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Where does SoundCloud Go from here?

In recent weeks, Berlin-based SoundCloud has seen a number of articles casting doubt over the company’s financial security and future funding. As a long-time user of the music streaming service, I wanted to take a closer look at how the service has evolved and where stumbling blocks have led to pivots in its monetization strategy.

SoundCloud in the news

Let’s take a look at some of the news headlines for SoundCloud over the last couple of months:

“SoundCloud in danger of running out of cash”

(Financial Times)

“Soundcloud’s top execs are leaving at an incredibly awkward time”

“Is SoundCloud Imploding? Top Execs Jump Ship as ‘Desperate’ Fundraising Begins”

(Digital Music News)

You don’t have to be an expert analyst to understand that the company is going through severe financial difficulties — even looking past some of the the more sensationalist headlines.

Despite the doom and gloom SoundCloud holds a lot of good will in the eyes of users and indie artists, some of whom have built a career from scratch using the platform:

“This is for every indie artist. Shouts out to SoundCloud for holding me down. It’s another one, baby!”

(Chance the Rapper shouts out SoundCloud in Grammys acceptance speech – The Verge)

Chance The Rapper SoundCloud profile
After rising to fame, Chance The Rapper still offers his work for free on SoundCloud (source:

So this is the bottom line, then: SoundCloud is a product for the artists and the listeners. It was built out of passion, to solve a problem that its founders were facing, and has changed the way that young up-and-coming talent can grow and connect with their fanbase — and this is the part of the business that came first. But when it comes to converting such positive sentiment into revenue, things are far from working well.

The poster child of Berlin’s startup scene

St Oberholz cafe
The ever-present St Oberholz cafe at Berlin’s Rosenthaler Platz

There’s a café not 5 minutes from my apartment in Berlin, where the SoundCloud founders are rumoured to have put together the very first version of the cloud-based streaming app. Perhaps it’s for this reason that I feel some kind of connection to the company. Although having never worked there myself, a number of friends and acquaintances have joined and left over the years. It’s a staple of the city, and somewhere most people in tech seem to have some form of connection to. The company also plays its part when it comes to fostering the community by hosting a range of engineering meetups and other startup events.

For those in the Berlin tech scene, SoundCloud is seen as something of a flagship company for the city — for at least as long as I can remember. The tech industry here is still relatively immature compared to other European cities like London, which has given birth to a number of high-profile names and big exits. It’s still not clear when that will change, given the proportion of early-stage startups still dominating headlines.

Despite being such a recognized brand in Europe and worldwide, the SoundCloud product is hard to categorize in a world now shared with the big names and deep pockets of Spotify and Apple.

If SoundCloud wasn’t around, it’s still not clear who would take up the banner of “Berlin startup flagship” in their place.

Fact sheet

  • Founded: 2007
  • Launched: 2008
  • Funding: $193M across 6 rounds
  • Founders: Eric Wahlforss, Alexander Ljung
  • Users (total): >175 million
  • Users (paid): ? (not public)
  • Catalog size: >135 million

Back in a different era…

It’s important to understand the space that SoundCloud was born into, back in 2008. The “YouTube of audio” was launched at a time when YouTube was barely a shell of what it is today. At a time when MySpace was dominating as a platform for independent musicians, SoundCloud was intended to provide a better way for creators to share and present their music to an audience on the web — something that still applies today.

In comparison to MySpace, music on SoundCloud was more shareable, compatible with social media and more “open” in general — something that became increasingly important over time with the rise of platforms like Facebook.

In many ways this focus has paid off for the platform; today, I’d argue that the variety of indie content from individual artists is the platform’s single unique selling point for consumers (but more on that later).

MySpace profile
If you’re old enough, this should bring back some memories… (source:

The elephant in the room: Revenue

Over the years, the team have had several attempts at monetizing the platform in a number of different ways.

Creator subscriptions (SoundCloud Pro)

As creators of a podcast, we pay for SoundCloud Pro at ChartMogul. With this subscription, you’re essentially just paying for more storage and stats on listeners. You’ll hit the limits of the free plan once you upload 3 hours of audio, so it’s basically a must-have for any serious creators on the platform.

I can’t help but think that getting creators to pay for storage is a backwards way of approaching monetization that only serves to limit the content on the platform. YouTube doesn’t charge for the number of hours of video uploaded to your account — they simply monetize on the user side through their ad platform.

Listener subscriptions (SoundCloud Go)

I was genuinely excited when SoundCloud Go was launched back in March 2016. But I arrived at the announcement page and was instantly confused by the majority of messaging:

SoundCloud Go pricing
The pricing page for SoundCloud Go (source:
  • “Listen offline” – okay, this is a nice addition. Not worth the $9.99 alone though.
  • “Ad-free” – I don’t currently hear any ads when using SoundCloud! How is this relevant? (I guess they just we’re running ads in my country at the time)
  • “135+ million tracks” – This is quite clearly misleading, because they don’t compare how many tracks you get access to with the standard product. (my bet is that it’s not that much short of 135 million). So I’m left to comparing “135+ million tracks” with “not 135+ million tracks”. Great…
  • “SoundCloud Go full tracks” – What?! To this day I can’t make sense of this. How is “SoundCloud Go full tracks” a benefit of SoundCloud Go? Didn’t we already cover that in the number of tracks above?!

So you can see why I didn’t buy. This is the LEAST compelling subscription pricing page I’ve seen for a long time! I’m an early-adopter proficient in tech, so how do they plan to sell this to… my Mum, for example?!

It’s too vague. I pay £10/month for Spotify. If someone told me I could pay £15/month for “even more tracks”, how am I supposed to understand if that’s a valuable proposition for me?

In reality, what they’re really suggesting is that they’re adding access to licensed tracks from the various record company deals they’ve signed (UMG, Sony, Warner etc.). But how is the user supposed to make this distinction?

I can’t help but feel like the company made some serious concessions to close the various deals they needed with each record company – features like paid-only content are clearly there to appease the rights holders, and for listeners only serve to confuse and frustrate.

Streaming audio ads

Following in Spotify’s footsteps, SoundCloud inserts streaming ads in between tracks for free users of the service.

Actually, when you look at the type of product SoundCloud represents, this form of monetization seems to make the most sense. SoundCloud has:

  • The largest catalog of content of any streaming music service
  • Free, user-generated content
  • Some licensed content mixed in

There’s definitely another streaming platform with very similar characteristics: YouTube.

How is YouTube monetized? By running ads in its free user-generated content. (Okay, I know there’s YouTube Red, the premium subscription too, but that still represents a minor chunk of the platform’s revenue at this point).

For whatever reason, SoundCloud has failed to imitate the YouTube model work effectively. This could be due to reasons of scale, or subtleties in the audio format when compared to video. Or the product execution.

User experience woes

Soundcloud iOS app

The core user interface of SoundCloud hasn’t changed considerably over the years, and while the web experience was never renowned for its elegance, it remains functional without too many surprises.

The mobile app however… well where do I start? All you have to do is read some of the blog comments from the announcement back in 2014 when the latest re-design went live. Here is just one of many comments on the post:

“SoundCloud’s new app is one of the most unfortunate business decisions I have ever seen a company make. It seems they have forgotten that without the musicians that upload music there wouldn’t be people to listen.”

The backlash was extensive, and almost entirely targeted towards the removal of features that artists relied upon, and the addition of a new, completely unintuitive user interface. The mobile app confuses me on almost a daily basis when I tap the wrong thing, swipe the wrong way or play a track without meaning to. And I’ve been using it since 2014! I don’t think I’ve felt this way since trying to use Snapchat for the first time.

SoundCloud is the only streaming audio platform I’ve used that has a feed, i.e. I can see a chronological stream of new tracks that are posted and recommended by people I follow. I like that! One of the main problems I have is with discovery. With so much user-created and indie content on the platform, my ability to find and play new music that fits my taste profile is shockingly low.

So what went wrong?

1. Shift in focus to directly compete with licensed streaming platforms

The pivot towards including licensed tracks on SoundCloud means competing with the big players in the space (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play music) in a much more direct fashion.

Spotify touts 43 million paying subscribers (out of over 100 million accounts overall), and is still struggling to break even at that scale with its licensing model. Given the mixed messaging around SoundCloud Go (see above), it’s not completely surprising that the service is rumored to have no more than a few hundred thousand paying listeners – although no official numbers exist for this yet.

2. Scattered attempts at monetization

As highlighted above, each separate attempt at monetization has effectively attacked the product from every possible angle, leaving a fragmented user experience. The result is that users suffer from a sense of penny-pinching, pushed to part with their money at every opportunity.

3. Poor product evolution and vision

This is in all likelihood a result of the search for reliable revenue mentioned above. As a listener, it’s not clear to me what SoundCloud is any more. Where does it fit into the streaming music landscape? It doesn’t feel like a product that can stand on its own as an alternative to Spotify or Apple Music, but it’s still asking for ten of my hard earned dollars every month.

4. A big bet on converting free users to paid

If SoundCloud was to succeed in the launch of paid subscriptions (SoundCloud Go), they needed to convert a serious number of their free users over to paid accounts. Spotify is incredibly proud of its proposed free-to-paid conversion rate of 20-25% — which dwarves most other similar freemium businesses.

In the recent Financial Times report, analyst Mark Mulligan, founder of Midea Research stated:

“It will never get conversion rates [from free to paid] anywhere close to Spotify’s 20-25 per cent… The best it could ever hope for was 2 to 3 per cent, and in doing so it will alienate much of its userbase.”

It’s not clear what kind of conversion rate SoundCloud Go has seen in the months since launch, but the outlook isn’t promising.

What can subscription businesses learn from this?

1. Consumer subscriptions require unparalleled scale

In a market where margins are virtually non-existent, your business may not be remotely viable unless you’re the single dominant player in the market. Spotify has eaten up a large chunk of the music streaming market, but even at 43 million paying subscribers is struggling to balance the economics in their favour.

2. Don’t drive your pricing communication from the business side

Your subscription offering needs to be communicated in a crystal-clear way. This runs from the actual Pricing page through every part of Marketing communication and into the product itself. The positioning of the paid subscription needs to be communicated from the consumer’s perspective — even if it’s driven from the business side. Thinly-veiled monetization strategies are obvious.

3. Freemium: Don’t assume free users can be converted to paid users

Consumer subscriptions generally only work well when the value of the paid service in comparison to any alternatives is overwhelmingly high. One good example of this is Netflix — for a single monthly fee you get such a vast, high-quality library of content that you can consume to your heart’s desire.

As has been said many times from both a B2C and B2B perspective, users who sign up for your free plan are not necessarily the same segment of users who would sign up for a paid plan. They may have no intention to ever pay for such a service, but are quite happy to make the most of your free offering. Focusing on freemium growth without a solid plan for converting said free users means you’re building a high level of risk into your business model.

What now?

Over the last few months we’ve seen signs that time may be up for the company – at least in its current form. According to a filing for SoundCloud Ltd in January 2017, the company’s net loss grew to $52M in 2015, outpacing a very slow growth in revenue (to $22M).

Worryingly, the average annual salary grew nearly 20% to ~€90K in 2015. That’s a surprisingly-high average for a company headquartered in Berlin, where living costs and average salaries are generally lower than other European capitals.

The company has recently taken on more senior hires, such as former Google Exec Holly Lim, joining as the company’s first CFO, in a clear bid to build a revenue-generating machine and secure future funding.

Regardless of the above, SoundCloud has two things of considerable value to businesses and investors in the media space: A lot of passionate, active users and a huge library of content. With these assets, there’s hope that the team can raise some form of funding – given a solid plan for the near-term future of the product – albeit with a lower valuation than expected.

My bet is we’ll be seeing some SoundCloud-focused headlines before Q1 is up.

Written while listening to a 2-hour bootleg deep house mix, on SoundCloud.

The SoundCloud HQ, based in Berlin’s Factory startup complex.


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Civil Engineering Accomplishments Evoke Emotions

September 10, 2012 at 12:15 pm 2 comments

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge always brings a smile to my face. As a Marylander, I have traveled the Bay Bridge each summer on my way to the beach. Reaching the bridge symbolized that I had hit the halfway mark- another couple of hours and I could relax in the sun!  As I cross the bridge and marvel at its height and strength, I wondered how many other civil engineering accomplishments evoke emotion in people?

The World Trade Centers were landmarks to New Yorkers.  Now, their footprint and the beauty of the new structure stir differing feelings. How many reports have we all heard that the vacant skyline still haunts locales and tourists alike?

Each time my business partner sees Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, he “craves Kick Ass Eagles Football!” Likewise, as a Raven’s fan (sorry Matt) M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore has me craving football, a cold beer and hot chocolate!

Driving along the DC Beltway, I marvel at how wide the roads are reconstructed and how many more cars cause gridlock. My frustration even thinking about taking a journey to DC along our extensive beltway is often tempered by the hope of a future high-speed rail.

The Hoover Dam lured our country out of the Great Depression. One of my clients tells me that when he sees it he “feels proud to be a civil engineer and an American. That someone had the foresight to create such a structure and then to construct it” marvels the mind. Simply put, the Hoover Dam Bypass/Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, in Boulder City, Nevada is beautiful. Nearly 40 years in making, the structure takes my breadth away.

As you take a moment out of your day to “smell the roses,” look around at the civil engineering accomplishments that surround you. What do you see and what do you feel?

By Carol A. Metzner
President, The Metzner Group, LLC and
Managing Partner, A/E/P Central, LLC home of CivilEngineeringCentral.com
  View Carol’s profile & connect with her on LinkedIn

civil engineering jobs :: civil engineering resumes :: civil engineering blog :: civil engineering discussion

Entry filed under: Civil Engineering, civil engineering blog, Civil Engineering Issues, Infrastructure, Sustainable Civil Engineering, US Infrastructure. Tags: .

Working From Home: The Kiss of Death for a Civil Engineer? Raise the Bar for Engineering

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Hey Taiwanese! Planning A trip And Going Baffled Where To go? Then Here Is An Extremely Enamoring Offer For Your Tour To Philippines!!

People out there get ready to explore the Philippines. The Philippines is one among those tourist places that people never want to miss out. The wildlife part the beaches the weather is something for which missing them out is complete No No. Staying at Taiwan and thinking how the Philippines visit is possible? No worries sitting at Taiwan you can now book your hotel rooms and plan out the perfect vacay with your family or maybe the solo trip as well. Tourism is an important sector of the Philippine economy. The Philippines is also termed as the lonely planet as it has always been the perfect getaway for the travelers who plan to have a short period of escapism from the tiring routine. The country is known for having its rich biodiversity as its main tourist attractions. Its beaches, mountain, rainforests, islands and diving spots are among the country’s most popular tourist destinations. The country’s rich historical and cultural heritage are also one of the attractions of the Philippines. Popular destinations among tourists are El Nido in Palawan, Davao, Boracay, Siargao, Cebu, Manila and much more. The mountain has a wide range of flora and fauna, including over 272 bird species, 111 of which are endemic to the area, including the national bird, the Philippine Eagle. Mount Apo has become a popular hiking destination for mountain climbers. Choose from hundreds of hotels whether you’re a traveler seeking a luxury holiday, weekend breaks, a business stay, or a family suite. Book online with Hotels.com and compare over 158,000 properties worldwide with world-class facilities to suit Enjoy your stay in Taiwan, a perfect destination for travelers to experience wonderful food, friendly culture, and local attractions. Get excellent service from Hotels.com customer care team, who are ready to serve you 24/7, seven days A week. Offer a guaranteed best price on your online-booked destination, a safe and secure payment gateway and flexible payment options, to assure a hassle free online booking experience.
Check out the latest hotels, com discount coupon codes and voucher Codes at CollectOffers.

Let’s check out the accommodations at the Philippines:

The Manila Hotel:

Inside the hotel

  • gym
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  • Yoga classes/guidance are available on site

Guests can enjoy a full range of spa services at the hotel. Services include massage, facial treatment, body treatment and nail and foot care. SPA facilities include a three-warm oven, spa pool, and steam room.

JMM Grand Suites:

  • Free wireless internet access
  • 70 apartment rooms
  • indoor swimming pool
  • Breakfast is served
  • Room meal service
  • gym
  • SPA service
  • Hotel to airport shuttle bus
  • Terrace
  • 24 hour counter service
  • air conditioning
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Victoria Court Malate:

  • Free wireless internet and free parking
  • 108 rooms
  • Breakfast is served
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Armada Hotel:

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Plan your vacation on a global basis for your favorite destination and use this promotional code to book your favorite accommodation with an extra deduction of 5%. Only at Hotels.com

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All posts by the author Bradley Lord

All posts published by Bradley Lord are listed here.

Formula 1 Austria 2019: Like a machine

When Formula 1 makes a stop in Spielberg at its European Games, I immediately hear the song “Maschin” by the Austrian band Bilderbuch. Although an Italian sports car plays the leading role in the music video, the two Mercedes-AMG F1...


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Free Guide:

How to Decrease Patient No-Shows

The total of missed healthcare appointments in the U.S. $150 billion! Learn how you can reduce your patients no-shows & stop losing money!

Strategies To Increase Patient Volume & Grow Your Healthcare Practice

Posted by Rona Gallway on Jun 28, 2019 8:41:09 AM

Strategies To Increase Patient Volume & Grow Your Healthcare Practice

In today’s digital world, in order for your medical practice to grow, thrive and gain a competitive advantage, you must have an effective marketing strategy. And, on top of just trying to promote and market your practice, you have to be mindful of how competitive the healthcare space is. So, what can you do to stand out?

Exceptional patient care and clinical expertise are really important factors that you should always consider in order to retain patients. However, if you want to increase your patient volume and attract new patients, you have to come up with ways to strategically and successfully promote your medical practice. Keep reading - I share a few of the top marketing strategies below.

Marketing Strategies That Can Help Your Healthcare Practice

#1 Create a Simple, User-Friendly and Mobile-Responsive Website

Most patients utilize the Internet to look for medical practices. Before choosing a doctor, they thoroughly look at your website (and the websites of your competitors) - after all, a website is an extension of your medical practice. That’s why you need to make sure your website is simple, user-friendly, and mobile responsive. Your website doesn’t have to be extremely fancy and super flashy. However, you need to make it captivating and looks nice.

You have to create an online presence so that your existing and potential patients can find you. Make sure that your website is easy to navigate (especially for patients who aren’t tech-savvy), and includes a FAQs section where common patient questions are answered. And you should consider adding a testimonials page - this would be helpful to potential patients who are considering you and your practice. Why? Because testimonials provide a glimpse into what it is like to be a patient at your practice.

Add a Blog to Your Website#2 Add a Blog to Your Website

What better way to drive more traffic to your website than by providing relevant content? By offering valuable information regularly to your audience, it will entice and encourage them to keep coming back to your website. Additionally, blogs can help promote your practice. By posting blogs regularly, you can address the interests, concerns, and questions of your existing and potential patients. In turn, this will help you build your medical practice’s brand online. You’ll also increase your online visibility if you consistently post updated, relevant topics. Also, blogs can build trust between you and your current and potential patients.

#3 Optimize Your Website

Once you’ve created a user-friendly and mobile-responsive website, you should have your website optimized to make it easy for search engines to find. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can greatly improve your online search rankings.

How to improve your rankings:

  • Add your office location to your website
  • Regularly post new content that has been optimized with important keywords
  • Focus on local SEO
#4 Go Social

Social media plays a huge role in the marketing strategy of businesses today. With over a billion active users on different social media platforms, you can use social media to your advantage. And here’s the best part - social media is FREE!

How you can take advantage of social media:

  • Create a professional Facebook page for your medical practice where you can share or post helpful health tips and current news pertaining to your specialty.
  • Use Twitter and Instagram as a way of reaching out to more potential patients online - post quick, witty posts or engaging images.
  • You can also create a YouTube channel where you can post patient testimonials or behind the scenes footage of your office.

#5 Benchmark Your Competition

Regularly check out the websites of your local competitors. And look at other websites and practices that are succeeding in digital marketing, whether they’re your competition or not, and get ideas and inspiration. Maybe you can learn valuable insights from their website that may be applicable to your website or marketing strategy. Also, pay attention to their marketing strategy and jot down reasons why you think their website is successful and effective. You can also talk to other specialists or colleagues and discuss the newest trends in digital marketing with them.

#6 Email Campaigns

You can create and send out email newsletters and campaigns about office updates, blog posts, and any news pertaining to the healthcare industry that you think is relevant to your existing patients, potential patients, and families of your patients - with their permission, of course. By sending out email campaigns regularly, you are ensuring that your patients will remember you as their doctor. And it will help you build a relationship with patients who are considering you as their doctor.

Improve Your Patient Collections Strategy#7 Improve Your Patient Collections Strategy

One of the most frustrating things that any medical practice deals with is patient collections. Now, more than ever, it’s becoming such a nuisance especially with the rising number of patients who have high deductible insurance plans. Only 60 percent of what you’re owed is usually collected when in fact, 20 percent of most medical practices’ revenue comes from patient co-pays.

This is a huge obstacle for the growth of your practice. Make sure you have a dedicated employee who can handle all of your patient collections and medical billing to make sure that you get paid for the exceptional patient care that you provided your patient.

We’re Here For You!

With your busy schedule, you might not have the time to handle the marketing side of your medical practice. This is where we can help you. DrCatalyst has a team of medical marketing experts who can help create and manage your marketing strategies for you. Now, your staff can focus on the front desk and you can focus on patient care. We’ll take care of your marketing for you!

Talk to us today! And watch your medical practice grow.

Topics: Medical Marketing


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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Catching up

The holidays kept me busy, a little bit too busy to post everything. So I am catching up with this post.
These are NOT in any particular order. I am going with the way Blogger put the photos, just so I don't have to edit a lot of html (internet web browser code)

One of the things that came in during the holiday rush was a prize package from Wanda at Exuberant Color
She had a giveaway of some older style squares that she didn't plan to use.  Now, I happen to love a bunch of precut squares so I entered for this one. I won!  Yaay!  I will have so much fun with these squares.  AND Wanda added some larger pieces of fabric that will go nicely with the squares. PLUS she sent me some strips of batik "scraps" that will be great for my "wild" style.   Thank you, Wanda!

Next up are my blocks from Linda's birthday block swap.  You can find Linda over at Fiber Fabrications

I love these blocks and will be making a lap quilt for my recliner with them. Ahhhh!  I am thinking I will sash with colors in a scrappy manner to break up the muslin centers. That could change, we will see.
In the envelope with the blocks was a delightful pincushion with yummy alpaca yarn at the top.  This is a big pincushion that won't get "lost" on my table. It is shown on the blocks sitting between Linda B's and Pat McN's blocks.
Thanks to Linda and everyone who participated.  (PS I got the package on CHRISTMAS Eve so it was a wonderful Christmas treat for me. )

Last up is a kit that I won from Barb over at BEJEWELED QUILTS BY BARB
These are pre-cut pieces for a ginger jar quilt. Along with the pieces is a cute little bag that my mother made oooh and ahhhhh sounds over. So mom will be getting that part of the prize.  The fabrics in this have an Asian inspired theme in keeping with the "Ginger Jar" idea.

I love Asian inspired so this will be another one for me to keep, I think.

I want to say that I have been extremely blessed this year.  I have won a number of giveaways, but what I have really won is far more important.   I have won the friendship of some beautiful people here in the blogging world.  So I am going to close with a couple of  quotes from an artist whose work I admire.  If  I don' t post again prior to the new year,  Happy New Year to you all.  (but I may don't stop looking!)

I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed. -Vincent van Gogh
I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people. -Vincent van Gogh

Pat said...

I surely do agree on the friendship thing.....I cannot imagine my daily life now without people like you and several other blogging buddies in it. It seems as if I have known some of you for ages now...but in reality, we only "met" online a short time ago. Thanks to you and all the others for being such good quilting pals!

Barb said...

I think all of us bloggers feel we have come away this year with alot more than giveaways and your quotes at the bottom.

Linda B said...

Those quotes ring so true. I'm so glad you liked the quilt blocks, and everything else you won. Wow!!! But you are so right, it's our new friendships that count.

ooglebloops said...

What a haul, Gene!!! We all want to see the finished products!! :>)
I look forward, every morning, to getting on the computer, to see what my bloggy friends are doing or creating in their neck of the woods!!! Cyber space is so vast, yet it makes the world so much smaller!! Happy New Year!!!

tango's trash & treasures said...

Ditto to all said!

Tonya's Sewing Room said...

love all your goodies.....same here on the friends in blogland, they are the best.

Needled Mom said...

I can't wait to see the ginger jar quilt made up. Barb's looked awesome.

Micki said...

Congrats on the wins and have fun being creative with your gifts, esp. all of the fabrics.

quiltmom said...

Lovely giveaway prizes- it couldn't happen to a nicer person. I expect you will create some wonderful things with your prize fabric.
Lovely quotes too- Vincent Van Gogh is one of my favorites. We visited his museum in Amsterdam many years ago. His work is amazing to see up close- a man before his time.
Have a wonderful New Year- May 2010 continue to bring you many terrific things.
Warmest regards,

Kaye said...

Gene, your Van Gough quotes are just perfect. Have fun with all that beautiful asian print material and my wish for you is a Happy, Healthy and fun New Year. Happy Quilting

Anonymous said...

Catching up on my end too. Great projects for us to look forward to seeing!

Vesuviusmama said...

What great prizes! You are truly the giveaway KING! Can I rub your head or kiss your ring or something to have some of your luck rub off on me?


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8 Tips to Make an Excellent Impression on Anyone You Meet

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Summary: It is possible to make a great impression on just about anyone you meet in life and we have eight tips in this post that will help you do so.

Everyone knows it, but there are still people who do not follow it, but there are no such thing as second chances with first impressions. It takes just a couple of seconds for a person to make an opinion of you, which is why a great first impression is key. We will help you make this happen with the eight tips outlined in this post.

Have a Plan

You need to have a plan when introducing yourself to someone new. This includes what you plan to wear, what your intention is, be conscious of your body language, show interest, be interesting and avoid meeting someone new on a bad day.

Make the Impression Quickly

You will need to make the impression as quickly as possible because some research out there claims that others make their opinion of someone they meet for the first time within two seconds of being introduced. That does not leave you with a lot of leeway when trying to make a strong first impression.

Show Genuine Interest

When meeting someone for the first time, you need to show genuine interest and make them feel as if they are the only and most important person in the room. When you provide them with your undivided attention, you make a great impression.

Smile and Use Names

Always smile when talking with someone for the first time, remember their name and make sure you use it during the course of the conversation. This will help to make the person feel very comfortable with you.

Be Trustworthy

During your introduction with someone new you must come across as trustworthy as possible, even if you are the most trustworthy person you know. The more trustworthy you appear, the better your chances are that the person you met will form a strong opinion of you.

Have a Clear Message

Each time you are introduced to someone new, you must have a clear message for that person. If you have anything that is convoluted, you will not make a good impression on the person whom you are meeting for the first time.

Encourage Others to Talk

When you encourage others to talk about themselves during a first meeting, this will help you gain an incredible first impression on those people. The conversation should not be all about you.

Always Express Gratitude

In meeting someone new, whether or not the meeting went well, you should always express gratitude when the meeting is complete.

8 Tips to Make an Excellent Impression on Anyone You Meet by
Authored by: Jim Vassallo


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Monday, April 16, 2018

It isn't Caesar's money. Taxation is theft.

Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?
But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?
Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny.
And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.
  ~ Matthew 22:17-21 KJV

"Tribute" in this case means a "tax", or the money with which the "tax" is paid.

So, was the money in question Caesar's? Probably not. It would be very unlikely for it to have been.

First of all, government-- "Caesar"-- possesses nothing it didn't either steal or buy with stolen or counterfeited money. Even the money it prints, mints, and programs into existence. The metals, the mints, the printing presses, and the computers were ill-gotten. A thief doesn't own the stolen property he possesses. The money paid to the employees involved in creating the physical and virtual money is in the same category. Does the thief own something he makes from stolen materials with stolen tools? Obviously not, or property rights mean nothing.

The money isn't Caesar's property and isn't owed to him.

Even if the money did originally belong to Caesar, once he trades it for a product or service it is no longer his, no matter whose picture is on it. If I paint a self-portrait and sell it for $10, the portrait no longer belongs to me. I can't just go and take it and holler "Taxed!" and be in the right. It is no longer my property even if my picture is on it.

So, yeah, if you possess something which legitimately belongs to government (or anyone), give it back. It's not yours. Render it unto its rightful owner. But "tax" money isn't government's. "Taxation" is still, and always will be, theft. "Taxation" is never ethical. No "law" can change that.

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  1. That Bible passage is in the context of Jesus driving the "money-changers" out of the Temple. He isn't advocating taxation. He's telling them to keep Caesar (including Caesar's image) out of the Temple.

    1. My understanding is that Jesus' enemies were trying to trap him. If he said no to paying taxes, the Romans would literally crucify him for fomenting rebellion. If he said yes to paying taxes to the hated Romans, a bunch of his followers would have abandoned him.

      So he used wordplay to duck that loaded question.

      Jim Henshaw


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Google have released rietveld, inspired by their internal code-review tool. The video
about Mondrian made it look pretty (i.e. incredibly) useful for code review. The released
version already looks pretty nifty. webrev works great for my day job, but it would be
awfully nice to be able to store comments too. I'd love to see rietveld get adopted, though
there's some tweaks I'd like to see...

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Peyton’s TWO!

Peyton turned two on the 30th and she’s changed a lot in just a year.  She is walking and talking now.  She’s actually more at a run speed than walk these days.  She’s into everything. The talking is a great thing, so far.  She’s able to tell us what she wants most times and she’s able to finally let us know what she’s thinking.  Its really cool!

She is doing amazing at her day care.  She’s learning so much every day – from the teachers and other children.  She’s doing pretty well with colors.  She knows her numbers up to 10.  She’s got her ABC’s down too (well, except that LMNO letter…).

Our little girl is a singer, too.  They’ve taught her “the Wheels on the Bus” and “Tinkle Tinkle Little Star”.  She’s also learned the ‘Barney’ song.  So, I’m hoping she’ll keep those musical genes that she got honest.  Granted, they passed over me once puberty hit, but I’m hoping she’ll take after both sides of my family and their musical abilities.  No one in my generation seems to be using that talent – so maybe we’ll have a little superstar come out of Peyton’s generation… 🙂

She’s inquisitive, too.  She loves to learn about every little thing.  Forunately, its not “Why” followed by “Why” with a little “Why” on the side…  But she will ask you questions trying to learn about the world around her.  “Where’s the air-pane going, daddy?”  – “Look, mommy – a toot-toot” (a train…).

She celebrated her birthday with two parties.  We had one with all of my family in Cheraw and a second with family and friends here in Conway.  Some photos from the parties are posted below… Hope you enjoy.  Videos to come!!

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LinkedIn Google+

Dear reader,

Driven by the central role all things digital plays on our daily life I have been motivated to write a series of blogs centered on security, more specifically, Microsoft cloud security.  The Seattle-based multinational giant invested over $1 billion on cybersecurity [1] last year and it´s no coincidence its cloud business doubled its revenue in two years, reaching $18.9[2].

Microsoft on track to hit 20B in cloud revenue - qosITconsulting

Security breaches can affect us all regardless of geographical location, even if we think we´re not exposed because we´re just normal average users.  Most notably, there were 7 exploits in 2017, some wreaking absolute havoc, affecting many average users, utility companies, health care systems, airports, entire countries, and government agencies[3].  You can point your browsers to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team´s website if you´re curious about current security issues, vulnerabilities, and exploits[4].

Considering this subject too broad and the fact it transcends on-premise, hybrid, and cloud architectures, I will be guided by Microsoft´s own security page as blog framework/parting point and elaborate from there:

Microsoft Secure[5]

  • Identity
  • Threat protection
  • Information protection
  • Security management
  • Intelligence

My aim is to provide the reader with sources that can be appended to their reference arsenal in this ever-evolving industry and explain the areas I cover in the most digestible way possible.  Additionally, I will share external resources that will help keep you updated and my favorite places to turn to for assistance when I find myself in a bind.

So, why focus my blogs on Microsoft security?

I have been an avid open source user since my college days, checked email with Pine, used Gopher, Veronica, Archie, Jughead to search for information, and surfed the web with Lynx before NCSA Mosaic.  I leverage open source tools when applicable and admire the fact Azure supports numerous non-Microsoft tools and diverse architectures in its cloud offerings[6].

I chose to focus on Microsoft security because it´s directly related to my job and has been throughout my career.

I passed my first Microsoft certification exam back in 1997, I am currently an MCSD, MCSE, MCP, and an Azure Solutions Architect so the focus is a natural choice for me.  I have also worked with world-class data loss prevention solutions and have always been captivated by the world of cybersecurity.

Another reason for my particular focus is the plentiful and current compliance certifications Microsoft possesses that are useful when designing solutions which may collect and use individual´s data[7].  Documentation abounds and there are many security-centric websites Microsoft maintains that offer up-to-date information and resources.  For example, Microsoft´s Trust Center[8] is an outstanding site where anyone can sign up for a cybercrime webinar, brush up on Security Development Lifecycle, or read about the fascinating worlds of Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit and Microsoft Cyber Defense Operations Center.

To conclude, there are many enterprise-level solutions in the market that address many or all security concerns as there are cloud platforms.  I will, however, blog about security wearing my myopic Microsoft-centric goggles knowing full well it is not a Microsoft-only world.

Thank you for your visit, warm regards, and I look forward to keeping you engaged with the next blog: Identity.

[1] Reuters:
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What is fun?

What is best may not be better for your own good. A Reasonable Guy
Easy going people are not easily tormented. They often find the shortcut out of toughest of situations. But one thing we don’t know about these “Easy-going” people is that there is a world of fantasy they live in. Either that or they are just incredibly shallow (from the beliefs of narrow minds). And once you pull them out of their little fantasies, you would see the danger behind those eyes you once admired to be so cool. So, what is fun and what that has to do with our easy-going human beings?

What is fun?

People have different reasons for the way they live their lives. You cannot put everyone’s reasons in the same box. Kevin Spacey
Personally, for me, fun means sitting by a fireplace, with a light sound of pouring rain on the glass window, with some occasional thunder; the family sitting in the lobby, watching TV or doing something of activity sort. A cup of tea and a futon for my foot while I read a good long book or watch a good movie. But fun is not limited to that. That is just me being lazy and relaxing. I also like cricket. For me playing the game on the field or in computer games is fun as well. Now, given that I don’t have a fireplace or the place where I live doesn’t see much of a rain, I don’t have a family nearby and I have to make my own tea. I don’t have friends who like cricket that much and there is no cricket club around me. Does that mean I can’t have fun?

Well, of course, I can. And you’d second my conclusion, I highly doubt you would not. But the sad part of life is, we don’t enjoy ourselves if some of our expectations of fun are not met.
Enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure. Highest voted definition of Fun online
Everyone seeks fun every now and then. It’s easiest for easy-going people. Fairly easy for average people like I and extremely hard for most of our population of paranoid, angry, despaired and lost people. Now, it was a poor choice of words to describe boring people. But let’s be honest with them (you), there is a certain level of fun in aggression, being mean, inflicting pain to self and others and level of activities for someone under the label of a “Sadist”. Oh, Rees! Why are you being so extreme on this!
The more amount of love a person is capable of, easier is for him to hate with that much of compassion A Reasonable Guy (Seriously, follow me on Instagram)
beautiful eyes
Hey beautiful, why don’t you give “Molly” a look, if you like reading, esp Romantic or Fiction, then I’m sure you don’t want to miss Molly. Just have a quick read and give me your valuable feedback. That way you can also help me publish my first book in this wild world. Link is at the bottom of this article, and don’t forget to have a good day, ever 😉

Relevant Meaning

In science, time is irrelevant in outer space. Yes, we need time in equations to do our calculations and astronomy; but in the vast space of indefinite physics and extra-terrestrial unknown to us, time is not relevant. Not by a big shot. The answer to “What gibberish does that mean” is in some another article in my blog. But my point is, our time is not limited. Neither it is unlimited. Our existence is purely timeless. Your dreams that seemingly are more or less than a single night actually happen to your brain within a matter of seconds. Our brain process those dreams so fast, they appear to last several hours, days or even months. In one night, we see many, many and believe me or not, we see as much as hundreds of dreams in one single night. We remember some, we don’t most. And the dreams we remember are combined into one vague dream where we ride a horse in the pacific ocean in our underwear and a sword hanging to the G-string. We don’t know the time of our death, because there is none. You can die at this very moment, as you read this article thingy.

And the fun fact here is that you don’t even realize how much time you do waste not-having-fun. We look for the right moment which for most of us, never arrives. Because Time is a man-made concept to simplify physics and it doesn’t exist in reality. You’re 23 years old? Zero, zip, zilch, nada, nothing. You just managed to survive while earth rounded sun 23 times, since the “Time” you were born. Now, I am not saying that time is hypothetical hence not a good thing. Time simplified our lives and much more. But it also managed to drag us into a limited area of thinking. We think everything contained in that tiny slot of our brain where we calculate each and every step in time accordance. We, look for the time to have fun. Think about it, give me your valuable feedback and I am sure to re-write this article more clearly and certainly not with my eyes closed in dead sleep. Greetings! What’s so great about Molly

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