Make money selling life insurance

LONDON -- In October 2020, Miami-based art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile spent almost $67,000 on a 10-second video artwork that he could have watched for free online. Last week, he sold it for $6.6 million. The video by digital artist Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, was authenticated by blockchain, which serves as a digital signature to certify who owns it and that it is the original work. It’s a new type of digital asset - known as a non-fungible token (NFT) - that has exploded in popularity during the pandemic as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend enormous sums of money on items that only exist online. Blockchain technology allows the items to be publicly authenticated as one-of-a-kind, unlike traditional online objects which can be endlessly reproduced. “You can go in the Louvre and take a picture of the Mona Lisa and you can have it there, but it doesn’t have any value because it doesn’t have the provenance or the history of the work,” said … [Read more...] about How a 10-second video clip sold for $6.6 million

It’s time to fess up: after several years of living in Vietnam, my Vietnamese language skills remain a disaster. It’s a veritable train wreck, there’s no getting around it. I have excuses which I replay in my mind in an effort to dull the pain of defeat, most of which are pretty lame. Vietnamese is a tough language for most foreigners to grasp, with endless pronunciation quirks representing the biggest obstacle between us and success. Fair enough, we all know that. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry wants to practice their English with us, so we, as guests, should indulge them, even at the expense of our own progress. That approach conveniently twists a feeble excuse for tires spinning in mud into a benevolent gesture, so that we feel we are making a contribution to the community when the truth is it’s laziness on the part of us foreigners. Those damn accents are the crux of the problem, and the cause for much despair, and there are lots of them – rising, falling, short, long, flat, bim, … [Read more...] about On the truth about learning Vietnamese in Vietnam

70-year-old Lê Trọng Kính, from the northern province of Ninh Binh, collects old and used bicycles, repairing before giving them to poor students. VNA/VNS Photo Thuỳ Dung NINH BÌNH - A man from the northern province of Ninh Bình has spent the last 10 years collecting old bicycles, repairing them and giving them to those less fortunate. The bicycles that Lê Trọng Kính provides aren't worth much money but greatly ease the hardship for students to pursue their studies and motivate disadvantaged people to overcome difficulties. The 70-year-old has presented more than 150 bicycles to needy people so far. The idea came to him after his daughter’s charity trip to several northern mountainous provinces. During the trip, she saw a large number of students who lacked clothes and textbooks. Their families couldn’t afford their vehicles so they had to walk long distances to get to school. Kính said he sent several bikes that he had just assembled to needy kids in the region. The story … [Read more...] about Revamped bicycles change lives of disadvantaged students

Passionate Bình Định FC supporters ahead of their match with Sài Gòn FC earlier this season. Photo laodong.vn Peter Cowan Legendary Celtic manager Jock Stein once said that football without fans is nothing, or something to that effect. Even my Rangers supporting friends would have say he hit the nail on the head with that one and most people the world over would agree that the beautiful game is best served in front of a pair of baying mobs chanting bloody murder at each other. While we’ve all gotten somewhat used to watching matches without a crowd due to the pandemic, even the money men in big-time football who normally couldn’t give a flying you-know-what about the punters are desperate to get the crowds (and their wallets) back in the grounds when it’s safe. Everyone is itching for fans to return, except it seems, the VPF. The organisers of domestic football recently announced that V.League 1 teams would return to action in two short weeks and also released … [Read more...] about The Local Game: Time to put fans first

Vietnam logs no new COVID-19 infections on March 1 morning Vietnam documented zero COVID-19 infections in the past 12 hours as of 6:00 am on March 1, leaving the national tally unchanged at 2,448 patients, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. Earlier, Vietnam reported 16 COVID-19 cases at 6pm on February 28, including 12 locally infected cases in the northern province of Hai Duong, the country's largest COVID-19 hotspot, and four imported cases in the southern provinces of Tay Ninh and Dong Thap. Of the total infections, there were 1,542 domestically-transmitted cases, including 849 recorded since the latest outbreak hit the northern province of Hai Duong on January 27. Ten cities and provinces nationwide have gone through 16 consecutive days without any locally-infected cases of COVID-19, including Hoa Binh, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Binh Duong, Hung Yen, Bac Giang, Gia Lai, Bac Ninh, Quang Ninh, and Ho Chi Minh City. … [Read more...] about VIETNAM NEWS HEADLINES MARCH 1