Executive summary The United States and China are engaged in a technology-based conflict to determine 21st-century international economic leadership. China’s approach is to identify and support the research and development efforts of a handful of “national champion” companies. The dominant tech companies of the U.S. are de facto embracing this Chinese policy in their effort…

The issue of development aid has significant contemporary relevance. Today, many longstanding donor countries like the United States debate the efficacy of aid, while new donors such as China and India explore the possibility of using economic assistance for political purposes. As David Engerman, Professor of History at Brandeis University, shows in his new book…

In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two scholars on some of the key issues in the U.S.-China technology competition, which is the topic of the most recent release of papers in the Global China series. Tom Stefanick is a visiting fellow…

Two years after the National Defense Strategy was published, it’s time to take stock of where the Army stands. On an immediate level, the age of COVID-19 presents the Army with an unprecedented set of challenges. From ensuring high levels of readiness to keeping up recruitment, the pandemic has forced the Army to adapt quickly…

In this special edition of the Brookings Cafeteria Podcast, Lindsey Ford, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow in Foreign Policy, interviews two scholars on some of the key issues in the U.S.-China technology competition, which is the topic of the most recent release of papers in the Global China series. Tom Stefanick is a visiting fellow…

China has emerged as a truly global actor, with its influence extending across virtually all key strategic and geographic domains. To help make sense of the implications of China’s growing role in the world and America’s response, on Tuesday, October 1, Brookings hosted Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver for a…

Director's summary With a dramatic power shift in the Indo-Pacific, the intensification of U.S.-China strategic rivalry, and uncertainty about the United States’ international role, Japan confronts a major stress test. How will Tokyo cope with an increasingly assertive China, an increasingly transactional approach to alliances in Washington, and a growing nuclear and missile capability in…

Executive Summary China’s rise — to the position of the world’s second-largest economy, its largest energy consumer, and its number two defense spender — has unsettled global affairs. Beijing’s shift in strategy towards a more assertive posture towards the West is amplifying a change in international dynamics from patterns of multilateral cooperation towards a pattern…

This is the second in a two-part series of episodes from the Brookings-Blum Roundtable, an annual forum for global leaders, entrepreneurs, and policy practitioners to discuss innovative ideas and to pursue initiatives to alleviate global poverty. In this episode, Merrell Tuck-Primdahl, director of communications for the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, speaks with…

The long-awaited transition to a competitive local telecommunications service market is mired down in regulatory and court proceedings that deal with the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and proposed mergers among major players in the industry. Was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 a move in the right direction? Are any of the new […]

Executive summary: The United States and China are in a race to deploy fifth-generation, or 5G, wireless networks, and the country that dominates will lead in standard-setting, patents, and the global supply chain. While some analysts suggest that the Chinese government appears to be on a sprint to achieve nationwide 5G, U.S. government leaders and…

It's an icon that has been part of our lives forever... The electricity pylon was invented, in this design, in the '20's and since then it has been marching across the fields and highways of our mind

Environmentalists aren't the only ones considering divestment anymore.

Send one of these video bloggers to cover World Environment Day.

The United Nations Environment Programme and goodwill ambassador Don Cheadle have selected a winner. See the video here.

Design a logo for this year’s World Environment Day and win a trip to Milan, Italy.

In anticipation of World Environment Day on June 5, the United Nations Environment Programme is hosting a blogging competition to raise awareness about this year’s theme of sustainable consumption.

It's the most prestigious photography prize (and best paid) and here's this year's winner.

This competition for the best environmental photography never fails to be interesting and professional.

The UK-based renewable energy company Ecotricity recently won an award from the renewable energy agency for South West England for its development of three giant wind turbines at the industrial Avonmouth Docks site on the outskirts of Bristol (which we

But I am in the tank for the one that came in second

It's only the second time that the treehugger types get the big prize

As always, they warm your hearts as well as your toes.

There are 17 atriums that need to be filled with creative uses.

We have a look at the eco-sheds

Not coming soon from a modular company near you.

It always amazes, how much work people do for this.

Lots of great ideas for green building in this year's crop.

A must-read book for business leaders. Naked value is the ultimate value a product delivers to customers, or the benefits that remain when a product is stripped of most of the energy and material resources required to manufacture and deliver it.

Some of them are surprising and all of them will make a real difference.

A look at some of the nominees which are brilliant, and others that are something else.

Bees, ivory poaching, and war are amongst the themes portrayed in this year's shortlist.

TreeHugger and UNEP announce return of World Environment Day Blogging Competition.

Let the blogging begin! Help determine the winner of the Rio+20 Blogging Competition.

The true story of how a fast food restaurant indirectly led to our indie game studio's success.

Registration deadline already soon...

Don't miss it, register...

Spaced repetition is a memory hack. We know that spacing out your study is more effective than cramming, but using an app you can tailor your own spaced repetition schedule, allowing you to efficiently create reliable memories for any material you like. Michael Nielsen, has a nice thread on his use of spaced repetition on … Continue reading "spaced repetition & Darwin’s golden rule"

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

When is a literary contest not a literary contest?

When its purpose is to make money for the contest sponsor. Alternatively: when its purpose is to assemble a list of likely customers.

Take the online book competition (or book literary contest, or books competition--it doesn't seem to have an actual name) recently announced by Legaia Books, a publishing and marketing scam I've featured on this blog. Here's one of the solicitation emails that are going out:


Sound tempting? Here are all the reasons to kick this "contest" to the curb.

1. Legaia is a scam. This company--which claims a North Carolina address but really operates out of the Philippines--exists to rip off authors. That's really all the reason you need to give this contest a miss...but let's move on.

2. It's a scam within a scam. Legaia's contest has all the elements of a profiteering awards program--a different kind of scam, whose template Legaia is borrowing as a way to make some quick bucks and boost its customer list. Here are the markers:

• Solicitation. See the email above.
• A fat entry fee. You have to dig into the contest guidelines to find this: $40 for entries now, $70 for entries after May 11.
• Policies designed to maximize entries. Most profiteering awards programs offer dozens or scores of entry categories, in order to attract the largest number of entrants and thus the biggest pot of entry fees. Legaia's contest doesn't have categories--but it's "open to all aspiring and established authors", which, combined with what is doubtless a sizeable email solicitation campaign (Legaia is a prolific spammer), is basically the same thing.
• Mystery judging. The prestige of a literary competition is tied, in part, to the reputability of its judges. If the judges' identities aren't revealed, you have no way to know whether they have any credits or experience that would qualify them to be judges. They could be just the contest sponsor's own staff--or no one at all. Legaia's guidelines include multiple mentions of "judges" but, in true scam contest style, no names.
• Opportunities to spend more money. This is where entrants' email addresses--which are required for entry--come in handy; non-winners will almost certainly be solicited to buy Legaia's publishing packages and other services. (Contest guidelines also invite entrants without a book cover to "call us for a professional book cover.")
• Worthless prizes. Profiteering contest sponsors avoid cutting into entry fee income by offering "prizes" that cost them little or nothing to provide. Legaia is no exception. Given that its services are overpriced and substandard, a "Free Book Publication Coupon" is more like a lump of coal than a Christmas present. The "Seal Awards" aren't actual seals--just digital images. Winners are promised a "pitch program" that will expose them to "literary offices and film productions"--despite the fact that Legaia can't cite a single "literary office" or film studio that has ever picked up a book thanks to its (likely nonexistent) efforts. As for the "Marketing Platform worth $15,000"...Legaia offers only junk marketing ("marketing" that's cheap to provide, can be sold for giant markups, and is not effective for book promotion), so the actual worth is closer to zero. 

3. You have to work. In addition to submitting "your (a) manuscript, (b) synopsis, (c) book cover (front and full)" the contest guidelines indicate that there will be a public voting phase (see #7 and #8), which means you will have to bug your friends and family and annoy your social media followers with multiple vote-grubbing posts and announcements. Additionally, you must create a "pitch to the judges" which is "one of the criteria in the second phase of the contest as indicated in Rule 8". You have the option of making a video or using Legaia's "Free Pitch Template," whatever that is; the guidelines offer no guidance on length, content, or anything else.

4. Nobody has heard of it. The supposed benefits of a contest win or placement are often touted by sketchy contests or awards as one of the benefits of entering (not to mention a justification of a big entry fee). You'll be able to tag your book as an "award-winning book" and yourself as an "award-winning author". It'll impress agents and editors! It'll bring visibility to your work! It'll increase sales!

Most contests, however, don't have the prestige or name recognition to accomplish any of that. Agents and editors are well aware of how many dodgy contests are out there competing for writers' money; "I won Grand Prize in this contest you never heard of!" is unlikely to impress them. As for readers and book buyers, how much they care about award and contest wins is an open question--especially, again, where they've never heard of the award or contest. Is it worth $40 (or $70) to you to test that question?

5. A serious lack of literacy. Both the email solicitation reproduced above and the contest pages on the Legaia website are littered with grammatical and other errors (like its many brethren--see the sidebar--Legaia is based overseas). This really shouldn't need saying, but the sponsors of an English-language contest for English-language books should be able to demonstrate a good command of English.

Any one of these factors should be enough to at least cause you to give this contest the side-eye. Taken all together, they add up to a giant, screaming red flag.

My own feeling about literary contests is that they are mostly a waste of time (even if not of money). Scams and exploitation abound in this space (if you're a regular reader of this blog, you know how many posts I write about problem contests). Even where the contest is legit and doesn't have "gotchas" in its guidelines, those that can genuinely benefit your writing resume are a tiny minority. Again in my opinion, writers' time is better spent on publishing or submitting for publication.

That said...if you still are attracted by contests, there are resources on the Contests and Awards page of Writer Beware to help you research ones that won't rip you off. Also be sure to use the search box in the sidebar to search this blog for any contests I may have written about, and feel free to email me with questions.

Like Minneapolis, the city of Mississauga is allowing mosques to broadcast the call to prayer during Ramadan, which seems reasonable, since 12% of the population is Muslim. The only problem is that some people are objecting, for bogus reasons. An open letter attached to three petitions, two of them hosted on Change.org, calls on Mississauga […]

Bollywood's dancing diva Madhuri Dixit has shared a throwback photo from her school days. It's a still from a dance performance. The photo features the actress alongside her sister and they look so similar that it is difficult to tell one from the other!

Sharing the photo on Instagram, the actress captioned: "This is one of my favourite memories that I have with my sister. We used to always take part in school competitions. Here's sharing a #MajorThrowback childhood memory with my favourite dance buddy. Let me know what is your favourite childhood memory! P.s. Can you tell us apart?"

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

This is one of my favourite memories that I have with my sister. We used to always take part in school competitions. Here's sharing a #MajorThrowback childhood memory with my favourite dance buddy❤ï¸Â Let me know what is your favourite childhood memory! P.s. Can you tell us apart?

A post shared by Madhuri Dixit (@madhuridixitnene) onMay 7, 2020 at 10:27pm PDT

Reacting to her post, fans tried to identify Madhuri in the picture. One fan commented: "You are the one behind."

Another wrote: "Left one is Madhuri ma'am". Another fan sounded confused. The comment reads: "It's you. Both are you!"

Madhuri Dixit has two sisters Rupa and Bharati. It is not clear which sister features in the photograph alongside her as she doesn't mention any name. But the actress mentions her sister as her "favourite dance buddy".

On the work front, Madhuri Dixit will be back as a judge on reality TV, when she returns on the new season of "Dance Deewane". The actress recently kickstarted the audition phase by shooting the season's first promo from home.

Catch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here. Also, download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

The Indian Broadcasting Federation (IBF) on Monday petitioned information & broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar for a relief and rehabilitation package for the broadcasting sector.

The industry sought regulatory moratorium for 18 months, phased resumption of production activities, extension of moratorium period for GST payment and for the government to mandate digital payments of subscription and advertising dues to broadcasters. It also said the Centre should issue an advisory to DPOs to release payments of subscription fees up to February-end.

Seeking a stimulus package from the government so that broadcasters can get back on track, IBF president N P Singh, said, "IBF has submitted a standard operating procedure (SOP) on prevention/ safety measures for organised, safe and sustainable restart of content production, media operations, transmission and general office operations in the TV broadcast sector to PMO, Niti Aayog and I&B ministry. The SOP will help the sector to move quickly towards normalcy and we certainly hope that the government would consider it favourably."

Apart from emphasising that the government should urgently settle all outstanding dues to the broadcasting industry, IBF also demanded waiver of processing fee and temporary live uplinking fee for live sporting events for a period of one year from the resumption of normal business activities, increase in time period of 1-2 years for operationalising new channels that are granted permission, and the suspension of requirement of performance bank guarantees for channels that are to be launched, for one year.

IBF also asked the government to defer payments due to Prasar Bharati for free dish carriage until July 2020 and said all pending refunds exceeding Rs 5 lakh should be urgently processed. It added that the government should extend the existing stay on demand for income tax for the next six months, and not seek any new hearings.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news

Poland’s economic performance has been impressive over the past 15 years, but further reforms are now needed to put the economy firmly back on track for stronger and sustainable growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of Poland.

This report considers the key findings from a survey on international co-operation jointly carried out by the OECD and the International Competition Network.

This report considers the key findings from a survey on International Co-operation jointly carried out by the OECD Competition Division and the International Competition Network (ICN) in 2012.

This book presents the key findings resulting from discussions held at a series of best practice roundtables on competition and knowledge-based capital.

Competition authorities widely rely on leniency policies to detect, investigate and prosecute hard-core cartels. Jurisdictions that operate leniency programmes recognize the benefits of rewarding not only the first-in applicant who denounces the cartel but also subsequent applicants who provide useful corroboration or new evidence. This publication reviews the findings from a roundtable discussion held in October 2012.

This document contains the proceedings of a Roundtable on Competition and Payment Systems held in October 2012. Discussions focused on recent country experiences on developments regarding all non-paper based forms of payment such as debit and credit cards, and E-payments (through internet, mobile phones etc.).