bluejay2

Good question. I think of it as being equivalent to marking an email “high priority”. In my experience brokers would sometimes use it to call attention to a time-sensitive issue, eg confirming details for a trade settling today. Always thought it was annoying and if they had something really urgent they should just pick up the phone, but that’s just me.

Echoing another commenter, level of discourse is generally pretty low. In public chat rooms you’re more likely to get a wise crack rather than an actual response to any question. That said, you can still find some nuggets of wisdom.

Ringing the bell is grounds for expulsion from many chat rooms, at least the semi-anonymous chat rooms provided by Bloomberg and other sell sides shops. Apparently it is very annoying to certain people.

Interestingly (to me), Edward Bernays is discussed a lot in Mario Vargas Llosa's latest book Tiempos Recios (Fierce Times), as the "most influential person in the history of Guatemala" due to his PR work on behalf of United Fruit. Unfortunately I believe it is only available in Spanish currently.

tl;dr:

(1) Unlock exclusive content based on reading progress

(2) Include integrated discussion forums for each book where kids can discuss the content and their experience

(3) Include tests and quizzes about the content (and win prizes)

(4) Enable kids to earn the ability to publish their own work

(5) Include “hackable” books where kids of all ages can mash up the story and content

(6) Easily enable parents to incentivize kids with real-world rewards

All of these seem reasonable (which is not to say I necessarily endorse them). I am skeptical of #2 however. I believe it is good for kids to discuss what they read, but I think if I were a parent, depending on the age of the child, I'd be concerned about who my child is interacting with in the forums, and I could see it becoming a distraction from actually reading books.

My simple advice: read the types of stories you like to tell. And practice writing them, following the composing process [1]

I also think reading your writing out loud can help identify parts that sound unnatural.

[1] http://sdkrashen.com/content/articles/krashen_2014_the_compo...

1. The Feast of the Goat by Vargas Llosa - fast paced, fictionalized account of the last days of the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic

2. 100 years of solitude - currently 70% through but the writing and story is superb.

3. Death in the Andes — another Vargas Llosa book. Not as good as Feast of the Goat in my opinion, but gives a good idea of the situation in Peru in the 1980s during the Shining Path insurrection, written after the author’s participation in a government investigation of the murder of several journalists in a remote Peruvian village.

EDIT: spelling

In what part of Atlanta is Square’s office?

I have been intermittent fasting (one to two 24 hour periods a week) for several months and have lost fat and increased muscle mass with really no negative side effects. The key is to lift weights to prevent muscle loss and to eat reasonably balanced diets (and enough calories) on non fasting-days. “Eat Stop Eat” has a good overview of the science behind it all (I have no association with the author)