It’s very quiet out here, or maybe my mind is just failing me.
I can’t.. I won’t.. I’m not going to make it.
My mind is numb, I’m feeling drowsy.
Goodbye world.
It’s very quiet out here, or maybe my mind is just failing me.
I can’t.. I won’t.. I’m not going to make it.
My mind is numb, I’m feeling drowsy.
Goodbye world.
All the lifeless shoes! (All the lifeless shoes!)
All the lifeless shoes! (All the lifeless shoes!)
All the lifeless shoes! (All the lifeless shoes!)
All the lifeless shoes!
Now put your knees up.
Every night I Wander in my bed,
Lost in a fairytale.
Can you hold my shoulders and be my mentor?
Pigeons filled in brainfogged head cover my skies.
What kinda dream is this?
You could be a moist tail or a crazy leg.
Either way I don’t wanna snapper without you.
Men, we run this motha (yeah!)
Men, we run this motha (yeah!)
Men, we run this motha (yeah!)
Men, we run this motha (yeah!)
MEN!
Yes! So slippery right now,
Most incredibly slippery.
Oh! So slippery. Oh! So slippery.
Yes! So slippery right now.
All the pigeons who are independent,
Throw your eyes at me!
All the pigeons who makin’ money,
Throw your eyes at me!
All the pigeons who truly feel cross,
Throw your eyes at me!
Tonight I’ll be your slippery snail.
I’m callin’ all my men.
I know you want my full shoulders.
Tonight I’ll be your slippery snail
I’m callin’ all my men.
Who run the world? Men, we run this motha – yeah!
Who run this motha? Men, we run this motha – yeah!
Who run the world? Men, we run this motha – yeah!
I have often said that Just by Watching you can Observe a Lot 🙂 and having an investigator, fraud detectors training helps.
![]() |
![]() |
It is to be noted that Walmart is obligated to purchase 6,242,271 shares from Flipkart’s ESOP pool of 11,947,026 shares. The current employees will be allowed to liquidate their employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) at $126-128 a unit, depending on the charges applicable.
|
|
Bengaluru-based Indian regional language social platform ShareChat has raised close to $100 Mn (INR 720 Cr) in a funding round that will boost its valuation to $460 Mn (INR 3,332 Cr). This is a 7x increase to its last valuation when the company raised $18.2 Mn in Series B funding.
|
Togedr has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from a group of US & UK-based startups. The investment was led by UK-based investor Anil Patel whose expertise lies in cloud architecture and scale, said Togedr CEO and founder Ashish Yadav, in a recent interaction with Inc42.
|
The government has decided to drop the first draft of ecommerce policy and set up a committee of secretaries to decide on a new set of recommendations. CAIT said that the policy is already delayed for more than three years and if dropped, it will be a blow to the fair trade practices in ecommerce
|
Bengaluru-based milk and grocery delivery startup DailyNinja has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Mumbai-based venture capital firm Matrix Partners India. Existing investors including Bengaluru-based Sequoia India and Saama Capital also participated in this funding round.
|
|
![]() |
|
A state-owned public sector undertaking, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) plans to set up 50 new EV charging stations across the state within six months. Here’s a curated rundown of other important and related developments in the India and global EV Ecosystem this week.
|
Since its inception in 2015, Tesseract has launched three hardware and two software products in the MR, AR, and VR sectors — Methane, Holoboard, and Quark. The founder claims to have seven patents: one US, three international (130 countries), and three India patents. The startup has already introduced Holoboard and Quark in India, and hopes to enter Western markets soon.
|
|
Sometimes, I have dilemma. Mostly the decision is about People who come in my life, stay there, get benefitted, some reciptrocate, some don’t. Some cost me money, some Time, Some deep efforts and some simply gifts and for some I give all that I have.
Then come some moments, decisive when the masks are unpeeled, they fall off, the gloves come off, bad behaviour, attitude, insults start hurting and I realise the my Trust was ill-placed. I have made a huge error of judgement.
In such times, I use Jay’s Tantra. The simplest way is to consult and seek advice from the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipotent – The Om -HIMSELF. I go to BhagvadGita and choose a random shloka. I also go to a Bible someone gifted me years ago. I take a Verse for Bible.
I then decipher meaning as per my understanding and draw inferences. These are not regular moments, they happen when I have a deep dilemma. It is never a Conscience issue though as Conscientious decisions come to me quick and fast – No problem there.
Today’s Dilemma was solved by these two and I urge readers to try this if you come across such difficult moments in life.
This is what came out as Random Verse from Bible:
Proverbs 23:9
Passage:
This is what came as Random Shloka from Gita
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
Chapter 2 Sloka 70
Got it!
Yes. I got my answer to the dilemma. That’s Jay’s Tantra. Use it sparingly and only in dire situations with full belief and trust in the Almighty. Amen!
Did you know…
… that today is the Home Improvement Birthday? In 1991, the TV comedy “Home Improvement” premiered on ABC-TV. Celebrate Tim the Toolman Taylor as you do some work on your own house!
~~~
Today’s Inspirational Quote:
“If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author. And everyday you have the opportunity to write a new page.”
— Mark Houlahan
I did two Udemy courses today. One on Impromptu speaking – most wonderful experience. Another on Humourous speeches. Not great.
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all Readers. A very auspicious day. One of the 3.5 days of Muhurtha – when beginning a new thing is considered Good.
I started with a long walk, Ganapati Darshan and returned with many thoughts, ideas about a start and towards noon got lazy and just slept.
Highlighted ones are my choices for the day.
I believe in Bio-Rhythms. Have done so for over 30 years – ever since I read the book about the research on Bio-rhythms and wanted to buy the Japanese – CASIO watch which showed 3 biorhythms – Physical, Emotional and Intellectual. They also sold Cards in those days where you can calculate your critical days and avoid major financial decisions, Driving, Flying a plane etc. etc. etc.
It was interesting when I found the Apps on Android and iPhones. I downloaded and saw a fourth one added – i.e. Intution ! I said, it is getting interesting. As per initial book if I were to calculate I should have been Dead when I was 58+ i.e. 23 X 28 X 33 days = 58 years, …. days. I did not believe it. The book also talked about how they scientifically studied the Date of birth and time of birth of the Rail, Plane, Sea, Cycle, Bicycle, Car, Bus and Electrical accidents and deaths. It appeared scientific and eventhough a Skeptic I said let us give it a try and it has remained with me as a Daily watch every morning before my morning walks – to watch in the phone.
Today was not supposed to be great. The biorhythm explanation said do and see what Random Phrases turned up this morning.
So overall still an interesting day.
Some very interesting Generated Idioms for the day:
Couple of incidents in the week and the day made me laugh out loud.
On a serious note, Every Mentor and mentee face these situations. The Startpreneurs preparing for bigger competitions ahead need to take inspiration from such random thoughts and using lateral thinking – attribute listing as problem solving triggers to new and innovative ideas
Great Sunday. 5th meeting of Toastmasters in 3rd Club of Bangalore. Young, vibrant crowd mixed with some bearded oldies and middle aged Techies.
But it can be a pretty expensive obsession to have! With typical menu drinks costing about $3-$7, plus whatever add-ins you prefer, it can add up (especially if it’s a daily occurence!). However — it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s worth looking into how to get more bang for our (Star)buck, and how many options the trusty coffee chain and cafe really can offer us. Read on for the hacks that will save you time, money, and calories at Starbucks.
In fact, the most expert Starbucks-frequenters rarely order off the menu, to get their favorite drinks and to save money! Check out the secret menu (yes, it really does exist!) or try these secret menu drink concoctions that are all $3, and never pay $5 for a coffee again! If you prefer lattes, order the cafe misto, which tastes the same (half coffee, half milk), but is significantly cheaper (and will save you calories!). More of a tea drinker? A chai latte misto is half steamed milk and half brewed chai tea, saving you money and sugar (you can also just order a hot chai tea with steamed milk if the terminology weirds you out, and save about $2).
Iced lattes are one of the most satisfying and refreshing drinks, but can get pricey, especially if you prefer them in Venti size instead of the Tall (don’t we all on Monday mornings?). Instead of ordering a latte, order a triple espresso over ice, in a Venti cup (with room for milk), and then go to the condiments area to fill up your coffee with milk, which makes an iced latte, but for a fraction of the cost. If you prefer your lattes hot, you can also order a Tall coffee with steamed milk (still cheaper than a latte!), or a Tall hot coffee in a Grande cup, and fill up on the milk at the condiments station — a Grande latte for the price of a Tall coffee!
Spend a lot of workdays or meetings at Starbucks where you stay for hours and get multiple drinks? Or maybe just one cup of coffee for you doesn’t cut it? Anytime throughout the day (and in any size — Tall, Grande, or Venti), refill your cup with brewed coffee or tea for just 5o cents. Just know that “refills” only count as iced or hot coffee and iced or hot tea (but remember the tricks above to turn it into a latte!). Also an insider tip: you can get a 50 cent refill with coffee or tea, even if your original drink was not just brewed coffee or tea. So feel free to fill up on a Pumpkin Spice Latte and get a 50 cent extra pick-me-up of tea before you leave!
Not only will you be saving the planet, one coffee cup and plastic straw at a time, but you’ll also save 10 cents on your drink whenever you bring your own tumbler, cup, or mug. We love using an ever-so-chic mason jar with a lid, or — funny you should mention it — Starbucks has amazing reusable cups of their own. We love this one, this one, and this one.
Normally I detest rewards programs at restaurants and stores — it’s just more spam emails and I probably spend more money than I save (it’s hard to resist a 30% sale or free pastry with purchase of drink). But at Starbucks, it is a must (and with no cons)! First of all, it’s free to sign up (did that convince you enough?), and besides just having a ton of perks for being a reward member (hello, free birthday drink!), you also earn points for a number of things, like purchasing anything in store and certain Starbucks items in grocery stores, that can be used for free food and drinks. Did we mention that it’s free?
Never pay $3 for the plastic water bottle in the Starbucks fridge; just ask for a Venti iced water! You don’t have to worry about the water not being clean — Starbucks triple-filters their water and ice, so you know it’s as clean as possible and you could save some serious money. For an environmentally friendly option, you can also bring your own reusable bottle and ask Starbucks to fill it with water and ice, for free.
Going with friends or know you’ll want a few cups during your day at Starbucks? Order a French Press pot of coffee instead of individual cups. Each pot serves a few cups of coffee, but will be cheaper than buying each cup individually. Enjoy a pot with your friends, or get a serious caffeine buzz on your own (sometimes, we just need it!).
If you’re getting an iced tea, ask for “no water.” Iced teas are typically watered down from the original pitcher into your cup, so asking for no water will make the brew stronger. You can also ask for “light ice” (unless you prefer lots of ice). Ice is usually filled up much more than is necessary to keep the drink cold, limiting the volume of space the barista can fill the cup up with your favorite coffee drink or tea. Having light ice will give you more bang for your buck because you’ll be getting more of your drink, while still keeping it nice and cold.
I love the occasional PSL or Vanilla Latte as much as the next girl, but did you know that a Tall with sweetener has three pumps of syrup, a Grande has four pumps, and a Venti has five or six pumps? Just one pump is about 20 calories and 5 grams of sugar… are you keeping up with this math? That means just a Tall has 15 grams of sugar in the syrup alone. I don’t even want to think about how much is in a Venti! Asking for either one or two pumps per drink still gives the same flavor (we need that pumpkin spice!!) and sweetens up your drink, but if you order a Grande Vanilla Latte with two pumps vanilla syrup, you’d be saving 40 calories and 10 grams of sugar, for not much difference in taste.
I don’t know about you, but I usually stick to the usual iced coffee, just so I don’t risk getting a drink that I end up not liking. But oh the possibilities out there in the Starbucks universe! Unless the store is super busy, the barista should be totally fine getting you a sample of a certain brew or drink, if you’re unsure whether or not you’d like it.
Thought “Tall” was the smallest? Think again — “Short” is an 8oz size (“Tall” is 12oz), which clarifies that age-old confusion that “Tall” was the smallest size, when it counterintuitively sounds like the largest — it’s because “Short” is the size smaller. Clears up a lot, doesn’t it? If you’re in the mood for a small drink, Short is cheaper than a Tall. The “Short” cappuccino has the same amount of espresso as the “Tall,” so if caffeine is your goal, opt for the cheaper options.
A Venti size of your favorite sweet iced drink is about 24oz, while a Tall is 12oz. However, a Venti frappe is significantly cheaper than two Tall frappes would be (about $4 less, precisely). So instead of getting two, order the Venti size and ask for two Tall cups. Divide accordingly, and enjoy your frappucino with your friend, knowing you both saved money.
Using the Starbucks Mobile app, you can order ahead of time, and just go pick it up. No more waiting in long lines for your coffee! We’re busy women — we have much more important things to do.
This article was originally published on The Everygirl.com.
I am doing a new Learning course about Master 5 key elements of Story Writing/ Telling.
The Key elements are
To Ramp this all up – it is essential to churn some new ideas and I am using the Random Phrases/ Idiom Generation methods. This is close to what I learnt at Dr. Edward de Bono’s Serious creativity and Lateral thinking books and trainings. They are great.
The Hopes Of The Devil. I shall park these for the moments.
———————
A Whistle In The Wind.
———————
Just A Bump On My Head.
If any of our readers have any thoughts, suggestions – they are welcome.
Lastly, let’s not forget that charity begins at home. Unexpectedly helping a friend or family member also counts. The person you help needn’t be a stranger. Now that we’ve got beyond the caveats, let’s look at some reasons why you should practice random acts of kindness.
You genuinely get to help, even if it’s only in a small way
This one’s a real no-brainer. You aren’t being kind if you aren’t helping. By helping someone else, even if it’s only holding a door open, smiling at someone or offering to carry shopping bags, you have genuinely helped. The person you’ve been kind to feels more valued, and who knows? There could be a knock-on effect.
Make others feel good
There are a lot of sad, lonely or depressed people out there. Even if the person you help wasn’t feeling down, you’ll make them feel good. If you’re truly a kind person, this will be one of your prime reasons for practicing random acts of kindness.
Feel good yourself
Although this shouldn’t be the reason why you are kind to others, it will be an inevitable consequence. Psychologists point out that as social creatures, helping others satisfies a very deep need within our psyche. It’s instinctive and inevitable. Your self-esteem will improve because you’ll feel like a “good person.” You may even find yourself smiling to yourself when you think about some act of kindness you’ve carried out or are planning.
Build stronger relationships
When you practice kindness as a habit, and do things you don’t have to do to help people you know, you’ll build stronger relationships. If you are ever in a disagreement or do something silly that isn’t helpful at all, you’re far more likely to be forgiven.
Change someone’s life for the better
You never know when something kind that you do will change someone’s life for the better. I recently read a story about a drug addict who lived on the streets and was always treated like filth. One day, he received a small act of kindness from someone, and it made him realize that he still had worth as a human being. He went on to quit drugs, and later became a motivational speaker. Even a small act of kindness can have very powerful, even life-changing, effects.
Give, and you never know, you may receive when you need it most
I’m not sure if we should believe in instant karma, but one thing is certain: when you help others, they become more willing to help you. Since we all go through difficulties at some point in life, that help can prove to be more important to you than you would ever believe.
Others will pass it forward
Kindness is catching. Has someone ever made your day, and you spend the rest of it spreading the sunshine? That’s what I’m talking about!
You’ll become less judgmental
This is a tough one, but when we start seeing people as human beings and not as “labels” like “worthless drug addict,” a “homeless wastrel” or “sourpuss,” we feel a lot better. Everyone has their own problems, and whether they are to blame for them or not, it’s not our place to judge them. Make a point of helping someone you don’t really like. It’s good practice.
Life will have more meaning to you
If you’re forever planning acts of kindness, or grabbing opportunities to help those in need, you’ll be eager to see what each new day will bring.
Make the world a better place
Imagine if everybody in the world was kind to others. What a wonderful place the world would be! You can’t force others to be kind, but you can do your best, and the kindness contagion will spread. Whether you can help in large ways or small, do what you can to build the momentum.
How Behavioral Economics Could Help Reduce Credit Card Delinquency
Nina Mažar
JULY 26, 2018
SUMMARY SAVE SHARE COMMENT TEXT SIZE PRINT 8.95 BUY COPIES
RECOMMENDEDCarla Ann Harris at Morgan Stanley
LEADERSHIP & MANAGING PEOPLE CASE
8.95 ADD TO CARTAnt Financial (A)
TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS CASE
14.00 ADD TO CARTBarclays and the LIBOR Scandal
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING CASE
8.95 ADD TO CARTRYAN MCVAY/GETTY IMAGES
With U.S. household credit card debt at an all-time high of more than $1 trillion, delinquent payments can be more costly than ever. For companies, delinquencies can mean massive collection costs and write-offs of entire accounts. For consumers, delinquency can mean late fees, increased interest rates, downgraded credit scores, the loss of vehicles or homes, or even bankruptcy, despite their intentions to bring their accounts current by making a payment large enough to satisfy their credit card balance. Recent research indicates that simple modifications of automated phone prompts provide an inexpensive way for companies to help consumers make good on their intentions, benefiting both parties.My colleagues Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely and I collaborated with a large North American store that offers credit cards, aiming to study how to get recently delinquent customers to pay at least a portion of their balance. These are customers who have just missed paying at least their minimum payment and are therefore considered one month delinquent. Most credit card companies, including our collaborating card company, use interactive voice recordings (IVRs) — large-volume automated phone calls — to remind early-stage delinquent customers to pay. This assumes that there are only two groups of delinquent customers: those who are unable to pay and those who simply forgot. To take care of those who forgot, a short automated reminder is thought to suffice: “[Customer name], you have a past due amount. If you have already paid, press 1. If you are going to pay within the next three days, press 2. If you want to speak to an agent, press 3.”
However, we know from many other domains of life that people can have the best of intentions but fail to follow through on them. For example, many of us intend to save more money, live a healthier lifestyle, or start working on our taxes early instead of at the last minute. But life gets in the way; we procrastinate and end up not doing what we intended to do. My colleagues and I thought that this might also be true for some of the delinquent credit card customers. So we tested two separate modifications to the baseline IVR to see if they would help overcome this type of inaction in the case of recipients who indicated they would pay within the next three days.
Our first modified version added an interactive menu level that asked call recipients to select a concrete timeframe within which they would make their payment during the ensuing three days: “If you are going to pay within the next 24 hours, press 1” and so on, continuing through 36, 48, and 72 hours. We expected this intervention to prompt deeper mental engagement that would help them remember their intention.
Our second modified version added yet another interactive menu level right after this new one. Call recipients were asked to take a personalized pledge: “[Customer name], you have committed to pay [total amount due] within the next 24 hours. Press 1 to confirm your commitment to this pledge.” The idea was to strengthen call recipients’ sense of commitment to their expressed intention.
Over nine months we randomly assigned a small subgroup of the company’s early-stage delinquent customers, around 50,000 people, to one of the three IVRs. We found that compared with the baseline IVR, the prompt with the concrete timeframe increased customers’ likelihood to pay by 2.26 percentage points and led them to pay 0.23 days faster. Adding both the concrete timeframe prompt and the pledge increased the likelihood by 2.54 percentage points and the speed by 0.51 days.
What does this mean in dollars? The people in our small subgroup had a mean total amount due of $142. Some 15,000 indicated they would pay within the next three days. If all 15,000 had received the IVR with the timeframe prompt and pledge, instead of the baseline IVR, the improvement in response would have translated into an increase in immediate revenue of more than $56,000.
When scaled to a credit card company’s entire customer population, these interventions could result in significant revenue increases. Moreover, additional customers become delinquent every day, increasing the long-term revenue benefits of such interventions. In addition, they cost little, they scale easily, and they reduce more-costly later-stage collection efforts, which can include letters, live agent calls, and collection agency fees. Meanwhile, consumers benefit from avoiding the costs associated with debt delinquency.
These results demonstrate that even simple, minimal prompts delivered through automated, high-volume IVR calls can bridge the intention-action gap that so often prevents people from completing beneficial behaviors. Asking people to express their intentions more precisely about when they will act and to take a pledge could work in areas ranging from tax compliance to medication adherence to students’ procrastination on assignments. More generally, the results affirm that applying behavioral insights has great potential for increasing economic and individual well-being at low cost, as the recent work of Daniel Kahneman, Steven Levitt, Cass Sunstein, Richard Thaler, and others has shown.
Nina Mažar is Professor of Marketing and Co-Director of the Susilo Institute for Ethics in the Global Economy at Questrom School of Business, Boston University, and co-founder (with Dan Ariely) of BEworks, a behavioral economics consultancy.
via How Behavioral Economics Could Help Reduce Credit Card Delinquency
No Good Comes From A Favor.
Float Like A Brick.
That’s Swimming Against The Tides.
A Light In The Night Is A Night Without Fright.
Glue Doesn’t Stick To Everything.
WOW! That’s a cool Idiom worth using. A Mentor can prove to be a Tabula Rasa for the Mentee with sparks of Brilliance and Reverse mentoring/ NLP practice 🙂
In a Mentor’s life, Mentees come for:
1. A Reason
2. A Season,
3. Or for life and accept him/ her as Life Coach.
After a longish Five and half month I bid adieu to a worthy mentoree finally today.
Adieu
Free verse by Jay
(On Cloud Nine:Meaning: Having strong feelings of happiness or satisfaction. )
Congratulations, however hard you try,
I Will always Praise.
Do congratulations make you shiver?
do they?
The communion that’s really anathema,
Above all others are the serenades.
Do serenades make you shiver?
do they?
All that is little is not hello,
hello, by all account is big.
Down, down, down into the darkness of the hello,
Gently it goes – the liberal, the high, mighty fellow.
Adieu is faces of death music.
faces of death music is Adieu.
“a strolling guitarist serenades the diners”.
“a strolling guitarist serenades the diners”,
“a strolling guitarist serenades the diners”.
Adieu
Spiritual understanding is born of harmony between mind and heart.
This harmony of mind and heart does not require the mixing up of their functions.
It does not imply cross-functioning, but co-operative functioning. Their functions are neither identical nor co-ordinate.
Mind and heart must of course be balanced but this balance cannot be secured by pitching the mind against the heart or by pitching the heart against the mind.
It can be attained not through mechanical tension, but through intelligent adjustment.
——-AVATAR MEHER BABA
[Source- Discourses by Meher Baba, volume-I, p-141 (Copyright ©1967 by Adi K. Irani, King’s Rd., Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India]
As reader of palmistry I was scared when one astrologer gave negative connotation of my head and heart lines going together.
Some of my rash decisions in life always told me about my inner conflict between my mind and heart.
It was soothing to read the Masters advice.
An aminophylline, however hard it tries,
Will always be GOLD.
Are you upset by how gilt it is?
Does it tear you apart to see the aminophylline so chromatic?
I cannot help but stop and look at underlying metal.
Never forget the subjacent and basic metal.
The spot that’s really cunning,
Above all others is the marble.
Mmm.
Why is it so cunning?
And the Autogenerated third version is given below 🙂
An aminophylline, however hard it tries,
Will always be GOLD.
Never forget the aureate and gilded aminophylline.
I cannot help but stop and look at underlying metal.
Now fundamental is just the thing,
To get me wondering if metal are rudimentary.
The zany marble sings like a veined hair
Mmm. mmm, mmm.