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Small Business Struggle While New Businesses Surge: A Paradox?

This week the Wall Street Journal reported that nearly 300 companies that had received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program had filed for bankruptcy. The very next day, the Journal highlighted Americans using the Covid-19 pandemic to take their first steps on the entrepreneurial journey.

Existing small businesses continue to struggle. New entrepreneurs are seeking opportunities. That is what the data appears to be saying about the state of small business and entrepreneurship amidst the third Covid-19 wave.

Small Businesses Suffering, See Rough Road Ahead

In early November, Goldman Sachs surveyed nearly 900 small businesses. They found that four in 10 had laid off employees or cut compensation. If further government relief were not forthcoming, another 38% said they would need to do the same. Half of small business owners had stopped paying themselves.




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Nine Resolutions To Start Your Small Business Year Off Strong

1. Be clear in your direction.
2. Know who your customer is.
3. Focus on the channels that matter.
4. Only talk about what matters.
5. Remember what makes you special.
6. Find your niche.
7. Learn something new.
8. Plan well to save time.
9. Engage with your customers more.




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The True Failure Rate of Small Businesses

Have you heard that 90 percent of new businesses fail? Or that 50 percent of new businesses fail? Stick around in the entrepreneurial community long enough and you’ll likely hear a wide spectrum of claims, mostly falling between these two extremes.

But what is the true failure rate of small businesses? And should it influence your decisions as an entrepreneur?

What we know about the failure rate of small businesses

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as reported by Fundera, approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within the first year. By the end of the second year, 30 percent of businesses will have failed. By the end of the fifth year, about half will have failed. And by the end of the decade, only 30 percent of businesses will remain — a 70 percent failure rate.




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Three Learnings Small Businesses Should Take From 2020 Into 2021

1. Have an adaptable business model
2. Diversify supply chain operations
3. Create an omnichannel customer experience




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7 Strategies for Running a Successful Small Business

1. Organize your business documents
2. Have a scalable technology plan ready
3. Plan to spend money to earn money
4. Prepare to outsource tasks
5. Create a blueprint for business continuity
6. Develop a strategy for balancing work and life
7. Build your team




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Small business ideas: 5 steps on how to go digital with your business

Arguably the most critical aspect of digital transformation, digital payments ensure that small merchants or kiranas can continue to accept or send money and preserve cash flow in an increasingly contactless world.




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7 Ways Inbound Marketing Can Build Relationships and Grow Your Business

For small businesses,traditional marketing can be expensive and difficult to maintain. Inbound marketing can level the playing field and give even the smallest business a chance to stand out and grow.

Why use inbound marketing?

1. It is cost effective
2. It helps build customers trust.
3. It increases brand awareness and boosts your online presence.
4. It can improve your marketing decision making
5. You can craft customer-focused content.
6. Inbound marketing provides two-way communication.
7. It helps bring in organic traffic to your website




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How To Bring Employees Back To Your Small Business

The Covid-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented financial ripple effect in nearly every industry but hit the small businesses that define America the hardest. Throughout the first six months of the pandemic, more than 60 million Americans filed for unemployment insurance. That’s 23 million more than the 37 million who filed claims during the 18-month Great Recession.

By now, many small-business owners who made the difficult decision to shrink or temporarily pause are rebuilding. As they have already learned, though, rebuilding your business is not as easy as flipping a switch and watching your business rebound to its pre-Covid-19 state. As a small-business owner, your plan to rebuild should focus on rehiring employees who can fulfill your immediate needs while simultaneously paving the groundwork for growth in the new norm.




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5 Hiring Hacks for Small Businesses That Need to Stretch Their Budgets

Finding and keeping the best talent has never been easy. It became the top concern for HR professionals this past year, with more than two-thirds reporting struggles with their recruitment and retention efforts. While the reasons for those struggles run the gamut, they often relate to attracting qualified candidates (49%), retaining star employees (49%) and issues with the talent-culture fit (42%).

For small and midsize businesses (SMBs), any difficulties with finding talented hires end up wasting precious resources. Worse yet, the cost of a bad hire is equal to 30% of the hires first-year salary – without factoring in the potential losses in revenue and time associated with onboarding the wrong person for a job.




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Why Small Business Owners Need to Reconnect With Their Mission

Pivoting has become one of those hot topics in mainstream business media. When an economic crisis arises, countless think pieces are written about how to pivot your business to respond to the external environment. But pivoting is a huge gamble, requiring deep resources and the ability to fail with minimal consequences (hence why the term is often associated with venture-backed startups). And, one must ask oneself if there’s even a solid reason to pivot.

As a small business owner, while you might feel pressure to look anywhere and everywhere to increase your top line, resist the urge to pivot. Instead, focus on your mission.  

Define your mission
In the college admissions space, disruption is something we are used to. While high-profile recruiting scandals and a renewed focus on racial inequities have dominated headlines recently, a larger cultural shift was quietly occurring.




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How Your Small Business Can Take Down Goliath

The accelerated churn rate of the S&P 500 indicates that at least half of todays top U.S. companies will get replaced by someone new over the next decade. That is a mind-boggling market value of $13.5 trillion up for grabs. And the craziest part is who replaces the old market leaders: It is often companies that, just a few years before, were considered scrappy little startups.

To unseat a champion, a smaller company has to play by a completely different set of rules.

1. Change the basis of competition.
2. Exploit taboos.
3. Optimize for power.
4. Dramatic simplification.




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Three Learnings Small Businesses Should Take From 2020 Into 2021

The United States has seen an increase in new businesses formed this year. According to the United State Census Bureau, in week 50, there were over 86,000 new business applications nationwide — representing a 38% increase over filings during the same week in 2019. The challenges small businesses have experienced in 2020 have led to some core lessons that those in the business community need to apply — whether they own an established small business or a newly formed one.




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Small Business Development Center breaks down how raising minimum wage may affect small businesses

Minimum wage is a complex issue for small businesses, says the Small Business Development Center in Binghamton.

The SBDC adds that, typically, small businesses have a close relationship with their employees and if they could pay them more originally, they would.

They add that they believe some business owners may have to pick up the slack in order to keep costs low.




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How Smart Phones Have Changed the World

With the ongoing move of smart phones towards near-ubiquity, much of society has come to take these do-all devices for granted. In overcoming the novelty of smart phones, many of us have lost our one-time sense of awe at this technology, and have ceased marveling at the effect it has had on the world around us. However, it is undeniable that smart phones have exerted a huge and multi-faceted impact on society, and continue to do so to this day.

How Smart Phones Have Changed the World




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With Shopify, Small Businesses Strike Back at Amazon

In a world in which e-commerce has become a necessity for nearly every retailer, it can seem they have only two options: list their goods on marketplaces run by giant companies, or sell to consumers directly, hoping they will make more on each transaction despite fewer sales. In other words, either join a dominant marketplace like eBay , Walmart or Amazon —which by itself represents 38% of U.S. online sales, according to Digital Commerce 360—or hope they can find customers through advertising and word of mouth.

For many small- and medium-size sellers, a third option has emerged, embodied by the rising star of e-commerce, Shopify . This approach gives merchants access to cloud-based third-party services such as payments and fulfillment, but lets them maintain more control of their branding and customer relationships than the biggest marketplaces offer. Shoppers might not even know they’re buying something from a Shopify-powered retailer, and that’s the point.

In addition to making goods available on sellers’ own sites, these software companies—which also include BigCommerce and Magento—can perform the laborious task of listing merchandise on the giants marketplaces. By becoming hubs for managing sales through multiple channels, including social-media platforms, they represent real competition for Amazon and its ilk, potentially giving merchants more leverage when dealing with those entrenched giants.




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American Rescue Plan Act of 2021: Small Business Funding

Specific PPP provisions of the new law include:

Appropriates an additional $7.25 billion to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) for the PPP program

Expands PPP eligibility to include:

~ Additional tax-exempt nonprofits, such as 501(c)(5) labor and agricultural organizations and community locations of larger nonprofits, whose lobbying activities do not comprise more than 15 percent of its activities
~ Internet publishing organizations assigned a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code of 519130 and engaged in the collection and distribution of local or regional and national news and information
~ Adds COBRA premium assistance as an allowable payroll cost under the PPP program.




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An Entrepreneurs Quick Guide to Invoice Financing for Small Businesses

Invoice financing is a type of business funding wherein the business sells its outstanding invoices or account receivables (A/R) to financing companies to get an immediate cash flow boost. The financing company takes over the invoices, and sometimes be in charge of collecting customer payments (as in invoice factoring).

Invoice financing is a popular financing option for businesses that have to wait 30,60, or 90 days to get their clients payments.




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Selective Survey Finds Majority Of Small Businesses Lack Cyber Insurance Coverage

A survey of small businesses conducted by Appalachian State University in coordination with Selective found that cybersecurity and technology issues were growing concerns for 44% of survey respondents due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, only 20% of survey respondents have cyber insurance coverage.

The findings highlight an awareness gap among small businesses about the risks they face from cybercrime. Twenty-eight percent of data breaches impact small businesses, and phishing attacks account for over 30% of breaches, making them the biggest cyber threat for small organizations.1 Cyber coverage from Selective can help small businesses manage and mitigate risks with comprehensive coverage options and cyber threat education.




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Google Is Scrapping Cookies This Year, And Other Small Business Tech News

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — Google plans to scrap third-party cookies by 2022.

Google announced this past week that it plans to stop the use of tracking cookies on Chrome by next year and— instead— will replace cookies with a profiling system

2 —Recruiting startup SeekOut raised $65M to take on LinkedIn and other talent acquisition companies.

3 —Small business owners adopted new software in 2020 and increased tech budgets in 2021.




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Will COVID Stimulus Help or Hurt Small Business?

The data on business startups and closing show a mixed bag across the United States. Some states have seen an increase in new business applications over the past year (February to February) and some states have shown a decline. The Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are among the weakest regions, with Virginia showing a 3.5% decline in year-over-year applications.

Business closings are harder to track month to month because small business operators do not always file documents when they shutter their doors, and it is hard to distinguish between permanent and temporary closings. Closings do show up eventually in tax filings and articles of incorporation.




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Number of small businesses in distress triple pre-Covid level

This month almost 135,000 businesses are showing strain, as the impact of a year of Covid-19 restrictions reverberates.Businesses in the services and retail sectors accounted for almost three-fifths of those showing distress, said Mazars. Sectors allowed to reopen were faring better, with construction and manufacturing businesses making up 7.9 per cent and 6.7 per cent of those in distress respectively.




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How just a few days cost some small businesses thousands on their PPP forgivable loans

For some of the smallest businesses that applied for forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, waiting just a few days or weeks would’ve gotten them thousands of dollars more.

But they had no way of knowing what was coming.

The Biden administration in late February announced a slew of changes to the loan program, which offered forgivable loans in return for keeping employees on a company’s payroll, after it reopened in January with $284 billion in funding. Those amendments included an adjusted loan formula that would mean larger amounts for sole proprietors as well as expanded eligibility for small business owners with certain criminal records, were delinquent on student loan debt or were non-citizens.




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Small Businesses Administration extends deferment for all COVID disaster loans until 2022

The Small Business Administration has extended deferment periods for all of l its disaster loans made either in 2020 or 2021, the agency announced on Monday.

The extended deferment includes the SBAs Economic Injury Disaster Loan – or EIDL – program, which many businesses that did not qualify for Paycheck Protection Program loans or other funding used to bridge the losses incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.

All SBA disaster loans made in 2020 will have the first payment due date extended from 12-months to 24-months from the date of the note, the agency said. Disaster loans made in 2021 will have a first payment due date extended from 12-months to 18-months from the date of the note.




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Big Business Practices for Small Business Brands

Every business was considered small at some point in its history. Some go big, but some stay small and do quite well. The size of a business in common measurements (revenue, employees, locations) is less relevant than the size of your customer base and the corresponding loyalty of customers.




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Why Are Not Struggling Small Businesses Taking More PPP?

Millions of businesses across the country are struggling, yet many are not taking the latest version of government aid: a second round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. This is not happening because businesses are better off than they were last year; it is because the PPP still contains structural blockers that are stopping businesses from obtaining the aid they urgently need.

A recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank found that 30% of U.S. small businesses — totaling 9 million — fear they will not make it through 2021 without more government assistance. And yet, many are not applying for aid. The Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that seven weeks after round two of PPP began, nearly half the funds remain, and only 31% of 2020 PPP loans have been forgiven to date.




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Can You Go Back to Normal After Psychosis?

Title: Can You Go Back to Normal After Psychosis?
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 6/28/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 6/28/2022 12:00:00 AM




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Can You Get Yourself Back to Normal After Psychosis?

Title: Can You Get Yourself Back to Normal After Psychosis?
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 7/5/2022 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 7/5/2022 12:00:00 AM




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Moderate Conservative Manifesto

Rae has posted a series of political stances that define a sort of moderate conservative manifesto. It hits everything from...




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Oh, Man...

...I feel horrible. (Not really. I'm just getting my game face on for the next Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash. Well,...




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Freevee: Amazon stellt kostenlosen Streamingdienst ein

Amazon will Freevee in den kommenden Wochen abschalten und in Prime Video integrieren.




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My first clojure macro

I'm finally experimenting with writing macros in clojure. Learning macros is (for me at least) a 4 stage process:

  1. Learn to use them (pretty straightforward)
  2. Learn to read their implementations (including the quoting)
  3. Learning to write them (in progress)
  4. Learning when to write them (in progress)

Those last two are iterative; #4 is especially tricky -- the web is full of general considerations ("when a function won't do", "when you want new syntax", "when you need to make decisions at compile time", etc) - but actually making that judgment in practice, takes... well practice.

Hence this exercise. Anyway to the code:

Clojure offers the if-let and when-let macros that allow you to combine a let block with testing the binding for nil:

(when-let [a (some-fn)]  
   (do-something-with a))

(if-let [a (some-fn)]  
   (do-something-with a)  
   (otherwise-fn)) 

I found myself (on some real code) wanting to be able to do something similar with try:

(try-let [a (some-potentially-exceptional-fn)]
  (do-something-with a))

(try-let [a (some-potentially-exceptional-fn)]
  (do-something-with a)
  ArithmeticException ((println (.getMessage e)) 42)
  :else (do-something-by-default-fn)
  :finally (println "always"))

etc.

So I wrote this (non-hygenic) macro that seems to do the job:

(defmacro try-let [let-expr good-expr & {fin-expr :finally else-expr :else :as handlers}]
  (letfn [(wrap [arg] (if (seq? arg) arg (list arg)))]
  `(try (let ~let-expr ~good-expr)
    ~@(map #(apply list 'catch (key %) 'e (wrap (val %))) (dissoc handlers :finally :else))
    ~(if else-expr `(catch Exception ~'e ~else-expr))
    (finally ~(if fin-expr `~fin-expr ())))))

Thing is... I don't if it's a good idea or not. For one thing its not hygienic (it implicitly declares e that can be used in the handler clauses) though this seems the kind of case that sort of thing is for.

For another... I don't know if its correct. It seems to be (I've tested all the scenarios I can think of), but this is kinda like security -- I suspect anyone can write a macro that they themselves can't break, but that doesn't mean its correct.

Some things to note: - e is available to handler expressions
- the local function wrap allows for a complex expression or single value to be spliced in
- any number of handlers can be included
- ':else' (default) handler and ':finally' handlers are optional (as are any others!)

In short: I'm interested in any opinions/feedback that aim at learning steps 3 & 4 (writing and when to write). Fire away!




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CICL Chess Match: Board 6 vs Northwestern

I play in the Chicago Industrial Chess League (CICL) for my employer DRW. I generally play one of the lower boards, but I do pretty well. Two nights ago, I played possibly the best chess game of my life... and lost.

How? By touching the wrong piece. I had a choice of two recaptures - one that would win the game, and one that would lose. If I had simply moved quickly, that would've been bad enough, but I actually noted the problem with the first recapture, and then did some sanity checks for the other move. Content that all was good, I started my move by picking up the bishop to be captured, AND THEN PICKED UP THE WRONG CAPTURING PIECE. I realized it immediately, but by then it was too late. I resigned a few moves later.

The worst bit is I found a strong move on 18. (see below, I'm playing white) - and I saw that position 3 moves earlier. I don't always play this well when I'm rested - let alone after a 12 hour work day... which of course just makes the blunder that much more painful.

Moral of the story? When you're winning, when you're tired (or both!). STOP! Check it again. Check each bit, write it down and check it a third time. Then if your sure, make the move.

This one burned. Hopefully it stung enough that I won't do it again.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, here is my wonder-blunder:

Event:
Site:
Round:
Date:

White:
Black:
Result:

Side to move:
Last move:   variations:
Next move:   variations:

Move comment:




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Test Driving Clojure Macros

When testing functions, one tests: evaluation result side-effects (if any)

When testing macros, one may also wish to test: expander code expansion




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Sandman Audio Adaptation





In 9 days, on the 15th of July, Audible will release the first of the SANDMAN audio adaptations. These are, well, full cast audiobooks of the first three SANDMAN graphic novels: Dirk Maggs gave me the role of the narrator, and I gave him the original scripts, so often what I'm saying as narrator is what I asked the artists to draw, over thirty years ago.

These are very straightforward adaptations. For the upcoming Netflix TV series, we're starting from now, and doing it as if it was being written, for the first time, in 2020. The audio adaptations are much closer to the original graphic novels, each episode being a comic in the original. Eleven hours of drama. The cast is amazing. The production and the music are glorious. I'm not sure about the narrator, but everything else is sparkling and exciting. I hope you all enjoy it...

For people who need it in a more tangible form, it will also be for sale as CDs.

Click on this, and you will hear James McAvoy as Morpheus...






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Sandman Audio Day




Today is the day that the first adaptation of Sandman is released. 

It's the first three graphic novels, PRELUDES AND NOCTURNES, THE DOLL'S HOUSE and DREAM COUNTRY, released, as  full-cast audio drama, on Audible. The adaptation was written and directed by audio genius Dirk Maggs, and only it's taken 28 years to happen -- since Dirk first pitched Sandman to BBC Radio 4 in 1992. (They said no.)


For years, blind and partially sighted people, or people who for whatever reason couldn't read comics but wanted to still get access to the stories, have asked me if there would ever be an audiobook of the Sandman books. It took a long time, but this is the closest we could come to giving the world the original graphic novels, bumps and all. You don't have the art, alas, but I hope that the performances and the music give you something that translates it to another place.

It should be out now on all the English-language versions of Audible. There should be versions in other languages coming relatively soon.

(It will be out in a few months on CD -- https://www.brilliancepublishing.com/title/50614/alt  -- and I like that they begin their entry: This content is not for kids. It is for mature audiences only. Just like the original graphic novels, this audio adaptation contains explicit language and graphic violence, as well as strong sexual content and themes. Discretion is advised.

Sandman was always "For Mature Readers" and this is no different.

Here's an interview with me (and an extract from "The Sound of Her Wings") at the EW site: https://ew.com/books/neil-gaiman-sandman-audible-adaptation-netflix-show/

So many talented actors and voices are involved. 

I'm the narrator -- often reading descriptions of places or characters I wrote in the original scripts long ago for artists to draw, which Dirk has cunningly snuck into the script.

There are hundreds of characters in these eleven hours, brought to you by 68 actors (well, 67 actors and me):









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Art and Climate

I really ought to blog about making Good Omens (we're in week 4 of shooting) and making Anansi Boys (starts shooting next week), and about the astonishing Ocean at the End of the Lane play at the Duke of York's Theatre in London (and now that I've said this, I know I will) but yesterday I spoke (via Zoom, because of Covid Protocols) at COP26, the Conference of the Parties on Climate Action, and I thought I ought to just put what I said up here. So it doesn't get lost.






Art is how we communicate. Art began when we left marks to say we were here. 

The oldest art we have is the 200,000 year old handprints of Neanderthal or Denisovan children, on the Tibetan Plateau, making marks with their hands because it was fun, because they could, and because it told the world they had been there.

The human family tree has been around for millions of years, Homo Sapiens for a much shorter time. We are not a successful branch of the tree, because, unless we use our mighty brains to think our way out of this one, we don't have a very long time left.

We need to use everything at our disposal to change the world, and show that we can compete with the ones who were here before us. And by compete I mean, not make the world uninhabitable by humans. The world will be fine, in the long run. There have been extinction events before us, and there will be extinction events after we’ve gone.

When I was young I wrote a short comics story about the use of the planet Earth as a decorative ornament. It was about our tendency to destroy ourselves. Back then, I worried about nuclear war: one huge event that would end everything. Now I'm worried that we are messing things up a little at a time, until everything tips.

We who explore futures need to build fictional futures that inspire and make us carry on. When I was a kid, it was going to the stars that was the dream. Now it has to be fixing the mess that we've left behind, and not just walking away, leaving the Earth a midden.

We need to change the world back again. And that will take science, but it will also take art. To convince to inspire and to build a future.

We need to reach people's hearts, not just their minds. Reach the part of their hearts that believes it's good to plant trees for our grandchildren to sit beneath. Reach hearts to make people want to change, and to react to people and organisations despoiling the planet and the climate in the same way you would react to someone trying to burn down your house, while you are living in it.

So that 200,000 years from now, children can leave handprints in clay, to show us that they were here, and because making handprints and footprints is fun.





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An Evening With Neil Gaiman

I start touring 6 weeks from now. It's the first time I've done something like this since before Covid -- get out there every night, read stories and poems and suchlike, answer questions and generally try to interact with a living, breathing audience. I'm a bit nervous, to be honest. Still, the idea of interacting with living, breathing human beings seems wonderful.

Here's the list of places I'll be appearing, with links to get tickets. Right now there are tickets available to all of the venues except Madison Wisconsin. If you are sad I'm not going to be somewhere near to you, I also am probably sad about this too.

(There are different Covid regulations at different venues, please check your venue for their protocol.)

And I'll see you there, I hope...


Thursday, April 28, 2022

Schenectady, NY

Proctor’s Theatre. 7:30 PM

https://tickets.proctors.org/TheatreManager/95/tmEvent/tmEvent13763.html

 

Friday, April 29, 2022

Boston, MA

Emerson Colonial Theatre. 8 PM

https://www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=D8EA3E70-5B3E-474C-949D-98ED0073B67E

 

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Seattle, WA

Venue: Benaroya Hall 7:30 PM

https://www.seattlesymphony.org/en/benaroyahall/bh-calendar/benaroya-hall-events/neil-gaiman

 

Monday, May 2, 2022

Eugene OR

Venue: Hult Center for the Performing Arts / 7:30 PM

Link: https://tickets.hultcenter.org/971/972?_ga=2.26526261.902947090.1628807551-307867051.1626909133

 

Tuesday, May 3, 2022  

San Francisco, CA

Sydney Goldstein Theater / City Arts & Lectures / 7:30 PM

Link: https://www.cityarts.net/event/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman/

 

Thursday, May 5, 2022  

San Diego, CA

Venue: Balboa Theatre   8:00 PM

https://artpower.ucsd.edu/event/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman/

 

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Austin, TX

Venue: Dell Hall, Long Center   7:30 PM

https://bit.ly/NeilGaimanAU

 

 

Monday, May 9, 2022

Denver, CO

Venue: Paramount Theatre   7:30 PM

https://www.ticketmaster.com/neil-gaiman-denver-colorado-05-09-2022/event/1E005B63DDA12DA5

 

Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Hartford CT

The Bushnell Performing Arts Center. 7:30 PM

https://bushnell.org/shows-concerts/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman

 

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Philadelphia, PA

Merriam Theatre : 7:30 PM

https://www.kimmelculturalcampus.org/events-and-tickets/202122/kcp/neil-gaiman/

 

Friday, May 13, 2022   

Chicago IL

Auditorium Theatre 8 PM

https://mytickets.auditoriumtheatre.org/overview/3019?queueittoken=e_presaleneilgaiman~q_8f2b69c0-de3a-45c1-9688-d97522585888~ts_1636660722~ce_true~rt_safetynet~h_16adf9e6a35024c0d734c9c67136c1fc0c92bef38b10b630f2b0c7073fe03c25

 

Sunday, May 15, 2022

Madison, WI

Venue: Orpheum Theater 8PM

https://madisonorpheum.com/event/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman/

(This one is sold out, I'm afraid.)

 

Monday, May 16, 2022

Indianapolis IN

Clowes Auditorium at Butler University  7:30 PM

https://butlerartscenter.org/performance/neil-gaiman/

 

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Cleveland OH

Playhouse Square  7:30 PM

Link: https://tickets.playhousesquare.org/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=ACAD824C-ED50-471B-8438-87A341A602C6

 

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Columbus OH 

Palace Theatre. 7:30 PM

https://my.cbusarts.com/3190

 

Friday, May 20, 2022 

Dallas, TX 

AT & T Performing Arts Center. 8:00PM


https://www.attpac.org/on-sale/2022/an-evening-with-neil-gaiman/


 

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Houston TX

Jones Hall / Society for the Performing Arts. 8 PM

https://spahouston.org/events/neil-gaiman/

 

 

Monday, May 23, 2022

Los Angeles CA

The Theatre at Ace Hotel. 8:00 PM

https://www.axs.com/events/403235/neil-gaiman-tickets

 

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Pittsburgh PA

Carnegie Music Hall   7:30 PM

https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/16005B64C93844CE



All the details are also over at https://www.neilgaiman.com/where/



  • An evening with Neil Gaiman

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A joint statement from Amanda and me

Hullo,

(Amanda is posting this on her blog as well.)

After many years of marriage, we have made the difficult decision to divorce. While we will no longer be partners in marriage, we will remain in one another’s lives as co-parents committed to raising our wonderful son in a loving and compassionate environment. We deeply appreciate everyone respecting our family’s privacy so we can focus on our son as we enter this new chapter in our lives.

Thank you.






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For Two Nights Only: A Christmas Carol

Thirteen years ago, I put on a Victorian Suit and a false beard and I read Dickens' prompt copy of A Christmas Carol at New York Public Library. It was a wonderful, sold out performance, introduced by Molly Oldfield, who told us all about Dickens's reading routine.


I looked a bit like this.


And the book looked a bit like this.



The reading of A Christmas Carol has become the most popular of the NYPL's audio downloads, and they repost it regularly. Here's the one from 2019:
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/12/19/listen-neil-gaiman-reads-christmas-carol

For years people have been asking if I was ever going to do it again. This year, back while the writers of the WGA were on strike, my assistant Rachael asked if I'd do it, and if I did, could she document it? I said yes, and it's becoming a thing.




It's going to be a Christmas Extravaganza, with carol singers and suchlike, signed books for sale and all sorts of goodies planned. I'm hoping we can get Molly Oldfield over to New York to introduce it once again.

When I was a boy, I saw Welsh actor Emlyn Williams being Charles Dickens on stage, a one man show I've never forgotten.

Here's the town Hall page for the 18th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-18

Here's the page for the 19th: https://thetownhall.org/event/neil-gaiman-performs-a-christmas-carol-12-19

The ticket presale starts on Thursday Nov 2nd at 12 pm, and regular tickets go on sale on Friday at 10:00 am.




ma

Do Tongue Scrapers Damage Taste Buds?

Title: Do Tongue Scrapers Damage Taste Buds?
Category: Diseases and Conditions
Created: 5/11/2022 12:00:00 AM
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