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Mark Zuckerberg's 2018 Personal Challenge Is To Do His Job As CEO (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Fun fact about Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: Every year he gives himself a "personal challenge," which is not to be confused with the "New Year's resolutions" us plebs do every year. Over the years, he says, thanks to these challenges, he's taken up running as well as learned foreign languages and read books. But this year, as more revelations come to light about the rampant misuse of Facebook's platform -- including the spread of fake news and other forms of disinformation -- Zuckerberg's challenge is to focus on his business. "The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do -- whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent," he writes. "My personal challenge for 2018 is to focus on fixing these important issues." In essence, Zuckerberg is vowing to help fix the problems that plague Facebook, which is his job, something he admits: "This may not seem like a personal challenge on its face," Zuckerberg writes, "but I think I'll learn more by focusing intensely on these issues than I would by doing something completely separate."

72 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Funny

    My personal challenge is to stop posting on Facebook. :-D

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re: My personal challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about upping the ante a bit... Close the account! The hoops themselves are challenging.

    2. Re: My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 2
      Closing my Facebook account would be very challenging indeed. That won't happen unless I manage to migrate all users away from Messenger. The most likely candidates would be Skype or Hangouts, both of which are not open and proprietary. XMPP has been killed and is only used by nerds. Such a shame. I've told people to send me SMS instead, but somehow that doesn't stick. (For all intents and purposes, SMS are included in all plans. The main issue would be international SMS being hit 'n miss)

      The lock in of Messenger is real. Most people don't even like Messenger, but they use it any way. A bit like Microsoft Windows, really ;-)

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    3. Re:My personal challenge by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      My challenge is to, once again, not create a Facebook page. Three days down and good so far! And proudly Facebook free, since the beginning...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    4. Re: My personal challenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      How about upping the ante a bit... Close the account! The hoops themselves are challenging.

      Did that over a year ago ... best fucking choice I ever made.

      If Zuckerfuck is only now realizing what his job is as CEO, it explains an awful lot.

    5. Re: My personal challenge by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2

      The lock in of Messenger is real. Most people don't even like Messenger, but they use it any way. A bit like Microsoft Windows, really ;-)

      Exactly. Move from one ISP to another and no one else would notice. Stop using FB and you lose contact with everyone who uses it who you don't share another network with.

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    6. Re:My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      That was very wise. So proud of you!

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    7. Re: My personal challenge by pnutjam · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Remembering most of the people I talked to on Facebook, that was a feature, not a bug.

    8. Re: My personal challenge by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is it still impossible to actually delete an account? When I tried to do that umpteen years ago all they did was hibernate the account. Opeinrg it in the first place was one of the worst moves I ever made.

      --
      No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
    9. Re: My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      I heard it’s still that way. Log in again and the full thing is activated again.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    10. Re: My personal challenge by Gavagai80 · · Score: 1

      For all intents and purposes, SMS are included in all plans.

      It's still 10 cents a text for pay as you go plans, if you know any poor people.

      --
      This space intentionally left blank
    11. Re: My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      On pay as you go plays, you pay per kilobyte... Using Facebook on such a plan is probably not a good idea.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    12. Re: My personal challenge by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

      Yes it is. Google. how.

    13. Re: My personal challenge by jblues · · Score: 1

      You could try Telegram. It is made by the people behind vkontakte - the Russian Facebook knock-off, which might not sound any more encouraging, however it isopen source not necessary to sign up with one to use the other. There are numerous official and third-party clients for various platforms, along with two open-source adapters to plug bridge to Facebook Messenger - not everyone would need to migrate at once.

      --
      If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
    14. Re: My personal challenge by jawtheshark · · Score: 1

      Interesting. I'll look deeper into it. I'd really like something 100% standardized and available to everyone. This might indeed be an intermediate step. Best would be that something like the IEEE or the GSM consortium, define a Internet based "Text" system that is open and interoperable. I know, wishful thinking.

      --
      Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    15. Re:My personal challenge by slashrio · · Score: 1

      Since when is that a challenge?

      --
      "Trump!!", the new Godwin.
    16. Re:My personal challenge by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      That was very wise. So proud of you!

      This is like an AA meeting.

      "My name is Joe, and I am an ex-facebook user..."

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    17. Re: My personal challenge by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Telegram still requires a centralised server, which is proprietary. I'm keeping an eye on both GNU Ring and Tox. Of the two, Tox is a lot more polished, but is still not yet able to support multiple client devices with the same account (it's nontrivial to do in a system with end-to-end security), but that's not an issue for people who use these things exclusively on their mobile phones.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    18. Re: My personal challenge by jblues · · Score: 1

      Telegram does have p2p mode, where chats are initiated using a diffie-helman key exchange. However yes, the central server is still required to manage the contact list, session addresses, etc. It is considered to be quite secure, in the second (not the first) tier above above Skype, WeChat, Messenger, WhatsApp and others others. Interesting about Tox, thanks for the info!

      --
      If it acquires resources on instantiation like a duck, then its a shared_ptr<Duck>
    19. Re: My personal challenge by Ralgha · · Score: 1

      I deleted my Facebook account years ago, don't miss it a bit. My real friends have my phone number.

  2. Try.... by Zurkeyon3733 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Doing your job as a HUMAN being. Its much more difficult.... and Rewarding. But alas, you are too busy trying to restrict access to the 700 Acres in HI you own, to those poor people who were there for GENERATIONS before you and your money. Everything that comes out of your elitist maw is a LIE. Get Fuked Zuck.... -Steve

  3. His real challenge will be... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    ... to prepare to run for president in 2020. He's already been visiting states that are important for that run.

    1. Re:His real challenge will be... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      ... to prepare to run for president in 2020.

      Not without changing the constitution. He won'd be old enough to run until 2028.

    2. Re:His real challenge will be... by BKX · · Score: 1

      Uh, no. Zuck was born in 1984. You only need to be 35 to be elected POTUS. That means he can run in 2020.

    3. Re:His real challenge will be... by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Come on now, just because he's ushering in an Apocalypse doesn't mean that anti-christ claptrap means anything. Let's not confuse reality with fairy tales.

    4. Re:His real challenge will be... by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      ... to prepare to run for president in 2020.

      Not without changing the constitution. He won'd be old enough to run until 2028.

      You probably should have done some math before posting that. In order for that to be true, he would have to have been born no earlier than 1990 (anything earlier would make him eligible in 2024). That would have made him no older than 14 when he was a student at Harvard and started working on Facebook (maybe less than 14; I just remember offhand that I had a Facebook account by early 2005).

    5. Re:His real challenge will be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      1984?
      Explains so much.

    6. Re:His real challenge will be... by sheph · · Score: 1

      But the real question is why we'd want him as president after he's already done "so much" for society?

      --
      I don't believe in karma, I just call it like I see it.
  4. He's such a wunderkind by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I want to stop hate speech by only allowing one side in the debate.
    I want to make it look like I'm stopping Russian usage of my site to influence elections while simulltaneously bending over for China.
    I want people to use my site to continue my power and wealth.
    I feel these things are important in my personal self-growth in the universe.
    My god can anybody else be so full of himself?!

  5. Facebook will save humanity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    right after they ruin it

  6. Do us a solid. by cyn1c77 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Close Facebook down.

    You've made enough money Mark, now make the world a better place.

    1. Re:Do us a solid. by old_skul · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Can you imagine the social chaos that would happen if Facebook were to go unavailable for more than an hour or two?

    2. Re:Do us a solid. by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      " The authorities have advised that Facebook withdrawal syndrome has no known cure. FWS sufferers can only be stopped by destroying their brainstem. They're rather like zombies in that regard

      [Ominous growling is heard from off camera, followed by screams, gunfire and the sound of iPhone shutters as the broadcast cuts out to be replaced with static] "

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    3. Re:Do us a solid. by antdude · · Score: 1

      Or a few minutes. ;)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    4. Re:Do us a solid. by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 1

      I'd love to see FB shut down for just 24 hours, and see what would happen.

      On the whole, I'm sure it would be a net positive.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    5. Re:Do us a solid. by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      Especially since it would likely also take down Twitter and Instagram, as people flooded those sites to bitch about Facebook being down. Then the various messenger apps would go down next, and finally we'd see the cell network shudder as millions of text messages got sent wailing about the inability to communicate with the world.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  7. "The world feels anxious and divided" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is a direct result of facebook machine learning algorithms that seek out vulnerable people, force them into an echochamber, hide their legitimate social contacts, so they will be more likely to click on fucking ads.

    The only way this shitheel could benefit humanity would be to neck himself on livestream.

    1. Re:"The world feels anxious and divided" by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      wait, skynet didn't need to kill us...!?

    2. Re:"The world feels anxious and divided" by lucasnate1 · · Score: 1

      How does hiding social contacts cause people to click more ads?

    3. Re:"The world feels anxious and divided" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      how does isolating someone from their social support system make them more vulnerable to suggestion?

  8. Why is he such a werido? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He always seemed so weird but the other day I was able to put my finger on it: All of his communication is given in the tone of a TED talk with the substance of clickbait filtered through a focus group of machine learning algorithms.

    1. Re:Why is he such a werido? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1
      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  9. Which is it? by mwvdlee · · Score: 1

    Which is it? Do his job as a CEO and screw over as many people as it takes to marginaly improve profits or focus of fixing important issues? You can't have both.

    --
    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
    1. Re:Which is it? by sunderland56 · · Score: 2

      screw over as many people as it takes

      Zuckerberg is personally trying to screw over the people of Hawaii to make his mammoth estate even bigger, by stealing public land.... so I think being a dick just comes naturally to him.

    2. Re:Which is it? by sheramil · · Score: 1

      I'm wondering what he was planning on doing before he made this resolution. NOT running the company? Dicking off, playing Splatoon, sitting in his high-chair while flubbing his lips? Which?

  10. Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Your job as CEO is to increase the market cap, market share, and profitability of your company... THAT is ALL !!!!
    "News" is like "Religion" .. everyone has their spin on things, and the other guy's is "fake" in their minds.
    Lastly - facebook is FOUNDED on social dopamine feedback addiction. You gonna become a conscientious crack dealer ?

    1. Re:Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      Your job as CEO is to increase the market cap, market share, and profitability of your company

      Correct, because that's what the CEO's bonuses are correlated with. Although I'm not sure why Mr. Zuckerberg would need more money at this point. Bragging rights? Can't take it with you.

      --
      We'll make great pets
    2. Re:Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, his job as CEO is to carry out the intent of the voting shareholders, whether it has anything to do with market cap, market share, profitability, etc. or not.
      And, due to the way the voting and non-voting shares are set up, that pretty much means doing whatever he himself orders himself to do.

    3. Re:Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      "News" is like "Religion" .. everyone has their spin on things, and the other guy's is "fake" in their minds.

      Putrid post-truth nonsense. We live in an objective reality built around facts, and news which lies about the facts is fake.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    4. Re:Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Truth" is a presumptive fact conveyed with a good faith intent and accepted with an emotional significance.
      Example: "Diversity is our strength" is a nearly universal corporate value today.
      Fact: All scientific evidence contradicts the preceding statement.
      Fact. Race-based policies now permeate all federal agencies in the name of an emotional "truth".

    5. Re:Has no FATHOM what his job is !! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Example: "Diversity is our strength" is a nearly universal corporate value today.
      Fact: All scientific evidence contradicts the preceding statement.

      And that was an example of a lie. A clear and easily verifiable falsehood presented as a fact:

      https://www.scientificamerican...

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  11. Facebook Time Well Spent? by zifn4b · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do -- whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent

    I have an idea for you Mr. Zuckerberg, how about making a commitment to being honest? Facebook is the ultimate time waster. You've exceeded everyone's expectations in that regard. Nothing left to do there.

    --
    We'll make great pets
    1. Re:Facebook Time Well Spent? by sinij · · Score: 2

      I think not whipping low-IQ people into a frenzy over invented outrages would go a long way toward "time well spent" goal.

    2. Re:Facebook Time Well Spent? by thomst · · Score: 1

      zifn4b proclaimed:

      Facebook is the ultimate time waster. You've exceeded everyone's expectations in that regard. Nothing left to do there.

      FTFY:

      Social media is the ultimate time waster.

      It's not just FB. Twitter (!), Snapchat, Instagram, or even /. They're all designed to capture their users' attention and keep them on-site, so that the corporations that own them can mine the living shit out of their data streams and sell the bulk data they harvest to advertisers, marketers, and basically anyone who's willing to pay for it.

      The thing is, though, FB can be as useful or as valueless as you care to make it. I spend, on average, probably 20 minutes a day on FB. I'm a member of several writers' groups there. I've found much of value to me in them, including beta readers, editors, and cover artists who are also members, and documents and links to websites with quite useful advice on things like Amazon keyword selection (a much more subtle and Byzantine discipline than anyone outside of the field might suspect), reviewer blogs, promotional services (of which a handful are worthwhile and a horde are merely scams - or might as well be, for all the good they do the indie authors who employ them), and many other topics that only writers give a damn about.

      I also use it to check in with (and up on) old friends, read the latest Bloom County posts (Berkeley Breathed restarted the strip a couple of years ago. It's still every bit as wise, silly, compassionate, and funny as it ever was, too.), occasionally put items up for sale, and so forth. The key, though, is that I have an agenda whenever I go there. I ignore my "feed", because it is the principal time-wasting feature of FB. Instead, I do what I logged in to do, and then leave.

      I also use NoScript's ABE feature to keep FB and other social sites from tracking me around the web, and I rely on Better Privacy to help take care of supercookie BLOBs (which is one of the main reasons why I haven't upgraded to the latest version of Firefox - because Mozilla has decided I won't be allowed to use Better Privacy if I do).

      It basically comes down to self-control (something that Americans, in particular, are unskilled in and resistant to), and not taking the path of least resistance as an anodyne to boredom. When I have time on my hands, I play guitar, for instance. It's a helluva lot more satisfyiing than reading my Facebook feed ...

      --
      Check out my novel.
    3. Re:Facebook Time Well Spent? by zifn4b · · Score: 1

      zifn4b proclaimed:

      Facebook is the ultimate time waster. You've exceeded everyone's expectations in that regard. Nothing left to do there.

      FTFY:

      Social media is the ultimate time waster.

      Indeed. But if there were a Gartner Magic Quadrant for such a thing I think you'd find Facebook is the market leader closely trailed by some of the others you mentioned lol. The point of my post was in the context of the article which was specifically about Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg and the phoney baloney spin that came out of his mouth.

      --
      We'll make great pets
  12. Stop Worrying About "Hate" by alternative_right · · Score: 1

    In the modern parlance, "hate" simply means one group criticizing another. Trying to ban it is a dog-chasing-its-tail type scenario that just exacerbates the enmity. Focus on not being a creepy, intrusive, greedy, manipulative, and socially irresponsible company instead!

    1. Re:Stop Worrying About "Hate" by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      In the modern parlance, "hate" simply means one group criticizing another.

      Deplorable hatemonger nonsense. "Hate" (short for hate speech, in the informal context used by online platforms) is one group criticizing another based on their immutable characteristics.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    2. Re:Stop Worrying About "Hate" by NikeHerc · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing you never studied German. It's Sieg Heil. Go here [URL:https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Sieg_Heil].

      --
      Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
  13. facebook will fail due to conflicting goals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "making sure that time spent on Facebook is time well spent"

    except study after study has shown that it isnt time well spent. The problem that facebook has is that it has painted its self into a corner with too many conflicting goals. To be a nice happy place, while being a bastion for free speech, while being a place of e-commerce for small businesses, while being an advertising platform all while being a social network. With such conflicting goals it will be nearly impossible to succeed, for example he will find it hard to get rid of "hate speech" and "fake news" with out a crap-ton of policing (and even then it really will only be a cat and mouse game) but that policing will reduce the social network side of things as their algorithms to crack down on the stuff they dont want will affect innocent people (through false positives) thus removing the social part of the network.

    YMMV but i keep having my account suspended for "suspicious activity" with out a clarification of what that is, although i am almost certain that it is linked to ublock origin and no-script, which makes me want to log in less and less. After all, if trying to protect my computer while surfing the web is considered suspicious activity then it brings the modus operandi of Facebook as a social network into serious question because protecting my self and my property through defensive means should never be considered suspicious. They also employ some very smart people that understand that products like no-script and adblockers exist thus they should be able to make it very clear which domains i can white-list in order to get it to work properly yet they choose to have nothing in their support pages. This seems like either they dont really care about their support pages or the people using their social-network.

    Im sorry Zuck, but you cannot have a social media platform that is also a data gathering operation as well as an advertising platform, Its business 101, understand who is your customers, what is your product, and your plan to monetize the supply/demand relationship between them. So in the end people are either the customers or the product, we cannot be both

    Another major problem that they have is the attiude people should have to opt out rather than explicitly opt in to their service. The idea that they know whats best for people is what will eventually end them. You might be able to trick some people into believing that they have the personal control that everyone actually wants, but the charade will be harder to keep up the longer it goes on.

    capcha:eviller

  14. Re:If I was rich... by MikeDataLink · · Score: 1

    "If I ever somehow got rich, the main thing I'd do is spend more time in bed"

    Hence why you're not and never will be rich.

    --
    Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
  15. my 2018 personal challenge by NikeHerc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Having never posted on FB or tweeted, my 2018 personal challenge is to continue to avoid both FB and tweets. It won't be difficult.

    --
    Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
    1. Re:my 2018 personal challenge by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Having never posted on FB or tweeted, my 2018 personal challenge is to continue to avoid both FB and tweets. It won't be difficult.

      Such courage!

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    2. Re:my 2018 personal challenge by NikeHerc · · Score: 1

      Such courage!

      Thanks, Zuck, I'm glad you approve.

      --
      Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
  16. Yes, please do. by quicks0rt · · Score: 1

    And do not run a campaign for presidency.

  17. One year without facebook by ruddk · · Score: 2

    With one year without Facebook, my challenge will be, can I make it two? I think so, I don't want it back.
    I found that most time spent on Facebook was a waste of time and did little of value to me.
    There were communication with our local HOA, a closed community "security" group, and my local MTB club/trail maintenance. But besides from that, it did nothing good for me.

    One thing I would say if you HAD to have a facebook account. Don't have the app on you cell phone, just use login from a dedicated browser on your machine so you won't fall into the trap of checking the damn thing all the time. :)

    1. Re:One year without facebook by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      If you own a business I can see Facebook being useful for promotion, but I have similar reasons as you for not using the site (much).

      At first I felt like I was contributing something by posting pictures and messages about things like the band I saw last night, but over time as the novelty faded I noticed that I was putting a lot more into it than I was getting back in return. The vast majority of my "friends" are people from my past that I never run into in real life any more and they post things about their kids, or their vacation or opinion on some topic. Why the hell do I care about any of that?

      It's kind of sad really, I got into computers in the 80's and started accessing the Internet in 1991. I was really excited about the future. Now that it's almost 30 years later I just want to unplug. It wasn't that bad when people still had to use a PC at home to go online, but now with smartphones it's gotten so much worse. It's just a constant electronic assault by people trying to manipulate or spy on you.

  18. Re:Time well spent by Godwin+O'Hitler · · Score: 1

    Yes I spotted that oxymoron too.

    --
    No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
  19. Lets See If He Has It In Him by TommyNelson · · Score: 1

    That is a solid commitment and if he pulls this off he may well make a difference. Separating the wheat from the chaff is a tough challenge, not only on facebook. If he manages to make facebook less prone to abuse then he may well be doing many users a favour. This will translate into increased confidence in facebook and thus improve his profits. I can't find a problem there.

  20. LOL! by MerlTurkin · · Score: 1

    I'm not on facebook, I give zero f**ks!

    1. Re:LOL! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 1

      And yet, facebook has an impact on you. If nothing else, it helps determine who runs the country.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
  21. Re:Time well spent by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Maybe he doesn't know much about Facebook.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  22. This is news by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    A millennial posting that his New Year's resolution is to finally do his job...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.