EA credits its live game portfolio for an overall strong year, with COO and CFO Blake Jorgensen saying this latest report "[proves] the value of the live services path we†™ve been on." ...

Activision Blizzard had a solid Q1, so much so that the company has raised its forecasts for the full year as a result. ...

In this GDC 2020 virtual talk NetEase's Renjie Li discusses the application of reinforcement learning in NetEase games, including problems encountered and how the solutions impacted the final product. ...

No matter the size of the organization, if you’re serving on the board you want to feel confident that the organization has the right governance policies and practices in place. Those pesky Form 990 questions actually offer a fantastic checklist… Read More

The post Not-for-Profit Board Governance Best Practices to Implement appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Many not-for-profits organizations have been concerned about the taxability of parking and transportation benefits as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Fortunately, the IRS recently issued interim guidance around the treatment of these benefits incurred after December… Read More

The post How Not-for-Profits Can Take Advantage of New Guidance on Taxable Parking Benefits by March 31, 2019 appeared first on Anders CPAs.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) significantly changed the tax benefits of donating to your favorite charity starting in 2018. Now that we’ve seen a full year with the new provisions, not-for-profit organizations are taking a look at the… Read More

The post Charitable Giving is Down Following Tax Reform: How Not-for-Profits Should React appeared first on Anders CPAs.

Many not-for-profits organizations have been concerned about the taxability of parking and transportation benefits as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Fortunately, Congress recently moved to repeal the dreaded “parking tax” on fringe benefits, such as free… Read More

The post Unpopular Parking Tax on Not-for-Profits May Be Repealed appeared first on Anders CPAs.

When you’re hanging something heavy, a simple nail probably won’t do the job. Whether it’s an heirloom family mirror or a large painting, you want to be confident it will hang securely on your wall for years to come.The right …

The post How to Hang Heavy Objects on a Wall appeared first on The Handyguys.

In this GDC 2020 virtual talk Supercell's Eino Joas discusses the two-year process that led to the development of a Battle Pass for Clash of Clans. ...

Finnish mobile studio Dazzle Rocks has secured $6.8 million in Series A funding to boost development on its unnamed social sandbox MMO. ...

All over Oakland right now people are wearing Warriors shirts and flying their Warriors flags from their cars, and as much as we like our hometown team here at 99pi, we've been following these NBA finals for another design-related reason. When you watch the games in Toronto the whole stadium is filled with people wearing red raptors jerseys, but every now and then you'll see these little flashes of purple. Those bold fans are wearing one of the most polarizing jerseys in the history of sports. A jersey that we actually did a whole episode about last year. So in honor of the Toronto Raptors, and the beautifully ugly jersey they gave the world, we're gonna rerun that episode for you today, along with an update from our new 99pi team member Chris Berube, a Torontonian and Raptors fan since he was a kid.

The Barney Design Redux

Sand is so tiny and ubiquitous that it's easy to take for granted. But in his book The World in a Grain, author Vince Beiser traces the history of sand, exploring how it fundamentally shaped the world as we know it. "Sand is actually the most important solid substance on Earth," he argues. "It's the literal foundation of modern civilization."

Plus, Roman talks with Kate Simonen of the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington about measuring the embodied carbon in building materials.

Built on Sand

Vivian Le is on a mission that requires equal parts science, philosophy, and daring, in search of something that’s been hotly contested for decades: the world's largest ball of twine.

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Twine

Men are often the default subjects of design, which can have a huge impact on big and critical aspects of everyday life. Caroline Criado Perez is the author of Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, a book about how data from women is ignored and how this bakes in bias and discrimination in the things we design.

Invisible Women

Farmers have known for centuries that putting a hive of honeybees in an orchard results in more blossoms becoming cherries, almonds, apples and the like.  Yet it’s only in the last 30 years that pollination services have become such an enormous part of American agriculture. Today, bees have become more livestock than wild creatures, little winged cows, that depend on humans for food and shelter.

On Beeing

Donald Trump took office 977 days ago, and it has been exhausting. Independent of where you are politically, I think we can all agree that the news cycle coming out of Washington DC has been very intense for anyone who has been paying attention at all. One of the reasons for the fervor is Trump’s role as a very norm breaking president. If you like him, that’s why you like him, if you hate him, that’s why you hate him. But my reaction to all this, was that I realized I didn’t really know what all the norms and rules are, so I wanted to create for myself a Constitutional Law class and the syllabus would be determined by Trump’s tweets. This is where my friend, neighbor and brains behind this operation, Elizabeth Joh, comes in. She is a professor at the UC  Davis school of law and she teaches Con Law. And since June of 2017, she has been kind enough to hang out with me and teach me lessons about the US Constitution, that I then record and release as the podcast What Trump Can Teach us About Con Law. We call it Trump Con Law for short.

After a long hiatus, we’re back with monthly episodes, so I wanted to reintroduce it to the 99pi audience because you may not know about it and because people often comment that the nature of the calm historically grounded, educational discussion is a soothing salve amidst the chaotic and unnerving political news of the day.

We’re presenting two classic episodes on Impeachment and Prosecuting a President.

Subscribe to What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law on Apple Podcasts and RadioPublic

Today, there are more than a hundred abandoned asylums in the United States that, to many people, probably seem scary and imposing, but not so long ago they weren't seen as scary at all. Many of them were built part of a treatment regimen developed by a singular Philadelphia doctor named Thomas Story Kirkbride. Kirkbride was obsessed with architecture and how it could be harnessed therapeutically to cure people suffering from mental illness.

The Kirkbride Plan

A little-known bit of world history about a rag tag group of sailors stranded for years in the Suez Canal at the center of a war.

Great Bitter Lake Association

There are symbols all around us that we take for granted, like the lightning strike icon, which indicates that something is high voltage. Or a little campfire to indicate that something is flammable. Those icons are pretty obvious, but there are others that aren't so straightforward. Like, why do a triangle and a stick in a circle indicate "peace"? Where does the smiley face actually come from? Or the power symbol? We sent out the 99PI team to dig into the backstory behind some of those images you see every day.

Ubiquitous Icons: Peace, Power, and Happiness

If you heard that there was a piece of technology that could do away with traffic jams, make cities more equitable, and help us solve climate change, you might think about driverless cars, or hyperloops or any of the other new transportation technologies that get lots of hype these days. But there is a much older, much less sexy piece of machinery that could be the key to making our cities more sustainable, more liveable, and more fair: the humble bus. Steve Higashide is a transit expert, bus champion, and author of a new book called Better Busses Better Cities. And the central thesis of the book is that buses have the power to remake our cities for the better.

Missing the Bus

On this shelter-in-place edition of 99pi, Roman walks around his house and tells stories about the history and design of various objects

Buy Beauty Pill Describes Things As They Are and all Beauty Pill records on Bandcamp or wherever you can find it.

Roman Mars Describes Things As They Are

Download our recorded webinar to hear from the Anders CARES Act Research and Response Team on the details of PPP loan forgiveness and the newest stimulus package update, including: Loan forgiveness calculations based on current guidelines How to maximize your loan forgiveness Loan forgiveness for self employed individuals Updates on the various stimulus programs based...

The post RECORDED WEBINAR: PPP Loan Forgiveness and Stimulus Updates appeared first on Anders CPA.

The St. Louis County Small Business Relief Program, (SBR), slated to award $17.5 million to small businesses, was recently announced by County Executive Sam Page. The grants make up about 10% of the $173.5 million in federal relief funds the county received from the CARES Act. The program will provide financial relief to small businesses...

The post $17.5 Million in Grants Available for St. Louis County Small Businesses appeared first on Anders CPA.

On April 30, 2020, the IRS issued guidance to change one of the key benefits related to the tax treatment of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan program. This benefit is that loan proceeds which are forgiven under the program are nontaxable income to the business. With other types of loans, loan forgiveness results in taxable...

The post IRS Provides Guidance on Expenses Funded by PPP Loan Proceeds appeared first on Anders CPA.

Some small business owners are finding themselves in yet another predicament as they try find new ways to keep their businesses open and comply with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness – workers are taking unemployment over returning to work. In some cases, employers are offering to match or even exceed the unemployment amounts to...

The post Businesses Get a Break on Employees Taking Unemployment Over Returning to Work appeared first on Anders CPA.

Anders tax partner Dave M. Finklang, CPA/CGMA, MBA and tax supervisor Rebekah J. Tucker, CPA have been selected to join the St. Louis Small Business Task Force. Founded by Erin Joy, CEO of Black Dress Circle, the Task Force is a new initiative to bring together leaders from varied industries to clearly define and address...

The post Dave Finklang and Rebekah Tucker Named to St. Louis Small Business Task Force appeared first on Anders CPA.

What does returning to business look like in a post COVID-19 world? Join us on Thursday, May 14 at 10:00am CDT for a webinar discussing the state of the world after we reach the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn about: Economic impact from COVID-19 Best practices for moving your business forward How to...

The post WEBINAR – The Great Viral Recession: Light at the End of the Tunnel? appeared first on Anders CPA.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread, it was apparent that there would be more assistance needed to help our nation’s small and medium sized businesses. Although the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was in full swing, it seemed to be a temporary fix for a much longer-term challenge. On April 9th, the Board of Governors of the...

The post Main Street Lending Program: Is it Right for My Business? appeared first on Anders CPA.

On November 8, 2019, Sen. Deb Fischer visited the NECA Nebraska Chapter to discuss NECA’s priority issues. Pictured from left to right are Todd Becker of Thompson Electric, Barry Mayfield of IBEW Local 22, Craig Langfeldt of Miller Electric, Anthony Varbaro of the NECA Nebraska Chapter, Dan Smith of Electric Company of Omaha, Sen. Deb Fischer, Rick Milota of National Electric, Neil Davidson of Commonwealth Electric, and NECA Nebraska Chapter Executive Allan Hale.

On November 25, 2019, members of NECA’s Penn-Del-Jersey Chapter met with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.). The group discussed small business issues, composite plans, and the importance of infrastructure investment. Pictured from left to right are PDJ Chapter’s Aaron Kelley, Dan Hahn of Furness Electric, Christine Meyer of Battaglia Electric, Rep. Blunt Rochester, and PDJ Chapter Executive Jeff Scarpello. 

This week in government affairs: NECA opposes bill to raise top tax rate for pass-throughs, NECA member testifies before the house small business committee and NECA Wins in NDAA.

1. Hearing on Expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act

On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, the Workforce Protections Subcommittee held a hearing to discuss the issue of paid family leave. This hearing examined the different ways that the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) could be updated to best benefit employees, employers, and the American economy. Among suggested updates are expanding eligibilty under the FMLA, reducing exclusions, promoting tax cuts to businesses that provide paid leave, and increasing employee access to additional paid leave options.

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA will continue to monitor this issue as different solutions to paid family and medical leave are presented, working with legislators to reduce the impact on the electrical construction industry. 

2. President Trump Releases Budget Proposal to Congress 

On March 11, 2019, President Donald Trump released his budget proposal to Congress, “A Budget for America’s Future”. The budget and detailed summaries are found here. 

NECA’s Look Ahead: The President’s budget in its current form will not be passed by Congress to become law. The budget is largely seen as a political document. Regarding government funding, the House is expected to introduce the twelve appropriations bills in Subcommittee by the end of April, with the full committee hearings expected in May. The goal is to pass the twelve bills through the House by July. The Senate is expected to pass their version in June.

3. Your Vote Counts!

The 2020 state primary elections are coming up, so be sure to make your vote count! NECA contractors are uniquely positioned to play an important part in our nation's electoral process. NECA is a diverse organization comprised of many voices and election day is your opportunity to make your voice heard.  

NECA’s Look Ahead: Be sure you are registered to vote in your state before election day and research the candidates on your ballot to see where they stand on issues important to you.

On February 16, 2020, members of NECA’s East Tennessee Chapter met with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)

1. Senate to Vote on America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act 

On February 12, 2020, NECA joined dozens of other organizations and sent a letter to Senate leadership urging quick action on the NECA-supported America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act (ATIA) (S. 2302).

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA has long believed that we must find a sustainable solution to our nation’s surface transportation. We were encouraged last summer when the bill passed out of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) and was the largest highway bill ever passed, authorizing $287 billion over five years. We will be continuing to urge the swift passage of this important legislation.

2. Take Action: Tell Your Representative to Support H.R. 5644 to Prohibit Reverse Auctions

The Construction Consensus Procurement Improvement Act of 2020 (H.R. 5644) would prohibit the use of reverse auctions on federal construction projects. The Senate already passed this important legislation, and NECA remains optimistic that this sensible reform can pass the House and be enacted into law. Tell your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 5644 today!

NECA’s Look Ahead: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a report stating that using reverse auctions to procure construction services did not guarantee the lowest price nor did it establish any clear benefits over the traditional sealed-bid approach. Awarding contracts solely on price requires contractors to cut costs in materials and labor, ignoring the importance of quality construction and the consideration of life-cycle costs.

3. Recess Weeks are for In-District Visits

Congress was in recess this week, which is the perfect opportunity to set up a meeting with your Member of Congress at home in your districts. In-district visits are a great opportunity for your congressman to tour your company, jobsite, or training center to learn about NECA and the electrical contracting industry. Visit NECA’s Congressional Visit Toolkit to learn how to set up your meeting today!

NECA’s Look Ahead: Remember, you can earn 5 points for your NECA chapter with each in-district visit in the Chairman’s Challenge. You can also earn points for sending a letter through our Legislative Action Center or attending the upcoming National Legislative Conference. 

1. New Joint Employer Rule Issued by the NLRB

On February 25, 2020, the National Labor Relations Board released the details of a new joint-employer liability rule. This new rule, which began the regulatory process almost two years ago, reverts the regulatory language back to its pre-2007 form, requiring companies to exercise direct control over workers to be considered their employer. The new joint-employer rule creates a much higher threshold for the employers to be held jointly liable for violations; benefiting organizations and corporations structured around franchising and third-party hiring.

NECA’s Look Ahead: This rule takes effect April 27, 2020. NECA will continue to monitor this rule change, assessing its impacts on jobsites.

2. The Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act Passes the House 

On February 25, 2020, H.R. 561, the Protecting Business Opportunities for Veterans Act, passed the House by unanimous voice vote. This legislation will aid veteran-owned small businesses by directing the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to contract with those businesses. Veteran-owed small businesses will be required to perform a majority of the work they are awarded on these government contracts with large subcontractors and will be restricted from performing the work set aside for these types of small businesses. 

NECA’s Look Ahead: NECA applauds the House on the unanimous passage of this legislation and expects it to be received favorably in the Senate. We will continue to monitor this issue as it moves to the Senate and are confident in a positive outcome.

3. The Committee on Small Business Held Hearing to Discuss FY2021 Budget

On February 26, 2020, the House Committee on Small Business held a hearing to discuss the 2021 Budget with the Small Business Administrator. Recently appointed Administrator, Jovita Carranza, gave an overview of the administration’s budget requests and the committee was able to examine the potential opportunities and challenges that small businesses participating in the SBA’s programs will face. 

On March 26, 2020, the Senate passed “Phase III” of the Coronavirus Response Package, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in a 96-0 vote.

Blue Frog Robotics has launched its adorable companion Buddy robot on Indiegogo. The robot has many features. It can be a personal assistant, playmate or security robot.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Automattic announced that it has secured to rights the the .blog top-level domain. It will soon start offering them to customers.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Google has unveiled its new iPhone app called Gboard. The app makes it easy to use mobile search from within any app.

Read more on howtoweb.com

AOL Instant Messenger will come to an end on December 15, 2017. It had a long run. It first arrived in 1997.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Dropbox has filed for an IPO. They will trade under the Nasdaq ticker symbol DBX.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Inkbunny describes itself as a furry art community. The site has over 550,000 members are over 1.5 million submissions.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Reddit has disabled its Start Chatting features shortly after launching the new chat product.

Read more on howtoweb.com

Nathan Vella has joined up with Annapurna Interactive, taking an unmentioned seat on its executive team and lending his expertise to the company's work with independent game developers. ...

Valorant executive producer Anna Donlon offers a refreshing take on how toxicity needs to be dealt with in online games, and explores why a perfect solution is so difficult to create. ...

Game Closure is on the hunt for backend / systems engineers to help us build the services and infrastructure that power our social games that are played by millions of people every day. ...

First Encounter Assault Recon proved a breakthrough moment for game AI. So let's revisit what made it so special and explore how it works in detail. ...

In open world games, level design is the central feature, not the game system. Discover key issues designers must address when planning their open world. ...

Fellow Traveler managing director Chris Wright breaks down the data behind LudoNarraCon 2020 on Steam. ...