Smile, There’s Good News

Canadian Salmon Saved

Thanks to the knowledge of First Nations and modern technology, Canadian workers have freed millions of salmon trapped after huge landslide. Helicopters, heavy machinery and nearly 200 workers frantically worked to free millions of salmon trapped by a landslide in British Columbia’s Fraser River.

Crews leaned heavily on local Indigenous communities to help gather tens of thousands of fish. Government crews in the area worked relentlessly to clear debris after the rockslide discovered in a late June created an impassable 5m-high waterfall.

Each year, several species of Pacific salmon – sockeye, chinook, pink and coho – travel up the Fraser River to reproduce. But the newly formed barrier has blocked the fish from accessing critical watersheds for egg laying.

Weeks of excavation allowed thousands of salmon to pass through carefully constructed channels, as many as 3,000 salmon per day were transported by helicopter and thousands more were to be transported by truck after the road was rebuilt and a fish ladder was built.

Emergency crews have leaned heavily on local Indigenous communities, and their knowledge of salmon spawning, to help gather tens of thousands of fish.

“First Nations’ technical knowledge in fish capture – from beach-seining crews to a second fish wheel – underpins the operation,” said the government in a media release.

Store Owner Is Beloved

This 58-year-old immigrant’s San Francisco corner store is so loved that people throw birthday parties there

Valentino Market, which Elie Chahwan, a 58-year-old Lebanese immigrant, has owned and operated for 17 years, is more than just a place to buy snacks or a bottle of wine – it’s a living museum to Cow Hollow residents.

Receipts he found under a crawlspace date back 100 years, to when it was a wholesale operation. He keeps a photobook of black and white pictures of the neighborhood when the streets were full of horse-drawn buggies, and shelves overflow with donated antiques from the same era. A refrigerator-worthy drawing from a 5-year-old customer proclaims it to be “The Best Store in the Galaxy,” a sentiment shared by a trio of commemorative plaques from the California Senate, House and Mayor.

The place has soul, but more importantly heart. Elie (pronounced eel-ee) is the only person on-staff and seems to know every customer’s name. Customers have their Amazon deliveries sent to the shop for safekeeping. He’s clearly a local legend, but when asked why Valentino has become such a neighborhood favorite, he pauses like he’s never considered it.

“This business is hospitality and service,” he says. “It has to be you. You have to be nice to people. I’m not perfect, but I try, I’m here 12 or 13 hours a day.”

The community has noticed his dedication, to say the least. He keeps several boxes of Christmas cards behind the counter and even more at home. Every year kids decorate his car for the Union Street Easter Parade and their parents throw birthday parties at the shop. Two years ago Elie had a heart attack, and his customers delivered pages and pages of well wishes to the hospital. The store is filled with custom Elie merchandise gifted by customers, from a blue baseball cap with bright yellow print that reads “Elie is cool” to a custom bobblehead showing him as a cowboy. “When I moved here, I really wanted to do a country store. I guess I’m a cowboy at heart,” he says, pointing to a photo of him dressed as a sheriff for Halloween.

Every year customers throw him a surprise birthday party, which typically features a vocal performance from one of his favorite customers, Emilio Bernardini, an Italian American WWII veteran who stops in every day.

Another reason Elie has become such a fixture is that he treats everyone equally. Sean Penn regularly sat outside the shop drinking coffee, but Elie never bothered him for a photo. When Oakland quarterback Bruce Gradkowski lived down the street, they became good friends.

Elie clearly loves his job, though it’s not an easy life. He Facetimes with his extended family in Lebanon every day, but he’s so focused on the shop that he’s never settled down to marry. Finding quality help is also a challenge now that potential part-time employees make more money driving for ride-sharing companies. Regulations on tobacco products have driven down business. Although his private label brand of wine bottled in Lodi still sells well, the more expensive bottles in his 55 degree cellar don’t sell like they used to.

“I’m very blessed. I’m away from my family, everybody is in Lebanon, but they are my family,” he says of his customers. “It’s hard, but true people here can make you live like a king. You forget all your problems.”

Louisiana Teen Provides Clothes for Classmates

When Port Allen Middle School in Port Allen, Louisiana, began soliciting students for ideas on how to improve operations, 13-year-old Chase Neyland-Square had a suggestion. He wanted to create a closet full of donated clothing and school supplies that could be picked up by any under-privileged classmate who might need them.

Neyland-Square’s idea materialized in a pantry behind a stage in the school’s gymnasium. The closet houses two racks of clothing and more in bags, including shirts, dresses and shoes. Rows of school supplies are also available for students who might need notebooks or pens. Neyland-Square organizes the inventory while school staff distributes items. Neyland-Square named it PAM’s Pantry and said he plans to come back after graduating to continue tending to it, possibly helping it to grow into a non-profit organization.

The closet was the result of a brainstorming session for the Student Program for Arts, Recreation and Knowledge (or SPARK) that began at the school in 2016. The goal of the program is to solicit and implement practical solutions to make the school better for students.

Minnesota Woman Help Hungry Neighbors

Every day when Jamie Hendricks gets home, she gets to work checking her pantry and filling it up.

The food isn’t for her family, its for her community in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hendricks’ planted the North End Free Pantry in her front yard. She got the idea from “Little Free Libraries,” where neighbors lend and borrow books. But she’s replaced books with food. So many people took the free food, she had to replace her two-and-a-half-foot pantry with a seven-foot one.

“That told me that we have a much bigger problem a much bigger need in our community than what I had even thought,” said Hendricks.

Every day when she comes home there’s usually some things gone, Hendricks said. In St. Paul, 20% of people live below the poverty line; that’s more than 8% above the national poverty rate.

Angelique Rush knows what it’s like to choose between paying bills and buying groceries for her husband and four kids. “Now we don’t get paid for another three days, so we are at the pantry trying to figure out what we can feed the kids since they’re out of school,” Rush said as she approaches the pantry. She’s hoping for some breakfast and something to make that her kids can warm up while she’s at work.

Rush learned about the pantry on Facebook. She’s gone to food banks, but they have limited hours and some require proof of income. She says she and her husband make $75 too much to qualify for food stamps.

“Having the pantry and it being anonymous, it helps a lot,” Rush said. “It makes it so you don’t have to answer to anybody. Or feel shameful.” Rush says there’s nothing worse than having little food and nothing her kids want to eat. “As a mom it makes you feel really sad that they don’t want to eat ramen noodles or they don’t want to eat the soup you got, but they have to because you don’t have anything else to feed them. It’s really hard.”

Hendricks says her life experience led her to create the pantry for others. “When we grew up, we didn’t have a lot of money,” she said. “That was the same when my daughters were young, but we always found a way to be able to make it and to be able to help other people.”

Free food pantries have popped up nationwide. One online directory shows more than 700 listed.
Hendricks’s neighbor Rosie Thuhl sees the impact as people come for food everyday.
“It’s not only that (people are) taking but people are almost two, three times a week bringing stuff,” Thuhl said.

“It kind of provides a little bit of hope for people,” Hendricks said. “And not just in the sense that there’s something there but that other people care.”

What kind of world would we be living in if everyone did a small thing like Hendricks? “A non-hungry world, that’s for sure,” Rush said. “It would make it easier for people to survive.”

Man Donates Kidney to Stranger

“I’m just a guy who deep down always wanted to do good,” saya Jon Potter. Potter, 29, vowed to say “yes” to anyone who asked for help.

Potter vowed to never turn down a request for help after he said no to a woman who asked him for a ride to a domestic abuse victim’s shelter. He instantly felt terrible for refusing her, but when he went to look for her, she was gone. The moment inspired him to always help others in need, to the extent that the former flight instructor became so inundated with requests around his native Pittsburgh that he quit his job to become a full-time good Samaritan. He even recently donated a kidney to a stranger.

While trawling through Instagram, Potter saw a plea from Michael Moore, 57, who was looking for a kidney donation. Moore had declining kidney function and was on dialysis.

“My daughters actually took it on themselves to begin a social media campaign. We originally got the idea from the nephrologist. She said, “You’ve just got to look wherever you can,” Moore said.

Inspired, Potter was tested and learned that he was a perfect match for Moore. Before donating his organ to Michael, Jon also had to lose 20 pounds. Potter went through with the surgery on August 13.

“It’s amazing what kind of energy you have when you just say yes all the time. I can’t even describe it,” Potter added.

Potter’s kind actions started with a man who posted on Reddit that he needed someone to help install a TV antenna. After that he responded torequests by serving as a cat sitter, repairing vinyl siding, furniture moving, fixing roofs and changing tires. He even once raised $700 for a teen who was injured while intervening to stop a hate crime.

Potter has become so well-known around Pittsburgh that people hire him instead of a professional to do maintenance work. His helpful actions started off free of charge, but people insisted otherwise. He has since formalized what he does by creating the website Pittsburgh Good Deeds, where people can request help but also take a leaf out of his book by offering their own services to others.

‘It turned into everyone wanted to pay me,’ Potter said. ‘I was still doing good deeds, but people were like, “Hey, I need this home repair done, can I pay you?” And I was like, “I guess so.”‘ However, if people can’t afford to pay him, there is no obligation either. To date, he believes he’s probably done over 1,000 good deeds.

’Tis the season…

It’s almost September and the tariff wars are likely to keep driving up the price of products imported from China. That makes now a good time to do your Christmas shopping and here are some hot tech items to consider.

Someonw in your family might benefit from a thin and light computer, for both work and play, priced so a second mortgage isn’t needed. The Lenovo IdeaPad S340 ($589) features an 8th Gen Intel Core processor, full backlight keyboard, webcam privacy shutter and up to 10 hours of battery life for use on the go. When it’s time for entertainment, such as TV shows and video games, this Windows 10 laptop boasts a 15.6-inch full HD display with slim bezels along with clear and loud Dolby Audio sound. There’s also an optional touchscreen available.

Amazon’s voice-activated personal assistant is on sale right now for $29.99. Put Amazon’s 3rd Generation Echo Dot anywhere in the room and say the wake word, “Alexa,” followed by a question. You can ask for homework help, history information, music of your choice or even a daily news briefing. If you have compatible gear, you can ask Alexa to lock the doors or turn on the lights or set the thermostat.

You can ask the Amazon Echo to play podcasts, audiobooks or interactive games; get real-time traffic, weather, and sports scores; or make free phone calls to any 10-digit number in the U.S. or Canada (over Wi-Fi) or call another Echo at no charge.

Epson has solved the biggest pain point when it comes to printers: running out of ink and having to pay through the nose for a small cartridge. With the Epson EcoTank ET-2760 all-in-one ($249), you get enough ink out of the box to last up to two years. That equates to 7,500 pages in black and up to 6,000 pages in color. When it’s time to buy more, they’re inexpensive and easy-to-install bottles rather than pricy cartridges. This multifunction printer/scanner/copier also lets you print from smartphones and tablets, including support for Apple AirPrint.

How about a great-looking 50-inch 4K Smart TV for just $279. The Hisense R7 4K UHD TV with HDR Roku TV offers a lot of bang for the buck, thanks to its large and clean screen that features four times the resolution of Full HD – and with High Dynamic Range for better contrast, brightness and color reproduction – plus loud, built-in 20-watt front-firing speakers. This television has a built-in Roku Smart TV platform – therefore, no separate Roku stick or box is needed – to access thousands of channels of on-demand video and other content, including movies and TV shows, live sports and news.

Keep all your tech charged up with the Mophie 3-in-1 wireless charging pad ($139). Designed mostly for iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watch – but any other Qi-enabled device will work, too – this sleek-looking charging station features 7.5-watt fast wireless charging for all your tech, all at the same time, and all in one location. No cables needed. Just place down your smartphone, watch and earbuds and return a few minutes later. The top of the pad is covered in glass, which adds a stylish finish to the black and white charger.

The Maxi-Matic EBK-200 Elite Cuisine Station ($35) is a quirky accessory for starting your day off right with breakfast. Ideal for a dorm room, it’s a 3-in-1 toaster oven, coffee maker and griddle. Despite its small footprint of only 10.6 x 10.6 x 17 inches, this multitasking gadget features a four-cup coffee maker, single-slice toaster oven (which can also hold a muffin, bagel, or croissant), and six-inch griddle for fried eggs, sausage or bacon.

Websites Offer Cheap Textbooks

It’s back-to-school time and the cost of textbooks can rapidly drain your wallet. But there are some ways to save on those books. Here are some places to do it.

Pearson Books says 1,500 of their textbooks will now be offered electronically as a way of lowering the cost of higher education. The average cost of one of their e-books is $40 and can be upgraded with digital learning tools for $79. The e-books update with new information as it comes out. If you prefer to have a physical textbook, you can rent one for about $60.

“Students live in this online world. They access content all kinds of ways. They often don’t need to own the textbooks and the educational content,” said Laura Howe, vice president of innovation communications at Pearson. “We feel like students should be able to choose course-ware that fits the way they live, that fits the way they actually want to learn, which is often digitally, and also fits their budget.”

Howe said almost 90% of students are using digital tools for learning, up from 78% a year ago and 69% two years ago.

Pearson also offers discounted textbooks as part of their Inclusive Access program at 700 colleges, including the University of Missouri, University of Florida, UC Davis and more. Students should check to see if their school is participating in the program.

Chegg Books is a website where you can buy, rent and sell textbooks. It advertises bargain prices up to 90% off campus bookstore prices and has a page for cheap textbooks. If you rent a textbook but want to keep it for longer, you can extend your rental or buy it at the end. Chegg even allows you to highlight important parts of your book.

If you’re not the type to carry physical textbooks, Chegg also has a selection of e-textbooks you can highlight, take notes on and get help from study experts through the Chegg Study subscription. If you prefer physical textbooks, Chegg will give you access to an e-version of your book for seven days while your copy is being shipped to you, which can be particularly useful if you need the textbook your first week of class if it’s still on the way.

Some classes don’t ask for textbooks but require an access code for a program used for lectures, labs and homework, which you can also purchase from Chegg. From now until the end of August, you can get free shipping on your textbook order of more than $35.

Amazon’s textbook rental program works well. Armed with a list of textbooks you need, you can search Amazon for them and have them shipped with no hassle. When you rent from Amazon, you have a 30-day period to return the book in case you decide to drop a class or realize the book isn’t necessary for the course. Returning the textbook is free at the end of the semester; you just have to drop it off at the carrier on the shipping label Amazon creates for you.

If you need regular books for class instead of a textbook, Amazon is a useful place to get them at a reasonable price.

Thriftbooks is another website where you can get serious discounts on textbooks. They have a variety of books from classic literature to business and medical texts and can be used at all levels of education. The
website where you can get a book for the best price. It even looks up coupons for you to get you more deals.

If all else fails, there’s a good chance there’s someone at your school who took that same course last semester and wants to get rid of their textbook they are likely to never use again. More often than not, there’s a Facebook group you can join where people post textbooks they’re selling. Most of the time they just want to get rid of the book so they’ll give you a good discount on it.

Nice Problem, Near $100 Billion to Spend

It’s a milestone Warren Buffett probably wishes he weren’t approaching.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate he’s run for more than half a century, reported it held just shy of $100 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter. That figure highlights the staggering money-making ability of the businesses he’s collected over the years. It’s also a burden because Berkshire doesn’t pay a dividend and rarely buys back its own stock, Buffett is on the hook to find ways to invest those funds.

“To put that money to work would be great,” said David Rolfe, chief investment officer at Wedgewood Partners, a money manager overseeing about $6 billion including Berkshire stock. But the “list of companies that he would like to own is very, very small.”

Buffett, 86, addressed the mounting cash pile at Berkshire’s annual meeting in May, saying he hadn’t put his “foot to the floor” on an acquisition for a while and shouldn’t keep so much money earning next to nothing for long periods. The war chest includes some cash-like securities, such as Treasuries.

“The question is, ‘Are we going to be able to deploy it?’” he told the thousands of shareholders gathered at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb. “I would say that history is on our side, but it’d be more fun if the phone would ring.”

Buffett has been finding a few places to invest. He built a holding in Apple Inc. through the beginning of this year. Then, in June, Berkshire made two smaller equity investments. One was a stake in a real estate investment trust and the other propped up Home Capital Group Inc., an embattled Canadian mortgage lender.

Most significantly, Berkshire’s utility arm struck a deal last month to buy Texas’s largest electric utility for about $9 billion. The transaction its being challenged by Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp., but completing it would make a dent in the cash hoard.

Lots more is bound to pour in. Berkshire posted $4.26 billion in net income for the second quarter. The results were down 15 percent from a year earlier, partly on an underwriting loss at insurance businesses. But a number of Berkshire’s other subsidiaries – from railroad BNSF to its collection of manufacturing businesses – posted gains.

Part of Buffett’s challenge in finding new investments may be the years-long bull market. With stocks regularly setting records, it’s simply harder to find attractive deals, said Jim Shanahan, an analyst at Edward Jones. The growing cash pile is also a sign of Buffett’s willingness to wait for the right opportunities.
“It’s not a cause for alarm,” Shanahan said. Over the next few years, “they’ll make some really interesting investments.”

One thing that could accelerate Berkshire’s spending is a correction – or even a bear market, said Bill Smead, who oversees about $2.2 billion including Berkshire shares at Smead Capital Management. In the past, Buffett has pounced when companies or the broader economy runs into trouble, making investments on favorable terms.

If that happens, said Smead, “he’s in a perfect spot.” That perfect spot may be at hand in view of Wall Street’s gyrations in recent weeks.

Heed the Oracle

Stock market gyrations have you worried? Take some tips from the Oracle of Omaha – famed investor Warren Buffett.

The Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO’s advice will serve you well. His knack for keeping a clear head when everyone else is selling, may make his the only advice you need to navigate uncertain times.

Buffett’s ability to tune out the noise and remain optimistic amid these downturns has played a vital role in his unrivaled performance over decades. Between 1965 and the end of 2017, Berkshire’s market value has increased at an annualized rate of 20.9%, more than doubling the S&P 500’s average annual growth of 9.9% during this same period. This 20.9% annualized growth rate for Berkshire’s market value translates to a total return of 2,404,748%, obliterating the S&P 500’s 15,508% gain during the same timeframe.

Notably, this performance was achieved amid a number tumultuous financial periods, the 1973-74 stock market crash, Black Monday, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, a sharp pullback after the September 11 attacks, and the more recent Great Recession between December 2007 and June 2009.

Stocks can fall far — and they can fall fast. When investing in stocks, there’s always a risk that a major downturn is right around the corner. In fact, stocks not only fall often, but they’re totally unpredictable. As Buffett said in his most recent shareholder letter, “There is simply no telling how far stocks can fall in a short period.” Stock market declines are inevitable — and they will come in all shapes and sizes. Be prepared.

Avoiding leverage will give you greater clarity. To be able to make good decisions amid a stock market crash, investors must remain calm. As Buffett has said, “Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with the 130 IQ. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing. There’s one way that makes poor judgment a near certainty when things go awry – trade on margin. Debt distorts all decision making in investing — especially during a stock market crash.

Don’t try to time the market. Don’t try to forecast when stock market crashes will occur. Just know they will come. In Berkshire’s 2017 shareholder letter, Buffett outlined four times when Berkshire stock fell 37% or more, representing what he called “truly major dips.” The biggest decline occurred from March 1973 to January 1975, when Berkshire stock declined a whopping 59%. “In the next 53 years our shares (and others) will experience declines resembling those in the table,” Buffett said about these four major declines. “No one can tell you when these will happen. The light can at any time go from green to red without pausing at yellow.” These pullbacks, which were all accompanied by broader drops in the stock market, are undoubtedly painful for investors. But no matter how much you wish to avoid them, trying to time them is a fool’s errand.

Don’t view stocks as ticker symbols. To help maintain a clear head during stock market crashes, investors should remember that they are business owners — not ticker symbol owners. While stock prices may plummet, the majority of companies with good business models and strong competitive advantages will likely see a far smaller negative impact to their underlying businesses during these periods. So, be sure to detach stock price performance from business performance.

Here are his tips:

Buffett explained this in his most recent shareholder letter: “Even if your borrowings are small and your positions aren’t immediately threatened by the plunging market,your mind may well become rattled by scary headlines and breathless commentary. And an unsettled mind will not make good decisions.”

Buffett elaborated on this concept in Berkshire’s most recent shareholder letter. “Charlie (Munger) and I view the marketable common stocks that Berkshire owns as interests in businesses, not as ticker symbols to be bought or sold based on their ‘chart’ patterns, the’target’ prices of analysts or the opinions of media pundits. Instead, we simply believe that if the businesses of the investees are successful (as we believe most will be) our investments will be successful as well.”

Stay invested. While stock market crashes and major downturns have proven to resurface time and time again throughout history, an even stronger trend has been the powerful wealth-building returns of stocks over time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, for instance, has risen an average of 10.3% annually over the last 100 years when including reinvested dividends. Don’t be that person that liquidates their portfolio during a recession. In fact, be the person that is keeping most – if not all – of their portfolio invested.

Buffett explained the importance of staying invested in Berkshire’s 2012 shareholder letter: “Since the basic game is so favorable, Charlie and I believe it’s a terrible mistake to try to dance in and out of it based upon the turn of tarot cards, the predictions of ‘experts,’ or the ebb and flow of business activity. The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to the risks of being in it.”

Go shopping. Even better than not selling stocks during a recession is to actually go on the offense. In bull markets, investors can occasionally find reasonably priced, wonderful businesses. But they can rarely find wonderful businesses trading at a significant discount to their fair value. Stock market crashes are the rare times when high-quality businesses can be found in the clearance aisle. Go shopping!

Buffett has famously said,”Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” He also says “When major declines occur … they offer extraordinary opportunities to those who are not handicapped by debt.”

Stay focused on the long haul. Don’t get caught up in near-term economic forecasts or the popular headlines of the time, whether those are ones of sheer optimism or gloom and doom. Investors are not traders. They are business owners with long-term views. So, remain focused on the long haul during downturns.

Buffett explained this concept in Berkshire’s 2017 shareholder letter. “Stocks surge and swoon, seemingly untethered to any year-to-year buildup in their underlying value. Over time, however, Ben Graham’s oft-quoted maxim proves true: ‘In the short run, the market is a voting machine; in the long run, however, it becomes a weighing machine.'”

In a nutshell: Remain calm and be patient. Last but not least, embrace some of Buffett’soptimism, exemplified in a quote from Berkshire’s 2012 shareholder letter:

“American business will do fine over time. And stocks will do well just as certainly, since their fate is tied to business performance. Periodic setbacks will occur, yes, but investors and managers are in a game that is heavily stacked in their favor. (The Dow Jones Industrials advanced from 66 to 11,497 in the 20th Century, a staggering 17,320% increase that materialized despite four costly wars, a Great Depression and many recessions. And don’t forget that shareholders received substantial dividends throughout the century as well.)”

Stocks have survived depressions, recessions and corrections in the past, and they will survive them in the future. So, if you find yourself amid a stock market crash, stay out of debt, stay focused on the long-term, and take advantage of buying opportunities. Every downturn will eventually turn back upward.

News, Fake News and Propaganda

It’s a confusing world. What is purported to be news isn’t always news. Sometimes it is fake news, alternative facts or propaganda. It can be hard to know the difference. But here is a good rule of thumb: Rely on well-known, long trusted media sources for your news. Organizations such as The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters provide news from around the world in an unbiased manner.

These organizations, along with major newspapers and some major broadcasting networks, endeavor to be accurate and honest in their reporting. Yes, mistakes do happen, but they are corrected as quickly as possible. And the mistakes here are unintentional, not deliberate attempts to deceive.

Simply defined, news is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. Much of what is purported to be news on social media platforms is not news. It may be there just to push a viewpoint or to sow dissent.

Such material can better be described as alternative facts – lies – or fake news. Fake news describes material used by a group or individual to purposely mislead with inaccurate facts. Fake news, essentially lies, is as old as humanity. Fake news has became associated with popular satires, including the comedy paper The Onion and the TV show The Colbert Report. Far right media outlets, conspiracy sites and trolls from foreign governments have developed a reputation for spreading fake news stories.

In its most basic form, fake news is propaganda – information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

There are many techniques for spreading propaganda, some very obvious to those hearing or reading it, some more subtle. Here are a few of those techniques:

Ad hominem – A Latin phrase that has come to mean attacking one’s opponent, as opposed to attacking their arguments.

Ad nauseam – This uses tireless repetition of an idea. An idea, especially a simple slogan, that is repeated enough times, may begin to be taken as the truth.

Agenda setting – The ability to influence the importance placed on the topics of the public agenda. If a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important.

Appeal to authority – This one cites the views of prominent figures to support a position, idea, argument or course of action.

Appeal to fear – This method seeks to build support by instilling anxieties and panic in the general population.

Appeal to prejudice – Using loaded or emotive terms to attach value or moral goodness to believing the proposition.

Bandwagon – Bandwagon appeals attempt to persuade the target audience to join in and take the course of action that “everyone else is taking.” In its simplest usage, a child may falsely tell parents that “all my friends can go, why can’t I?

Inevitable victory – This one invites those not already on the bandwagon to join those already on the road to certain victory. Those already or at least partially on the bandwagon are reassured that staying aboard is their best course of action. Example: “The debate is over. Nearly everyone who matters agrees with me.”

Beautiful people – The type of propaganda that deals with famous people or depicts attractive, happy people. This suggests if people buy a product or follow a certain ideology, they too will be happy or successful. This is used more in advertising for products, instead of political reasons.

Big Lie – The repeated articulation of a complex of events that justify subsequent action. The descriptions of these events have elements of truth, and the “big lie” generalizations merge and eventually supplant the public’s accurate perception of the underlying events. After World War I the German stab in the back explanation of the cause of their defeat became a justification for Nazi re-militarization and revanchism.

Black-and-white fallacy – Presenting only two choices, with the product or idea being propagated as the better choice.

Cherry picking or selective truth – Richard Crossman, the British Deputy Director of Psychological Warfare Division for the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force during the Second World War said “In propaganda truth pays… It is a complete delusion to think of the brilliant propagandist as being a professional liar. The brilliant propagandist is the man who tells the truth, or that selection of the truth which is requisite for his purpose, and tells it in such a way that the recipient does not think he is receiving any propaganda…. The art of propaganda is not telling lies, but rather selecting the truth you require and giving it mixed up with some truths the audience wants to hear.”

Cognitive dissonance – People want to be consistent. Suppose a pollster finds that a certain group of people hates his candidate for senator but loves actor A. They use actor A’s endorsement of their candidate to change people’s minds because people cannot tolerate inconsistency. They are forced to either dislike the actor or like the candidate.

Common man – The “plain folks” or “common man” approach attempts to convince the audience that the propagandist’s positions reflect the common sense of the people. It is designed to win the confidence of the audience by communicating in the common manner and style of the target audience. Propagandists use ordinary language and mannerisms in attempting to identify their point of view with that of the average person.

Cult of personality – A cult of personality arises when an individual uses mass media to create an idealized and heroic public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise. The hero personality then advocates the positions that the propagandist desires to promote. For example, modern propagandists hire popular personalities to promote their ideas or products.

Demonizing the enemy – Making individuals from the opposing nation, from a different ethnic group, or those who support the opposing viewpoint appear to be subhuman (e.g., the Vietnam War-era term “gooks” for National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam aka Vietcong, or “VC”, soldiers), worthless, or immoral, through suggestion or false accusations. Dehumanizing is also a term used synonymously with demonizing, the latter usually serves as an aspect of the former.

Disinformation – The creation or deletion of information from public records, in the purpose of making a false record of an event or the actions of a person or organization, including outright forgery of photographs, motion pictures, broadcasts and sound recordings as well as printed documents.

Euphoria – The use of an event that generates euphoria or happiness, or using an appealing event to boost morale. Euphoria can be created by declaring a holiday, making luxury items available, or mounting a military parade with marching bands and patriotic messages.
Exaggeration

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt – This is an effort to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious or outright false information designed to undermine the credibility of their beliefs.

Firehose of falsehood – A propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (such as news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency.

Flag-waving – An attempt to justify an action on the grounds that doing so will make one more patriotic, or in some way benefit a group, country, or idea. The feeling of patriotism this technique attempts to inspire may not necessarily diminish or entirely omit one’s capability for rational examination of the matter in question.

Gaslighting – Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction and lying to sow seeds of doubt in a target individual or group, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, sanity and norms.

Gish gallop – Bombarding a political opponent with obnoxiously complex questions in rapid fire during a debate to make the opponent appear to not know what they are talking about.

Glittering generalities – These are emotionally appealing words that are applied to a product or idea, but present no concrete argument or analysis. This technique has also been referred to as the PT Barnum effect. (e.g., the advertising campaign slogan “Ford has a better idea!”)

Guilt by association – This technique is used to persuade a target audience to disapprove of an action or idea by suggesting that the idea is popular with groups hated, feared or held in contempt by the target audience.

Half-truth –A deceptive statement that includes some element of truth. It comes in several forms: the statement might be partly true, the statement may be totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may utilize some deceptive element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the intent is to deceive, evade, blame, or misrepresent the truth.

Labeling – A euphemism is used when the propagandist attempts to increase the perceived quality, credibility, or credence of a particular ideal. A dysphemism is used when the intent of the propagandist is to discredit, diminish the perceived quality, or hurt the perceived righteousness of the individual. By creating a “label”, “category”, or “faction” of a population, it is much easier to make an example of these larger bodies, because they can uplift or defame the individual without actually incurring legal-defamation. Labeling can be thought of as a sub-set of guilt by association.

Loaded language – Specific words and phrases with strong emotional implications are used to influence the audience, for example, using the word reforms rather than a more neutral word like changes.

Managing the news– According to Adolf Hitler, “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly – it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” This idea is consistent with the principle of classical conditioning as well as the idea of “Staying on Message.”

Minimization – The opposite of exaggeration, minimization is a type of deception involving denial coupled with rationalization in situations where complete denial is implausible.

Name-calling – Propagandists use the name-calling technique to incite fears and arouse prejudices in their hearers in the intent that the bad names will cause hearers to construct a negative opinion about a group or set of beliefs or ideas that the propagandist wants hearers to denounce. The method is intended to provoke conclusions about a matter apart from impartial examinations of facts. Name-calling is thus a substitute for rational, fact-based arguments against an idea or belief on its own merits.

Oversimplification – Favorable generalities are used to provide simple answers to complex social, political, economic, or military problems.

Quotes out of context – Selective editing of quotes that can change meanings. Political documentaries designed to discredit an opponent or an opposing political viewpoint often use this technique.

Rationalization – Individuals or groups may use favorable generalities to rationalize questionable acts or beliefs. Vague and pleasant phrases are often used to justify such actions or beliefs.

Red herring – Presenting data or issues that, while compelling, are irrelevant to the argument at hand, and then claiming that it validates the argument.

Repetition – This is the repeating of a certain symbol or slogan so that the audience remembers it. This could be in the form of a jingle or an image placed on nearly everything in the picture or scene. This also includes using subliminal phrases, images or other content in a piece of propaganda.

Scapegoating – Assigning blame to an individual or group, thus alleviating feelings of guilt from responsible parties thus distracting attention from the need to fix the problem for which blame is being assigned.

Slogans – A slogan is a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping. Although slogans may be enlisted to support reasoned ideas, in practice they tend to act only as emotional appeals. Opponents of the US’s invasion and occupation of Iraq use the slogan “blood for oil” to suggest that the invasion and its human losses was done to access Iraq’s oil riches. On the other hand, supporters who argue that the US should continue to fight in Iraq use the slogan “cut and run” to suggest withdrawal is cowardly or weak. Similarly, the names of the military campaigns, such as “enduring freedom” or “just cause” can also be considered slogans, devised to influence people.

Smears – A smear is an effort to damage or call into question someone’s reputation, by propounding negative propaganda. It can be applied to individuals or groups.

Straw man – A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position. To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

Thought-terminating cliché – A commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance.

Virtue words – These are words in the value system of the target audience that produce a positive image when attached to a person or issue. Peace, hope, happiness, security, wise leadership, freedom, “The Truth” etc. are virtue words. Many see religiosity as a virtue, making associations to this quality effectively beneficial.

Negative Review May Land You in Court

Posting online reviews has become second nature for many consumers nowadays – 82 percent of adults say they read online reviews at least some of the time, according to a Pew Research Center Study – so when they have a bad experience with a business, up goes a review, to share it with others.

Unfortunately, bad reviews are too often followed by nightmare lawsuits from the businesses receiving bad reviews.

“We’re seeing a rise in individuals being sued for speaking out online,” said Evan Mascagni, who works for the Public Participation Project. He says many lawsuits are designed simply to intimidate. They’re called “SLAPP” lawsuits (for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). “A SLAPP filer doesn’t go to court to seek justice; they are just trying to silence or harass or intimidate a critic of theirs,” Mascagni said.
Some states have laws against SLAPP lawsuits, but there is no federal anti-SLAPP statute.

Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission began cracking down on businesses that put gag clauses in their consumer contracts in violation of the Consumer Review Fairness Act.

“CBS This Morning” consumer investigative correspondent Anna Werner asked Carl Settlemyer, of the FTC’s Division of Advertising Practices, “Why is it important enough that the government feels like, ‘Hey we have to step in sometimes’?”

“The online review medium has really exploded over the past decade or so, and people’s reliance on the ability to learn from online reviews has really grown in proportion to that,” Settlemyer said. “People have stories to tell, and they’re not able to get them out because they feel like they’re going to be threatened.”

Here are some examples.

A Florida man’s simple review turned into a year-long battle in court. “I never thought I’d be sued over anything that I write. There’s no reason to say anything but the truth,” said Tom Lloyd, of DeLand, Florida.

His ordeal began when his 10-year-old poodle Rembrandt suddenly fell ill last year. Lloyd rushed him to nearby DeLand Animal Hospital, where he says he was told the dog needed immediate surgery for what was probably a ruptured spleen.

“I said, ‘You’re going to do this right now?’ And he said, ‘Yeah,'” Lloyd recalled. But six hours later, he says, the clinic told him to come pick Rembrandt up: that they’d been unable to find a surgeon. He took the dog to a second clinic but says he was told it was too late – Rembrandt would need to be euthanized.

“It isn’t like there’s a closure,” Lloyd said. “He deserved a chance and they didn’t give him a chance. If he would have died on the operating table, I would have understood.”

Afterwards, Lloyd posted a review on Yelp, writing “The staff had wasted six hours of Rembrandt’s life and destroyed whatever chance he may have had to live. Our Rembrandt deserved a better last day.”

Weeks later, DeLand Animal Hospital and veterinarian Thomas MacPhail sued Lloyd for defamation, alleging his statements were “false” and “published maliciously and recklessly.” Lloyd said, “I’m finding out that isn’t always cheap to give an honest review, because if the other person has money, they can drive you in the ground.”

In other instances, a New York woman was sued by her doctor for $1 million for posting negative online reviews. A man in Kansas was sued over a three-star Trip Advisor review of a theme park, and a South Carolina woman was sued by a restaurant she claimed refused to honor a coupon.

Thomas Lloyd stuck to his guns, and countersued: Earlier this year, two former veterinarians from DeLand gave sworn affidavits saying even though they lacked experience doing the emergency surgery Lloyd’s dog needed, veterinarian MacPhail had declined to do the surgery and instead left for vacation.

After the animal hospital’s attorneys learned of the CBS interview with Lloyd, the case was quickly settled.
Lloyd told Werner, “They shouldn’t be able to try to financially break somebody just because they don’t like what you say.”

DeLand Animal Hospital, which is now under new ownership, did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment. Neither did veterinarian Thomas MacPhail, who DeLand told us is no longer working at the animal hospital.

Could Artificial Snow Help Antarctica?

What can be done to stop Antarctica’s ice sheets from disintegrating and causing a huge rise in global sea levels? A trio of scientists have simulated a radical geoengineering project to dump 7.4 trillion tons of snow on Antarctica, suggesting it could stop runaway instability in the glaciers.

Recent studies have shown warmer ocean water is being pushed toward the colossal West Antarctic ice sheet, destabilizing it and speeding up the decline of its huge glaciers. The threat of these huge ice deposits falling into the ocean is immense and the overall effect of their decline has been calculated to eventually raise sea levels by approximately 10 feet (3 meters) or more, endangering cities like New York.

“The real concern is that many of these glaciers have a reverse bed slope, meaning that as they retreat it exposes deeper and thicker ice to the ocean,” explains Sue Cook, a glaciologist at the University of Tasmania. “That is a very unstable position, and causes a positive feedback effect which accelerates the retreat (and hence contribution to sea level rise).”

The new study, just published in the journal Science Advances, proposes a drastic, decades-long geoengineering project that would pump huge amounts of ocean water to the ice sheet, adding 7,400 gigatons (7.4 trillion tons) of “artificial snowfall” and reversing the decline. Simulating the current effects on Antarctica’s ice sheets and the changes they experience with increasing snowfall, the researchers were able to map out a process that could potentially halt the ice loss.

Their suggestion would be an incredibly expensive undertaking and include immense technical challenges. The authors say it would present an “unprecedented effort for humankind.” Mostly, the problem lies in pumping the water out of the ocean, which requires an enormous amount of energy. The study suggests constructing a series of 12,000 wind turbines to enable this process to take place and then pumping artificial snow into two glaciers on the West Antarctic coast. The team suggest that activity would result in a 2 to 5 centimeter drop in sea level but the added weight of artificial snow falling on the surface would shore up the glaciers, improving their stability.

The larger effects of such a scheme are yet to be ironed out. What are the lasting effects on the Antarctic ecosystem and what kind of knock-on effects would we see in ocean currents across the world? We just don’t have answers to those questions right now.

What we do know is the Earth’s current default state: Burning fossil fuels and pumping tons of carbon into the atmosphere, warming the planet and causing sweeping changes like threatening a million species with extinction or, you know, the ice sheets melting. Considering the possibility of salvation in artificial Antarctic snow might be jumping a little far ahead.

“Even if a geoengineering project such as this were possible, it certainly shouldn’t detract from the other urgent action which is required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Cook notes.

It’s Not All Bad News

Cops Pay Woman’s Bill

A trio of New York City police officers were called to a Whole Foods store recently after a woman was accused of shoplifting. Instead of arresting her, they paid for the food she had stashed her bag.

Paul Bozymowski, a film and TV director who was at the store, tweeted a photo of the woman with her hands and a tissue over her face as she and the officers stood near the exit at the Whole Foods in Union Square.

“This woman was being held by security. She had food in her bag she didn’t pay for. When the NYPD showed up, they paid for her food,” Bozymowski wrote.

Queens dad saves daughter

A children’s worker trained in CPR used his life-saving skills for the first time to revive his own daughter when she suffered a terrifying seizure the day after a round of immunization shots.

Rasheen Hill had just opened the door to his Queens home after his shift at the New York City Children’s Center nearby when his wife frantically called out to him. Rachel Hill was trying to get her 1-year-old daughter Shiloh and 4-year-old son Zion to bed when the little girl suddenly went limp in her arms.

Seconds earlier, Shiloh was happily camped out near the tub, tugging at a roll of toilet paper as her older brother was bathed. As the busy mom hefted Shiloh to shuffle her two kids to their room for bedtime, the girl stopped moving and fear took over.

The terrified mother heard her husband Rasheen entering their home and hastily called for him.
Rasheen saw his daughter and immediately sprang into action, administering CPR to his daughter.

“Instincts just kicked in,” said Rasheen, 43, a mental health therapy coordinator who is required to take annual CPR classes for his job, even though he’d never had to use them.

The family later learned the adorable tot had a febrile seizure, the likely result of a 102-degree fever she had following a set of immunization shots.

Sea Turtle Count Rising

Although we’re only halfway through nesting season for loggerhead, leatherback and green sea turtles, nest counts have already exceeded last year’s numbers, according to Indian River,Fla., County Environmental Specialist Quintin Bergman.

As of June 28, 487 green-turtle nests have been marked on the Treasure Coast, more than twice the 235 from last year. This is a big deal, considering that four decades ago, biologists thought green sea turtles might go extinct.

Folks living along the beach know that under local ordinances designed to protect sea turtle nesting until Oct. 31. Lights visible from the beach must be shielded, repositioned, or turned off from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Disturbing a sea turtle, its nests or hatchlings also is illegal.

Sand sculptors create art

What better way to celebrate Cocoa Beach’s most famous surf shop than with the raw materials you’ll find on the beach? In front of Ron Jon Surf Shop is a sand sculpture built by local artists, and it is just so cool.

Jill Harris and Thomas Koet are the owners of Sandsational Sand Sculpting, based in Melbourne. They travel the world creating incredible works of art out of sand, but they’ve brought their talents home to Florida to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Ron Jon.

The sculpture was built from 25 tons of sand and water, and took a team of four sculptors a week to complete. It should stand for about two or three months – even if it rains.

Church pays off medical debts

A Michigan church said it raised enough money to pay off the medical debt of nearly 2,000 struggling families.

Sam Rijfkogel, pastor of Grand Rapids First in Wyoming, Michigan, said the church purchased more than $1.8 million worth of medical debt for “less than a penny on the dollar” through a nonprofit group.

“There are people whose medical debt, they cannot pay. There is no way. It’s looming over their head,” Rijfkogel said. “Most of these folks are in poverty levels or below poverty levels and there’s no way that it can be repaid, but they feel the creditor banging on their doors.”

“Today, that $1,832,439.26 that’s looming over families right now has been paid in full as a result of a gift from this church,” he added.

Rijfkogel said the debt was paid off by RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit group that says it has abolished more than $624 million in medical debt since it’s creation in 2014.

Old Friends Sanctuary Saves Dogs

Old dogs don’t care that they’re old. They focus on more important matters – Comfort. Snacks. Naps. And, of course, belly rubs from the people they love.

Nearly 100 senior dogs are enjoying all those essentials and more at Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, a fairy tale land for former shelter dogs in Mount Juliet, Tenn.. Hundreds more are lounging on soft beds and soaking up affection in “forever foster homes” located within a 100-mile radius of the sanctuary. Foster families get to care for calm, content pets without ever having to worry about a single vet bill, and the once-homeless dogs get to spend the rest of their days as part of a family.

“When they come to us from the shelter, we say, ‘Today is the day that they start their new life,'” Zina Goodin, co-founder of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, said. “We just try to help them feel better and make them healthy so they can live out the rest of their lives happily.”

Zina, 62, and her husband, Michael Goodin, 66, started the sanctuary in 2012 when they were semi-retired and on the prowl for meaningful volunteer opportunities. The couple saw a huge need to help older animals at shelters in Middle Tennessee, where euthanasia rates are high.

“People are less likely to adopt a senior dog from the shelter because they worry about the additional veterinary needs and medications,” Zina Goodin said. “Just like senior people, senior dogs have special needs, so the senior dogs need rescue more than the younger dogs do.”

Eager to prevent older dogs from dying alone and afraid in shelters, the Goodins started out by taking a posse of pooches into their own home. Their efforts gradually grew as friends and strangers heard about what they were doing and offered to foster even more senior dogs in their homes. Then, in 2014 and 2015, that gradual growth became exponential thanks to social media; people began falling madly in love with dogs featured on the Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary’s Facebook page.

“Almost like a soap opera, people would cling onto certain dogs,” Michael Goodin said. “They loved it!”
Today, Old Friends has more than 1.8 million followers on Facebook, live cams so fans can watch the dogs’ antics in real time online and about 400 rescued senior dogs in its care. Two and a half years ago, the sanctuary relocated to 2 acres on the site of a former garden center. In their expanded digs, senior dogs can roam inside or outside as much as they want, and there’s no shortage of soft surfaces, socializing, sniffing and snoring.

The sanctuary relies on more than 300 volunteers and employs 26 people, including a full-time, on-site veterinarian to help keep the dogs’ health-care costs down. Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, small tour groups of as many as six people visit the sanctuary to see its operations in person and meet all the dogs.

“We’ve become a bucket list item for a lot of people,” said Sally McCanner, Old Friends’ foster medical coordinator and tour director.

Most dogs at the sanctuary range in age from about 10 to 14, although their ages are often “guesstimates” from veterinarians because so many animals arrive at shelters with incomplete or mysterious back stories. Some dogs are picked up as strays, while others get removed from situations of hoarding, abuse or neglect. Many more spend years living as family pets until their human owners face a life upheaval of some sort, such as a financial emergency, illness, divorce, home foreclosure or even a military deployment.

Another common scenario for senior shelter dogs is that their older human caretakers either pass away or move into nursing facilities that do not accept pets. Shelter stays can be even more stressful and disorienting for senior dogs in situations like these.

“They’re super confused because they’ve been with a family for 12 years and, all of a sudden, they’re basically in jail,” Michael Goodin said. “It’s wonderful to come in and save these guys and see ’em just brighten up and be great.”

All of the sanctuary’s cleaning supplies, pet food, medications, veterinary care and other needs are paid for by donations. “Our average donation is only $25, so we have a lot of people who support us,” Zina Goodin said. “It also shows that every single donation that we get is very important.”

“A lot of the dogs who come in from the shelters are in pretty bad shape … and it is quite amazing how quickly those dogs will start to heal and turn into lively, energetic, healthy dogs when they’re given the care that they need. They’re able to move on and trust people and love people again.”

The work of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary and other senior dog rescue efforts across North America is described in the bestselling book “My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts,” written by TODAY senior editor Laura T. Coffey and with photographs by Lori Fusaro. The book includes a comprehensive, listing of senior dog rescue programs.