Why would I get out of Venezuela to struggle making a life in another country?

In a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine, she told me that there is nothing better than living in your own country, with your peers, your family, friends, the food you like, the “Arepas” you grew up eating, the environment, the weather, your language, and specially avoid the hassle of legal issues and having to carry a passport with you all the time.

I think that some of us will disagree on that, and some others are likely to agree. Her thoughts changed when I gave my opinion about her argument. I’ve always thought that we should rule out the belief that your country is only a piece of land.

Venezuela is not only a geographic space to the North of South America, but what you built and lived in it. In this country I’ve made my friends, there’s my family, but if I ever leave I will also have them. Sometimes when we go out to socialize, we are more interested in the person that is texting us on the phone that the ones around us, and I can’t find a difference between that and making a Skype video call, WhatsApp is so useful that you can keep contact with anybody anytime anywhere to the point of even becoming a nuisance.

If my people come to visit me they will always be welcome, if I meet someone from Venezuela then I’ll have a little piece of my country. It is not the territory, is the essence. For me Venezuela is a small group of people that I love (friends and family), than anybody with a Venezuelan or European passport but that was born in creole territory. If family and friends love you they will never abandon you, not even if you reside in New Zealand.

With so many Venezuelan immigrants living around the world, Venezuela’s traditional food is very popular everywhere that even in the Supermarkets you can find P.A.N. Flour to prepare “Arepas” at home, without standing in line and anytime you want it. If you can eat “Shawarma” in Caracas, you can definitely eat “Arepas” in Toronto.

To say that you don’t want to leave the country because we have nice landscapes is absolutely ridiculous. Certainly we have spectacular landscapes and resources, but we are not the only ones who do, the world is huge and vast, let’s travel around and see those beauties the world has for us.

If I’m strong enough to deal with the death of a friend or family due to the high crime and murder rate in Venezuela, then I’m strong enough to deal with the cold weather of a northern country. So weather and low temperatures are not an issue for me.

To learn a language seems to be the big problem for anybody who decides to leave his or her countries, especially for the elderly. To this person who is afraid: Be brave and try it, you might like what you get at the end. To learn another language will let you see the world with other eyes.

Last but not least, although a ridiculous argument in my opinion, I rather have to carry a passport on me all the time and go through all the hassle to reside legally in another country than live in dread of getting robbed or murdered when I go to the grocery store down the block.

Leaving the country could be a good change for those who aren’t nostalgic, maybe even for those who are, and yes it is a struggle, but I rather struggle to make a life with certainty and safety than in the dreaded insecurity of the current Venezuela.

The Popularity of Crowd Funding

Crowdfunding is nothing new.  Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Patreon are a few platforms that Charitable Organizations, musicians, artists and small businesses have been using for a number of years to get financial support for their projects. These donation-based crowdfunding platforms allow anyone with a good idea or cause to solicit funding. A number of different models of crowdfunding have developed that offer businesses the opportunity to raise funds outside the traditional avenues of banks and venture capitalists.

Donation Based

Donation-based crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter are also used to fund business projects and products. Money is pledged in return for gifts, prizes or rewards, often connected to the project or product being funded. In order to benefit from this model, the business proposition should be modest, with low fixed expenses and low marginal costs. The benefit to business is that there is no ongoing payback to the investors in terms of interest or equity-ownership. Hand Stylus, a stylus for touchscreens, was successfully funded on Kickstarter. The company, which raised more than $300,000, offered a custom laser-engraved stylus to each $30 supporter.

What Makes Crowdfunding Unique?

Each model has its pros and cons, mainly because each is aimed at a different type of business. However, all models of crowdfunding have a number of things in common, which allows them to offer unique benefits, especially to small businesses and projects.

Implementation costs:

• Crowdfunding platforms make it extremely easy to set up and manage a campaign.
• The costs of raising money are much less than an IPO or a bank loan.
• A new business can get funding very early in the start-up phase without having to involve venture capitalists.

Attracting investors or contributors:

• By using a crowdfunding platform, a business can cast a very wide net for potential supporters.
• The platforms allow a business to interact with these supporters in new and innovative ways.
• The supporters can become the customer base and can spread the word about the project, bringing in more business and more supporters.
• Crowdfunding can attract funding for projects that may not appeal to traditional investors because they are too small or are viewed as too risky.

For any crowdfunding model to succeed in the long term, investors and contributors must have faith that their money is being used for the purpose for which it was raised. Each platform has checks and balances in place to protect donors and investors, so carefully investigate the ones you are considering funding.

A problem or an oportunity?

Situations are powerless without our actions, and sometimes we have to look at both sides of a situation and instead of recognizing problems, we should look for opportunities to learn, grow and create a solution to finally pass it along. On this Ted Talk we see how Dr. Pausch, although having an 'Elephant in the room", as he expressed it, chose to have a positive view and make something worth and valuable out of his own experience to knock on the doors of people mindset. This talk has inspired me to always want to do the best of me and look for all those opportunities, this lesson is not only for the entertainment spectrum, but for overall business and life.

When Dr. Pausch said he was lucky because his parents allowed him to paint whatever he wanted on the walls of his bedroom, he lets you know that it was an important lesson to him about "People vs. Things". This has an impact in our childhood as much as going to the movies for the first time and it adds significantly in the task of keeping our inner children alive. When our parents focus so much in not allowing us to be kids, as for example being careful with the new car, yes it makes us understand the value of material things and that we should take care of them, but when you are a child that is ephemeral and it is only later as you grow up more aware that you understand concepts like that. That is why Dr. Pausch said in his presentation that he was lucky because his parents allowed him to paint on the walls. So to wrap it up, sometimes our inner child even dies before we grow up from childhood because of parents who are not aware of the significance of letting their kids be kids. Lessons about life that Dr. Pausch learned as a child made him be the man we saw in that presentation.

Another relation I would like to make is about the "Creative Breakthrough", it stroke me like a bolt of lightning when Dr. Pausch said the reason behind his research and work, besides trying to teach people how to live their lives, was connected to his children. Dr. Pausch found a great motivation that drove him through the development of his project, but it was the legacy that he was leaving to his children that made him put every ounce of his self on it. And that is it, when you find the "perfect excuse" to work day and night on your project and think about the satisfaction and reward its potential success will provide, you know you had one great idea and you want to see it through.

Now I make a comeback to the first paragraph, where I said that Pausch chose to have a positive view despite everything that was going on with his life. He decided to let himself out of the sadness and depression that his condition meant, he was not only focusing in the fact that he was dying his "dimensional mind" was already awaken, he decided to be Tigger and not Eeyore, he did not let a possible bad attitude or how disgrace his life was because he was dying knock him down. He allowed himself to have a positive attitude, and that folks is what we must have in every endeavor we choose to carry on, and in every brick wall life builds in front of our progress: a positive attitude and a multi-dimensional mind that let us see beyond. 

Here the link to the video:

http://www.ted.com/talks/randy_pausch_really_achieving_your_childhood_dreams 

Lollapalloza Chile 2014 celebrated the alternative music.

The Lollapalloza Festival franchise established in Chicago as well as in Brazil and Chile had its first live show in Argentina this year and showed an immaculate production for the enjoyment of all fans.

Event Management is not an easy job!!

Event management is not a walk on the park. There are many things that could go wrong. Effective event planning is essential. Be it social events like Parties and weddings or corporate events like Annual General Meetings and Product launch parties, a proper event management system has to be in place. 

I will show you 5 tips to remember when managing an event:

1. Not all events are the same

A classic mistake by event managers would be to think the same way for all events. Each event is different and requires different and innovative thinking. You cannot actually manage to perform the same things for two different types of events. Hosting a corporate event requires you to have a complete know how of protocols and procedures. On the other hand, managing a concert requires you to have knowledge about sound systems and various other resources.

2. Estimate correctly

If you are holding a real time event, you need to figure out the number of guests correctly. Ensuring that proper seating arrangements are there and guests get ample space to move around is essential. If starters are being served you need to ensure that food reaches to all.   Remember, what might be right for a few people might not be right for a hundred other people.

3. Prepare and arrange correctly

Hosting an event requires you to understand your responsibilities. All organizers should know their duties perfectly so that nothing is missed out. More, you need to be careful about the arrangements, especially proper technical equipments.  You do not want the mike to go off in the middle of a performance, do you?

4. Adhere to the rules

Before you organize an event, you might need to take permissions from the authorities or follow a certain procedure. Remember to complete all the formalities and adhere to all legal rules so as to avoid any complications.

5. Don’t panic!

One of the worst things that could happen is that you panic if something goes wrong. Things do not always go right even if you do meticulous event planning. Event management requires a good amount of planning and an ability to shred off the most difficult of situations with a smile on your face. Even if anything goes wrong during the event, instead of fretting over it, try to make sure everything else goes right!

The most destructive battle of online gaming (EVE Online)

In the universe of EVE Online, players from every timezone around the globe have been waging wars on a massive scale for nearly 11 years. Some conflicts have been relatively small grudge matches between rivals from adjoining solar systems with maybe a dozen or so frigates and cruisers facing off in fast-paced combat. Others, like the Great War, are fueled by tens of thousands of players and blossom with all the same propaganda, diplomacy (and espionage), supply-chain logistics and military tactics that might fuel a real-world conflict, taking months to resolve and changing entire industrial patterns across the star map.

The Bloodbath of B-R5RB or Battle of B-R5RB was a massive-scale virtual battle fought in the MMORPG space game EVE Online, and was possibly the largest player versus player battle ever. Pitting the CFC and Russian alliances (CFC/Rus) against N3 and Pandemic Legion (N3/PL), the 21 hour long conflict involved over 7,548 player characters overall and a maximum of 2,670 players in the B-R5RB system at one time. The in-game cost of the losses totalled over 11 trillion ISK, a theoretical real-world value of $300,000 to $330,000 USD. 

This theoretical value is derived from training credits which are available in-game but which players can purchase additional amounts of for a small subscription fee.

In all that time one kind of ship has always been the most coveted target for any fleet, thirsted after for the glory of defeating it as evidenced by this recording of the first one to die in combat.

Titans, the largest ship class in EVE Online, take thousands of man hours to produce, take months to train to fly, and are capable of fitting massive doomsday weapons that obliterate lesser ships with a single volley.  To get a good understanding of the size of these Sci Fi monsters, check out this comparison chart (the Amarr Avatar is the brownish “mushroom” looking behemoth with the similarly sized Erebus above it and Ragnarok and Leviathan below it. Other EVE ships are found throughout) or watch this to-scale player-made video comparing several classes of EVE ships.

EVE Online has proven to be one of the most important Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game of all time, just by the number of players and the amount of money invested in the game is enough to back-up my statement. I apologize if the information is not in a 100% accurate, but I am just a casual gamer that ran across this information and I thought it was worth sharing with all of you who love gaming and entertainment in general.