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Neuralink cleared by US FDA to study implant allowing an interface between human brains and computers. United States regulators have given approval for Elon Musk's start-up Neuralink to test its brain implants on people. Poll: Brain + Computer Interfaces - The Next Frontier or Too Much, Too Soon? Options: 1. The Next Frontier 2. Too Much, Too Soon Trending via: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/25/elon-musk-neuralink-fda-approval/

Will be sharing a detailed analysis of each step involved in starting a business according to researched information and my experiences. I will use the business of a fitness instructor as an example, it's an easy type of business to build a framework for. Additionally, I will provide useful resources such as tech tools and free marketing tools available on various websites, as well as tips on the most effective strategies to use. This framework can be applied to any type of business; you will just need to adapt it to your specific needs. (=) Basic Framework | Fitness Instructor. 🏋️‍♂️ *This thread will be ongoing for a few weeks, feel free to contribute if you want. 1. Conduct Market Research Identify your target audience Conduct a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Identify your competitors and evaluate their offerings 2. Create a Business Plan Determine your business model Develop a marketing plan Determine your financial projections 3. Establish Your Business Choose a business name Register your business Secure any necessary licenses and permits 4. Build Your Brand Create a brand identity (logo, colors, fonts, etc.) Develop a brand voice Build a website that reflects your brand 5. Develop Your Marketing Strategy Choose the best marketing channels to reach your target audience (social media, email marketing, paid advertising, etc.) Develop a content strategy to engage your audience Build a social media presence and engage with your followers 6. Launch Your Business Develop a launch plan Host a launch event Reach out to local media to gain exposure 7. Monitor Your Progress and Adjust Your Strategy Track your metrics (sales, website traffic, social media engagement, etc.) Use the data to adjust your marketing strategy Continuously improve your offerings to meet the needs of your customers For the first episode, which will be in a few days, the focus will be on conducting market research as Step 1. Stay tuned ->

Poll: Should Ontario license plate covers to foil red light cameras be banned? I got this idea from an article that was trending in the Toronto Star: Thousands of Ontario drivers illegally use license plate covers to foil red light cameras - so why are stores allowed to sell them? https://www.thestar.com/business/2023/03/15/licence-to-obscure-plate-covers-are-illegal-to-use-in-ontario-so-why-are-stores-allowed-to-sell-them.html One thing that came to mind is that they can be useful in protecting license plates from wear and tear. So how can you ban something if the intent can not necessarily be criminal?

Walt Disney Co. is suing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over what it calls a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power” — a major escalation of the year-long clash between the entertainment giant and conservative governor. via Google Also, there are some rumours that "Florida Gov. DeSantis said he may put a prison next to Disney parks amid dispute" , however those rumours are only trending in the <-- left wing media. Will check for confirmation on who said that, later on, unless someone knows. --- Poll: Disney or Ron Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida? Who do you support?

Poll: Will Elon Musk succeed with Twitter? Why or Why Not?

Today, Elon Musk released a statement in which he announced that he had updated the funding label for the CBC to "69% government funded" following protests by the organization, who claimed that their funding was less than 70%. 😎 The CBC has paused Twitter. They follow NPR and PBS in the United States after being labelled: "government funded." This got me thinking, for some reason, what would happen if Big Tech took on a more political role in Canada? I am curious to know your opinion on this matter: Would you be in favour of a Big Tech Federal Political Party in Canada? Options: Yes, I would support a Big Tech Federal Political Party in Canada because they have the expertise, resources, and influence to tackle complex issues related to technology, innovation, and the digital economy. Furthermore, they can leverage their vast networks and data-driven approaches to drive positive change and promote transparency, accountability, and ethical practices in the political system. No, I would not support a Big Tech Federal Political Party in Canada because it could create conflicts of interest, lead to monopolistic practices, and undermine democratic values such as diversity, representation, and fair competition. Moreover, it could exacerbate existing power imbalances and weaken the independence and autonomy of the political system. I am undecided or neutral on the question of supporting a Big Tech Federal Political Party in Canada because I need more information about their policies, values, and goals. I believe it is important to evaluate each party based on their track record, platform, and leadership, and to assess their potential impact on society, the economy, and the environment. Other.

Companies should compensate for time and effort, says a so-called advocate. What is your view? Article Trending from the CBC: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/pay-applicants-for-job-interviews-1.6592367 I do not agree with this. If someone wants the job bad enough, one should be willing to make accommodations as needed and invest time in themselves.

Some Ontario residents who were misled by a glitch in Tim Hortons' Roll Up To Win Contest, and mistakenly told they had won $10,000, are now exploring their legal options against the Canadian coffee chain. “I expect the $10,000 and [Tim Hortons] will be hearing from a lawyer,” Jeremy McDougall, of Tillsonburg, Ont., told CTV News Toronto Thursday. Would you sue If a Tim Hortons glitch made you believe that you won $10.000?

Poll: Do you boycott particular businesses due to political/social issues? Why? I posted this in the American forum because you folks are more polarized, it seems. 😄 For me: While I see that some people may react strongly about boycotting businesses for political reasons, I personally try not to focus on their politics, instead, I try to focus on the product or services they provide. I am sure, the authorities in 2023 will not allow someone to operate if their politics were that extreme anyways. ---> I am talking about big chains, not some corner store Joe which made some ridiculous statement. Does anyone engage in boycotting in 2023? Why do you do it? One case that I remember is when Chick Fill came to Canada, even though that company made efforts to distance itself from controversial positions and even went to support causes directly or indirectly for LGBTQ causes, they were still met with protests. Right now, I am sure, every diverse member of society is there eating at one point or another.

An article was ran by The Globe and Mail in regards to the reign of the "Queen of the Skies" , Boeing 747 which is coming to an end. The U.S. president flies in one. So does Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal. But these days, the Boeing 747 is more likely to carry parcels than people. For the double-decker that first flew passengers in 1970 and revolutionized air travel, the days are numbered. The last jumbo jet to be built left Boeing’s factory in Everett, Wash., on Dec. 6, and was delivered to Atlas Air on Tuesday. The New York cargo and jet lessor has 59 of the 747s, making it an outlier in the aviation industry that has largely abandoned the aircraft as too big and costly to repair, and ill-suited to the shorter flights and multiple destinations that make up most airlines’ schedules. The reign of the “Queen of the Skies” is over. As a passenger jet, its rule ended years ago. Air Canada last flew the 747 in 2004. United Airlines and Delta Air Lines stopped flying passengers on its 747s in 2017, becoming the last U.S. airlines to do so. Virgin Atlantic parked its 747s during the COVID-19 pandemic travel bust of 2020, as did British Airways. “As a pilot who was lucky enough to fly the aircraft, the sheer scale of it was unforgettable, you literally looked down on other aircraft,” Al Bridger, British Airways’s director of flight operations, said at the time. “It changed aviation forever when it arrived in the skies … despite rightly moving to more sustainable ways of flying, we will still miss the 747 dearly.” Of the 358 747s in the sky, just 44 carry passengers, while the rest are in cargo service, a segment that boomed during the pandemic. Lufthansa, Air China, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air are among the airlines still using the passenger plane. Others, including Atlas, fly the cargo version of the 747, which makes up 20 per cent of the world’s freighter fleet. The 747 transformed flying in the early 1970s, allowing airlines to offer hundreds of economy fares on a flight that made travel affordable for the middle class. “This aircraft democratized flight,” said Mike Lombardi, Boeing’s corporate historian. “Because of its size, because of its range, because of its economy, everyday people around the world were able to buy a ticket.” At the same time, airlines fitted the upper deck of their 747s with posh and roomy two-by-two seating, epitomizing the luxe travel experience. The 747 will be forever associated with the glamour of air travel, with its imposing size, world-beating range and luxuries, which included an upper-deck bar in which well-dressed travellers mingled over cocktails and cigarettes while 33,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. Airports built gleaming new terminals to welcome the 747, driving a boom in air travel. “Everyone in their Sunday best to go and fly – now everyone’s in pyjamas,” said Erin Gregory, curator of the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum. “The image that comes to my mind when I think of the 747 is very much rooted in that early aesthetic of the jet age, and that really is quite symbolic of that way of travelling and that time period and what that kind of travel meant for people.” The 747 seats as many as 450 and stretches 71 metres – longer than a hockey rink – with a tail that reaches six-storeys high. A typical model weighs more than 412,000 kilograms on takeoff and contains 217 kilometres of wire. Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson, who piloted the 747 that carried his heavy-metal band on its 2016 tour, said the plane is beautiful and easy to land. “On the ground it’s stately, it’s imposing,” Mr. Dickinson told Reuters. “And in the air it’s surprisingly agile. For this massive airplane, you can really chuck it around if you have to.” And that size is also its downfall. Airlines no longer need jumbo jets with four fuel-guzzling engines to serve their networks. Boeing rival Airbus scrapped its money-losing Jumbo Jet A380 program in 2021, after 14 years, and has not made a cargo version. Boeing delivered just five 747s in 2022, and has made 1,574 since production began in 1967. By comparison, the company delivered 387 of its troubled 737 last year, and has made more than 10,000 of the workhorses. Narrow-body, twin-engine planes such as the Airbus A321 or Boeing 737 are better for serving smaller airports and customers who don’t want to land in larger hubs and then transfer. Boeing’s 787 is more fuel efficient than the 747, cheaper to maintain and carries up to 290 people. The long-awaited 777X will carry almost 400. “It really comes down to economics,” said Chris Murray, a transportation analyst at ATB Financial in Toronto. “Some of the newer aircraft are much more fuel efficient and lower cost and still able to move the same number of passengers.” John Grant, an analyst at British consultancy OAG, said flying on the 747 was “incredible, especially if you were lucky enough to grab a seat on the upper deck.” “Sadly it is just like any car: the older it gets, the more you love it but you know there are better ones out there that are more efficient,” he said. “Its retirement was inevitable.” Boeing handed over 747 No. 1574 to Atlas on Tuesday. On its fuselage, the last of the four-engine Boeings bears the name and likeness of Joe Sutter, the late Boeing engineer who managed the jet’s design team and is known as the father of the 747. His family was present for the ceremony, held in the same cavernous hangar that produced their forebear’s vision. Phil Condit, Boeing’s chief executive officer from 1996 to 2003, said it was “incredible” that an aircraft’s production would last for almost half a century, and “would keep flying for many years ahead.” In a speech to the gathered former and current employees, he described being on the first flight test of the 747, in which one engine caught fire and was shut down before the landing and repair: “That’s what flight test is all about,” he said. Earl Exum, vice-president of Pratt & Whitney, which has built the engines for about half of the 747s made, called the end of the plane’s production “bittersweet.” “It was a feat of engineering and technology,” he said. In a previous job many years ago, I worked as baggage handler at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Sundays in the summer were the days KLM flew in with its 747, a baby-blue and white behemoth that was always as clean as it was long. After the grimy, squat 727s and 737s I usually stuffed bags into, the KLM 747 was towering and a bit special, even for someone with no love of aircraft. After the plane swallowed an impossible number of suitcases and cargo pallets, it would depart for the skies over the Atlantic and then Europe. Sometimes I’d get to watch it take off, amazed anything of that size could leave Earth. It was at once a blazing hot rod and a bloated vessel. Every takeoff seemed improbable, an act of defiance against the forces faced by all aircraft, though few more notable than the Queen of the Skies. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-last-boeing-747-plane/ Pictures: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/in-photos-the-assembly-and-flight-of-the-final-boeing-747/

It's estimated that 20 percent of retailers will go out of business in Canada due to public health restrictions. Workers and business owners are being forced onto government subsistence handouts for the sake of preventing viral spread. Rather than letting people decide whether they want to risk shopping or patronizing businesses, government is deciding for them and destroying some livelihoods. Is it fair?

The LAW, the thing that forces people to do things- is only as fair as the extent of external scrutiny (duh) but something obviously messed up will at least gain enough coverage to generate a response right? Well sure, but not before a whole host of people get screwed over. In cases like first world capitalism, no amount of coverage and outrage from a legally (and morally) wronged party, can evade the concrete consequences derived from violations cited on intentionally vague parameters covered by that very same law. The past 2 years, due to limited options, I've been working for a company (can't say) that is indeed founded out of Canada.. however the (U.S.) founders had simply maintained 'permanent' residency for a number of years, allowing them to claim Canadian citizenship and therefore establish Canadian founded business status for their new brand. This matters because the whole reason for this endeavor was so the 'new' company could circumvent the (somewhat) recent additions to anti-add and anti-spam laws to prevent U.S. based marketing tactics from overpowering local Canadian business. Well it turns out not even that can stop a determined U.S. businessman from (lawfully) stealing if they see enough potential to merit investing in a system that can achieve such a theft. If you're reading this, then please, for the sake of yourself and the sake of your loved ones read and pass along this REAL (and in my opinion, utterly distasteful) admittance to allowing vague laws to enable sales representatives for businesses to quite literally steal from others (the classic sign the contract, that just so happens to be indecipherable and says the complete opposite of what the plastic-smile sales representative just told you). Please note that this link outlines law that applies to U.S. AND Canadian based customers. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART- https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0195-some-home-security-systems-may-be-scams P.S. I know many reading this are going to say why are you wasting my time with this I already know better than to let a sales rep con me.. 3 reasons: 1. 80-90% of (wronged) customers will say the sales representative showed up at an interesting or 'destined' moment, providing (at the moment) so much more than just a killer deal on a sweet new sign-on product/service. They were helpers, friends, attractive, flattering, and almost seemed to understand their lifestyle and hobbies... please refer to https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/28/17172548/gdpr-compliance-requirements-privacy-notice which pretty much states your personal or any useful info- if it's ANYWHERE on the internet, it's free game for businesses to use. *this includes the ability to run credit tests without your consent/knowledge once enough info is obtained and automated programs that constantly trawl the internet for anything linked to a potential customer/area they've taken an interest in. 2. Contracts do not end with the death of the signing customer and many are a minimum of 3 years- some up to 8 for official services. Yes, the law can protect a company collecting on a contract (aka fees, monthly bills, collection bids, etc) to the next of kin, for a contract signed by the parent or spouse even if no one was ever notified about such a condition, as long as the contract was signed: the next of kin MUST pay the due in full. Meaning everything you're reading could affect you much more profoundly than you know even if you choose to never personally touch a contract, if they got your family by extension under extreme circumstances you must become involved (so better to prevent rather than struggle; simply by making sure as many people as possible are aware of this). 3. This is the information age, data in general is constantly being filtered and analysed by increasingly advanced AI, capable of spitting out easy to use, yet disturbingly effective actions and procedures to use on specific common personality types. If you don't believe me, please check out the attached picture(s). The first one is a 'chart' provided in some way to sales representatives, and it's how they get their 'in' with a paying customer. I guarantee you'll see yourself and agree that it at least somewhat illustrates the possibility of use against you. The second picture is simply a QR code meant to link any QR code scanner phone app to bring one directly to the FTC website, if possible- everyone should read the linked page from that code.. I spent valuable hours of my life (I'm 25 no joke, I work my ass off and this is my day off) to make this. It's because I've spent no less than the last 4 years listening to people cry to me (I do phone support) about how they were essentially lied to and then robbed. And it all came from a contract, a morally corrupt 'sales representative', and a complete lack of regulations in favor of protecting citizens simply because capitalism. Simply knowing they're out to finger your wallet should be more than enough to kneecap them halfway through their entirely false pitch and get them out of your hair and keep them out. Cheers.

In a startlingly frank admission of the failure of their capitalist business model, a collection of some of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies said they need incentives to develop antibiotics to fight 'superbugs'. Apparently the giveaways that are being promoted in the TPP like longer patent lifetimes and the ability to sue governments that do anything to interfere with their profits is no longer enough for multinational corporations. They need direct cash infusion now. One line in this story is particularly interesting. Not only does it indicate where the drug companies focus their efforts. It also indicates why there is no incentive (and in fact powerful financial disincentives) to cure any chronic condition or disease, ever. This case illustrates a problem that plagues not only the drug industry but the whole medical industry, the crime industry, the military industry, the insurance industry and every other industry ever created to address problems. These huge industries become dependent on the problems they were created to address. If those problems ever disappear or even are significantly diminished, it will threaten the salaries of powerful people. And so the last thing these industries want is for those problems to go away.

By now everyone is aware that the country is in a recession by the definition that the Tories legislated themselvestwo quarters of negative growth. Some claim there is a silver lining: jobs are up, GDP grew in June, and our exports to our largest trading partner are up. By now the Conservatives are playing politics with their euphemisms "contraction" and "technical recession." They're using these term because they truly believe that the economy has already recovered and that the dip is meaningless. However, putting the GDP aside and despite the growth in jobs and exports, there are other indicators that suggest we may not be pulling out of the recession at all. From the linked article by economist Iglika Ivanova: Business investment is down for three consecutive quarters For starters, business investment is still down and has been on the decline since the Tories won their majority government in 2011. Indeed, Mark Carney, then governor of the Bank of Canada, accused corporate Canada of sitting on stockpiles of dead money. Nothing has change since then and in fact it has only gotten worse. Consumers being able to signal demand is the lifeblood of any economy. Companies can't invest if people don't tell them with their dollars what they should invest in. People don't have the money to signal demand if corporate Canada is sitting on it and not investing. It's a catch 22 that requires intervention to get wealth moving again. And that's exactly what happened in January when the Bank of Canada cut interest rates. Except business investment continued to drop for two more quarters with no end in sight. It's not just oil and gas in decline Conservatives keep repeating that it's only oil and gas that have turned down. They must only be looking at the oil and gas column in the numbers because the truth is a number of sectors are in decline. Construction, manufacturing, and wholesale trade are all major indicators of our economic well being. For some bizarre reason, the Harper Government has completely ignored their precipitous decline and only refers to oil and gas. Household debt is on the rise Disposable incomes are falling. The rising consumer spending that people have pointed to as an indicator of our economy recovering is being financed by debt. While the interest rates are dropping, the proportion of debt to household income hasn't budged since 2008. Consumers are trying to spend their way out of the recession by incurring more debt, while businesses are sitting on stockpiles of dead money and not investing. -- So growth of 0.5% in June is nice, but our economy is still struggling under Harper's leadership. We need a better focus on a more diversified economy that doesn't give corporate welfare to companies who sit on that money. The problems with Canada's current economy run far deeper than a stagnate GDP.