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5 Interesting Careers Using Mathematics You Might Not Have Considered

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There isn’t a school day that goes by where a math teacher doesn’t hear a student ask “when am I going to use this in real life?” While it’s true that most students will never have to figure out the length of a shadow based on the sun’s position and the height of a tree, there are still going to be plenty of real-life uses for mathematics, especially when it comes to their careers. 

Many careers out there use a surprising amount of math on a daily basis. So if you’re a teacher that wants to let a student know about the great careers that they can apply their math knowledge to, or if you’re a student who simply loves math, here are five interesting careers using mathematics you might not have considered.

1. Air Traffic Controller

The average air traffic controller pulls in around $130,000 per year, which is good for over $62 per hour. There’s a reason that the position is always in such high demand, and it’s because the job of an air traffic controller is a fast-paced one that requires a lot of mathematical skills. Being able to do arithmetic quickly is of the utmost importance for the job to make sure that flights arrive and depart safely.

These controllers are working with numbers nonstop from calculating times, distances, and speeds all at once so that the runway is moving at a good pace while planes aren’t circling too much in the air. Sure, there is a lot of stress that comes from being an air traffic controller, but the salary is phenomenal.

2. Attorney

Those that haven’t really spent much time in a courtroom think that the job of an attorney is simply to comb over evidence that was found at a crime scene and try to prove that their client was innocent. There’s a lot more to being an attorney than just dispelling or proving violent crimes, though, as there are plenty of white-collar attorneys that deal with financial crimes and lawsuits on a daily basis.

Some of the highest-paid attorneys are the ones that work in trust funds and other financial lawsuits that require a lot of number-crunching. At that point, attorneys sort of act like third-party accountants to make sure that everyone is getting what they’re entitled to. It’s a position that you really don’t want to mess up when you’re in charge of the numbers, and you’re compensated handsomely for being good at math.

3. Broadcaster

More than ever, there are youngsters that want to grow up and do play-by-play on television for their favorite sports teams. What a lot of them might realize is that there is a lot of math that goes into being a good broadcaster, especially when you’re talking about a statistic-heavy sport like baseball.

Being able to calculate stats on the fly is going to be one of the most important parts of a broadcaster’s job. From figuring out how many yards a quarterback has thrown on the day to the likelihood that someone is going to hit a free throw, stats are a major part of sports and the reason why fantasy sports have taken off so much.

4. Game Designer

Just like broadcasting, game design is another career path that has drawn the interest of a lot of young people. Perhaps even more so than broadcasting, math plays an integral part in game design. There’s an endless amount of geometry that needs to work together when making a game, and those interactions are all based on mathematics.

From linear algebra to geometry to even random number generation, game designing involves almost nothing but math. Sure, it takes a lot of artistic skill to make a game look good, but it takes all of your mental capacity for math to make it work and function well. After all, many people have said that great graphics don’t equal a great game if the function isn’t working properly.

5. Casino Manager

Places like Las Vegas have casinos that know their operating costs down the exact penny thanks to some brilliant people that work in mathematics. These mathematicians need to know how much the payouts are for each game and how much each table is pulling in. These operators will need to know how many tables to keep open at a given time and what the minimum bets should be.

Even outside of Vegas, there are plenty of cities that are adding casinos and need good managers. The math can be extremely complicated and you have to work with engineers, which is why these important jobs pay out so well.

5 Surprising Ways The Bay Area Has Changed In The Past 30 Years

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The San Francisco Bay is one of the most well-known hubs of the United States, serving host to a massive metro area that includes the cities of San Francisco and Oakland. Though most people from out of the state simply know the Bay Area as the place that has the Golden Gate Bridge and various sports teams, there’s a lot more to the region than just that.

Those that have lived in the Bay Area for a couple of decades know first-hand just how much it has changed over the years. Some changes have been very obvious, while others have been extremely subtle. Let’s take a look at some of the surprising ways that the Bay Area has changed over the past 30 years and what the outlook is like for the next 30.

The Population Swell

Back in 1960, the population of the entire Bay Area was only around 3.6 million people. Even at the time, the area was already feeling a little bit crowded, but it has only gotten more crowded over the years. By the time 1980 rolled along, the population had swelled to almost 5.2 million and then saw a continuous climb into the mid-1990s when the population reached 6.3 million people.

Things would level off a bit during the early 2000s, but the later part of the decade and the 2010s saw a massive spike in population. Now, there are nearly 8 million people living in the Bay Area, and that number figures to only keep climbing. As a result, traffic has gotten more backed up and housing is harder to come by, which leads to our next change in the Bay Area.

Housing Prices

It’s no secret that housing prices have gone up drastically across the United States, but no region has seen prices go up quite as they have in the Bay Area. There’s only one other metro area that has more expensive housing, and that’s New York City. The Bay Area has an average rent of over $3,800 per month, which is nearly double that price that you would find in cities like Baltimore, Maryland, or Phoenix, Arizona.

There was a time when living in the Bay Area wasn’t so expensive, though. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that housing really started to skyrocket, and those prices have climbed faster than any other region despite the 1989 earthquake, the dot-com bubble burst, and the recession of the late 2000s.

Oakland Sports

Over the past 30 years, the San Francisco 49ers and San Francisco Giants have gotten shiny new stadiums and have had a lot of success in their new homes. As for Oakland, two of their teams have left the city while one seems to have one foot out the door. The NBA’s Warriors moved from Oracle Arena in Oakland to the Chase Center in San Francisco after experiencing a ton of success.

The Raiders couldn’t get funding for a new stadium in Oakland, so they left the Coliseum and headed for Las Vegas to play at the new Allegiant Stadium on the Strip. As for the Athletics, they are somewhat stuck at the Coliseum and may end up following the Raiders to Sin City. 30 years ago, Oakland had three sports teams with a lot of success, and they may soon have zero teams altogether.

No More Room

Those that grew up in the Bay Area during the 1970s or 1980s were able to spot a lot of open areas that included trees that extended for long stretches. Those days are gone, though, as Bay Area real estate has become so lucrative that almost all of it is taken up. Residents these days note that there’s just no open space, and that’s a product of the population boom.

Sure, there are still some parks around the Bay Area, but nothing like the wide-open orchards that used to be a staple of the Bay Area. A lot of tech companies moved into the region, and space was becoming a premium with these massive buildings opening up.

Crime Came and Went

There are people that say the Bay Area is more violent now than it has ever been. Those people are actually incredibly wrong. Crime was low during the early 1960s in the Bay Area, then peaked around 1980 in terms of property crime and in the early 1990s for violent crime.

Since then, the Bay Area has seen a massive drop in both property and violent crimes, with numbers lower now than they have been since the start of the 1960s. When you see the news, though, you might think that the Bay Area has become a warzone.

Why Aren’t Weather Forecasts Always Accurate?

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The weather is something that we think about on a daily basis. It’s one of the last things we check before going to bed so we know what to expect, we bring it up in small talk with strangers, and we plan our days and trips based on it. For this reason, we rely on weather forecasts to be accurate, because nobody wants to spend a lot of money to plan on going to a picnic or a baseball game that ends up getting washed out.

However, we find that the weather forecasts aren’t always accurate. In fact, sometimes they’re very wrong, and the first person that we blame is the local meteorologist. That shouldn’t be the case, however, as the data that they get is the best possible guess that anybody could reasonably make. After all, they’re trying to predict the weather for up to two weeks and things can change in an instant.

So why is it that weather forecasts aren’t always accurate? It turns out that there are several explainable reasons, and hopefully these make it so that your local weatherperson gets less hate mail.

1. Too Broad of a Range

Simply put, weather forecasters are doing the people a service when they give their best predictions for the weather over longer stretches of time. Weather forecasts about 24 hours ahead of time are almost always going to be completely accurate because patterns have already been well-formed and are going in certain directions.

That’s not the case when a forecaster is telling people what to expect in 10 to 14 days. Instead, those are complete guesses based on predictive models and past weather data on that particular day in history. 

That’s why when there’s unseasonable cold weather in the winter, the 10-day forecast might say that it’s going to be much, much warmer, but that might not happen. Experts say that everything that they say in a five-day window is typically going to be what you can truly expect.

2. Weather is Unpredictable

There are a lot of sports betting “experts” out there that say they’re the best to listen to because they’re the most accurate. Well, even the best of the best are only accurate about 60 percent of the time, and that makes plenty of money. People expect weather forecasters to be perfect, however, which really isn’t fair.

The weather can be just as unpredictable as a basketball game, especially in certain climate zones. The weather forecast in San Diego, California is going to be easy to predict since it’s sunny almost every day and stays in a certain temperature range. The same cannot be said for a place like Detroit, Michigan.

Flatter areas are also more difficult to predict as wind speeds vary greatly in these regions. Places like Kansas are notoriously flat and can have wide ranges of temperatures, winds, and more. This is why the part of the country is known as “tornado alley.”

3. It’s a Computer’s Fault

The people that you see on the local news aren’t actually predicting the weather themselves based on what they think. Again, leave that to the sportscasters. Instead, these meteorologists use a computer model to help them predict the weather. As we all know, computers are amazing, but they aren’t always accurate.

There are also different computer models that are used, with some more accurate than others. The United States alone has several, with the consensus combining all of these. The National Weather Service uses Hewlett-Packard supercomputers to help predict weather models, and they keep adding to the computer count to make things more accurate. 

With that said, weather forecasts are actually much more predictable than they were 50, 20, and even 10 years ago. As we know, people demand perfection from everything in life, and that includes weather forecasts. During the 1950s, people didn’t get 24-hour channels dedicated solely to weather, and their complaints about the “weatherman” were confined only to written letters and maybe the occasional heckle on the streets, a la Nicolas Cage in the 2005 film “The Weather Man”.

5 Most Surreal Hip Hop Drama Episodes Of The Last 20 Years

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Just like in any other profession, there are people in the hip-hop industry that simply don’t get along. Sometimes, there are completely valid reasons for two people to not like each other, while some beefs between two people are completely off-the-wall and leave fans and other rappers thinking “come on, now.”

As a result, we’ve seen plenty of rap beefs that have been downright funny and surreal over the past 20 years. From getting involved with the White House to not attending a party, some of the drama is almos too goofy to take seriously. Here are five instance of surreal hip-hop drama episodes in the past 20 years.

1. The Game vs. Jay-Z

Jayceon Taylor, also known as The Game, has a lot of problems with legendary rapper Jay-Z, and he wants everyone to know about it. On the other side of the coin, it doesn’t seem like Jay-Z thinks about The Game at all. The Game has taken shots at Jay-Z in the media and directly mentioned him in several songs, but Jay-Z has not responded in the slightest. So what’s the deal with The Game?

“I met Jay-Z a long time ago in the 40/40 Club and he seemed like a cool dude,” The Game said. “I asked him something, ‘How do you stay relevant?’ And I ain’t really like his answer. So ever since then I just kinda take shots here and shots there.” Eventually, The Game revealed that Jay-Z told him that “most of you new rappers won’t last long anyway” and that The Game should have a backup plan.

2. Kanye West vs. George W. Bush

Since the start of the hip-hop genre, rappers have gotten heavily involved with politics, so it’s no surprise when a rapper sounds off about the President of the United States. One rapper did it in such a surreal way, though, that it left even one of the best improvisational comedians completely speechless.

Of course, we’re talking about Kanye West, who appeared alongside “Wayne’s World” and “Austin Powers” star Mike Myers at the Concert for Hurricane Relief in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina. West told Myers that was going to ad-lib “a little bit.” Myers talked about the tragedy of the hurricane, while West went into a tirade about racial relations in the country, explicitly calling out President George W. Bush by saying “George Bush does not care aboutblack people.”

3. Eminem vs. Insane Clown Posse

You can’t talk about the Detroit rap scene without mentioning Eminem and the Insane Clown Posse, who have made their mark on the Motor City over the past quarter-century. During the early days of Eminem’s career when he wasn’t well-known, he was having a release party for his debut album. On the flier for the party, Eminem mentioned that ICP might be there, putting (maybe) next to their name.

The fact that ICP was even mentioned on the flier didn’t set well with the duo, and they began a historic beef with Eminem that made Detroiters scratch their heads. There was even assault with a deadly weapon involved at one point during the beef, but things have cooled off tremendously. “I’d invite Eminem to come have dinner at my house,” ICP rapper Violent J said. “We’d love to do a song with him. That’d be dope.”

4. Soulja Boy vs. Almost Everyone

When you think about songs that have a lot of depth and meaning, you probably won’t find Soulja Boy near that list. With songs like “Pretty Boy Swag”, “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and, of course, “Crank That”, Soulja Boy seemed mostly like a novelty rapper that was a testament to the mid 2000s.

During his career, Soulja Boy has had a beef with just about everybody, many of which were seemingly for no reason in particular. He didn’t like how Ice-T said that he was ruining hip-hop, he didn’t like when Lil’ Yachty got people to chant “F*** Soulja Boy”, and he even got into it with actor Shia Labeouf for…reasons.

5. Chris Brown vs. CM Punk

CM Punk is known for being one of the best pro wrestlers in the world and was a part-time MMA fighter, but he’s not really known for having a rap background. That didn’t stop him from tweeting that he would like to fight Chris Brown, calling him a “turd” and asking for a match at WrestleMania.

Instead of acknowledging that this was a pro wrestler talking to him, Brown took the bait and got personal with Punk. The two continued to trade barbs with Brown not making any WWE appearances, letting everyone know that Brown got worked into a shoot, as Hulk Hogan would say.

5 Best Movie BMWs

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When it comes to style and luxury, nothing tops a BMW, and the people of Hollywood know that. Not only have countless celebrities owned a BMW throughout history, but they’ve also been featured in tens of thousands of movies (yes, that’s correct). A lot of the time, a BMW might not even be driven by a main character, but you will see one.

But what about the ones that have been featured front and center on the big screen? Throughout cinematic history, there have been some all-time great characters driving all-time great BMWs. Let’s take a look at the five best movie BMWs and how they made their way to the set. Spoiler alert, there’s a certain British spy that appears more than once.

2000 BMW Z8 (The World is Not Enough)

Modeled off of the BMW 507 from the late 1950s, the 2000 BMW Z8 was finally released in 1999 after being developed for several years. To showcase the new model, it was used by James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) in “The World is Not Enough”. During the time Bond is in Azerbaijan, the Z8 is front and center and people were instantly enthralled with the new look. Many instantly called it not only the best Bond car but the best BMW that they’d ever seen.

It was quite the exit for BMW as they signed a three-film deal with the Bond franchise, with this one being the finale. The same type of vehicle was also driven in the film “The Tuxedo” starring Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The exact model, though (the 2000), sold 317 units in the United States.

1991 BMW E34 5-Series (Ronin)

Robert De Niro has had a lot of classic films, but 1998’s “Ronin” isn’t one that’s talked about all that much. Those that have seen the movie, though, know that it has one of the best car chase scenes and it involves a BMW. More specifically, it involves the 5-Series, and the 1991 model version of it despite the film being released several years later.

The 5-Series was in production from 1987 until 1996, meaning that it had already stopped by the time that “Ronin” came out. The 1991 version didn’t make too many changes from the prior year’s model, but did retouch the interior and changed the steering columns and wheels.

1996 BMW Z3 (Goldeneye)

The second entry onto the list for the James Bond series was the first BMW to be driven by the spy on the big screen. The sporty Z3 began development in 1991 and was the first to be manufactured entirely outside of Germany. This red beauty didn’t get a lot of screentime in the 1995 film “Goldeneye”, sadly. Bond is only seen driving his Z3 for a couple of minutes before ditching the ride for a plane.

While the version that shot missiles and had parachute breaks in the film didn’t hit the streets, there was a James Bond Edition of the 1996 Z3. It sold for $35,000 in the United States and ended up selling out all 100 of its units and had small reminders of 007 all throughout the vehicle including floor mats.

1995 BMW 735i (The Transporter)

BMW was already well-known as a luxury brand, but it really reached a new status of “cool” when it became synonymous with action films like “The Transporter”. The Jason Statham character Frank Martin got involved in a lot of high-speed chases during the series, and his first car was the 1995 BMW 735i.

Painted in all black, the 735i was sleek. It also featured a 3.0 L M60 V8 engine with 215 horsepower. After showing what it could do on the big screen, every youngster wanted this cool car.

1998 BMW 750iL (Tomorrow Never Dies)

The list started with James Bond, so it may as well round out the list and conclude the BMW trilogy of the James Bond films. The 1998 version of the 750iL was featured in the middle film of the three, “Tomorrow Never Dies”. The 7-series had already been introduced in the late 1970s, with the 750iL making it into production from 1993 to 2001.

The Bond version featured rockets and tear gas emitters, which would have been cool for the common person, but not street-legal. Instead, the standard person did receive an upgraded version from the previous year that was a total facelift, including a new, more powerful engine.

How To Inspire – And Deserve – Trust

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There are few things as valuable in this world as having someone’s trust or putting your trust in them. When this happens, you are putting all of your faith in someone to keep secrets, come through for you when you need it most, or simply be there to listen during difficult times. Almost everyone has at least one person that they trust to some degree, with some being so trustworthy that they can be told just about anything.

But how do you inspire trust, and how do you deserve to have someone’s trust? It’s a long and delicate process to earn the trust of someone, especially if you didn’t grow up knowing them (like a family member). Let’s take a deeper look into the belief of trust and see how it can become a bigger part of your life.

Be Trustworthy

It should go without saying that you don’t really deserve to be trusted if you haven’t shown the ability to be trustworthy. If someone tells you a secret and you immediately reveal that secret to several other people, you’ve already broken that person’s trust and it’s likely that they’re never going to put their faith in you again.

In fact, that person might end up resenting you and letting others know that you are not to be trusted. It doesn’t have to be something that will hurt someone deeply to betray their trust, as even minor ways of not being trustworthy will add up and cause that person to become bitter. Be true to your word and show someone that you can be trusted.

Take it Easy

We’ve all met someone that instantly wants to share every part of their personal lives with you. It can be a bit overbearing to hear it, especially if they’re expecting to hear some personal details about you. Instead of this method of trying to build trust, it’s best to take it slow. After all, you don’t fall in love with someone just by saying a couple of sentences to each other, and you wouldn’t want to put all of your faith in someone you just met.

It’s a long, gradual process that takes a lot of nuances to get just right. If you find yourself putting too much trust into someone too quickly, try to reel yourself in so that you don’t get hurt by someone that only seemed trustworthy on a surface level.

Care

You can make a promise to someone that you don’t know and it’s probably not going to hurt you one bit if you don’t follow through with that promise. If you show someone that you truly care about them and want to see them happy and put their faith in you, then you have to deliver any time that you make a promise. Care about those that you’re trusting, and the more you care about that person, the more you’re going to care that they trust you.

Admit Mistakes

We all know someone that doesn’t really take responsibility for their wrongdoings and tries to blame them on something or someone else. These people also aren’t likely to admit that they’re wrong in any situation, and it can be aggravating. Not surprisingly, these people don’t earn the trust of many that they come across.

One of the fastest ways that you can earn someone’s trust is to show humility and admit when you were wrong. It takes a big person to do this, and when it happens, everyone around you immediately sees you in a more respectful light and will be willing to trust you. When things hit the fan, you want to know that a person you trust would rather go down with the ship than abandon it.

Communication

The people that you trust the most are the ones that you hear from on an almost-daily basis. Keeping an open line of communication is paramount for establishing trust with someone, as you might not be seen as trustworthy if you’re a bit of a flight risk.

This is true in just about any scenario whether it’s personal or professional. People need to know that you’ll be able to answer their phone call or text message, and in some cases, even answer the door if they really need you. You’ll also want to communicate clearly. Don’t leave people guessing your true intentions, and you’ll be on your way to being more trustworthy.

Most Popular American Names Over the 20th Century

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As years go on, the list of top 10 names in North America seem to change more frequently. This is a digital-based world that we live in, and a trendy name can catch on a lot faster than it used to. Throughout the 20th century, though, there were many names that remained constant in both the boys’ and girls’ categories. Things would change up toward the later part of the century, but many of the popular names remained.

What were those names, though? It might be hard to remember since it seems we’re so far removed from the 20th century now, but we still see many people walking around with names from the previous century. Let’s take a look at a few of those names that seemed like they would withstand the test of time due to their popularity from 1900 to 1999.

Mary

Mary wasn’t just the most popular name for girls during the 20th century, it was the runaway winner. It was the most popular girl’s name for every decade from the 1900s to the 1950s until it was finally surpassed in the 1960s. Even then, it remained the second-most popular name before almost completely falling off a cliff during the 1970s when it didn’t crack the top 10 at all.


Mary has not really seen a resurgence since it vanished from the top of the rankings, but that doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever. It still typically ranks from anywhere in the 100 to 150 range for most popular names of the year, sitting alongside the likes of Molly and Emilia as sort of a tribute to a bygone era of baby names. Overall, there were more than double the amount of Marys born in the 20th century than any other girl’s name.

James

While Mary is a biblical name that pays tribute to the Virgin Mary, there are several other Biblical names that have been able to maintain their popular status into the 21st century. The first among those is James, which was the most popular name in the 20th century by a narrow margin and still cracks the top 10 in most years to this day.

John

The next of the biblical names is John, which is one of the more versatile names out there and gets criticized by some as not being unique, but it’s a tried and true name that still sounds good all these years later. John was battling with James for the top spot in the 20th century, though it doesn’t quite get the same type of love today as James does. John is usually around the 25th most popular name compared to the top 10.

Jennifer

Continuing with names in the ‘J’ category, Jennifer is one that was a bit of a late bloomer and remained popular for multiple decades before finally losing its status as a top name. Almost out of nowhere, Jennifer surpassed the likes of Mary, Susan, and Lisa to claim the top name of the 1970s, which melted into the 1980s. Jennifer remained popular into the 1990s and finished as one of the top three girl names of the 20th century. As for these days, you might not meet a Jennifer that was born after 2010.

Robert

Robert is one of those fascinating names because it appears in the Bible, but doesn’t have a Biblical meaning, really. Despite that, it’s considered an ‘old-timey’ name, though you’d be surprised at just how common it still is today. Robert was the second-most popular name throughout the 20th century, and remains part of the yearly top 75. Robert means ‘bright flame’ and millions of people liked it enough to make it one of the most popular names of all time.

Michael

Like Jay-Z said, from Jackson, Tyson, and Jordan, you can name a famous Michael off the top of your head, take your pick. Michael is another one of those names like Jacob that has had immense popularity in just about every year imaginable. It’s a Biblical name that appears multiple times throughout, and it sat as one of the four most common names of the 20th century. In almost every decade’s top 10 list, Michael would be right there, and that’s still true into the 2020s and beyond.

The Art Of Group Discussion: How To Inspire, Engage, And Include

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A good majority of the population has no problem being able to speak to one or two people at a time, but when you get into a large group, it can be difficult. Many get nervous when they are part of a larger discussion, and it’s completely understandable. Others feel comfortable in front of several other people, but don’t know the right times to get involved throughout the conversation and end up being unwillingly silent.

If you’re one of the millions that are looking to sharpen their group discussion skills, there are some ways in which to get more involved and have better talks. Let’s take a look at the art of group discussion, and show you how to inspire, engage, and include.

Be Attentive

One of the worst things that you can do during a group discussion is make yourself look like you’re not interested at all. Throughout the discussion, you’re likely to be ignored based on your body language because those around you might not think that you’re taking things seriously. When you’re being attentive, a lot of the conversation is going to end up flowing through you as you’ll be looked at as someone that can help lead.

You may already be listening to everything that’s being said, but if your body language is off, it can fool some people. The trick to having attentive body language is to keep all of your focus on the person that’s speaking. Make sure to show active interest by nodding your head and affirming with small noises that you’re interested in hearing the person talking. These subtle things show that you’re 100 percent part of the discussion.

Getting Others Involved

It’s a good thing to take the lead in a group discussion, but you want to make sure that everyone is included. When you get to the end of a good point, you should ask someone that hasn’t been included just yet how they feel about that topic. This helps to pass things around as a good basketball team would, and nobody will walk out of the discussion feeling jilted or that they didn’t get their two cents in.

We’ve all been in that situation where we’ve had a lot of things to say and waited for the right opportunity to chime in, only for it to never come. When you command the room and make sure that everyone gets a chance to speak, everyone will wrap up the discussion feeling satisfied that their opinions were heard.

Keep Moving

We already talked about body language when it comes to being a listener, but body language is also important when it comes to the speaking aspect of group discussion. When it’s your turn to speak, you want to command attention, and the best way to do that is through good body language. A lot of people are shy and tend to raise their shoulders and lower their voice, but those that are constantly moving and speaking at a higher volume will demand attention.

While using your hands as part of your speech isn’t always the best thing, it can be good for a group discussion since it keeps all eyes on you. This is something that every public speaker is trained on, from the head of a small company all the way up to the President of the United States. You don’t want to be mousy or monotone when talking, or else people can tune out quickly.

Keep It Civil

Group discussion can get off the rails pretty quickly, especially if there are multiple people there that share opposing viewpoints. When they start to get off topic and are exchanging verbal barbs, it’s important that you veer them back on the right path. You can do it in a comedic way that eases the tension, or you can firmly tell them that any off-topic conversation is not allowed.

It’s not always easy, and those that are getting off-topic may want to ignore you, but discussions will go nowhere if this happens. For those that don’t want to stay on-topic, you can even boot them out of the group to show that your discussion is to be taken seriously

Summary

In the end, there are a few key points that you need to take away from being part of a group discussion. These points are that you should show great body language, listen to everyone that’s speaking, keep the conversation on-topic, and show respect to everyone in the room. If you follow these steps, even the most novice of public speakers will be able to feel more comfortable and effective in a group discussion setting.

5 Corporations With Innovative Growth Strategies

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Starting a company is easy if you have the right amount of money, but making that company grow is the hard part. Successfully getting your name out there and offering the best services at the same time is a combination that countless companies attempt to do, but only a handful are able to do that.

Some of the companies that have become staples of your everyday life got that way because of their innovative growth strategies. Here’s a look at five of those corporations that went outside the box to become massive in size and revenue.

1. Facebook

When it started, Facebook was only for people who attended Harvard and eventually branched out to anybody with a verified college email address. Mark Zuckerberg knew that only a finite number of people could sign up for Facebook, and it sort of made Facebook an “exclusive” club that not everybody could get into.

After opening up Facebook to the public, Facebook took off like a rocket because of the floodgates of people who wanted to join. Afterward, Facebook began coming up with a new strategy for advertising that made the business one of the largest tech companies in the world. Once it reached a massive size, Facebook focused on growing with the Metaverse, while also acquiring messenger and photo apps to help bolster its services.

2. Amazon

Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore back in the 1990s, but things have changed tremendously since then. Now, Amazon is a one-stop shop for anything that you can think of, and delivery comes in an instant. There have been a lot of ways in which Amazon has grown, including cutting down on shipping costs through some masterful logistics that have made using the website more appealing to the public.

With the expansion of Amazon, the company began adding more services including Amazon Web Services, which has helped Amazon power the internet for a lot of the largest companies in the world. Bezos has even acquired businesses such as Whole Foods and Twitch to expand the company’s reach. Being able to master the art of shipping is what has really set Amazon apart, though.

3. Dollar Shave Club

One of the best ways that you can grow your business is through a tremendous marketing strategy, and few companies have shown how to do more with less than Dollar Shave Club. The company introduced interesting and hilarious advertisements to catch attention. The prices for Dollar Shave Club were already among the best, but they just needed eyes on the product.

Their marketing campaign went viral on the internet and once people were introduced to the website, it was an easy decision to use them for razor blades and other grooming services. The number of viral videos that Dollar Shave Club successfully created made their marketing budget really cheap, and the revenues that came in, as a result, were almost entirely profitable.

4. Red Bull

In terms of energy drinks, there are a ton of different brands to select from, but Red Bull tends to be the first one that comes to mind. Red Bull isn’t just a company, it’s an entire institution to the point where if you didn’t know they were an energy drink company, you probably wouldn’t know what they sell. Red Bull was able to grow tremendously during the 1990s and 2000s by handing out their product using young women in highly-branded vehicles and have put their name on everything since.

Red Bull sponsors just about everything under the sun these days. They want to make incredibly sure that the first image that comes to mind with energy drinks is the Red Bull logo. As a result, the company has a market share of around 40 percent, with revenues of over 8 billion Euros per year.

5. Spotify

Just like energy drinks, there are a lot of music streaming services, and many of them are aimed at the younger generation. While many large companies like Apple, Google, and Amazon have all gotten into the streaming business, Spotify still stands out at the top. Not only is it user-friendly, but the algorithm makes it much better for new people to use.

Once Spotify was able to impress people with its suggestions, it was able to convert those that had gotten a free subscription into lifetime listeners. Spotify has the system perfected while other billion-dollar companies are still trying to figure it out.

5 Hacks You Need To Know To Increase Your Chance Of A College Scholarship

Posted on by scatty

A lot of us tend to think of scholarships like they’re the lottery, and that even the best ones are completely chosen at random. That couldn’t be further from the truth, though, as the sponsor of a scholarship is putting their reputation on the line to help get you through college. Instead, there are a few things that you need to do to make sure that you’re actually getting recognized in the scholarship process.

If you’ve been applying around for scholarships but haven’t heard anything back, you might need a little bit of help. Thankfully, we have a few hacks to share that will help get your scholarship application noticed and on top of the pile. Here are our top five hacks:

1. Fish and the Pond

One of the first things that scholarship sponsors are looking for is to see how you did in your class. If you rank in the bottom half or even the 26th-50th percentile, your chances of a scholarship are going to almost always be based on financial need. However, those that are in the top 25 percent and especially in the top five percent are going to get some serious looks.

With that in mind, make sure to take a look at your class size. If you’re already a bright student that’s carrying a 3.9 grade point average but are in a large class size, that might not be enough to be in the top one or two percent. However, if there’s a chance to transfer to a smaller school where that 3.9 GPA is going to stand out above the rest. Think of it as a star football player taking a starting job at a small school instead of riding the bench at Alabama.

2. Help Your Community

It should go without saying that you should be helping your community as much as you can in any way that you can. However, if you want to use that as a chance to help your scholarship opportunities, that’s also great. Many scholarships are based on community service regardless of how you’re performing academically.

Even on the ones where scholarship awards are academic-based, community service helps you to stand out tremendously. Make sure to mark down every hour of service, get someone to sign off on your hours, and place it into a nice presentation. Not many sponsors want to simply see a handwritten sheet of when you volunteered.

3. Bug Your Teachers

When you think of a scholarship like a job application, you’ll know just how important it is to have people that recommend you. These two really do go hand in hand as letters of recommendation help boost any potential scholarship chances, the same way that they would a job.

Ask any teacher in classes in which you’ve performed well to give you a letter of recommendation. Depending on how well you did, the recommendations might be a little vague, but quantity is sometimes better than quality. The more glowing reviews you have from teachers and members of the community, the better your scholarship odds.

4. Employment Opportunities

Speaking of employers, if you have a part-time job, that’s going to look great on a scholarship application. It’s going to look even better if the company that you’re working for is offering a scholarship opportunity. Most major companies will provide a chance for their college-bound employees to receive a scholarship, and even some local businesses will offer small scholarships.

Even if you don’t have a job, take a look at where your parents work. Their companies may offer scholarships to employees and their families. That would actually be more likely as many major companies tend to not hire people until they’re already out of high school.

5. Financial Findings

It might be an uncomfortable topic to talk about, but make sure that you know how much your parents are making. You’re going to need to fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and that information will have to be on there. This will determine how much you’ll need for college and will be a requirement for many scholarships.

Your financial situation may make you eligible for more scholarship opportunities than you first thought. While some families might be able to make ends meet, the extra money for tuition might not be there and scholarships are needed.