Lets begin with a story. When I lived in Southern Ontario, my most heart-heavy season was that long stretch of winter in which cloud coverage blotted out the sky for weeks: a hazy pink canvas over salmon-orange streetlights, dark shadows, and deep snow.

I need that clear night sky. I need to be able to look up sometimes into an immensity of stars, like a seal sucking on air pockets under a stretch of endless ice. I need to gasp at something outside the murkiness of cultural narrative in which we swim.

And the night sky is perfect, because in an instant it reminds me that all our rituals, our stories, our understandings of what lifeshouldbeare pure artifice: a blip of chatter between a few billion biological beings on a pale blue dot in a speck of a galaxy drifting through cosmic background radiation.

What remains when these narratives are stripped away?

Well another narrative (these are allnarratives, arent they?), but one at least based on harder facts. In this more fundamental narrative, Im no longer a single 33-year-old white feminized queer atheist/humanist Canadian-immigrant to Colombia. Im not a writer, or a teacher, or an editor aspiring to translation work, either.

Im simply a biological entity with a central nervous system (which includes a brain with the capacity for more abstract environmental processing), thanks to evolutionary pressures that benefitted organisms better able to anticipate future needs.

I also have a sexed body (female) because around 1.2 billion years ago our Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) got into the true sexual reproduction game, which was winning out as a more effective way to prevent the inheritance of deleterious effects in the genome, as well as better defense against viral riders the code.

Fairly incidental and value-neutral events, no?

And yet, within our culture these simple factshaving an abstract-idea-generating central nervous system, and having a sexed bodyhave created a truly boggling range of social expectations for how to behave, how to strive, and how to live a good life.

As such, even though I firmly recognize the underlying meaninglessness of all meaning-creation I still fall prey to social expectations. I struggle routinely, that is, with how to spin a story for myself that satisfies our cultures implicit sense of what a life is supposed to include and what mine does instead.

I think a lot of my fellow humanists do and feel the same. So lets consider why.

I recently had a serious discussion about some of the flawed givens underpinning my perception of the world. I dont mean my cosmology, exactly. I mean, how I interpret behavioural signals from other people, and the kinds of fight-or-flight responses they trigger in me. The way I think Im drawing rational conclusions from the facts at hand, but am nonetheless colouring them with both my greatest hopes and worst fears.

This kind of reckoning is not easy. It requires advancing your theory-of-best-fit for the data, then letting others counter with their own, and then often haggling over the validity of the data points themselves. It also requires being exceptionally leery of any assertion that seems to affirm what you already feeleven though our self-help industrythriveson our desire for just such affirmations.

Ill give one example, to keep this from getting too abstract:

I was asked what I wanted in life; that is, whatIthought would fulfill my requirements and make me less anxious and sad (as I often am). Because the answer wasnt living with someone else (I prefer my solitude to write), but it also wasntnot having someone to just relax around (touch, after all,is a key component of human thriving); and it wasnt marriage, or having kids, although I do sometimes get a twinge of sadness when I see other people on the street holding handsthe small, quotidian affirmations of a commitment to share a life (or a few years, or maybe just a moment).

The best I could manage, when asked, was that I wanted to feel like I belonged somewhereand I knew that this was correct because I choked up when saying it. And then I choked up again when talking about a fear of abandonment:a fear of never being safe, never being loved, never being able to rest, always needing to provemy right to exist.

Sound familiar? This is the kind of rhetoric that often serves, in spiritual realms, as a precursor for finding God. Of courseyou want to belong, the argument in many denominations of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam goes: Youre being called to return to the divine, to be reunited with a creator who will fill that ache in your heart!

I remember, for instance, a young adult who had recently been converted to Christianity, and was as such eager to try his hand at converting those he knew. He told me all the usual reasons for a later-life conversion: the relief, that is, of giving all ones problems to another, of letting oneself be washed clean of so much pain from fruitless striving come before. He told me about his pain at various rejections, and how much it meant to him to have been forgiven for all past transgressions; how the church community, conversely, had welcomed him with open arms.

I was happy for him for finding a community that gave him hope, but as Ive written about before, the one good thing about a fraught childhood is that itcansometimes remind you that a person born into a painful situation is not responsible for that situation. The idea of needing forgiveness for being born, or for being in a context where whatever you do only compounds systems of trauma come before, is repulsive to me.

More importantly, though: Im fully aware of why the ache in my heart exists. I dont need to grope around for new quick fixes, because I understand the vast majority of biochemically impactful experiences that shaped my responses to new stimuli, and set me down certain reward-seeking pathways less conducive to emotional stability.

As such, after being asked by my first conversational partner what it is I thought I wanted, our conversation turned to familial preconditions. After all, a childhood wherein one knows love is contingent, love can be taken away, love has to be relentlesslyearnedis not a healthy precondition for adult thriving. It is, instead, a recipe for never feeling that one is good enough, and that one never has a place they can call home.

Its also, I might add, often why people have children of their own: tomakea family, tomakea home, and in so doingto fill the ache that their own difficult pasts created. Which, from an evolutionary perspective, is still fine and dandy, because youve fulfilled your biological purpose! Huzzah! Time to pass on those troubled genes!

And so, as an adult human with just such a childhood, yet no progeny its not technically wrong to say that I am a deficient biological organism.

As are, Im sure, quite a few of you.

But are we simple biological organisms, deficient or otherwise?

Hardly. This very deficient biological organism, for instance, nevertheless has a nervous system that can experience wonderful emotions, and a brain that can produce original contentwords in orders never before seen in its given language!in a universe where we humans are rare, precious witnesses to existence on whole.

So how do we focus on those positives, and build better secular narratives from them?

Its not easy as you might think, even if we secular folks think ourselves well immunized from religious rhetoric. In the secular sphere westillhave narratives built on dangerous premises: many so pervasive, we hardly realize were swimming in them.

The person I was talking to about my wants and needs, for instance had asked me a great question, but they then followed up my answer with a bad suggestion: Volunteering! Volunteering, they were sure, would make me feel useful! Volunteering would make me feel a part of something!

But hearing my anxieties uttered aloud, and hearing which words had immediately made me want to cry, Id realized that the solution to my existential complaint was instead something far more in the realm of Buddhism, withall its observations about how want itself is the real problem. Indeed, I knew volunteering would be a poor solution to my internal issue (though again, still a good thing to do in general!), because mywantto belong was insatiable. Myneedto prove my worthiness was relentless. And so the exhaustion of new proving ground after new proving ground would remain, in volunteerism as in every other community Ive struggled to belong to, until I stopped treating the fact of my current needs and wants as evidence of theircorrectness.

In other words, I needed to recognize the natural fallacy at work in it all.

And yet, when I look at our cultures storiesabout relationships, careers, life success on whole I find that we still take our biological striving, deficient or otherwise, more or less for granted. The body wants what the body wants. The mind craves what the mind craves. (And for my religious humanists: The soul cries out for what it longs for most.)

Listen to your hearts desires, say our stories.

Follow your passions and your dreams.

Pour your heart into what you love, and the rest will follow.

Aim big.

Shoot for the stars.

Nor does this rhetoric relent for smaller existences. Even when our lives are incredibly mundane, were likewise tasked by many of our cultural narratives and economies to find that heightened state of achievement and self-control within the everyday. Weve got a whole industry, for hecks sake, around bullet-journaling, which might be our most bonkers attempt yet to gain mastery over every minute facet of our secular existence.

Likewise, even when we do articulate that some behaviours are destructive compulsions that need to be curtailed, we tend to frame the problem around competingdrives. To this end,we have concepts like the framing tool of an inner child, which positions a great deal of recovery work for poor coping mechanisms and social maladaptivity around an anthropomorphized set of behavioural responses formed by trauma. In the process, the concept of an inner child concretizes our anxieties as in legitimate need of being answered and placated.

And all of thiswhy? Why, really?

To soothe the anticipatory excesses of nervous systems that can tolerate a significant amount of individual maladaptivity before losing overall evolutionary benefit.

Now, Im not trying to discount the need to provide comfort to folks in distress.

But I do favour some tools over others, and one of themCognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)relies on a humanistic argument not always reflected in our cultural storytelling. In far too many of our stories, the existence of an ache, that compulsive drive toward or away from specific beliefs and actions, is still equated with the necessity of trying to fill it. Yet humanists need to be leery of such alignments, because in both secular and religious spheres youll find that theres always someone more than happy to exacerbate an unanswered need, then capitalize on the delivery of solutions.

CBT, conversely, proposes something radical: What if wedont give unconditional reverenceto that inner drive? What if we focus instead on minor acts of disruptionfrom countering negative self-talk with stop-words; to applying our senses to the observation of our immediate surroundings instead of dwelling on future or past; to practising active, conscientious breathing; to setting ourselves very small and specific tasks as distraction from negative thought processes and behaviours; to keeping meticulous records of our basic bodily activities and moods throughout the day?

Put another way: What if, instead of striving to acquire the object of our current need or want, we try disrupting the intensity with which the desire manifests within us at all?

Ive struggled my whole adult life with fears of making others angry, of never earning love, of never belonging, of always losing safety once its found. As such, I could cling to all the external activities and affirmations I wanted, and still never be convinced that any were sufficient to make me worthy of continued existence. Why? Because the very act of trying to prove my worth, of trying to fill that need, affirms the validity of the need itself.

And yet, when I suck at the right air-pocketswhich is to say, when I look up at a clear night sky I remember the vast context against which all these intense sociobiological pressures are playing out.I remember that I am simply one of 7.5 billion working drafts in my species; one of 7.5 billion powerhouses of central-nervous-system activity perpetuating genetic lines either directly, or (as myself and other childless people do) indirectly through contributions to communal welfare.

I remember the biology, that is, behind my every conscious experience in the cosmos.

And then it hits me, if only for one brief breath of clarity, that the most extraordinary win-condition for sentient beings has already happened. I remember that I have the abilityas do all of youto see compulsive drives within us for what they are, biologically speaking, and to turn unthinking evolution against itself. To choose to strive less to appease needs or wants simply because they exist, and more to recognize when they are destructively insatiable and then learn to let them go.

Its a major season for Christianity, so fellow atheists will see lots of discourse about religions flaws on their social media channels in the coming weeks. (Christians probably will, too, but hopefully not at the hands of secular humanists.) Meanwhile, our shared sphere has some serious narrative failings that tend to go unaddressed so long as we have easy scapegoats like the Christ-child story to pick on instead.

Even though CBT is a standard tool in the mental-wellness paradigm, its not well-supported by our cultural storytelling writ large. But it could be, and it should bebecause when we give too much credit to inner drive, or when we otherwise treat all our needs and wants as intrinsically valid, we conflate biological imperatives with what makes human existence so extraordinary.

We forget, that is, that whether our biochemical responses are healthy or maladaptive, the human central nervous system has incidentally yielded enough self-awareness for us torecognizeits autonomic nature.Ourautonomic nature.

And so even if we cant escape our biology entirely, neither do we have to let the stories we create become mere endorsements of our most compulsive, unthinking behaviour.

We can choose, instead, to remember that all our losses and setbacks, all our emotional wounds and skewed perceptive states, are simply stories laid over a fairly basic set of biochemical responses. As such, when thatinner drive yields only aches and pains that make us susceptible to the promise of anyones quick cure we have it in usall of usto choose different narrative overlays instead.

May there be clear skies ahead, for all of you, so as to light the way.

Go here to read the rest:
Beyond the Biological: Why Humanists Must Be Leery of Inner Drive - Patheos

Written by C. Raja Mohan | Updated: December 3, 2019 11:42:59 am Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Mauritius counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. (Express photo by Renuka Puri)

As it prepares to host the prime minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, who returned to power in the recent general elections, Delhi needs to change the lens through which it sees the small island republic in the western Indian Ocean.

For far too long, Delhi has viewed Mauritius through the prism of diaspora. This was, perhaps, natural since communities of Indian origin constitute a significant majority in the island. But the time has come to reimagine Mauritius in much larger terms.

More recently, Delhi has certainly begun to see the strategic significance of Mauritius thanks to the renewed great power contestation in the Indian Ocean. Right at the very start of his first term in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw Mauritius as part of Indias neighbourhood and invited its leadership to join his inauguration along with other South Asian leaders.

It was during his visit to Mauritius in 2015 that Modi unveiled an ambitious policy called the SAGAR (security and growth for all). It was Indias first significant policy statement on the Indian Ocean in many decades. Delhi has some ways to go before it can translate the logic of SAGAR into effective outcomes on the ground.

But there is a bigger challenge for Delhi in dealing with Mauritius. It is the urgent need to discard the deep-rooted perception that Mauritius is simply an extension of India. It is not. Mauritius is a sovereign entity with a unique national culture and an international identity of its own. Its leaders are also conscious of the islands special place in the Indian Ocean as a thriving economic hub and an attractive strategic location. Although it is quite small with just 1.3 million people, Mauritius has been punching way above its weight.

Jugnauths visit is a good moment for India to visibly demonstrate its respect for the sovereignty of Mauritius. Jugnauth, who took over from his father Anerood as the PM in January 2017, has now won power on his own steam. At 61, Pravind may not be too young, but he represents a new generation that is immensely proud of the republics extraordinary evolution from a slave island to a prosperous economy.

An India that begins to see Mauritius on its own terms would want to go beyond sentimentalism and to explore the immense possibilities for elevating Indias strategic partnership with an island that is looking beyond sugar plantations to financial services and technological innovation.

Mauritius is all about location and the genius of its people. As early European explorers sailed around the African continent and ventured eastwards to India, they began to call Mauritius, the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. If the Portuguese and the Dutch were the first to gain a foothold in Mauritius, it was the French who gained effective control over the island in the early 18th century.

The French developed sugar plantations, introduced ship building and developed a naval base. The French certainly understood the strategic significance of Mauritius. A French soldier and colonial official, Flix Renouard de Sainte-Croix, described the island as a central geographical point between every other place in the world.

The British who gained control over Mauritius during the Napoleonic wars turned it into a garrison island that would help secure the sea lines of communication between Europe and India. The enduring value of its location is reflected in the fact that Diego Garcia, once part of Mauritius, today hosts one of Americas largest foreign military bases in the world.

But in emphasising the value of military access to Mauritius, it is easy to miss its geo-economic significance. The French description of the island as a central geographic point holds equally true for commerce and connectivity in the Indian Ocean. As a member of the African Union, Indian Ocean Rim Association and the Indian Ocean Commission, Mauritius is a stepping stone to multiple geographies.

If Delhi appreciates the value of Mauritius as a regional hub, a number of possibilities present themselves. One, as new investments pour into Africa, Mauritius is where a lot of it gets serviced. Mauritius can be the fulcrum for Indias own African economic outreach.

Two, until now India has tended to deal with the so-called Vanilla islands of the south western Indian Ocean Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and Seychelles on a bilateral basis. If the Indian establishment thinks of them as a collective, it could make Mauritius the pivot of Delhis island policy.

Three, the Mauritius pivot can facilitate a number of Indian commercial activities in the south western Indian ocean as a banking gateway, the hub for flights to and from Indian cities and tourism.

Four, India could also contribute to the evolution of Mauritius as a regional centre for technological innovation. India has not really responded so far to the demands from Mauritius for higher education facilities from India like the IIT.

Five, climate change, sustainable development and the blue economy are existential challenges for Mauritius and the neighbouring island states. Mauritius will be the right partner in promoting Indian initiatives in these areas. It could also become a valuable place for regional and international maritime scientific research.

Finally, if Delhi takes an integrated view of its security cooperation in the south western Indian Ocean, Mauritius is the natural node for it. The office of a defence adviser in Mauritius, for example, can service the demands of all the island nations as well as the East African states.

All this and more is possible if Delhi takes a fresh and more strategic look at Mauritius. One way of getting there is to have an early Indian summit with the leaders of the Vanilla islands.

This article first appeared in the print edition on December 3, 2019 under the title A new mould for Mauritius. The writer is Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore and contributing editor on international affairs, The Indian Express.

For all the latest Opinion News, download Indian Express App

See original here:
From trade to geopolitical significance, it is time for India to look again at Mauritius - The Indian Express

Events at the Ocean Beach Green Center

December 12th Thursday 7 pm. Film Night.In keeping with the holiday spirit when people feel more inclined to help the poor, we will honor Dorothy Day who dedicated her life to helping the poor. Depending on availability, we will be showing Entertaining Angels or Dorothy Day Documentary: Dont Call Me a Saint Dorothy Day was a journalist, social activist and a political radical. In the 1930s she co-founded with Peter Maurin the Catholic Worker Movement, a pacifist movement that combines direct aid for the poor and homeless with nonviolent direct action on their behalf. Day co-founded the Catholic Worker newspaper in 1933, and served as its editor from 1933 until her death in 1980. In this newspaper, Day advocated the Catholic economic theory of distributism, which she considered a third way between capitalism and socialism.

Here at the Green Center we have the poster of her at a United Farm Workers protest in 1973 surrounded by police with her famous quote Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy rotten system. This was an extraordinary woman who the FBI once considered her a threat to national security and now the Catholic Church is considering her for sainthood. A new documentary REVOLUTION OF THE HEART: The Dorothy Day Story will be premiering on Public Television this spring.

Every Saturday at 10:00 a.m. Climate Mobilization Coalition Meeting. December 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th.ocean Beach Green Center 4862 Voltaire St. Come help plan for the upcoming Climate Action events. More info https://www.facebook.com/SDClimateMobilization/ Climate Mobilization Coalitions own Nancy Casady is running for Congress against Scott Peter who refuses to support the Green New Deal. Here is the Union Tribune link: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2019-08-26/democrat-nancy-casady-to-challenge-rep-scott-peters-in-2020-primary

The Ocean Beach Green Center is looking for volunteers to work on Fundraising and Social Media Presence. We are a nonprofit 501 c3 and welcome High School and College students that need to meet their Community Service needs. Please email us at oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.com. Ocean Beach Green Center, 4862 Voltaire Street, Ocean Beach 92107 oceanbeachgreencenter@gmail.co

Events not at the Ocean Beach Green Center

December 2nd. Monday 12:30 pm 2:30 pm Energy Efficiency Health & Wellness Nexus hosted by San Diego Green Building CouncilCounty Library Imperial Beach Branch 810 Imperial Beach Blvd Imperial Beach 91932 The health and wellness movement in the built environment is becoming a more and popular topic of discussion. Numerous studies have corroborated the notion that green buildings have a positive effect on its occupants. Investments made to buildings that directly affect occupant health and wellness directly correlate to more productive, happier and healthier workers. A local expert will give participants a high-level overview of the WELL building standard with an emphasis on energy efficiency and its correlations with health and wellness. More info: https://www.sd-gbc.org/calendar

December 2nd. Monday 6:30 pm ES5- USA Health Care- Policy and Politics in 7 BiopsiesBalboa Park Club, 2150 Pan American Rd W, San Diego, CA 92101 Social Networking; 7pm Presentation Dont miss this opportunity to understand healthcare from the eyes of a physician. Dr. Jeoffry Gordon, practiced 35 years in family medicine, was the first Medical Director of the Beach Area Community Clinic and was on the CA Medical Board; Consulted in Bioethics at Sharp Hospital and a long time member of Physicians for a National Health Program. Advocate for victims of child abuse and neglect. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/535765627021053/

December 3rd. Tuesday 6 pm 8 pm Data Driven: Advancing Racial Justice & Police Accountability Hosted by ACLU of San Diego and Imperial CountiesUDW/AFSCME 3930 4790 Seminole Dr, San Diego 92115, We have a right to know how law enforcement interacts with our communities. The public should be able to trust that when an officer stops a person, it is for a legitimate and justifiable reason. However, officers entrusted to enforce our laws disproportionately stop, question and search Black and brown people in our community. the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties will release a commissioned report that analyzes traffic and pedestrian stop data from the San Diego Police Department and San Diego County Sheriffs Department. The reports author, Samuel Sinyangwe, data scientist and co-founder of Campaign Zero, will present on the reports findings and recommendations. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1143385202518847/

December 4th Wednesday 6 pm- 8 pm Clean Elections Organizing MeetingUnitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, 4190 Front St, San Diego 92103, More info: http://www.sdcleanelections.org/

December 5th Thursday 7:30 pm 9:30 pm Community Forum and Screening of The Feeling of Being Watched Hosted by Tech Workers Coalition San Diego City College 1313 Park Blvd. Business Center MS 162 San Diego 92101 Over the last month a group of more than twenty San Diego community organizations have come together to form the San Diego TRUST Coalition (Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology). This coalition has challenged the city of San Diegos smart streetlight surveillance system as one example of artificial intelligence-enabled technologies adopted by the city with little community input or oversight.

The coalition seeks a moratorium on the usage of smart streetlamps until San Diego has policies that ensure civil liberties and democratic oversight over these big data systems. At this event, coalition members and allies from Pillars from the Community and TechLead will update the community on the state of surveillance in San Diego and talk about what communities and tech workers can do. We will screen the award-winning PBS film, The Feeling of Being Watched. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1090712211136541/

December 6th Friday 8 pm 6 pm Strike With Us Hosted by Sunrise Movement Balboa Park Plaza de Panama Fountain 1549 El Prado San Diego 92101 We have a clear message: we are calling on San Diego City Council to declare a climate emergency and we ask the public to support us in our fight for a San Diego Green New Deal. Back in September, 7 million people around the world walked out to demand real climate action from election officials. We know governments wont deliver climate action and justice on their own, so were going on #ClimateStrike to show them the power of the people once again. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/437353927182499/

December 6th Friday 4 pm 6 pm UCSD First Friday MeetingCrick Conference Room, Mandler 3245, 3rd floor, Psychology Dept Building off the momentum of the Climate March on Sept 27th, were launching First Fridays. Please join us!. On the first Friday of every month, join the UCSD Green New Deal movement to discuss ongoing campaigns to push UCSD to address the climate crisis. More info:https://www.facebook.com/pg/UCSDgreennewdeal/events/?ref=page_internal

December 7th Saturday 10 am to 11 am Green Living Tour Solana Center for Environmental Innovation137 N El Camino Real Encinitas, CA 92024 Visit us at our home base in Encinitas as we walk you through some easy steps to address issues around water, waste, soil health and more with practical solutions you can incorporate into your life and home starting now! More info:http://solanacenter.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1293

December 7th Saturday 10 am 12 pm Green Routines Workshop Otay Mesa- Nestor Branch Library 3003 Coronado Ave. San Diego 92154 Join I Love A Clean San Diego as we team up with the City of San Diego for our FREE Green Routines Workshop . Whether youre starting your zero waste journey or ready to take it to the next level, come learn how to set yourself up for zero waste success! Through educational booths and hands-on activities, you will learn ways to go zero waste in the kitchen and bathroom, and common areas throughout the home. We will discuss the importance of a zero waste lifestyle and how to confidently implement sustainable practices into various aspects of your life. Hands-on activities will be available for all ages, including an eco-kids craft and a make-and-take project! More info: https://www.ilacsd.org/event/green-routines-workshop-december/

December 8th and 22nd. Sundays 5 pm Amnesty International OB Chapter Meeting.Coastal Sage Gardening 3685 Voltaire St. OB 92107 Visitors and New members are always welcome.

December 8th Sunday 4 pm 6 pm Not In Our Name! Hosted by San Diegans Against the Death Penalty330 W Broadway San Diego 92101 Rally and Prayer Vigil to Oppose Federal Death Row Executions. The federal government is planning a series of executions after a 16 year hiatus. Join us outside the federal courthouse in our witness against state sanctioned killing. Clergy and community leaders will lead a candlelight vigil in opposition to the death penalty on the eve of the first scheduled execution. Speakers include: Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan, Imam Taha Hassane, Genevive Jones-Wright, Justin Brooks, and Jeff Chinn. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/457779004943296/

December 8th Sunday 6:30 pm 9:30 pm A Celebration! The Peace Resource Center Annual Meeting & A Dessert ExtravaganzaFirst Church of the Brethren 3850 Westgate Pl. San Diego 92105. 6:30 pm Dessert Extravaganza Live Music Social Hour. A celebration of our peace & justice community. Delicious planet-friendly desserts (brownies too!), local coffee & live music. 7:15 pm 2019 PRC Annual Members Meeting. Meet the 2020 nominees for the PRC Board. Co-create the PRC 2020 Vision & Work. Special Guest Speaker Kathryn LaPointe Director, OASIS Center Love and mutual support break down border walls. $10 For info & RSVP: 619-263-9301info@prcsd.org More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1128275380711460/

December 8th Sunday 11 am 2 pm The Really Really Free MarketTeralta Park in City Heights (on Orange Ave between 40th and 41st st). Join in and invite your friends to this ongoing community event! You do not need to bring anything to take anything. You do not need to take anything to bring anything! No trades, just FREE STUFF! You can also share any skills or services you might be experienced with (haircuts, bike repair, massages, clothing repair, etc.). Also, if you would like to play music in a public, acoustic setting, this a great opportunity to do so! Vegan food donations accepted for Food Not Bombs! More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/431989700840482/

December 8th Sunday 1 pm 3 pm Indivisible December Social Hosted by Indivisible San Diego PersistEvents Blind Lady Ale House 3426 Adams Ave. San Diego 92116. Come meet other resisters, chat about how youve been involved recently, and find out more about upcoming events & actions in an informal setting! All ages are welcome, so feel free to bring little ones! Please bring a donation of non-perishable food items for the San Diego Food Bank. See most needed items & guidelines here:https://sandiegofoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Food-Items-List-2014.pdfMore info: https://www.facebook.com/events/1426590737489852/

December 9th 10 am 12 pm San Diego Regional CCE Board Meeting 505 S Vulcan Ave Encinitas, California 92024 The San Diego Regional Community Choice Energy Authority is having their board meetings to discuss important policy that will shape the direction of CCE in the region. This an exciting time in the formation of CCE in the region and this is an opportunity to get involved in the decision making process. The ability to participate in local meetings is one of the great benefits of a local CCE program. We can help to direct policy and show public officials that local, clean, renewable energy that creates well paying local jobs and benefits communities of concern are priorities of the CCE . More info: https://sandiego350.org/blog/event/civi_event_966/?instance_id=3767

December 10th Tuesday 5 pm to 6:30 pm Voices of our City Choir Holiday Concert and Community PotluckSacred Heart Church Catholic Church of Ocean Beach 4776 Saratoga . Choir will perform at Christmas Concert, followed by a community potluck dinner. All are welcome and a dish to share is requested of those who can. More info:https://www.voicesofourcity.org/live

December 10th Tuesday 4:30 pm 7 pm Green Business Solutions WorkshopEncinitas Library 540 Cornish Drive Encinits 92024 Join I Love A Clean San Diego and the City of Encinitas for an informational and interactive session focusing on zero waste business practices. . We will identify the importance of a zero waste lifestyle, how to implement these practices in your business, and the environmental and economic benefits of going green. Whether you work in an office, a restaurant, or in retail, we will have valuable information for all business models. This will be a great opportunity for you to network and share ideas for creating a more eco-conscious work space. More info: https://www.ilacsd.org/event/green-business-solutions-workshop-december/

December 12th Thursday 5:30 pm- 9:00 pm San Diego County Bike Coalition Holiday Joy Ride 20191450 El Prado San Diego, CA 92101 Light up your bikes, wear your best/ugliest holiday attire (the crazier the better) and come and enjoy the holiday spirit with us! We will begin with a festive light-your-bike ride through Balboa Park and Uptown and end back at Panama 66 for a family friendly celebration of bikes, and the Holidays! This event is family friendly. Your $25 ticket includes the ride, 1 raffle ticket, 1 beer token, and light appetizers. More info:https://sdbikecoalition.org/event/holiday-joy-ride-2019/

December 12th Thursday 6:30 pm Electric Vehicle Association of San Diego, monthly meeting Center for Sustainable Energy 3980 Sherman St, San Diego. Featured Presentation: New San Diego County EV Initiatives Emily Wier, Environment and Energy Policy Advisor for San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, will present on San Diego Countys EV Roadmap, the newly approved Clean Cars 4 All program, and exciting developments at the California Air Resources Board. Supervisor Fletcher is raising the level of awareness about the effects of San Diegos poor air quality and implementing policy to combat climate change as a member of the California Air Resources Board. More info:https://www.meetup.com/San-Diego-Electric-Vehicle-Association-Meetup/events/266457832/

December 13th Friday 6:30 pm Sierra Club Film night Rigged The Voter Suppression Playbook 8304 Clairemont Mesa Blvd #101, San Diego 92111, this 2019 documentary is a powerful, information packed film which reveals how, during a ten-year period since the election of a black president, Republicans and their allies have deliberately devised a playbook of strategies to suppress or intimidate minority voters. The documentary describes in detail the ten strategies and gives examples of them in action: A Latino man in Texas arrested on false charges of voter fraud; efforts in a rural Carolina county to purge voters from the database, just two of the examples given. One strategy, voter ID laws, has been temporarily stopped in some of the states shown by the courts. But activists still have a long way to go in order to protect the right of citizens to vote and by studying these ten strategies they can better prepare themselves to fight for that basic civil right.More info: http://sandiegosierraclub.org/news/activities-calendar/

December 14th Saturday 7 pm 8:30 pm 7th Annual Sandy Hook Vigil Hosted by San Diegans for Gun Violence PreventionOn December 14, 2012, 20 children and seven educators were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School. We pledged to never forget them. Seven years later, we come together to honor the victims of Sandy Hook, and all the many thousands of victims and their families. While we have made progress, the epidemic of gun violence still ravages the country. With hope and with action we will continue to fight to bring it to an end. Contactteam@sd4gvp.orgfor details. https://www.facebook.com/events/2378266885613772/

December 14th Saturday 4 pm 6 pm Screening of Push Out: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools Hosted by March For Black Women SD.Educational Cultural Complex 4343 Ocean View Blvd. San Diego 92113This feature length documentary takes a close look at the educational, judicial and societal disparities facing Black Girls. Inspired by the groundbreaking book of the same name by renowned scholar, Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. The documentary confronts the ways in which the misunderstanding of Black girlhood has led to excessive punitive discipline which in turn disrupts one of the most important factors in their lives, their education Panel discussion to follow! More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/527740297784240/

December 14th Saturday 1 pm 3 pm San Diego Fixit ClinicSecond Chance Beer Company, 15378 Ave of Science #222 San Diego 92128. We have been all too accustomed to the throw away lifestyle. If something doesnt work, throw it out and buy a new one. Because of this behavior our landfills are filling at a rapid rate and electronic waste has become the one of the largest pollution generators. So why not learn how to fix it?! Bring your broken, non-functioning things: electronics, appliances, computers, toys, bicycles, clothes, etc. for assessment, disassembly, and possible repair. Well provide workspace, specialty tools, and guidance. More info:https://zerowastesandiego.org/event/san-diego-fixit-clinic-33/

December 17th Tuesday 6:30 pm 8:30 pm On the Human-Animal Bond Hosted by California Native Plant Society Balboa Park-Casa del Prado, Room 101 Speaker: Richard Louv, Journalist, Author, and Co-Founder and Chair Emeritus of Children and Nature Network. Our Wild Calling: how connecting to animals can transform our lives and help save theirs. In his newest book Richard Louv explores the powerful and mysterious bond between humans and other animals, including both domestic and wild animals. He makes the case that deepening our connection with other animals, both wild and domestic, can improve our mental, physical and spiritual lives; serve as an antidote to the growing epidemic of human loneliness; and is essential to the preservation of life on Earth. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/445953979439515/

December 19th Thursday 6:30 pm Evolution 2020 (CoCreation Team Planning) Hosted by Local Earth10622 West Lilac Road, Valley Center 92082 It is with great joy we invite YOU to join our Planning & CoCreation Team for Evolution 2020! Evolution is an annual gathering of global rEvolutionaries, visionaries and changemakers ready to create ReGenerative Solutions for the Planet! Evolution is the integration of a ReGenerative Solutions Summit, Transformational Festival and Epic Concert all in ONE! Evolution is a Party for the Planet! This gathering will take place over the Fall Equinox of next year. Evolution 2020 is our launchpad for the Earth 2.0 Research Project and fundraising initiative to begin building the first official Local Earth Village! More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/773460259782328/

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December 2019 Events for OB and San Diego From the Ocean Beach Green Center - OB Rag

When scaling a sales team, it's incorrect to assume that hiring more salespeople will equal more revenue.

First, the duties of each role and how success will be measured should be well thought out and documented. Based on that, new hires must be placed in positions theyre well suited for in relation to their skills and ambitions. Furthermore, new applicants should fit within the culture of their sales team and the company as a whole.

But this only scratches the surface when it comes to building an all-star sales team. We heard from 18 sales managers who shared how they grew their teams while positioning employees for career success.

Kevin Kearns, senior vice president of Grubhubs restaurant network, said the food delivery platforms sales team is all about recreating success.

By documenting and repeating certain key processes like seeking specific traits in applicants and developing a playbook of best sales practices the sales staff is able to hire talented individuals and set them up for successful futures at the company.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

In the past year we doubled our sales organization. Our goal is achieving both efficiency and effectiveness throughout the sales organization. For efficiency, we have removed barriers that get in the way of selling time, eliminated red tape to get deals done and set metrics that our teams need to achieve each day.

For effectiveness, we have streamlined our sales process to be consultative and value-focused, created a detailed playbook based on best practices of our top sellers and built a recognition program that keeps our teams energized each day. To round it out, we have built a culture of excellence, which includes recognition programs celebrating top performers and specific performances, and created a sales council that address areas of opportunity on behalf of their colleagues.

We executed a discovery process and identified key areas of opportunity across areas like sales process, market coverage and many others. We identified issues in each category and prioritized our action plans based on what had the biggest impact. We also structured our management team to be primarily focused on rep development.

"Hires now get a full month of onboarding and hands-on coaching...

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

Instead of hiring the way we always did, we needed to figure out how to bring on talented individuals at scale. To do that, we evaluated the traits of our best sellers and created a hiring profile and interview process that was replicable and increased the likelihood of a great fit. Once on board, instead of ad hoc training and shadowing, we reinvented the training process to be more effective. Our new hires now get a full month of onboarding and hands-on coaching, which is significantly more robust than in the past. We also invested in our trainers, all of whom have been successful sellers at Grubhub. The data shows our new hires are more productive than ever and we have reduced turnover in the first six months.

In terms of culture, we bring all new sellers into our headquarters to observe first-hand the winning attitude of our team. We then pair sellers with mentors that exhibit the habits of success within our team. Finally, we constantly reinforce the cultural attributes that make our team great: teamwork, professionalism, high performance, effort, fun and customer obsessed.

Director of Sales Development Brian Mullin said Sprout Social wants its sales team to do more than meet quotas. The company wants staff to feel like they have a voice, and feel comfortable making their opinions heard.

To that end, Mullin said employee feedback at the social media management platform is incorporated into everything from training to building company culture.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

Building a successful team starts with identifying key traits your top performers exemplify. We articulate a vision for our people that inspires them to do their best work and reach for more than they thought was possible. Every person on our team has a unique reason for choosing Sprout to start or continue their career, but regardless of the reason, that commitment is something we value and show gratitude for.

"We base our hiring processes, training and culture off of the feedback from our employees.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

The strength of our culture is foundational to why our people love coming to work everyday and its important that our individual contributors feel like they have a voice in the decisions we make as a business. We focus on encouraging feedback across all levels of the organization. When team members are able to openly share their thoughts and ideas, it promotes trust, drives innovation and strengthens their commitment to doing their best work. We base our hiring processes, training and culture off of the feedback from our employees if they arent bought in then its all for naught.

ReviewTrackers VP of Sales Jeff Pearlman said despite aggressive hiring goals, the customer feedback software platform only brings a new salesperson onboard if all hiring managers are a hell yes. This ensures that they only hire top performers who are highly self-motivated.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

It all starts with hiring the right people. We look for people who are curious, collaborative and competitive. Our culture avoids micromanagement at all costs, which means the people we hire must be autonomous and highly self-motivated. To build on those strengths, we make sure we have the right training and support system in place so that every rep has the correct tools and training to succeed. We also have a scaling compensation plan that rewards over-achievers as well as a clear career progression plan to make sure the team knows exactly how to earn promotions.

Most of this was identified by myself and my sales management team based on successes and failures in previous roles. For example, in one of my past jobs I saw multiple top performing reps who had exceeded their quota be placed on performance management for not making enough calls. These double standards never made sense to me, and they were a driving force behind how we look at metrics.

"Our culture avoids micromanagement at all costs, which means the people we hire must be autonomous.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

The key is to make sure we have the right support system in place. When we started our hiring push this year, we evolved our training model from a scrappy, startup-based new hire training model to a comprehensive curriculum, which included several weeks of training from multiple leaders from across the company. We are also fortunate to have a great group of individual contributors who are highly competitive but also help each other and share sales best practices. This model allows new reps to have mentors while they continue their ongoing training.

When it comes to hiring, we follow the mentality of its either a hell yes or its a no. This is hard to do in a tough market with aggressive hiring goals but as long as we stick to this, we know we will bring on the right people and not sacrifice our culture.

VP of Sales in the Americas Dan Costanzo said building an atmosphere of trust and continuous learning at pricing softwarecompany Pricefx is the key to sales success. And that goes for sales leaders as well as new account execs.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

I look for self-empowered individuals who demonstrate a sense of urgency and a passion for delivering value to customers. In doing so, they reap not only personal success, but also a high degree of professional satisfaction in being part of a collective effort felt by customers, colleagues and the market. The best way to identify these characteristics is by gaining a sense of candidates professional values and personal initiative.

"The best way to learn and grow as a professional is through learning from my peers.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

Ensurethat candidates are well-grounded in the values of the founders. I have always believed that the best way to learn and grow as a professional is through learning from my peers, so building an atmosphere of trust and continuous learning is very important to me.

As the VP of Sales at Chowly, which integrates third-party delivery platforms with restaurants, Tom Lawton does his best to pay attention to his individual team members. This means understanding understanding what motivates them individually and collectively as well ashearing what changes theyd like to see to sales protocols.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

While I dont believe there is a cookie-cutter blueprint to building and scaling a successful sales team, I do believe there are key factors to ensure the team has the opportunity to be successful.

As a sales leader, creating a strong collaborative culture is the first thing I set out to do. You spend more time during the week at work with your team than you do with family and I am very intentional in building a team environment that supports that. After building that cultural foundation, you learn what motivates individuals and teams, so you can identify which levers to pull in certain situations. This could mean additional bonus incentives for a given time period, or collaborating with marketing on a specific message we want to spread to drive additional leads.

Next, I really drive home understanding the science and art of sales, like knowing how many touch points, conversations and scheduled pitches it takes to close. Combining that with what you say, how you say it and your mindset throughout the entire sales process brings the formula of the science plus art to life.

I believe that while hiring is very critical, retaining your sales reps is even more important.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

I believe that your team carries the culture as you scale. Ensuring that you never stop learning and continue to take in as much feedback from your team as possible as you scale is important. Every time we onboard someone, we ask for as much feedback as possible to ensure the next time, we get better as a leadership team.

I want to ensure everyone has a voice as we grow. We hold quarterly meetings on any sales-bible rule changes the team would like to vote on. We create certain criteria but ultimately, the team adjusts the "settings" so we have 100 percent buy-in and alignment across the organization.

While hiring is very critical, retaining your sales reps is even more important. From managers and directors to VPs, I want to make sure that when we hire someone, we give them every possible chance to succeed.

A quarterback cant succeed if theyre told to act as a teams punter. BigTime Softwares Senior VP of Sales Michael Morrison believes that putting people in positions where they can succeed based on their skills is key to building a successful sales team.

In order to do that, he said its first necessary to determine the specific skills needed for success in each role.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

When I build a sales team, I always start by researching and quantifying targets. Understanding who prospects are, where to find them and how to best engage with them is essential to organizing the most effective team.

Based on over 20 years of experience in sales, I believe the second step is putting the right people in the right roles by establishing the critical skills and competencies for each position on the team. This ensures that you are hiring, training and evaluating talent based on the most relevant criteria.

The final step is execution and iteration based on the key performance indicators of the business. Are team members achieving their goals? Why or why not, and what can leaders do to help?

"A formula of regularly celebrating wins while learning from losses helps to foster an open and transparent culture.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

This is accomplished by putting people first. Whether its training or hiring, you must establish practices that ensure that you hire individuals based on the right criteria and that you are providing them with the environment and the resources to be successful. This, along with a formula of regularly celebrating wins while learning from losses, helps to foster an open and transparent culture where people can contribute, develop and grow as the organization scales.

Commercial Sales Manager Jordan Gorosh and other leaders at TripActions encourage their sales teams to put both themselves,and the customers, first.

Gorosh said users of the business travel booking platform are a priority and striving to meeting their needs is a foundational value. However, employees are also pushed to invest in their own professional needs by advancing their skills through the companys continual learning framework.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

The DNA of any sales team is built on its people and we place a strong emphasis on making sure each person is a cultural fit for the organization. Our core value of putting the user first is tied intrinsically to our sales team, and its leaders cascade that value throughout the team early and often. As weve grown and scaled our team to match that growth, keeping our users top-of-mind ensures were finding the right people who will own our mission and beliefs.

"We center our teams around the concept of continuous learning...

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

We center our teams around the concept of continuous learning, accountability, real-time feedback and personal reflection. Each TripActions employee is trained to use our debriefing and continual learning framework to ensure that no matter how fast were moving, were taking the time to learn for our own sakes and the sake of the business.

Have you ever struggled to find your keys, with no recollection or roadmap to even narrow down the search (did you leave them in the kitchen or on your desk)? Onna helps you find what youre looking for, no matter where it is, within a digital landscape. We recently spoke with Russ Grant, VP of revenue, about why understanding how they support businesses is key in growing their sales team.

Whats your blueprint for building a sales team? How did you identify these keys and how have they made an impact as you build a team?

There is no blueprint, unfortunately. Each company needs to understand its market, buyer and internal team, and base their hiring plan off of those audiences. We serve such a huge potential market. Near-term, we are focused on building value for mission-critical applications for legal, compliance and IT teams and companies.

Building a team at our stage is truly about diversity. Different approaches to the sales process, ways of thinking about the industry and team interaction all play into our hiring decisions.

"Training, onboarding and culture are all constantly a work in progress.

When scaling, how do you ensure your team doesnt lose the elements that made it so successful in the first place?

Weve set out with a plan for scale. How do we support a business a thousand times our current size? This helps us make decisions in context and set expectations for the amazing people were bringing on.

Training, onboarding and culture are all constantly a work in progress. We dont pretend to have a perfect mold. Were also building an international team, so we have to simultaneously look for ways to integrate and enable every employee for success. Even if its a new role, we ask employees what they feel they need to succeed.

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How to Build And Scale A Successful Sales Team - Built In

Governor wants to restore 7% rate, where it was before his predecessor struck a deal with lawmakers to soothe hike in gasoline levy

Nearly two years after New Jerseys sales-tax was dropped to 6.625%, the tax cut remains a subject of debate between Gov. Phil Murphy and legislative leaders from his own party.

Murphy has long been a critic of the cut, which has cost the state budget more than $500 million a year at a time when bills for things like public-worker pensions have been rising.

The revenue loss has also made it harder for Murphy, a first-term Democrat, to boost funding for mass transit, community college tuition aid and other things that he campaigned on in 2017.

But many lawmakers, including Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester), have steadfastly defended the sales-tax deal they cut with former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, which dropped the rate in two stages from 7%. They also resisted Murphys attempt to reinstate the old rate in last years state budget proposal, citing voter concerns about New Jerseys generally high tax burden.

The battle was rejoined just last week when Murphy called the tax cut a gimmick, in response to the latest education-funding proposal put forward by Sweeney. That drew a sharp response from the Senate president, who accused Murphy of seeking a $1 billion tax hike a figure that incorporates the revenue boost stemming both from repealing the sales tax cut and implementing the true millionaires tax the governor has championed as a way to bolster funding for K-12 schools.

At 6.625%, New Jerseys sales-tax rate falls below the highest in the nation, a distinction that goes to California, at 7.25%. The two-step reduction that occurred between Jan. 1, 2017 and Jan. 1, 2018 also pushed New Jersey below several other states that have a 7% rate, including Mississippi, Rhode Island and Tennessee.

Other factors mitigate the impact of the sales tax on households. New Jersey exempts many products, such as clothing and groceries. And, for the most part, local governments in the state are not permitted to levy their own tax on retail sales.

In all, New Jerseys sales-tax policies ranked 30thout of 50 in the latest State Business Tax Climate Index released in October by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation. That ranking is much better than where the state lands in the right-leaning organizations analysis when excise taxes are added to the equation. New Jersey sits at 42ndout of 50 in that expanded category, due largely to a significant increase of the state gas tax that was part of the same bipartisan deal that triggered the minor sales-tax reduction.

Yet Murphy has regularly criticized the tax swapapproved by Christie in 2016, arguing that most residents havent noticed any difference at the cash register.

Last week, Murphy again raised the issue, suggesting that restoring the 7% sales tax was preferable to Sweeneys proposal to allow some communitiesto offset reductions in state education aid by exceeding the current 2% limit on annual property-tax increases.

At that time, he also suggested again that raising the income-tax rate on earnings between $1 million and $5 million could yield even more money for public education and obviate the need for property-tax hikes.

Sweeney and other lawmakers have steadfastly resisted the governors push for a true millionaires tax, a key to Murphys tax-policythat hes estimated would raise more than $500 million each year.

Before middle-class property taxpayers have to again take it on the chin, we should be asking our wealthiest residents to pay their fair share through a millionaires tax and undoing Governor Christies tax gimmicks, including the sales tax reduction, Murphy said.

In response, Sweeney accused Murphy of once again seeking a major tax hike.

His proposed $1 billion tax hike wouldnt put a penny into overfunded districts under the school funding bill, Sweeney said, referencing the way state tax revenue is divvied up among district in the state.

While the dispute over tax policy is likely to continue on in 2020, the state could soon be facing another revenue crunchthanks to a deal on taxes that Murphy, Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Middlesex) struck in 2018. The states top-end corporate-tax rate was increased temporarily to forestall the possibility of more broad-based tax hikes or deep spending cuts. But the temporary surcharge will begin phasing out on Jan. 1, with the rate dropping from 11.5% to 10.5%.

At the same time, the states projected pension contribution is expected to increase by roughly $750 million, to around $4.5 billion, in fiscal year 2021, which begins July 1. And right now, theres no agreed-upon plan in place to fund the higher pension contribution, other than hoping for continued growth in overall revenues.

Some groups, including the left-leaning New Jersey Policy Perspective, have also called for a reinstatement of the 7% sales tax.

In fact, a reportissued by the think tank last year also called for an expansion of the types of services that are subject to the sales tax as the economy continues to shift from the production of goods to services. Under NJPPs plan, services like real-estate management, loan brokerage, data-processing, limousines, chartered flights, accounting and bookkeeping would lose their current sales-tax exemption.

Christies sales-tax cut still barely registers with low- and middle-income families in New Jersey because items like clothing and groceries remain exempt from the sales tax, said Sheila Reynertson, the NJPP senior policy analyst who authored the report.

Instead, it primarily benefits the wealthiest residents in the state who have the most disposable income to spend, and robs the state of over $600 million in revenue that could be invested in areas proven to grow the economy like strong public schools, transit infrastructure, job training, and much more, she said Tuesday.

See the article here:
Murphy and Sweeney Continue to Spar Over Cut in Sales Tax - NJ Spotlight

Sales Training Market research Report is a valuable supply of perceptive information for business strategists. This Sales Training Market study provides comprehensive data which enhances the understanding, scope and application of this report.

A specific study of competitive landscape of the global Sales Training Market has alloted, providing insights into the corporate profiles, financial standing, recent developments, mergers and acquisitions, and therefore the SWOT analysis. This analysis report will give a transparent conceive to readers concern regarding the overall market situation to further choose on this market projects.

The Sales Training Market report profiles the following companies, which includes: Action Selling, IMPAX, BTS, Aslan Training and Development, Imparta, The Brooks Group, Janek Performance Group, DoubleDigit Sales

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This report studies the global Sales Training Market status and forecast, categorizes the global Sales Training Market size (value & volume), revenue (Million USD), product price by manufacturers, type, application, and region. Sales Training Market Report by Material, Application and Geography with Global Forecast to 2024 is an connoisseur and far-reaching research provide details related to worlds major provincial economic situations, Concentrating on the principle districts (North America, South America Europe, and Asia-Pacific) and the crucial nations (United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and China).

Market Segment by Type, covers Sales Skills Training CRM Training Sales Channel Management Training Sales Team Building Training Others Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into BFSI Medical Real Estate Others

Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers North America Europe Asia-Pacific South America Middle East and Africa

Table of Contents

Global Sales Training Market Size, Status and Forecast 2024 1 Market Overview 2 Manufacturers Profiles 3 Global Sales Training Sales, Revenue, Market Share andCompetitionby Manufacturer 4 Global Sales Training Market Analysis by Regions 5 North America Sales Training by Countries 6 Europe Sales Training by Countries 7 Asia-Pacific Sales Training by Countries 8 South America Sales Training by Countries 9 Middle East and Africa Sales Training by Countries 10 Global Sales Training Market Segment by Type 11 Global Sales Training Market Segment by Application 12 Sales Training Market Forecast 13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers 14 Research Findings and Conclusion 15 Appendix

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Overview of the chapters analysing the global Sales Training Market in detail:

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About Us:- Reports Intellect is your one-stop solution for everything associated with marketing research and market intelligence. We tend to perceive importance of market intelligence and its need in todays competitive world.

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Sales Training Market Technological Advancement, Growth Rate, Demand and Top Key Players: Action Selling, IMPAX, BTS, Imparta, The Brooks, DoubleDigit...

The holiday season is here and there are rafts of new associates manning registers and helping stores handle swarms of shoppers. But how are these associates finding their seasonal roles? Many retailers already use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their recruiting systems for hiring the best and brightest seasonal help. Human resource tasks such as screening and hiring are more efficient and accurate thanks to the AI envisioned a few years ago and in operation today.

Nevertheless, landing a good employee is only the first step in making this season a winning year for shopper loyalty, conversions, and same-store sales. Once hired, every new employee instantly becomes a brand ambassador and critical resource for shoppers exploring the store, possibly for the first time. That good hire must quickly become a great ambassador or the bad news will travel fast. According to Andrew Thomas, founder of Skybell Video Doorbell, it takes roughly 40 positive customer experiences to undo the damage of a single negative review.

Read More: The Future of Works Most Crucial Component: Artificial Intelligence

Great ambassadors need help getting started and AI is about to tackle the problems of spinning up new employees.

New and existing employees serve the customer best when they are energetic, motivated and supported. Training is seldom effective in bringing out these essential human characteristics because they are an in-the-moment-every-moment responsibility. These human behaviors do not fit easily in a classroom when the real challenge occurs on the retail floor. Whats needed for behavioral support is continuous attitudinal awareness, gentle encouragement, motivational nudging and a supportive buddy who is always available.

Employees represent the company best when they know the products, have clarity of the brand and timely exposure to proven Sales messages a daunting challenge for a new employee in an industry where training time is costly and the Sales floor is frequently chaotic. Retailers need to know exactly which information needs reinforcing, who needs to hear the information, how much information they can digest when the best time to deliver it is and in which location the information makes the most educational impact.

Read More: Top 5 Best Pay Per Click Marketing Services in Dubai

The obvious vehicle for delivering both support and education to new employees is clear and continuous communication with veteran employees. Unfortunately, our 1950s walkie-talkies and our high-tech heads-down smart devices do not solve the problem nor fit the retail floor. The former clutters the ear with mostly irrelevant chatter, while the latter destroys both situational awareness and shopper rapport.

Whats needed is a conversational platform powered by Natural Language Processing that connects employees with each other or with the information available in the company IT systems on the spot, without having to rely on a screen. Using intelligent mediation within the communication platform assures each employee gets the best information, at the right time, in the right location.

Once a conversational platform replaces the old walkie-talkies, regular mobile devices become occasional-use, specialized tools. The AI platform learns the environment and transforms the employees measurably improving associate effectiveness and the shopper experience. Todays conversational platforms are able to add AI that dissects conversations and directs information to specific employees, at specific times, in specific locations. This information may be anything from the name of the customer approaching them to collect an online order in the store, a register backup call (with the opportunity to instantly respond), or an accurate technical answer to a question from an expert group anywhere in the world.

The conversations enabled between employees across the store contain the full context of what they know and offers management insight into how they share when they inspire, and where they perform the best. The conversations contain solutions.

AI is a natural progression in the evolution of conversational platforms for mobile store team members. The platforms available today connect employees, groups and IT systems using intelligent mediation while simultaneously collecting data for measuring performance. It wont be long before AI overlays these platforms with deep analytics of employee behaviors, derivation of critical messaging, and quantum leaps in shopper experiences.

Read More: The Future of AI: More Automation and Less Empathic Interaction

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Seasonal Associate - AiThority

It's a $4 million, three-year effort to identify sustainability strategies for our industry a freestanding entity in our Austin newsroom where well experiment with innovative ways to fund journalism, model best practices, and mentor dozens of our would-be peers.

by Evan Smith Dec. 2, 201912 PM

Here at Texas Tribune HQ, the last couple of months have been ... interesting. First we mounted our biggest and most successful ideas weekend ever: 450 speakers, nearly 9,000 registrants, $2.3 million in gross revenue. Then we announced plans for a massive investigative journalism strike force in partnership with our pals at ProPublica: five years, more than $8.5 million spent on deep-dive reporting, and eleven new hires. Then we celebrated the tenth anniversary of our launch a legit milestone. Then we told the world that our editor-in-chief and chief audience officer are leaving the nest to start the next great nonprofit news org, creating two openings on our masthead that will be among the best jobs in the business.

Today Im excited to share the latest big news from the Tribune: Were creating our first-ever revenue and training lab a freestanding entity, housed in our Austin newsroom, where well experiment with innovative ways to fund local news, model best practices that we hope will benefit the entire ecosystem, and mentor and coach dozens of our would-be peers. Rodney Gibbs, currently our chief product officer, will shift from that role to become the executive director of the RevLab, as weve already started to shorthand it. Hell soon be hiring a handful of people to join him in this noble pursuit of sustainability strategies for our industry.

The RevLab is a nearly $4 million, three-year initiative, and it will be funded by philanthropic support over and above our annual raise for operations. The good news is were already more than 60 percent of the way there: The Facebook Journalism Project has generously made a lead gift of $2.5 million to fund our earliest work part of its overall commitment, announced in January, to spend $300 million to help local news organizations grow and thrive. Well raise the remaining $1.5 million from any number of generous organizations and individuals who believe, as we do, that were more all more thoughtful and productive citizens when were better informed and more civically engaged.

Of course, the Tribune has been in the modeling-of-best-practices business for a while now. Going back many years, weve been regularly hosting groups of news entrepreneurs idealistic, visionary, eager to serve their communities who want to better understand our approach to our work over the last decade. Theyre interested in lessons learned, mistakes made, unexpected successes. They ask to tour our office, see our budget, spend time with our department heads. They hope to absorb the sales pitch to our members and donors: that this is as much or more about strengthening our democracy as it is about enabling great journalism. They ask to appropriate the tools and products weve built for their organizations. And they seek our guidance on the technical challenges all newsrooms face when it comes to realizing the full financial value of their work.

They dont assume we certainly dont that we have all the answers, but we may have some that apply to their situation back home. Were happy to be a resource for our fellow travelers. We welcome them into our midst whenever they call, and all of this consulting and sharing, from day one through today, is free (it always will be). The creation of the RevLab is a formalizing of this process. It will allow us to dedicate time to and train our focus on helping more start-ups and even some existing orgs think creatively about the future of local news.

This is great news for the Tribune and, we think, for journalism. Were honored to do this work and cant wait to get started. Watch this space for more on the RevLabs launch, job postings, and the ways communities around the country can benefit.

Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue across the country are declining, The Texas Tribune remains committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas with every story we cover, every event we convene and every newsletter we send. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Do you value our journalism? Show us with your support.

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T-Squared: Were creating our first local news revenue and training lab - The Texas Tribune

Pictures of a cow wearing a pair of comically oversized virtual reality goggles recently spread like wildfire over social media, and even the major news outlets eventually picked it up. Why not? Nobody wants to read about geopolitical turmoil over the holidays, and this story was precisely the sort of lighthearted news people would, if you can forgive the pun, gobble up.

But since youre reading Hackaday, these images probably left you with more questions than answers. Who made the hardware, what software is it running, and of course, why does a cow need VR? Unfortunately, the answers to the more technical questions arent exactly forthcoming. Even tracking the story back to the official press release from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of the Moscow Region doesnt tell us much more than we can gather from the image itself.

But it does at least explain why somebody went through the trouble of making a custom bovine VR rig: calm cows produce more milk. These VR goggles, should they pass their testing and actually be adopted by the Russian dairy industry, will be the newest addition to a list of cow-calming hardware devices that farmers have been using for decades to get the most out of their herds.

The press release claims that the VR goggles were modified from commercially available hardware to take into account the shape and size of a cows head, but theres no word of which product served as the basis for the experiment. Given the massive size of the goggles in relation to the cows human handler though, its safe to assume that whatever headset was used is being completely obscured by the obviously custom enclosure.

That said, because we can see no obvious cables coming from the headset, its possible researchers using some variant of the phone-based VR goggles that were all the rage after the release of Google Cardboard. Weve noticed that excitement over these simple gadgets has waned significantly in the last year or so, but here the idea makes perfect sense. If youre looking to outfit whole herds of animals with this technology, a basic plastic enclosure that holds a cheap Android device makes perfect sense.

One also has to wonder what sort of optics are required to fool a cow into thinking theyre looking at a real pasture. Like many prey animals, a cows binocular vision is minimal when compared to human vision. In other words, they have limited depth perception when looking directly ahead. In fact, its said that cows have trouble discerning shadows from actual holes in the ground, and will avoid walking over them. On the other hand, they have excellent panoramic vision which allows them to see nearly 360 degrees without having to move their heads.

Accordingly, it seems there would be little need for the sort of stereoscopic optics used in even low-cost VR headsets. A more likely arrangement would perhaps be a large-format phone (or small tablet) behind a Fresnel lens that would expand the image to fill the cows field of view. Since the goggles dont appear to wrap around the cows head it seems unlikely it could provide much more than a 180 degree view for the animal, but that may still be enough to achieve the desired effect.

It might seem like this technology is a stretch, but one could argue that its simply the logical evolution of what dairy farmers have already been doing for decades. For nearly as long as humans have been keeping cows domestically, its been known that they seem to enjoy listening to music. In the early days farmers would actually play instruments for their herds, but as technology improved, they installed loudspeakers and piped in recorded audio.

In an oft-referenced 2001 study, psychologists from the University of Leicester observed a 3% increase in milk production in cows that were exposed to slow, relaxing music during the day. That might not seem like a lot on a small scale, but when multiplied by thousands of cows, its certainly worth the cost of a few speakers. The science behind this is still not fully understood, and the psychologists explained the experiment was designed primarily to fact-check the anecdotal claims of farmers who were already serenading their animals.

The general consensus is that nervous and agitated cows produce less milk, so anything that can calm them down should result in a noticeable increase in yield. Some even claim the taste of the milk is improved when the animal is more relaxed, but theres even less science to back up that idea.

Given this, the idea that providing the cows with visual stimulation to go along with the music that many farmers are already playing for them doesnt seem completely unreasonable. The press release claims that researchers have already found wearing the VR headset seems to improve the cows general mood. In the future, a more comprehensive study will be performed to see how much it actually increases milk production over existing techniques.

Even so, its hard to look at this experiment and not see it as needlessly complex. After all, humans have been managing to coax milk out of cows for all of recorded history without any video game trickery. But of course, the demands of modern farming are quite a bit different than the idyllic mental images most of us have. If youre picturing something that looks like what they put on the carton: a handful of cows meandering around a wide-open pasture, complete with grain silos and a windmill in the background; the reality of a high-yield dairy farm might come as something of a shock.

It could be that providing the cows with a vision of a somewhat less dystopian environment might make life in captivity easier for them. If this sounds a bit like the plot of The Matrix, thats because it literally is. As depressing a realization as it may be, putting cows into a virtual environment where they can forget theyre being mechanically drained of their bodily fluids in service of a technologically superior species might be the nicest thing we can do for them.

From a purely practical standpoint it seems like lining their pens with high-definition displays showing scenes from a spring meadow would make more sense than equipping each cow with an individual video system, but perhaps the simulation wouldnt be accurate enough. Like Morpheus said, No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

Here is the original post:

Electric Dreams Help Cows Survive The Desert Of The Real - Hackaday

After more than a decade leading Central New Yorks #1 morning radio show, Tom Owens and Becky Palmer are retiring from Tom & Becky.

Their last show will be on Friday, December 20th, according to an announcement on WSYR-TV.

Tom and Beckys airtime will be filled by The Bobby Bones Show, beginning Monday, December 23rd. Its a nationally syndicated country music radio show originating in WSIX-FM studios in Nashville.

Becky started as co-host along with the late Ron Bee. Tom Owens then joined the show, and the duo went on to earn a Country Music Association Medium Market Personalities of the Year nomination for leadership, community service and excellence in broadcasting.

Tom and Becky left listeners with a fond farewell message:

After 11 years as your companions driving into work, mending the farm, relaxing after a long night shift, or simply two friends to listen to when you need them We are moving onto the next chapters in our lives ... Weve had so many incredible memories with you. Weve interviewed countless country artists, and witnessed first hand the beginnings of some amazing careers, such as Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, and Carrie Underwood. From the Grandstand, to the Amphitheater, to countless other amazing venues for country music, weve loved giving you incredible, once in a lifetime opportunities with the stars.

Tom is a Syracuse University grad and a huge fan of the Orange basketball and football teams who also enjoys spending time with his family in Fort Myers, Florida. Hes looking forward to doing that more often.

I dont nearly get to spend enough time with my son who currently lives around that area, Tom wrote in the announcement. [My wife] Laurie and I are looking forward to being able to travel there more often.

Becky survived a battle with breast cancer during her tenure on the show, and began an initiative to educate women about the importance of early mammograms. She intends to spend more time doing that when she retires, as well as exploring other hobbies.

I have been working on renovating a mobile home throughout this year. Its an older, vintage vehicle And boy, I wasnt expecting it to be so much work, she wrote.

The duo thanked listeners for their years of tuning in. YOU are the reason why we have absolutely loved this wonderful journey.

My friends Tom and Becky have been instrumental to B104.7s success and they have made a big impact in the Syracuse community," said Syracuse Market President Rick Yacobush. We all wish them the best as they choose to spend more time with their families.

The Bobby Bones Show will broadcast from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on weekdays on B104.7, and will feature the biggest names in country music mixed with pop-culture news, information and conversation to start your morning.

Read Tom and Beckys full statement on LocalSYR.com

Go here to read the rest:

Tom and Becky retiring from B104.7; replaced by Bobby Bones Show - syracuse.com