquee win needed to make one final push into the real top of the 170 lb class. He's not quite on the level of Till, Woodley and Covington but outside of those guys, it's Wonderboy and Usman who might have a better claim to being contenders.
If Ponz wants a blueprint on how to give Magny troubles, the likes of Gastelum and Lombard provided one that he can follow to fruition; be patient, land when Magny willingly gives ground and then avoid pressing the issue when he's hurting. Conversely if Magny wants an easier gameplan on how to beat Ponz, Ryan LaFlare's idea of taking advantage of Ponz when he got too aggressive and finding the time and energy to put him on the canvas repeatedly would fit just fine. It's an intriguing fight; not one to pop a rating but one worthy of sinking your teeth into on this card.
2- The best part of the hometown advantage aspect of this fight is this; Ponz will be 'at home" but Magny has fought Maia in Brazil, Lombard in Australia, was willing to fight Nelson in Europe and fought Gastelum in Mexico. Those may not be perfect "hometown crowd" settings but the point is that Neil has never had an issue fighting a road game where he's the enemy to the audience. The pressure is probably on Ponz if we're being fair and honest.
3- We joke about 205 lbs but let's talk about 170 right quick and have a chit chat about its top of the division, using the UFC rankings for emphasis:
Tyron Woodley- Mid 30s, coming off shoulder surgery, likely fighting Covington
Colby Covington- Fighting Woodley whenever, coming off some sort of nasal surgery
Darren Till- Is he a WW? Will he go to MW?
RDA- Fighting Kamaru Usman in late November, turned down Ponzinibbio in Argentina, already smoked Magny
Wonderboy- Went from fighting Robbie Lawler in January to MIA in the interim
Robbie Lawler- Ben Askrin in Jan
Kamaru Usman- RDA in late November, seems like the sort of dude who will sit out if need be, apparently Covington turned down an interim fight with him back in the earlier parts of 2018
Demiam Maia- Smoked Magny in 2016, retiring in in two fights
Neil Magny- Booked obviously
Jorge Masvidal- Filming a reality show, apparently he and Magny have issues but they can't agree to a fight
Ponz- Yoooo booked
Where does the winner go? If you're Neil Magny, you're not getting Woodley or Covington, Till is probably not an option, RDA beat you, Maia beat you and Usman is probably not fighting anybody outside of a title fight if he beats RDA. That means your best choice is who? Wonderboy feels like an easy fight to make but who knows if that's possible. If you're Ponz. There's a lot of opportunities available to you but how many of them are realistic? Lawler's booked up, RDA turned you down, Till and Ponz would make some sense since they were in preliminary talks to fight before Till got yanked to fight Cerrone in October before anything was official. Like most divisions, the title seems to be at a serious standstill and the contenders are just farting around in the mean time.
4- Really curious to see how this audience responds to Ponzinibbio. It's worth remembering Ponz fought on TUF Brazil and on the show spoke about having to fight in Brazil due to needing better support for his career. He's sort of the guy who might be stuck between two audiences BUT I do hope he gets a tremendous ovation in the main event. Things are more fun when crowds are engaged and excited.
5- Anybody get the feeling the winner of Lamas vs Elkins is going to get the Zhabit fight?
6- Putting Darren Elkins on a main card seems to bring bad vibes to cards so here's hoping Elkins doesn't have to bare the brunt of an impatient Argentine crowd.
7- Poliana Botelho vs Cynthia Calvillo is such a great little fight that I'm almost mad they put it together because it means some really good young fighter is about to ake a serious knock backwards in the division. Calvillo is so toolsy but Botelho seems to have a better understanding of how to use those tools. That said Calvillo probably learned more in a loss to Carla Esparza than Poliana learned in every fight she's had as a professional so it's going to be a fun toss up. Getting some Grasso vs Suarez type vibes from this one.
8- Shout out real quick to the Latin American countries represented on this show:
Argentina (Ponz, Guido Cannetti, Laureano Starpoli)
Peru (Jesus Pinedo, Humberto Bandenay)
Ecuador (Marlon "Chito" Vera)
Plus of course Mexico and Brazil repping Spanish America and South America as well. I still believe that the more good young talent we can bring in from counties in Latin America, the better off this sport is. MMA is better and has the propensity to potentially make a lot more money for a lot of people if everybody feels welcome and invited. Let's hope some of these guys and gals turn out to be pretty damn good.
9- I cannot believe the temerity to do Prezares vs Bartosz Fabinski. The fight equivalent of setting your pubes on fire.
10- Johnny Walker vs Khalil Rountree is an action fight between two fun flawed fighters. Rountree has basically saved his UFC career and turned it around in a big way with a 3-0-1 record in his last four fights. Walker is similar to Rountree just not anywhere near as athletic. Could make for a tremendous little slugfest in a division that plenty of folks are dragging right now.
11- Alexandre Pantoja and Ulka Sasaki are two guys who could be successful up in weight at 135 lbs but the way this division is going, the loser needs to be REALLY REALLY impressive.
12- Does Argentina get a follow up show after this?
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My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited
In November 2007, an entirely contextless video of me being punched in the face went viral. You might have seen it. It still does the rounds every couple of months, often when something notably bad happens that warrants a response of disbelief. In these strange times, it’s managed to remain endlessly prescient.
For the uninitiated, the video in question is an 11-second clip in which, aged 16, I appear wearing a dressing gown cord around my head, a chain necklace, some children’s sunglasses and a black T-shirt. I sit down and address the camera, ostensibly about to tell the viewer what I was thinking. I am immediately interrupted by my friend Tim, who appears stage left and lamps me. Rather than react in pain or anger, I err more towards disappointment and dismay, bewildered that something like this could happen. “Ah fuck. I can’t believe you’ve done this,” I said. End scene.
It’s been nearly 14 years since I uploaded the original video and to this day it still prompts questions. Who was the guy who got punched? Why did he get punched? Who punched him? What was he thinking? Why did he react that way? Why did he leave YouTube?
In recent years I’ve come to appreciate and even enjoy its bizarre status as an enduring piece of internet history, but my relationship with the clip in the decade that followed its inexorable rise hasn’t always been easy. To understand why, it’s useful to remember that the internet in 2007 was, for better or worse, a very different place.
Having spent the best part of my school years filming stupid skits with mates instead of studying, there was something semi-appealing about the prospect of being able to put videos online to share with friends. It began in mid-2003, when myself and a group of friends would have been in our early teens. Inspired by the likes of Jackass and Bam Margera’s CKY movies, our impressionable young selves set about ignoring all relevant safety warnings, hurling ourselves out of trees, riding scooters into curbs, and racing tyres down hills on skateboards.
At the age of 14 or so, I had envisaged cutting the footage into a chaotic feature-length video of “stunts.” I’d probably have soundtracked it with music from the Tony Hawk games, alongside countless other homemade skate videos people made circa 2003 that probably featured a mix of Ace of Spades or Guerilla Radio. I still have a box full of VHS-C tapes kicking around somewhere, which can only be viewed on one of those absolutely insane VHS adapters. Having not watched any of it in well over a decade, I can safely say that the content contained within those tapes is unequivocally shit.
All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in.
Looking back, the whole endeavour was entirely aimless, but aside from coming away with mild head injuries from time to time it was an innocuous way to spend my childhood. At the very least it also means I have a bizarre, tangible record of my youth that I’ll be able to laugh at one day when I’m old and wizened.
By summer 2004, we had started filming on Mini-DV, which opened up a whole new world of editing possibilities. Plugging a video camera into a computer and capturing footage directly to editing software is pretty much a given for today’s generation of content creators, but back in the early 2000s, this was revolutionary.
We’d eventually gravitate away from ‘stunts’ towards more structured skits and sketches. Nothing was ever scripted per se, but we’d usually start out with a rough idea of something and see how it played out.
There was an ambitiously misguided 'silent horror' short, soundtracked by Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, in which someone chopped off ‘my cock’ (a banana) with a garden shear. We considered this to be the absolute pinnacle of comedy.
There was an ill-advised 'Ballers' skit in which we ventured out in sports gear to make a mock training video taking the piss out of a guy at school who fancied himself as a bit of a gangster; this painfully middle-class white kid who listened to rap metal and liked basketball. He obviously never saw it and there's no question that we looked like idiots filming it at the local park. It’s probably quite offensive in hindsight.
The author at the Bristol Climate Change Protests in September 2019. Image: Shanya Buultjens
There was a James Bond 'spoof' that involved misquoting portions of dialogue from that scene in GoldenEye where Q gives Bond an exploding pen. It was funny to about three people. One of them was my mum.
One time a mate of mine fell out of a tree when he tried to swing from a branch. He landed on his back and ended up coughing up blood. He didn’t go to the hospital even though he probably should have. He’s now a doctor and a father.
Mercifully, none of this stuff ever made it online, but I did sell a couple of DVDs to people at school who rightly/probably/hopefully never watched them. In an ideal world, I'd own the only copies. I'm also fully aware that writing about this now only makes it more likely that one of the four people that still have a copy will dig theirs out. Please do not do that.
In 2005 and 2006, YouTube was very much in its infancy. This was the time when clips were limited to about 100mb and you could only upload about 30 seconds worth of footage at a time, which basically made it perfect for bursts of frenetic, inane content. As the platform grew, it became a dumping ground for skits and footage that we’d accumulated over the preceding years. Much of it went completely unnoticed until late 2007, at which point things started to get a bit weird.
The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it.
The clip that people have come to know started out as an aimless skit filmed in Summer 2006. We hadn’t planned anything, least of all me being punched. In the footage building up to the event, I pushed Tim off the chair, he fell and hit his head on a filing cabinet off-camera. Rather than react to Tim, I sat down and proceeded to ad lib something that I’d venture to guess would have been considerably less funny than the act of violence that followed. Unprompted, Tim upsided me and I reacted with an inexplicable, completely incredulous response, which has followed me online ever since.
The footage sat on a tape until July 2007 when I decided to upload a brief segment under an ambiguous title. Fast forward to November and the video had somehow blown up, had its comments section relentlessly spammed, been ripped countless times and had offensive Wiki pages written about it. I also received a few direct messages which could at best have been described as ‘worrying’ and at worst ‘threatening,’ which was nice.
To this day, I’m none the wiser as to how it blew up in the way it did. I originally uploaded the video under the title ‘ ___________’ but the video somehow found its way onto 4chan where it spread like wildfire. The earliest mirrored link I could find was from January 2008, by which time it had been re-uploaded by multiple accounts, the most prominent of which had already clocked up almost double the number of views compared to my original upload.
At the time, going viral wasn't really comparable to any other experience and it certainly wasn't something I could discuss in solidarity with my friends. All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in. After yanking down several other videos on my YouTube channel, I opted for the latter.
When the video blew up, I got a call from a friend who informed me that the video had made the front page of Break.com. I peripherally knew what that meant: they offered a buyout scheme for videos that made the front page, which meant that I could make some money from it.
As it transpired, this wasn’t such a great idea. After signing a release form with some pretty appalling terms, over the following months I had several unnerving interactions with researchers for various TV shows looking to license the clip. Each offered far more favourable terms than those of Break. One of them harassed a bunch of my mates on Facebook. I think he even offered to pay one of them for my contact details.
By that point, it was all too apparent that I had completely fucked it. Break had the rights and I couldn't do anything with it even if I wanted to. At just 18 years old, I had sold out. In the short term, I used the money to buy a TV, which was great, but I soon started to get the creeping feeling that this was a decision that would come to haunt me. At that point, it was easier to disassociate myself from the clip, abandon YouTube, and move on with my life.
And yet, for the best part of 14 years the questions have kept coming: no, it wasn’t staged or scripted, it wasn’t a set-up, I didn’t know it was coming and, yes, it hurt. It was also very funny, which is presumably why I felt the need to upload it in isolation in the first place. Incidentally, Tim and I are still friends and contrary to some of the absolutely insane comments people leave on YouTube I can confirm that neither of us are in prison, the punch wasn’t a reaction to some sort of disagreement and he’s a lovely bloke.
To be clear, the lack of context wasn’t a deliberate choice to add intrigue either. I’d never even considered the possibility that anyone outside my circle of friends would see it. To me it was just another daft clip that a few mates would find funny.
Around the time I’d started to make peace with the issues around ownership, in 2018 it came to my attention that Break had shut down and its owner Defy Media had gone bust. The site was subsequently purchased by Yeah1 Network, but to this day I have no clarity whatsoever on my legal rights to the video. Any attempts to receive guidance have either turned up dead ends, or led to suggestions that I speak to IP lawyers, whom I have neither the means nor the time to deal with. Incidentally, if anyone has any insights in that area, I’d love to hear them.
Having said this, there’s something quite empowering in taking something embarrassing and admitting to it before someone else can point it out to you—a bit like taking ownership of an amusing surname. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what gags can be made from the name ‘Weedon,’ but I learned quite early on that if you make the jokes yourself and beat others to it, no one can fucking touch you. It’s much easier nowadays to hold my hands up and admit that I shouldn’t have sold the rights, make a joke of it and move on. At the very least, it makes for a good anecdote at parties.
As I suspect is probably the case for old content creators, if you can even call us that, the real story about I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This isn’t in how it’s aged and endured, or even how it’s impacted my life. For me, it’s tied up in issues of rights, ownership, and monetisation. As mercenary as it might be, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t regret missing out on a slice of the pie when it came to YouTubers being able to monetise their content sooner. On the one hand, that's probably a very cynical view for something that was created by a bunch of teenagers who were fooling around making videos for fun in the noughties, but on the other, that's just the world we live in now.
Perhaps the strangest thing about my experience with it nowadays is the way people engage with it on a day-to-day basis. The comments vary from young people discovering its origins for the first time, surprised to discover that it is in fact a 14 year old video and not a recent creation filmed for Vine or TikTok. At the other end of the spectrum are those who are incredulous that someone with a video that has 9.2 million views and an account that’s amassed over 15,000 followers without really trying would step away from the platform and not want to make content.
The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it. I love seeing how it’s been re-interpreted in modern mediums and that positive association has made it easier to accept. Charles Cornell turned it into a sad song. It got sampled in a KIll The Noise track. I had a nice interaction with The Sidemen about it. Will Smith even featured it in an insane Instagram post during the pandemic. I DM’d him to say thanks and he obviously didn’t reply.
To that end, a small group of us have recently started work on a film project exploring the nature of the meme, how it grew, its impact on my life and my relationship with the internet at large. In doing so, the hope is that, while answering some of the burning questions that other people still seem to have, I’ll ultimately be able to make peace with the whole thing.
@Twotafkap
My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/
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The Rhyme of the Ancient Speculator: Bullish Silver COT
Source: Michael J. Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 03/03/2018
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger explains why he believes why he believes gold has begun a new bull market and what the silver COT report is saying about that market.
Twenty-seven months and two days ago, I was under huge emotional duress due to the dreadful action in the gold market as prices had been under severe manipulative pressure since mid-October. Under the excruciating weight of incessant shenanigans (interventions), the price of gold was in abject freefall, having plunged from $1,189.90 to $1,062.60 or around 10.7% in a mere six weeks. On Friday, December 4, the COT for the week ended December 1, 2015. was reported and as I read the gold portion of that report, I suddenly leapt out of my chair screaming with both surprise and excitement, knocking wine and beer bottles askew and sending the poor dog yelping into the safety of two womanly arms with the revelation that “something important” had just happened.
After watching the open interest suddenly shrink on the Wednesday-Friday after that momentous end-of-COT-week Tuesday, it became apparent that the much-reviled Commercials had actually gone “net long” immediately after, as gold bottomed into that fateful slide to its multi-year low at $1,045.40. And surely enough, with gold being pillaged in one the classic “Freaky Friday” collusive attacks, gold put in what now appears to be THE bottom and marked the onset of a brand, spanking, new BULL market which was subsequently borne out with one of the best market advances in history and one of the best market calls of my career.
Last night, after arriving home late after some family time, I had a similar epiphany of sorts and one perhaps liberally sprinkled with a pinch of “deja vu” as I perused a rather benign gold COT with Commercials covering a few gold shorts into the bombing to under $1,320 but what sent me into one of my “grande mal-esque” emotional seizures was the silver COT, where the monetarily-masochistic Large Speculators have now gone completely and totally over-the-wall NET SHORT silver and now hold a massively bullish aggregate short position of 1,508 contracts.
That I cannot recall ever seeing a “net short” position by the Large Speculators is irrelevant; just as the Commercials have to be heeded in their power to control direction in the precious metals by way of insidious activities (the nature of which are well-documented in this publication), so too must we heed the tendency for the Large Speculators to be found on the losing end of the Commercial Trader’s bullwhips with outsized positions, either lightly-long (at bottoms) or largely long (at tops). To be “lightly long” or “largely long” is still “long” but today and now, they are “SHORT.” Now, this does not mean I’ll go out and mortgage the cannabis patch in order to own (more) silver but it does give me great solace in my recent purchase of five (more) silver bars in the $16.65 range. I opt for physical, non-leveraged silver for two reasons: 1. It is easier to sleep at night knowing that you simply own it and therefore are not looking to trade it and 2. In looking back at my trading “acumen” for silver futures and options when reviewing tax data back to 2009, I have found myself resembling a “mule” as in “beaten like a rented mule” or the “schoolboy” as in “thrashed like an errant schoolboy.” In other words, it took me until late 2015 to understand that the money I was committing to a margin deposit at the CME was actually a contribution to the educational or vacation fund of any one of the Commercial traders. These bullion banks have been sued, issued SEC and CFTC subpoenas, exposed via documentaries such as “Inside Job,” and via testimonies by organizations such as GATA. Yet, with astonishing deftness, these cretins wiggle and squirm out of any culpability, guilt, or penury because the commodity they manipulate and the investors they defraud are not the allies of the global banking cartel and, by natural progression, governments.
So, when I write these missives and I get all warm and bubbly over the always-wrong Large Speculators having moved to their first-ever net short position in CME silver futures, march forward with liberal quantities of hubris and skepticism and trade accordingly with the knowledge that the data upon which I base my excitement is still coming from within the walls of the House of Smoke and Mirrors (the Crimex) and prone to further levies of dis-and-misinformation.
Disclaimers notwithstanding, junior exploration and development issues such as Canuc Resources Corp. (CDA:TSX.V) (formerly Santa Rosa Silver Mining Corp.) recently announced a 10-metre section containing 5 g/t gold and 210 g/t SILVER at its San Javier project in Sonora, Mexico, and represent the kinds of low-market-cap entry points for speculators. Intermediates like Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE) are both trading at around 50% of their recent (2016) highs and appear to be worth accumulating. Exploration juniors such as Stakeholder Gold Corp. (SRC:TSX.V) are in Nevada in the hunt for a Midas-type discovery (gold-silver) with its Goldstorm Project now in the exploration phase. Remember that these are still “stocks” and are vulnerable to broad, non-precious-metals-related market drawdowns that can result in us being right (on the commodity move) but wrong (on the stock outcome).
In sum, this week’s silver COT can only be viewed as a bullish event and one where only over the fullness of time can we be sure that this week’s contrarian’s-delight overweight net short position by the Large Spec masochists is a true “BUY SIGNAL” in the same vein as was the December 4, 2015 COT for gold. I will tell you this: In discussing the silver COT over the past twenty-four hours with fellow precious metals players, there is a degree of cynicism and disinterest larger than the reaction I was getting two long years and three short days ago for similar set-ups for gold. In the next ten months into 2016, gold rallied 31%, silver rallied 52.4% with the HUI advancing 185% in one of the biggest money-making rallies in decades. If the yawns and body-language dismissals are any indication of history rhyming, we are at a similarly important catharsis and the cynics and skeptics will be residing in body bags at the shoulders of the “Atria Argentium.”
Forewarned is forearmed.
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger’s adherence to the concept of “Hard Assets” allows him to focus the practice on selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending hunt for early-stage opportunities.
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Disclosure:
1) Michael J. Ballanger: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corp. and Canuc Resources Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corporation. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures are below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Stakeholder Gold and Canuc Resources, companies mentioned in this article.
All charts and images courtesy of Michael Ballanger.
Michael Ballanger Disclaimer:
This letter makes no guarantee or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the data provided. Nothing contained herein is intended or shall be deemed to be investment advice, implied or otherwise. This letter represents my views and replicates trades that I am making but nothing more than that. Always consult your registered advisor to assist you with your investments. I accept no liability for any loss arising from the use of the data contained on this letter. Options and junior mining stocks contain a high level of risk that may result in the loss of part or all invested capital and therefore are suitable for experienced and professional investors and traders only. One should be familiar with the risks involved in junior mining and options trading and we recommend consulting a financial adviser if you feel you do not understand the risks involved.
( Companies Mentioned: CDA:TSX.V,
FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE,
SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE,
SRC:TSX.V,
)
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The Rhyme of the Ancient Speculator: Bullish Silver COT
Source: Michael J. Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 03/03/2018
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger explains why he believes why he believes gold has begun a new bull market and what the silver COT report is saying about that market.
Twenty-seven months and two days ago, I was under huge emotional duress due to the dreadful action in the gold market as prices had been under severe manipulative pressure since mid-October. Under the excruciating weight of incessant shenanigans (interventions), the price of gold was in abject freefall, having plunged from $1,189.90 to $1,062.60 or around 10.7% in a mere six weeks. On Friday, December 4, the COT for the week ended December 1, 2015. was reported and as I read the gold portion of that report, I suddenly leapt out of my chair screaming with both surprise and excitement, knocking wine and beer bottles askew and sending the poor dog yelping into the safety of two womanly arms with the revelation that “something important” had just happened.
After watching the open interest suddenly shrink on the Wednesday-Friday after that momentous end-of-COT-week Tuesday, it became apparent that the much-reviled Commercials had actually gone “net long” immediately after, as gold bottomed into that fateful slide to its multi-year low at $1,045.40. And surely enough, with gold being pillaged in one the classic “Freaky Friday” collusive attacks, gold put in what now appears to be THE bottom and marked the onset of a brand, spanking, new BULL market which was subsequently borne out with one of the best market advances in history and one of the best market calls of my career.
Last night, after arriving home late after some family time, I had a similar epiphany of sorts and one perhaps liberally sprinkled with a pinch of “deja vu” as I perused a rather benign gold COT with Commercials covering a few gold shorts into the bombing to under $1,320 but what sent me into one of my “grande mal-esque” emotional seizures was the silver COT, where the monetarily-masochistic Large Speculators have now gone completely and totally over-the-wall NET SHORT silver and now hold a massively bullish aggregate short position of 1,508 contracts.
That I cannot recall ever seeing a “net short” position by the Large Speculators is irrelevant; just as the Commercials have to be heeded in their power to control direction in the precious metals by way of insidious activities (the nature of which are well-documented in this publication), so too must we heed the tendency for the Large Speculators to be found on the losing end of the Commercial Trader’s bullwhips with outsized positions, either lightly-long (at bottoms) or largely long (at tops). To be “lightly long” or “largely long” is still “long” but today and now, they are “SHORT.” Now, this does not mean I’ll go out and mortgage the cannabis patch in order to own (more) silver but it does give me great solace in my recent purchase of five (more) silver bars in the $16.65 range. I opt for physical, non-leveraged silver for two reasons: 1. It is easier to sleep at night knowing that you simply own it and therefore are not looking to trade it and 2. In looking back at my trading “acumen” for silver futures and options when reviewing tax data back to 2009, I have found myself resembling a “mule” as in “beaten like a rented mule” or the “schoolboy” as in “thrashed like an errant schoolboy.” In other words, it took me until late 2015 to understand that the money I was committing to a margin deposit at the CME was actually a contribution to the educational or vacation fund of any one of the Commercial traders. These bullion banks have been sued, issued SEC and CFTC subpoenas, exposed via documentaries such as “Inside Job,” and via testimonies by organizations such as GATA. Yet, with astonishing deftness, these cretins wiggle and squirm out of any culpability, guilt, or penury because the commodity they manipulate and the investors they defraud are not the allies of the global banking cartel and, by natural progression, governments.
So, when I write these missives and I get all warm and bubbly over the always-wrong Large Speculators having moved to their first-ever net short position in CME silver futures, march forward with liberal quantities of hubris and skepticism and trade accordingly with the knowledge that the data upon which I base my excitement is still coming from within the walls of the House of Smoke and Mirrors (the Crimex) and prone to further levies of dis-and-misinformation.
Disclaimers notwithstanding, junior exploration and development issues such as Canuc Resources Corp. (CDA:TSX.V) (formerly Santa Rosa Silver Mining Corp.) recently announced a 10-metre section containing 5 g/t gold and 210 g/t SILVER at its San Javier project in Sonora, Mexico, and represent the kinds of low-market-cap entry points for speculators. Intermediates like Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE) are both trading at around 50% of their recent (2016) highs and appear to be worth accumulating. Exploration juniors such as Stakeholder Gold Corp. (SRC:TSX.V) are in Nevada in the hunt for a Midas-type discovery (gold-silver) with its Goldstorm Project now in the exploration phase. Remember that these are still “stocks” and are vulnerable to broad, non-precious-metals-related market drawdowns that can result in us being right (on the commodity move) but wrong (on the stock outcome).
In sum, this week’s silver COT can only be viewed as a bullish event and one where only over the fullness of time can we be sure that this week’s contrarian’s-delight overweight net short position by the Large Spec masochists is a true “BUY SIGNAL” in the same vein as was the December 4, 2015 COT for gold. I will tell you this: In discussing the silver COT over the past twenty-four hours with fellow precious metals players, there is a degree of cynicism and disinterest larger than the reaction I was getting two long years and three short days ago for similar set-ups for gold. In the next ten months into 2016, gold rallied 31%, silver rallied 52.4% with the HUI advancing 185% in one of the biggest money-making rallies in decades. If the yawns and body-language dismissals are any indication of history rhyming, we are at a similarly important catharsis and the cynics and skeptics will be residing in body bags at the shoulders of the “Atria Argentium.”
Forewarned is forearmed.
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger’s adherence to the concept of “Hard Assets” allows him to focus the practice on selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending hunt for early-stage opportunities.
Want to read more Gold Report interviews like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you’ll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.
Disclosure:
1) Michael J. Ballanger: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corp. and Canuc Resources Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corporation. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures are below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports’ terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Stakeholder Gold and Canuc Resources, companies mentioned in this article.
All charts and images courtesy of Michael Ballanger.
Michael Ballanger Disclaimer:
This letter makes no guarantee or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the data provided. Nothing contained herein is intended or shall be deemed to be investment advice, implied or otherwise. This letter represents my views and replicates trades that I am making but nothing more than that. Always consult your registered advisor to assist you with your investments. I accept no liability for any loss arising from the use of the data contained on this letter. Options and junior mining stocks contain a high level of risk that may result in the loss of part or all invested capital and therefore are suitable for experienced and professional investors and traders only. One should be familiar with the risks involved in junior mining and options trading and we recommend consulting a financial adviser if you feel you do not understand the risks involved.
( Companies Mentioned: CDA:TSX.V,
FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE,
SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE,
SRC:TSX.V,
)
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The Rhyme of the Ancient Speculator: Bullish Silver COT
Source: Michael J. Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 03/03/2018
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger explains why he believes why he believes gold has begun a new bull market and what the silver COT report is saying about that market.
Twenty-seven months and two days ago, I was under huge emotional duress due to the dreadful action in the gold market as prices had been under severe manipulative pressure since mid-October. Under the excruciating weight of incessant shenanigans (interventions), the price of gold was in abject freefall, having plunged from $1,189.90 to $1,062.60 or around 10.7% in a mere six weeks. On Friday, December 4, the COT for the week ended December 1, 2015. was reported and as I read the gold portion of that report, I suddenly leapt out of my chair screaming with both surprise and excitement, knocking wine and beer bottles askew and sending the poor dog yelping into the safety of two womanly arms with the revelation that "something important" had just happened.
After watching the open interest suddenly shrink on the Wednesday-Friday after that momentous end-of-COT-week Tuesday, it became apparent that the much-reviled Commercials had actually gone "net long" immediately after, as gold bottomed into that fateful slide to its multi-year low at $1,045.40. And surely enough, with gold being pillaged in one the classic "Freaky Friday" collusive attacks, gold put in what now appears to be THE bottom and marked the onset of a brand, spanking, new BULL market which was subsequently borne out with one of the best market advances in history and one of the best market calls of my career.
Last night, after arriving home late after some family time, I had a similar epiphany of sorts and one perhaps liberally sprinkled with a pinch of "deja vu" as I perused a rather benign gold COT with Commercials covering a few gold shorts into the bombing to under $1,320 but what sent me into one of my "grande mal-esque" emotional seizures was the silver COT, where the monetarily-masochistic Large Speculators have now gone completely and totally over-the-wall NET SHORT silver and now hold a massively bullish aggregate short position of 1,508 contracts.
That I cannot recall ever seeing a "net short" position by the Large Speculators is irrelevant; just as the Commercials have to be heeded in their power to control direction in the precious metals by way of insidious activities (the nature of which are well-documented in this publication), so too must we heed the tendency for the Large Speculators to be found on the losing end of the Commercial Trader's bullwhips with outsized positions, either lightly-long (at bottoms) or largely long (at tops). To be "lightly long" or "largely long" is still "long" but today and now, they are "SHORT." Now, this does not mean I'll go out and mortgage the cannabis patch in order to own (more) silver but it does give me great solace in my recent purchase of five (more) silver bars in the $16.65 range. I opt for physical, non-leveraged silver for two reasons: 1. It is easier to sleep at night knowing that you simply own it and therefore are not looking to trade it and 2. In looking back at my trading "acumen" for silver futures and options when reviewing tax data back to 2009, I have found myself resembling a "mule" as in "beaten like a rented mule" or the "schoolboy" as in "thrashed like an errant schoolboy." In other words, it took me until late 2015 to understand that the money I was committing to a margin deposit at the CME was actually a contribution to the educational or vacation fund of any one of the Commercial traders. These bullion banks have been sued, issued SEC and CFTC subpoenas, exposed via documentaries such as "Inside Job," and via testimonies by organizations such as GATA. Yet, with astonishing deftness, these cretins wiggle and squirm out of any culpability, guilt, or penury because the commodity they manipulate and the investors they defraud are not the allies of the global banking cartel and, by natural progression, governments.
So, when I write these missives and I get all warm and bubbly over the always-wrong Large Speculators having moved to their first-ever net short position in CME silver futures, march forward with liberal quantities of hubris and skepticism and trade accordingly with the knowledge that the data upon which I base my excitement is still coming from within the walls of the House of Smoke and Mirrors (the Crimex) and prone to further levies of dis-and-misinformation.
Disclaimers notwithstanding, junior exploration and development issues such as Canuc Resources Corp. (CDA:TSX.V) (formerly Santa Rosa Silver Mining Corp.) recently announced a 10-metre section containing 5 g/t gold and 210 g/t SILVER at its San Javier project in Sonora, Mexico, and represent the kinds of low-market-cap entry points for speculators. Intermediates like Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE) are both trading at around 50% of their recent (2016) highs and appear to be worth accumulating. Exploration juniors such as Stakeholder Gold Corp. (SRC:TSX.V) are in Nevada in the hunt for a Midas-type discovery (gold-silver) with its Goldstorm Project now in the exploration phase. Remember that these are still "stocks" and are vulnerable to broad, non-precious-metals-related market drawdowns that can result in us being right (on the commodity move) but wrong (on the stock outcome).
In sum, this week's silver COT can only be viewed as a bullish event and one where only over the fullness of time can we be sure that this week's contrarian's-delight overweight net short position by the Large Spec masochists is a true "BUY SIGNAL" in the same vein as was the December 4, 2015 COT for gold. I will tell you this: In discussing the silver COT over the past twenty-four hours with fellow precious metals players, there is a degree of cynicism and disinterest larger than the reaction I was getting two long years and three short days ago for similar set-ups for gold. In the next ten months into 2016, gold rallied 31%, silver rallied 52.4% with the HUI advancing 185% in one of the biggest money-making rallies in decades. If the yawns and body-language dismissals are any indication of history rhyming, we are at a similarly important catharsis and the cynics and skeptics will be residing in body bags at the shoulders of the "Atria Argentium."
Forewarned is forearmed.
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger's adherence to the concept of "Hard Assets" allows him to focus the practice on selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending hunt for early-stage opportunities.
Want to read more Gold Report interviews like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.
Disclosure:
1) Michael J. Ballanger: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corp. and Canuc Resources Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corporation. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures are below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Stakeholder Gold and Canuc Resources, companies mentioned in this article.
All charts and images courtesy of Michael Ballanger.
Michael Ballanger Disclaimer:
This letter makes no guarantee or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the data provided. Nothing contained herein is intended or shall be deemed to be investment advice, implied or otherwise. This letter represents my views and replicates trades that I am making but nothing more than that. Always consult your registered advisor to assist you with your investments. I accept no liability for any loss arising from the use of the data contained on this letter. Options and junior mining stocks contain a high level of risk that may result in the loss of part or all invested capital and therefore are suitable for experienced and professional investors and traders only. One should be familiar with the risks involved in junior mining and options trading and we recommend consulting a financial adviser if you feel you do not understand the risks involved.
( Companies Mentioned: CDA:TSX.V, FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE, SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE, SRC:TSX.V, )
from https://www.streetwisereports.com/article/2018/03/03/the-rhyme-of-the-ancient-speculator-bullish-silver-cot.html
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The Rhyme of the Ancient Speculator: Bullish Silver COT
Source: Michael J. Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 03/03/2018
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger explains why he believes why he believes gold has begun a new bull market and what the silver COT report is saying about that market.
Twenty-seven months and two days ago, I was under huge emotional duress due to the dreadful action in the gold market as prices had been under severe manipulative pressure since mid-October. Under the excruciating weight of incessant shenanigans (interventions), the price of gold was in abject freefall, having plunged from $1,189.90 to $1,062.60 or around 10.7% in a mere six weeks. On Friday, December 4, the COT for the week ended December 1, 2015. was reported and as I read the gold portion of that report, I suddenly leapt out of my chair screaming with both surprise and excitement, knocking wine and beer bottles askew and sending the poor dog yelping into the safety of two womanly arms with the revelation that "something important" had just happened.
After watching the open interest suddenly shrink on the Wednesday-Friday after that momentous end-of-COT-week Tuesday, it became apparent that the much-reviled Commercials had actually gone "net long" immediately after, as gold bottomed into that fateful slide to its multi-year low at $1,045.40. And surely enough, with gold being pillaged in one the classic "Freaky Friday" collusive attacks, gold put in what now appears to be THE bottom and marked the onset of a brand, spanking, new BULL market which was subsequently borne out with one of the best market advances in history and one of the best market calls of my career.
Last night, after arriving home late after some family time, I had a similar epiphany of sorts and one perhaps liberally sprinkled with a pinch of "deja vu" as I perused a rather benign gold COT with Commercials covering a few gold shorts into the bombing to under $1,320 but what sent me into one of my "grande mal-esque" emotional seizures was the silver COT, where the monetarily-masochistic Large Speculators have now gone completely and totally over-the-wall NET SHORT silver and now hold a massively bullish aggregate short position of 1,508 contracts.
That I cannot recall ever seeing a "net short" position by the Large Speculators is irrelevant; just as the Commercials have to be heeded in their power to control direction in the precious metals by way of insidious activities (the nature of which are well-documented in this publication), so too must we heed the tendency for the Large Speculators to be found on the losing end of the Commercial Trader's bullwhips with outsized positions, either lightly-long (at bottoms) or largely long (at tops). To be "lightly long" or "largely long" is still "long" but today and now, they are "SHORT." Now, this does not mean I'll go out and mortgage the cannabis patch in order to own (more) silver but it does give me great solace in my recent purchase of five (more) silver bars in the $16.65 range. I opt for physical, non-leveraged silver for two reasons: 1. It is easier to sleep at night knowing that you simply own it and therefore are not looking to trade it and 2. In looking back at my trading "acumen" for silver futures and options when reviewing tax data back to 2009, I have found myself resembling a "mule" as in "beaten like a rented mule" or the "schoolboy" as in "thrashed like an errant schoolboy." In other words, it took me until late 2015 to understand that the money I was committing to a margin deposit at the CME was actually a contribution to the educational or vacation fund of any one of the Commercial traders. These bullion banks have been sued, issued SEC and CFTC subpoenas, exposed via documentaries such as "Inside Job," and via testimonies by organizations such as GATA. Yet, with astonishing deftness, these cretins wiggle and squirm out of any culpability, guilt, or penury because the commodity they manipulate and the investors they defraud are not the allies of the global banking cartel and, by natural progression, governments.
So, when I write these missives and I get all warm and bubbly over the always-wrong Large Speculators having moved to their first-ever net short position in CME silver futures, march forward with liberal quantities of hubris and skepticism and trade accordingly with the knowledge that the data upon which I base my excitement is still coming from within the walls of the House of Smoke and Mirrors (the Crimex) and prone to further levies of dis-and-misinformation.
Disclaimers notwithstanding, junior exploration and development issues such as Canuc Resources Corp. (CDA:TSX.V) (formerly Santa Rosa Silver Mining Corp.) recently announced a 10-metre section containing 5 g/t gold and 210 g/t SILVER at its San Javier project in Sonora, Mexico, and represent the kinds of low-market-cap entry points for speculators. Intermediates like Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE) are both trading at around 50% of their recent (2016) highs and appear to be worth accumulating. Exploration juniors such as Stakeholder Gold Corp. (SRC:TSX.V) are in Nevada in the hunt for a Midas-type discovery (gold-silver) with its Goldstorm Project now in the exploration phase. Remember that these are still "stocks" and are vulnerable to broad, non-precious-metals-related market drawdowns that can result in us being right (on the commodity move) but wrong (on the stock outcome).
In sum, this week's silver COT can only be viewed as a bullish event and one where only over the fullness of time can we be sure that this week's contrarian's-delight overweight net short position by the Large Spec masochists is a true "BUY SIGNAL" in the same vein as was the December 4, 2015 COT for gold. I will tell you this: In discussing the silver COT over the past twenty-four hours with fellow precious metals players, there is a degree of cynicism and disinterest larger than the reaction I was getting two long years and three short days ago for similar set-ups for gold. In the next ten months into 2016, gold rallied 31%, silver rallied 52.4% with the HUI advancing 185% in one of the biggest money-making rallies in decades. If the yawns and body-language dismissals are any indication of history rhyming, we are at a similarly important catharsis and the cynics and skeptics will be residing in body bags at the shoulders of the "Atria Argentium."
Forewarned is forearmed.
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger's adherence to the concept of "Hard Assets" allows him to focus the practice on selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending hunt for early-stage opportunities.
Want to read more Gold Report interviews like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see a list of recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.
Disclosure:
1) Michael J. Ballanger: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corp. and Canuc Resources Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corporation. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures are below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Stakeholder Gold and Canuc Resources, companies mentioned in this article.
All charts and images courtesy of Michael Ballanger.
Michael Ballanger Disclaimer:
This letter makes no guarantee or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the data provided. Nothing contained herein is intended or shall be deemed to be investment advice, implied or otherwise. This letter represents my views and replicates trades that I am making but nothing more than that. Always consult your registered advisor to assist you with your investments. I accept no liability for any loss arising from the use of the data contained on this letter. Options and junior mining stocks contain a high level of risk that may result in the loss of part or all invested capital and therefore are suitable for experienced and professional investors and traders only. One should be familiar with the risks involved in junior mining and options trading and we recommend consulting a financial adviser if you feel you do not understand the risks involved.
( Companies Mentioned: CDA:TSX.V, FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE, SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE, SRC:TSX.V, )
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The Camino de Santiago – The Portuguese Way
My Camino de Santiago is getting closer to being a reality. There are many Camino’s, but the one thing they have in common is the finish at the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
It has been said that some people get the “bug” after one and then spend months and years planning the next one – and the one after that. This will be my first. I have chosen the Portuguese ‘Way’ for several reasons. It is the second most popular and therefore less crowded than the more popular French way, and I don’t like crowds.
The culture and food of Portugal have always been of interest. The second part of my Camino is the Coastal Route of Portugal and like most New Zealander’s I can’t bear to be too far from the ocean.
People of all ages walk the Caminos for all number of reasons. For many, it is a religious pilgrimage, for others a way of dealing with personal loss or overwhelming life events.
READ MORE:
* The pain in Spain: Camino Skies star Terry Wilson sees the trek as a ‘metaphor for life’
* Camino Skies: NZ doco follows ‘broken’ Kiwis on road to Santiago
* Galicia, Spain: Hiking the ‘last unspoilt coast of Europe’
* Just a mum on the Camino de Santiago
PAUL JOHNSON
Training walk Long Bay Cliffs
For me, it is simply because it is time. I have always had an interest and a desire, and with the passing of years, one of the wisdoms we will all come to know is “I’ll get around to doing it one day” is not actually going to happen without forward momentum.
So, this is how I am getting to the start of my Camino.
I am 56, have had two hip surgeries, including a full replacement in November 2018. I have a knee that probably should be replaced, but while it is still functioning of sorts I intend to hang onto it for a while longer.
I suffered a pulmonary embolism in America at the start of a skiing holiday four years ago, so have learnt the importance of keeping active.
Five months ago I was drinking too much and exercising too little, eating what I wanted but nothing good. I had successfully shed several kilos and wanted not only to keep them off but to continue to be active for as long as I could. So, I hatched a plan.
I never travelled alone in my younger years and have been with my husband since I was 18. It was not until I travelled alone back to Vancouver to visit family and surprise my mother for her 80th birthday that I realised something along the way.
I had two stop-overs in Hawaii on the way to and from Vancouver, and I liked travelling alone and had no problems with my own company. It felt empowering to plan how to get from A to B and then actually arrive! Those that know me know that my sense of direction is non-existent and my ability to get lost heightened. But I guess sometimes you have to ‘get lost’ to appreciate the journey
So here I am, now just over a month to go. Back when there was 5 months to go I decided my next drop of wine would be a glass of bubbles at Auckland International Airport when I fly out to Lisbon Portugal via Doha to start my Camino.
GAYLE JOHNSON
Training walk – Long Bay to Devonport – 24 kms.
Now that nearly four months have passed and there are just weeks left to go, I am down to the “pointy end” of the planning. And I am a “planner” – annoyingly so according to my husband. I have currently got four pairs of shoes in the ‘under consideration’ pile.
Everyone seems to say your shoes and socks are two of the most important things you will take on this journey. Your shoes can not be shiny and new but must be rugged and broken in. Merino (some say) socks are best. There are several ways of dealing with inevitable blisters and foot pain – I have them all on my’ list’.
I am currently tossing up between hiking shoes, that are aggravating a bunion, or swapping around two pairs of lightweight walking shoes that are not as sturdy, but for me more comfortable.
My trials have resulted in both toenails of my second toe turning black and will no doubt fall off before I take my first steps in Lisbon – the result of older hiking boots that had done admirable service in the past and were no longer up to the task. Your feet change as you grow older – who knew?
Especially “NZ” feet that spend so much time unencumbered by shoes either barefoot or in jandals for many months of the year.
I have made the decision to have my bag “transferred” from hotel to hotel.
Some Camino purists might say that this is “cheating”, but with one hip replaced and one repaired, it is simply not an option for me to carry too many kilos on my back.
I am opting for a “day” hiking pack that will carry my essentials and which I have spent the last few months trying to decide what is, in fact, an “essential” and what is not. I think my day pack may be too small, but perhaps that is not a bad thing.
PENNY WARDLE
Tackling the Camino de Santiago.
I will have detailed maps and instructions, a mobile phone on roaming and there are even AP’s that will help me, but even with all of those, I will, at some stage, get hopelessly lost. As I said, I have no sense of direction, and there will likely be tears and tantrums though without the benefit of an audience, I will have to work it out myself.
After nearly 2 1/2 weeks walking from Lisbon to Porto my husband will be joining me for the Coastal Camino from Porto to Santiago. It will be nice to have some company, and share in part of my journey, although I am also looking forward to the initial solitary journey and walking alone.
Some say you are never truly alone on the Camino as there are always other pilgrims to greet and walk with you, or to swap stories of the road with at the end of the day. But it is still a ‘lone’ journey as no one can take those steps for you. Yes, it is likely to be hard, but I am hoping one of my most memorable travel experiences.
Many pilgrims walk with the recognised sign of the Camino – a scallop shell the grooves of which represents all the Camino’ ways’ or trails finishing at the same point, the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
It is a way of identifying your fellow pilgrims on the road. With plentiful scallop shells on many of our beaches, I am taking a few, hand-painted in yellow – the colour of many of the arrows pointing directions on the various ways to Santiago – and embellishing them with little black kiwis with a yellow eye.
ISTOCK
Many travel the Camino de Santiago for different reason.
I will carry one on my backpack to identify myself as a pilgrim but also a ‘Kiwi’ pilgrim. I hope to have enough of these made and varnished to protect them from the elements, so that I may give away one each day to someone I meet who helps make my Camino a more memorable journey.
I am in countdown mode now with just a matter of weeks to go. I have been studying maps and routes, working out the technology of a newly purchased mobile phone and linked watch with GPS and making my “list” which is being revised almost daily.
I recently got so see the NZ movie Camino Skies and had I not already booked to walk my own Camino this would have sent me straight into planning mode.
I especially like the advice given by pilgrim and walker Terry Wilson at the question and answer at the end of the viewing:
1. Never walk by anyone without asking if they need help.
2. Never walk by anyone who asks if you need help. Reason being if someone is asking you then you have probably missed something in yourself and likely do require the assistance of some sort.
3. Never walk past a toilet.
GAYLE JOHNSON
Work in progress ‘Camino’ scallop shells for a ‘Kiwi’ pilgrim.
I intend to walk my Camino employing this advice.
It is also apparently one of the only places in the world where you can get hugged from a stranger and indeed give a hug, without being arrested.
I will reserve judgement on this one – I am not fond of my personal space being invaded.
I am, in equal parts excited and a bit scared but ready to tackle ‘My Way’ to Santiago de Compostela.
The post The Camino de Santiago – The Portuguese Way appeared first on Tripstations.
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Death Stranding releases this November!
New Post has been published on https://howtobuyfranchises.com/awesome/death-stranding-releases-this-november/
Death Stranding releases this November!
Kojima’s first independent game is just as weird and mysterious as you thought it’d be.
If you don’t know who Hideo Kojima is, it’s time to pay attention. He’s the inventor of the world-renowned Metal Gear franchise, known best for his works with the mainline series Metal Gear Solid.
Well, he left Konami, the company that controls the Metal Gear IP, and is now doing his own thing under independent label Kojima Production. Their first work is Death Stranding, a forthcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive that not even Kojima himself can easily explain. Here’s everything we know about it so far.
Kojima’s next venture
Death Stranding
$60 at Amazon
It’s about to get really weird
If you aren’t already aroused for this game, I don’t know what to tell you. Kojima is keeping it weird in the best ways possible, and Death Stranding looks to provide a hell of a gaming experience come November.
What’s new with Death Stranding?
It’ll take us a while to fully decode the cryptic teasers Kojima is releasing for Death Stranding, but don’t worry. Every time we hear something new, we’ll be adding it to this space, so keep checking back for more!
May 28, 2019 — Death Stranding finally gets a release date
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Surprising just about everyone, Hideo Kojima revealed that Death Stranding will be out this year on November 8, 2019. To accompany the announcement an extended trailer was released that shows us more gameplay and dedicates us a better look at its characters. The most important parts? There are characters named Deadman, Heartman, Die-Hardman. Seriously. And also a dude named Cliff, played by none other than Mads Mikkelsen. If the trailer is still leaving you confused, we’ve also received a more coherent summary of the game that actually induces sense.
“In the near future, mysterious detonations have rocked the planet, setting off a series of supernatural events known as the Death Stranding. With spectral beings plaguing the landscape, and the planet on the verge of a mass extinction, it’s up to Sam Bridges to journey from all the regions of the ravaged wasteland and save mankind from impending annihilation.”
February 2019 — Pre-order options and demo reviews!
So @HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN let me play DEATH STRANDING [?] The world is next-level immaculate. It’s like freebasing pure Kojima& Shinkawa. Remember when FURY ROAD blew you away but also made you( in the best-most-thankful way) ask “wtf” how does this miracle exist? YOU. ARE. NOT. READY [?] pic.twitter.com/ RkVxtZCcbj
— Jordan Vogt-Roberts (@ VogtRoberts) February 6, 2019
We have two amazing updates for you! First, you can now pre-order your copy of Death Stranding at Amazon for $60. There still isn’t an official release date for it as of yet, but we’re hoping that our 2020 expectations may appear more like 2019 expectations.
In other news, Hideo Kojima let Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the director of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie, to play a few hours of Death Stranding in a private demo. The review he posted to Twitter, shown above, only fuels our exhilaration that much more. We are ready, Jordan. I swear we are.
October 1, 2018 — More main characters to be disclosed
Main characters of DEATH STRANDING revealed at TGS last week. Yoji made this drawing for TGS based on the situate, the design, the gimmick, the attire, and the casting as of today( minor change might be considered in future) BTW, there’s a few more main character will appear. pic.twitter.com/ XV5hA2jv5U
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@ HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) September 28, 2018
In a teaser-recap of the Tokyo Game Show, Hideo Kojima let loose word that there are a few main characters yet to be exposed. The company had recently pestered many of the important figures in an artistic describe that shown in the defining, art style, outfits, and their casting decisions. They noted there might be minor changes in the future, especially since there are “a few more main characters” still to come.
Sony and Kojima are still playing their cards close to the chest with Death Stranding. While the recent TGS trailer ultimately offered more than simply scenes of the main charactrering walking around with weird stuff attached to his persons, we still don’t have a solid clue considering its plot or core gameplay.
With no release date in sight, we expect things to keep on at this trickling pace until the team feels confident enough to talk about video games in greater detail..
June 11, 2018 — New E3 trailer!
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At E3 2018, Sony and Kojima debuted a new trailer for Death Stranding. The trailer didn’t do much to answer any of the linger questions we have, but there was quite a bit to be learned.
The trailer also gave us our first bit of gameplay, but it was anticlimactic at best. It shows the main character Sam traversing a variety of different terrain types, as well as wading in water and scaling a mountain cliff. Some of the scenes prove some sort of robots following him to wherever he’s going.
Later on in the trailer, we ensure Sam gearing up for a mission by activate his weird capsule baby and the mechanical arm. He can be seen sneaking past some ghostly, smokey figures, and whatever he has on him is apparently keeping them at bay. At the end, however, something goes wrong and Sam is pulled into the ground by a bunch of shadowy hands.
In a blog post on the PlayStation Blog, Kojima notes about Sam :P TAGEND
Some might have already picked up on this, but Sam is unlike any other hero you may have seen in games before. A typical hero is usually some sort of elite or someone with a military background. Sam is not. He is a working man of sorts — a hands-on professional. Someone with a skillset akin to a blue-collar worker.
We also find a couple of new characters, including Lea Seydoux from Blue is the Warmest Color, and Lindsay Wagner from The Bionic Woman. Two more unnamed characters have been confirmed, and we also now know that the music featured in the trailers to date was made by a group named Silent Poets. Still no release date, folks.
What is Death Stranding?
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That’s a good question. The truth is we don’t know a whole lot about the type of game Death Stranding will be right now. Kojima has mentioned that there will be elements of action, adventure, RPG, stealth, and open world gameplay involved. That’s a pretty long list, but he argues it’s not right to try and fit the game into any of these categories as he instead opts to treat video games as its own genre.
While that audios arousing on the surface, we won’t know what, exactly, he means until we insure and learn more. Thanks to a few announcement and teaser trailers, however, the picture is starting to take shape, albeit ever-so-vaguely.
The story so far
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In typical Kojima fashion, we’re left with a lot of nonsensical trailers which challenge the player to piece together their own conclusions about Sam( the main character) and what’s going on in the world around him. As attention-grabbing as these trailers are, they just don’t tell us much of anything. Hell, some scenes present naked babies trapped in capsules which are attached to characters via mechanical arms( or, worse yet, down Sam’s throat ), and those babies are eventually sent floating up a river. It’s just plain weird and creepy.
Then there’s the Timefall rain mechanic, which seemingly both wears on the world and dedicates it accelerated growth, and it’ll also affect Sam one way or another. We don’t know how. We don’t know why. We only don’t know.
And it’s not because we aren’t trying to know, either. Even Kojima’s own squad has mentioned that they are sometimes confounded when he is explaining his vision for the game and the story. We reckon it’ll be one of those things we’ll simply have to play through before we know what the hell is actually going on, but we’re still holding out hope that they’ll be a little less tight-lipped before the game’s launch.
An official description of the game says that Norman Reedus’ character Sam will be journeying across the land to save mankind from annihilation after mysterious explosions wracked the planet and caused supernatural events that set loose spectral creatures.
The human connection
Interestingly enough, Kojima took a lot of inspiration from a Japanese novella called Rope for the premise of Death Stranding. In that written work, the concept of mankind’s earliest tools was boiled down to two simple things: sticks and ropes.
The thinking here is that the stick is the object you would use to keep unpleasant or violent things away from you. Think of it as your weapon, even if all you ever do with it is maintain person at arm’s length. That’s not to say you’ll be tasked with trying to cut through the apparent skeletal armies present in this game use nothing but a tree branch, but we know that the main character will heavily rely on one.
Then there’s the rope, which is the item you use when you want to keep things close to you like your beloved pet puppy on a leash. This is the part where we get a tad confounded, though early grumblings from Kojima suggest that the “rope” will shape the concept of “strands” in this game.
So what are strands? Good question. Here’s what Kojima has to say about some of its themes and naming conventions :P TAGEND
“People have created ‘Walls’ and become accustomed to living in isolation.
Death Stranding is a completely new type of action game, where the goal of the player is to reconnect isolated cities and a fragmented society. It is created so that all elements, including the story and gameplay, are bound together by the theme of the “Strand” or connect. As Sam Porter Bridges, you will attempt to bridge the divides in society, and in doing generate new bonds or “Strands” with other players around the globe. Through your experience playing the game, I hope you’ll come to understand the true importance of forging connections with others.”
Life and death
Kojima’s theme for Death Stranding thus far seems to surround the cycle of life and death. In most games, death typically entails either game over or you’re zipped back to a checkpoint to try again.
But death will take on a whole new meaning in Death Stranding, with the player instead being taken to some sort of purgatory realm whenever they die. It’s not yet clear what you can do in this realm, but we do know you’ll be free to explore it and return to your living form anytime you wish.
Kojima says their longing for changing the role of death in video games stems from the industry’s long misuse of the mechanic. He noted that death checkpoints were designed for arcade machines to keep people popping one-quarters into the slot, but the gaming industry has largely failed to move on from the mechanic even as arcade machines have become a dying breed. While it’s just as vague and cryptic as Kojima wishings it, it still leaves us wondering what, precisely, death will mean in this title.
Top-notch visuals
youtube
Kojima has been particularly chatty when it comes to the technology behind it. He revealed that his squad met with over 30 studios to find the perfect engine for Death Stranding.
They eventually landed with the engine Guerilla Games created for Horizon Zero Dawn. Their choice was based on a number of factors, including an engine with great graphical capabilities and one that supports open-world development. Many engines accommodate that bill by default, but Guerilla’s won the ticket due to their willingness to collaborate with Kojima on further developing the engine. In fact, the two have even gone so far as to co-brand the engine with the name ‘Decima.’ The specifics of what and how they’ve changed it aren’t really important, just as long as you know it’ll look good( there’s PS4 Pro 4K+ HDR support) and play great.
An all-star cast
Not one to shy away from cinematics, Kojima is pulling top talent to help drive the narrative in Death Stranding. The main character, Sam, think this is portrayed by Norman Reedus. You may know him as the actor for the character Daryl on AMC’s The Walking Dead. We also know Mads Mikkelson and Guillermo del Toro will be along for the ride.
When can you play it?
Death Stranding is due out for PlayStation 4 on November 8, 2019 and can be pre-ordered now. Players looking for a little extra can shell out $70 for the Special Edition or a whopping $200 for the Collector’s Edition. But the Collector’s Edition comes with a figure of that pod baby, so perhaps it’s worth it.
Kojima’s next venture
Death Stranding
$60 at Amazon
It’s about to get really weird
If you aren’t already excited for this game, I don’t know what to tell you. Kojima is keeping it weird in the best ways possible, and Death Stranding appears to provide a hell of a gaming experience come November.
Updated May 2019: We’ve updated this article Death Stranding’s release date along with new narrative information
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HitBTC Responds To Recent Claims Against Them - After Critics Said The Exchange Is Insolvent, Scamming Users...
We have just received this extended response from HitBTC. If you're catching up, a good summary of accusations can be found here.
HitBTC's Statement:
Dear Existing Traders, Future Traders, Cryptomedia who know what they are writing about, those who don’t, those who write for money, and those genuinely enjoying the show, we would like to state our position in a clear way with respect to recent write-ups attempting to portray HitBTC in an unfavorable light. We’d like to address some of these issues and provide context into why they happened and what we are doing to develop our product and the way we communicate.
Let’s start with some background:
HitBTC has been in the cryptocurrency market since 2013. We were among the first and one of the most technologically advanced exchanges. When the early crypto enthusiasts built their first matching in Python or JS, we offered our traders a robust high-throughput C++ matching engine.
We are always ready to admit our weaknesses. While focusing on technological and security parts of the product, we have somewhat neglected the Public Communication and PR. We can see that this might have been our major omission. When faced with a trade-off between focusing our company on security of user assets or PR efforts, we have always opted for the former. A day will come when we will achieve both goals.
The Winter of 2017–2018
3.1. The market for digital assets experienced staggering growth during the winter of 2017–2018 which caused explosive growth in the number of our customers. Our technology performed well with this demand showing its superior capability. However, due to the overwhelming demand for our services we encountered major bottlenecks at an operational level. Our Customer Care and Compliance departments were frequently unable to deliver timely responses to clients’ applications and enquiries and a significant number of these cases became public. Substantial investments were made in the aforementioned departments and the issues were solved in successive months. Unfortunately, however, the negative impact to our public perception had already taken place.
3.2. We would like to emphasize that our technology was built by following procedures rooted in the mature financial industry. To ensure the robustness of mission-critical systems, our philosophy dictates that every issue (whether it is daemon lag, lack of 2-step transaction in ADA currency, detection of a transaction stuck in the bitcoin mempool for more than 48 hours due to a low transaction fee, ethereum smart contract vulnerability, etc.) is handled manually and is thoroughly documented. This assures established procedures and workarounds to be in place should the same issue recur. Over the years our dedication to established financial industry practices has guarded us against losses. This a priori more time intensive approach by today has delivered an extremely resilient system, supporting the largest number of assets in the industry without the risks which many platforms may not be able to anticipate.
3.3. Since the beginning of 2018, we have been able to bring the average support response time down to below the 12 hours mark. At the same time, we were the first to create the System Monitor – a tool made available to everyone, and specifically designed to track platform’s performance and status of initiated, pending and completed transactions as well as deposit, withdrawal and trading components status across over 500 assets.
It has always been our core value that the only acceptable mean of expanding our market share is the constant perfection of our product. Apparently, not everyone shares this belief. As a result, besides real cases, which inevitably seem to surface on social media with projects of our scale, we sometimes stumble upon anonymous “cases” and other general allegations lacking substance. We let them slide more often than not since we have always been focused on addressing real cases and foregoing the opportunity of entering into fruitless disputes on the anonymous Internet space.
To summarize, the combination of technological advancement and self-imposed communication isolation has repeatedly made HitBTC a target for various provocative statements, both genuine and motivated otherwise.
The following recent articles are a vivid illustration of unfounded claims that were casted against HitBTC:
4.1. “HitBTC failed Proof-Of-Keys” saga, January, 2019
CCN article: “Bitcoin Exchange HitBTC Freezes Customers’ Accounts ahead of Proof of Keys Event”
A widely quoted article, in its entirety, is based on only 2 AML cases. One of them was initiated as part of the investigation into the December, 2018 BTCP security breach, at the request of the coin’s core team. Unfortunately, there is no clear indication of the nature of the second case that can be discerned from the article.
The author of the article failed to track the deposit/withdrawal dynamics that did not uncover any irregularities. A simple block explorer or our public System Monitorwould suffice for these purposes.
4.2. “HitBTC insolvency: by @ProofofResearch” saga, May, 2019
BitcoinExchangeGuide article: “HitBTC Appears Insolvent [Blockchain Analysis]”
This article’s case claiming delayed withdrawals is based on 3 AML cases and social media gossip. All quoted AML cases were resolved within 3, 12 and 33 days respectively.
Obviously, a subset of hot wallets’ balances are not representative of exchange’s total assets. This makes the statement in the article look like someone has been motivated to openly harm our reputation.
Since we have touched upon the topic of KYC/AML, let us expand upon it. Against the will of crypto anarchists and early crypto adopters, the crypto market is progressively becoming more like a regular financial market. That makes it the subject to practices common to legacy financial institutions. Among these practices are design and enforcement of prudent AML/KYC policies and procedures.
5.1. Protection of market participants
To provide some background: One of the main outcomes from The Great Depression was the establishment of a regulatory framework to protect the general public. As a result, markets became more transparent and protective for its participants which entirely corresponds with our values. The cryptocurrency space will go through a similar process. We foresaw the trend of regulation as an essential factor enabling its mass adoption. We have been setting up an institutional grade infrastructure (KYC/KYT/Market Surveillance/AML and other systems) to protect future mass market participants by following best practice from established financial markets.
5.2. Elimination of bad actors
We respect and understand the inevitable trend of increasing regulation. In our capacity as the largest spot crypto market, we are making extreme efforts to shield our users from bad actors. This coincides with our philosophy and we consider it to be the only way for the mass adoption of crypto to take hold. That is why we have been constantly evolving our processes, and have developed our AIA Policy, structured around AML/KYC procedures that have allowed us to become one of the “cleanest” exchanges in crypto. Years ago our AML team were happy to uncover posts on darknet websites advising to “never use hitbtc”.
Our stance has exposed us to allegations related to or in some way implying “inappropriate suspensions or significant withdrawal delays”. In fact, these allegations always fall in one of the following categories:
6.1. AML cases that indicate suspicious activity on a user account and require a manual check. A Security Officer reaches out to the user and requests the necessary documents – a delay from either side during communication might prolong the verification process.
6.2. Bad actors using fake documents or counterfeit materials for verification purposes. Rarely, it happens that a person on the other side of a confirmation video call (which is a part of our extended AML procedure), shows no signs of affiliation with the account.
6.3. Deposits to the wrong address. If a user accidentally deposits digital assets to the wrong address on HitBTC, we can usually rectify the situation. For example, if a user sends BTC to a USDT address – this is a reversible mistake. Our technical and financial specialists can recover it manually if it’s eligible for retrieval. Naturally, it takes time.
6.4. Victims of phishing. Even though we are always on the lookout for sites mimicking our interface for malicious purposes and initiate their shut down, some of them might escape our attention. We do our best to increase the level of protection of customer accounts. In recent years we have implemented a number of additional security features, such as: one of the first-in-the-industry 2FA confirmations, whitelisted addresses for withdrawals and advanced market surveillance systems.
6.5. Rare cases of account suspension due to a law enforcement request in which we are explicitly prohibited from informing the user in question about the matter.
6.6. Law enforcement requires us to freeze assets without explicit prohibition from informing the user in question. One of the recent public cases.
6.7. A third party request claiming their funds are involved in fraudulent activity – user in question’s account is frozen if we have reasonable arguments to back up the claims and we’re obliged to ask a third party to get law enforcement involved.
6.8. Loss of access to 2FA device requires an extended verification process which shouldtake time due to the security policies that aim to protect users that didn’t lose their 2FA keys, but might have someone pretending to be them.
6.9. A separate category of cases that cause deposit/withdrawal delays on a subset of assets have to do with comprehensive custodial security infrastructure and technical issues of daemons (please refer to 3.2 above). They are an artifact of a large system – given the nature and quantity of assets we support, at any point in time, there are some of them that are down for maintenance. We have custodial SLAs that we are constantly improving, and we are confident that they are at the optimal level of security vs performance within the entire industry. We share necessary statistics transparently in our System Monitor.
We would also like to communicate our position with respect to assets being integrated into and occasionally removed from our platform as this has also caught its share of public attention.
We are honored to work with a diverse range of blockchains and tokens. Given the fact that the crypto industry was in it’s very early days, some lapses of judgement in assessing our integration partners have occurred despite our best efforts to prevent this. Sometimes, it was that we did not possess a complete understanding of the integration partner’s business; sometimes it was the change of the integrated project’s course over time. As a result, the decision to remove a project from our platform occasionally had to be made. In these circumstances, we inevitably face a tough choice – whether to announce it beforehand, adversely influencing the asset’s price, or carry out the process instantaneously. We considered the second option to be less harmful. Withdrawals for the currency or token that was removed always stay open even after the removal takes place except for cases when the technical team is aware of issues. The vast majority of removal decisions fall into one of the following categories:
7.1. Hacks, security breaches, and critical contract bugs solely on the side of the token or coin issuer. For example:
7.1.1. The MXM Case
On March 26, 2019 04:19 UTC MXM had reached out to HitBTC reporting a “critical vulnerability” in their smart contract. We immediately suspended the withdrawals and deposits.
On March 28 the team reached out to us again asking to list a fork of their token that had been distributed using a snapshot made on March 25, 19:00 UTC”, 9 hours before we were notified.
The resolution proposed by the core team:
HitBTC lists a forked token.
MXM would send to HitBTC custody tokens of the new contract.
HitBTC will exchange the old tokens for the new ones transparently to the users.
MXM team sent the new tokens to our custody.
During the audit, our financial department identified a mismatch between the new tokens received and the quantity required for a one to one conversion for our customers.
Having reached no consensus with the core team, we decided to remove MXM from the platform.
We reversed the transaction of the insufficient amount of tokens transferred to us back to the MXM team.
After negotiations, the MXM team solely took responsibility to convert old tokens for our customers. We carefully monitored this process.
7.1.2. The MORPH Case
June 20, 2018, a security breach was exploited in the MORPH smart contract by malicious actors, that allows anybody to issue an unlimited number of tokens.
June 21, 2018 at 20:06 UTC the MORPH team contacts our sales department with requests to “pause listing”, and “pause trading”, and to be prepared to swap the smart contract with the reason “issues with our smart contract”.
No mention of any security breach was made.
June 22, 2018 at 10:29 UTC. Following established procedures, our sales department initiated negotiations to support the new smart contact as defined by our standard procedure for any regular business activity involving the resources of our tech team.
Independently on June 22, 2018 at 20:46 UTC our AML and security departments’ alarms were set off indicating malicious activity related to MORPH’s smart contract.
Transfers from custodial to trading accounts were suspended immediately to prevent fraudulently issued tokens entering our liquidity pool.
A financial control check found that 19,842,265 compromised MORPH tokens had entered our liquidity pool. We contacted the MORPH team and had provided detailed blockchain transaction data, analytics from our security department and data gathered regarding the malicious activity. We want to stress that during future communication we did not disclose irrelevant data that the MORPH team was requesting.
The MORPH team refused to provide the requested 19,842,265 new MRPH tokens in order to carry out the contract swap procedure with a 1 to 1 rate.
The MORPH team’s values not to admit own mistakes did not align with ours and we made a decision to cease our relationship with them.
Following this case, we thoroughly examined and revised our internal smart contract audit processes and KYC procedures for potential partners.
7.1.3. The BNT Case, an example of a core team acting in good faith when resolving their security breach.
Bancor experienced a security breach leading to a part of their funds being compromised on July 9, 2018.
On 9 July, 2018, the BNT core team moved a part of funds from our custody accounts without our consent*. This action immediately set off our financial control alarm and we closed all deposits and withdrawals of the BNT token.
*We realize that the vast majority of tokens are controlled centrally by their respective core teams, and we understand the importance of constructive communication with them.
After discussion with the core team we have reached mutual understanding. Bancor returned the funds retrieved from our custody on July 12, 2018.
7.2. Although we have been constantly improving our internal processes, in the past, a few cases of insufficient review did occur. Here are the most notable of them:
7.2.1. The XMV Case
We made an announcement regarding XMV integration on May 3, 2018.
Resources of technical team were engaged and severe technical problems in XMV daemon and network were discovered.
In parallel a Due Diligence process was conducted. MoneroV failed to provide the set of required documentation.
We rejected XMV integration in early November, 2018.
7.2.2. The AMM Case
As mentioned above, in December 2017, our back office was overwhelmed with requests.
The malicious activity occurred and some accounts were credited with x106 larger amounts than they actually deposited via the blockchain.
We invested a considerable amount of technical and operational resources into dealing with each customer affected on a case-by-case basis.
7.2.3. The HitBTC, McAfee & MTC Case
On May 4, 2018 John McAfee Tweets about the MTC token integration into HitBTC.
On June 28, 2018 McAfee Tweets his disdain for exchanges, targeting HitBTC specifically.
“The crypto exchanges have become the thing that we have originally fought against. Their power is immense. Hitbtc, for example, has increased suffering for millions of poor people who cannot afford the minimum buy-in since it is greater than their monthly income. Boycott them.”“@hitbtc I will be your worst enemy until you prove that you are aligned with our community and are truly interested in helping the poor. You have not done shit to help access the only free healthcare in the world.”
Referring to ambiguous McAffee’s critics about the “buy-in” price (a term from poker), on June 30, 2018 we answered with a Tweet explaining our withdrawal fees.
Despite this, John McAfee continued to make significant efforts to create a toxic atmosphere around HitBTC.
We have deep sympathy to John’s beliefs that poor people should have access to new technologies, but we see a different way to achieve that – by building a robust infrastructure for future mass adoption.
7.3. The activity of a coin’s core team negatively affects our customers. For example:
7.3.1. The BTCP Case
On December 30, 2018, after persons with malicious intent exploited a vulnerability in the coin’s code, BTCP made the decision to make a hard fork of their blockchain, burning “shielded” and “unmoved” coins.
The BTCP team’s decision put in danger the unmoved coins stored in our custody system under Segwit BTC addresses. To “move” and protect them from being burned we had to either import cold custody’s BTC private keys to BTCP daemon or implement the BTCP transactions signature ourselves.
As importing keys from the high security segment of our custodial technical infrastructure to any third party daemon fundamentally contradicts our policy, we opted for signature implementation in order to protect our custody funds.
Despite our utmost efforts, we were unable to obtain clear documentation from the BTCP team that would have allowed us to implement the P2SH-P2WPKH signature in time.
We requested that the BTCP team to compensate us for the loss of coins that were burned based on their conscious decision to proceed with a hardfork.
The BTCP team refused to provide any alternatives, that would have prevented damage to the funds in our custody.
We decided to remove BTCP from our platform. You can find more details related to the BTCP case on our blogpost.
Please note that coin burn did not affect coins deposited to our custodial accounts after the BTCP network launch, so none of customers’ assets were affected. Nevertheless, no airdrop of old coins was held.
Let us summarize the key points mentioned above. We believe in a future filled with self-sustainable Internet and virtual reality economies and we have actively been creating its vital infrastructure for many years. During this course we’ve mastered ways to create both a product that can support millions of users and the technology behind it. We have expended substantial effort in complying with the evolving regulations in the digital asset space including the practices necessary to exclude bad actors and establish fast and secure operations among many other aspects of the business in this industry.
However, by keeping our main focus on the things we consider to be fundamental, we perhaps neglected Public Relations as well as the necessity of reacting to public accusations – both fabricated and genuine. We consider it to be an important part of a public product and we are confident in our ability to convey our values and ideals.
We are constantly on the lookout for public communications talent with or without experience in blockchain technologies. Please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] with any enquiries regarding our values.
Joan Gald
Board Member, HitBTC
Ultimately - 3rd party verification and audit will be necessary at this point. There's no way around it. The sooner HitBTC opens the books, the better.
Understandably, delaying this process invites increased suspicion.
-------
Author: Mark Pippen
London News Desk
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Uzbekistan: It’s Time Look Beyond Repression or Radicalism
On March 9, journalist Narghiza Saidova was appointed a deputy head of the State Agency of Media and Information. The secular journalist’s governing administration appointment was fulfilled on the Uzbek corners of Facebook with an intense bullying marketing campaign.
Quite a few hashtags used by apparently phony accounts — lots of with Russian names — called for her punishment and even a loss of life sentence for her alleged insult of the Prophet Mohammed in her reply comment to a provocative write-up on polygamy. Even more shares and general public comments in assist of the on the internet protesters shown the acceptance of religious (generally radical) sentiments among digital users. Saidova was pressured to consider a go away of absence from perform and furnished 24-hour safety at house. On April 12 Saida Mirziyoyeva, the daughter of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, replaced Saidova in her put up.
This scenario exhibits the deep fragmentation of Uzbek society at a time of escalating openness. Open up discussions pull out voices that were tacit less than late President Islam Karimov’s rule, revealing the fragmentation of culture involving the severe spiritual close of the spectrum and secularism. Previous repressive policies from spiritual teams and believers, and the inadequate top quality of secular schooling, have fostered a return to traditionalism and even radical interpretations of Islam. In addition, the authoritarian rule of Karimov introduced about an atmosphere of ubiquitous fear and a reluctance to even assess, substantially less criticize, developments in modern society.
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The current government’s policy toward religious groups remains unclear. In September 2018, many spiritual bloggers have been arrested for their posts on social media. Earlier, the authorities experienced freed a amount of spiritual activists and excluded them from the notorious blacklists. Since the legal program does not evidently determine the expression “radicalization,” a return to oppression is not inconceivable. A deficiency of academic and sociological exploration on preferred sentiments and all round general public viewpoint precludes building an knowledgeable tactic for tackling the challenge of radicalization.
The Saidova case cited previously mentioned exposes the splits within just Uzbek society, which can pose a major challenge for the govt for decades to occur. How is the govt likely to deal with radicalization? The initially solution that comes to intellect is tightening the screws. This is a really acquainted tactic from the Karimov regime. It is the least complicated to enact and promises quick effects it can also have exceptionally negative repercussions in the long operate.
Following this “all-around sticks” tactic, the authorities would progress with accusations and arrests, refilling the “blacklists” of unsafe believers. These steps could indulge the secular part of society, which is afraid immediately after the emergence of traditionalist and Islamic rhetoric in social media. Moreover, developing a discourse akin to Karimov’s narratives on battling towards radical Islam could assist to legitimize the electric power of the current chief.
The facet-outcomes of this kind of plan, however, pose even larger pitfalls. Uzbekistan is nonetheless on the lengthy road to earning acceptance of worldwide human rights corporations, and attracting visitors and investments, which are listed as important sections of the government’s reform ideas. A repressive coverage path dangers putting the government’s reform options in reverse.
According to unofficial sources, a several arrests took spot just after the incident with Narghiza Saidova, but these have not been formally confirmed. Govt officers have not commented publicly. They reverted to old processes: remaining tacit on boiling concerns, leaving vagueness on the floor.
Komildjon Allamjonov, Mirziyoyev’s previous push secretary and presently the head of the State Company of Media and Facts, stated nothing at all. For another person who is claimed to be a person of the very best PR-technologists in Uzbekistan, silence at a time like this is abnormal. The cyberattacks versus his deputy, Saidova, were aimed at discrediting him, say unofficial sources. These tips had been spurred by the simple fact that the Fb and Twitter accounts that stirred up the on the internet mob experienced Russian names, which is barely steady with the segment of the Uzbek populace that would have traditionalist Islamic sights. Twitter has never ever been popular in Uzbekistan, so its use in this case is also conspicuous. It looks the planners driving the attacks did not thoroughly study the social media floor in the nation.
The silence of officials on the challenge yet again points to the possibility of sliding down into “all-around sticks” method. There have been no conversations on enhancing the laws on radicalization or cyberbullying. The popular journalist Nikita Makarenko published an short article advocating for amendments into the regulation on insult and libel, introducing an extra paragraph referring to the web. However fears arise that the law may possibly probably be used to shut down ordinary citizens. Folks refer to a March 2019 scenario in which a person was sentenced to 15 months of imprisonment for libel towards the mayor of Khankin district in Khorezm area — he’d accused the mayor of getting bribes. The regulation has by no means worked the other way close to: No formal has at any time been prosecuted or convicted for insult or libel versus ordinary citizens.
Given that some Uzbeks are disappointed by the government’s reforms to date, or keep on to be skeptical about its grand guarantees, it’s clear that we need new wondering – primarily based on evaluation and aim surveys into Uzbek culture and its complications.
For case in point, some authorities say that the problem of radicalization is exaggerated in Uzbekistan. It is really hard to attract a distinct line amongst all those who favor consideration to standard Islamic values and all those who demand from customers improve in the current condition purchase. Uzbek Islamic traditionalists are barely keen on giving up their secular freedoms for the sake of a caliphate in Uzbekistan. They are most likely much more keen to introduce some Islamic values into day-to-day existence, specially retreating to additional conservative social roles for females, in unique.
The Uzbek point out should really maintain its eye on the ball and reply to these traditionalists in a more complex way. The outdated-design coverage of shutting down all freedoms in response to either dissent or obstacle can contribute even much more to the radicalization of specified teams, which really feel estranged and socially unconnected. Initiatives to tame religiosity and traditionalism with repression will not do the job, and will price the federal government preferred guidance even amid people with potent secular sentiments.
The authorities ought to demonstrate its devotion to its proclaimed coverage of openness and transparency in get to catch the attention of international investments and tourism. NGOs and academic establishments can assist to acquire objective information on community sentiments and the degree of well-liked sympathies to religious teams. This research will not involve additional funding from the state, but could supply it with crucial information for sensible plan.
Elevating rely on in civil culture establishments is a extensive-operate strategy. That’s why measures have to have to be taken immediately. Extra house for analytical reporting and journalism will boost the country’s nascent political tradition. More room for secular discussion, and a much better secular education and learning method, will harmony the voices of religious teams in community discourse. The improvement of civil culture establishments, together with raising have faith in in them, will cut down radicalism by authorized suggests.
Returning to the modern case of Narghiza Saidova, it is critical that the reply to cyberbullying not be the normal tightening of the screws against the general inhabitants. These a action will fortify radical groups in their rhetoric and make them appealing for new recruits. It will also guide to criticism of the authorities of Uzbekistan by worldwide businesses and Western international locations. The reformist discourse of Uzbekistan right now will be jeopardized both equally by boosting radical Islamic outbursts as properly as a return to unlawful arrests and unsanctioned “blacklists.”
Uzbekistan has already fully commited by itself to democratic beliefs and is aiming at upgrading its status in the intercontinental group. It is a top rated precedence for Tashkent to show its adversaries that it is going to defeat them within just the confines of the legislation, not with arbitrary repression.
Any abuse of the regulation, be it cyberbullying or unlawful steps by the authorities, pitfalls long-term dangerous effects for Uzbekistan. We really should not opt for a return to repression, but spend instead in far better authorized safety for all Uzbek citizens and better being familiar with of general public sentiment. General public sentiments ought to be expressed in open up and civilized discussions, alternatively than as a result of bullying tactics. We can protect both equally the condition and its citizens exclusively by lawful suggests, in which the common rights of people have an undisputed supremacy.
Nozima Davletova is a fellow at George Washington University’s Central Asia Plan. Her study passions involve Central Asian politics and women’s development issues in Uzbekistan.
The post Uzbekistan: It’s Time Look Beyond Repression or Radicalism appeared first on Defence Online.
from WordPress https://defenceonline.com/2019/04/18/uzbekistan-its-time-look-beyond-repression-or-radicalism/
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"Images vs. No Images: What Should We Do in Our Marketing Emails & Newsletters?"
This exact question was the subject of much debate when we first launched THE LATEST -- our thrice-weekly newsletter for digital marketers and business leaders -- last September.
We all had a lot of strong opinions about it -- although they were often conflicting opinions.
Using myself as an example, I know how important images are to creating content that is visually pleasing and engaging. Our article templates in HubSpot require images, and our internal best practice guidance encourages the use of (relevant, purposeful) imagery throughout articles.
On the other hand, I also know my eyes will glaze over when I'm confronted with emails and newsletters that feature tons of images.
On some level, this was the struggle we were all mentally wrestling with.
And if you're asking yourself this question, you're more than likely at the same impasse as we were last fall.
Of course, whether or not you put images in your emails is going to be entirely based on the context of what type of email you're sending, how you're sending it, and who your target audience is.
But since I know personally how annoying an answer of, "Well, it depends," is -- no matter how warranted or factually accurate it may be -- I'm going to share with you exactly what we did to make the decision for ourselves with THE LATEST, as well as some interesting data around visual email vs. more "plain" email performance.
We Decided to A/B Test Images vs. No Images in Emails Instead of "Going with Our Guts"
Our goal with images was to not only enhance the experience of THE LATEST newsletter -- i.e., make it pretty to look at 😘 -- but also increase click-through rates.
For those unfamiliar, we publish tons of articles, podcasts, and videos seven days a week, 365 days per year. THE LATEST is meant to cut through the noise by featuring the most relevant and exciting content we've been publishing, along with other goodies hand-selected by Ramona and myself.
With that in mind, the images in THE LATEST were meant to provide visual context to the articles we were featuring in each issue (three in total), to entice people to click-through and read them.
Since we are adamant about using as few stock images as possible at IMPACT in our content, we knew the images had the potential to bring more authentic personality forward from the authors of our articles -- whether they were an IMPACT employee, or one of our amazing outside contributors.
(For example, Angela Bowman from LuckyOrange, whose article on equality in the workplace was featured in the November 13, 2018, issue of THE LATEST shown above!)
Going Into the Test, I Had a Lot of Anti-Image Feelings
I've always viewed myself as a curmudgeon in the world of inbound marketing. For instance, I've spent years dragging my feet about video. Not just as a marketer, either. When I can read or listen to something, I'll choose that over video every single time. (I have no idea why -- I was born this way, baby.)
I've since come around with video, but I have a similar "no nonsense" preference with marketing emails.
My favorite email newsletters have little to no imagery whatsoever, aside from the occasional emojis.👻
For example, I love, love, love getting emails from GatherContent:
Will you just look at how stunningly simple and beautiful this email from my buddy Rob Mills is? Swoon.
For me, this is the ideal. My job is writing and editing and content coaching and writer's block and... ugh. Yeah, just lots and lots of words.
That means if your newsletter is basically the marketing equivalent of James Joyce's Ulysses with the modern addition of GIFs and stock photography, I regret to inform you that you and I will not be internet best friends.
However, I know there are a lot of people who love images in emails and there are other email newsletters I get that I love that are more visual in nature.
So, I was prepared for the results of our experiments with THE LATEST to show images were the way to go.
I was wrong!
Our A/B Testing Showed Higher Email Click-Through Rates Without Images
If you're a subscriber of THE LATEST, you knew that was coming, right?
Thanks to HubSpot's handy A/B testing option with email, we tested...
And tested...
And tested...
...three issues a week, for an entire month.
With the exception of two close calls, virtually every single A/B test came back with a 0.5 to 1.2 percent lift in email click-throughs.
I'll admit, the day we made a full switch to emails without photos or images, I was a little sad. Even though I personally prefer get-to-the-point emails without a lot of fluff, it felt like we were losing something.
But apparently our subscriber base didn't feel like we did something negative -- since making the switch over to no images with the entire subscriber base of THE LATEST, we've seen an overall lift of 4 to 6 percent in click-through rates.
Much like Shakira's hips, the numbers do not lie.
Now, I love it.
The emojis we use add a little visual flair and personality that still feels conversational. Also, if we do include images now -- e.g. a thumbnail for an occasional video feature, personal photos Ramona and I may opt to include, and so on -- they are more likely to grab someone's attention.
Since we so rarely use images, they stand out and send a message of, "This image is here for a reason."
Other Interesting Stats About "Plain" vs. Image- or Design-Heavy Emails
The debate of images vs. no images in email is rooted in a more broad debate of "plain text vs. HTML emails."
Although it's worth nothing that "plain text" technically refers to emails with no HTML structure at all. So, if you were to include a link, you'd have to do so as a raw URL and not an embedded hyperlink.
In the context of this marketing comparison, however, "plain text" is generally applied as a label to marketing emails that look plain but are, in actuality, an HTML email without all the visual bells and whistles. Like the rich-text emails you can send through Gmail.
Last July, Databox asked a group of marketing leaders their thoughts on plain emails vs. more HTML (see: "design-y") emails, and there were a few recurring themes:
For sales emails and lead nurturing sequences, the closer you can make an email look like a one-to-one, personal communication the better. So, plain is the winner in this case.
Also, industry seemed to be a big factor, with many respondents to Databox saying B2B audiences, as well as finance and technology fields showed, in some cases, a 4X to 9X preference for plainer emails.
Of course, the feedback they received was not absolute. A few marketers responded HTML works better for marketing, and plain text emails performed better for sales.
So, while there are broader themes that seem to indicate that more plain emails that give the impression of a more personalized email from an actual human, the data some are reporting is conflicting.
For example, Tammy Duggan-Herd of Content Creators told Databox the HTML version of their biweekly newsletter had a 6.5-percent higher open rate and a 60-percent higher click-through rate.
Whereas HubSpot found that while people say they want more design-y emails, their behavior shows they actually prefer more stripped down emails in their inbox.
So, Should You Use Images in Marketing Emails & Newsletters?
Your answer to that question is going to depend on the following:
What type of email you're sending.
If it's a more sales-focused context, you're probably want to go the more plain wrote, with as few visual bells and whistles as possible. If you're in marketing, well... you're going to need to do some testing.
Who the audience is that you're targeting.
As some have noted, certain audiences (B2B, technology, etc.) seem to have a preference for plainer-looking correspondence.
What your goals are.
You should never include images just for the sake of it. They should only be included if you have a specific goal for them -- again, in our case, it was to enhance the appeal of feature articles.
Still, just making guesses as to what you should do based on the three criteria above, I highly recommend you do what we did -- run an images vs. no images A/B test for at least a month.
By the end of that period, your audience will show you exactly what they really want from you. (Even if they're saying the opposite.)
from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/images-vs.-no-images-in-marketing-emails-newsletters
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The Journey: CIBC Canada-Russia Series and Fastest Rising Prospects
Hello fantasy hockey fans, and welcome to The Journey! If you’ve followed this column for any length of time, chances are you’ve become quite familiar with the great work of Jokke Nevalainen, Brad Phillips, Kevin LeBlanc and some other awesome writers around the site. My name is Brayden Olafson – I’m from a small town in Saskatchewan and have been working with DobberProspects for about two years, and I’ll be taking the reins here going forward. Like much of the staff at Dobber, I consider myself a student of the game at all levels, and love to get involved in discussions with fellow fans and readers. The best way to get a hold of me is through the comments here or on Twitter @olaf1393.
With those pleasantries aside, let’s get into some hockey. Since Dobber has just released his November edition of the Top 200 Fantasy Prospect Forwards, we’re going to have a look at some of the biggest risers and fallers. First though, we’re going to have a quick look at the U20 Canada-Russia series that wrapped up on Thursday night in Drummondville.
The CIBC Canada-Russia series was hosted by six different cities across Canada over the course of the last two weeks. Beginning in Vancouver on November 5, and wrapping up on Thursday in Drummondville. The six-game series in which the Russians challenge each league’s All-Star team twice, is one of the best annual opportunities for scouts to compare the top U20 Russian talents to the top U20 Canadians. The age bracket allows for already drafted players in addition to draft eligible players to get prime exposure leading up to the World Junior Championship roster selections. The WHL’s bench boss Tim Hunter will also head up Canada’s final roster at the holiday classic, so you can be sure that the results of this series will weigh heavily on the selections. It also so happens that the Russians’ will be slotted in Canada’s pool for round-robin play at the WJC, which added an extra element of evaluation to Hunter’s two-week cross-Canada escapade.
Neither the Dub, nor the O tallied a single official powerplay goal in their series, despite a combined 15 opportunities. Coach Hunter admitted that the team showed little to no cohesion on the man advantage, likely as a result of their unfamiliarity with each other. That narrative seemed to carry through the week for the CHL teams, which Hunter also admitted, was a factor in their evaluation. The Russians have provided consistent competition for the seemingly cyclical Canadian squads. This time around, the parity of the series was uncanny. While both of the first two CHL leagues were able to split their respective series with the Red Machine, the QMJHL failed to close in either of their contests. The Russians clinched their first win of the series since 2010 with a regulation goal to send the final game of the series to overtime. The six games had a World Junior-like excitement, despite it being the lowest scoring series in the 16-year history.
The dynamic scene of evaluating young hockey players means that the results of a best-on-best series such as this can have a more significant impact on a player’s apparent value than similar events for other groups. With that being said, here are some of the players that made the most positive impact on their stock through the course of the short series.
Russia
Stepan Starkov (FA) – The undrafted 19-year-old center led the Russian’s in scoring through the series. He’s flown under the radar in his previous years of draft eligibility and has never played outside of the Iron Curtain which could stint NHL interest. His performance over the last couple of weeks could create interest though.
WHL
Dylan Cozens (2019 Draft) – Of the several 2019 draft eligible players to be featured in the series, Cozens seemed to have the most positive impact on his team. The Yukon native is on an upward trajectory, which will leave Tim Hunter with a tough decision when it comes to the 17-year-old and World Junior selections.
OHL
Michael DiPietro (2017/64th, Vancouver) – The Canucks prospect added to his successful 2018 with a win for team OHL. Tim Hunter marveled at the 19-year-old’s athleticism, a factor that could make him a favorite to land the starting role for Canada in Vancouver.
QMJHL
Jared McIssac (2018/36th, Detroit) – After a moderately successful draft year in Halifax, McIssac has been able to refocus his game on his strengths as a complete defender. Despite being held off of the score sheet in either of the QMJHL’s contests, he provided sound defensive play and flashes of opportunity in the offensive zone.
The Russian lineup is a fairly accurate picture of what we will see on the ice in Vancouver and Victoria this Boxing Day, however each of the Canadian players will continue to compete until the final selection camp.
Fastest Rising Prospects
Now getting into the meat and potatoes of this week, the fastest rising players from Dobber’s most recent edition of his top-200 Fantasy Prospect Forwards.
Brett Howden – New York Rangers – Up to 13 from 99
An unlikely hero in the Rangers’ rebuild saga, Howden has emerged from the Blueshirts group of youngsters as a reliable source of offense and defense. Coming over in the Miller/McDonagh transition from Tampa, Howden was seen as a relatively safe type of player who would spend time in Hartford before coming up to play in a support role on Broadway.
This October, however, revealed a renewed set of expectations for the former 27th overall pick. The 20-year-old is on pace for a 48-point rookie campaign playing primarily between Jesper Fast and Jimmy Vesey. That mark would eclipse either of his two line-mates annual totals through their fifth and second years respectively. Howden is currently scoring on 20% of his shots, in all likelihood, an unsustainable rate to keep up through the length of the season. His second unit powerplay opportunity has been limited though, which provides an opportunity for growth between now and the end of the year. Sticking on a line with Vesey and Fast will also allow Howden to continue flying under the radar against other teams’ defensive tactics, all in all, painting a pretty nice picture for future success.
At 6-3, Howden is a specimen. There’s certainly room for growth in his game, but this early success rewrites his script to some extent. It’s plausible that by the end of the year he will have surpassed both Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil on the teams projections, putting him in line to be the poster-boy and 1-C at MSG for years to come.
Sheldon Rempal – LA Kings – up to 114 from 202
Signed as a free-agent out of Clarkson, the opportunistic Sheldon Rempal is in the business of proving people wrong. At 5-10, 165lb, he makes Mitch Marner look like a pretty big boy – but that hasn’t slowed him down at any level of hockey yet. In his draft year, Rempal played for the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL on Vancouver Island – he tallied a respectable 50 points in 58 games, but nowhere near draft caliber. It wasn’t until two seasons later in his final year of Junior A that he exploded with 59 goals and 110 points through 56 contests.
Three years later, Rempal can tell the same story of his two years of Division I and how that success has catapulted him into the AHL. A handful of games into his pro career, the 23-year-old was off to a blistering start with Ontaio before being recalled to the Kings to play alongside Jeff Carter and Ilya Kovalchuk. His audition with the team was short lived with Dustin Brown returning from the IR, but with the developing turmoil on the team it might not be long before we see him reinstated in the Kings top-6.
At this point, Rempal becomes almost a pure boom/bust type of prospect for the Kings. At a time when the team is uncertain of their future, that kind of name plate could certainly be something to bet on.
Kristian Vesalainen – Winnipeg Jets – Up to 28 from 83
Success in the European professional leagues can often go underappreciated – just look at Elias Pettersson. Kristian Vesalainen really isn’t a whole heck of a lot different – before you go screaming about Pettersson’s NHL production, his pedigree, his nice hair… hear me out. Vesalainen plays a 200-foot game, and his production may never amount to the exact level of Pettersson’s, but the concept of his underappreciation due to his geographic circumstances is equivalent. The Jets are also in a totally different situation than the Canucks where it would be unacceptable to give Vesalainen the same kind of opportunity that Pettersson is getting right now.
At 19 years of age, Vesalainen’s vision, poise, hockey sense and size make him a tantalizing prospect who has the potential to flank a top NHL line in the future. In recent news, Vesalainen has been called up to play for the Jets, one day before his European out clause was set to begin.
Aleksi Heponiemi – Florida Panthers –Up to 36 from 88
The Panthers second-round-pick from 2017 was a star at the Canadian major junior level for the last two years. In his draft and draft+1 seasons, he scored 86 and 118 points respectively good for 16th and 3rd in WHL scoring those years. Although he would remain eligible to play in the league for another year, Heponiemi and his advisors opted for a change in scenery that would attest to his ability as a complete and maturing player. This summer, he announced that he would be returning to Finland to join Kärpät of the Finnish Liiga.
Competing against men, rather than a narrow group of his peers in Canada, Hepo has proven early this fall that he is an adaptable player. He’s shown that an increase in the level of his competition will not stand as a barrier to his development – hence the boost to 36 on Dobber’s list. If he’s able to sustain this level of play over the course of a full campaign, his next challenge will be closing the gap on an NHL job as early as next October.
from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/the-journey/the-journey-cibc-canada-russia-series-and-fastest-rising-prospects/
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The Rhyme of the Ancient Speculator: Bullish Silver COT
Source: Michael J. Ballanger for Streetwise Reports 03/03/2018
Precious metals expert Michael Ballanger explains why he believes why he believes gold has begun a new bull market and what the silver COT report is saying about that market.
Twenty-seven months and two days ago, I was under huge emotional duress due to the dreadful action in the gold market as prices had been under severe manipulative pressure since mid-October. Under the excruciating weight of incessant shenanigans (interventions), the price of gold was in abject freefall, having plunged from $1,189.90 to $1,062.60 or around 10.7% in a mere six weeks. On Friday, December 4, the COT for the week ended December 1, 2015. was reported and as I read the gold portion of that report, I suddenly leapt out of my chair screaming with both surprise and excitement, knocking wine and beer bottles askew and sending the poor dog yelping into the safety of two womanly arms with the revelation that "something important" had just happened.
After watching the open interest suddenly shrink on the Wednesday-Friday after that momentous end-of-COT-week Tuesday, it became apparent that the much-reviled Commercials had actually gone "net long" immediately after, as gold bottomed into that fateful slide to its multi-year low at $1,045.40. And surely enough, with gold being pillaged in one the classic "Freaky Friday" collusive attacks, gold put in what now appears to be THE bottom and marked the onset of a brand, spanking, new BULL market which was subsequently borne out with one of the best market advances in history and one of the best market calls of my career.
Last night, after arriving home late after some family time, I had a similar epiphany of sorts and one perhaps liberally sprinkled with a pinch of "deja vu" as I perused a rather benign gold COT with Commercials covering a few gold shorts into the bombing to under $1,320 but what sent me into one of my "grande mal-esque" emotional seizures was the silver COT, where the monetarily-masochistic Large Speculators have now gone completely and totally over-the-wall NET SHORT silver and now hold a massively bullish aggregate short position of 1,508 contracts.
That I cannot recall ever seeing a "net short" position by the Large Speculators is irrelevant; just as the Commercials have to be heeded in their power to control direction in the precious metals by way of insidious activities (the nature of which are well-documented in this publication), so too must we heed the tendency for the Large Speculators to be found on the losing end of the Commercial Trader's bullwhips with outsized positions, either lightly-long (at bottoms) or largely long (at tops). To be "lightly long" or "largely long" is still "long" but today and now, they are "SHORT." Now, this does not mean I'll go out and mortgage the cannabis patch in order to own (more) silver but it does give me great solace in my recent purchase of five (more) silver bars in the $16.65 range. I opt for physical, non-leveraged silver for two reasons: 1. It is easier to sleep at night knowing that you simply own it and therefore are not looking to trade it and 2. In looking back at my trading "acumen" for silver futures and options when reviewing tax data back to 2009, I have found myself resembling a "mule" as in "beaten like a rented mule" or the "schoolboy" as in "thrashed like an errant schoolboy." In other words, it took me until late 2015 to understand that the money I was committing to a margin deposit at the CME was actually a contribution to the educational or vacation fund of any one of the Commercial traders. These bullion banks have been sued, issued SEC and CFTC subpoenas, exposed via documentaries such as "Inside Job," and via testimonies by organizations such as GATA. Yet, with astonishing deftness, these cretins wiggle and squirm out of any culpability, guilt, or penury because the commodity they manipulate and the investors they defraud are not the allies of the global banking cartel and, by natural progression, governments.
So, when I write these missives and I get all warm and bubbly over the always-wrong Large Speculators having moved to their first-ever net short position in CME silver futures, march forward with liberal quantities of hubris and skepticism and trade accordingly with the knowledge that the data upon which I base my excitement is still coming from within the walls of the House of Smoke and Mirrors (the Crimex) and prone to further levies of dis-and-misinformation.
Disclaimers notwithstanding, junior exploration and development issues such as Canuc Resources Corp. (CDA:TSX.V) (formerly Santa Rosa Silver Mining Corp.) recently announced a 10-metre section containing 5 g/t gold and 210 g/t SILVER at its San Javier project in Sonora, Mexico, and represent the kinds of low-market-cap entry points for speculators. Intermediates like Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE) and Silvercorp Metals Inc. (SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE) are both trading at around 50% of their recent (2016) highs and appear to be worth accumulating. Exploration juniors such as Stakeholder Gold Corp. (SRC:TSX.V) are in Nevada in the hunt for a Midas-type discovery (gold-silver) with its Goldstorm Project now in the exploration phase. Remember that these are still "stocks" and are vulnerable to broad, non-precious-metals-related market drawdowns that can result in us being right (on the commodity move) but wrong (on the stock outcome).
In sum, this week's silver COT can only be viewed as a bullish event and one where only over the fullness of time can we be sure that this week's contrarian's-delight overweight net short position by the Large Spec masochists is a true "BUY SIGNAL" in the same vein as was the December 4, 2015 COT for gold. I will tell you this: In discussing the silver COT over the past twenty-four hours with fellow precious metals players, there is a degree of cynicism and disinterest larger than the reaction I was getting two long years and three short days ago for similar set-ups for gold. In the next ten months into 2016, gold rallied 31%, silver rallied 52.4% with the HUI advancing 185% in one of the biggest money-making rallies in decades. If the yawns and body-language dismissals are any indication of history rhyming, we are at a similarly important catharsis and the cynics and skeptics will be residing in body bags at the shoulders of the "Atria Argentium."
Forewarned is forearmed.
Originally trained during the inflationary 1970s, Michael Ballanger is a graduate of Saint Louis University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in finance and a Bachelor of Art in marketing before completing post-graduate work at the Wharton School of Finance. With more than 30 years of experience as a junior mining and exploration specialist, as well as a solid background in corporate finance, Ballanger's adherence to the concept of "Hard Assets" allows him to focus the practice on selecting opportunities in the global resource sector with emphasis on the precious metals exploration and development sector. Ballanger takes great pleasure in visiting mineral properties around the globe in the never-ending hunt for early-stage opportunities.
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Disclosure:
1) Michael J. Ballanger: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corp. and Canuc Resources Corp. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies referred to in this article: Stakeholder Gold Corporation. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector. Additional disclosures are below.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.
3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.
4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.
5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article, until one week after the publication of the interview or article. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Stakeholder Gold and Canuc Resources, companies mentioned in this article.
All charts and images courtesy of Michael Ballanger.
Michael Ballanger Disclaimer:
This letter makes no guarantee or warranty on the accuracy or completeness of the data provided. Nothing contained herein is intended or shall be deemed to be investment advice, implied or otherwise. This letter represents my views and replicates trades that I am making but nothing more than that. Always consult your registered advisor to assist you with your investments. I accept no liability for any loss arising from the use of the data contained on this letter. Options and junior mining stocks contain a high level of risk that may result in the loss of part or all invested capital and therefore are suitable for experienced and professional investors and traders only. One should be familiar with the risks involved in junior mining and options trading and we recommend consulting a financial adviser if you feel you do not understand the risks involved.
( Companies Mentioned: CDA:TSX.V, FSM:NYSE; FVI:TSX; FVI:BVL; F4S:FSE, SVM:TSX; SVM:NYSE, SRC:TSX.V, )
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16 Accessible and Affordable Music Marketing Tips
If 15-year-old Conor were around—with curly hair down to his eyes and a sweaty Minor Threat t-shirt on his back—he would argue that marketing isn’t punk rock.
And perhaps he’s right. If there’s a Dead Kennedys deep cut about long-tail keywords, I’ve not yet had the pleasure of hearing it.
But, that perspective is naive. The music industry is immensely competitive, and good marketing is essential for anyone looking to turn their art into a successful career. After all, artists can expect to make only about 70% of a penny per play on Apple Music, and a little more than half that on Spotify. A song with a million streams will earn you well under $10,000. Plus, touring is expensive.
As such, we’ve taken the time to create an accessible music marketing guide to help you reach as many unjustifiably angry 15-year-olds as possible.
Let’s begin!
#1. Keep it old school.
Sure, we may be living in a digital era. Streaming platforms are dominant, and CDs are useful only to anthropologists. But, there will always be music lovers who appreciate all things vintage. Plus, over the past 12 years, annual sales of vinyl records in the U.S. have surged by 15 times!
Go to record stores and advertise your band however you like—posters, stickers, buttons, etc. You can also ask an employee if they’re willing to play your latest music. I was in a record store when I first heard Australian prog outfit King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and I’ve been a huge fan ever since!
#2. Get on social media…
Americans spend roughly 24 hours per week on the Internet. 33% of that online time is dedicated to social media. That comes out to over an hour per day of social media consumption.
So, is social media an important part of your strategy? Is Radiohead’s In Rainbows criminally overlooked because people think it’s edgy to say Kid A is their favorite album?
Twitter is a great platform to promote new music in a casual way. Check out this tweet from Car Seat Headrest, posted the day the band’s most recent album dropped:
Facebook is terrific for organizing and promoting upcoming concerts. Each month, hundreds of millions of consumers use Facebook Events to find stuff to do in their cities and neighborhoods. In fact, Facebook Local, a standalone app, is designed to direct users to nearby Events based on their locations.
And, as of August 2018, Facebook enables you to sell concert tickets directly through the platform. Before, you had to hope that someone who saw your Event would remember to search for tickets on line. No longer do you have to worry about losing that concert-goer.
#3. …and create an awesome cross-platform community.
People often generalize hashtags as spam. But, did you know that your band can use them to bring fans together and create a super fun online community?
The amazing thing about your fans is that they want to spread your music to new listeners. If you create a hashtag for the release of your newest single, EP, or album, you can rest assured that your loyal followers are going to use that hashtag as well. And each time one of your fans shares it with their social media circles, tons of people you’ve yet to reach are getting exposed to your band.
A BROCKHAMPTON fan shares the group’s new single via hashtag.
Hashtags also allow you to find the people who are talking about you online and interact with them. Every music fan fantasizes about getting the chance to have a conversation with their favorite artists. Be the artist who thanks fans for listening and answers their random questions! This does wonders for your public images.
#4. Use contests to get more people to your shows.
Music—particularly live music—is all about community. One of the best parts of seeing your favorite band live is reliving the experience with your friends immediately afterwards.
Your band can tap into the social aspect of concerts by launching a contest! When you create a Facebook Event for your upcoming show in Seattle, let your fans know how it works. Whoever invites the most new people to the Event gets a prize of your (or her) choice—a backstage pass, a free item of merch, and so on.
Running a contest like this is a fun, engaging way to get more people at your shows. Plus, you can do it for as many or as few shows as you want!
#5. Play a free show.
If there’s one thing that beats live music, it’s free live music. Of course, from an opportunity cost perspective, it’s expensive to give up a night that you could be using to make money from a regular concert. However, if you have the flexibility to occasionally play free shows in parks, town commons, and coffee houses, it can be a fantastic way to get your music out there and find new fans.
Plus, in an era when ticket vendors charge exorbitant fees for no apparent reason other than turning a profit, putting your music out for free is a surefire way to brand yourself as a cool, down-to-earth artist.
#6. Play your new stuff on a radio show.
Much like vinyl, great radio is never going to die. Maybe I’m just in denial, but I truly believe that music consumers will always find value in the local (often college) radio stations that play stuff you wouldn’t otherwise hear over the airwaves.
Sunshine Brothers Inc. promoting an appearance on the UMass Amherst radio station.
If there’s an awesome indie station in your hometown, or if you have a show booked in a city with such a station, reach out and try to organize an album release appearance. Ideally, they’ll have a set-up that allows you to play live in the studio. But, if you’re limited to simply spinning a few tracks and providing commentary, that’s perfectly good, too.
Either way, local radio stations offer a way for your band to generate buzz and reach a captive audience that can (most likely) get something out of your music.
#7. Go on tour with other artists.
What better way to get new listeners to hear your awesome music than to play a show for an entirely different fanbase? Opening up for a more popular band—ideally one with a sound similar to yours—guarantees that you’re reaching audiences who want to listen. One amazing set is all it takes to get hundreds, if not thousands, of Spotify users to look up your profile before the headliner comes on stage. If you can get new fans out of every show, your band will be the one looking for openers some day soon.
#8. Play at genre-specific festivals.
When you think of music festivals, the ones that come to mind are the major players: Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Governor’s Ball, and so on. While it’s no small achievement for a small indie outfit to get on the bill at one (or more) of these festivals, playing them may not generate as much buzz as you would hope. Your band may be superb, but if the majority of attendees are there to get wasted and bop to Travis Scott, they’re probably not going to pay much attention to your dream pop songs.
Alternatively, you can focus your festival energies on the festivals reserved for artists within your genre. For folk artists, there’s the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. For literary types, there’s Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City, IA. For indie artists, there’s MAHA Festival in Omaha, NE.
By opting for more niche festivals, you’re playing your music for audiences that truly want to hear it. You know the attendees are there for more than the food and the booze; they’re there because they love the genre and want to discover more artists within it.
#9. Document your existence.
For whatever reason, we’re a little obsessed with the personal lives of the artists we admire. We hate to break it to you, but your most dedicated fans probably wonder what you eat for breakfast and which Netflix shows you love. A little creepy? Sure. Something you can build on? Absolutely!
You can use a blog as a platform for tons of different stuff. Provide inside looks into your songwriting process. Tell funny stories from the road. Recommend other artists that you love. Publishing content like this makes you a more likable persona and creates opportunities for people who have never heard of you to find your website while poking around Google.
If you’re not a wordsmith, vlogging is another great option. It allows you to give fans the behind-the-scenes content they want and opens the door for finding new listeners through popular video platforms like YouTube and Facebook. California surf-punk band SWMRS does this well with tour diaries:
youtube
#10. Incorporate your fans into the process.
Yes, they’re interested in weird stuff like your dietary habits and entertainment preferences. But, the connections your fans feel with your band and with your music go a lot deeper than that. Like we said under tip #3—they want to help you succeed. An email newsletter is an excellent way to incorporate them into certain processes: naming songs, creating album covers, writing liner notes, etc.
Iconic cover art for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures.
You have to give them an incentive. Maybe you reward the first 100 people who download your newest single by adding them to the newsletter. Or maybe you want to emphasize your live performances, and the newsletter recipients are the first 100 people to buy tickets to your next hometown show. Whichever way you slice it, this is a great tactic to drive downloads and ticket sales. Building your fans into the album release process is certain to keep them engaged.
#11. Make awesome music videos.
I know, I know. We may as well advise you to make good music while you’re at it. But, hear us out.
Nearly one-third of all Internet users watch videos on YouTube. Over half a billion people watch Facebook videos every day. Between the two platforms, 45% of people watch at least an hour of video content every week. More and more every day, video is the form of content people want the most.
Creating super compelling music videos is a stellar way to grab Internet users’ attention and introduce them to your music. Plus, people love to share videos with followers, friends, and family members.
The best part: you don’t need a huge budget to make a great music video. The music video for the Strokes’ “Someday,” one of the biggest hits off their debut album, is literally just the band and their friends hanging out and smoking a staggering quantity of cigarettes.
youtube
(Note: WordStream does not endorse tobacco use. Even though Julian Casablancas makes it look super cool and fun and artistic.)
#12. Reach out to critics and music writers…
As much as people like to poke fun at music critics for being too self-serious, a lot of them exert serious influence over which artists and albums get the time of day. For example, Anthony Fantano publishes tons of album reviews on his YouTube channel, theneedledrop. Earlier this year, he eclipsed 1.5 million subscribers. The visibility an artist gets following one of Fantano’s reviews is immense.
It may not be realistic for your band to get featured on such a popular channel. Regardless, you should email bloggers and magazine writers and ask them to review your latest material. In the same vein as opening for bigger artists, getting reviewed on a reputable website will undoubtedly direct music fans to your streaming profiles. Plus, if the writers are kind enough to link to your website, those blog posts you’ve been writing will inch higher and higher up the Google search results.
#13. …or write your own freelance reviews.
Now, assuming that your efforts to take your band to the next level are rather time-consuming, you probably don’t have the time to hold down a full-time staff writer gig.
But, making the time to write occasional guest reviews for music magazines could give you some great exposure. If there’s an EP or album you feel qualified to review, reach out to the editors at music publications like Pitchfork, The Wire, HipHopDX, and XXL. Put together an author bio and mention that, when you’re not writing reviews, you’re single-handedly keeping the indie rock genre alive.
Directing music publications’ readers to your streaming profiles is the obvious benefit. Plus, working as a freelance writer enables you to develop relationships with the editors who decide what gets reviewed. This boosts your chances of getting your music reviewed and generating serious buzz around new releases.
#14. Feature your music prominently on your website.
Under tip #2, we mentioned that Facebook is now encouraging artists and businesses to sell tickets directly through their Events. This is huge because it makes it a lot easier for consumers to purchase tickets to your shows. Nobody wants to catch wind of an exciting concert and then dig around a bunch of different websites for a ticket. The underlying principle is that you want to make consumers exert minimal effort.
This principle applies to your website design. If you bury your songs under a “Music” tab, you’re forcing the people who visit your site to click at least once to find your material. That sounds like nothing, but it makes a difference. Regardless of which streaming platforms you’re on—Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Spotify—make sure to embed your newest music prominently on your homepage. This way, when someone visits your site, they don’t have to lift a finger in order to hear your music.
#15. Get interviewed.
Generally speaking, people will listen to anything that sounds good. Unfortunately, we, as a society, have a nasty habit of supporting artists who do bad things in their personal lives simply because their songs are catchy.
That being said, music listeners really love artists who make great music and demonstrate some kind of moral compass. Getting interviewed—whether it’s on camera at a festival or in print on a website—is your best chance to show people how awesome and likable you are.
youtube
Even if someone has never heard of your band before, one fantastic interview could be all it takes to convince them to give your new single a spin.
And speaking of singles…
#16. Take your time.
Justin Mares and Gabriel Weinberg are two dudes who wrote a book titled Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth. Their principal argument is that most startups fail because they dedicate all their time and resources to product development, neglecting to develop their core distribution channels. These companies go to market with a shiny new product and have no mechanisms for building a customer base.
The music industry equivalent is a band that drops an album before anyone has ever heard of them. It’s understandable, of course. The creative energy is high and you’re cranking out the best material of your life—that’s awesome. But, unless you generate a healthy amount of buzz with some killer lead singles (and perhaps an EP), your debut album release is going to be a disappointment.
Take your time and build up a library of stellar songs that could fill three albums. Keep the momentum going while you gradually release songs and let the hype build.
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