Official Richart Ruddie Blog - Internet Entrepreneur

The most important day of your life but to me it was Tuesday

Below is a clip which is coined as one of the best quotes ever from one of the worst movies ever. Street Fighter where M. Bison talks about his incoherence to Chung Liu's most fateful day. In the scene above "I'm sorry I don't remember any of it.. You don't remember. For you the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life but to me it was Tuesday." This is such a relevant quote because of things that are crazy in many people's eyes are just another day for somebody else. Tuesday in this case..

Recycle Plastic and Become the worlds largest company

This past years winner from The Royal statistical society was for a creative number was for 90.5% thats the amount of plastic that can be recycled in the world to create a multi-trillion dollar company. The 90.5% is the amount of plastic that is currently unrecycled. Sustainable companies that positively impact the world are a growing trend. Look at the success of the Beyond and Impossible Burgers. Instead of paraphrasing the piece read part of it below and the rest of it at:

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/e1700782.full

Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

Dinosaurs Coming Back to this World in 2029

In the next 5 to 10 years we will start to see the re-emergence of Dinosaurs in our planet. What affects and how this will work over the long run will be one that I'm excited to see. The Wolly mammoth is another species that is being re-born into our society and there was a brief 60 minutes segment about this.

References: https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2018/06/scientists-say-they-could-recreate-living-dinosaurs-within-five-to-10-years.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-race-to-resurrect-woolly-mammoths/

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/should-we-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth/

A big part of leadership is deciding, and good decision-making benefits from intelligence, thoughtful deliberation, and experience, but also, as i hope you agree, from sound values.

Seth Klarman a hedge fund manager from the Boston, Massachusetts area that I have admired for years and author of one of my favorite finance books "Margin of Safety" has a great quote in a recent Harvard Business School speech. The quote is "A big part of leadership is deciding, and good decision-making benefits from intelligence, thoughtful deliberation, and experience, but also, as i hope you agree, from sound values."

Other great lessons in the piece can be found here for my reference: https://www.alumni.hbs.edu/stories/Pages/story-bulletin.aspx?num=6818

Who Will Be Todays Chiune Sugihara?

While the crisis of World War 2 is not an apples to apples comparison by any means the future hopefully will reveal the unsung heroes like Chiune Sugihara who was recently re-honored in a nice NY Times piece seen here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/opinion/sugihara-moral-heroism-refugees.html

 

Some excerpts from the piece:

“heroic imagination,” a focus on one’s duty to help and protect others. This ability is exceptional, but the people who have it are often understated. Years after the war, Sugihara spoke about his actions as natural: “We had thousands of people hanging around the windows of our residence,” he said in a 1977 interview. “There was no other way.”

A second characteristic of such heroes and heroines, as the psychologist Philip Zimbardo writes, is “that the very same situations that inflame the hostile imagination in some people, making them villains, can also instill the heroic imagination in other people, prompting them to perform heroic deeds.” While the world around him disregarded the plight of the Jews, Sugihara was unable to ignore their desperation.

“I told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it was a matter of humanity. I did not care if I lost my job. Anyone else would have done the same thing if they were in my place.”

Decades from now we will likely here the stories of those fleeing violence and corruption in their country and how a man or woman came to their rescue...time will tell?

Apu May Soon Be Gone from the Simpsons

As any millenial remembers the Simpsons being one of the biggest parts of our lives as far as entertainment goes we can also embrace a day when the Simpsons far past it's prime years may no longer really be the Simpsons as they start to kill off characters. The Guardian is one of my favorite papers so support and donate to their hard working journalists if you enjoy their pieces: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/01/apu-simpsons-hero

Alternative Locations for Ultra Music Festival in Miami

Miami commissioners have said no to renewing Ultra Music Festivals Bayfront Park location earlier today. The only comment on potential alternative locations was the Hard Rock Stadium which is quite far from the usual Downtown Miami location. If they would want to move the location that far away then here are some other venues and locations that may be a fit for 2019 Ultra Music Festival if they are unable to work out a deal for Bayfront Park:

1. Hard Rock Stadium - Home of the Miami Dolphins I don't believe is a great place for a music festival as rolling loud took place there and a Paint Party festival that took place in December. The area has no hotels and traffic would back up causing too many logistical issues. 20 minutes northwest or 15 miles from the current location.

2. South Beach - they could set up pop up tents and have a beach party bringing it back to their roots. They of course would also have to figure out permits and compliance.

3. Mana Wynwood - Same place that they hold the 3 points music festival in the art district. The festival would really have to slim down as I don't believe the capacity would be even close to what Bayfront Park Reaches.

4. Homestead Speedway - As we know from Imagine Music Festival in Atlanta and EDC Vegas motor speedways are great locations for holding music festivals as their size is immense and is 42 minutes south or 32.5 miles away from the current event location.

5. Miami Beach convention center - After seeing a show here I was impressed with what they can do here but this also completely changes the vibe and energy of the event.

6. Big Cypress Indian Reservation - This is one that I always wondered why they haven't done a big event here. Phish did an 85,000 person concert here and it would turn Ultra into a camping event. Issues that I've heard is that there is no signage and it's difficult to get in and out of. Also if its rainy then it will end up being a mud fest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Cypress_Indian_Reservation

7. Virginia Beach Key - Last year Rapture music festival was held on the Thursday before the music festival kicked off. While it may be rented for other Miami Music Week events this is a hidden gem that is a great place for events.

8. Gulfstream Race Track - In Hallandale Beach, Florida just north of Miami there is a horse racing track that could be setup to throw an event.

I personally don't think any location will have the flare that downtown Miami has but think that a Beach setup would be the next best thing in the area.

 

Richart Ruddie ESTP Personality Type

Took the Myers-Briggs test and would highly suggest anybody from high school students to adults to take this personality test. My results for my record keeping is an ESTP which stands for Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking, Perceiving. After reading the characteristics they are spot on in my opinion for my case. The Myers Briggs test provides 93 questions for you to answer to help determine your type of personality. There is no wrong or right answer just a way to help determine who you are.

More information for easy access about ESTP personality types:

ESTPs are energetic, active problem solvers who respond creatively to challenging situations in their environment. They focus on the here and now and enjoy each moment that they can be actively involved in achieving immediate results.

They value home, family, health, financial security, and prestige.

 

 

ESTP's Like myself make work fun and it's always a challenge to solve problems that others find difficult or are unable to complete:

Here are the characteristics of the ESTP's like me:

• ESTPs develop easy ways to do hard things, and they make their work fun.
• They don’t let rules or standard procedures interfere with getting the job done.
• They are good team members and can pull conflicting factions together.
• ESTPs are experts at seeing the need of the moment and responding quickly to
meet it.
• They can be gifted problem solvers because they focus on the current situation
and accept the reality of what exists.
• Because they are not bound by a need to follow standard procedures or
preferred methods, they are often able to see ways of achieving a goal by “using”
the existing rules, systems, or circumstances in new ways, rather than allowing
them to be roadblocks.
• ESTPs do best in jobs requiring a practical and realistic approach to problems,
action, and adaptability. Examples are engineering, police work, marketing,
construction, recreation, food service, and any job requiring troubleshooting.
• They are likely to be bored in a job that requires them to work on abstract
problems or engage in long-range planning.

 

How well do they work and do they work well with others?

• ESTPs develop easy ways to do hard things, and they make their work fun.
• They don’t let rules or standard procedures interfere with getting the job done.
• They are good team members and can pull conflicting factions together.
• ESTPs are experts at seeing the need of the moment and responding quickly to
meet it.
• They can be gifted problem solvers because they focus on the current situation
and accept the reality of what exists.
• Because they are not bound by a need to follow standard procedures or
preferred methods, they are often able to see ways of achieving a goal by “using”
the existing rules, systems, or circumstances in new ways, rather than allowing
them to be roadblocks.
• ESTPs do best in jobs requiring a practical and realistic approach to problems,
action, and adaptability. Examples are engineering, police work, marketing,
construction, recreation, food service, and any job requiring troubleshooting.
• They are likely to be bored in a job that requires them to work on abstract
problems or engage in long-range planning.

I encourage everybody to spend the $55.00 on the MBT test https://assessment.mbtionline.com

Remember though at the end of the day no test will tell you if you will end up being an engineer, doctor, DJ, entrepreneur, or firefighter but it's nice to see a personality test that can nail things so accurately.

ZOZOBRA - Fiestas de Santa Fe Burning Man Origins

Was really interesting to find out that New Mexico has an event that goes back to the 1700's for Fiestas de Santa Fe. It's where a man is burned similar to the "Burning of the Man" at Black Rock Desert for the annual Labor Day Week counter culture event Burning Man. The event in New Mexico today is called ZOZOBRA which means Old Man Gloom.

The similarties are really cool to read about and makes me wonder why I haven't noticed any of these similarities before when attending Burning Man.

Read for yourself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zozobra

Richart Ruddie DJ Sets on Night Owl Radio

For the years 2016 and 2017 I was lucky enough to be a special guest on Night Owl Radio the radio show that plays on Friday nights @ 9:00 PM Eastern and 6:00 PM Pacific for those who are Insomniac fans this is a great show with a diverse set of lineups and special guests who get to DJ. As far as I know I am the only DJ to appear on the show as a special guest who is not real DJ but was able to be the up all night guest thanks to my donation during the EDC week auction.

For the Richart Ruddie DJ Sets from Night Owl Radio you can find them at the links listed below from Insomniac.com and Soundcloud:

Episode 44 with Eric Prydz

https://www.insomniac.com/music/stream-night-owl-radio-044-ft-richart-ruddie-and-eric-prydz/

https://soundcloud.com/insomniacevents/night-owl-radio-044-ft-richart-ruddie-and-eric-prydz

Episode 96 with Alison Wonderland B2B Diplo B2B Jauz
https://www.insomniac.com/music/stream-night-owl-radio-096-ft-richart-ruddie-and-alison-wonderland-b2b-diplo-b2b-jauz/

https://soundcloud.com/insomniacevents/night-owl-radio-096-ft-richart-ruddie-and-alison-wonderland-b2b-diplo-b2b-jauz

You can also find all of the episodes available for download on itunes and through your Podcast application on your phone:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/night-owl-radio/id1034104649?mt=2

 

Ever Notice All International Terminals at the Airport Look the Same

One of the few commonalities you will notice anywhere in the world is that the international airport terminals look and feel the same. The domestic terminals however do not have the same standards across the world but rather tend to reflect the local culture of the area. From the Scoreboard style list of flight arrivals and departures, to the counters with the standard baggage scale, to the exact layout of where all the counters are looks and feels the same at all of the major international terminals that I have seen all over the world.

Just a small observation that I've noticed and haven't found that anybody has really covered this. The one small piece that I did find referenced that the architects who build the international terminals want to have familiarity for the travelers no matter where they are coming from or going to

Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko What Make for a great film

Stories that seem almost too good to be true that would make for a great film would certainly be the Babani Sissoko film. This is the story of the man from West Africa who used his black magic skills to get a middle eastern bank to give him over $200 million dollars. He ended up in hot water in Miami was arrested but was so generous and helpful to the community there that the judge was lenient on his sentence and let him go early. In the end he's back home in Africa now living a quiet life but the hope is that a film about his wild story is created one day.

For now we have this BBC Documentary but a full length hollywood thriller would be great as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKALCS0Fe5w

How Innovation Saves Lives

Apperion has created some graphs to display how innovation and inventions can impact us globally saving billions of lives.

To say that we're living in the best of times would be correct if you look at life expectancy globally. In the late 1900's Africa and the former USSR declined sharply in life expectancy but they and every where else has seen an increase with Africa seeing the steepest increase.

Source:

http://www.visualcapitalist.com/50-important-life-saving-breakthroughs-history/

Quote of the day

Enjoy the spring weather of May and remember this quote from DJ AM: "Starve the ego. Feed your soul"

 

 

Batteries From Your Car Will Power Your Home in the Future

Batteries are not just for charging and moving us around in our cars in the future. We're going to be using that stored energy and putting it back into the grid and fueling our homes electricity in the future with this technology. While this seems like it's quite far away we can also look at all the progress we've made in the last decade with new technology. For my reference: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-08/cities-running-on-car-batteries-just-so-crazy-it-might-work

Steven Hawking Passes Away

Steven Hawking a true legend has passed away and one of the smartest individuals alive if not the smartest. His work will forever be ingrained in our society and some have said his disability gave him an advantage to learn even more and think in unique ways.

The Lottery Hack

In what I think is one of the best editorial pieces I have read that has ever come out of the Huffington Post by Jason Fagone: The Lottery Winners is a great piece that details how a semi-retired Michigan couple embarks on a journey to take advantage of an opportunity in the Michigan and then the Massachusetts lottery system. The Lottery WinFall games talk about how a loophole in a system can be exploited and those either with enough intelligence or hard work (in this case they spent thousands of hours doing mundane tasks and driving 700+ miles through Canada and back into the USA) can create a short lived business opportunity.

It's a great piece that I'm bookmarking along with the original Boston Globe Spotlight piece:

http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2011/08/03/lottery_game_is_fatally_flawed_treasurer_should_shut_it_down/

Another article of respect from last week: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanmac/this-is-the-man-who-helped-peter-thiel-demolish-gawker-mr-a?utm_term=.uvLLwzDam#.gnYkq4aQ5

Tupacs Interview With Eery Premoninotions

Watch the 43 minutes of Tupac Shakurs interview from Prison when he was in the Clinton Correctional facility in New York. Some of the crazy things to hear knowing what happened to him the following year was that he said he has already taken 5 bullets and god willing doesn't plan to take anymore. That his music will live on long after he's gone. Some other really intriguing stuff in this classic.

How I used AI Tools & Google Trends to Determine that Amazon HQ2 Is Coming to Miami

Amazon has yet to announce where they are going to put their newest headquarters called HQ2 into Overtown, Miami. With some proprietary AI software I've been testing and using Google Trends I can say with a high degree of probability that Overtown Miami will be the announced city for the second headquarters. If you look at search volume and spikes you get these clues.

Here are a few examples that you can see:

 

Notice the huge jump in late January for the neighborhood of Overtown that is just west of Downtown Miami and only miles from Jeff Bezos high school.

If you look at some of the other competitors and candidates bidding for HQ2 and their such volume jumps and AI metrics I've been monitoring have not yielded the same results:

 

Montgomery County, Maryland was definitely in contention but most likely due to over regulation and Maryland being known as an anti-business friendly state has hurt it's chances of providing thousands of new jobs to Marylanders.

Theres more data and articles that I've read through trying to work against my logic and the data but I can't find data to support another city. There are reasons I can think of that would make the area not so desirable such as Hurricanes and rising sea levels but every location has it's positives and negatives and Miami definitely has a lot of positives. Time will tell as I write this late at night on the 13th of February.

2017 a Financial Overview from Bloomberg

Bloomberg just did a great interactive piece covering 2017. There are some key points that stuck out to me:

More money went into startups in 2017 than any other year in history. SoftBank certainly led the way with huge investments in already established startups and Theranos receiving a huge end of year investment. 2017's total was $141.3 Billion invested in startups. 2016 investments paired with 2015 investments. In January of 2016 when I sat in on meetings at Battery Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners they all said that they were getting back to basics on VC investments. Take it FWIW.

Hong Kong has the highest real estate prices in the world and they continued to climb while their unemplyment continued to dip to only 3.0% where Japan has 2.8% unemployment followed by the US and Isreal at 4.1%, United Kingdom at 4.3% and Germany at it's lowest level since reunification. Apollo Golbal raised 24.6 billion dollars for the largest fund ever.

Student Loans have now exceeded the total size of U.S. High yield corporate market. This is a catch 20/20. Education costs continue to rise so there should be a rise in student loans which has continiously risen since 2005. This also equates to more students in school which is a positive thing IMO. More education typically = better society right?

Art market continues to reach new highs. Salvator Mundi sells for a record $450.3 million dollars at auction. Price was actually 400 Million combined with a 50 million dollar auction house fee. Off the top of my head this was sold to the Louve in Abu Dhabi. The total cost to build this museum was less than the cost of the one painting. The naming rights however are even more than the cost to build the museum. So what is art? Is it a name and recognition? The most expensive piece of art in the world is the Mona Lisa. The auction house did a fantastic job marketing this as the second Mona Lisa and when you have a piece on display for the next 100 years and people flock at $60.000 a ticket to go and see the second Mona Lisa the return on investment and name that the 2nd Louve has made for itself tends to make sense.

Reference:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-year-in-money/

Q &A With Genius James Simons

A rare glimpse and talk with one of the worlds smartest men Jim Simons who started Renaissance Technologies which is the most successful hedge fund of all time. If you enjoy mathematics then you will appreciate this:

Those Cables Underneath the Ocean that provide Internet Are Improving

The myths and rumors you may hear about where there are cables underneath the ocean that provide internet service throughout the world are actually true. Cool story of the day is that Microsoft is improving it's efficiency: http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-subsea-speed-monster-a-cable-16-million-times-faster-than-your-broadband/

Musk Has Done it Again - Travel to Any International City in Less than an hour

Between boarding time and taking off you soon will be able to go to any city in the world thanks to SpaceX. Elon Musk who I've written about a few times... Recently put out this video:

 

Now you can travel intergalactically from NYC to Shanghai with only 39 minutes of flight time. This is the future of travel coming in 2024.

Burning Man 2017 Story

Burning Man comes with a lot of amazing experiences and stories for a first time visitor. It's a place where you need to go and see for yourself.  The one story I'm roughly journaling out for my own memory is about my first experience to the Temple in 2017.

Temple is known as this deep spiritual place on the playa where people share their personal messages through letters, prayers, and there own artistic inspirations to showcase things that have a deep meaning to them. For example there were writings on the wall that said "I Love you Dad. Sorry I didn't call you more." The most striking thing that happened as I walked through was a girl reading a poster on the wall and as shes emotionally reading and looking at the photo somebody says to her "What is the story behind the poster you put up and are reading."

Her story is as follows:

This is our friend Joey (Name possibly incorrect) from Salt Lake City. He came with us every year to Burning Man and was a big part of our camp. He was always so joyful and kind dancing around. Last winter he was shoveling snow for his neighbors during a snow storm and a new neighbor in the area didn't know who he was so she called the police and it was two cops who showed up when he got frightened and defensive with his shovel and the rookie police officer puled out his gun and accidentally shot him in self defense not realizing it was a shovel. She said it was very sad and he was with them every year at burning man but this year he's still there in spirit. I then said wow. Thats truly amazing. So you just put up this poster to honor him?

She says oh no. Not at all I just happen to be here right now at the exact moment you were and saw this. I have absolutely no idea who put this up....

 

 

Failure is Critical

 

“If you already know it's going to work, it's not an experiment, and only through experimentation can you get real invention. The most important inventions come from trial and error with lots of failure, and the failure is critical, and it's also embarrassing.” – Jeff Bezos

Bezos may be talking about the Amazon Fire Phone that came out in September of 2014 and didn't sell at all (literally I think the total sold is less than 1,000), which from the outside, was considered an embarrassing failure for the company but true entrepreneurs take chances, learn, and adapt. If you look at the other chances he took then you may think he's a genius for the successes such as the creation of the ever so popular Amazon Echo, and dozens of innovations that made the  original company named Cadabra Inc. but was changed to Amazon in 1996 as the first major online bookseller and today one of the biggest companies of all time. 

Startups fail all the time. Obsess over your clients and fail fast according to Bezos.

Puma & Adidas Were Once One

Reading through this article on the downfall of Nike from Quartz:

and it has this graph below that showcased to me something that I never knew and assume most people don't know. That the Dassler brothers from Germany had a shoe company and it consisted of Puma and Adidas. This former oligopoly started to diminish when Nike came out decades later and within only 5 years Reebok had become the biggest shoe company in the world. As with all cycles things change and Nike came back and still leads today despite a recent announcement to cut 2% of their workforce and the failure to come out with a blockbuster product in the last couple of years. Puma at one point in time had 30% of the market and today is closer to 5% while no company has ever had more than 50% of the entire market which Adidas once owned in the early 1970's.

 

FUD with Hurricane IRMA

Hurricanes put in the highest levels of fear, uncertainty, and doubt in people. The media exploits these fears and it is better to be safe than sorry. The problem IMO with Hurricanes are that you never know where in the path it's going to hit, how much damage its going to inflict, and how bad it will be when it gets there. Lets see what happens with Hurricane Irma & Jose.

Anything that requires a Database is good for Blockchain

Personal note to review in a decade. Anything that requires or is dependent on a central database is an excellent candidate to be disrupted by Blockchain technology. What industries will be transformed thanks to the ledger?

The Future of Tires

Michelin Tires has been working on Research & Development for 3D Printed tires. Since I have a background in this I found this particually cool. Very excited to see the future of tires and how it will disrupt the "Rim" industry and what new industries and jobs will be created when we have majority of tires being 3D printed vs. not. The only downside currently is the cost to make 3D printed tires as it will be a long time IMO when the cost of rubber tires exceeds the cost of 3D printed tires.

For reference and more information see this article:

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/07/michelin-vision-biodegradable-3d-print-airless-tire/

Classic Cuts

If you like classic disco and electronic tracks then here are a few oldies to listen to:

The Future Sound of London “Papua New Guinea” (Jumpin’ & Pumpin’ 1991)(12”)

I Need Your Love (like the sunshine) - N.R.G. Original Mix 1992

jaydee plastic dreams

Underworld - Born Slippy

Forkes over Knives Documentary

A netflix documentary showcasing with real clinical and scientific proof that proper diet can reduce and reverse coronary heart disease and other health related issues that we suffer from based on our diets. The film is on Netflix and is a great way to entertain yourself on the benefits of a plant based diet and the drawbacks of eating processed foods. It also touches on a point that Pricenomics covered that big AG is using our school system to promote and push processed foods.

I also was intrigued by the fact that they said drinking milk did not improve bone density but was yet the opposite. For those of you who remember the Milk campaigns promoting Osteoporosis and that famous Cal Ripken poster with him saying Drink Milk and build Iron Man Strong bones were all being deceived. 

https://www.forksoverknives.com/

The Real Future of AI Thanks to Elon Musk

An in depth read about Neuralink and the future of AI with great possibilities http://waitbutwhy.com/2017/04/neuralink.html 

Take a few hours to read and research on another exciting outside the box idea.

Nest Is in a mode that Does Not Allow It to be adjusted

If you have linked an Amazon Echo/Alexa unit with a Nest heating and cooling unit here is an interesting bug that I found that you may have come across if you're reading this page here. If you have placed your Nest into Eco mode then the temperatures are automatically set and you can't adjust them. If you are speaking to your Alexa or Echo device and asking her to adjust your temperature it will tell you that the current device is in a mode that does not allow that to be adjusted and to do so please open the Nest application or adjust the settings on your Nest device.

So the only solution is to take the device out of Eco mode if you want to do voice activating temperature changes at home.

Hope this troubleshooting helps.

H-Day September 3, 1967

H-Day in Sweden also known as Hogertrafik Day. This is the day in which Sweden decided to switch from driving on the left to the right because there was an increase in accidents of Swedish drivers driving outside of the country. The mass car accidents abroad for their residents and visitors crashing was a problem since all neighboring countries drove on the right and not the left. In Europe today only the United Kingdom & Ireland still drove on the left but the rest of Europe. After advertising with a song specifically about the switch, billboards, pamphlets, radio advertisements, and specific rules set in place to make the switch it was set for 9/3/1967 for the switch from one side to the other.

Sweden was he LAST mainland European country to switch driving sides. Belgium and the Netherlands switched in the 1920's, eastern Austria (Yes half of Austria drove on one side of the road and the other half drove on the other. Eastern Austria drove on the  Left and Western drove on the right), Hungary, and Czechoslovakia all drove on the left until Hitler invaded in World War II and changed that. Here in North America, Nova Scotia drove left until the 1920's, and Newfoundland until 1947. The US Virgin Islands still drive on the left and the closest area that drives on the opposite side of the road is....The Bahamas.

To learn more about Hofertrafik Day listen to this podcast: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/h-day/

 

Actually, Sweden was only the LAST mainland European country to switch driving sides. Belgium and the Netherlands switched in the 1920's, eastern Austria (long story-only half of Austria drove on the right), Hungary, and Czechoslovakia all drove on the left until Hitler took them over. Here in North America, Nova Scotia drove left until the 1920's, and Newfoundland until 1947. The US Virgin Islands still drive on the left.

Life Lessons from Reid Hoffman

Founder of business social network Linkedin Reid Hoffman is one of the most well connected people in Silicon Valley and throughout the world. Be Casnocha has co-authored two books with Hoffman: The Alliance & The Start-Up of You. As he followed Reid around for over two years he learned a ton of great lessons and has shared some of them with readers which I recommend checking out here: http://casnocha.com/reid-hoffman-lessons

For those who want the cliff notes of the top 16 he lists they are below:

16 Lessons Learned (Among Many!)

1. People are complicated and flawed. Root for their better angels.
2. The best way to get a busy person’s attention: Help them.
3. Keep it simple and move fast when conceiving strategies and making decisions.
4. Every weakness has a corresponding strength.
5. The values that actually shape a culture have both upside and downside.
6. Understand someone’s “alpha” tendencies and how that drives them.
7. Self-deception watch: even those who say they don’t need or want flattery, sometimes still need it.
8. Be clear on your specific level of engagement on a project.
9. Sketch three possible outcomes for a project: the likely upside, likely ‘regular’, and likely downside scenarios.
10. A key to making good partnerships great: Identify and emphasize any misaligned incentives.
11. Reason is the steering wheel. Emotion is the gas pedal.
12. Trade up on trust even if it means you trade down on competency.
13. Tell the truth. Don’t reflexively kiss ass to powerful people.
14. Respect the shadow power.
15. Make people genuine partners and they’ll work harder.
16. Final: The people around you change you in myriad unconscious ways

Like other powerful Silicon Valley Titans Ben talks about Reid's mission to save and change the world for better.

"But what he really wants to do is save. He wants to use his talent and network and money to change the world for the better and solve some of humanity’s biggest problems. He is among the most selfless and externally-generous people I’ve met in my life."

Related articles

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman joins Microsoft's board of directors (MSFT)

Richart Ruddie Book Recommendation - Abundance

Abundance by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler it another highly recommended book to check out. Diamandis talks about creating high impact and social entrepreneurship like companies that will affect billions and create positive change in the world. From solar energy, clean water, and vertical farming are just some of the many discussions that he opens the readers minds up to.

If you haven't read any of Diamandis' books then this is a great one to start off with before moving onto to Bold which is his follow up to Abundance.

What is the meaning of life according to Mark Manson

An interesting perspective as always on what the meaning of life is. You can ask 50 different people and you will get 50 different answers but this is one explanation that suffices: https://markmanson.net/the-meaning-of-life

The Real Reason Zuck is Traveling around the Country

I've been meaning to write this tiny excerpt on why I believe Zuck and his wife Priscilla have been traveling around the country as part of their 2017 goals. The journalists and media were fast to conclude that the reason was a possible future run for president. As somebody who loves to travel and meet people from different cultures and backgrounds not just in the USA but from all over the world I can say that the reason for the travels is to become better acquainted with the world outside of Silicon Valley.

When you travel you see how other people live, you learn to eat what they eat, experience what they experience on a daily basis, and most importantly you learn from them. The more you learn about other peoples way of life the more understanding you become. It's important to see the world through somebody elses lense and viewpoint and life is all about learning and culture.

So in my opinion that is the reason for the traveling. I look forward to seeing more of his updates on his travels and the lessons we can all learn from the great people he and his wife are interacting with across the country.

Legend Ed Thorpe Interview

On a recent Chat with Traders interview somebody I have followed for years Ed Thorpe was interviewed. I highly recommend those that are into Mathematics to listen to it here.

The interview is for an upcoming book release by the famous mathematician and Beat the Dealer author. At the end of the interview he discusses his memoir and how he got started in life and into things like Blackjack, Roulette, the stock market, and the different profit centers that he found along the way. These include statistical arbitrage and a hedge fund that was chronicled in a book that I read years ago called "Quants".  He also says at the end of the interview that you can still beat 90% of the investors without doing a lot of work as the majority of people are lazy. It is however important about finding out whats really important in life. Most people in life just don't get it because some people put too much value into work and not into truly living because money truly isn't everything. People get hooked and don't stop working for money because you can never have enough and thats what drives a lot of people to pile up more and more money (not true wealth) and then wondering what it was really for? In the end if you can't go out and enjoy it why did you work so hard to obtain it?

Lesson: Don't just pile up wealth. Do something of value in life. Think about how you will be remembered.

Lyft Founders Heartfelt Message Regarding Immigration Policies

The founders of Lyft sent out this email to their members on Sunday January 29, 2017 after the new U.S. Presidents announcement on a temporary ban and restriction on immigration from "suspect" countries. There after Uber founder Travis Kalnick pledged $3 million to defend his foreign employees rights. What other CEO's have sparked your interest and inspired you to do your part in keeping our country great thanks to our ethnic diversity. What losses will our country endure from tourism and the possible loss of the next Elon Musk or Pierre Omidyar from entering the USA and starting up in a different country.

The Lyft email displayed below:

Defending Our Values

Hi Richart, We created Lyft to be a model for the type of community we want our world to be: diverse, inclusive, and safe. This weekend, Trump closed the country's borders to refugees, immigrants, and even documented residents from around the world based on their country of origin. Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft's and our nation's core values. We stand firmly against these actions, and will not be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community. We know this directly impacts many of our community members, their families, and friends. We stand with you, and are donating $1,000,000 over the next four years to the ACLU to defend our constitution. We ask that you continue to be there for each other - and together, continue proving the power of community.

John & Logan Lyft Co-Founders

 

Person of the Week Robert Marchand

Starting 2017 off on the right Cycle Robert Marchand has an impressive feat at 105 years old. Almost 100 years ago Robert Marchand was told by a cycling coach that he should give up as he would never amount to anything on a bicycle. Well here we are almost 100 years later and that coach long gone but Marchand in Saint-Quentine-En-Yvelines, France was the place where he just finished riding 14 miles in one hour and setting a new world record for his age! 

 He awaits a rival to compete against him and said he would have had a better time had he seen the current lap time. At the end of his 92 laps he received a standing ovation showing the world that you do things for yourself and do not worry about what the others say. Haters are always going to hate and try to stop you. Make up your own mind and do what you want to do as Robert Marchand has done.

The Hawaii' of other continents

I'm finishing up at top 50 experiences in the world to seek out and explore list. During the research and writing process I've discovered a few variations of "Hawaii" for other countries. In Europe there is a archipelago called the Azores off the coast of Portugal and only a 3.5 hour flight from the east coast 4 hours from London and 2.5 from Spain called the Azores and is known as Europes version of Hawaii. Due to it's location surrounded by water despite being so far north it never experiences drastically cold temperatures.

South Americas version is the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Equador and Africa has Madagascar. In Asia there are many places that would be considered competition to Hawaii.

Happy 2017!

2017 - What to Expect

What to expect in 2017? What we learn about predictions by looking back at prognosticators is that nobody has a clue of what will really happen but the best thing we can do is roll with the changes and adapt the best we can.

Jonathan Greenblatt Kudos

Person of the week thanks to a story I just read on Business Insider is Jonathan Greenblatt. Greenblatt is the Jewish director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which campaigns against anti-Semitism and other bigotry which is nice to see how passionate our country is to ensure that we stand up and fight for equality for all citizens. 

Given the history of the Jewish people and how we are educated to remember these very strong words "Never Again" it's important to protect and acknowledge others in the world regardless of their faith or background. Greenblatt said if a registration of Muslims was created that he would register himself in that database.

Thanks to the publicity regarding this subject the ADL has seen a rise in donations. If you feel strongly about fighting Bigotry and Anti-Semitism and want to bring equal justice for all then visit: The ADL's Website here

"So much to do.
  So much ADL can do.
  So much it MUST do!

 Your gift will allow us to:

• Monitor hate groups
• Fight bigotry in the courts
• Pass laws that bring equal justice for all
• Educate the next generation to reject bias and bullying"

 

 

You don’t choose your passions; your passions choose you

Jeff Bezos says it best with inspirational quotes and advice on failing and growing your failures. If you're not failing you're not trying hard enough. Come up with difficult tasks and make good and bad headlines to succeed and innovate in the world.

One reason why people don’t like failure is because it’s embarrassing, Bezos added. He described a toddler trying to put a square peg in a round hole for hours, without success. But it doesn’t keep them from trying and trying. That’s how they learn.

“We all have that when we are little, but as we get older, somehow it’s not as cool to fail,”

For the full Geekwire overview and article go here: http://www.geekwire.com/2016/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-offers-6-leadership-principles-change-mind-lot-embrace-failure-ditch-powerpoints/

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Newest Offering

Faster Entry through the UK border

Just recently announced is something called Registered Traveler by the United Kingdom Border Force to give faster and more convenient entry into the UK for elgible nationals from the USA & Canada. Membership of Registered Traveller costs £70 in the first year and £50 per year thereafter.

Membership of Registered Traveller includes the following benefits:

Access to ePassport gates

Use of the UK / EEA queue

No requirement  to complete a landing card on arrival in the UK

No routine credibility interview with a Border Force officer.

Visitor eligibility criteria have changed and you now may apply to join if you have made at least 4 journeys to the United Kingdom in the previous two years.  Complete details of Registered Traveller eligibility and availability can be found online at www.gov.uk/registered-traveller. 

Registered Traveller is proving extremely popular with members and to date there have been over 275,000 crossings of the border by members with extremely positive feedback such as,

“I think it is fantastic! It has made a major difference to my experience travelling as it gives me a great deal of time back.”

“Time saving and improved experience of clearing immigration.”

You can apply for Registered Traveller online now at www.gov.uk/registered-traveller.

 

My thoughts -- Do you think the Euro Zone will eventually have the same offering?

Clinton vs Trump Debat Number 2- Wait But Why

In case you have not read the satirist but realistic version of last nights debate between Hilary Clinton and Donald J. Trump then you may want to sit down and have a read: http://waitbutwhy.com/2016/10/second-presidential-debate.html

When you are writing things as a satirist and bringing laughter to a subject like this stuff it can really put a smile on your face as the comments from the posts readers say.

Writers and journalists typically use their powers for evil and to hurt good people. It's very nice to see a positive spin on this.

What are your thoughts on the Wait But Why piece? Send me an email or comment below.

 

-Richart Ruddie

Porter Robinson Logo Text

【=◈︿◈=】

Looking for an emoji or way to text the Porter Robinson Logo? Here the symbol: 【=◈︿◈=】

Quote of the Day - Greatness

Quote of the day about striving for greatness. "Someone once told me to not bite off more than I can chew. I said I'd rather choke on greatness than nibble on mediocrity."

No confirmation on the originator of the quote but if you know shoot me an email to give credit where credit is due. Strive for greatness like Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Mark Zuckerberg just announced today on Facebook an amazing announcement about their hiring of Dr. Cori Bargmann. The goal is to cure all diseases in our children's lifetime. Arnold Schwarzenegger (No way I spelled that right without auto correct) chimed in and said it best and we all should take note: "life is all about what we give, not what we make".

Using your power for good and to continiously make the world a better place starting at such a young age is what sets the CZ initiative apart from so many others who have amassed wealth at a young age but did not act either till much later in life or not at all. This is inspiring and one of the many reasons why a recent poll came out that placed Zuck at the top for millennial inspirations.

 

For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/czbiohub/

Take any system and make it much better: https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/can-we-cure-all-diseases-in-our-childrens-lifetime/10154087783966634