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Chinese retail investors have been using the same mass effect for many years, coordinating surges in WeChat rooms.

The crowd moves from one hot market to the next, using its strength in numbers to generate a giant momentum machine. The target is often less important than the potential to catch a moving trend.

The Zhengzhou ferro-silicon contract was squeezed in 2019 simply because retail traders had been pushed out of the bigger steel market by exchange margin increases.

Shanghai copper has been crowd-shorted a couple of times in the past few years, in one instance in a collective battle of strength against a major fund long position.

Social media facilitates the same bewildering mix of mutual exhortation, snippets of genuine information and lots of wild rumor-mongering, as is evident in the #SilverSqueeze meme.

The phenomenon is spreading. In South Korea theyre called ants. In Thailand theyre called moths. Theres a lot of people in this world of low interest rates looking to make a fast buck in the markets.

Chinese regulators have been battling the problem for years. The first line of defense is to increase trading fees, the second is to issue increasingly strident government warnings and the third is to intervene directly, either by suspending some types of trade or mobilizing a team of state-owned banks to crush the crowd.

CMEs margin hike and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellens pending meeting with regulators to discuss recent market volatility conform to the standard Chinese operating procedure of how to deal with speculative excess.

Western regulators will need to catch up fast with their Chinese counterparts because the retail army is likely to resurface with new tactics.

Reddits Wall Street Bets community () has set a shining example that other movements can follow, according to #SqueezeSilver Manifestos anonymous author.

A dedicated army of everyday people can leverage their collective skills and resources () to alter deeply entrenched power dynamics and level the playing field.

Small investors from Shanghai to Seattle may well agree.

(Editing by David Goodman)

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Populist crowd fails to breach the silver fortress for now: Andy Home - Financial Post

Motorola was once considered one of the most prompt manufacturers where Android updates were concerned. Back in the day, its phones would sometimes compete with Google when releasing Android version upgrades. However, since then the company has lost its speed of updating its devices - the company is only now pushing out the Android 11 update to the first device on its update roster.

According to a report from Piunikaweb, the Moto G Pro appears to be the first Motorola device that will receive the upgrade, with users in the UK reporting that they have received the update. The report states that Motorola announced the rollout nearly ten days ago, but no users seemed to have received the update until recently. The new update weighs in at 1103.8 MB and should be rolling out to other areas as well.The update weighs in at 1103.8 MB and should be rolling out to regions outside the UK in the near future. (Reddit (r/MotoG))

The changelog for the update isnt exactly revealing, simply mentioning that the device will be upgraded to Android 11 and receive the new media control tab, chat bubbles and conversations settings, and new permissions including the ability to grant some of them only once. The update also includes the January security patches. Whether Moto has added or removed any device specific software features is not clear at the moment.

Also read: Samsung's budget M31 receives Android 11 update with OneUI 3 two months ahead of schedule

Motorola has not provided any specific timeline for the upgrades to its other devices, but it is certainly odd to see the Moto G Pro receiving Android 11 before the far more expensive Motorola Edge+ and the Moto Razr 5G. Hopefully the other devices on Motorolas roster including the Moto G series and the Motorola One series will also receive the update in the near future. But with Motorola only releasing the Android 10 update for the Moto One Macro five months after the release of Android 11, we wouldnt hold our breath.

Originally posted here:
Motorola kicks off Android 11 updates with the Moto G Pro - HT Tech

The grey rock method is a strategy some people use when interacting with manipulative or abusive individuals. It involves becoming as unresponsive as possible to the abusive persons behavior.

People often discuss this approach as a way to deal with people who have narcissistic personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder, also known as sociopathy. However, researchers have not investigated whether the technique is effective, and it may carry risks for people who use it.

This article examines the grey rock method in more detail, including what it is, how people use it, and its potential risks. It will also provide other strategies for dealing with abuse, along with support resources.

The grey rock method involves communicating in an uninteresting way when interacting with abusive or manipulative people. The name grey rock refers to how those using this approach become unresponsive, similar to a rock.

The technique may involve:

The aim is to cause the abusive person to lose interest and stop their antagonistic behavior, to protect a persons emotional well-being.

People use the grey rock method as a coping mechanism for emotional abuse. Emotional abuse includes any behaviors that a person uses to exert dominance and control over someone else. It can include:

Emotional abuse has a significant impact on mental and physical health. Consequently, people may try tactics, such as the grey rock method, to defend themselves from harm.

Individuals may have the temptation to use this tactic if interactions with the abusive person are unavoidable. For example, people may use this method with:

There is no research on whether the grey rock method is a safe or effective way to protect a person from emotional abuse. Anecdotal evidence suggests some people find it helpful, but it is not a technique that prominent abuse organizations cite as viable strategies.

Whether the method works may depend on a persons situation, their relationship with the abusive person, and the abusive persons temperament.

The grey rock method may be enough to deter some people, but there is no guarantee it will work for everyone. It also carries some risks.

Some of the potential risks of using the grey rock method include:

If a person uses the grey rock method and the perpetrator does not immediately lose interest, they may try increasingly harmful tactics to get a reaction.

This may lead to the abuse or manipulation escalating or getting worse. In some cases, people may resort to threats or violence if someone does not behave the way they want.

Escalation is common in abusive relationships and can occur gradually or suddenly. For this reason, the grey rock method is not a long-term solution for people who live with abusive people.

Abusive people can attempt to control how others behave by eroding their personal identity. They may undermine someones individuality by pressuring them to change how they talk, dress, or act.

Over time, this can damage a persons mental health and make them unsure of who they are. There is a chance that the grey rock method could exacerbate this effect by encouraging people to suppress their true emotions and personality.

It is a good idea to be mindful of this while using this technique. If the person practicing it notices the approach makes them feel worse, they should seek advice from a mental health professional or abuse advisor.

If someone is in close contact with a person behaving in an abusive way, the safest approach is to seek support from a qualified professional.

For example, people in abusive relationships can get advice on how to handle their partners behavior and how to leave the household safely from organizations such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

However, if contact with an abusive or manipulative person is unavoidable, the grey rock method may be a way to set boundaries and minimize harm during interactions.

When communicating with the abusive person, try to:

It is important to note that the grey method differs from social or emotional withdrawal.

Sometimes, people experiencing abuse retreat from their social life and avoid seeing their friends and family. They may also seem distant or unresponsive during normal conversations. This is an unintentional psychological reaction to the abuse.

By contrast, the grey rock method is intentional. People who use it do so on purpose and only around specific individuals. It does not involve distancing themselves from others only from the abusive person.

If the grey rock method does not have the desired effect, or a person notices it impacts their well-being, there are other ways to cope.

The optimal strategy can vary depending on the situation. However, the following approaches can benefit many who have to interact with abusive people.

Looking after mental health is important when dealing with someone who is manipulative or abusive.

A person can try:

Similarly, support from trusted friends, family, or community members can help someone build resilience. It can also prevent a person from becoming isolated. Try:

When searching for help and resources, it is possible that an abusive person can see someones online search history, so remember to cover tracks by deleting it.

Safety plans help people living in abusive situations cope with the abuse and ultimately create a safe way for them to leave. This may include:

The National Domestic Violence Hotline have an interactive safety planning tool that helps people tailor plans to their situation.

Some people may wish to pursue legal action, such as a restraining order. If this is an option, gathering evidence of the abusive persons behavior can help.

Taking photos, saving emails or letters, and documenting events in a diary may all help. Store this evidence in a safe place or send them to a trusted friend.

To deal with abusive behavior in the workplace, a person can file a report with human resources or speak to a trusted superior.

Anyone who feels their mental or physical health is deteriorating because of a relationship with a manipulative or abusive person should seek support.

People can get support for their own physical or mental health from a doctor or therapist. Anyone in immediate physical danger should dial 911 or contact the local police department.

If you or someone you know is in immediate danger of domestic violence, call 911 or otherwise seek emergency help. Anyone who needs advice or support can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline 24/7 via:

Many other resources are available, including helplines, in-person support, and temporary housing. People can find local resources and others classified by demographics, such as support specifically for people of color, here:

Relationships with manipulative and abusive partners, coworkers, or friends can be difficult to manage. The ideal option is to remove themselves from such relationships, but sometimes, this is not possible.

The grey rock method may temporarily help some people. However, it is not a long-term solution, particularly for those living with abusive partners or family members. In these situations, abuse can escalate to dangerous levels.

Safety planning, social support, and self-care are important ways to stay emotionally and physically safe where contact with an abusive person is unavoidable.

Read more here:
Grey rock method: What it is and how to use it effectively - Medical News Today

For years, ocean sunfish, or mola, spotted off Canada's West Coast, were identified as Mola mola, the most abundant and widespread ocean sunfish species found in the Northern Hemisphere.

But now, researchers are identifying a number of these fish as Mola tecta, or hoodwinker sunfish, a species previously thought only to exist in the Southern Hemisphere. They're finding them as far north as Alaska.

The hoodwinkeris the subject of a collaboration between researchers in Canada, New Zealand and California who are working to expose the sunfish that's been hiding in plain sight, using crowd-sourced data from photographs and sightings along North America's west coast.

One of those photographs came from 2011, when former environmental consultant Matthew Drake investigated a small mola that had stranded near a seaplane base in Port Hardy, B.C. He and his colleagues called it a Mola mola.

But researchers have now identified it as the elusive hoodwinker.

"It makes you question things you've seen in the past," said Drake. "Sometimes subtleties can be the difference between one species and the next, and that's what's happened here."

Jackie Hildering, co-founder of the Marine Education and Research Society, who is overseeing the collection of sightings of hoodwinkers off the coast of B.C., said the discovery is a testament to how little we know about cold water life and the value of crowd-sourced data in discovering new species.

"The average person already is not aware that Mola mola are off our coast, let alone that we could be misidentifying an animal that big," said Hildering.

"It's inspiring that we still live in a time where we can find out that a fabulously odd-looking fish which [was] presumed to be just one species actually has a fabulously odd-looking cousin that's also in our waters."

Prior to its fairly recent discovery, the hoodwinker sunfish had gone unnoticed for nearly 130 years.The oldest preserved specimen from the 19th century had been hidden in the Netherlands' Naturalis Biodiversity Center's museum storage behind an impassable giraffe.

Records of the hoodwinker sunfish in the Northern Hemisphere appeared two years after marine scientist Dr. Marianne Nyegaard published her discovery of the species in 2017, which she had first identified in the waters off New Zealand four years prior.

"[Back then], I had done the best I could in trying to find where this species could be and everything pointed towardthe temperate Southern Hemisphere," she said.

But in February 2019, a dead ocean sunfish strongly resembling the hoodwinker poked holes in her theory, washing up in California, more than 6,500 kilometres north of what Nyegaard had thought was the edge of its habitat range.

At first, she couldn't believe the coincidence. When genetic analysis proved that the animal was, in fact, a hoodwinker sunfish, moved online to search for evidence of other hoodwinkers that had been mistakenly identified as Mola molain the northwest partof thePacific.

"I was just trolling the net going, 'Oh my God, that looks a lot like a hoodwinker. That looks like one too,'" said Nyegaard. "I would reach out to people and ask, 'Have you got more photos?'"

Sure enough, Nyegaard found that many hoodwinkers had been misidentified along the western coast of North America, a discovery that has informed what she calls her pandemic passion project to track the little-understood species' presence in distant waters.

"We find animals out of range all the time, so that's not that unusual," she said. "To me, the unusual bit is that there is more than one. It's not just a 100-year occurrence or a freaky coincidence. They're infrequent, but they're not freakishly rare."

For Nyegaard and her colleagues, quantifying how long hoodwinker sunfish have been living in or making their way towardCanadian waters is limited by the fact that historical records basically start with the beginning of social media.

But a global pandemic that made travel impossible for Nyegaard set the conditions for creating a virtual network of marine researchers and advocates who are gathering sightings along North America's west coast like Hildering.

Prior to the Pacific Northwest Mola tecta study, Hildering said that data on ocean sunfish in B.C. was collected through incidental sightings recorded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and through a directed survey from 2004 to 2006.

"There's been collection, but never with the perspective of holy crap, there's actually two species," said Hildering.

Now, she's using her network as "a catalyst for more sightings, using social media to follow the clues of people who have posted about [mola] outside of what's already out there."

Hoodwinker sunfish generally have a flatter head shape and smaller, more rounded back ends than Mola mola. But the differences are subtle, meaning that in order to confirm sightings of hoodwinker sunfish, researchers rely on good, if not great, pictures.

When Peter and Roma Shaughnessy came across a sculling mola in Kisameet Bay last August, they collected GPS co-ordinates, video, and over 100 photos of the animal, they said, recording observations about its behaviour.

"We wished someday we would see one, never thinking we would," said the avid boaters and residents of the Chilcotin region of B.C., calling the encounter "a lifetime event."

Data collection like that carried out by the Shaughnessys comes pretty close to the gold-standard for Nyegaard's research.

"If we have a photo, say of a fin coming out of the water, we won't say what it is. We'll just call it a sunfish," said Nyegaard. "To identify these animals, you need to have good pictures and often we don't have them."

See more here:
Meet the hoodwinker, the ocean sunfish we misidentified for years - CBC.ca

According to local newspaper DongA, Apple is set to announce a major contract with Kia Motors, worth about $3.6 billion as the company ramps up its efforts to build an electric car. According to the papers, the news could be officially announced as soon as February 17.

Apple is apparently looking to produce about 100,000 cars a year, starting in 2024. A previous report had suggested that Apple was looking to sign a deal with Hyundai by March.

The local media report was surfaced by Bloomberg today. It remains to be seen how close Apple and Kias partnership will be in the making of the Apple Car, or if it is more of a designer-supplier relationship a la Apple and Foxconns relationship in the iPhone supply chain.

The reports that Apple was building a car date back to 2015, when the first news broke of Project Titan, an Apple electric vehicle project. Initially, the company had thousands of engineers and designers working on all sorts of components like doors, drivetrains and steering wheels. However, Apple scaled back ambitions around 2017 to focus on the autonomous driving software stack only.

More recently though, many signs have indicated that Apple is once again committed to the car part of the Apple Car. Apple has been poaching executives from Tesla, and recently hired away Porsches VP of chassis development. And in December, Reuters kickstarted the latest bout of Apple Car rumors by reporting that the Apple Car was headed for production in 2024 featuring breakthrough battery technology.

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Apple rumored to sign $3.6 billion deal with Kia Motors for Apple Car partnership - 9to5Mac