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Category: New Technology

Self-DrivingSelf-driving cars were once a fantasy reserved for sci-fi movies like Back to the Future, but as technology advances they come closer and closer to becoming a reality. Major automobile manufacturers like Tesla Inc. and General Motors are planning on mass-producing self-driving cars within the next few years. Continue reading

The driverless futureIntroduction

Uber transportation service is efficiently performing the process of transportation from one place to another place. It contains and reveals so many advanced features which are related to the transportation service.

Recently, it has a partnership with Daimler (automobile manufacturing company). For the purpose of manufacturing the driverless vehicle, there are some skilled technicians are required. Continue reading

SD-WANThe software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) services are growing in popularity. Currently, many organisations, buoyed by the need to use the new versions of SDNs, are turning to SD-WANs as the perfect solution to the problems that are associated with the use of traditional WAN technologies.

Besides, many organisations are turning to SD-WANs as opposed to Hybrid WANs for the main reason that SD-WANs are built on various improvements to the architecture and performance of Hybrid WANs. Continue reading

New LG televisionMind-boggling as it may sound, the inception of television featured soundless monochrome picture.

Nowadays, a typical TV set incorporates the 4k technology, unique surround systems, a large number of various channels and content that anyone can relate to. You can even “tivo” everything and never again have to rush back home to catch an episode of your favorite TV show or a sports event that’s about to air.

Still, things are changing and the top networks are compelled to adjust to these changes. We’ve rounded up a list of predictions of what you can expect from the future of television. Continue reading

Home automation systemsNew technology and the latest innovations can provide property owners and households with the means to improve their comfort in more ways than ever before.

From sophisticated home automation systems that allow for remote operation of lighting and interior environment controls to high-efficiency appliances that can make quite an impact on monthly electric and utility bills, the most advanced technologies may have more to offer than many homeowners might realize. Continue reading

Action CameraNo matter how good of a driver you are, taking to the road is always risky.

That’s why you should always do whatever you can to increase your safety while driving. Luckily, technology is constantly advancing and there are always some new technologies designed to make the road less dangerous for the drivers.

We have come up with 5 of them you should definitely consider adding to your car. Continue reading

Home smart-tvEverybody and their mother has got a smartphone today (quite literally). However, if you think back mere 10 years back, could you have imagined almost an entirety of our planet carrying a touch-screen computer in their pocket?

It is evident, therefore, not only that the world is perpetually evolving, but that it is doing so at an ever-increasing velocity.

Home technologies are following in suit – ever since the microwave has become mainstream, we have accepted it as a trend, often taking for granted the fact that we don’t have to wait for our meals to be ready for longer than a couple of minutes. The dawn of the microwave, however, was over 6 decades ago and many new technologies have entered our homes in the 21st century. Continue reading

Tech Predictions 2015In 2014, we’ve seen some exciting new technologies leave their mark, but what’s next for the industry? What Technology Can We Expect From 2015?

Things are being created on a daily basis. And, because it happens so gradually, we almost don’t realise just how far technology has come in recent years. Let’s think about it for a minute. At the turn of the millennium, very few people had flat screen TVs – instead they were huge space eaters which were almost as deep as they were wide. Continue reading

sip and skypeSIP and SKYPE both are the means to enjoy IP telephony. Find out the differences between the two.

FCC report of 2010 suggests that 23 % of all voice-based communications in the United States was performed via SIP-based communication system. SIP or Session Initiation Protocol is a signaling protocol which is necessary for initiating a communication and multimedia session over the Internet. Continue reading

Virtualization systems can offer individuals and organizations a host of benefits, including more power and can help them save money.

Although the task of transferring everything from an old system to a new, virtualized one can seem overwhelming, the idea is quickly catching on. The virtualization solutions market is projected to include more than 20 percent of the overall market by 2016. Those interested in the switch wonder what the benefits of the newer types of systems will be. Virtualization systems can offer individuals and organizations a host of benefits, including more power and can help them save money. Here are just a few of the reasons organizations should consider switching. Continue reading

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Tag Archive: Android devices

Android Tricks and TipsTop 10 tips for making your Android better

When most people get a new android phone, they download a mail application, Facebook, WhatsApp and maybe a few others.

However, this is just the barebones of what can be done with an Android device.

Below are 10 tips to make sure you are getting the most out of your new phone. Continue reading

Prolexic TechnologiesAccording to researchers, the popularity of mobile devices makes them an excellent target of hackers who use gadgets during the attacks.

The report of Prolexic Technologies Company shows that mobile applications have become increasingly used within the corporate sector to conduct DDoS-attacks since Q4 2013. Continue reading

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iPhone Screenshots

The GoDaddy mobile app is your one-stop shop to put your big idea online and watch it grow. Whether it’s your next business idea or a personal project, the app gives you the tools and help you need to succeed online – all from your mobile phone.

With GoDaddy, it’s a breeze to buy a domain name, then build and manage your website. We even give you personalized advice on how to grow your online business. And you can do it all from your phone.

What you can do:

1. Find the right domain
Get your idea online fast. Easily search for, buy and register a domain name.

2. Create your website
Build and edit your website anytime, anywhere. GoCentral Website Builder is the simple way to create a better website with unlimited designs tailored to your industry. Start with a 30-day free trial.

3. Monitor your website performance
Know at a glance how many folks are visiting your website, whether there’s increase or decrease and everything else to stay on top of it all.

4. Gain personalized insights and grow online
Get actionable recommendations for what to do next. Learn how to make the most of your domain, website and additional GoDaddy products.

5. Take care of your GoDaddy products
Manage and renew your GoDaddy products anytime, anywhere – the app makes it remarkably quick and easy.

It’s the app to help any business build a successful online presence.

Download it for free.

For further information or assistance, email us at appfeedback@godaddy.com.

What’s New

Version 1.1.0

Thanks for using the GoDaddy app! We bring updates to the app regularly to make the experience even better.

What's included in the updates:
Bug fixes, stability improvements, and product enhancement.

For further information or assistance, email us at appfeedback@godaddy.com

Ratings and Reviews

4.7 out of 5
694 Ratings
694 Ratings
Anthonyskala ,

Sketchy ethics

Very disappointed with the app and GoDaddy. They do not comply with ICANN policies and have tactics that promote their financial benefits at customer’s expense. I was notified that I had cancelled a domain name when in fact I did not. They sent me termination notice with a bulk domain listing rather than the individual domain name after a credit card fraud problem.
I called to renew prior 45 day ICANN restore date but they sold a domain I had held for over 18 years and removed it from my account before I ever had a chance of restoring it within the 45 day period. IT WAS NOT EVEN LISTED.
On the 46th day they then sent me the individual domain name sold (to rub salt in the wound) rather than the bulk domain listing as they had done previously. Very sketchy and unethical.
Their notifications and messages are intended to deceive and their website and app are not properly listed. For example Under the menu tab expiring domains, they DO NOT LIST expiring domains, they instead only list domains that you can recover (they deceptively remove the expired domain names they can sell). They also send you emails saying: “names you cancelled”
When it truth they are names I didn’t have the opportunity to renew. Shame, Shame, Shame.
Over 18 years with a domain paying faithfully and they terminate you.
Very disappointed

CRE Broker NYC ,

Great UX

Easy to use, fast, responsive. Nice work app team!

Christie888 ,

Great !!

I love it very convenient but please fix the “upload photos button” because the buttons in the bottoms where you want to upload your pic to your website doesn’t work on the app, or at least you can’t really see it much or move the screen to go down and click, you have to press a lot so it goes through, otherwise it’s very good, thanks!!!!!

GoDaddy.com, LLC
64.7 MB
Requires iOS 10.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
English, Spanish, Traditional Chinese
Age Rating
Rated 4+
Copyright © 2018 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved

  • Family Sharing

    With Family Sharing set up, up to six family members can use this app.

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Menage a Cowboy

#1, Menage A Cowboy

This book can be downloaded and read in Apple Books on your Mac or iOS device.

"If you are looking for a cowboy sandwich with lots of action, a bit of suspense, a few family issues and lots of hot, steamy $ex, make sure you read this! Wow!"

When Grace offered to work at the animal clinic the summer between college and vet school, she did not expect her very first day to involve a sexy, shirtless cowboy, a misunderstanding of embarrassing proportions, or her arm shoulder-deep inside a birthing mare.

Newly single and never one to jump in blindly with both feet, her summer kicks off to a very heated start when she finds herself leaping from the frying pan that is Adam, into the fire of equally sexy Scott.

Will the heat of this Texas summer melt her with desire or burn her to ashes when both billionaire cowboys set their sights on roping Grace in between them?

Ménage A Cowboy is the first hot MFM stand-alone romance in the same shared world as Claimed By The Cowboys, Cowboys In January, Val-Entwined Cowboys and March Of The Cowboys. As is usual for this series, it’s all about one lucky woman finding her HEA between two sexy-as-sin cowboys, with no M/M, NO CLIFFHANGER and NO CHEATING.

A Bonus Chapter of Claimed By The Cowboys is added to the end of this novel.

Customer Reviews

Better than expected

Actually a good read. A unique approach to the subject

Other Books in This Series

Menage a Cowboy
View in iTunes
  • Free
  • Available on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac.
  • Category: Erotic Romance
  • Published: Jan 24, 2018
  • Publisher: JKlaire Romance
  • Seller: Draft2Digital, LLC
  • Print Length: 231 Pages
  • Language: English
  • Series: #1, Menage A Cowboy
  • Requirements: This book can only be viewed on an iOS device with Apple Books on iOS 12 or later, iBooks 1.3.1 or later and iOS 4.3.3 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.

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iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection.

We are unable to find iTunes on your computer. To download and subscribe to #DoorGrowShow - Property Management Growth by Jason Hull - Property Management Expert, Marketing Nerd, Entrepreneur Coach, get iTunes now.

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#DoorGrowShow - Property Management Growth

By Jason Hull - Property Management Expert, Marketing Nerd, Entrepreneur Coach

To listen to an audio podcast, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to download and subscribe to podcasts.

The #DoorGrowShow is the premier podcast for residential property management entrepreneurs that want to grow their business and life. Jason Hull brings you the best ideas in property management, without the B.S. Hear from the latest vendors, rockstar PMs, and business experts. Join our free community of #DoorGrowHackers at Learn more about the DoorGrow, the best in property management websites and marketing, at

Customer Reviews

Jason Hull—DoorGrow

Useful podcast for all property managers. Pertinent guests share pertinent information. Great processes that can be implemented and make you a “seed hacker”. Great job!

Jason does a really good job of helping PM companies grow. If you want to do it right and grow, listen to Jason Hull.

Excellent Podcast

I love listening to this podcast. I'm always hungry for knowledge and this satifies my need.

#DoorGrowShow - Property Management Growth
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  • Category: Business
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Etsy Success podcast

By Etsy

To listen to an audio podcast, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to download and subscribe to podcasts.

The Etsy Success podcast is your source for tips on improving your creative business and inspiration from the Etsy community.

Customer Reviews

The Crackle Valley Girl Voice - I just couldn’t listen

This may be a great podcast, but the crackle/valley Girl voice of Makayla just drove me mad. I get that you aren't professional speakers but to listen to someone speaking like a teen is just maddening! I would definitely read a transcript, but I just couldn’t continue to listen.

Fine listen...

But somebody please tell Dayna what Netflix and Chill means

I absolutely love this podcast! My husband and I have recently jumped on the podcast wagon and I have to say, this etsy success podcast with Tess is great! I’ve been listening every day. As a new shop owner on etsy I’m learning so much! All of the information is relative and helpful for everyone and every niche of creativity! I highly recommend this podcast!

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iwannabealady.com girl's trip sarasota florida marie selby botanical gardens

I Deserve a Sweet Bottle of Wine.

It’s done. A month has past since me and my homies took a road trip to the west coast- Florida’s west coast. Our destination was Sarasota, Florida. I expected to have lots of laughs and eyefuls of beautiful plants at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. That happened. I expected to create a killer travel video and debut it approximately 1 to 2 weeks after the trip. … Continue reading I Deserve a Sweet Bottle of Wine.

iwannabealady.com be thai spicy or be lame food lifestyle blogger travel women traveling thailand

Be Thai Spicy or Be Lame

So there are two types of people: Those who see danger and cringe and those who see danger and smile. And while I am normally on the smiling side, I became a scaredy cat in Thailand. When it came to the food that is. Thank goodness we were told before arriving that Thai spicy means you’ll be weeping as the food goes in and weeping as the food … Continue reading Be Thai Spicy or Be Lame


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33. Designing a(nother) Worksheet – Teacher Feedback

Designing a(nother) Worksheet – Teacher Feedback

Last week my colleague Stuart very kindly tried out my Art Postcards lesson and worksheet with his CAE class.  We got together earlier for him to give me feedback and share thoughts.  Here’s the audio of what we spoke about:

Some particular points of interest that arose:

  • The worksheet also doubles up as a teacher guide to the sequence of activities in the lesson.  This is particularly interesting in light of the new materials format Beatrice is developing – which she shared with us during last Thursday’s input session.  This raises questions about the content and purpose of a worksheet, as Stuart and I both found there were aspects that were of little relevance to the learners but served more as instructions for the teachers.
  • That the learners could physically pick up the cards made them more engaged in the activity.
  • Stuart agreed that from a practical point of view it would be better to have had each part of the grammar match task cut up and keep the worksheet as a handout of correct answers.
  • The segue between discussing the cards and the language focus also worked well with Stuart’s class – particularly interesting given that in creating the worksheet I had felt this might’ve seen a little forced.

I find this process of other teachers trying out materials and sharing experiences very rewarding – and recently did the same with Chris from the diploma course, but in reverse.  I tried out a worksheet Chris had designed on visual learning and we then met up to discuss how it had worked in my classroom.  As much as I found it useful to hear Stuart’s feedback on one of my creations, I found it interesting to feedback on another teacher’s creation.

Although publishers repeatedly ask us for feedback, we rarely find the time to respond in great detail.  Fortunately the structure of the diploma course affords us the opportunity – and inspires us – to feedback in detail on just a few pages of materials, rather than an entire coursebook – a dauntingly time-consuming prospect that reduces our comments, when we give them, to generalised summaries of our feelings about the material, rather than anything wholly practical or constructive.

This dialogue between teachers strikes me as integral to the process of developing materials – and I’m extremely grateful to Stuart for his support and contributions. 🙂

2 thoughts on “33. Designing a(nother) Worksheet – Teacher Feedback

  1. A very stimulating discussion indeed. It is quite interesting to hear that although at the beginning of the lesson some students said that they were not keen on art, they actually got engaged with it.
    I agree with both of you that having the parts of the grammar match task cut into twelve cards would be much better for the students. In spite of my Italian background, I have always found that the spaghetti lines matching exercise can be very messy and potentially confusing. Finally, I agree with you that sometimes the instructions on worksheets serve mostly as a sort of teacher’s guide through the lesson, and are not entirely relevant to the students unless the worksheets are used for self-studying. As I said in another comment, maybe for each worksheet we should prepare two different versions, one for the students and one for the teachers?

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Community Involvement

In 2012, JCESBA continued to support important and needy organizations, primarily on the city's eastside. Organization's like the Samaritan Center, Boys & Girls Club as well as East Elementary School, Moreau Heights Elementary School, St. Peters Interparish School, St. Francis Xavier School, Immaculate Conception, St. Stanislaus, St. Thomas and Vogelweid Learning Center were all recipients of contributions.

Additionally, JCESBA has annually provided financial support to the Missouri Special Olympics and to Jefferson City's 4th of July celebration. In 2012, JCESBA established a scholarship fund with proceeds from its annual golf tournament to award college scholarships in the amount of $1,000 to a number of local high school graduate applicants.

JCESBA also supports many one-time projects to improve the business and residential communities on the eastside. JCESBA provided and erected the welcome sign on Jefferson City's eastern limits near the Wal-Mart Supercenter interchange. Additionally, in 2012, JCESBA agreed to underwrite the expense for the application to establish an national historic district in the central-eastside of Jefferson City.


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A Walk Down State Street

A Walk Down State Street, Doylestown

I was out last week photographing street scenes when I came upon this one. The complementary colors of the teal and orange building enticed me. I was also drawn to the beautiful signage, and a wonderful vehicle that just pulled up right in time, the mailtruck. I just love the notion of mail delivery. It’s representative of the anticipation of something to come. I have echoed that notion with a figure in the distance and darker foreground going into light. The foliage of the trees wrap and hug the piece drawing your eye around in a contiuous circle. The shadows on the ground dance. This can be found in the “View My Artwork” link in the “Street Scenes” link.


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Why Setting a Big Goal for Your Business is a Key to Success

“If you think really big, then you’re in it for the long haul and you’re committed to your business.”

Goal setting is important to accomplish any task. There are short-term goals and long-term goals. Short-term goals are those you can achieve in a few months, but long-term goals need to be big because you will spend a long time working towards it. Entrepreneurs are very much familiar with what is called a ‘big hairy audacious goal’.

In managing a business, you need to set a big goal. This goal will be the basis for all your actions and decisions. Big realistic goals are what drives businesses to succeed.

On this episode, we will discuss why setting a big goal for your business is a key to success. We will also be sharing some tips on goal setting.

On Today’s Show You’ll Learn:

  • What a big hairy audacious goal is
  • Why goal setting is important
  • What the characteristics of a big hairy audacious goal are
  • And a lot more…

Check out this episode today to learn more about goal setting and to help you set your big hairy audacious goal!

Jean Ginzburg is a Digital Marketing Expert and the founder of Ginball Digital Marketing. Her passion is helping businesses thrive and achieve their ROI goals with digital marketing. Jean has grown hundreds of businesses, including several businesses to 7 figure results.

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Cobra 148 GTL CB Mic Holder + Wouxun KGUV6D 67 Designs Ball Mount

Do you want to have the mic of your Cobra 148 GTL Mobile CB and your Wouxun KG-UV6D Handheld HAM radio securely attached and close at hand?

You just found the most versitile yet custom made mount for your 67 Designs Systems mounted in your vehicle..

  • Off-road tested All our designs are rigorously and extensevly real-life tested.
  • Easy 10 seconds Install or less installation (assuming the 67 Designs Ball Mount is already installed).
  • Many Colors available to fit the interior of your vehicle.
  • Safer than other mounts on the market since it's made of strong plastic. No sharp metal edges that can scratch a pet (or a passenger) bouncing around on that awful back washboard on your way to Monument Valley.
  • Made in USA! All our products are proudly designed and manufactured in the sunny Arizona.
  • Fitment

    • Works with any vehicle with a 67 Designs CF Mounting Arm.

    The Mic Holder for this model:

    • Supports any CB or HAM Mic for Mobile Radios (Button Type Hanger).

    The Radio Support Rail (aka the Vertical Support):

    • Custom made to fit the belt clip for the Wouxun KG-UV6D.
    • The rail (the vertical support piece) can be pulled out of the mount when not needed.
    • Rails for other radios are available for purchase.

    Other Notes

    • A Geniune 67 Designs Ball is included and pre-fitted to the mount.
    • The mount is not compatible with extended batteries that either:
      • Make the radio too long such that it interferes with the mount
      • Extend the depth of the device too much such that the unit cannot be secured to the mount
      • Increase the weight of the device by more than 3oz.
    • Since there is no standard belt-clip design we can not guarnatee fit for any other devices.

    Installation Notes:

    • Attaches to a 67 Designs CF Mounting Arm.
    • Does not require any drilling or other mods to your vehicle.

    Tools Needed to install:

    • No tools needed.

    Our Lawyers Say:

    • Our products are for off-road use only.
    • Our mounts are only designed for light accessories as stated under the Compatibility notes.
    • Do NOT modify or overload the mounts with accessories not listed as supported by JeepUniq.
    • Obey your local state and federal laws
    • JeepUniq is not responsible for any improper or illegal use of our accessories.

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    Why customers love us

    300 reviews
    JK Bar Mount

    Amazing product! Installation was super easy. I definitely recommend this type of mount over the clip-on version because it keeps your mic out of the way if you have a passenger. Plus it has the capability of holding a handheld HAM or similar clip-on walkie-talkie.

    CB mic holder

    Fast shipping and fit perfect. Thank you.

    Fast shipping an it fit perfect

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    Uniden PRO 510 CB Mic Holder Jeep JK 11-18 Grab Bar Clip-on Mount


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Crystal - Amethyst Cluster Uraguay

Crystal - Amethyst Cluster Uraguay

Ask a question

Amethyst crystals have a history rich with mythology. Not only is the amethyst the February birthstone, but it is also known as the Bishops stone, and is alleged to provide both healing and increased creativity. Ideal as a statement piece in a studio for creatives, this purple crystal point combines the natural beauty of amethyst with the potent symbol of the obelisk.

"I am purified, uplifted & protected thru my connection with the Divine."
~Affirmation: The Book of Stones

If you would like to continue to shop for more birthstones, crystal obelisks, or crystal towers you may return to the JessikaDavisEMS shop home by clicking the following link:

Purchaser will receive crystal shown in the photo.

Shipping from United States

Processing time

1-3 business days

Estimated shipping times

  • North America : 2 - 3 business days

I'll do my best to meet these shipping estimates, but can't guarantee them. Actual delivery time will depend on the shipping method you choose.

Customs and import taxes

Buyers are responsible for any customs and import taxes that may apply. I'm not responsible for delays due to customs.

Payment Options

Secure options
  • Accepts Etsy gift cards

Returns & Exchanges

I gladly accept returns and exchanges

Just contact me within: 7 days of delivery

Ship items back to me within: 30 days of delivery

I don't accept cancellations

But please contact me if you have any problems with your order.

The following items can't be returned or exchanged

Because of the nature of these items, unless they arrive damaged or defective, I can't accept returns for:

  • Custom or personalized orders
  • Perishable products (like food or flowers)
  • Digital downloads
  • Intimate items (for health/hygiene reasons)
  • Items on sale

Conditions of return

Buyers are responsible for return shipping costs. If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.

Frequently Asked Questions

Custom and personalized orders

Yes please! This can be a specific stone you are looking to purchase, custom Crystal grids and more. Message me for details.

Sizing details

All listings has a picture taken with a ruler. Large items weight will be listed in the listing.


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Discover Compassion

Blog Archives: Food

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Celebrating the Holidays

Here at the JFR we are getting ready for the start of Passover. For those of you who are either holding or attending a Passover Seder, be sure to download a copy of our 2012 Haggadah Supplement featuring the incredible rescue story of Jerzy Bielecki. We hope that everyone enjoys this holiday with family and friends, and that you get your fill of Matzah, Charoset, and Gefilte fish! For those who celebrate, we wish you a zissen Pesach and a Happy Easter!

Go to the following site to download our supplement.

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Diane and Mike, March 2009

I would often stop and talk to Mike and Diane as they sat near Joy Ann’s Bakery for a cup of coffee and a cigarette. I had seen them together for at least a year before I approached them. Mike’s speech is slurred, so my side of the conversation is mostly nodding and responding to what I think he said. Diane spoke very softly and so there was very little give and take in our few words.

At some point Mike said they had been together for 20 years, and I made a few photographs of them, and gave them copies the week after. I was able to understand that Diane really liked them, except that she would have preferred Mike to be clean-shaven, and he laughed and said there was no way he would shave his beard. Soon after, Diane stopped coming to Main Street. It has been at least a year now, and Mike doesn’t seem to know where she is.

One of the photographs of them I really liked, and submitted it to the annual open juried exhibition at the Richmond Art Museum, and it was accepted. I told Mike, and he thought that was great, and I thought Diane might enjoy knowing that she is in the Art Museum too, so thought I would look for her.

I started at a nursing home near Downtown, and they referred me to another care center who basically introduced me to reality: if Diane were staying with them, they were prohibited from telling me. If they knew where Diane was, they were also prohibited from telling me. I don’t know Diane’s last name, I am not related to her, and Mike isn’t either, officially, and the staff asked if I knew her family? I don’t, and then thought what if Diane doesn’t have family, and because of privacy issues, whoever is taking care of her is prohibited from telling anyone?

If we do not have a family, do we just vanish?

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Going The Distance: How Can Men Last Longer in Bed?

silverzebra453 0

They say life is about the journey, not the destination. The very same could be said for sex; making love involves much more than intercourse alone, and for many of us, it’s the intimacy, tenderness and exquisite anticipation enjoyed before penetration where much of sex’s inherent pleasure lies.

Delaying that final release – in this case, ejaculation – is a really common craving of men everywhere, who, for various reasons, want the penetrative part of sex to last longer.

In a heterosexual relationship, a key motivator comes down to some pretty unavoidable differences between men and women’s physiology. In what seems like a massive oversight of creation – or else a pretty cruel trick – women take around four times as long to reach orgasm through intercourse as their male partners.

Mind the Gap

Statistics suggest that on average, men enjoy around 3 minutes of penetrative sex before orgasm. Women, on the other hand, take anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes to climax.

Taking into consideration guys’ refectory period – that post-ejaculation interlude before he can get hard again – and the potential for exasperation becomes frustratingly clear.

Worrying about not going the distance has been piling pressure onto men folk for a long time. It goes without saying that we all want our partners to share our pleasure and climaxes. But here’s the thing: having a penis doesn’t automatically shift the responsibility of both his and her orgasm guy-side.

Shaking that clearly flawed – albeit frustratingly widespread – assumption is the first step to enjoying the leisurely route to pleasure, as opposed to some high-speed bullet train. Yep, there they are again: journeys and destinations.

Start, Stop, then Start Again

Retraining physical responses with a partner takes practice. Initially, that means some one-on-one time between him and his manhood. By and large, masturbation is a hasty affair, with just one quick and clear goal: release. With this in mind, is it any wonder that when it comes to being intimate with another person, events can prove equally, ahem, efficient?

That’s where the start/ stop method comes in. Self explanatory enough, it involves applying the breaks right before ejaculation, then waiting 15 seconds before starting up again.

A solo exercise, the thinking goes it helps guys to develop an awareness of their body’s signals and responses. Bring that new-found self-knowledge into the bedroom, slow down, and savor the moment.

Work Those Kegels

Pelvic exercises, those repeated flexing of pelvic floor muscles to develop control and sensation, aren’t just for the ladies – men can do Kegel exercises too. No gym membership required, the honing of this key group promises guys all kinds of benefits, from tackling urinary incontinence through to, you guessed it, better command of his manhood during sex.

Gents: to pinpoint the precise network of muscles in question, try stopping urinating mid-flow. Feel it? Those, my friend, can help delay orgasm. Once you’ve located them, they can be exercised anywhere by contracting for a slow count of five, then releasing, also for a slow count of five. Repeat ten times – that could be in the office, behind the wheel, wherever – gradually increasing duration over time.

When climax feels dangerously close, give those PC muscles a flex for a momentary delay and hopefully, some added composure…

Find Time for Foreplay

For many men, the most common motivation behind wanting to last longer between the sheets is their partner’s orgasm. Whilst certainly admirable, to put matters into perspective only an estimated 30% of women climax through penetration alone. In short, you’ve got to keep your foreplay game tight, son.

We’re talking about teasing, and clitoral stimulation – be it by tongue, finger or external sex toy – will likely bring her closer to the brink than just intercourse.

And, when the inevitable happens and neither party can hold out for even a moment longer, the act of penetration becomes the lusty cherry atop the most delicious of cakes that’s most definitely best enjoyed together. Yum!

The Big Squeeze

Advanced training for longevity in bed is all well and good, but what of practical measures during the act itself?

Well, men can temporarily delay their climaxes by applying pressure to the base of the penis. The briefly-restricted blood flow has a desensitizing effect, allowing him to bring things down a notch and prolong the pleasure.

Granted, it doesn’t sound terribly sexy, but it can be – honest! That could be an intimate signal or code word between partners to request a gentle squeeze; or else cock rings are specifically designed to offer interim pressure for pleasure…

Mixing Things Up to Slow Things Down

A seemingly one-way track to ejaculation can be slowed by simply shifting positions.

If it’s missionary that gets your mojo going, a mid-romp switch to doggy-style can work wonders. Similarly, certain arrangements stimulate the penis more than others. As with most matters related to intimacy, this one’s pretty personal so our best advice is to practice, practice, practice! Likewise, varying the depth and rhythm of thrusts can be just the tonic for penetration that goes the distance.

A Problem Shared…

Above all, and as with most things in life, when it comes to addressing longevity between the sheets, communication between partners is essential.

Maintaining erections generally not being something guys gossip about, you know, over a couple of pints down the pub, some men feel disproportionately anxious about bringing their partner to orgasm. That in itself can have all kinds of negative implications on mental health, relationships – everything. But, guaranteed: addressing these issues with your significant other won’t just help in finding a solution; it could also pave the way to a whole new journey of pleasure, together.

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Wells Fargo

San Carlos, California

United States

Postal Code:

Approximate Salary:

Not Specified

Position Type:

Full Time

415) 820-7800

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Business Payroll Services Sales Representative

Wells Fargo - San Carlos, California

Posted: 09/26/2018

Job Description

At Wells Fargo, we want to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. We’re looking for talented people who will put our customers at the center of everything we do. Join our diverse and inclusive team where you’ll feel valued and inspired to contribute your unique skills and experience.

Help us build a better Wells Fargo. It all begins with outstanding talent. It all begins with you.

Community Banking operates one of the most extensive banking franchises in the country, serving customers through approximately 6,000 branches and 13,000 ATMs in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Our group includes Business Strategy and Administration; Customer and Branch Experience; Customer Remediation Office; Distribution Strategy Group; Regional Banking; Regional Services; and Customer Segments, and serves mass market, affluent, and small business customers. Our focus is on delivering an exceptional experience for our customers and providing the products and services that will help them realize their financial hopes and dreams.

Wells Fargo Business Payroll Services (BPS) is searching for a highly motivated outside Sales Representative. Come work with a leader in the banking and payroll industry. This is an excellent opportunity for qualified candidates to continue a successful career in a Business-to-Business product and services based environment.

As a BPS Sales Representative, you will be responsible for building long-term relationships with internal and external business partners, and centers of influence to earn payroll referral opportunities from business customers in person and by phone. Through proactive outreach and self-sourcing, you will deepen the understanding of employers’ payroll & HR needs, offer products and services that align to those needs in collaboration with key partners, and gather core information from the customer to transition to the implementation team. Must be able to travel within an assigned territory to pursue internal/external partnering opportunities and customer meetings out in the field as needed.

As part of your relationship building strategy, you will develop and deliver formal presentations to prospective customers and internal/external partners to educate them on product and service knowledge and payroll & HR process. Having knowledge of how small to medium size businesses operate is important to understand owner responsibilities and effectively conduct business needs assessments. Presenting to customers is your opportunity to ask for the business every time with the ability to successfully respond to or overcome any questions or objections. Through these interactions, you will quickly identify who will weigh in on decision making, understand the roles inside the company, and how each contributes to the business.

Setting personal objectives and performance standards for each interaction and activity. Working with key bank leaders and internal/external partners as needed to strategize on increasing introductions to payroll, create buy-in, and add value to their team.

The ideal candidate displays a high degree of professionalism in every interaction, has excellent communications skills, is a master in time management, and has strong knowledge of payroll products, services and employee benefits. To be successful, you must possess the skills necessary to carry out creative marketing plans and achieve objectives and performance standards while adhering to all Wells Fargo Bank and Wells Fargo BPS programs and policies. Learn quickly and on the job with the ability to utilize resources for additional training/education. Generate business introductions with partners where needed and be able learn and understand the corporation as a whole, to understand the strengths of the bank and our stance in the industry.

Location: Covering the Peninsula Region

Required Qualifications

  • 3+ years of experience assessing and meeting the needs of customers and/or solving customer problems
Desired Qualifications

  • Business payroll experience
  • Direct-sourcing and prospecting new client experience
  • Basic knowledge and understanding of banking or accounting
  • Solid negotiation skills
  • Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills
  • Strong presentation skills
  • Coaching, training, and motivating skills
  • 1+ year of business-to-business sales experience
  • Experience developing and cultivating professional relationships
  • Financial industry experience
  • Ability to execute in a fast paced, high demand, environment while balancing multiple priorities
  • Ability to interact with integrity and a high level of professionalism with all levels of team members and management
  • Ability to meet performance objectives in sales, service and quality assurance
  • Ability to present to decision makers in a professional and confident manner
  • Ability to work effectively in a team environment and across all organizational levels, where flexibility, collaboration, and adaptability are important
  • Ability to work effectively in virtual environment where key team members and partners are in various time zones and locations
  • Advanced Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint) skills
  • Strong attention to detail and accuracy skills
  • Strong customer relationship management skills
Other Desired Qualifications
  • 1+ year(s) of offering payroll products and or employer services based on customer needs
  • 1+ year(s) experience in external consultative business analysis for business customers
  • Experience conducting external business needs analysis, product marketing, payroll operations and/or strategic/consulting in a business oriented environment; in financial services or payroll industry

  • All offers for employment with Wells Fargo are contingent upon the candidate having successfully completed a criminal background check. Wells Fargo will consider qualified candidates with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable local, state and Federal law, including Section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act.

    Relevant military experience is considered for veterans and transitioning service men and women.
    Wells Fargo is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer, Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran/Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation.

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Plant Mechanic (Fitter) - ACE Hire & Sales - Isle of Man (Douglas)

  • Member
  • GAP Hire Solutions
  • Region
  • North West
  • Job Description
  • There has never been a more exciting time to work for ACE. We need dedicated people to join our team as we continue to diversify and grow our brand in the Island. We are committed to providing training & development, supportive working environments and scope for progression.

    Our Plant and Tool division hires a range of equipment including diggers, dumpers and small hand tools to companies within the construction, utilities and infrastructure sectors.

    The Role:

    As a Plant Mechanic you will play a pivotal role in the success of the depot. You will be responsible for servicing and maintaining a variety of small plant and tools within the ACE fleet, ensuring that our customers can hire what they want, when they need it.

    Applicants should have:

    • A relevant mechanical qualification
    • Experience in contractors plant and tools
    • A valid driving licence is preferred but not essential

    Benefits include:

    • Competitive salary.
    • Bonus scheme.
    • Overtime at an enhanced rate.
    • Standby/Call out rota.
    • Staff social fund (money for team building exercises etc.)
    • Health & Wellness (annual flu jab, free eyesight tests etc.)
    • Cycle to work scheme
    • Child care voucher scheme.
    • Loyalty holidays.
    • Option to buy/sell holidays
    • 22 days plus bank holidays.
    • Contributory pension
    • Progression due to the growth of our business (new divisions, depots etc.)

    So what next?

    If you think you fit the profile we would love to hear from you.

    All you have to do is send us a copy of your CV highlighting your current package and salary expectations and we can take it from there.

    For more information, or to request an application form, please contact the Recruitment Team on 0141 225 4751.

    ACE is an equal opportunities employer.


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Full Time Accountant, Emergency Hire

Menomonie, Wisconsin
Nov 14, 2018
Dec 14, 2018
Employment Status
Full Time

Full Time Accountant, Emergency Hire - Operating independently with supervision by management, serve as the accountant for the UW-Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute (SVRI). Primary responsibilities include: establish, maintain, monitor and reconcile 19 financial accounts from multiple funding sources using internal financial and university automated financial systems; implement/maintain internal financial systems; analyze and interpret financial data, including report production; perform internal and external reconciliations; project financial revenue and cash balances; advise management staff; work within regulations requirements for federal and state grants and contracts; ensure compliance with university policies and procedures and Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

As an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer, UW-Stout is committed to inclusive excellence and is actively seeking applications from individuals from diverse groups; veterans and individuals with disabilities. In compliance with the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, employment will be contingent upon a criminal background check.

For full description and to apply: https://jobs.uwstout.edu/accountant-full-time-temporary-position/job/9842417. With questions, please contact Mary McManus, mcmanusm@uwstout.edu. Application review begins 11/16/18 and will continue until position is filled.

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St.  Catherine University

Women's Health Integrative Research Center Coordinator

Nov 22, 2018
Dec 24, 2018
Employment Status
Full Time
Position Summary Information Position Summary

St. Catherine University invites applications for a WHIR Center Coordinator in the Women's Health Integrative Research (WHIR) Center.

The WHIR center coordinator is a part-time position (0.5 FTE; 20 hours per week) which exists to 1) conduct administrative functions, including support of purchasing, facilities, marketing, and outreach/communication for the WHIR Center, 2) coordinate WHIR Center lab space and supervise equipment maintenance and setup, 3) develop, coordinate, and help maintain relationships with external partners, 4) work with the WHIR Center Director to develop and implement policies and procedures relating to the operation of the WHIR Center, 5) explore external grant funding sources and collaborate with the WHIR Center Director on grant applications, and 6) expand faculty, student, and community partner utilization of the WHIR Center.

• Coordinate use of the WHIR Center space (for SCU research, classes, collaborations with external users) among users of the WHIR Center, including proactively communicating with other SCU departments and external groups (web site maintenance, email or phone contacts).
• Ordering equipment and supplies to keep the WHIR Center functioning.
• Oversee calibration and maintenance of equipment in the WHIR Center.
• Working knowledge of lab equipment and associated software that includes: treadmills, exercise bikes, heart rate monitors, metabolic measurement equipment, force plates, motion tracking systems, and other equipment for biomechanical measurement.
• Work with the WHIR Center director to develop policies and procedures relating to the operation of the WHIR Center and oversee compliance with established policies.
• Create protocols for common lab techniques, policies and procedures for data management (including those required for human subject research: IRB, HIPAA, NSF) and shared use of space and equipment.
• Coordinate external-facing WHIR Center activities.
• Seek external funding and assist WHIR director with writing grant applications.
• Coordinate specific WHIR Center-related programs and events (including the Coffee Chat Series around Careers in Women's Health).
• Improve/maintain WHIR website and social media handles.
• Collaborate with other offices on campus (e.g., Development, Alumnae Relations).

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree Required. MA or MS preferred.
• Background experience or training in one or more of the following areas: Biology, Physical Therapy, Exercise Physiology, Biomechanics, Food and Nutrition Science, Engineering, Public Health, Psychology, or a related area.
• Experience working with research on human subjects and with faculty from a graduate college, as well as with both undergraduate and graduate students.
• Experience coordinating sponsored research projects is desirable.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; exceptional organizational skills, good analytic skills, and the ability to interact professionally with a wide variety of people from multiple disciplines.
• Preferable for the candidate to have CPR training and experience with some of the following pieces of equipment (and associated software): heart rate monitors, treadmills, exercise bikes, metabolic measurement equipment, force plates, motion tracking systems, and other equipment for biomechanical measurement.
• Experience with Microsoft Programs, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, basic statistical and graphing software (e.g., SPSS and SigmaPlot), and other programs associated with equipment calibration and operation.
• Must also know how to do web site maintenance or be willing to learn how to perform this function.
• Budgeting skills, project management experience, policy work, and experience in financial settings is a plus, as is experience in grant writing and budget preparation.

Preferred Qualifications

St. Catherine University seeks creative, adaptable faculty who enjoy working in a university climate that promotes cultural diversity and multicultural understanding. Candidates of color are encouraged to apply. Consistent with the university's commitment to women, diversity and social justice, preference will be given to candidates who manifest these themes in their service.

To Apply and Special/Other Requirements Summary

To apply: Please visit the St. Catherine University Employment Site at Candidates of color are encouraged to apply, as are those who will contribute to a diverse candidate pool. Requisition number is #20180081-Staff. Applicants may also visit the St. Catherine University Human Resources office to submit an electronic application. We are located in Derham Hall, Room 8. Application review begins immediately. Position is opened until filled.

St. Catherine University
2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
EEO/AA/Drug Free Workplace Employer ~Tobacco-Free Campuses

Our university is a proud member of the Upper Midwest HERC and is committed to recruiting and retaining outstanding and diverse faculty and staff and assisting dual career couples. For more information and to find other higher education jobs in the Upper Midwest region, visit the HERC website.

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Johan Fourie's blog

I'd rather be a comma than a fullstop

Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

Why are there so many single mothers?

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Here is a statistic to get your head around: Of the 989 318 babies born last year in South Africa, 61.7% have no information about their father included on their birth certificate. We don’t precisely know why the women who register these babies do not record the father’s information, but it is highly likely that it is because the father would not want to be involved in the raising of the child. They are, in fact, single mothers. This conjecture seems to be supported by other evidence: the HSRC estimates that 60% of South African children have an absent father, and that 40% of mothers are single parents.

Explaining why these mothers are single is not easy. One argument is historical. Throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, young men would move to the mines, away from structured family life in the countryside. This migrant labour system, it is said, would explain the large number of single women. While plausible theoretically, this explanation neglects a key empirical reality: that the share of single mothers is on the increase. The migrant labour system, owing to the apartheid-era homeland system, was arguably most intense during the twentieth century. And yet this is also the period where the share of single mothers was much lower. The number of migrant workers fell after the dismantling of apartheid settlement policies and, since the 1990s, the decline of the mining industry. Yet it is exactly then that we see a significant rise in the share of single mothers.

If the migrant labour cannot explain the large numbers of single mothers, what else could? Dorrit Posel and Stephanie Rudwick, in a paper published in 2014 by the African Studies Association, show that the Zulu, in particular, have very low marriage rates, as low as 30%. Perhaps, you might argue, it is just that women prefer to be single – that an unmarried life is better than a married one. Well, the evidence does not support this theory. Using survey data, Posel and Rudwick find that this is not a preference: more than 80% of unmarried Zulu women report that they would like to get married (as do the men, incidentally). The reason they attribute to women remaining unmarried despite their wish to be married is lobola, or bride wealth: ‘Our qualitative data demonstrate that frequently the way ilobolo is practiced, and particularly the amount that is requested relative to men’s opportunities in the South African labour market, can contribute to delayed marriage and nonmarriage.’

Both the migrant labour and lobola systems are unique to southern Africa. But the share of single mothers has been rising almost everywhere. In fact, 62% of all births to non-college educated mothers in the United States in 2014 were to unmarried women, very similar to the South African figure. Something more universal seems to be behind these trends.

One possibility is that men’s poor economic conditions contribute to them delaying or eschewing marriage. This is the argument Posel and Rudwick put forward, but one that is also found for the United States, where non-college educated men’s relative incomes have declined over the last three years. A new paper, soon to be published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, tests whether it is, in fact, men’s poverty that prevents them from marrying. The two authors, Melissa Kearney and Riley Wilson, link the fracking of shale gas in the 2000s to marriage rates. The idea is that, if the hypothesis is true that men do not marry because of poor economic conditions, then a fracking boom, which would create more employment and lead to higher incomes, should result in larger numbers of men being willing and able to marry. Kearney and Wilson use a sophisticated statistical analysis to show that 1) there is no impact on higher incomes of non-college educated men on the likelihood of getting married, 2) there is a boost to fertility rates after their income improves, but this increase is similar for both married and unmarried men. They conclude: ‘We find no evidence from the fracking context to support the proposition that as the economic prospects of less educated men improve, couples are more likely to marry before having children.’ In short: it’s not poverty that prevents marriage.

So what is it then? One possibility is that it might be higher female incomes. Not only have women entered the labour market at historic levels since the 1960s, but social transfers to support children has also increased. Both sources of income would give women more agency (or bargaining power) within the household, and reduce the need to live with an income earning partner. While much evidence shows that giving women more household resources improves the outcomes for children, it may have the unintended consequences of absolving men from their child-rearing responsibilities. Thomas Sowell, a US libertarian economist, notes that in 1960, almost a hundred years after the end of slavery in the US, 22% of African Americans grew up in households with only one parent. ‘Thirty years later, after the liberal welfare state, that number had more than tripled. We can speculate as to how much of that 22% was due to slavery, but we know that that tripling was not due to the legacy of slavery. It was due to the legacy of a whole different set of policies.’

But it is also not that easy. The rise in single mothers, although it has increased in the last two decades, began before the child support grant was introduced in South Africa. Pensions may play a role, but it is unclear to what extent they alone can explain the rise in single motherhood.

Family structure is rapidly changing. More children are now growing up with one rather than two parents. Even if the causes remain fuzzy, one thing is certain: the consequences are likely to be profound.

*An edited version of this article originally appeared in the 26 September edition of finweek.

Written by Johan Fourie

October 26, 2018 at 08:00

What universities can teach us about job incentives (or how to make South African researchers more productive)

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Let there be little doubt: academics have the best jobs. When we teach, we get to fill young, smart minds with ideas we care about and believe in. When we undertake research, we get to explore these ideas further, understanding the world and how it works a little bit better. We work in tranquil settings (most of the time), surrounded by like-minded individuals in search of (the) truth, or, for those of us who shy away from people, books that do the same thing. Sometimes we get to travel to nice places to meet more like-minded people and share our ideas. Sometimes we even take sabbaticals, a time to reflect more deeply about the world and how it works without the need to do anything else. And best of all: even if we do not do most of these things, we have job security for life.

Universities are some of the oldest institutions. Although the role of professor has changed somewhat over the centuries – we used to have to earn our income when students paid to enter our classrooms! – the system of academic tenure, where an appointment is permanent and one cannot be fired except under extraordinary circumstances, has been around for more than a century. It is a decidedly different system than the private sector, where the biggest incentive for working hard is to not get fired.

While South African academics get tenure almost immediately after their appointment (it varies, but there is usually a probation period), ‘getting tenure’ is a big thing in the US. The first five years after appointment is a race to publish in top journals. If your tenure evaluation comes up, and you have not published well enough, you won’t get it, and you will have to move somewhere else, or quit academe. Once you get tenure, though, all the incentives to publish are removed; continued research depends entirely on the goals and objectives you set for yourself.

Here are two very different systems that are perfect for analysis. In the first, the incentives are clear: publish or perish. In the second, there are no external incentive like the overt threat to job security. Which of the two systems produce the best results?

Before answering this question, it is perhaps useful to ask why the system of academic tenure was introduced in the first place. There were mainly two reasons. First, tenure provides academic and intellectual freedom to pursue new avenues of inquiry. Second, it provides a sufficient degree of economic security to make the profession attractive. It is the first of these – the unencumbered pursuit of truth – that is still upheld as the indisputable defense for tenure.

Does this defense stand up to empirical support? Three economists, Jonathan Brogaard, Joseph Engelberg and Edward van Wesep, used their own profession to find out. In a paper published in the Winter 2018 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, they measure the research output of almost a thousand academic economists in the five years before tenure and the ten years after. They not only measure the quantity of output, but also the quality. They create two measures: ‘home runs’ are papers that are highly cited (in the top 10% of papers published in the same year) and ‘bombs’ are poor-performing (papers in the bottom 10% of citations that year).

Their results are emphatic: publication and home run rates rise to tenure, peaking in the year a researcher comes up for tenure and a researcher’s first year as tenured faculty, but then fall off a cliff, with publication and home run rates 15% and 35% lower in years 2 to 10 after tenure. Most surprisingly, bomb rates, publishing papers that get very few citations, increase by 35% after tenure.

The authors consider various reasons that might explain this drop in productivity and success. Perhaps this is just a ‘time since PhD’ effect, in that older people are less productive, but the authors find no evidence to support this. Perhaps it is the rise in service, teaching and other nonacademic obligations post-tenure, but that would not explain, for example, why researchers publish more bomb-papers. Perhaps tenure encourages researchers to take bigger risks and branch out into new, explored areas of research. The authors measure this by looking at where the authors publish, and find no difference in the number or uniqueness of co-authors or journals. Perhaps the averages mask elite researchers’ performances. But even if the authors only limit their analysis to the top US universities, the results hold true. Perhaps it takes time for truly novel research to gain traction. But when the authors limit the sample to papers with 20 year lags, the results stay the same.

What emerges from their analysis is that tenure is bad for research productivity. This is not necessarily to say that the tenure-system is bad: had it not been there, the number and quality of PhD students that aim for academic positions would probably have been lower. The possibility of future economic security is the incentive that really matters in drawing the sharpest minds into the field.

But it does suggest two things. On a practical level, giving tenure too early may be a bad thing. The South African system almost assumes tenure at the time of appointment; I don’t know anyone that has not received a permanent appointment for failure to publish. By extending the timing of tenure to at least five years, and making ‘not getting tenure’ a realistic threat, the South African government can get more research for their proverbial buck. At a more general level, the study clearly shows how important incentives are. A world where permanent employment is guaranteed with no performance appraisals is a world where output falls and innovation dies. Even academic economists sometimes need reminding of that.

**An edited version of this article originally appeared in the 21 June edition of finweek.

Written by Johan Fourie

July 19, 2018 at 07:30

The stories we do not tell

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One of my favourite scenes in Love, Actually is right at the beginning of the movie. The setting is an airport arrivals terminal. As travelers arrive through the gates, they are welcomed by family and friends, smiling, laughing, hugging and kissing. Whenever I have to pick someone up at the international terminal, I do my best to arrive early, and to witness the joy of family and friend reunions.

I would contest that there is another setting where you’re guaranteed to be uplifted. Graduation ceremonies. I was fortunate to attend one of these at the end of March where hundreds of students received their degrees, with thousands of friends and family watching on. Each applause and ululation tells a story, stories often coupled with hardship, sacrifice and perseverance but also with hope, faith and, ultimately, success. There are few things better to see than a father or mother, proud and captivated as their son or daughter walks across the stage, holding back the tears.

Several of my own Economics students graduated too, each with their own stories. Thokozire Gausi graduated with an Honours degree. She is from Malawi and part of a network of students that self-finance their studies in South Africa, often with very little institutional support. Masters-degree graduate Omphile Ramela, who grew up in Soweto, wrote his dissertation while playing professional cricket for the Cape Cobras and, now, the Highveld Lions, and while balancing the demands of a young family. Abel Gwaindepi received his PhD in Economics. He grew up in Zimbabwe, where his father worked in the sugarcane plantations of Anglo-American. Abel has 16 siblings, many of whom he had to support with his meagre scholarships through an undergrad at Fort Hare, a postgraduate at Rhodes and, ultimately, a PhD at Stellenbosch. It is difficult to imagine what that moment of graduation must have felt like for Abel and the Gwaindepi family.

At the same ceremony, both Patrice Motsepe and Jannie Mouton received honorary doctorates, and had the chance to say a few short words. Motsepe noted South Africa’s amazing people, and our duty to ensure that each has the opportunity to live a life of dignity and prosperity. We underestimate our own abilities, Motsepe said, to make a success of South Africa. Mouton highlighted the wealth of opportunities in the country. Focus, he said, on the opportunities instead of being an expert on the problems. ‘Build a business, employ people, pay taxes – contribute.’

Negativity pervades our society, and can be incredibly debilitating. A few minutes on Twitter and you’re bound to find discussions that turn into slurs and slanders which will only end in ignorance and intolerance. But – and this I repeat to myself and my students frequently – Twitter is not the real world. Despite all the negativity that surrounds us, there is one undeniable truth: there has never been a better time to be human than in 2018.

The story we do not tell often enough – and one that still surprises each new cohort of students I teach – is that life is getting better. Yes, we have tremendous challenges in South Africa, in Africa and globally, but we are making good progress to tackling these head-on. Six of the ten fastest growing economies in 2018 will be in Africa. But it is not only incomes that are improving. Steven Pinker, in the first few chapters of his new book, Enlightenment Now, provides a wonderful summary of the trends in health, happiness, and living standards, as well as inequality, the environment, safety and democracy. In each case, the evidence suggests that we live in a much better world than our parents and grandparents.

This good story did not just happen for no reason. It is humankind’s ability to use the resources of nature and transform them into food, clothing and shelter, through ever-increasing understanding of science, our complex technologies and sophisticated institutions, that have allowed us to build a more prosperous world. I really like the way Pinker explains this:

Poverty needs no explanation. In a world governed by entropy and evolution, it is the default state of humankind. Matter does not arrange itself into shelter or clothing, and living things do everything they can to avoid becoming our food. As Adam Smith pointed out, what needs to be explained is wealth. Yet even today, when few people believe that accidents or diseases have perpetrators, discussions of poverty consist mostly of arguments about whom to blame for it.

That our world is getting better should not mean that we can get complacent. As we’ve seen in several countries around the world, places like Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, when things fall apart, living standards quickly revert back to poverty and chaos. As long as we understand that investment in better knowledge about how the world works lies at the heart of our story – in other words, investing in innovation, science and technology – such an outcome is unlikely for South Africa. The worrying thing about our recent budget is that the allocation towards this category will grow at less than the inflation rate. Our politicians seem to not understand that our wealth is dependent not on connections, mineral resources or land. Instead, it is the result of innovation-led improvements in productivity that explains the huge progress of the last two centuries.

Motsepe and Mouton are both correct: we have amazing people and amazing opportunities. But we will only be able to tell a good story if we invest in those amazing people – like Thoko, Omphile and Abel – to use their knowledge and skills to take advantage of those opportunities.

*An edited version of this article originally appeared in the 12 April edition of finweek.

Bad boys, what you gonna do?

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A social revolution is underway that most of us are blissfully unaware of. Its causes are fuzzy, but its consequences are likely to be significant: it could radically alter how we work, whom we marry, how many children we have, and, perhaps in the extreme, the likelihood of conflict. This social revolution is a relatively recent phenomenon. We’ve seen it emerge only in the last two decades, but it’s accelerating at a rapid pace. Welcome to the era of the widening gender gap in education.

Girls, nowadays, outperform boys at astonishing rates, both at school and at university. Two new studies, both by economists at Stellenbosch University’s Research in Social Policy unit, attest to this. First, a study by Chris van Wyk, Anderson Gondwe and Pierre de Villiers follow all 2007 Western Cape Grade 6 learners (77,633) until matric in 2013. They find that men are 29% more likely to have dropped out of school by 2013 compared to their female counterparts. These results confirm nationally representative studies of reading and math scores. Hendrik van Broekhuizen and Nic Spaull show that the gender gap in reading at South African primary schools is one of the largest in the world. But it is also in mathematics, a subject where boys traditionally outperformed girls, where the closing and then widening of the gender gap is most evident. Says Van Broekhuizen and Spaull: “In the 2000 and 2007 rounds of SACMEQ, South African grade 6 girls outperformed their male counterparts, but this difference was not statistically significant. However, in the more recently conducted TIMSS-Numeracy assessment of 2015, grade 5 girls outperformed grade 5 boys by a statistically significant margin of 16 points. This was the fourth largest (pro-girl) gender gap in mathematics of the 49 countries that participated.”

Source: Van Broekhuizen and Spaull (2017)

Not only do girls do better than boys at school, women outperform men to an even greater extent at university. Van Broekhuizen and Spaull follow the 2008 matric cohort, and show that, while girls obtained 27% more bachelor passes in matric, more females access university (34% more), and considerably more females complete any undergraduate qualification (56% more) or any undergraduate degree (66% more). These gaps exist for all of South Africa’s race groups, although it is slightly bigger for white and coloured students. The pyramid summarizes the gap at every level: for every 100 females in matric in 2008, there were only 8 females that earned any undergraduate degree by the end of 2014, and only 5 males.

We don’t yet know what explains this gap. One argument, with some supporting evidence, is that women have more traits and behaviours that are favourable to schooling in its current form, also known as non-cognitive skills. These skills include self-control, self-motivation, dependability, sociability, perceptions of self-worth, locus of control, time-preference and delayed gratification. But why exactly these non-cognitive skills have become more valuable in the last two decades is not entirely clear. Others have pointed to technological change, particularly in computer and video games, as an explanation for why men are performing worse. But that does not explain gender differences at very young ages.

What is more interesting, though, is to think through the likely consequences. The most obvious is the effect on the job market. Graduates have a much lower unemployment rate (5%) compared to those without any tertiary qualification (33%) in South Africa. If more women have degrees, women are likely to have significant lower unemployment rates than men. And because the best students in almost all subject fields are now women, they are likely to find the best jobs, and move up the job ladder quicker.

We know that men have historically held the majority of high-ranking positions in the workplace, and this outcome can do a lot to balance things out. But it is also important that we think carefully through the full range of consequences. People prefer to match on education, meaning that women prefer men with a similar level of education, and vice versa. What does the gender-unbalanced pool of graduates mean for finding your soulmate? If women become the main (or only) breadwinners, how will that affect family planning? Women already face a more difficult trade-off than men between having to balance a family and career – will this cause fertility rates to fall further, especially for those at the upper-end of the income distribution where the gender gap is most pronounced?

And what of the men? Will they be happy to step in and take up more of the family responsibilities? In a world that increasingly rewards human capital, a large pool of unskilled men will find no outlet for their only productive resource: manual labour. If these men, without proper interventions, become more indolent and isolated, what are the likely political and social consequences? It is not surprising that the political extremes are often dominated by men. Men already outnumber women in all major crime categories. If unchecked, violence and conflict, at the household, community and international level, will in all likelihood increase.

It is natural to ask what can be done about this. Those who argue that the cause for the gender gap is the sudden increase in rewards for non-cognitive abilities would argue that the schooling system can do more to nurture these traits in men. Others would argue that the technological change that make men less productive – like video games – should be taxed.

Others, again, will say that it is pointless to intervene – why should we care about men when women have been suppressed for centuries, and many remain the victims of abuse and dominance? I would argue that that is exactly why we should care about the rising gender gap in education: if we don’t, the consequences are likely to be dire, for men and women.

Written by Johan Fourie

March 26, 2018 at 08:30

The formula for success

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The world of work is changing. Skills that were valuable only a decade or two ago seem less valuable nowadays, displaced by newer trends and technologies. Every few weeks a news article report on the threat of automation, and how it will destroy millions of jobs, including yours. A YouTube video of a robot jumping over obstacles confirms that the inevitable is only a few months away.

The answer, many seem to think, is to become like computers. Students, in South Africa and elsewhere, are encouraged to pursue STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – careers. Humanities degrees or those in the social sciences, in contrast, are often considered less prestigious. We know that the best-paying jobs are still those where a decent amount of math is required. In South Africa, this is of particular concern, as the gender and racial composition of those enrolling for STEM degrees differ significantly from those enrolling for degrees in the humanities, exacerbating inequality.

But the story is more complicated than that. A new paper by David Deming, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics (QJE), suggests that, at least in the United States, STEM graduates are not doing very well. In fact, between 2000 and 2012, STEM jobs shrank by 0.1 percentage points, after growing by 1.3 percentage points in the previous two decades. In contrast, all other ‘cognitive occupations’, jobs like managers, teachers, nurses, physicians, lawyers and economists , grew by 2.9 percentage points between 2000 and 2012, faster than the 2 percentage points in the previous decade. The figure below demonstrates this clearly: only 36% of STEM occupational categories had positive growth, compared to 85% of other professional occupations.

The reason for this, Deming argues, is that managers, teachers and physicians all require significant interpersonal skills. And because of the technological change – the same technological change we all fear! – these social skills are increasingly in demand. Deming explains: ‘The skills and tasks that cannot be substituted away by automation are generally complemented by it, and social interaction has, at least so far, proven difficult to automate. Our ability to read and react to others is based on tacit knowledge, and computers are still very poor substitutes for tasks where programmers don’t know “the rules”.’

Using a wide variety of sources, Deming finds that jobs that require high levels of both cognitive and social skills have fared particularly well, while high math, low social skill jobs (including many STEM occupations) have fared especially poorly. ‘Social skills were a much stronger predictor of employment and wages for young adults age 25 to 33 in the mid-2000s, compared to the 1980s and the 1990s.’ There is a revolution in the job market underway that no-one is talking about.

Where do these social skills come from? Deming speculates that much of it is formed during early childhood development, although this is difficult to prove. The latest research that have followed children from a young age into adulthood have found strong correlations between kids’ socioemotional skills in kindergarten and adult outcomes such as employment and earnings.

The demand for social skills may also have implications for gender imbalances in the workplace. Women often choose careers that require more social interaction. If these jobs are in greater demand, with faster earnings increases, the gender gap may close quicker.

The optimism about the closing of the gender gap, though, is pegged by another study published in the same journal, by authors Matthew Wiswall and Basit Zafar. They test a group of New York University students about their preferences for flexible hours when they enter the job market, and find that students are willing to give up 2.8% of their annual earnings for a job with a centage point lower probability of job dismissal. They also find that students are willing to give up 5.1% of their salary to have a job that offers the option of working part-time hours. But there is a large gender difference: female students have a much higher average preference for flexible hours – 7.3% – compared to men – 1.1%. What the authors then do is to track the students after they graduate, and record their actual earnings four years later. Wiswall and Zafar find that those students with a high preference for work flexibility do actually end up in occupations with greater flexibility. But because women already prefer more flexible work even before they’ve started working, they also tend to earn less once they’ve entered the labour market, choosing jobs with lower pay and greater flexibility. At least a quarter of the gender gap in the labour market, the authors argue, can be explained by just these differences in preference.

These studies show how our social skills and preferences affect our labour market outcomes. Policies that aim to address labour market distortions, like race or gender gaps, should know that the roots of the problem may lie in preferences and skills moulded in the early years of development.

That is not to say that nothing can be done: for those going to university this year, perhaps one thing to keep in mind is that your future earnings depend not only on attending math class, but also on developing your social skills. Here’s one formula to remember: Math + beer = success.

>>> An edited version of this article originally appeared in the 1 February 2018 edition of finweek.

Written by Johan Fourie

March 13, 2018 at 08:00

The compelling case for technological optimism

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In September last year, I visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. The museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting all aspects of the computer revolution, from its roots in the twentieth century to self-driving cars today. What is remarkable is to observe, while walking through the more than 90000 objects on display, the profound change in technology over the last three decades. The mobile computing display, I thought, summarised this change best, showing the first laptop computers of the 1980s (see image above) to a modern-day iPhone. But what also became clear from the exhibitions was that those ‘in the know’ at the start of the revolution were right about the transformational impact of computers, but almost certainly wrong about the way it would affect us.

We are now at the cusp of another revolution. Artificial intelligence, led by remarkable innovations in machine learning technology, is making rapid progress. It is already all around us. The image-recognition software of Facebook, the voice recognition of Apple’s Siri and, probably most ambitiously, the self-driving ability of Tesla’s electric cars all rely on machine learning. And computer scientists are finding more applications every day, from financial markets – Michael Jordaan recently announced a machine learning unit trust – to court judgements – a team of economists and computer scientists have shown that the quality of New York verdicts can be significantly improved with machine learning technology.  Ask any technology optimist, and they will tell you the next few years will see the release of new applications that we currently cannot even imagine.

But there is a paradox. Just as machine learning technology is taking off, a new NBER Working Paper by three economists, Erik Brynjolfsson, Chad Syverson and Daniel Rock affiliated to MIT and Chicago, show something peculiar: a decline in labour productivity over the last decade. Across both the developed and developing world, growth in labour productivity, meaning the amount of output per worker, is falling. Whereas one would expect that rapid improvements in technology would boost total factor productivity, boosting investment and raising the ability of workers to build more stuff faster, we observe slower growth, and in some countries even stagnation.

This has led some to be more pessimistic about the prospects of artificial intelligence, and in technological innovation more generally. Robert Gordon, in his ‘The Rise and Fall of American Growth’, argue that, despite an upward shift in productivity between 1995 and 2004, American productivity is on a long-run decline. Other notable economists, including Nicholas Bloom and William Nordhaus, are somewhat pessimistic about the ability of long-run productivity growth to return to earlier levels. Even the Congressional Budget Office in the US has reduced its 110-year labour productivity forecast, from 1.8 to 1.5%. On 10 years, that is equivalent to a decline of $600 billion in 2017.

How is it possible, to paraphrase Robert Solow in 1987, that we see machine learning applications everywhere but in the productivity statistics? The simplest explanation, of course, is that our optimism is misplaced. Has Siri or Facebook’s image recognition software really made us that more productive? Some technologies never live up to the hype. Peter Thiel famously quipped: ‘We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters’.

Brynjolfsson and co-authors, though, make a compelling case for technological optimism, offering three reasons for why ‘even a modest number of currently existing technologies could combine to substantially raise productivity growth and societal welfare’. One reason for the apparent paradox, the authors argue, is the mismeasurement of output and productivity. The slowdown in productivity of productivity in the last decade may simply be an illusion, as most new technologies – think of Google Maps’ accuracy in estimating our arrival time – involve no monetary cost. Even though these ‘free’ technologies significantly improve our living standards, they are not picked up by traditional estimates of GDP and productivity. A second reason is that the benefits of the AI revolution are concentrated, with little improvement in productivity for the median worker. Google (now Alphabet), Apple, and Facebook have seen their market share increase rapidly in comparison to other large industries. Where AI was adopted outside ICT, these were often in zero-sum industries, like finance or advertising. A third, and perhaps most likely, reason is that it takes a considerable time to be able to sufficiently harness new technologies. This is especially true, the authors argue, ‘for those major new technologies that ultimately have an important effect on aggregate statistics and welfare’, also known as general purpose technologies (GPT).

There are two reasons why it takes long for GPTs to be seen in the statistics. It takes time to build up the stock necessary to have an impact on the aggregate statistics. While mobile phones are everywhere, the applications that benefit from machine learning are still only a small part of our daily lives. Second, it takes time to identify the complementary technologies and make these investments. ‘While the fundamental importance of the core invention and its potential for society might be clearly recognizable at the outset, the myriad necessary co-inventions, obstacles and adjustments needed along the way await discovery over time, and the required path may be lengthy and arduous. Never mistake a clear view for a short distance.’

As Brynjolfsson and friends argue, even if we do not see AI technology in the productivity statistics yet, it is too early to be pessimistic. The high valuations of AI companies suggest that investors believe there is real value in those companies, and it is likely that the effects on living standards may be even larger than the benefits that investors hope to capture.

Machine learning technology, in particular, will shape our lives in many ways. But much like those looking towards the future in the early 1990s and wondering how computers may affect our lives, we have little idea of the applications and complementary innovations that will determine the Googles and Facebooks of the next decade. Let the Machine (Learning) Age begin!

An edited version of this article originally appeared in the 30 November 2017 edition of finweek.

Why #DataMustFall

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ZimBoth the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) and the Competition Commission are concerned about South Africa’s high data costs. It is about time. Of the 48 African countries ranked by for the first quarter of 2017, South Africa was the 22nd most expensive in which to buy 1GB data. All of South Africa’s main competitors on the continent, including Egypt (1st), Ghana (4th), Nigeria (8th) and Kenya (15th) ranked higher. Our poorest neighbour – Mozambique – ranked second, with US$ 2.27 for 1GB in contrast to our US$7.49.

Consumers have known this for some time. Last year, radio personality Thabo “Tbo Touch” Molefe started a Twitter campaign – #DataMustFall – that went viral. He was subsequently invited to address the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services about the high cost of broadband in South Africa. Said Molefe at the time: “The power of data gives access to education, mentorship, skills training, financial assistance, job searching and recruit.”

Molefe is correct. There is now ample evidence globally to show that internet access at affordable prices is correlated to better job market opportunities. This is especially true in South Africa, where the employment rate is seven percentage points higher in areas connected to the internet than those with no connection. The problem is that economists have struggled to show that this relationship is causal: areas with internet connectivity usually have all the other amenities that are associated with better job market prospects. It then becomes an empirical question of how to separate the effect of internet connectivity from things like education, infrastructure and wealth that also affect job market prospects?

A new NBER Working Paper by Jonas Hjort of Columbia University and Jonas Poulson of Harvard University offers an answer. The two authors exploit the gradual arrival of 10 submarine Internet cables from Europe in cities on Africa’s coast in the late 2000s and early 2010s to identify whether the higher speeds and cheaper data costs created new jobs. First, they show that the arrival of the cables did, in fact, increase average internet speeds and the expansion of the network. They then compare the changes in employment patterns in cities and towns with a bigger versus a smaller increase in access to fast Internet. “In each of three different datasets that together cover 12 African countries with a combined population of roughly half a billion people, we find a significant relative increase—of 4.2 to 10 percent—in the employment rate in connected areas when fast Internet becomes available.” Just as Molefe said: faster and cheaper internet creates jobs!

As with any economic change, there are both winners and losers. Hjort and Poulson show that the faster, cheaper internet reduces employment in unskilled jobs, but “enables a bigger increase in employment in higher-skill occupations”. In other words, just as automation does in the developed world, faster internet in Africa results in a change in the type of skills required. One might expect the consequence to be deeper levels of inequality. Not true, says the authors, especially in South Africa. Faster, cheaper internet enables South African workers of low and intermediate educational attainment “to shift into higher-skill jobs to a greater extent than highly educated workers”. The net effect is that fast internet lowers employment inequality across the educational attainment range in South Africa.

So what types of jobs were created by the arrival of the submarine cables? The authors find that “new and new types” of jobs were created via the “extensive margin” (meaning: new users) and “intensive margin” (meaning: different use of the internet by existing users). Using detailed firm level data, they show that, in South Africa, new firms are established, notably in sectors that benefit from ICT. In Ethiopia, by contrast, existing firms improve their productivity. In other African countries like Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, firms with access to the faster, cheaper internet export much more, perhaps, the authors suggest, because “website communication with clients become easier”.

Technology is not just a threat to job creation – it is also an opportunity. But as the #DataMustFall movement has shown, fast internet access remains a mirage for most South Africans. That is hopefully changing. Non-profits, like Project Isizwe, want to facilitate the roll-out of free WiFi in public spaces in low income communities, as it is already doing in Tshwane. Similar initiatives are following in South Africa’s other metros. Both Google and Facebook are designing new technologies that could revolutionise connectivity for in rural areas.

Consumers are rightfully angry about the high cost of data in South Africa. Yet it is local entrepreneurs and their employees that should be most upset. As Hjort and Paulson show, cheap data will create more firms and more, better-paying jobs. “Employment responses of the magnitude we document indicate that building fast Internet infrastructure may be among the currently feasible policy options with the greatest employment-creating potential in Africa.”

Fast and cheap internet is probably the simplest way to alleviate South Africa’s high unemployment conundrum. Policy-makers should take note.

*An edited version of this first appeared in Finweek magazine of 24 August 2017.

Written by Johan Fourie

August 30, 2017 at 10:56