Jan Alexander
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Author of Ms. Ming's Guide to Civilization from @RegalHouse1. Writer, Editor, Story Consultant. Klearstory Editorial Services.
Articles by Jan Alexander
Smart Security And Privacy Concerns: Navigating The Balance In The Digital Age
In an era where our homes are becoming smarter, offering unprecedented convenience and connectivity, integrating technology into our security systems raises important questions about privacy. As we embrace the benefits of smart security, we must understand the potential risks and take proactive measures to safeguard our personal information. The Rise of Smart Security Systems Smart security systems have revolutionized the way we protect our homes.
Fort Collins Living: Discovering The Best Neighborhoods In 2023
Fort Collins, nestled in the heart of Colorado, is celebrated as one of America’s premier living destinations, offering an unparalleled blend of picturesque landscapes, urban sophistication, and a lively community spirit. Set against the majestic backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, this city is a haven for those seeking a perfect balance between the serenity of nature and the vibrancy of city life.
Travel habits of patients with end-stage malignant diseases: a pilot study
Document Type : Original Article Authors Jan Alexander Stratmann 1 Olivier Ballo 2 John Bitter 3 Olav Heringer 4 Fagr Eladly 1 Jonas Vischedyk 1 Sofia Hornetz 5 Sebastian Koschade 1 Nadija Hossini 1 Christian Brandts 1 Hubert Serve 1 Annika Wegener 6 Severine Banek 3 Shabnam Shaid 1 Kerstin Wegener 7 1 Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe University, Theodor Stern Kai 7, 60596 Frankfurt, Germany 2 Goethe University Frankfurt 3 Department of...
Los métodos más usados y efectivos para descifrar contraseñas (y cómo puedes protegerte)
No hay contraseña infalible, pero si das con un método para generar claves lo más robustas que puedas, te evitarás muchos disgustos. Hay quien se dedica a tratar de conseguir contraseñas porque esa es la llave para iniciar sesión y obtener información de todo tipo, incluida la bancaria. Todo es cuestión de descifrar tu contraseña y a veces ya te advertimos que no cuesta demasiado: estos son los métodos más comunes para lograrlo.
The Dangers of Transcendence
To Walk Alone in the Crowd by Antonio Muñoz Molina translated by Guillermo Bleichmar Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021 432 pages Reviewed by Jan Alexander While I was reading To Walk Alone in the Crowd, Europe had nearly melted in its global-warming summer. The world was bracing for high-tech annihilation at the hands of Putin and a medieval-esque plague with no end.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON ROAD TRIPS
Throw in high gas prices, and road trips might be one of the most expensive ways to travel these days. Here are some ways to cut back on costs.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON ROAD TRIPS
Throw in high gas prices, and road trips might be one of the most expensive ways to travel these days. Here are some ways to cut back on costs. — USE APPS TO FIND CHEAP GAS: Apps like GasBuddy track local gas prices and can help you find the cheapest gas stations along your route. — CONSIDER AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE: With an electric car, you’ll avoid paying for gas entirely. While you may still have to pay to charge it, some hotels offer free electric vehicle charging as a guest benefit.
4 Things You Can Do To Boost Your Immune Fitness — tonic mag
Move More Exercise, movement, physical activity, working out, walking in the woods, hiking… whatever you want to call it, moving your body is essential if you want to stay healthy, have a strong immune system and strengthen your defence against illness. If you struggle to make movement a regular habit or find yourself regularly yo-yo-ing with your motivation, I’m here to help. Tips to make movement a habit: Find something you enjoy! This is key.
When a vaccine resistor tests your loyalty
One family, two opposing moral stances The Trolley Problem, from The Good Place. Courtesy of fanpop.com My current streaming binge fixation is with The Good Place on Netflix. Yes, I’m way behind, watching it for the first time — but in catching up with this dark comedy series now, I’m finding thatthe moral philosophy message really hits home.
A Recent Quandry
ESSAY The Importance of Being No One An essay on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer Grove Press | 2015 | 384 pgs. | $28 and The Committed Grove Press | 2021 | 384 pgs. | $28 By Jan Alexander The Vietnam War is never too far from America’s collective conscience, and Aaron Sorkin’s current reprisal of the era, The Trial of the Chicago Seven, on Netflix, is a reminder that the bitter left versus right divide is nothing new.
In a Time of Reckoning, Don’t Forget this War
The cover shows a lake in Dalat, Lâm Đồng, Vietnam. Photo monochrome version by Khanh Bui via Getty Images. After 14 months of lockdown I’m restless to go somewhere, and reading Sherry Buchanan’s beautifully illustrated new book, On the Ho Chi Minh Trail: The Blood Road, The Women Who Defended It ,The Legacy (Asia Ink), was the perfect vicarious adventure. Long ago, when the world was open, I worked and traveled with Buchanan in Southeast Asia.
When is it Okay to Criticize a Culture That’s Not Your Own?
If you’re not Tibetan and you don’t like yak butter keep it to yourself. Today Brett Stephens has brought his ridicule-anything-progressive chops back from Trump-induced semi-hibernation. In a column decrying the “woke” culture he excoriates Condé Nast for changing the title of an old story in Bon Appetite that implied most hamantaschen — the triangle-shaped Purim pastry — are not actually tasty.
A Gorgeous Mosaic of Madness
White Ivy is a novel about identity, but Susie Yang stakes out a rather singular identity for the protagonist of her debut novel: “Ivy Lin was a thief,” the book begins. Ivy steals a great many things in the course of her Chinese-born immigrant coming-of-age-in-America story, and the toys and trinkets she lifts from stores and yard sale as a child, under the careful tutelage of her grandmother, are just training tools.
How to Talk Tough with China and Mean It: an Interview with Clyde Prestowitz
I’m still getting used to the idea that we now have a President who reads. So here’s a reading recommendation as Biden grapples with, among the many crises he’s inherited, the rise of China as a global power: The World Turned Upside Down: America, China, and the Struggle for Global Leadership by Clyde Prestowitz (Yale University Press), coming out this week. Much has happened since Trump first claimed he’d bring jobs back from China — which he didn’t do.
Dare to Imagine: Why I Must Stop Looking Down on Trump Supporters
For many years I wrote about financial markets and wealth. I interviewed a lot of multimillionaires and billionaires, and if I had a million dollars for every .01-percenter who told me, “The best way to make a lot of money is just do what you love and you’re good at,” I’d be in their league. Right, if what you love to do is exploit inefficiencies in the markets so that you make a fortune while others lose, you are going to do very, very well while having fun.
Guns and the Boardroom
Why directors can’t sidestep the gun-control debate. Keith Mestrich, the CEO and president of Amalgamated Bank in New York as well as a board member, is no stranger to the gun safety debate. Amalgamated has been a mission-driven bank since its founding in the 1920s, and support for gun control is part of its present-day mission.
Local Author Night ft. Jan Alexander, Andrew Farkas, Vojislav Pejovic, and Val Rendel
It's Local Author Night at The Book Cellar, featuring Jan Alexander (Ms. Ming's Guide to Civilization), Andrew Farkas (The Big Red Herring), Vojislav Pejovic (American Sfumato), and Val Rendel (Sears in Chicago.) Jan Alexander is the author of the novel Getting to Lamma and co-author of the nonfiction book Bad Girls of the Silver Screen. Her short fiction has appeared in 34th Parallel, Everyday Fiction, Neworld Review, and Silver Birch Press.
Ms. Ming’s Guide to Civilization
Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ming Cheng was born in the cruelest place on Earth—a village that sprawled through six green hills, so far out west in Sichuan province that the maps had no names for what was there. The village lay beneath a dome of clouds, with rain that could bite right through her clothes. Hardly anyone came through and no one left; a bus was supposed to pass through town once a week, but many days it couldn’t get through the clouds and was forced to take another route.
Directors & Boards – Time to Care About Machines Displacing Workers
April 11, 2019 By Jan Alexander The environmental, social and governance movement is adding a “T” for technology. While at board meetings, Elaine Eisenman makes a point of having conversations with fellow directors about how to meet future human capital needs as technology changes and displaces jobs.
Time to Care About Machines Displacing Workers
The environmental, social and governance movement is adding a “T” for technology. While at board meetings, Elaine Eisenman makes a point of having conversations with fellow directors about how to meet future human capital needs as technology changes and displaces jobs.
No, the Luxe Markets Were Not Immune to the Government Shutdown—Here’s Why
As one private jet after another began to touch down in Atlanta over Super Bowl weekend, it hardly looked like an economic downturn was in the making. David Gitman, the executive director of the private aviation charter company Monarch Air Group in Ft. Lauderdale, had just one problem—with all the traffic, it was becoming difficult to get landing slots. Gitman says his charter bookings usually go up about 25 percent the week of the Super Bowl, and this year looked like no exception.
American entrepreneurial powerhouse Jean Case’s five principles for a transformational breakthrough
Jean Case is a powerhouse. We’re talking at the Gramercy Tavern restaurant in New York over samples of Bordeaux-style varietals from Early Mountain Vineyards, the Virginia winery she owns with her husband, AOL co-founder Steve Case. But this successful businesswoman- who is CEO of the Case Foundation, president of the National Geographic Society, and spent more than 20 years in marketing and senior management in the technology world—is talking about water, not wine, and failure, not success.
Entrepreneurial Powerhouse Jean Case’s Five Principles for a Transformational Breakthrough
Photo: Shutterstock / Peshkova Jean Case is a powerhouse. We’re talking at the Gramercy Tavern restaurant in New York over samples of Bordeaux-style varietals from Early Mountain Vineyards, the Virginia winery she owns with her husband, AOL co-founder Steve Case.
These Three Steps to Smarter Giving Are Easy and Inspiring
Since it’s the season for giving—and planning how to make the world a better place next year—I thought it would be an excellent time to talk with Melanie Schnoll Begun about the best ways to go the distance with a philanthropic plan.
Morgan Stanley’s Melanie Schnoll Begun on Better Giving Strategies
Photo: Courtesy Shutterstock Since it’s the season for giving—and planning how to make the world a better place next year—I thought it would be an excellent time to talk with Melanie Schnoll Begun about the best ways to go the distance with a philanthropic plan.
This Organization Gets Women Ready to Run for Office—Here’s Their Advice
The midterm elections last month were a watershed for women. More women ran for local, state, and federal offices than ever before in the history of the United States. Many of them won. That means it’s the right time for even more women to consider running in 2020, and the advice from a number of women in politics is don’t wait around for someone to recruit you; it’s your move.
The women shaping China’s economic growth
Want to know how China’s economy is really doing? Look to the women. They’re a growing center behind the money and spending power in Beijing, Shanghai, and other large cities. There are more than 140 self-made women billionaires in China today, which is more than three-quarters of all the self-made women billionaires worldwide.
How Dolly Singh Is Building A Better High Heel
In the last century, we’ve achieved myriad technological feats, from moon landings and electric vehicles to smartphones and augmented reality glasses—yet somehow, women are still walking around in high heels that make their feet hurt. “High heels are a matter of engineering, and if we had more women engineers, someone probably would have thought of making them more comfortable a long time ago,” says Dolly Singh, who founded LA’s Thesis Couture five years ago to do just that.
James Beard Foundation CEO Clare Reichenbach On Industry Inequalities
Clare Reichenbach stepped in as CEO of the James Beard Foundation early this year—just when widespread incidents of sexual harassment and misconduct in the restaurant industry hit the media. It was crisis control.
How Women are Bringing Impact Investing to the Mainstream
Leaders like BlackRock CEO Larry Fink have taken notice. In his annual letter to CEOs this year, Fink wrote: “Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.” Some on Wall Street say that Fink’s message sets a tipping point for the whole investment industry.
High-Performance Cars for High-Powered Women
“Why don’t more women collect luxury sportscars?” That is the question Katia Bassi has been asking her newly established women’s advisory board and other female executives and entrepreneurs over the past year.
New Book Tackles Money Fear
Out-of-control wealth is always fascinating to watch on the big screen. In the past month, we’ve seen Kardashian-style spending Singapore style in the movie Crazy Rich Asians, and a little girl in diamond earrings who wants “money as big as this room” in Generation Wealth, the sobering documentary by Lauren Greenfield that’s showing in select cities. But if purposeful wealth is more your style, this kind of excess might make you wonder if having money is a shameful secret.
Keeping Productive Employees - The Board's Role
Talent experts should be given a seat in the boardroom. Alan Guarino does not only chair the compensation and human capital committee for The Chefs’ Warehouse, a specialty food company. He’s also the talent expert in the boardroom. It’s all part of the proactive role Guarino believes boards should be playing in the hunt for the best employee talent.
How to Become CEO Material as a Woman
Now that Indra Nooyi is stepping down as CEO of PepsiCo, there are only 24 women in CEO positions at S&P 500 companies. One more will join this all-too-exclusive club when Kathy Warden takes over as CEO of Northrop Grumman in January—but at a time when corporations are under pressure from both investors and the #metoo movement to embrace diversity at the top, that’s hardly a dent in the top ranks. What does it really take for a woman to be CEO material?
My Board Journey: PAMELA THOMAS-GRAHAM
Pamela Thomas-Graham, chief executive officer of Dandelion Chandelier LLC, a private digital media enterprise reporting on luxury goods and services, is a director at Peloton, The Clorox Company, and N.T. Butterfield & Sons Bank. What attracted you to Peloton and how did you end up on the board? I’m a fitness enthusiast, and I also love to know what’s new in the world of tech. So I was well aware of Peloton before being approached by a search executive for consideration as a board candidate.
The board's role in attracting the best executives to your company
Whether in the corner office or on the factory floor, people increasingly want jobs that are fulfilling, challenging and fun and, most importantly, purposeful. Companies that successfully promote all those things can win the war for talent, but the strategic push and sales pitch needs to also come from the boardroom because directors can play a key role in promoting the purpose proposition.
Tracy Gray Invests in Women
Photo: Courtesy Tracy Gray Numbers pop up often when you’re talking with Tracy Gray. She intends to raise $100 million for her social-impact growth-equity fund, The 22 Fund (formerly the 22 Capital Group). “People have said why not target only $50 million,” she says.
Women Take the Lead in Family Philanthropy
Family philanthropy is a time-honored tradition that was largely set into motion by the patriarchs of some of America’s old-money families, including the Rockefellers and Astors. That tradition continues but now it’s more often being directed by the women of the household, and they have a very different approach. When women are leading the charitable charge, a family’s philanthropic work is likely to become more a way of life than a matter of simply writing checks.
What’s Good for Your Financial Portfolio Can Be Good for the Planet
If you’ve noticed more opportunities lately to invest in companies and funds that promote a positive social or environmental impact, Jackie VanderBrug, 49, is one of the forces behind those opportunities.
The Women Shaping China’s Economic Growth
Want to know how China’s economy is really doing? Look to the women. They’re a growing center behind the money and spending power in Beijing, Shanghai, and other large cities. There are more than 140 self-made women billionaires in China today, which is more than three-quarters of all the self-made women billionaires worldwide.
How Wealth in the Hands of Women Can Change the World
Sherry Paul believes that wealth in the hands of women can change the world—and she’s making it happen. The senior vice president at UBS Private Wealth Management—who leads an all-female financial team and manages investment portfolios for a clientele that’s made up almost entirely of women—is helping women embrace their financial potential by breaking down the language of investment banking (something she says is intentionally confusing) and encouraging investments with a purpose.
Why You Should Serve on a Board Now
If you follow the news of workplace sexual misconduct—and who doesn’t these days?—you’ve no doubt heard that investors in any number of companies are clamoring for more women on the board of directors. An investor group pressured Amazon after a woman employee publicly accused an executive of sexually harassing her last fall.
Sallie Krawcheck Focuses on Investment Through the Gender Lens
Sallie Krawcheck has been disrupting the status quo on Wall Street throughout her career—not just because she was one of the few women to rise to senior management ranks, but because she speaks her mind when she thinks men are getting things wrong. As a financial analyst, she became known as a crusader against conflicts of interest.
Have Guns Become Weapons of Value Destruction?
Large investment firms have leaders at gunmakers, retailers, etc., in their sights. “We share the nation’s grief over the in comprehensible and senseless loss of life at Parkland, Florida, and we share the desire to make our com munities safer,” reads a letter that American Outdoor Brands Chairman Barry Monheit and CEO James Debney sent to the Black Rock investment firm’s stewardship team on March 6.
Investment Trend: The Rise of Fund Managers with a Conscience
When I first opened an investment account, my portfolio manager recommended, among other equities, a utility company that was building a large nuclear power plant. I said no—I was worried about both the safety of nuclear power and the value of my shares should a nuclear accident occur. As an investor, you are empowered to make sure your money is going to companies that are in sync with your values. Of course, that’s easy to do with individual stocks.
More Than Money: How Women’s Wealth is Changing Private Banking
Wealth management is steeped in the conventions of an age when the patriarch took care of everything and got his best investment tips while golfing with his (male) bankers. As recently as 2016, the Boston Consulting Group conducted a survey of wealth managers in which only 2 percent said they considered women to be a specific client segment and had adapted their services accordingly.
Angel Investors Find Success Targeting Women’s Health and Startups
Sharon Vosmek has been an angel investor in 25 startup companies, all owned by women. While she was impressed with the business plan in every case, Vosmek also wants to put her capital into companies that answer an important need in society. A venture called nVision, for example, makes a medical device that has the potential to prevent such conditions as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and pelvic pain by simplifying the ability of doctors to diagnose fallopian-tube cells.
How to tell if your CEO isn't being honest
AI, a focus on non-financial data and more may shed light. Investors who want to know what’s going on at a company beyond the quarterly financial results and standard accounting metrics have a growing wealth of sources to consult. That makes the audit committee’s task of staying on top of financial reporting integrity more challenging than ever. Digital analysis is beginning to unearth an explosion of data that companies will need to harness as part of any discussion of performance.
Detecting Lies on Earnings Calls
Around the world, trust in large institutions and their leaders is at a distinct ebb. The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer, which measures trust in government, business, and other institutions, found that trust in CEOs fell to a record low 37 percent in 2017, down from 49 percent in 2016. Of course, post-truth era or not, business executives don’t generally go around spouting unverifiable facts and numbers. That’s in part because they face stiff penalties for doing so.
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