Entrepreneurship

Teenaged entrepreneur denounces business-limiting French laws in Quebec

"17-year-old graphic designer Xavier Menard tried to register his company but was told by the Quebec business registry that he couldn't because the company's name--Wellarc--is too English. 'My first reaction was: you must be kidding,' Menard said. The bureaucrats were serious, so the mild-mannered teenager took his anger to YouTube. In a short video Menard attacks Pauline Marois's government, not for its desire to protect the French language, but for its 'idiotic' methods. In his video Menard points out Quebec's 7.5 percent unemployment rate, which is higher than the national average, and says it is even worse for youth." Continue reading →

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Is Nicotine Really Any Different Than Caffeine?

"E-cigarette users are developing their own 'café culture,' encouraged by e-cigarette manufacturers. The Lorillard label blu offers e-cigarette cases that emit a signal and notify users when other blu cases are nearby—a kind of Tinder for the vaping set. The odds of finding a match are growing: Roughly one-fifth of adults who smoke conventional cigarettes have tried their electronic counterparts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in February. Six percent of all adults have tried them, almost double the percentage in 2010. Looming regulations could dampen some of these developments." Continue reading →

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Shield Mutual: Adam Kokesh Legal Defense Fund Update

"As regular readers of the Shield Mutual blog know, Adam Kokesh is a customer of ours. We acted in his defense upon his instructions after his 18 May 2013 arrest, very briefly after his 8 June 2013 arrest and again recently after his 9 July 2013 arrest. Adam Kokesh is a valued customer of Shield Mutual. Here is a rundown of the legal defense fund we created, promoted and administered for Adam. Money is a sensitive topic and Shield Mutual is committed to operating with transparency and integrity." Continue reading →

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R.I.P. Garry Davis (1921-2013)

"The world has lost a true visionary. Davis renounced his US citizenship in 1948, proclaiming himself a citizen of the world. He went on to advocate for global, rather than national, governance, and founded organizations to that end. Since 1954, the World Passport that Davis devised and issued has facilitated crossings of some 180 national borders, and has has saved tens of thousands of lives. as bearers and their families used it to flee conflict zones and genocides. Garry’s legacy lives on, both in the ideals he articulated and in the lives and descendants of the people his 'fake' passports saved." Continue reading →

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In Bitcoin we trust: The Berlin district where virtual currency is as easy as cash

"Start-ups like Berlin-based 9flats.com, a 'share economy' platform, say that the Bitcoin concept is working in their favor. 'The main advantage for our business is that we do not lose money on transaction fees because with Bitcoin there are none,' said Alexander Lossenko, lead developer at 9flats.com. To avoid the risk of devaluation and strong fluctuation in Bitcoin prices, companies like 9flats.com often use services that convert bitcoins into euro or dollars instantly. 'It also opens new markets for us. In Russia, for example, PayPal does not exist, so Bitcoin offers another alternative for payments,' Lossenko added." Continue reading →

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British company turns human ashes into vinyl records

"A company called 'And Vinyly' — rhymes with 'And Finally' — will now process your cremated remains into a 12-inch vinyl record that includes 24 minutes of the music of your choice. For a fee of about $4,600, decedents can will for their ashes to be included in the pressing of 30 vinyl records to be distributed to friends and loved ones. A person’s ashes are delivered to a pressing plant in London and added to raw vinyl. Then the vinyl is pressed into a 24-minute record, 12 minutes per side. Leach said that most people struggle not with the price — which is actually less than a traditional burial — but with what music or sounds they want to choose." Continue reading →

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Australian firm launches ‘anti-shark’ wetsuits

"An Australian research firm Thursday launched what is being touted as the world’s first anti-shark wetsuit, using new discoveries about the predators’ eyesight to stave off or evade an attack. The blue-and-white 'Elude' range, designed for divers and snorkellers, uses research about sharks’ perceptions of light and their colour blindness to essentially 'hide you in the water column', Anderson said. The 'Diverter' — mainly for surfers — is based on what sharks perceive as danger signs in nature, with a bold black and white banding patten to imitate an 'unpalatable food item', according to UWA researcher Shaun Collin." Continue reading →

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French farmer’s industrial snail-slime harvesting process to feed cosmetic industry

"The French have long appreciated snails on a plate with butter and garlic. But one rural snail farmer believes the humble molluscs have more to offer alive than dead. Louis-Marie Guedon says the mucus secreted by snails are full of collagen, glycolic acid, antibiotics and other compounds that regenerate skin cells and heal cuts. He is busy turning the innovation into France’s first industrial-scale snail mucus extraction operation with a target to harvest 15 tonnes of it next year. He has secured three supply contracts with local cosmetics labs and a Paris company that mixes cosmetics for some of the biggest names in consumer beauty products." Continue reading →

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Pippa Malmgren on Success

"I've been very lucky; a lot of interesting things came my way. I used to be like the old Soviet Union with a rigid Five Year Plan. That worked very well but I also learned to make room for surprises outside the original plan; it's a matter of finding a balance between the two. If you love what you do, you'll be better at it than anybody and the money will follow." Continue reading →

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How to Self-Publish a Bestseller: Publishing 3.0

"My most recent book, 'Choose Yourself!' sold 53,000 copies since its release on June 3, hit the Wall Street Journal Bestseller list, was No. 1 on Amazon for all non-fiction books for a few days and is still flirting with No. 1 in its various categories. This post is about what I did differently, why I did it differently, and how I think anyone can do this to self-publish a bestseller. I describe all the numbers, who I hired and why, and how I made the various choices I did." Continue reading →

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