RIP Neil Peart

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Neil Ellwood Peart, OC, Canadian musician and writer best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush fter a three-year illness, died of glioblastoma on January 7, 2020, at age 67. The illness had been a closely-guarded secret in Peart’s inner circle until his death. His family made the announcement on January 10. Peart received numerous awards for his musical performances, including an induction into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1983, making him the youngest person ever so honoured. His drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency, and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina. Peart grew up in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. During adolescence, he floated between regional bands in pursuit of a career as a full-time drummer. After a discouraging stint in England to concentrate on his music, Peart returned home, where he joined Rush, a Toronto band, in mid-1974.

Early in his career, Peart’s performance style was deeply rooted in hard rock. He drew most of his inspiration from drummers such as Keith Moon and John Bonham, players who were at the forefront of the British hard rock scene.[4] As time passed, he began to emulate jazz and big band musicians Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. In 1994, Peart became a friend and pupil of jazz instructor Freddie Gruber. It was during this time that Peart decided to revamp his playing style by incorporating jazz and swing components. In addition to serving as Rush’s primary lyricist, Peart also published several memoirs about his travels. His lyrics for Rush addressed universal themes and diverse subjects including science fiction, fantasy, and philosophy, as well as secular, humanitarian, and libertarian themes. Peart wrote a total of seven nonfiction books focused on his travels and personal stories. In January 2018, bandmate Alex Lifeson confirmed that Rush was retiring due to Peart’s health issues.

During his last years, Peart lived in Santa Monica, California, with his wife, photographer Carrie Nuttall, and daughter Olivia. On August 10, 1997, soon after the conclusion of Rush’s Test for Echo Tour, Peart’s first daughter (and, at the time, his only child) Selena Taylor, 19, was killed in a single-car accident on Highway 401 near the town of Brighton, Ontario. His common-law wife of 23 years, Jacqueline Taylor, succumbed to cancer only 10 months later on June 20, 1998. Peart attributes her death to the result of a “broken heart” and called it “a slow suicide by apathy. In his book Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, Peart writes that he told his bandmates at Selena’s funeral, “consider me retired”. Peart took a long sabbatical to mourn and reflect, and travelled extensively throughout North and Central America on his motorcycle, covering 88,000 km (55,000 mi). After his journey, Peart decided to return to the band. Peart wrote the book as a chronicle of his geographical and emotional journey.

Peart was introduced to photographer Carrie Nuttall in Los Angeles by long-time Rush photographer Andrew MacNaughtan. They married on September 9, 2000. In early 2001, Peart announced to his bandmates that he was ready to return to recording and performing. After the release of Vapor Trails and his reunion with bandmates, Peart returned to work as a full-time musician. In the June 2009 edition of Peart’s website’s News, Weather, and Sports, titled “Under the Marine Layer”, he announced that he and Nuttall were expecting their first child. Olivia Louise Peart was born later that year.

A Bit, Or A Lot, On The Side? Looking After Your Side Hustle

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It seems that so many of us need an extra income. As we start to look at the various options out there, a side hustle becomes one of the most alluring. But ask anyone who has tried to keep a business afloat and they will tell you that there is a lot to take into account. Looking after any business, regardless of its size, is about a sufficient amount of protection. How can you protect your side hustle so it can give you the income you need but also make sure you don’t let it fall short of the mark?

Arming Yourself With The Right Tools

The name of the game with any business is productivity. If you are able to improve your productivity you can potentially earn more by doing less. When promoting yourself via social media, there are plenty of tools to take advantage of like Hootsuite. But you must also remember the importance of protecting yourself in a technical sense. If you are promoting an online business you might not think that you are are going to be the victim of a cyber attack but if you are hopping from cafe to cafe doing your work online it’s important to get a virtual private network like the ones TorGuard provide. The right tools will give you that foundation to progress.

Understanding The Market Need For Your Product

Because everybody seems to set up a side hustle now, you’ve got to find the right type of products for your passions but also see if there is a demand for it. Everybody is setting up an Amazon Affiliate account now to go with their blog, but does this mean that it’s already an overcrowded market that we are jumping into? Think about what you can realistically achieve with your spare time and then address if there is a demand for the product. It’s always a good idea to branch out to a specific niche because this is what will keep you competitive in the larger market.

Making Sure It Doesn’t Impact Your Life Negatively

You should look after your side hustle and it should look after you. If you find that you’re dedicating too much time and it’s not having a positive impact on your life, you have to ask yourself, is it worth it? A side hustle is something that we should do on the side and while we have to put adequate time into it, if it gets to the point where we are doing too much for very little return it might be time to bid it goodbye. Or at the very least, you should find something that you can fit in with your life. The side hustle needs to work for you rather than you putting your heart and soul into it.

A side hustle is a fantastic way to acquire an extra income if we do it right. But you must remember that in order to make it worth your while you have to look after it properly and make sure it fits in with your life in the right ways.

Four Things To Look For In A Phone

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Shopping for a phone can be difficult when you have no clue where to start. However, there are a few things that are worth looking out for in a phone to help make the process of choosing easier. So if you’re needing a little help with getting your next phone, read on!

Does It Have Everything You Need?

The best way of deciding on what phone to get is by making a list of everything you need. From the camera quality to the core apps it has, it’s good to note what you need for your phone to do. Maybe it has to be big enough for you to use it like an on-the-go office, or perhaps you need it to have the latest technology that helps it to be compatible with other devices you already own. Make this list extensive, and so when it comes to looking, you can compare and tick off your list to each phone you look at. Once you’ve found the phone that has everything you need, there’s no real need to look any further.

What’s The Battery Life Like

The battery life of a phone is highly important because a lot of phones don’t have a good lifespan when it comes to battery quality. Look at the technology review sites that are reviewing every single phone that comes out and keep your eyes peeled for any mention of a good battery life. There are few that can last longer than a day after you’ve added all your apps, but they are certainly out there if you’re willing to do some digging.

Do You Want Prepaid Or Contract?

The type of financial payment comes next, whether that’s paying for your phone’s services as and when you need them in the form of a prepaid bill or if you need it to be on contract. With any phones you buy outright, you don’t need to worry about the interest you’d pay if it were on a contract. However, you need to have the disposable funds to do that, and not everyone does. So contract might be better for you if you want to spread the cost, but remember you have to pay for a period of time that you’d need to pay with interest to get out of.

Is There Enough Storage Space

And finally, what about storage space? The amount of storage that’s available on your phone will dictate how many photos or videos you can save. It controls the amount of music you have and how many apps you download. Figure out how big storage can be on the phone and what does each amount means in terms of storage. It’s important that you have enough without having to delete any precious photos or videos that you wanted to keep.

We rarely hold onto our phones for more than a couple of years now, but once you’ve got a phone, it can be frustrating when it doesn’t work the way you’d hope it would. Do your research on what’s out there and pick wisely.