Journal

The steps and missteps one person took to achieve a dream, and how you can make it work, too.

The steps and missteps one person took to achieve a dream, and how you can make it work, too.

It’s often been said that everyone has one novel in them—and the thing that separates novelists from everyone else is that they have multiple novels in them. That, and novelists are willing to sacrifice their time, social life, and often part of their sanity to put their words to the page. But as I’ve found, it’s not just sacrifice a novelist must embrace to write that novel and get it published.

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A new feature that helps employers find freelancers aims to boost LinkedIn’s premium subscriptions.

A new feature that helps employers find freelancers aims to boost LinkedIn’s premium subscriptions.

LinkedIn has created a freelance marketplace. Launched on Wednesday, “LinkedIn ProFinder” asks employers to submit contract jobs in categories such as design, writing, or financial services and promises to send them up to five free quotes from LinkedIn users in response.

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Barbecues and badminton games are fun, but employee outings can also be an opportunity for building the company’s brand.

Barbecues and badminton games are fun, but employee outings can also be an opportunity for building the company’s brand.

Corporate summer outings have come a long way from the traditional outdoor picnic. Today, offices do everything from sponsoring a volunteer day to attending sporting events, to participating in competitive cook-offs, laser tag and go-cart races. While the purpose is often to build camaraderie and reward employees for their hard work, corporate events also provide an opportunity to reinforce your company mission and brand.

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The animated ads inject a bit of whimsy into the harsh reality of puppy mills.

The animated ads inject a bit of whimsy into the harsh reality of puppy mills.

Nine out of 10 people who buy a puppy from a store or online are getting one whose earliest days were spent in a puppy mill. They might not know that, though—the puppy they get will be cute, and happy to see them, and it might come with a fake certificate or a deceptive photo of the dog frolicking in the grass. Beyond that, drawing attention to the real issue of puppy mills—where puppies are bred in intensive, inhumane conditions—can be a challenge, just because it’s so depressing. Dogs are our best friends. Who wants to spend too much time thinking about the conditions under which they’re often bred?

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As black market businesses become mainstream, it’s clear that mastering illicit activities can help develop a lot of business acumen.

As black market businesses become mainstream, it’s clear that mastering illicit activities can help develop a lot of business acumen.

Moonshine. Camel milk. Cannabis. Once only products of the gray and black market economies, decriminalization is bringing a new wave of underground goods to consumers across the U.S. In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, I met with Matt O’Daniel, 26, known to his friends as ODamnit. O’Daniel had been brewing do-it-yourself black market moonshine in the Ozark Mountains before he found a job at Sugarlands as a distiller. Sugarlands was founded in 2014 in a 10,000-square-foot barn in the Smoky Mountains to cater to the growing demand for legal moonshine.

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The line between paying homage to a design classic and outright piracy is fuzzy.

The line between paying homage to a design classic and outright piracy is fuzzy.

Recently, the furniture giant West Elm and the L.A.–based design studio Commune released a collection of furniture and accessories with a midcentury-inspired sensibility. But as some bloggers were quick to point out, the “midcentury-inspired” looked more like a midcentury rip-off. The ensuing debate has raised pertinent questions about design plagiarism: Where do you draw the line between paying homage to a design classic and copying it? How close is too close?

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In a summer of Suicide Squad and Ben-Hur, it can feel like big-budget popcorn flicks have never been more awful. They have.

In a summer of Suicide Squad and Ben-Hur, it can feel like big-budget popcorn flicks have never been more awful. They have.

To hear the curmudgeons and film snobs tell it, the summer of 2016 has churned out some of the most soul-crushingly awful Hollywood blockbusters in recent memory—from the superhero anti-epic Suicide Squad to the dead-on-arrival sequel to Independence Day. By the time the laughable Ben-Hur limped into multiplexes last weekend, the narrative had been solidified: The latest summer blockbuster season has been an exceptionally terrible one.

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Clinton generally favors continuing Obama’s cyber policies, while Trump calls for more cyber warfare and surveillance.

Clinton generally favors continuing Obama’s cyber policies, while Trump calls for more cyber warfare and surveillance.

From alleged Russian attacks on Democratic National Committee servers and the vulnerability of Hillary Clinton’s emails to the ongoing debate over law enforcement access to encrypted data, cybersecurity and related privacy issues have become part of the presidential election cycle like never before.

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Unless Aunt Brenda is a professional career coach, you should take her advice with a grain of salt.

Unless Aunt Brenda is a professional career coach, you should take her advice with a grain of salt.

For most of us, our first experience with career advice comes from one source: our parents. As we go through life, the people who have the most interest in the direction we take with our careers continue to be those who are closest to us, like our significant others, friends, mentors, and professors.

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An increasingly diverse array of geospatial, network, and time-series data is being used to generate new perspectives and insights about us.

An increasingly diverse array of geospatial, network, and time-series data is being used to generate new perspectives and insights about us.

One of the lesser understood aspects of what you can do with massive stockpiles of data is the ability to use data that would traditionally have been overlooked or in some cases even considered rubbish. This whole new category of data is known as “exhaust” data—data generated as a by-product of some other process.

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