Y Combinator is improving uponits Fall 2014 Stanford course, How to Start a Startup, with a larger-scale online course calledStartup School.Whether you swear by startup bibles likeBoth Sides of the Table or Zero to One, theres no denying that Y Combinator, now having backed more than 1,400 startups,hasa tipor two to shareabout starting companies.

The 10-week class is a composite of lectures, class office hours and group office hours. YC is targeting current startup founding teamswith the class, but you can always just watch the lectures as an observer.Startup School will be recorded at Stanford and feature speakers who played major roles at companies like WhatsApp, Stripe, Reddit, Quora, Facebook and Twitch.

You can teach 30 percent of what you need to know to start a company in lectures, but theother 70 percent you need to actually start a startup, Sam Altman, president of the Y Combinator Group, told TechCrunch.

Sam Altman, president of the Y Combinator Group.

In an attempt to replicate a lighter version of a YC Fellowship at scale, full students will have access to the shared community of startupstaking the course via a dedicated Slack channel.In addition to a like-minded community, participants will be required to report weekly company updates. And much like YC office hours, some studentswill get access to advice from YC alumni.At the conclusion, students will be able to share their work atsomething of aminiaturized demo day.

In planning the course, I talked to 50 people who I thought were good startup advisors and good teachers and who had thought a lot about education, saidAltman.

The class features an entire lecture dedicated to building a great company culture. Students will learn how to build and manage teams and the specifics of what to look for when hiring. The course also spends time addressing the topics ofdiversity and inclusion. And whereas the rest of the Valley might have you believe that ideas are a dime a dozen,YC spends ample time discussing tactics for coming up with good ideas.

Online education isnt exactly in the wheelhouse of Y Combinator, which keeps its lights onby assisting companies in which it has a financial interest. But the course should help bolster the broader tech ecosystem in places that dont have as much direct access to mentorship, ultimately improving YCs reach and deal flow.

We trust that if we do right by founders, eventually we will make money even if its not clear in the short term, explained Altman.

Altman admittedly has a thing for teaching. He told me that he would consider teaching CS 229, Machine Learning, to undergrads at Stanford if he was less busy. Though hisversion of the course would include philosophy, politics and economics side-by-side with more typical math and programming instruction.

Registration is open now; the course will begin April 5th dont forget your No. 2 pencil.

With Mercury going retrograde this week and everyone getting their panties in a bunch abouta possible threat of WWIII, I am happy to be bringing some good news and spreading some cheer. Assuming that we aren’t all nuked to death, Aug. 21 is bringing us a solar eclipsethe same day we’ll have a new moon in Leo, and that is a cosmic gift. We had a new moon in Leo last month, and it’s rare to have two new moons in the same sign like this in a row.

New moons are for setting new goals, and for taking productive steps to make those goals a reality over the next six months. We recently had a lunar eclipse, signaling an ending to something in our lives. Solar eclipses, on the other hand, are a signal of a new beginning, and the solar eclipse happening right on the heels of a new moon, make this new moon extra powerful. It’ll be like having three new moons rolled into one, so be extra conscious of the goals you’re setting for yourself, and have a plan of action. Here are a few ways each zodiac sign can hone in on their personal needs and wants to make the most out of the cosmic calendar.

Aries

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The new moon is in your fifth house of true love and creativity, meaning that around this time, an opportunity will present itself that will lead tomeeting someone special, or come into an opportunity for a creative project that will truly make your heart flutter. Either way, your life will be changed by the person/the creative project that comes your way.

Taurus

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The new moon falls in your fourth house of home and family, and will be powered by a beneficial aspect from Uranus (bringing some surprising news) and Saturn (increasing your sense of stability). It looks as if the money you’ll be making now will allow you to make some changes around your home that you previously thought weren’t financially possible for you.

Gemini

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The solar eclipse and new moon will bring an opportunity to sign a contract having to do with your third house affairs: short distance travel, communications, journalism, public relations, and media. Hold off on signing this if you can, until the end of Mercury retrograde on Sept. 5. Keep an eye out for help from your friends at this time because Uranus, the planet of surprise, is sending beams of light from your 11thhouse of friendship.

Cancer

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This solar eclipse and new moon combo will open a completely new path to you in your second house of earned income, creating opportunities for you to make money in the ways that you truly want to. After the lunar eclipse, which signaled the end of one thing, you may now find that whatever you lost created more room for the opportunities that are now coming in. Get that money, baby.

Leo

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You’ll be happy to hear that you’re the star of the show this eclipse season, and that the solar eclipse and new moon are BOTH in your sign, in your first house of self and identity. That means that something especially important to you and only you know that is will finally be coming to you now. The first house is an especially personal one, and with Jupiter present, you can expect a sudden lucky break to come to you.

Virgo

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This solar eclipse/new moon will be in your 12thhouse, the house which governs the subconscious mind. It also rules creativity, the kind of creativity that comes from your subconscious. It’s possible that the work you’re doing right now would benefit most if you isolate yourself and pay attention the the messages you receive through your dreams, either waking or asleep.

Libra

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The eclipse earlier this month hadyou focused more on play than on work, and the eclipse on Aug. 21 will have you doing more of the same, as it’s lighting up your 11th house of groups, organizations, and friends. That said, with Jupiter lighting up your chart, you could most likely have a gorgeous work opportunity come up for you through your social groups, so be sure to be out and about around this time.

Scorpio

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Scorpio, this solar eclipse will open up a brand new path for you in your 10thhouse of career honors, awards, and achievements. You were focused more on your house and home around the lunar eclipse of Aug. 7, and something may have come to an end at that time. The solar eclipse will have you turning your attention outward, to your career standing, and with Jupiter’s aspect, there’s a good chance that you’ll be receiving an opportunity or some recognition that will change your life in the next six months. You have much to look forward to.

Sagittarius

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Sagittarius, this eclipse falls in the house that your sign rules- the ninth house of foreign people and places, and with Jupiter in your friendship sector, the 11thhouse, your wishes are likely to come true thanks to a little help from your friends this month. The opportunities are likely to show up in publishing, broadcasting, travel overseas, or higher education.

Capricorn

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This solar eclipse and new moon, as well as Mars (the action planet) and the Sun (planet of self and identity) are all in your eighth house at the time of the solar eclipse and new moon, meaning your focus will be on transformation. The focus could be money related, since the eighth house also rules debts, or shared resources. Even if the focus is on money, that money will be symbolic of a larger transformation you are undergoing, and you’ll be happy to release whatever it is you need to in order to move forward.

Aquarius

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Aquarius, this solar eclipse is happening in your seventh house of close partnerships. This means that the opportunity to partnerwith someone to create something meaningful in your life (whether that’s a marriage, a work project, or a creative endeavor) will prove to be extremely powerful, and could potentially create a lot of money for you six months from now.

Pisces

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The lunar eclipse on Aug. 7 brought with it a low-key vibe, you may have found yourself isolating for a few days working on a creative project, paying close attention to your dreams, subconscious thoughts, and creative visions.But this next eclipse, along with the new moon will have you focused on your work. Your sixth house of daily work is lit up by this eclipse, allowing you more fulfilling opportunities to change the way you make money over the next six months.

When I began interviewing fathers all over the country, I discovered that the same thing kept happening. They gave me some permutation of this line: “I’m not like most dads—I’m really involved in my kids’ lives.”

In each case, I asked them to think about the other dads they know. “Do you know any who aren’t like you? Any who ignore their children?” They’d think about it, and say no, adding, “But they’re like me—they’re the exceptions.”

No, they’re not. There’s a huge gap between what dads are actually like these days and what stereotypes and inaccurate reports suggest. Sadly, the stereotypes in TV shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy and all sorts of ads have permeated the American psyche. It’s not just a problem for the U.S. In a survey, British women slammed negative depictions of dads in ads, saying that in reality their partner is equally involved in parenting.

This Father’s Day, let’s take a moment to see what’s really going on with modern dads.

For starters, they’re not lazy, and don’t sit around the house doing nothing. Overall, fathers and mothers work equally hard on behalf of their families. The American Time Use Survey collects data on activities in tens of thousands of homes. Dads put in an average of 54 hours a week, and moms put in 53. (Factor in room for standard errors and you’ve got basically a tie.)

A lot of the confusion surrounding this is that there’s a big difference in how that work is distributed. “Work” includes paid work, unpaid work (such as household chores) and childcare. Dads on average put in more hours at the office, and moms put in more hours at home. Some reports ignore paid work hours and focus only on household work and childcare, assailing dads for doing less. They leave the impression that men are relaxing, when they’re actually working to provide.

The same study, the ATUS, also looks at “leisure” and “personal care,” which includes sleep. On this front, dads and moms are also equal. Dads spend a bit more time on “leisure and sports,” while moms spend a bit more time on “personal care.” The combined figures are just about as close to equal as you can get. (12.96 hours a day for dads, 12.99 for moms—a statistical tie.) Again, some reports have misrepresented dads by focusing only on leisure time while ignoring personal care.

And this isn’t just the case in the United States. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says “time devoted to leisure is roughly the same for men and women across the 20 OECD countries studied.”

Also unlike the stereotypes, dads aren’t shirking their children. The average working father spends three hours each workday caring for his children, the Families and Work Institute has found. A CDC study found that virtually all dads who live with their children care for them in every major category at least several days a week if not every day. Those categories include feeding, bathing, doing homework with them, and more. (Among these men, black fathers are actually the most involved. In an interview for my book All In, the lead researcher told me it marks “the debunking of the black-fathers-being-absent myth.”)

The big difference is that dads and moms are spending their working hours differently. That’s because of sexism in how the workplace was designed. Our modern work structures—laws, policies, and stigmas—were created in the Mad Men era. The presumption was that women will always stay home with babies, while men will always make the money.

This explains why the United States remains alone in the developed world for having no paid maternity leave. The thinking behind it was, “She’s a woman, so she doesn’t need to make money. The man should make all the money.”

To this day, the workplace acts as gender police, pushing women to stay home and pushing men to stay at work. Less than one-in-five companies offer any paternity leave. When men try to take that leave or seek flexible schedules, they’re often punished, a series of studies by the Center for WorkLife Law found. All In contains stories of men who were fired, demoted, or lost job opportunities for straying from an outdated, “macho” norm.

The Boston College Center for Work and Family makes this same point in a new report. While taking time for caregiving “can be career limiting for women, it may be even more problematic for men who do not fit the image of the hegemonic male,” it says. The report finds that the vast majority of working fathers and mothers want more time at home with their families, even as they want to advance at work. And EY found that U.S. men are even more likely than women to “change jobs or give up a promotion for work-life management.”

Much of my work these days is with women’s organizations around the country, including those inside many companies. When I present all this information, many participants tell me it comes as a paradigm shift, leading them to recalibrate their understandings of the balance of responsibilities at home — and to realize how much strain their husbands may be under as well.

Dads are under enormous pressure, and feeling the stress. The American Psychological Association found that overall, stress levels are close between men and women. The University of Michigan found that men’s stress is more likely to lead to depression, partly because men are less likely to talk about their problems and get help.

But as long as people believe dads are living relatively care-free, relaxing lives, we as a society won’t be attuned to these struggles. They’ll remain in the shadows.

This Father’s Day, let’s shine a light on just how well dads are doing. Let’s resolve to work together, men and women, to eradicate the backward structures holding us back. And let’s do what it takes to build a future in which our children have the chance to experience real equality—both at work and at home.

Rodeo has remained a sport dominated by white men, but the two-year-old team whose members met in Maryland is inspiring girls as they seek victory

The Cowgirls of Color are frustrated. Its the final stop of Bill Pickett invitational rodeo and the only all-female team has had a difficult first ride, making their chances at a victory very unlikely.

The whole point was to win, not just to be in [the event] because were girls, says KB, a 39-year-old legal administrator who has been riding with the team for a year and a half.

In a sport dominated by white men, the all-female, all-black team is a rarity. At the Bill Pickett rodeo, the only black rodeo in the country, high-octane events such as bull riding and steer wrestling remain almost exclusively male. But every year brings more female contestants than the last.

Since the team formed two years ago, they have set out to prove that theyre more than just a novelty team that they can beat their male-dominated competition in the most intense events and go on to win thousands of dollars in prize money.

When they first started riding as a team just two years ago, we were terrible! says KB. But I wanted to master it. I wanted to compete on a larger scale where I [could] make money.

Selina Pennie Brown, Sandra Pinky Dorsey, Kisha KB Bowles and Brittaney Logan met through a veteran horseman, Dr Ray Charles Lockamy, at a riding event in Maryland. Despite being relatively new to the sport, they decided to form a womens team to compete in the Bill Pickett rodeo, with Lockamy as their coach. Only Pinky had competed in rodeo events as a teenager. I was the only black person there, she says.

Like most equestrian sports, rodeo has always been mostly white. Black cowboys competed in rodeos from the 1940s, but tales of corrupt scoring and judges literally turning their backs on black contestants proliferated for decades thereafter, stalling the growth of the sport among black riders. Black cowboys who entered rodeos would be discriminated against in ways that were supposed to be subtle, says Carolyn Carter, the general manager of the Bill Pickett rodeo. In 1968, the legendary bull rider Myrtis Dightman was advised to turn white if he wanted to claim the top prizes.

Since then, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) hall of famer Fred Whitfield has won multiple world titles and become the first African American all-around champion, amassing millions in prize money, while Bill Picketts six-city tour has become a mainstay on the rodeo scene, a feeder for black riders into traditional events where almost all the contestants are still white.

There was $46m in prize money handed out last year in the PRCA circuit, the most ever. While several black cowboys have competed in the worlds biggest rodeo, the National Rodeo Finals in Las Vegas, no African American woman has yet qualified.

Though a few pro cowgirls, including Kanesha Jackson, are inching closer to that milestone, there is still a perception problem outside the rodeo community, says Pennie, 44. She runs a not-for-profit youth organization in Washington DC thats become increasingly focused on educating children about horses. In my community, so many people dont believe that women ride. Not just women, but black women.

But across the board, the needle is moving. Ronni Frank, a third-generation cowgirl and Bill Pickett coordinator, gives Hollywood some credit for that. Society has improved since 30 years ago, when there wasnt the acknowledgment of the African American presence [in rodeo], she says. Jamie Foxxs turn in Django Unchained and Denzel Washingtons starring role in this years remake of The Magnificent Seven have marked a shift that makes her job a little easier, she says. Did I think wed see Denzel on the front of a cowboy movie poster 30 years ago? Absolutely not.

This year marks progress for the Cowgirls of Color. Last year, a lame horse meant they missed the Bill Pickett rodeo entirely. But despite a disappointment at their first event this year, the ambition of the team isnt lost on their audience. I found out that I inspired this little girl and shes riding now, says KB. Imagine how many other little girls we can do this for.

A year after Nepals worst earthquake since 1934, and with aid from government and agencies scarce, villagers in Sindhupalchowk are turning to relatives abroad

The villagers gather on top of a mountain in Nepals Sindhupalchowk district, on the sun-spotted ground in the canopy of two trees, to make a last-ditch cry for help. A year after the worst earthquake in 80 years hit Nepal, their patience with the government and international agencies has all but vanished.

Clutching a pink smartphone with a patchy internet connection, connected to a loudspeaker so everyone can listen in, Ram Krishna calls the people they know they can count on: relatives and friends overseas, who will send home remittances.

He places a Viber call to Saudi Arabia. At the other end of the line, migrant workers have convened to discuss how to help. But they have barely begun the meeting before the connection cuts.

I hope it helps but migrant workers earn so little they cant send much, says Govindra Buri, 74, as a younger man carries the loudspeaker away. I hope they can send just 1,000 rupees [6.67] each.

Across the country, where the quake killed almost 9,000 people and destroyed an estimated 600,000 houses (pdf), people still sleep in makeshift tin shacks amid heaps of rubble with an estimated four million in sub-standard temporary shelters. As they wait for the government to deliver aid, families sink deeper into an economic slump.

If the approaching monsoon season wasnt worrying enough, much of Sindhupalchowk is also experiencing a dire water crisis, as the quake destroyed pipes and dried up sources. The economic consequences are severe. With barely enough water for humans, let alone animals, villages have had to give away cattle.

The earthquake lasted approximately 50 seconds but it will upend peoples lives for years. The scale of suffering in this mountainous district east of Kathmandu is staggering. One in seven of the 22,733 people killed in natural disasters worldwide last year was from Sindhupalchowk.

It could have been even worse. In Katunjebani, a village a few kilometres from the gathering, no one was killed because the quake occurred when they were working in the fields. But the cattle were locked up inside, and all died.

I was sick and lying in bed when the earthquake hit. I had a fever and everything came tumbling down, 80-year-old Sabitri Upadhyaya recalls. Childless and a widow since her husband died 16 years ago, she is used to taking care of herself but is running out of means.

My neighbours and I are old and feeble. No one has come here to help us. I wanted to protest but Im too old and I dont have the energy, she says, not bothering to wipe away tears.

Like many fellow villagers who were unable to show financial assets to the bank, Upadhyaya had taken out a private loan to construct a shed for new cattle. Such loans carry interest rates of up to 24% a month, according to several villagers.

A $200m World Bank grant has allowed the Nepalese government to promise 200,000 rupees (1,335) to 100,000 families each to rebuild their homes. But the money has stalled, due to political gridlock that, until recently, delayed the establishment of the National Reconstruction Authority, the body responsible for distributing the aid. Fewer than 700 families have received the first instalment of 335.

Most affected families have received only 25,000 rupeesand basic food and winter items. Even if delivered, the promised money is a pittance compared with what people lost, and nowhere near sufficient to build a new house.

With household economies gutted by a year of struggling for survival, there are more immediate concerns.

For 22-year-old Usha Parajuli, eight months pregnant, the financial pressure has become a source of great anxiety. Her husband lost his job as a clerk in Kathmandu due to the recent constitutional protests and blockade of Nepals border posts with India, which exacerbated the troubles of the Nepalese.