By Bevan Springer - From The Heart

The Caribbean’s travel and tourism industry is no doubt making a strong rebound, and while results vary, some destinations are recording even more impressive results than the 2019 banner tourism year.

During the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) business meetings in Curaçao last week, many of the region’s tourism directors, ministers and commissioners of tourism spoke about the exciting state of the industry, replete with opportunities for stakeholders, not the least of whom are the residents of the Caribbean.

Over the past few days, a similar optimistic outlook was shared by executives of the cruise industry during the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association’s (FCCA) Platinum Cruise Summit as delegates sailed aboard Holland America’s Eurodam from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades to Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas.

From Royal Caribbean and Carnival to MSC and Disney, the reports were upbeat and encouraging. Not only are ships sailing at full capacity, but plans are in place for new and improved vessels with incredible features, technologies and enhancements to be launched in the months and years ahead.

THEOism is a lifestyle that welcomes open conversations where the art of Critical Thinking and democratic debates is the core mission. 

It Is Better To Debate A Question Without Settling It
Then To Settle A Question Without Debating It

SOURCE - ZDNet

Remote working, flexible working, and hybrid working are all here to stay. We've demonstrated that they can work - the task now is to make sure they do.

It's coming up to two years since a global pandemic tore up the traditional model of work, and many of us are still getting used to it.

While some companies have seen employees trickling through their doors again, others continue to spend the week logged in to work from whatever corner of the house offers the most comfort. Meanwhile, the idea of remote, flexible, or 'hybrid' working becoming the norm continues to divide opinion.

Unhealthy Lifestyle

BY Theo Chambers

I have had the opportunity to live a disease-free, sickness-free, headache-free life, for the last 72 years, except for my Quadruple Heart Bypass, which I had in 2015, due to the fact that my body seems to manufacture extra cholesterol in spite of the fact I am a vegetarian for over 50 years.

Please come with me on this Wellness Destructive Behavior I find my family, friends, and associates living:

Two or more individuals cannot come to a common understanding unless they have a common definition on the subject matter they are speaking about.

Shelly Palmer

Sales of NFTs have topped $2.5 billion since January 2021, and more than $2 billion has been invested in the sector this year. Here’s a quick overview of the NFT projects and transactions that have my attention, and a look at some emerging NFT trends.

NFTs Defined

NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital assets built on blockchains that support smart contracts such as Ethereum, Polkadot, Solana, etc. To learn more about the technology and get a handle on the jargon, please visit our blockchain resource page.

NFTs are extremely simple to create. They have three important attributes: (1) They can represent any type of digital file, including websites, art, music, signatures, certificates, diplomas, patents, real estate, and even physical properties in the real world. (2) Because NFTs are smart contracts, future actions (such as distribution of funds) can be programmed to happen automatically when terms and conditions are met. (3) Because they are written to a blockchain, proof of ownership is (theoretically) guaranteed.

The fuel shortage we were afraid of has arrived well ahead of schedule and leaving parts of the East Coast running on empty. 

The fuel shortage we were afraid of has arrived well ahead of schedule and leaving parts of the East Coast running on empty. 

CNN NEWS 

Several gas stations along the East Coast ran out of fuel Tuesday as worried drivers aggressively filled their tanks. The run on fuel began after a ransomware attack Friday shut down the Colonial Pipeline, a massive 5,500-mile artery that supplies nearly half of all the gas and diesel used on the East Coast. As of Tuesday, most of the pipeline remained offline. Here’s the latest: 

• Bone dry: On Tuesday, 8.5% of gas stations in North Carolina and nearly 8% in Virginia didn't have gasoline, according to GasBuddy, a site that tracks fuel prices and demand. Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina also reported outages. Even GasBuddy itself reported website outages as result of “extreme traffic.” 

• Prices spike: As demand shot up, the national price at the pump hit $2.985 on Tuesday, the highest level in nearly six years, according to AAA.
  
• Emergency measures: Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency. Georgia, North Carolina and other state governments also stepped in to ease supply concerns. The EPA issued an emergency fuel waiver. 
  
  
• A plea: US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm urged Americans not to hoard gas. The company that operates the pipeline expected it to be substantially operational by the end of the week.
  
  
• The dreaded I-word: Concerns about inflation and supply chain disruptions sparked a selloff on Wall Street (more on that later). 

THE TAKEAWAY 

MAY 9, 2021 BY SHELLY PALMER

BY SHELLY PALMER -

As she approached the entrance to the club, she gave the frame of her new prescription AR glasses a gentle squeeze. When she got to the door, it appeared to turn green, indicating recognition that she was over 21 years of age. Then, a message appeared along with a friendly voice asking for the 5 ADA cover charge. She shook her head yes. A moment later, the door opened, which indicated that the transaction had cleared. And so begins a story about life in a trustless, decentralized world − a tale from under the Merkle tree.

Crypto

Ralph C. Merkle is one of the inventors of public-key cryptography, the cryptographic system that enables secure online transactions for banking, ecommerce, and the like. As world-changing as that invention was, his work on the cryptographic hash function and the security and efficiency of his eponymous Merkle tree are even more impressive. If you haven’t guessed by now, the “crypto” in cryptocurrency is, in part, courtesy of the cryptographic hash function and Merkle trees. Merkle trees put the “fun” in fungible and nonfungible tokens, make the blocks on a blockchain unique, and ensure that smart contracts don’t get outsmarted.

A Decentralized World

But we’re just getting started. Those who have stood on Ralph Merkle’s shoulders are about to usher in an era of individualism, privacy, and personal control that we have not seen since… um… ever.

By: Alyssa Newcomb

From engaging outside experts to interviewing shoppers, Sephora hopes its team effort to tackle racial bias will have an impact on the wider retail industry.

Months before the killing of George Floyd sparked racial justice demonstrations, and before the coronavirus pandemic changed the way people shop, Sephora decided to confront an ugly truth.

“Bias is wired into our brains and shows up in every institution, from policing to real estate to online media, and so we wanted to understand the implications for retail, guided by our commitment to creating a more inclusive retail experience,” Deborah Yeh, Sephora’s chief marketing officer, tells Fortune. 

The beauty retailer recruited a team of experts from both inside and outside the company who could report on racial bias in retail and come up with actionable steps that Sephora and ideally other retailers could take to make the shopping experience more inclusive. The task force worked for more than a year to study the issue and earlier this month released its findings in the company’s first-ever “Racial Bias in Retail” report.

“The study was really intended to better understand the issue, and understand how commonplace racial bias is in retail settings, as well as similarities and differences across different racial groups, and ultimately measure the problem,” Yeh says. “But we also wanted to identify tactics and actions that could help mitigate bias treatments from the shopper experience.”

By Shelly Palmer

As of this writing, Coinbase's market cap exceeds $86 billion. (I won't weigh in on the Wall Street aspects of this direct listing on Nasdaq; you can find that info online.) Quick facts: Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange. It trades under the ticker symbol COIN. It makes most of its money on trades involving Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), but also lets you exchange about 50 other cryptocurrencies. Almost everyone you know who has a substantial amount of BTC or ETH has done at least a few trades on Coinbase.

As you well know, we're in a crypto/NFT bubble right now. I'm not offering financial advice of any kind, but if you are going to start trading in crypto, Coinbase is far from the low-cost provider in the space. That said, don't get into this without doing your homework. The fine print on crypto transactions is so small you can't always see it.

By Savanna Berhmann - USA Today

WASHINGTON – Legislation to create a commission to study slavery reparations for Black Americans cleared a House committee Wednesday in a historic vote — making its way to the full House for the first time more than three decades after it was initially introduced. 

The legislation, HR 40, was first introduced 30 years ago, and now faces a full House vote. Should it pass the House, the measure would go to the evenly divided Senate. 

The House Judiciary Committee voted 25-17 Wednesday to advance the bill.

Que Pasa con el Caribe y Africa? By Felipe Noguera, Deputy Coordinator of the Caribbean Regional Coordinating Committee of the Pan Africanist and Indigenous Movement.

"Love gives and forgives. Selfishness gets and forgets."

In which category do we, the people of Africa and the Caribbean fall? Can we express loving appreciation or do we consign ourselves to selfish ingratitude?

Has any country in modern history, outside of the continent of Africa, sacrificed more in life, time, blood, and resources for the liberation of Africa from the shackles of apartheid and domestic settler colonialism than Cuba?

Source - The Washington Post

The Eastern Caribbean has created its own form of digital currency meant to help speed transactions and serve people without bank accounts.

The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank said its “DCash” is the first such blockchain-based currency introduced by any of the world’s currency unions, though some individual nations have similar existing systems.

It became available Wednesday in four island nations under a yearlong pilot program: St. Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Barbados will accept the pass on flights from London starting on April 16th. 

After successfully trialing it on an international flight between Singapore and London earlier this month, the IATA says it will release its Travel Pass app in mid-April.

The software allows airline travelers to store verified COVID-19 test results and vaccination certificates on their phones. The trade association told Reuters it expects to make the app available to download on iPhone around April 15th, with an Android version to follow later.

Starting on April 16th, Virgin Atlantic plans to pilot the digital pass on its London to Barbados route. The Caribbean island will accept the app at its border, making it one of the first countries to admit a digital pass instead of paper documentation.

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA- March 18, 2021- A virtual press conference, which was facilitated by members of the State of the Africa Diaspora (SOAD) and the Economic Community of the Sixth Region (ECO-6) was held on March 11, 2021 with the aim of sensitizing the media on all there is to know about the AKL LUMI.

The AKL LUMI Stimulus, from its very inception was deemed a priority to stimulate the Pan-African economy of training entrepreneurship, skills development, business, healthcare, social economic growth, goods and services.

The Regional Vice President for the Americas, Melvin Brown commenced the event by giving an outline of the development plans that the SOAD is working to execute, some of these are: 1 billion AKL LUMIS to assist farmers and their families in the Diaspora, plans to tackle food security issues and also showcased about several successful pilot programs in the Americas. He also provided details about the issuance of the stimulus package started in October 2020 and ending October 2023. In addition, he noted that business owners and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to register on the Swifin Platform at https://platform.swifin.com/ to receive the equivalent of US$10,000 in LUMI in terms of line of credit.

Dr. Sherrill Chong

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA- March 12, 2021 – The illustrious Dr. Sherrill Chong, an esteemed researcher in clinical therapy and SOAD Minister of Family & Social Economy will present at the Sistas of D Ankh & Ma'at Sisterhood Circle on the topic: ‘Physical Health and Wellness of the Family & Community.’ The virtual event will take place via Zoom on March 14, 2021 and can be accessed with the link, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3898417079. Meeting ID: 389 841 7079.

Dr. Sherrill Chong, who is described as a coach extraordinaire has worked in various capacities. Her main goal through her association with E & S Chong Health Ministries is to ‘empower Caribbean people world-wide through Motivation, Training, and Implementation Strategies to regain and sustain Physical, Psychological, and Spiritual health.’ With her expertise in Holistic Health where she provides assistance in lifestyle transformation for individuals, families, communities and nations, there is much assurance that she will be an excellent speaker that will have all the attendees engrossed in her presentation.

We live in a world where we are constantly on the go. We are adamant about getting our tasks done as quickly as possible so that we can start the next thing on the list and this becomes an endless cycle. We are so caught up in our daily lives and all the things that we need to get done that we hardly ever take the time to just stop and bask in the moment. We hardly ever embrace the necessity of rest and this has proven to be detrimental to our mental and physical health. Why is this so? Our culture tells us successful people are multi-taskers who are constantly engaged, accessible and fast reactors. However, there are countless issues that arise when we function like this. We are burnt out, drained and miserable.

Life would be so much more fulfilling if we intentionally choose to just pause and embrace the little things. The sweet smelling flowers we briskly walk by every morning and evening, the beautiful wall art on the side of the road that we drive pass every day or even the sunset and the peaceful ocean we pass quite often after a long day at work. It is understandable that human beings strive off routine and because of that, we can get distracted or even be blind to the more meaningful things in life but the little things will make us realize that this is what life is about, this is what it means to be alive. These are the things that allow our minds to be renewed, restored and be more productive.

It is imperative that in whatever we do, we take the time to soak it all up. Every second we spend with the people we love, every minute we spend completing a job that we are passionate about, every hour of the day that we are gifted with life should be acknowledged and cuddled with an appreciative heart. Pause to acknowledge the fulfillment and joy these little things bring to you and others. Pause to embrace the satisfaction of the process it took to get it all done. As Jim Elliot posits, “Wherever you are, be all there.”  Do not just be there for the sake of getting the job done or being around people because you were invited. Be present, be engaged, we owe it to ourselves to enjoy the beauties of this life in any and every way we can, while we can.

Toister Performance Solutions, Inc

Life happens, it's a bed of roses with the thorns, you get the softness with the prickings. When you have to deal with difficult people here are some valid points of intervention.

A course in Life Space Crisis Intervention or learning about Emotional Intelligence Quotient are great tools to have under your belts, it is good to learn how to de-escalate a situation that could get out of hand and also learn how to identify the real triggers that make people behave the way they do.

The focus here will be on how to deal with difficult customers on a daily basis. Customers here not only denotes external customers but internal customers also, meaning those who work with you in the same organisation and this includes your boss or supervisor/s.

Customers always remember when they receive excellent service, or if their issues are dealt with in a timely and efficient manner, so keep this in mind whenever you have to deal with an irate internal or external customer, how an issue is dealt with will determine how relations are between both parties moving forward.

Stress Management

 Stress is a natural part of our daily lives, once you have to make a decision, some level of stress is felt, whether it's deciding what to wear to work, what to eat, what mode of transport to take etc. These stresses are called good stressors, they do not or should not leave an individual catatonic and unable to move.

It is important that stresses are not exacerbated and taken so out of context that it takes you over and render you helpless, hopeless ready to give up! There are a number of ways to ease the stresses of life!

Take a breather:

There are times when you are faced with lots of things that require your attention, as a result making you feel overwhelmed. If at any point in time you are not able to find solutions, or there is just too much to do.

AkinfemiOnadele

Money management refers to the process of tracking and planning an individual or group’s use of capital. In personal and corporate finance, money management usually includes budgeting, spending, saving, and investing.

To be money smart is a skill that needs to be acquired as this skill will help you to lead an almost seamless life of ease with minimal issues.

WORK WITH A BUDGET THAT SUITS YOUR SITUATION. It is good to have a budget that you work with. Income can be divided into parts this may differ depending on where you do your research 10% to Savings, arrangements can be made with your bank to do compulsory savings, 20% towards debt payments if there are any and 70% to live off for the duration until more income is generated. There is a saying that goes "Live Within Your Means", to do this individuals tend to spend all their income, but I prefer the saying by Kevin Trudeau "Live Below Your Means", when this is practised there is hardly anyway that you will overspend.

Field Hospital

Letter to ther Editor

Re: US gifts Jamaica multi-million-dollar field hospital to help fight COVID-19

I read with interest in today’s Sunday Gleaner (September 20, 2020) about the US Gift Aid COVID19 field hospital which is being installed in St Andrews. I noted too, our increasing illness rate of almost 5,000 with 60 deaths. This stands in comparison to April, when we had 63 cases and 3 deaths.  Whilst as a nation in this pandemic, we should be grateful for such a gift, I cannot help but wonder how we have managed to find ourselves in this situation, where our island hospital systems are overflowing. Why, dependency on a field hospital, where our experts themselves have to undergo training in order to manage the unit?

When will Jamaica wake up and cease the reliance on gift aid and start to prepare properly for our people’s social health & wellbeing?  We have indeed come a long way in our history, enough to take the pride from our forefathers who fought the good fight; enough to leave us a rich legacy for this generation to remember the battle for our freedom.