Daily Archives: June 24, 2017

You talkin’ to me? Home automation with Amazon – Colorado Springs Independent

Posted: June 24, 2017 at 2:12 pm

Ever get the feeling you are being listened in on? I'm referring to home automation and devices like Amazon's Alexa technology. Amazon's platform has multiple home automation devices that can play music, offer up entertainment, local weather forecasts, news and much more when given voice commands. The devices are known as Echo productsand can also be controlled by a cell phone, tablet, or another Internet-connected device.

I bought into Amazon's offering of Echo and the Echo Dot, a smaller version,last year, and glad I did even though I find it a stretch on claims you can save you money over time, more on that in bit.

One of the favorite features is the vast music libraries that are available, and being able to play any music you can think of by asking the device. The original Amazon Echo has a built in speaker, but if you want to rock the house, as they say, you're better off getting the cheaper Dot and connecting your own speakers.

Having dabbled with music services like Pandora, I ended up with Amazon's Unlimited package based on price and usage. It comes in a bit cheaper if you're an Amazon Prime member, but there are other options to suit what you're looking for. As of 6/23/17, Amazon is now offering the option to stream your Sirius audio subscription right to your Echo for you "Stern" lovers. All-in-all music features are a driving force behind home automation's growing popularity, and I can see why.

I have found, though, that you end up spending more money on necessary additions to take full advantage of Amazon's home automation features. For example, I had to upgrade my thermostat to be able to change the temperature in the house with the system, same goes with the lights separate devices are needed for each lamp, or you go a little more expensive with a hub covering an area of your home.

There are some great add-on devices that can control your home security, ceiling fans and more. Add-ons for lighting are probably the most diverse and fun to play with, with options ranging from standard overhead light to colored track lighting controlled with simple commands. I run with the TP Link bulbs (cheaper) as they handle my basic lighting needs. The TP Link is a modest but more affordable way to turn on anything plugged into it, like a lamp you want to turn on and off. The lighting features and remote control options are great when you're controlling lights from afar.

Lastly, unless you're living in a smaller home or apartment, you will want more than one Echo device, or at least a portable accessory so you don't have to shout your requests and can hear the output another extra cost.

Amazon is rolling out a video version of its home automation system called Echo Show in summer 2017. Echo Show displays a video screen showing video messages, photos, security cameras, and and more, according to the Amazon website. It sounds intriguing, and perhaps a necessary product given growing competition in home automation systems. Google's offering, Google Home,which provides many of the same features, adds the ability to do simple searches on queries similar to using their search engine,a feature that needs more attention in Amazon's system.

My overall take on Amazon's Echo and the whole home automation movement is that it's coming your way, and if you can afford to make the plunge, it's a prime time to do it.

Brian Koch is an avid techie who's worked in the tech field for dozens of years with Compaq/HP, his own pc business Techpertise, outdoor photography, and more. He has lived with his wife Stacy in Colorado for over 16 years. E-mail questions, comments, suggestions to Brian: info@techpertise.com and follow him on Twitter @Techpertise.

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You talkin' to me? Home automation with Amazon - Colorado Springs Independent

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‘Modern-Day Slavery’: Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates Working in Governor’s Mansions and Capitol Buildings – AlterNet

Posted: at 2:12 pm

Photo Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

When activist Sam Sinyangwe was awaiting a meeting with the governors office at the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge, he noticed something odd.A black man in a dark-blue jumpsuit was printing papers while a correctional guardwith a badge and gunstood watching over him. The pair stood out against the white, middle-aged legislators populating the building.

Sinyangwe said he did not know exactly what he was looking at, until he saw another black man in the same dark-blue outfit serving food at the capitol buildings cafeteria. This time, Sinyangwe noticed that the man had a patch on his chest labeling him a prisoner of the Louisiana State Department of Corrections, complete with an identification number.

Sinyangwe realized that the server, the man printing papers and the other people working in the lunch line were all prisoners.

Inmates working at the capitol building in Baton Rouge is a common sight. Prisoners work in the Louisiana governors mansion and inmates clean up after Louisiana State University football games as well. But the labor practice of having inmates work in state government buildings extends beyond Louisiana; at least six other states in the U.S. allow for this practice: Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Georgia.

The inmates allowed to work in the capitol or at the governors mansion are fairly low in number and are carefully screened. According to NOLA.com, about 20 to 25 people work daily in the capitol, and 15 to 18 other inmates work as groundskeepers outside the building. The inmates may not be serving a sentence for a sex crime or a violent offense like murder and must have a history of good behavior while incarcerated and display good work ethic. Furthermore, only inmates at the Dixon Correctional Institute (a men-only facility) can work at the capitol, as it is only 30 miles away.

A similar process occurs in Georgia, where inmates must receive a referral from the Board of Pardons of Parole or the Classification Committee within a state prison. Working at the governors mansion in Georgia is contingent upon an inmates criminal history, their behavior while incarcerated and their release date, among other factors.

The inmates perform janitorial tasks such as cleaning the floors or the offices of state legislators. In the Louisiana capitol, inmates also perform small tasks for legislators like grabbing lunch for them.

While inmates working in state government buildings are dutifully screened, they are not much better paid than prisoners with other jobs. In Louisiana, inmates in the capitol are paid between 2 and 20 cents per hour. They could opt for earning good-time credit toward early release, but only if they qualify. And with a normal workday of at least 12 hoursfrom 5 in the morning to at least 5 in the afternoon, barring legislative sessions when inmates work more than 12 hoursthe prisoners make between 24 cents and $2.40 a day. Inmates working in the governors mansion in Missouri recently got a small pay raise to $1.25 an hour to make about $10 per day. With the previous arrangement, prisoners earned $9 a day. In Arkansas, the prisoners are not paid at all.

History of the practice

The practice of using prison inmates as laborers stretches back to the end of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. As more black people were freed from slavery, the plantation economy of the South began to falter with the loss of their primary form of labor. The result was the establishment of vagrancy laws, which specifically targeted black communities, in an effort to incarcerate more black people and force them to work once again.

Even the name given to prisoners who work as servants in governors mansions and capitol buildings in some statestrusteeis the same title that was given to prisoners who worked as overseers on infamous prison plantations such as Angola and Parchman. Prison plantations began replacing the convict lease system in the 1920s as a way for prisoners, an overwhelming majority of whom were black men, to work. Back then, it was considered a privilege to be an overseer on a plantation, and the same narrative goes for inmates working in governors mansions today.

All of this, it looks very familiar: having black laborers toiling in the fields under the eye of overseers and having a white governor served by people drawn from that same forced labor pool, said Carl Takei, a staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the ACLU.

Since then, prisoners have been used as underpaid and unpaid laborers, from private companies to state government buildings. The legal loophole that allows this practice to continue is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. While the 13th Amendment is best known for abolishing slavery, a clause in the amendment stipulates for the continued legality of slavery within the criminal justice system.

The clause reads: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

If somebody is being subjected to forced labor as part of their sentence in a criminal proceeding, then that is outside the scope of the 13th Amendment, Takei said.

Modern-day slavery?

Hillary Clinton made waves for a passage in her 1996 book It Takes A Villagewhen a Twitter userposted photosof a passage in the memoir where Clinton talks about the prisoners who worked in the governors mansion. The passage quickly spread through social media, with many people criticizing Clinton and calling the practice a form of modern-day slavery.

Both Sinyangwe and Takei agree that the current system is exploitative in that inmates who work are barely paid.

When you lock people up and force them to work without providing them a fair wage, thats called slavery, Takei said.

Despite scrutiny from criminal justice advocates, many corrections departments in states that still use this practice have justified it on the grounds that having inmates work reduces recidivism rates and is more beneficial to them overall.

Joseph Nix, director of executive security at the governors mansion in Mississippi, told the Los Angeles Times in 1988 that the inmates tend to make the best workers.

George Lombardi, the Missouri Department of Corrections director, defended the departments work release program, in which one of the jobs includes working at the governors mansion. About 700 of the 30,000 inmates in the states prison system are part of the work release program.

Lombardi told Missourinet the program instills great work ethic, pride, self-esteem and compassion in offenders.

It really cuts to the core philosophy of our department, which is in addition to the time you have to serve, you have another obligation to help your community if possible, Lombardi said. So we present you with opportunities to do that in the form of work release and/or our restorative justice efforts that we have throughout the system.

Paula Earls, executive director of the governors mansion in Missouri, told the Los Angeles Timesin 1998that there have been no problems with inmates and touted the benefits of having inmates work at the mansion.

"We're their last leg before they get out to society," she said. "I treat them like staff. I appreciate the work they do. They are ready to go back out and make something of themselves and we hope we help with that."

Sinyangwe said these justifications for using inmate labor share similarities with the justifications people used for slaverythat it helped civilize black slaves and increased their work ethic.

When you read the history books about the Antebellum South, those are the same arguments being used, he said. So Im not persuaded by them. I dont think theyre original or new.

Arguments that inmate labor can prepare prisoners for integrating into the outside world once they are released also lose weight because of how difficult it is for former prisoners even to get a job to begin with. The hiring practice of asking applicants to indicate their criminal history on job applications has a harmful effect on ex-convicts, as they are less likely to get called back. These results skew along racial lines, as a study by Harvard sociologist Devah Pager found that only 5 percent of black men with a criminal conviction hear back from potential employers. The research also showed that black men with no criminal convictions are less likely to get hired than white men with criminal convictions14 percent for black men with no record compared to 17 percent of white men with a criminal record.

Wendy Sawyer, a policy analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, said a larger issue than recidivism are the economic and racial barriers inmates face once they are released.

Everyone's upset about recidivism rates, and it's all about trying to keep people out once they're out, she said. But then we make it as impossible as we can for that to work for people....We set up all these barriers that make it difficult for people to get their lives back together.

Arguments about recidivism and psychological benefits aside, another factor driving this practice is its cost-cutting benefits for the state. Because inmates are severely underpaid or not paid at all for their work, the state saves money on every prisoner working in the capitol or the governors mansion by not having to shell out the minimum wage to compensate them. This was the case in Louisiana when inmates began working in the capitol in 1990, as the state was experiencing a financial crisis. Inmates working at the governor's mansion were also employed as a cost-saving measure.

Takei said these arguments made to justify the practice do not excuse the fact that it is a deeply exploitative system.

The fact that performing particular tasks may be part of a rehabilitation strategy doesnt excuse the fact that the people in these positions are denied a fair wage and the labor protections they would be entitled to if they were performing the same work on the outside, he said.

Sawyer noted that the greater underlying problem is that the prison system in the U.S. is hardly rehabilitative. It's really just punitive, she said. It's just people sitting there, kind of locked out of society.

Remembering the big picture

While the practice of using inmate labor in capitol buildings and governors mansions largely stays under the radar, it speaks to a larger issue in the prison labor system. As a whole, inmates who work while incarcerated, whether for a private company, for the state or even within the prison, make little to no money. This is despite the fact that in federal prisons, 100 percent of able-bodied inmates are required to work, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In addition, the average rate of minimum wage for inmates paid by the state is 93 cents, while the average maximum wage is $4.73.

Takei said prisoners working in the governors mansion or the capitol building are caught between a rock and a hard place.

If your choice is between getting paid zero dollars an hour or being paid 25 cents an hour, oftentimes youll choose 25 cents an hour because you need that money, he said.

Sinyangwe said that at the very least, prisoners who are working should get paid a minimum wage for their labor. He noted that reducing recidivism rates could be better accomplished if prisoners earned an adequate wage and could either save the money or spend the money while incarcerated on services like calling family members or buying commissary items. He added that in states like Louisianaone of the poorest states in the countryfamilies of inmates are often financially struggling and shoulder many of the costs their family member incurs while in prison.

I think it would be incredibly impactful to reduce the recidivism rates by making sure that when people get out of jail, they actually have money to actually start a life, he said. That they are not forced to go back into the informal economy or committing crimes just to make a living.

Takei echoed this sentiment. I doubt that if you talk to any of the people who are working as servants in the governors mansion that they would object to the idea of actually being paid a fair wage for their work, he said.

Takei acknowledged that reforming the prison labor system would be difficult, given the precedent set by the 13th Amendment that legalizes this form of modern-day slavery. A number of courts around the country have also affirmed that prisoners arenot protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act.

There is also the complacency of state legislators and governors who interact with these inmates every day, but have not taken any action to better their circumstances.

These were the legislators who had the power to change those dynamics, and yet who are benefiting by preserving them, Sinyangwe said.

Sawyer added that the issue has become a missed opportunity for progressives in particular to draw more attention to a practice that is essentially hiding in plain sight.

They're in the state buildings. They're in our places of government, she said. And we're accepting that that's how this country's going to be.Our state governments are going to benefit from that kind of labor. It feels like kind of a passive acceptance.

Since witnessing the inmates working in the Baton Rouge capitol building, Sam Sinyangwe said he has been looking at methods of reform, whether that involves administrative regulation, a legislative change or even a constitutional amendment to revise the loophole in the 13th Amendment. But he has not lost sight of the broader goal: ending mass incarceration.

What I would like to see, one, is that we are moving to end mass incarceration, he said, to repeal the policies and the draconian sentencing laws that got us to this place.

Celisa Calacal is a junior writing fellow for AlterNet. She is a senior journalism major and legal studies minor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Previously she worked at ThinkProgress and served as an editor for Ithaca College's student newspaper.Follow her at @celisa_mia.

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'Modern-Day Slavery': Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates Working in Governor's Mansions and Capitol Buildings - AlterNet

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Despite Republican opposition, Dodd-Frank not going anywhere – San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: at 2:12 pm

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently passed a bill meant to repeal a landmark law enacted under President Barack Obama.

No, Im not referring to the Affordable Care Act but rather the Dodd-Frank Act. The law, passed in 2010, was designed to prevent another banking meltdown like the one that precipitated the Great Recession, the worst economic crisis in the United States since the 1930s.

But no matter how much President Trump wants to unravel his predecessors legacy, he and his allies must know that even outright repeals cannot negate the new realities unleashed by the laws. Because of the Affordable Care Act, health care has morphed from just another cog in the U.S. economy to a fundamental expectation that all citizens, regardless of age, income or geography, should receive some level of care.

Similarly, Dodd-Frank has created new facts: mainly, the belief that banks must not again become too big to fail and that taxpayers must not bail them out if they do. That mind-set will remain no matter what happens to the law.

Dodd-Frank is not going away, said Jackie Prester, a former federal bank examiner who now chairs the financial services transactions group at Baker Donelson law firm in Memphis. And while Congress will probably wind up just tweaking Dodd-Frank, the real issue is not the law itself but rather how the regulatory agencies implement it, she said.

One of the core principles of Dodd-Frank was that large banks like JPMorgan, Citibank and Wells Fargo in San Francisco must carry more capital on their balance sheets against liabilities like loans and mortgages. The Federal Reserve is implementing international standards that require banks to possess enough highly liquid assets (things they can quickly turn into cash) to cover obligations over a 30-day period sufficient time for the feds to take action to stabilize the industry.

The idea is to not only prevent a panic and a run on the banks but also to discourage banks from risky behavior. Requiring banks to put up more cash to cover risk means they will be less likely to do something risky.

Dodd-Frank is very, very big on strong capital requirements, said Clifford Rossi, a former chief risk officer at Citigroups consumer lending unit who now teaches finance at the University of Maryland. You can cure a lot of sins by pushing the industry to take smaller risks.

The House bill, however, provides an off-ramp for banks to get exemptions from these Dodd-Fank requirements providing they maintain high levels of capital.

That worries Rossi, who fears that banks will go crazy again.

Banks dont need a lot of encouragement to say, We can push the pedal to the metal, he said.

Its not clear whether this provision will survive the Senate. Because of Dodd-Frank, the industry is now well capitalized, which has significantly reduced the prospect of another banking crisis.

Increased capital requirements and stronger regulation and supervision has created a much safer financial sector, according to a report by the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington.

The other enduring feature of Dodd-Frank is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. To conservatives and Republicans, the agency is just another example of yet another unnecessary federal bureaucracy stifling the economy.

But the House bill does not call for the abolition of the agency just greater control over it.

For that reprieve, supporters of the agencys work can thank Wells Fargo.

In September, the agency fined the bank $100 million because employees opened savings, checking and credit card accounts in the names of customers, without their consent, to meet aggressive sales goals. Wells Fargo eventually admitted that a wayward sales culture had prompted employees to create up to 2 million fraudulent accounts.

That led to CEO John Stumpfs sudden retirement and instituted reforms throughout the company to prevent another such scandal.

Although several agencies, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve, already regulate banks, it was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that brought the scandal to the attention of Congress and the broader public. Which begs the question: Without Dodd-Frank, would Wells Fargo employees have gone on engaging in fraud unchecked?

Thats a fair question, said Prester, who previously worked at the Office of the Comptroller. Why didnt any of the other regulators see it before Dodd-Frank?

In other words, the agency did exactly what Dodd-Frank created it to do: focus on protecting consumers in a way other regulators couldnt or wouldnt.

So Dodd-Frank may get chipped away. But the laws legacy is intact: higher expectations of our banks, and higher expectations of their regulators. Those are written in our minds, not in the text of any bill.

Thomas Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: tlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByTomLee

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Despite Republican opposition, Dodd-Frank not going anywhere - San Francisco Chronicle

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ZenCash’s Robert Viglione Talks Borderless Cryptocurrency and More – Finance Magnates

Posted: at 2:11 pm

Robert Viglione is the co-founder of Zen, a blockchain-based private borderless decentralized platform for communications andtransactions. The technologyisdesigned to support very high data survivability even in adversarial environments. It was inspired by Bitcoin, Dash and Zcash.

The London Summit 2017 is coming, get involved!

Yesterday Viglione talked with Finance Magnates about the state of cryptocurrency adoption in different regions around the world such as Venezuela and Africa, how fast the technology could take over digital finance, the response in academia to his interest and even the possibility of new micro-nations being crowdfunded with an ICO.

The interview was broadcast live and a video recording is available here:

In addition to co-founding ZenCash and being part of its core team, Robert Viglione is a PhD candidate in finance at the University of South Carolina, doing research on crypto-finance, asset pricing, and innovation. Heteaches Intro to Investments and Bitcoin & Blockchain Applications in Finance and runs the university crypto-club.

His other crypto industry experience includes being part of the core team for ZClassic, Head of U.S. & Canada Ambassadors for BlockPay, and consultant to BitGate, a Norwegian exchange. He has written for CoinDesk and Bitcoin.com.Viglione says that one of the most fun projects he isworking on at the moment is helping with the development of the blockchain strategy for the Seasteading Institute aPeter Thiel backed venture tocreate permanent settlements at sea outside the control ofany government.

Robert is also a former physicist, mercenary mathematician, and military officer with experience in satellite radar, space launch vehicles, and combat support intelligence.

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Why Women Are Booking More Adventure Travel Than Ever – Travel+Leisure

Posted: at 2:11 pm

It was New Year's Day 2012, and Allison Fleece was feeling unmoored. On a whim, she e-mailed a group of her most intrepid friends. "This time next year," she wrote, "I want to be standing on the roof of Africa." The following winter, she was on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, exhausted and giddy, with nine women beside her. She turned to Danielle Thornton, a climbing buddy who would soon become her best friend. "This is what all travel should be like," she said.

The next year, Fleece and Thornton headed back to Kilimanjaro this time leading a group of 29 women from 11 countries on the first trip of WHOA Travel, their fledgling adventure-tour company for women. In their previous lives, Fleece, now 31, had been an education advisor and Thornton, 34, a creative director at an ad agency. But a few months after their Kilimanjaro expedition, they'd quit their jobs, Googled how to form an LLC, and launched a travel business. WHOA stands for Women High on Adventure or Women Hooked on Awesomeness, depending on whom you ask.

It's one of the latest additions to the growing list of women-only adventure companies outfitters that cater to a generation of female travelers who prefer surf weekends and mountain-climbing expeditions to the spa weekends of old. The idea goes back to the late 1970s, when women who'd come of age in the era of second-wave feminism began starting scrappy adventure programs, outdoorsy relatives of the feminist music festivals and conferences that were then sprouting up around the country. By the late 90s, upscale operators had joined the fray, courting luxury travelers often widowed or divorced retirees who had the time and money to travel but didn't want to be the loner in a group of couples. More recently, with a certain demographic of women rebranding feminism as less a political calling than a lifestyle choice one focused on personal empowerment and self-care female-centric travel companies are retooling and expanding once again.

"We were around back when women-only travel was kind of a joke," says Jennifer Haddow, who seven years ago took over Wild Women Expeditions, a Canada-based company founded in 1991. "People didn't really see why it was valuable." Now veteran outfitters like Haddow are diversifying their offerings to take advantage of a growing market. Wild Women has added horseback riding in Mongolia and cycling, trekking, and rafting in Thailand to its original roster of kayaking and canoeing trips in Ontario and British Columbia. Adventure Women, a 35-year-old Massachusetts company that changed hands last year, has begun catering to younger clients with its "adventurettes" bespoke getaways, like long weekends of riding, river floating, fine dining, and massages in Montana, for women who don't want a traditional bachelorette party in addition to its bucket-list journeys to places like Ireland and Nepal.

Some lifestyle companies outside the travel industry see all-female trips as a way to extend their brands. REI's recently expanded Outessa program brings women to different U.S. mountains for long weekends of yoga, hiking, and bonding. The sporting-goods giant has also ramped up its backpacking- and camping-centric REI Women's Adventures, which offer rugged outdoor experiences in locations ranging from Africa to America's national parks. For the crystals-and-Coachella crowd, the bohemian apparel brand Free People operates FP Escapes. Its wellness-focused itineraries, including superfood cooking classes in the Andes and yoga workshops in Yelapa, Mexico, come with cleanses, meditation rituals, new-moon ceremonies, and Instagram-ready accommodations like tepees and tree houses.

For some upstart outfitters, personal growth is as central to the mission as having fun. Damesly, founded last year, emphasizes professional networking and skill building, combining volcano hikes in Iceland and surfing lessons in Hawaii with workshops on topics like video editing. Fit & Fly Girl's health-focused retreats come with daily workout classes and nutritious meals. Explorer Chick has several offerings for beginners to develop wilderness survival skills and learn backpacking basics.

But for all the attention these programs devote to women's individual well-being, many also emphasize social responsibility and making lasting connections in the places they visit. "You can't just show up to sell women stuff. You have to be participating in the communities and engaged in their issues," says Wild Women's Haddow. "Clients respond to authenticity." For her company, that means striving to partner exclusively with women even in places like Nepal, where female guides are hard to find and supporting social-justice groups. On its Morocco trips, Adventure Women brings guests to a women's textile cooperative outside Fez to speak with the artisans about their lives and work. Before its Kilimanjaro treks, WHOA puts guests up at a nonprofit hotel that funds a primary school for area children; travelers' fees also help sponsor two local women to join the group on every climb. The company operates a similar program for its Machu Picchu treks.

Despite the wide range of experiences offered by these companies, all tend to attract travelers who, whatever their age or background, have reached a turning point in their lives. If you can handle whitewater rafting down a Peruvian river or summiting a 10,000-foot peak, a cross-country move or a divorce doesnt seem quite so insurmountable. Physical challenges expunge emotional pain, and many women find it more comfortable to tackle them in the company of their peers, even if theyre strangers.

Kelly Luck, 42, booked her Kilimanjaro trip with WHOA after a grueling battle with breast and thyroid cancer. On a cold, clear night this past March the 8th, International Women's Day Luck summited the mountain with 30 other women. "I don't think I could've done this with my husband," she says. "Being there with this powerful collective of women was the only way for me to go. It makes you so strong."

The kind of sisterhood Luck and Fleece both found on Kilimanjaro is one that more and more women seem to want. "We as a gender are done compartmentalizing ourselves," Fleece says. "We like to go out for a nice dinner in heels, but we can also put on hiking boots and camp on a mountain for seven days. And women are realizing that there are others out there who want the same thing."

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Contractors Unleash their Beasts at CEO Warrior event held in new training facility – Contractor Mag

Posted: at 2:11 pm

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. More than 80 home service business owners, including plumbing, HVAC and electrical contractors, from across the U.S., Australia and New Zealand attended the CEO Warrior Circle Mastermind event Unleash the Beast June 13-16. This was the first event to take place at the new CEO Warrior 10,000-sq.ft. training facility.

CEO Warrioris a business consulting, training, and mentoring firm, providing tested and proven methods to defeat the roadblocks that prevent small to mid-sized businesses from achieving their ultimate success. The new training facility houses three separate training quarters, so different events can occur simultaneously. In addition to the Warrior Fast Track Academy and CEO Warrior Circle training events for business owners, there are new one- and two-day course offerings in leadership, sales, marketing, service management and customer service for staff members of all levels.

CEO Warrior Circle event draws business owners from the plumbing, HVAC and electrical industries.

This is going to take our warrior movement to the next level, said Mike Agugliaro, founder of CEO Warrior. We can now offer 10,000 square feet of the greatest business training on the planet. I saw a need for more training that would make a real difference and help business owners become warriors at home and at work.

According to Shayna Shadowen, owner and office manager of Service Detectives, Energy, Illinois, workshops are meant to help you better yourself personally. Shadowen has attended seven CEO Warrior events, starting in May 2016.

Shayna Shadowen and Judy Giannone.

Mike really helps you to face your fears and personal roadblocks head on, explained Shadowen. Every exercise is about learning and growing and bettering yourself. It doesn't matter if you have a service company, a dog training company, or a consignment company, it all boils down to becoming a better you. Then you take back your growth to your business and apply the practices in your everyday life. Your company can't fail.

What Mike has created in this CEO Warrior event is powerful beyond measure and this is built for serious CEOs interested in moving the needle of their service businesses, said O.P. Almaraz, CEO of Allied Restoration Services Inc., Los Angeles. After being a part of CEO Warrior for four months, my company had a record breaking $1,000,000 month. Mikes mentorship has propelled me to grow from $4 million to a projected $6.5 million in my first year. There is nothing more powerful than a changed mind.

Breakthrough limiting beliefs

Contractors stood holding a cup filled with water for as long as 25 minutes. This is tougher than what you realize.

The Warrior Circle event, Unleash the Beast, featured a combination of training sessions on leadership skills, proven business strategies and personal empowerment exercises. The CEO Warrior training system has a unique approach, inspired by Agugliaros straightforward style and martial arts training, to help business owners create mental focus, strategic thinking, resiliency, respect and a warrior spirit to take their own businesses to the next level. Business owners participated in personal empowerment activities such as fire walking, fight training and board breaking exercises.

This is a roll-up your sleeves, get dirty and get information type of event, said Agugliaro. Everybody has a bigger purpose in life, but at the end of the day, most people are not doing the things they need to do to fulfill their bigger purpose. When the attendees leave, they can take strategic steps to change their businesses, their relationships and their lives.

Agugliaro lead individuals through a meditation practice at the beginning of the event, so each person could dig deep and uncover within themselves unconscious barriers that are affecting their lives and businesses.

After the meditation practice and before diving into the first days empowerment activities, Agugliaro asked business owners to focus on a few critical ideas presented during the event and to focus on only those few not the many of ideas and to be candid during the event and play full out. Agugliaro also instituted that each team use a talking stick to improve communication.

Often times, people try to communicate a message when there is distraction happening, said Agugliaro. This can create confusion, which can be a shared issue. Once confusion is shared this can lead to delusion, and now the confused employees are stuck. Often people in this position end up frustrated and may even get angry this is a bad place to be.

A talking stick is a foundation for improved communication. The talking stick first creates boundaries only the person with the talking stick can talk, explained Agugliaro. Without boundaries you end up with something like Animal House.

Tuesdays empowerment activities consisted of the Weakest Link and breaking boards. The Weakest Link challenged business owners strength and balance. Business owners stood holding a cup of water with foam numb chucks for as long as possible. During the board breaking, everyone wrote down on their boards what is holding them back in business and life (hopefully they were able to uncover these barriers during the meditation earlier in the day). Agugliaro then lit the boards on fire each person taking their turn to break through their board with their bare hand, thus breaking through their limiting beliefs.

Candace Roulo breaks through a board on fire with assistance from Mike Agugliaro.

Motivation was key during these empowerment activities. At one point a business owner told their teammate, I have your back I am not going to let you fall.

After the activities Agugliaro asked, What would it be like if you said that [I have your back] at your business? How would that change the overall culture?

At the end of the day, teams shared their thoughts on what they learned the first day of the Warrior Circle event. Some of those thoughts include:

The second day of the CEO Warrior Circle Mastermind event, teams had more activities to complete, which included a fire walk at night.

Walking on fire is an amazing parallel to life, said Almaraz. Every human being was born with an immense amount of potential, yet somewhere in our adolescence we shirk ourselves to fit in. We condition our minds to think that we're not good enough or not worthy, so we stop trying new things. The inward self-reflection, before the firewalk, writing down our own limiting beliefs, and acknowledging our past does not determine our future this part of the fire walking practice is the ultimate game changer. And walking over hot coals, something that seemed impossible, is now my reality. And if I could do that, I can certainly breakthrough my past limiting beliefs!

I had my biggest breakthrough when we did the fire walk, said Kelley McKay, president of McKays Heating & Cooling. I had to be fearless to walk across the 1,200 degree coals, and when I entered that state of mind I realized that's the state of mind I should be entering when it comes to growing my business.

Dean Jackson talks marketing at the CEO Warrior Circle.

Create an experience for the customer

During the CEO Warrior Circle event, Agugliaro had a guest speaker, Marketing Guru Dean Jackson, visit to talk business and marketing strategies.

Jackson said business owners need to stop thinking of their business as one thing, but as three separate divisions: the Before Unit, During Unit and After Unit.

During the Before Unit we are looking to get into the customers home for the first time here and get them into home management, explained Jackson. While in the Before Unit you need to think with the end in mind. What is it that you want to do? What kinds of clients would you love to have? Here you identify your dream clients and target audience and figure out the range of budget for the Before Unit. How much would you pay to get these clients? Its important to narrow your focus here (segment and avatar) and select one target at a time.

Then there is the During Unit, when contractors deal with jobs all day long and create the experience for the customer, then they go to the next job. Jackson advised that contractors should look at all the customer calls that come in on a daily basis to find out how many are emergency calls and how many are proactive calls (when a contractor goes to a job to prevent emergencies from happening).

The During Unit is the core experience you have with the customer, said Jackson. Establish that when they have a need they will call you. While you are in their house you need to establish additional opportunities.

According to Jacksons and Agugliaros book Breakthrough DNA The Service Code; 8 Profit Activators You Can Trigger in Your Business Right Now, this is delivering a dream come true experience designed from the clients/customers perspective and providing an after sale service (even after you have already been paid).

Also while in the During Unit you need to establish that you are the customers plumber/HVAC tech for life. You need to say to your customer, While I am here lets do an HVAC audit. At this time contractors can point out potential issues that are coming down the road, which can be dealt with in a proactive away before there is an emergency.

You need to have the mindset that you will take the customer under your wing and give them opportunities to prevent problems, said Jackson. If you have a lot of repeat business this means that you are the customers person to call back. You created some sort of impression for this to happen. The greatest asset is being an incumbent in someones home.

And last, but not least, there is the After Unit, which focuses on nurturing lifetime relationships.

The After Unit is a thriving part of your business, explained Jackson. These customers already like and trust you.

According to Jackson this is where you nurture customers and referrals.

You always have to generate referrals, explained Jackson. How and why do referrals happen? The reality is people refer companies or other people they know because it makes them feel good. We are wired to share things and steer away from bad things.

My biggest take away from this event came from Dean Jackson, said McKay. He gave us a new way to think about our business. He explained a before unit, during unit and after unit. Viewing each individual step and creating a timeline of each step has opened my eyes to new ways of delivering the ultimate customer experience.

Brian Kurtz was also a guest speaker at the event. Kurtz has been a serial direct marketer for over 35 years. During his career, he was responsible for the mailing of close to 2 billion pieces of direct mail and the distribution of millions of impressions and promotions on a wide variety of offline and online media.

To download and read Breakthrough DNA The Service Code; 8 Profit Activators You Can Trigger in Your Business Right Now visit: http://breakthroughdna.com/.

CEO Warrior

CEO Warrior teaches business owners how to achieve wealth, freedom and market domination by using the tools and skills Mike Agugliaro, founder of CEO Warrior, used to build his home service business into a $32 million-plus business in 10 years. The Warrior system uses a unique approach to training, inspired by Mikes straightforward style and martial arts training to create mental focus, strategic thinking, resiliency, respect and warrior spirit to take business owners to the next level. CEO Warrior targets the specific areas each business needs to address, eliminate, enhance or add in order to reach their business goals and attain what every business owner want in the end: financial independence. For more information about CEO Warrior, visit CEOWARRIOR.com.

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Contractors Unleash their Beasts at CEO Warrior event held in new training facility - Contractor Mag

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Cellist On The Rise – New Haven Independent

Posted: at 2:11 pm

Cafe Nine celebrated the start of summer with an evening of rebirths, as Virginian cellist and composer Wes Swing returned for his second performance this year flush with new music, a novel appreciation for synthesizers, and an album fizzing with a message of revival.

Swing is a splatter-painter in the music industry, concocting musical palettes that mix classical with pop, indie with folk, as part of an emerging trend in the field of strings. His stylings infuse classical instruments with the splendors of modernity.

Its kind of like indie-classical meets dream pop, Swing said of his music, though cautioning, weve struggled a lot with genre.

At Cafe Nine Wednesday night, Swing showcased hits off his new album, And The Heart, released earlier this month on June 2. It brimmed with lyrical and melodic confidence. He offered a form of musiccello indie folk popthat you wont find many other places.

He began the concert bathed in shadows and dim red and green spotlights, resting his cello companion across his body as he plucked a tune of tranquility and called out soothing lyrics from the first single off his new album, Mirrors. Eyes closed, rocking gently from side-to-side, Swing transformed the space around him as he invited the audience to enter a musical dreamscape.

Tinges of sadness and hope, optimism and resilience, spanned the evenings set list, as Swing presented songs like And the Heart, The Next Life, and Missing Winter off his freshly released album. Accompanied by a bass and a violin, he paired the new set with a favorite from his first album, Instrumental 1 and a clever cover of Bjorks Unravel.

The new album comes six long years after the release of his first album, Through a Fogged Glass, in 2011, and tells a fierce tale of personal empowerment and loss of identity.

The formation of Swings second album occurred after the artist struggled with a hiatus from music. Combating a wrist injury that conflicted with his cello playing and a weighty spell of depression, Wes Swing at one time found himself disengaged with his musical calling.

I had a lot of difficulty before I wrote the music, Swing said. I was living in San Francisco, quit music basically, and was dealing with depression I just wasnt productive at all. It was when I started to feel better, that the music came out.

Swing crafted And the Heart in 2014 and 2015. He conjured up Mirrors while flying on a plane, a peculiar setting that inspired Swing with the emotions it brought out in him.

I was feeling like myself, he revealed. I was feeling confident and happy, and it had been a long time since I had those feelings so deeply.

As his friendliness with music reformed, another partnership opened up in Swings life. Swing teamed up with old friend and guitar champion Paul Curreri, who led production for And the Heart. Curreri had suffered a recent wrist and throat injury that halted his performing career, forcing him to consider production instead.

It was kind of an interesting thing, Swing recalls. He and I had the same wrist and throat injury at the same time. He cant play anymore. This album for both us was coming back to music. In a way, redefining who we are as musicians.

Swing is gearing up to release a music video for Mirrors with a dance he choreographed himself, and continues to compose songs hes hoping to record early next year.

I feel more comfortable in my own skin, he said, and I know what I want more in recording and life.

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Cellist On The Rise - New Haven Independent

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OAS chief: I’ll resign in exchange for Venezuela’s ‘freedom’ | Miami … – Miami Herald

Posted: at 2:10 pm


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OAS chief: I'll resign in exchange for Venezuela's 'freedom' | Miami ...
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The head of the Organization of American States on Saturday said he would step down from his post in exchange for a laundry list of reforms in Venezuela that ...

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WWII Wings of Freedom Tour flies into Seattle – KING5.com

Posted: at 2:10 pm

KING 5 photojournalist Andy Wallace

KING Staff , KING 7:10 PM. PDT June 23, 2017

The Wings of Freedom Tour shows off World War II-era planes to pay tribute to the crews that flew and maintained them. (Photo: KING)

The Wings of Freedom Tour flew into Seattle Friday. The tour shows off World War II-era planes to pay tribute to the crews that flew and maintained them.

"You know, we've got four WWII aircraft that come out here. We travel the whole country, but what's really awesome is that they're all flying, they're all authentic, and you can actually walk through them, touch them, and go for a flight on them if you'd like to," said a Wings of Freedom Tour spokesperson. "It's really epic. We've been throughout the country, seen a lot of different reactions, but it's particularly the kids that are the biggest interest to me right now, because without them this is gone."

There are four planes the public can check out at the Museum of Flight this weekend, including a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. You can even take a flight on board one of them.

WHERE: The Wings of Freedom Tour will be on display at Boeing Field in Seattle located at the Museum of Flight, 9404 East Marginal Way South.

WHEN: The Wings of Freedom Tour will be on display at the Museum of Flight until the aircraft departs Sunday, June 25 after 5:00 p.m. Hours of ground tours and display are 10:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 24th and Sunday, June 25th. The 30-minute flight experiences are normally scheduled before and after the ground tour times above.

2017 KING-TV

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Freedom Caucus member calls for Robert Mueller to recuse himself from Russia probe – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 2:10 pm

A freshman member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus is calling for special counsel Robert Mueller to recuse himself from the Russia investigation because he has brought on "highly partisan" lawyers to help with the probe.

"Special Counsel Robert Mueller should recuse himself because the integrity of his appointment is in question due to former FBI Director James Comey's manipulative leaks and the relationship between Mr. Comey and Mr. Mueller," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said in a statement Friday. "His ability to be impartial is doubtful because he has surrounded himself with highly partisan lawyers who make a special practice to line the coffers of Democrats."

News outlets have reported at least three lawyers Mueller has hired to help conduct his investigation have donated almost exclusively to Democrats. Also, Mueller and Comey are friends and former colleagues.

Biggs is at least the second House Republican to call for Mueller's recusal.

Earlier this month, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told the Blaze that Mueller should step aside from the probe because of his "cozy relationship" with Comey.

As part of his investigation into Russia's election interference, Mueller will probe for possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The Washington Post reported Mueller will also investigate whether Trump obstructed justice by allegedly telling Comey that he hoped the bureau would end its probe of Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser. Another report Sunday said Mueller hasn't decided yet whether to investigate Trump.

Most Democrats and Republicans in Congress have defended Mueller, the former FBI director whose leadership of the bureau lasted longer than anyone after J. Edgar Hoover.

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Freedom Caucus member calls for Robert Mueller to recuse himself from Russia probe - Washington Examiner

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