#1.5 years is a minimum too so its entirely possible

[rememberthelaughtermp3]

killing maiming biting biting biting tearing shredding biting again

[jesterkoops]

I thought I was the Warrior, and Game of Thrones was ASOIAF, but it was just the Stranger

Latest post in the “koops works through the stages of Jaime-Lannister-character-assassination-induced grief” series. I’m sorry I keep spamming the blog with these, but it’s helping me put my thoughts in order and move on, and maybe they can be useful to others too. 

This is where I’m at right now. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow or next week and see it differently, but... here it goes. 

Long analysis ahead!

I know some people right now are a bit/very upset at Nikolaj for seemingly supporting D&D’s assassination of Jaime’s arc, after he advocated against twincest and pushed in favour of adapting Jaime’s book arc and his relationship with Brienne for many years. To see him describe the ending as a perfect conclusion to Jaime’s arc, seems very jarring. And I was equally thrown off and confused for a while.

But I think what I have come to realize from rewatching his interviews (especially the ones where Gwen is sitting next to him - because she knows him, and knows how he truly felt about it; her reactions to his answers say a lot about that) is that Nikolaj has simply made peace with/resigned himself to D&D’s (incoherent, depressing and uninspiring) idea of Jaime. The version he doesn’t like, the version he would not have written himself, the version he complained about for years, but the version they might have had in their head all along: the one that served their twincest fanfic best. 

I was a show-first fan, but I was always aware that the show had issues with adapting the books (as per GRRM’s own admission of “traumatic” creative differences where D&D pushed for changes more than for adaptation) and that many books fans hated it for that. But I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because I thought they would eventually veer towards the direction the books had taken, and all that seeding and build up would find its payoff and provide closure (even if not as satisfyingly as the books). The S6 finale remains one of my favorite episodes ever. Like Nikolaj, I expected S7 to start with Cersei having to face the consequences of that act and Jaime and Cersei’s rift finally being adapted. Like Nikolaj, I was shocked when the leaks came out showing that, instead, Jaime would stick with Cersei and get her pregnant again. Like Nikolaj, I tried to rationalize that storyline because, in the end, we knew Jaime did leave Cersei “without looking back”.  It seemed like S7 might be just more of the usual adaptation problem the show always had but, FINALLY we would get Jaime’s identity arc adapted in the end. Like Nikolaj, I went into S8 full of hopes, which were all met beyond even my wildest expectations, in the first 3 and 1/2 episodes. And then... the shocking, cruel and nihilistic rug-pull in the second half of episode 4 blindsided me completely. This season felt like a sadistic lover who builds their partner up towards climax, lulling them into a euphoric sense of security and vulnerability, only to suddenly knife them in the stomach repeatedly at the end and tossing them out in the street, naked, to bleed to death.

Now, is Jaime’s ending satisfying, especially after so many years? No. Is Jaime’s ending earned and not tacked together in a rush? No. Is Jaime’s ending one that feels true to his character in the books? Definitely not. Does it feel like a lot of foreshadowing and seeding was all for nothing in the end? Absolutely. 

But I see where Nikolaj is coming from, once I think about all those adaptation choices that were the total opposite of the books, and that I did not give much weight to because surely they will converge to his book material eventually, and surely ALL this seeding isn’t for nothing, and surely they won’t have characters end up where they started after so much work, and surely they would never do something so horrible to Brienne and her arc. Boy, was I wrong. 

6x08 contained the highly questionable adaptation of the dialogue between Edmure and Jaime at the siege of Riverrun. The show decided to make Jaime’s entire speech to Edmure be about Cersei, when, in the original version, the Riverrun siege is very much a matter of honour for Jaime. Jaime wants to avoid, in any way possible, to raise arms against the Starks and the Tullys because he swore an oath to Catelyn Stark that he never would. We thought show!Jaime was using his reputation to manipulate Edmure and bluffing, because that’s what he does in the books (”don’t make me say the words”). We thought he was bluffing, because Brienne was in that castle and they wrote in an entire scene to basically show us Jaime did not want to fight her (I guess they “kind of forgot” about that - the first symptoms of memory loss). Turns out, it truly was all about Cersei for them so that they could use it to justify Jaime’s self-destruction in the end.

Go back just two episodes (6x06) and you have another huge change to the backstory of Jaime’s mission in the Riverlands. In the books, Jaime argues with Cersei against going to the Riverlands because, again, he does not want to fight against the Starks and the Tullys given the oath to Cat. In the books, the Walk of Atonement happens *after* Jaime has already left for the Riverlands, and, as of the books, she’s currently awaiting her trial. That is when Cersei sends the infamous letter begging him to come fight for her (or die for/with her), which Jaime burns, leaving her to her fate, “effectively estranging” them. That is when Cersei is in clear denial about Jaime abandoning her in her time of need to disappear with Brienne instead. In the show, it’s the complete opposite: Jaime is begging Cersei to let him stay and fight for her because she needs him, while she tries to send him away. And in 8x04, Jaime abandons Brienne to go back to Cersei in her time of need. 

The show has taken every single thing Jaime does for honour and/or Brienne in AFFC/ADWD and made it about Cersei.

The entire Dorne storyline, a show-only horror, was about romanticizing incest, the tragedy of it all, and how misunderstood JC were in Westerosi culture, from Ellaria’s comments to Myrcella’s lines as she dies in Jaime’s arms about, essentially, happily accepting being a product of incest. 

The White Sword Tower scene at the end of S4, which in the books shows that Jaime, in order to maintain the sacredness of the place, rejects Cersei’s attempts to manipulate him with sex in order to get him to help her with her plans, is turned into yet another example of romanticizing incest in the show, with Cersei “choosing” Jaime and them desecrating the honour of the WST by having sex. Later, Jaime never finds out about Lancel and the show omits all the other instances of infidelity on Cersei’s part, thus removing yet another element that could cause a rift between the twins.

And these are just the major, glaring changes/omissions, without adding changes/omissions like Cersei’s revulsion towards Jaime’s stump, her physical and psychological abuse of him with slaps and throwing wine cups at him and insulting his courage and intelligence, her abuse of Tommen, and so on. It all boils down to either reducing the rifts between the twins to a minimum, or making even Jaime’s honourable deeds to be about Cersei.

But I kept the believing, despite all these unfaithful adaptations, that SURELY they would eventually default to the books’ arc, also because they put an awful lot of effort in JB foreshadowing in every season for it not to pay off big time. 

Well, turns out I was misguided. 

We know for certain that the conclusion to the war against the WWs will not be the same in the books: the books has no Night King (and IIRC, they never will) and far more complex lore surrounding the Others and the WWs. Arya dealing that final blow is something D&D deliberately chose to do three years ago because Jon “was too obvious”, and they retrofitted Melisandre’s line to be about the NK when it clearly was not intended that way. So, if they were willing to alter the lore and the foreshadowing of such a huge plot point, which millions of viewers, no matter whose characters they favoured, had been waiting on for decades, and for a storyline that underpins at least half of the backbone of the books, it was probably naive to think that they would concern themselves with being true to book!Jaime’s identity arc and his love life, a relatively inconsequential story by comparison.

And so I can see what Nikolaj is saying when he talks about the way “D&D *chose* to adapt the story after the books” (look at Nik’s words very carefully in interviews, and how he always talks about D&D’s adaptation choices, and never about GRRM’s ending). D&D made Cersei into a far bigger character than the books ever intended her to be (GRRM didn’t even know if he wanted to give her a POV, because he didn’t think it’d add much to the story) and chose to reduce Jaime to Cersei’s accessory. D&D seem to have never truly moved on from S1 (or maybe even pilot) Jaime, while GRRM wanted to explore identity and redemption with him without making a judgement. D&D deliberately changed crucial Jaime plot points to make them all about Cersei, rather than honour. The over-emphasis on “the things I do for love” is a show-only obsession, when that’s just a very small part of who Jaime is in the books. We all thought/hoped this could still work out to adapt Jaime in the show, because the emphasis would be on the fact that the object of that “love” would change and Jaime would redirect “the things he does” towards a healthier, purer, good kind of love (i.e. Brienne) that inspires him to be honourable. And, maybe, in part, they did. But D&D probably never had any serious intentions to let Jaime break away from Cersei for good and so this ending “makes sense” for them. And I think Nikolaj has come to reluctantly accept this.

That of course doesn’t change the fact that the writing in the last 1.5 episodes was the most horrible, nihilistic, cruel, unnecessary and unearned (especially in the last 1.5 episodes). It doesn’t change the fact that, if D&D don’t seem to see Jaime as anything more than an addict, they don’t even register Brienne and her feelings on their radar. It doesn’t change the fact that they spent so much time and money building up an expectation that Jaime and Brienne were heading somewhere meaningful, only for it to amount to an assassination of their dynamic in the space of half an hour. It doesn’t remove the suspicion that there might have even been a change of plans (possibly out of spite, possibly for shock value, possibly at the last minute) to switch to a failed redemption, rather than a successful one. But I think it does explain where Nikolaj is coming from and I think, perhaps, it’s the healthiest course of action at this point, because there’s nothing we can do to change it (and the fact that so many casual viewers feel just as disappointed is comforting too).

In a sense, for Jaime fans (and Brienne fans, and JB fans by extension), Game of Thrones has been our abusive partner. The TV series is Cersei and we are Jaime. We spent years of our lives hanging on, trying to find positives amongst a lot of negatives, because it kept dangling in front of us the seeding of a Jaime and a JB dynamic that we recognized from the books and seemed to be building up for the future. I think that’s our biggest disappointment, in the end. Jaime in the show was never meant to be as deep and complex as Jaime is in the books. But we hoped he would have a similar trajectory in the end, to give us closure at least. And he didn’t. 

These last episodes were our “I thought I was the Warrior, and she was the Maid, but it turns out she was just the Stranger” moment. 

And I think this is our time to put it in the fire. 

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Okay but "some" core industries going under and "certain" areas being affected and some regions migrating to others because of heat... hate to tell you but that's not "the end of civilization." Its awful and it sucks and will suck for a ton of people and we need to act now to prevent it, yes! But humanity will still survive, the large majority of us! I truly feel like being over-exaggerative is just lying. Don't, please. What do we have if not our honesty? Let's work on climate change truthfully

Well that assumes that no runaway climate effects happen, which is far from certain, and if they happen, humanity is FUCKED:

Our ability to keep Earth habitable may be more limited than we realize.

Human activity could push the planet over a number of tipping points that would cause global temperatures to rise even higher than we’ve driven them already, according to a new paper published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research suggests that certain natural systems on the planet could be activated by warming and consequently trigger further warming. In that situation, Earth’s average temperature might reach 4 or 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. (For context, the goal of the Paris agreement was to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C.)

The paper’s authors refer to this scenario as “Hothouse Earth.”

“These tipping elements can potentially act like a row of dominoes,” Johan Rockström, a co-author of the paper and the executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre,said in a news release. “Once one is pushed over, it pushes Earth towards another. It may be very difficult or impossible to stop the whole row of dominoes from tumbling over. Places on Earth will become uninhabitable if ‘Hothouse Earth’ becomes the reality.”

If this were to happen, the world would become far warmer than it’s been for at least the past 1.2 million years. Sea levels around the globe would likely rise between 33 and 200 feet higher than they are now.

Read this too:

His warning is supported by James Hansen, who declared that “a target of two degrees (Celsius) is actually a prescription for long-term disaster.”

The burning of coal, oil, and natural gas has made the planet warmer than it had been since the rise of civilization 10,000 years ago. Civilization was made possible by the emergence about 12,000 years ago of the “Holocene” epoch, which turned out to be the Goldilocks zone - not too hot, not too cold. But now, says physicist Stefan Rahmstorf, "We are catapulting ourselves way out of the Holocene.“

This catapult is dangerous, because we have no evidence civilization can long survive with significantly higher temperatures. And yet, the world is on a trajectory that would lead to an increase of 4C (7F) in this century. In the opinion of many scientists and the World Bank, this could happen as early as the 2060s.

What would "a 4C world” be like? According to Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research (at the University of East Anglia), “during New York’s summer heat waves the warmest days would be around 10-12C (18-21.6F) hotter [than today’s].” Moreover, he has said, above an increase of 4C only about 10% of the human population will survive.

Believe it or not, some scientists consider Anderson overly optimistic.

The main reason for pessimism is the fear that the planet’s temperature may be close to a tipping point that would initiate a “low-end runaway greenhouse,” involving “out-of-control amplifying feedbacks.” This condition would result, says Hansen, if all fossil fuels are burned (which is the intention of all fossil-fuel corporations and many governments). This result “would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans.”

Moreover, many scientists believe that runaway global warming could occur much more quickly, because the rising temperature caused by CO2 could release massive amounts of methane (CH4), which is, during its first 20 years, 86 times more powerful than CO2. Warmer weather induces this release from carbon that has been stored in methane hydrates, in which enormous amounts of carbon – four times as much as that emitted from fossil fuels since 1850 – has been frozen in the Arctic’s permafrost. And yet now the Arctic’s temperature is warmer than it had been for 120,000 years – in other words, more than 10 times longer than civilization has existed.

According to Joe Romm, a physicist who created the Climate Progress website, methane release from thawing permafrost in the Arctic “is the most dangerous amplifying feedback in the entire carbon cycle.” The amplifying feedback works like this: The warmer temperature releases millions of tons of methane, which then further raise the temperature, which in turn releases more methane.

The resulting threat of runaway global warming may not be merely theoretical. Scientists have long been convinced that methane was central to the fastest period of global warming in geological history, which occurred 55 million years ago. Now a group of scientists have accumulated evidence that methane was also central to the greatest extinction of life thus far:the end-Permian extinction about 252 million years ago.

Worse yet, whereas it was previously thought that significant amounts of permafrost would not melt, releasing its methane, until the planet’s temperature has risen several degrees Celsius, recent studies indicate that a rise of 1.5 degrees would be enough to start the melting.

And you have a pretty fucking ridiculous concept of ‘oh humanity will survive so everything is ok’. At the bare minimum, millions to billions of people are going to die. Millions of animal species will go extinct. There is going to be mass starvation from failing crop yields and new zones of poor rainfall. There is going to be a mass refugee crisis from entire countries going underwater. There are going to be wars and conflicts triggered over water. There are going to be vast areas of the earth that will be uninhabitable due to deadly heatwaves.

None of this is ok, and nobody is fear mongering by pointing it out.

[kharliecelly-blog]

How to choose a paintball field in California?

After more than 25 years in the world of paintball and seeing the extensive range of Paintball Fields we are going to help you see things for yourselves so that they do not give you a hare. With all that writing we intend to explain to all the differences between one field and another and why some are more expensive and others are cheaper. The simple summary is that safety and quality cost money, and the quality of the facilities also costs money. We will see the different points to take into account when choosing a paintball field where to play.

LET'S BE REALISTIC: With the beginning of the crisis in 2012, the bargain offers began to proliferate in many paintball fields, the appearance of Groupon and the like forced the vast majority of paintball fields to lower the price by more than half. We would like to warn everyone that the only way to lower prices is to reduce the quality = Less or no monitors, lenses of masks in poor condition, less security, balls of poor quality, beer of poor quality, shortage of food, pistols in poor condition, etc ...

Iberika Paintball California only sells quality and we can boast of not having had ANY accident in the more than 20 years we have been in the Paintball sector. Many have taken advantage of the crisis by lowering prices a lot, that could be a good thing for the clients if it were not for giving them a hare. It must be clear that 5 cost factors are involved in the sale price: Rental of facilities, Maintenance of facilities, Quality of services, Monitors and the margin of the company. No matter how much crisis the rental of the facilities does not change and we are deceived, your margin will not vary but will reduce the costs of the other 3 factors.

Cheap paintball, paintball gangue, free paintball, paintball deals Reducing the cost of maintenance of the facilities implies: - Playgrounds in poor condition: in spring grow thistles, nettles, etc ... that must be cut, and that is done daily. IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have 3 people working all week maintaining the optimal state of the fields.

- SAFE AREAS NOT SECURE: Safety nets must be changed every year and that costs a lot of money. If they do not change they can give up when sunburned, another possibility is that the field in question does not even have networks => Zero Security (and there are many who do not have networks). You have to think that in a paintball field there are two ways to get a shot: Playing with your friends or getting a shot from another paintball court. A paintball gun is capable of shooting at 180mts. Networks are paramount even in the parking lots where the cars are. IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have secure areas with networks changed every year, 100% of the perimeter protected by 3m and 6m double layer networks in indoor fields: Indoor and 6m around the Parking.

Reducing the quality of services implies: - Bad condition of the MASKS: The lens of a mask must be transparent to see through it. The lens must be changed every 20 direct hits as much or every 6 months. Some fields have been open for 8 years and continue with the same lenses. The risk: the lens loses its qualities and a ball can break it with your eyes behind, on the other hand, a scratched lens through which it does not look good will make users lift it to see ... You imagine riding a motorcycle at 140km / h and lift the mask because you can not see ?. Another aspect is the cleaning, the masks must be cleaned and disinfected after each use to be able to offer a clean and hygienic mask to the clients. 98% of the paintball fields do not have running water, how are they going to clean the masks without water?

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: Every 6 months we change all the lenses of our masks. All the mascaras are cleaned with running water after each use and disinfected with antibacterial products used in the operating rooms.

- Bad condition GUNS: That's another very important factor. Each paintball gun must be checked every week, oiled, regulated so that it ALWAYS works. If we save the person who reviews them we lower costs and lower quality because playing with guns that do not work is an annoyance: The balls get stuck, they do not shoot straight, and at the end of 100 balls bought maybe only 5 go well. A pistol in perfect condition has an effectiveness of 98%, that is, it must be able to group the balls in a radius of 1 meter at a distance of 20 meters. If at 20mts you only give 10 balls to a target of 1 meter, how many balls will you need to be able to play?

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: Every week a mechanic checks each one of the pistols for its optimal operation. We always have extra pistols to solve any unforeseen situation. We change the gun, we do not need you to cross the entire farm.

- Bad state of the balls: Today you can find boxes of balls of 2000 balls for less than $9 / box ... And the price of a box can reach up to $80 a box at the price of professionals. If you put the cheapest paintball, where do you think this is the first savings? The problem is that cheap balls (less than $50 / box) are very inferior qualities implying: that they do not go straight (so you will need more balls to give someone), which are hard as stones and hurt more (so the people will not want to play) or that they are too fragile and break before leaving the gun (implying that you clog the gun, stop working or shoot the balls anywhere except where you want to shoot). Another important factor of the balls is the correct conservation of the same (20-22º and 50% of humidity), the balls are like fresh fish, for this, it is necessary to have as if it were a large cooler to keep the balls in their optimum conditions whatever the season may be. The balls are so important for the paintball that the brand of whiskey in a cup if it is a garage, is cheaper. Do you want a garage? In winter, 98% of the paintball fields keep the balls in the booths they have in the field and the balls cannot stand

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We only use high-end balls. The professional team that trains in Iberika Paintball uses the same balls that we offer to the rental clients. We have a warehouse with a controlled temperature of 60m3 capable of holding 400 boxes of balls and have the balls in optimal conditions. If we do not comply with the quality of the balls we give them to you.

- Guns without pacifier: The pacifier is essential for the safety of the participants. And those pacifiers must be changed when they wear out. Many are the fields that do not even have pacifiers for the price they have. And others make them at home with a fabric that is unable to perform its safety function. I BERIKA PAINTBALL California: All our guns carry a pacifier.

- Poor food: Many of you are looking for cheap meals, and meals with an open bar for $10 is the most, but sincerely do you think that you will be able to get it for $10? The beer will be for the Day, most likely it will be hot and sure there are not enough. As for the food, you have to be realistic: the food has to be of quality and it must be done by a cook with the necessary hygiene conditions. When it's cheap, it's your own monitor with the clothes full of paint that will make you the "food", come as we are not dogs! But it is clear that having a cook, a kitchen in minimum conditions of hygiene, running water, quality meats and quality beer .... all that costs money. The latest fashion is to give a bag of doubtful origin to the group so they can do it themselves in barbecues ... When you are 15 years old it can be fun but you are prepared to take responsibility for facilities that are not yours? In 2016 a field burned because of a barbecue that fell ... The origin of the meat is equally important and directly affects the price, meat or anything that you feed you must be traceable to control possible poisonings, we know that many are the fields that carry out their own massacres without sanitary control in order to reduce the price of meat to the maximum. Do you really want to take that risk? And if there they sell you a beer for 1.5 $how many beers will be included in a free bar with food for 10 or 15 €?

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have a kitchen and cooks. The beer is always Mahou de Barril, the meat is Galician of the highest quality and very abundant. There are people who return to the countryside only for meals. In addition, seasonal peppers are added at will, we also include chips, salads, tortillas, dessert, and coffee (see each menu).

Reducing the professionalism of the monitors implies: Iberika Paintball in California - We are halfway between California and Toledo Monitors prepared or not: There is no qualification for paintball monitors, therefore you have to resort to private training that costs around $500 per monitor. Do you think that if you lower the price they form your monitors? On the other hand, a monitor of 15 years without training or experience charges 4 times less than some experienced and titled. The figure of the monitor is key to security. It is responsible for checking that there is security in every second of the game, stopping the game immediately in case of security failure, checking at all times that all wear the mask, checking that no one carries the loaded gun in the security zones, etc…

A number of monitors: Many think that if there are more there are fewer expenses. It is not like this. An experienced monitor is able to safely monitor up to 12 people if there are 14 already have to go 2 monitors, and 21 are 3 monitors. As the group grows, the risk grows. 10 people playing are 10 pistols and 10 masks to control ... 100% of the paintball accidents that have occurred in the USA have been due to insufficient or no monitor. In California, there are already 4 fields where a person has lost an eye, and those fields are still open and continue to give the same poor service, that is ... they are cheap. Legally a paintball field has no obligation to put any monitor. Iberika Paintball: All our monitors are certified by Paintball-Academy and we put a monitor for every 7/8 people. Paintball monitors are always accompanied by a Senior monitor with more than 3 years of experience.

LAST TRENDS 1 - Shorten the times to catch more people: When we thought we had seen everything, they surprised us with new stories. Now the new trend is to shorten the playing time. They sell you that you are going to play 3h or the whole day and in 60min they dispatch you as in the unemployment queue. Imagine: you throw away months organizing the event, you call the whole world, you block the day, you look for places to play paintball, you negotiate prices, etc ... all this to play a morning of paintball. You hit the mother early to be at the time they told you: 10 am. You get there, you pay and they let go of the guns and they send you to play there by yourself. At 45min they invite you to go down and take off the guns to give them to the next group ... Imagine how the face is because that same are doing several fields of California. Do not trust what seems too beautiful. They do not care what their goals are to the bill and how much better. There are also fields that when you get there they force you to buy 500 balls per person or else you can not play, etc ... These fields overbook during the peak season, they charge a lot for a nonexistent service, in October they close and next year they open with another name…

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: The turns are of 2h30, during that time the pistol is only for you. The start and end time are the ones you have hired. We live by the publicity that our partners make us.

2 - Join the groups up to 30 people: In 2017, one had the brilliant idea of joining all the groups that he had to put them all together to play. Always selling the bike that is more fun is like a Big Game, and for that, they put you in a bigger field. But everything that glitters is not gold, rather the opposite. Joining a large group is only beneficial for the field: the cost of monitors is reduced to 1 for 30 people if there is one, tripling the cost of balls to have more people to shoot, the field ensures that even if they leave 50% of the people after the second game those who remain will spend balls. Summing up: get together in large groups has only one goal: you spend balls in a short time so you go before and before you can get more people and the bad part of playing with people you do not know is that if the impact hurts and many times people get angry among them being friends, how many shots do you think will get you if the one in front does not know you? Mixing the groups is also a way to train the competition paintball teams that often do not have anyone to train with the clients to practice aiming.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We do not mix groups

3 - Two shots to eliminate a player This formula we love. In normal paintball, a player who receives an impact and stain is considered eliminated. Although it seems easy, it is not. First, the accuracy of the paintball guns is not exactly good, if the marker is at 100% of its capabilities we can calculate that to give someone 20 meters it is necessary 15/20 balls. Now: depending on the angle the ball may not break, if the player wears a lot of clothes or a vest the balls do not break, so you have to shoot more times. That is to say that in a normal paintball situation you have to calculate 25 balls to eliminate a single player. That is ... if the gun does not shoot straight we will spend more balls to eliminate someone, if the balls are too hard and no more balls will explode, if the marker does not shoot straight more balls we will spend, etc ... If we add that we have to make two shots that stain to eliminate a player, the only thing that we assure is to spend twice as many balls in half the time and that only interests the paintball field.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We play traditionally with a single shot

4 - Other formulas to save at your expense: There are other factors that influence the price such as not paying suppliers, not having licenses, not having insurance, etc ... These most common factors that may seem can influence that the day you go to play or the field has no balls or Well the Civil Guard has closed the field: Every day sees more.

Every weekend we hear complaints of all kinds of what they have given to people in other paintball fields. And every weekend we are surprised more. And everyone tells us the same thing: "Why have not they warned us before?" The offers too cheap can be expensive: Either because they ruin your day of paintball with deficiencies everywhere or because they can ruin your life. We have to be realists. If paintball costs anywhere between $20 and $25, do not trust those that are cheaper. Do not trust meals with free bars for less than $10/15 per person. Do not trust meals for $10, if a Mac Donalds costs $8 / $10 with industrial raw materials, what type of food and what amount will they give you for that price? No field works under cost: NONE. So if it's cheap for something it is.

Below we will detail more points to keep in mind so that your paintball day is a success and you do not find surprises or you have all the parameters in hand to avoid hiring your event in a shabby place. ACCESS TO FINCAS (Real arrival time): Iberika Paintball in California - We are halfway between California and Toledo There goes the first way to differentiate the paintball fields. Most of them are far away from the nearest paved road. It is an important factor because many of the accesses to the paintball fields are by more or less uneven roads. And it is not the same to do 300 meters on a half-paved road, for example, to have to do 4km on a bumpy road. A road of 4km of potholes can suppose 30 / 45min of the trip, the thing to consider at the time of seeing the distance in time to which is the paintball field. You also have to think that not everyone has a car suitable for walking on roads, and it is not a plan to leave the ground to reach the site. Of course, if from the asphalt to the site there is little distance, it can be done even walking. Think that when it rains 90% of the roads become burial.

After another point to consider is the type of access road, it is not the same to do 30km of highway and 10km of interurban highway at 100km / h to take secondary roads, the number of lanes is also important, there are fields to get there to them the access roads are of a single lane and with many curves preventing overtaking. To see what real distance and time is the site you can use GPS or pages like Google Maps that will give you an approximate time of arrival. Today it is much easier to see reality, using for example Street View that puts you pedestrian view where you will be able to see every pothole of the road or approximate times of arrival. There are fields that are announced at 25min from California but do not specify with what means of transport, we imagine that it will be in a spaceship because by a car at legal speed limits and taking into account that there may be some traffic, in this case, it takes longer from 1h30. From 25min to 1h30 ...

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: 35km of Motorway (A4 or A42 to choose - 17/20 minutes), 8km of road with limit to 100km / h (5 / 7minutos), and 300 meters of road (1 minute), road prepared with Zahra / gravel (also called rural aslfalto: as hard as concrete although it is wet and without bumps). The normal thing from California is to take about 35min

GUNS / MARKERS AND AIR SYSTEMS: Iberika Paintball in California - Tippmann 98 the best marker for field Not all paintball markers are the same. Just like when you rent a car you can choose from a 106 to a BMW. Well in paintball the difference from one marker to another is very large, there are markers that can break up to 70% of the balls before they leave the barrel. Then there are several systems: sliding and semi-automatic. The sliding markers need you to arm a slide to place a ball in the marker before you can make a shot. This system is very old and often gives the problem that many times people load twice putting two balls in the barrel and when shooting they break. The semiautomatic markers rearming themselves so you do not have to assemble the marker before each shot, it is easier to use and allows you to throw bursts of balls. Attention: There are fields that say they have an automatic marker ... First automatic weapons are prohibited according to Spanish law, on the other hand, the only automatic markers there are electronic markers whose cost can be 5 to 10 times more than a conventional rental marker, Do you really think that if it were true, I would not charge you an extra fee to use a marker of more than $500?

Another important factor is the periodic revision of the markers and the speed control of the markers before each rental. These revisions are impressible before each use, it is necessary to check the exit speed of each of the markers to ensure they are in a safe range of speed and to be within the safety range. For information purposes a mask holds shots up to 400 km / h (350fps), if the marker allows the ball to go faster it will seem more fun because the balls go further but it is really dangerous because if the lens of the Mascara the balls could hurt our eyes, losing up to 100% vision. On the other hand, the review of the internal aspects of each marker is equally important. A marker is supplied with a gas pressurized Air or CO2 with pressures of up to 200 bar, the poor condition of any internal part could lead to the explosion of any part of the marker could cause serious injury. The correct use of the marker calibration tools is the only reliable and safe way to keep the marker within the parameters of a 4th category weapon prepared to be used as a toy, the problem that many are the fields that do not review or They know how to review their material and even more those that do not have the calibration tools because of their high cost.

Iberika Paintball in California- Internal operation of a paintball marker Another factor that influences the operation of the markers is the type of gas that is used to propel the balls. There are 3 types of gas for this: Propane (not used in rental fields), CO2 (Most common), and Compressed air. Between CO2 and Compressed Air, CO2 is much more unstable and more dangerous (it can cause 3rd degree cold burns) and in winter it collaborates in breaking balls, the air is more reliable, less dangerous (as long as it is manipulated by professionals before being delivered to the end user). Then we put a box with the type of combination that is usually found in rental fields and the percentage of balls that come out intact from the cannon of the marker without having broken before and how it affects the final price of the balls shot. It will be taken as a reference price to make the calculations $6 which may be the cheapest price found. Next, we have created a table to see how the Gas / Marker combination influences the balls we shoot. If we buy 100 balls at $6 and half the balls do not leave the barrel at the end we have paid $6 for 50 balls or what is the same $12 for 100 balls. In the table you can see that a field that has Inferno + CO2 in winter will break 75% of the balls that you shoot, so that out of every 100 balls bought you will only get 25, giving a price for every 100 balls shot well $24 Beware that some fields try to alleviate the problem using balls of extreme hardness causing much more pain on impact.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We use Tippmann Semiautomatics with compressed air with a technician who calibrates the markers the day before and who reviews each of the markers before use and checks the speed of each of the markers before giving the approval to rent. We have the recharges at $7 for every 100 balls. Then the instability of the CO2 as a function of the temperature and the load, we have put in red the curve corresponding to the AIR 100% constant which is the internal load and the external temperature, the safe range is the one that is between the two lines blue:

Iberika Paintball in California - Internal operation of a paintball marker BALLS: Iberika Paintball in California - Paintball balls The balls are another very important aspect when it comes to enjoying a paintball session. And the balls need special care to not lose their qualities. The balls must be stored in a warehouse with controlled temperature (20-23º) and controlled humidity (40/50%). And that throughout the year. A ball that is not kept under these conditions loses its properties and for example, in winter a ball that has lost its properties becomes much more fragile. A ball that has caught a cold in winter if we add it to a combination of Inferno + CO2 may mean a ball break rate of the order of 95-100% making it impossible to play.

On the other hand, there is an extensive range of balls from field balls to competition balls. The normal thing is that a paintball field puts balls of field or balls of average category (in fields of more level) but many give their clients what is called White Box that are balls that do not pass the quality controls. More fragile, more square, etc ... are much cheaper balls but also break more easily in the markers, which do not fly straight. They are the balls that use many fields due to the ignorance of their clients. There is also a kind of ball called SECONDS balls that are balls that are normally sold in unbranded boxes and are balls that according to the manufacturer are not suitable for use in paintball. They are balls that are normally used to use their paint for grenades, mines, etc ... These boxes are balls that can cost 4 times less than normal field balls and many fields use them and sell them as normal balls. An average ball box can cost more than three times as much as a box of white box balls and 4 to 6 times the price of a box of SECONDS balls. In 2012, China began to manufacture balls at prices of $9 for a box of 2000 balls, but with Chinese quality: balls that do not break, there was the revelation of many paintball fields: If it does not explode the customer shoots a lot more, and if they are so hard they can even pick them up from the ground to give them to the group the next day. The problem for you as a client is that they hurt a lot more, there is a very high risk of broken bones in the hands and in the end, people end up coming out of pain and not because they have been marked. That is very brave. With that, we mean that if a field lowers the price of the balls, something is, others are not willing to lower the quality of the service they provide.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We use medium and high range balls, and we are the ONLY paintball field to have a 60m3 warehouse with controlled temperature and humidity allowing the balls to be maintained in their optimum conditions ALL YEAR ROUND.

PROTECTION ZONES: Iberika Paintball in California - Protection networks Within the field of play you are protected by the mask and as long as this is the case there is no risk of accident, but when you leave the field and take off your mask it is when the danger really begins. It is assumed that the field must have security zones where the eliminated ones can be protected in a protected area. But that protection should not be only a network of 3 meters high. A field with networks will always be more secure than another without them (the majority), but if the only protection there is is a 3m network you will have to be careful not to stick to the net nor be more than 3 meters behind the net. network but a ball shot above the network could reach you. The best are areas where there is a net on all four sides and a roof so that there is no chance that you will be hit with a ball. Then it is important that a network that can receive an impact less than 8 meters has a double network layer. And if two glued fields can be used at the same time it is advisable to have 6-meter networks.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: In the outdoor fields we have a safe area of 300m2 with protective nets and roof. In the Indoor fields, we have double nets of 6 meters high.

MORE EXPENSIVE: Iberika Paintball in California - Protective Mask The mask is another aspect to take into account when choosing a paintball field. There are many brands and many models but the differences are based on two: type of lens and type of mask. The lenses: there are thermal or simple lenses, the thermal ones allow that they do not fog due to the breathing but if there is humidity in the air they are fogged the same, and the ones of the simple lens that fog more easily. The thermal has the problem that if you put moisture inside there is no way to remove it (not suitable for playing in the rain, or in environments with high humidity). On the other hand, a thermal lens is worth 3 times more than a normal lens. Then a lens should be changed as soon as the outer surface is grated preventing a clear view of the game. By that, I mean that a field that spends money on thermal lenses will try to hold them longer. So if a mask should change the lens twice a year the fields that usually use thermal lenses change them on average once every year and a half or two years. Therefore, it will always be better to have a sharp lens that is a little fogged up to a thermal that gets a little less blurred but that is so grated that people do not see anything. (Our professional team of instructors uses normal lenses). The risk is paintball fields that use normal lenses and change lenses every 2 or 3 years, and these are more than they should. After we have masks with a helmet and without a helmet, it is clear that helmet masks are better avoiding receiving direct hits on the head.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have masks with helmet and normal lenses (they are changed every 4 months) and we use military antibao products used for diving by the GEAS and tactical environments with a high degree of humidity.

WEATHER: Iberika Paintball in California - The weather The time factor is sometimes the decisive factor especially in case of events that can not be moved date: bachelor parties and business events. Keep in mind that depending on the season of the year there may be a risk of rain, wind or a lot of heat. It is important to know that in reality, no field returns the reserve due to bad weather, some say they lend raincoats, others give people garbage bags to protect themselves from the rain, and to top it all the last thing we heard was a field that I call a group 1h before the start time telling them to go through the Chinese to buy boots if they want to play because the field was Albarado. And aside Let's not forget that bad weather often complicates access to paintball fields. IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have 2 indoor fields, thus ensuring that we can play at any time. If it rains you play dry, if there is a lot of wind you can shelter in the covered fields, if it is very hot you can play in the shade of the much fresher indoor fields. And the indoor allows playing at night with artificial light. In 8 years we have only closed the field on a single occasion with winds of over 120km / h. With Iberia, Paintball time is not a problem.

Then the average of temperatures and days of rain:

Iberika Paintball in California - Temperature and rainfall graph Only the days with rainfall greater than 2mm have been counted. Iberika Paintball in California - Temperature and rainfall graph MONITORS: Iberika Paintball in California - Niko Owner of Iberika Paintball Another fundamental factor when choosing your paintball field is the monitors. There are many, too many, fields that do not have that work figure in their facilities. We understand by monitor one person or several that accompany the group during their entire stay in the facilities. They must carry a cart with balls, clothes to clean, tools or markers to avoid stops. They are also responsible for monitoring the security within the field of play. They are not photographers and should be aware of 200% of what happens inside the field. The absence of a monitor implies insecurity and having to take walks to go for balls, air, etc ... and all these rides are playing time.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: There will always be a minimum of 1 monitor for every 7 people in each group. We also have a person in the cafeteria, a technician in the air recharge station and a person in the reception, and a field director in charge of the organization. All this so you do not have to worry about anything.

BATHS AND SHOWERS: Many are the fields of Paintball that announce that they have showers and bathrooms in their facilities but it is necessary to clarify that many calls to a hose of well with shower type garden "a shower" and a shovel and paper "a bathroom". In order to have showers and baths it is necessary to have access to running water, since well water is not usually appropriate for showering because of its high percentage of iron and other minerals and bacteria, taking into account that point we can rule out that 98% of The paintball fields do not have running water and therefore do not have proper water for showering. On the other hand, we understand how to shower a shower with cold and hot water, that last point already discards those that remain. Since to have hot water you have to have either a water heater and not a small one of 100L (which would only allow a few minutes of the shower) or a heater capable of giving water so you can all shower. Therefore do not let yourself be deceived by the word "shower": it has to have 4 walls, hot and cold water and above all, it is running water. Do not ask that you have changing rooms, heating, etc ... that at the moment the sporting aspect of paintball has not reached much. Visit HERE to see the testimony of a farewell client in a paintball with surprise.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We only have a shower but the water is running water, the walls of the shower are made of tiles and the wooden floor, and the hot water goes through a gas water heater allowing no problem to give water for as many showers as do missing.

MEALS AND BARBACOAS: Iberika Paintball in California - The best barbecues Another aspect to take into account and where there are more deceptions. First, check the amount of what you are going to eat. It has been seen in more than one place that they charge a lot for very little food and many times it is not specified. Then you have to see who makes the food, because it would not be the first time it is the same paintball monitor filled with mud and paint, who starts doing the barbecue by pressing the sausages on an agricultural gallows made of iron that is not very hygienic, and If what you like is charcoal it may be a good option but honestly food costs money and having people who know how to make good food also counts. Check the amount of food that will serve (not in trays but in kilos) the amount of alcohol that will serve, and brands. For me to serve a carrefour beer to eat is an insult to intelligence, I have seen fields thawing food in the seat of a car, while we played, to make the barbecue, others hire trays in a bar next door and pay in front of you half of what they charge you, etc ... IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have menus from $3 to $65, we have a kitchen, 4 barbecues 1m wide, an industrial iron and two cooks that only serve food and waiters that will serve food and drink to the table. The beer will always be Mahou and the Galician butcher's meat very fresh and nobody has ever left hungry, we could almost say that there is a free bar of meat since in the dinner menu, for example, 1kg of meat is counted per person, and in season we offer standard peppers in quantity for dinners.

STATUS OF FIELDS AND WEB PHOTOS: Iberika Paintball in California - Night games This is one of the aspects that I like the most. We start from the base that the paintball is to go to play outdoors. Therefore we will play in the field and the field is a long maintenance job if we do not want it to become a jungle in a couple of months. All the fields that have been opened have spent 2 to 3 months to assemble and prepare their fields: smooth, flatten, cut grass, put obstacles, etc... Once finished mounting everything they have taken the photos of the immaculate fields and they hang them in the webs. And that's what they're going to sell, a photo of the day of the opening. Well, a field that appreciates should not stop working after opening but maintain and expand every day. This aspect is easier to see on a web page to see those who try to cheat you. First look at the dates of the photos, if from the same field there are 15 photos in the whole web look at the date of each if they are all the same as it is the photo of the opening if the date changes then you can see the evolution of the countryside.

Iberika Paintball in California - Big Games Another way to know if they are mounts or real photos is to look at the shooting positions of people if they have poorly covered hunter position is likely to be real customers, if they have an orthopedic position with broken wrist and elbow stuck are photo montages. Look carefully if those who appear in the photo have the mask on and if they are of legal age to play (14/16 years) if they are 10 years old and go without masks, they think they are not professional enough to see those photos They should not be there. Nor do you trust the photos too PRO because several of our photos are being used in other websites to promote ... Analyze each one of the photos: height of grass, thistles that you can see in the photo, the field of straw (straw after a year smells rotten), photos of barbecues and write down all the doubts that you have of the web to ask questions to the field you are going to call. Think that once you book you will be asked for a signal and you pay for the signal based on some photos that you have seen, once the signal is paid it will be difficult to be able to back out. And the most important thing if you are the one who organizes the event and you end up taking 2h to arrive and the place sucks, the beer is from Carrefour, the food does not arrive etc ... in the end, you will feel bad for taking your friends to a place of shit.

IBERIKA PAINTBALL California: We have two people who work from Monday to Friday to maintain the indoor and outdoor fields in optimal conditions. We try to keep the photos updated but we have little time, but ALL the photos of the web have been taken in our field by us. And you can visit us whenever you want or ask us what you want. In 5 years with our own field, we have not had a single complaint, in the field where we worked before we had an average of 10 complaints per year.

CONCLUSION: Iberika Paintball in California - Police training With all that, it is not that we intend to say that we are the best, just that we have enough time in this world to know who we compete with and that we want to give a service that we would like to receive outside. We are tired of hearing that everyone tells us "Of course if we knew that we would have gone directly to Iberika Paintball" or "the monitors of the field where we were down smoking joints and when you wanted balls you had to take a 10-minute walk", etc… The solution so that you are not deceived is to study the photos that put you on the web page, analyze and reason the prices. The large and serious fields affect their expenses in the price of rent and balls and adjust to a competition often disloyal because offering much more must lower prices to those of the pirate of the grandfather's estate. The recommended prices for rent are $21 / $23 and for $6 / $7 balls depending on the site, if you negotiate the price and you lower it = it is not a good sign, when you lower the price or you will remove services, or as they do not have services only lower margin. It will not be better to pay $3 more to know the paintball hand professionals? We have been in the world of paintball for 20 years, 11 years organizing events for companies and bachelor parties and 11 years leading paintball fields. Iberika Paintball was the result of 20 years of dreams to create an environment of fun SAFE, FUN and PROFESSIONAL. We are always in continuous improvement. Our motto is "What is not good for you is not good for us", we live on the loyalty of our customers and we will continue to grow and expand the services thanks and for you. For any clarification of how to choose field do not hesitate to call us at 911.100.500 and we will gladly assist you.

NEW: IBERIKA PAINTBALL leaves the PAINTBALL Our journey in paintball began in 1989 when we organized the first game of Paintball in a field behind the French Liceo de California. In 1994 we worked in a paintball field 80km north of California. In 1995, we advised a field of reference to design your fields and your ball spending strategy. Between 1996 and 2000, we advised the opening of several fields in the USA and Canada. In 2000 we went back a field with problems in the North of California. In 2005 we assembled the Sports Club of Iberika Paintball. In 2006 we set up the Esquivias field with the Spanish Reball Park training primer and two competition fields. In 2010, we incorporated Airsoft and Laser Tag games. In 2012 we started with the Combat.

Our life was to make paintball enjoy those who did not know it. But the crisis and companies like Groupon made the paintball was losing all its charm. At Iberia Paintball we spent a lot of time and money developing playthings to play: bazookas, paint mines, traps, tanks, machine guns, etc ... But the new situation made it impossible to continue. The price was going down so much that there was no way to do things right: keep the monkeys clean, the lens changes, the paintball mechanic ... So we took advantage of the pull the combat had to dedicate more time.

Between 2013 and 2016 we offered our players an E-combat game before going to paintball. In case you would like the combat a lot you could continue playing combat or change to Paintball. In 3 years no group was changed and we reached more than 6000 followers on Facebook.

Finally, in 2016 at the end of the California Games Week in the Assembly, it was decided to remove the paintball and dedicate exclusively to the combat. Two years later we have games with vehicles, drones, Milsim games, games with night vision, ... And now with more than 8500 followers on Facebook, we continue with our motto: IF YOU DO NOT LIKE, WE WILL RETURN YOU THE MONEY.

[readingtrotskyisfunandfree]

Why I don’t tell people to “unionize”

On Wednesday afternoon, President Joe Biden gave a Labor Day speech that presented a fairy tale version of the role of the contemporary trade unions.

The trade unions, Biden said, are the principal defenders of the rights of working people today. They have secured “healthcare, a pension, higher wages with a safer workplace that protects us from discrimination and harassment…the eight-hour day, a weekend, time-and-a-half overtime, safety standards, sick days, victories for us all.”

Biden, who has spent his entire adult life cutting social programs and advancing the interests of the banks and Delaware credit card companies, gave his remarks before a White House gathering of executives from the UAW, USW, SEIU, AFT and many other leading trade unions. These officials, who have annual salaries of $200,000 to $500,000, all agree that life within a union is fantastic. “Workers who join unions gain power…In a simple word, a union means there is democracy,” Biden told his captive audience. “You gave workers a voice, you honor the dignity of the American worker.”

As the president concluded his fairy tale and mingled with the assorted bureaucrats, the UAW “honored the dignity” of 3,500 Dana workers by ordering them to continue working after the workers rejected a sweatshop contract by a nine-to-one margin last week. The “no” vote was a courageous rejection of the UAW and USW, which spent the last two weeks showing workers what “union democracy” looks like by threatening them, lying to them, and in one case even allegedly assaulting a worker in an attempt to force the contract through.

The two-sentence “get back to work” order expresses the contempt that the unions have for the workers they suppress. After telling workers nothing about the contract and negotiations for weeks, the UAW notice reads, in its entirety, “The Tentative Agreement (TA) was rejected and we’re continuing to work under a day-to-day extension. We are starting to meet with the locals to identify issues.” The company simultaneously ordered workers to work mandated overtime this weekend in order to stockpile parts in case of a strike.

As Biden praised the trade unions from the commanding heights of economic and political power, Dana workers angrily denounced the UAW and USW for conspiring with the company against them. These workers view the announcement as a slap in the face. They view the UAW and USW not as liberators, but as oppressors. As for the claim these organizations protect the eight-hour-day and 40-hour-week: at Dana, the UAW and USW actively oppose these demands.

The UAW and USW force workers to labor under conditions worse than the 19th century. Many work for 12 hours a day, or 84-hours a week, for weeks or even months on end without an unpaid day off. Constant speed-ups are demanded to make driveshafts, axles and other critical parts for corporations like Ford, General Motors, Stellantis, and John Deere, as well as the US military. Many plants are dirty, hot, and dangerous. Injuries are common, and the company sends workers to company doctors who tell them they are fit to work. Workers describe Dana alternatively as “hell,” “a prison,” or “a slave ship.”

The plants are petri dishes for the coronavirus and the UAW and USW have kept workers on the job throughout the entire pandemic while corporate profits soar. There are 63 active cases at Dana’s plant in Dry Ridge, Kentucky, a fact which places the population of the town and entire region at risk.

Some plants worked skeleton crews even in spring of 2020 when the Big Three plants were shut down. It was the UAW that ordered workers back to work after wildcat strikes shut down production in March and April 2020, making it possible for the corporations to end restrictions and restart production. Dana workers now fear their children are being sent back to school as more and more evidence emerges that the Delta variant is deadly for children. The main teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers and National Educators Association, are forcing teachers back to school with deadly consequences. Dozens of teachers and young children have died as a result and millions more are getting sick.

The same is true of the trade unions in every industry and in every country. In Germany, the head of the main union federation is denouncing striking train drivers who have been forced to bear the brunt of the pandemic. In Brazil, the trade unions call off strikes and hold the industrial working class back as the country’s fascist president, Jair Bolsonaro, threatens to establish a dictatorship. In countries like India that are too poor to have mass access to the vaccine, the unions force hundreds of millions to work as the pandemic devastates the working class. The unions rely on violence, deception, and isolation to force through the diktats of the governments and the corporations.

The problem is not poor leadership and the solution is not internal reforms and new officials. Rather, the trade unions have transformed from workers’ organizations into pro-corporate organizations of the capitalist state, inseparably integrated into the capitalist parties and imperialist armed forces. They engage in outright naked criminal activity against the workers. This week, two former UAW presidents, Dennis Williams and Gary Jones, began serving sentences at “club fed” minimum-security prisons for accepting corporate bribes in exchange for selling out workers. Many Dana workers noted their prison sentences are much shorter than the five-year prison sentence they confront in the proposed Tentative Agreement.

The trade unions are not pursuing a mistaken policy. They are pursuing the class interests of the affluent social layer that comprises the trade union bureaucracy. These are not so much “unions” as they are corporatist Labor Fronts, state organizations aimed explicitly at controlling the workforce and suppressing the class struggle.

The trade unions as a whole employ thousands and thousands of affluent people who occupy key positions in the Democratic Party, the corporate media, government bodies and academia. They control immense fortunes, acquired through decades of workers’ dues money. The United Auto Workers (UAW) has over $1.1 billion in assets and employs 450 people who make over $100,000. The United Steelworkers (USW) has assets over $1.5 billion, a 600 percent increase since 2000, a period over which USW membership has drastically decreased.

This layer of the richest top 10 percent benefits from the heightened exploitation of the working class, from cheap labor, from reopening factories and schools in the pandemic. The union VEBA slush funds and their own personal stock portfolios depend on increasing profit margins at the expense of the mass of working people worldwide. These people have as little in common with the workers they “represent” as the workers do with the CEOs themselves.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) could not muster even 15 percent of Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama to support a union drive. That is not because the workers in the area are backwards: in recent days, high school students in Bessemer walked out demanding COVID-19 safety, and nurses in neighboring Birmingham went on strike over pay and COVID-19 health protocols. It is because workers view the trade unions increasingly as obstacles, and not vehicles, for social progress.

The growing militancy in the working class makes the ruling class and the affluent upper middle class extremely nervous. IMF reports warn of the growth of strikes and the economy is on a knife’s edge, pumped up with free money from the central banks. In Biden’s Labor Day speech, the president warned that if there was a strike movement, “we’d be in real trouble.” He added to the gathered union executives: “You guys sometimes underestimate the incredible value you bring to the safety, security and growth of the economy.”

The pseudo-left plays a critical role in this operation, propping up the trade unions and blacklisting out or denouncing workers who take independent action. Groups like the Democratic Socialists of America and Socialist Alternative, as well as publications like Jacobin and Left Voice, present the trade unions in glowing terms. These organizations have prioritized the PRO Act, which will facilitate AFL-CIO union drives, and they support Biden’s demand that “the government should encourage unions.”

None of these organizations or publications has mentioned the struggle of Dana workers because it cuts across their anti-socialist and anti-working class political agenda. These groups speak for the same affluent social layer that runs the trade unions. They support the trade unions not despite their never-ending attacks on the working class, but because of them.

Nevertheless, in their emerging struggles against the global corporations and the policy of “social murder” carried out by all capitalist governments in response to the pandemic, the working class is coming into a head-on clash with the trade unions and their nationalist perspective. To confront global corporations, workers need to unite internationally. From Paris, Tennessee to Paris, France and Lima, Ohio to Lima, Peru, new organizations—rank-and-file committees—will emerge to link workers across the lines of race, nationality, industry and continent in a common, unified struggle against social inequality.

[cdodd985]

Studying in the UK for Indian Students in 2021

Indian students are the third biggest group of international students in the UK. As of 2017 to 2018, there were 19,750 Indian students studying in the UK. In fact, in 2019 the number of Indian students in the UK increased by 63%.

The top-notch quality of education, countless studying opportunities, modern educational approaches, student job opportunities, and future prospects available is an overall exciting studying experience for Indian students.

But, on the flip side, many students from India have difficulties understanding the entire process of applying for a university degree course in the UK because the information is not very clear and often confusing for first-timers. As someone who is not from the UK, it can be difficult to navigate the information to study in the UK for future Indian students.

In this article, we’ve compiled a set of information, in the form of a step-by-step process, that an Indian student would have to go through to study in the UK.

As you may know, there are a large number of universities to choose from in the UK, whereas the number of degree courses on offer is much higher. For international students, including you as a fellow Indian student who may not have much knowledge of universities in the UK does require a little more research before making the final decision (as this will ultimately set you for life !).

However, there’s no need to stress about this too much. As long as you know what your academic goals are and what type of degree or course will get you to your future career, this will be very minor.

Even with the setback of the pandemic, you can reach all universities in the UK online for any further information. So, sit down at your laptop and begin your research with a bit of help from us.

We’ve compiled the list of all recognised universities in the UK… We advise that you do a fast scanning of the list and look into what universities relate to your personal studying goals, financial capacities and the location to study in the UK for Indian students.

List of recognised universities for International Students as of 2021-2022:

University of Oxford –                   Oxford,England

Cambridge University –                 Cambridge England

University College London-           London, England

Imperial College London –              London, England

The University of Edinburgh-         Scotland The University of Manchester-      Manchester, England King’s College London-                   London, England London School of Economics and Political Science- London, England University of Bristol-                      Bristol, England The University of Warwick-          Coventry, England University of Glasgow—                Scotland Durham University—-                   Durham, England University of Sheffield                    Sheffield,England University of Birmingham-          Birmingham,England University of Leeds-                       Yorkshire, England University of Southampton            England University of St Andrews                England

You might want to analyze the university’s study modules first, the proportion of practical sessions during the course (if applicable), the profile and status of its academic staff. These factors will definitely help you decide and choose the most suitable university for you.

Check the requirements

Once you’ve decided about what course you’re willing to enroll in to study in the UK as an Indian Student, it’s time to know what you need to do in order to be admitted through to the final stage. This is to add that you need to check the university’s entry requirements.

There are no typical or rigid requirements for all UK universities, therefore you need to contact the University of your choice by yourself and ask for further details. Overall, entry requirements for Indian students in the UK differ depending on the type of course or degree you want to apply for.

The list of documents required to study in the UK as an Indian student below:

Recognized Qualifications – Transcript of Grades – English Proficiency – Motivation or Reference Letter – Relevant Work Experience/Internships

Please be aware that qualifications attained overseas are most of the time not recognized in the UK unfortunately. For this reason, you may be required to attend a foundation year (1 year) to gain certain knowledge in particular subjects that your actual degree is concerned with. Motivation, Reference letters, and proof of work experience are optional and are usually required in addition to your application at highly-reputed universities (as competition and selection criteria are tight). These documents are mostly required when you apply for a postgraduate degree also.

Always keep in mind that this initial stage is very crucial when applying to study in the UK as an Indian student because every detail counts a great deal. If your application paperwork doesn’t contain all documents as precisely required by the university it may lead to your admission delay and eventually to not even be enrolled. If necessary write them down and mark each document you have completed as you go through them. This is your future!

Never hesitate to reach your university by email and enquire about every issue that may get in your way during the whole process of your application.

After you have completed the documents required of you it is time to submit your application. Typically, international applications to study in the UK are collected through online means. The majority of UK universities are part of the joint online application platform called UCAS.

To upload your documents you must scan them into a PDF or JPG format. In addition, the application form may also include standardised information about you which you have to fulfill properly.

Wait for your admission letter

As soon as you complete your application and send this off, the University of your choice will send you an email to confirm they have received an application from you. Note that UK universities collect a large number of applications, therefore, it normally takes time to receive an answer. In normal conditions, the university will notify you within a few weeks whether or not you’re given a place at their university or not.

Get your student visa ASAP

You must get a student visa in order to be permitted to study in the UK as an Indian student or international student. Student visa in the UK is regarded as ‘Tier 4’. You can apply for your Tier 4 visa once the university of your choice confirms that you have been accepted. By that time you will also have to collect the required funds to prove that you can cover the cost of living and studying in the UK as an Indian student.

To get your student visa in the UK you need to submit the following documents:

Valid Passport Proof of English Proficiency Proof of Financial Means to fund your stay in the UK The result of the Tuberculosis Test Proof of parental or guardian if you’re under 18

When to apply for a student visa?

You can apply for your Tier 4 visa in the UK 3 months before your course or degree starts. The processing of your visa application can take up to three weeks and you can also check its processing at any time during that period.

Student Visa Fees**

Currently, it costs £348 to apply for your student visa if you’re from overseas.

It is also important to know what benefits and what restrictions your student visa in the UK applies to you as you study in the UK as an Indian student.

A Tier visa allows you…

To study Work part-time Bring family members in the UK (dependants) However, you cannot

Get public funds Work full-time Work in certain professions, for instance as a dental surgeon or a professional sportsperson

Scholarships to study in UK for Indian students

Numerous funding options count for a higher attractiveness of studying at a UK university. Indian students who want to study in the UK can easily access scholarships awarded from different resources or origins. We highly recommend you take your time and do a little research to find one because it can alleviate a big financial burden as the cost of studying in the UK can get expensive.

The variety of UK scholarships include a mix of governmental and non-governmental resources.

Here are the government-funded scholarship schemes in UK below:

Chevening Scholarships Commonwealth Scholarships There are also a lot of universities or other organisations which offer numerous funding options for their international students. Some of them include the followings below:

Gates Cambridge Scholarships Rhodes House Scholarships MBA Skoll Scholarships Edinburgh Global Research Scholarships UK Scholarships from British Council Denys Holland Scholarships Kingston University London Scholarships

Basic living costing for India students while studying in the UK.

1. Accommodation Costs in the UK

The costs of studying in the UK for international students does depend on the type of accommodation they go for and the city they will choose to pursue their studies. Major metropolitans like London, are much more costlier than smaller cities and towns in the UK.

Average Monthly Costs            London                     Other Cities

University Residence                 £700-850                            £450-550

Private Housing                         £800-950                              £550-650

Utility Bills                                     £40-55                                  £40-45

2. Food Costs in the UK

There are no extra food costs involved for international students who opt for on-campus accommodation or to a minimum.

Dining out on a regular basis is not a way to manage costs while studying in the UK. If possible, it is better to treat yourself once in a while. The best and most cost-effective option is to prepare food in advance. To give you an overview of what your average meal plan would cost, here is a list of staple grocery items with their average cost.

Item                           Quantity                         Price Bread                           1 pack                                £0.80 Milk                             1.13 L                                 £0.80 Chicken                        300 g                                £1.60 Eggs                              30                                       £2.50 Rice                              5kg                                      £6.50 Cooking Oil                1 L                                        £1.20 Water                          1.5 L                                    £0.81

3. Transport Costs in the UK

Transport costs are the second most important costs to consider. Transport cost also varies from different cities and the mode of transport that you require to use adds to the cost of studying in the UK. Walking and cycling is a way to go for transport, but this only applies to students that live on campus and are close to their university.

City Average Monthly             Transport Costs

London                                        £50-60 Manchester                                 £45-55 Birmingham                               £40-50 Liverpool                                     £40-50 Leeds                                             £40-45

Here at Smart Move education, our aim is to make your study in the UK as an Indian student as swift and easy as possible so you can finally kick start your career.

[bolgs]

Why should you invest in Facebook ads?

Investing Into Facebook Ads

One clear cut answer as to why should you invest in Facebook ads is that with a global audience of approximately 1.5 Billion people – around one-fifth of the entire planet’s population, give or take a few hundred million, advertising in Facebook’s ad network is one of the most important and solid marketing investments you can make.

Unlike traditional Google Search Ads, you can actually target your Facebook advertisements according to the demographics and interests of your users – rather than simply targeting according to what they’re searching for. Because of this, the refinements that are available to you when you set up audience targeting can be really impressive. Also, paid search helps prospective customers find your business, while paid social helps your business find prospective customers. Facebook advertising allows you to target specific audiences that are likely to be interested in your products and services by leveraging the immense wealth of data Facebook has about its users. Instead of finding as many people as possible, Facebook finds the right people, a paradigm that is the polar opposite of platforms such as TV and radio advertising.

There are many reasons you should invest in Facebook ads to promote your Brand.  Here are the top two:

The first reason is that as Facebook’s user base has continuously grown over the years, it has developed a very sophisticated targeting platform compared to Google AdWords or other ad networks. Potential advertisers can target audiences based on locations, demographics, personal interests, purchasing behavior, life events, and thousands of other powerful and specific criteria that can improve the ROI of an advertising campaign. For instance, if you run a business that is mostly local, you can use Facebook to target customers in your chosen geographical region regardless of whether it’s a city, country, or village.  As a result, Facebook ads give businesses a fantastic opportunity to develop and deliver customizable and budget-friendly promotional campaigns targeted specifically for a certain demographic.

The second reason why you should invest in Facebook ads is that Facebook allows you to spend as little as you like and still get results. The minimum spend for Facebook advertising is somewhere around $1 a day. Even if your budget is actually this small (which isn’t the case for most businesses), you can still reach thousands of people so long as you keep your targeting criteria as specific as possible. This is a great budget friendly option for business owners to market their brand.

Facebook’s growth is so important that, whether you use Facebook personally or not, the platform continues to align strongly with changing media habits and the adoption of consumer technology such as mobile devices. According to data from Facebook’s Q3 2015 earnings report, the number of daily active users accessing the site via mobile devices was 893 million during September of last year, a year-over-year increase of 27%. With the average consumer spending about 28 percent of his/her time on Facebook, Facebook is where your customers hang out so it’s too huge for a business of any size to ignore. Every minute, Facebook users Like more than 4.1 million posts, posting comments, status updates, and photos. So if your brand is not communicating with Facebook users, you are losing potential customers and essentially profits.

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dairyland auto insurance review

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dairyland auto insurance review

dairyland auto insurance review. This is part one in a series on the best auto insurance companies. We said so. The cost of auto insurance is determined by a number of factors. The average cost of auto insurance is calculated based on your overall financial health, age, driving record, credit score, and the minimum coverage you see advertised. If you drive for instance, then the cost of insurance is even lower. The average cost of autos insurance is determined by calculating risk, analyzing everything from your driving record and how high your credit score is. It’s a little tricky to determine auto insurance companies’ relative ability to predict and get insurance policy pricing information. In part, that’s because auto insurance companies have various rates. If you have a clean record, and pass a speeding ticket, the insurance company will consider you as a high risk driver. You may have to cough up several thousand dollars for your policy, and the same applies to your insurance rates after that time period. In the case of,. dairyland auto insurance review for drivers who want to get a good rate on auto insurance coverage. If they don’t realize it’s just one more piece on a comprehensive list of insurance coverage, even though it is just one more piece on a great list of coverage, this article is going to give you some general tips and hints to get a free quote on car insurance rates. Don’t believe it? If you have already done the research on auto insurance for this article, click “Save, and apply, that’s just the tip.” Just remember that the most valuable piece of information for a quote will likely be beyond your reach.  Let’s take a look at some examples:     A driver would be in business to protect their assets. While you’re there,  the other business. You are not on the same page regarding all of this coverage. It shouldn’t matter if it’s just the cheapest option. dairyland auto insurance review. So read our testimonials. The state requires drivers to carry liability insurance, and the insurance plan is similar to a car liability protection plan for drivers who are covered under non-owners car insurance. The problem is, drivers who carry collision insurance do not need to carry comprehensive insurance; if an accident were to occur, comprehensive would only add around $10 to the price ($100/year). This is why we believe that drivers that have a car loan in addition to their auto insurance should make sure to get collision coverage, even though they do not currently carry liability insurance when they lease or finance their vehicle. Comprehensive can have some negative consequences. So, read the details to understand what you are doing in this review of car insurance coverage. This will help you make better decisions: In order to compare car insurance prices for drivers who need to buy a new vehicle, you will need to understand how much coverage you already have for your lease or finance contract. As long as you can remember,.

Our Conclusion About Dairyland Auto Insurance

Our Conclusion About Dairyland Auto Insurance from Dairyland Insurance is the company that was initially created to cater to the dairy industry and its employees. Dairyland Ins is a company which has been operating since 1989 and is based in the Madison, Wisconsin area, serving the entire state of California, the most important point of contact for dairy industry, as well as California consumers’ concerns regarding a state mandate to have liability insurance, consumer protections, consumer and the general consumer reviews associated with dairy products. The dairyland Insurance company is currently servicing more than 1.5 million vehicles, including a number of other drivers, motorcycles, recreational vehicles and motorcycles, to help dairy herders and other drivers, as well as farmers. The company’s parent company, Dairyland Insurance Company, is the largest independent insurer. We’ll discuss this article in more detail in the following sections. The Dairyland Insurance company offers a range of policies to different types of farmers. It provides a range of insurance policies that it sells in most California cities..

About Dairyland Insurance

About Dairyland Insurance Agency makes it simple to get a free quote.  Find out for yourself when comparing quotes in Texas. When the time comes we will be back to our goal.  Contact us to find a  who has the right  for your unique type of insurance.  We re committed to providing all business Insurance.  We can provide every insurance needs at great rates.  We offer discounts and will help you find the  to get your business! Call us at to make changes to your life insurance policy. Helpful life insurance agents, who can assist you in servicing your policy, are just a phone call away. For all other policies, call or log in to your current , , or policy to review your policy and contact a customer service agent to discuss your jewelry insurance options. Purchased Mexico auto insurance before? With just a few clicks you can your insurance policy is with to find policy.

After reading our honest evaluation, you’ll know if Dairyland auto insurance is the best option for you.

After reading our honest evaluation, you’ll know if Dairyland auto insurance is the best option for you. Read on to see how Dairyland Insurance compares to more popular competitors in the home and auto insurance market, to see if they stand out. Here’s a look at some of the coverage options you can enjoy on a standard policy at home or with a combined policy from Dairyland. The best option for home auto insurance, especially if you’re an insurance shopper is to partner with Dairyland insurance or a similar insurance company. Dairyland insurance offers coverage for most vehicles (except those backed by the company, so there’s no need to ask for proof of insurance later), as well as motorcycles, and most other standard forms of coverage. Dairyland auto insurance s policies aren’t limited to specific driving situations. There are other car insurance options too, like rental car coverage. If you already have a car insurance policy with Dairyland, they might be a good option for this policy. However, if you want to have a more in-depth policy comparison with Dairy.

The Auto Insurance Factors We Analyzed

The Auto Insurance Factors We Analyzed Auto Insurance Type Insurance Amount $30,000 $80,000 $50,000 $100,000 $250,000 $500,000 $500,000 $1,000,000 $250,000 $2,000,000 $250,000 $5,000,000 $500,000 $8,000,000 $100,000 $300,000 $250,000 $500,000 Comprehensive $25,000 $55,000 Collision $50,000 $60,000 Compulsory $25,000 $15,000 Compulsory Plus $25,000 $15,000 Compulsory Plus Plus $50,000 $60,000 Minimum Car Insurance Requirements in WA.

How Much Does Dairyland Auto Insurance Cost?

How Much Does Dairyland Auto Insurance Cost? This depends on your personal profile. In general, those who are in good health and in good financial standing are more prone to being a good insurance customer. You may even be considered for discounts if you use up all your credit cards and don’t pay your premiums on time. However, there are many factors that can greatly affect the amount a dairyland auto insurer charges for an coverage you can qualify for. Here are a few factors that will greatly impact your dairyland auto insurance rates: How Do You Identify Your Policies? Your policy is not a label. The insurance company will sell specific types of policies which are designed to protect the business. While some may sell only limited policies, most act to get their money back after losses such as you or your family member have taken out an or policy. That’s why it’s so important to shop around.  Let these factors be a guide in the process. The Right Way to Buy.

Dairyland Insurance Company Ratings

Dairyland Insurance Company Ratings are not a recommendation of Dairyland Insurance Co because of its financial condition. We were not able to purchase the insurance policy itself, but we would like to ask about any possible other policy options to try to get a cheaper payout from the vehicle. Please help us find the best value for the best price so that I could find an for my car. This website contains affiliate information and is no warranty and does not constitute coverage of any type. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the foregoing entities, institutions or associations. Policyholders should know the financial assistance and investment component of an insurance policy, as well as their legal rights under their policy. In the case of Dairyland Insurance Company, under the terms of a life insurance contract with Dairyland Insurance Limited the insured was a customer of a life insurance policy, which means that under Dairyland Insurance Limited the customer received from Dairyland Insurance Ltd the coverage and was covered directly to the insurer’s policy.

Other Auto Insurance Companies To Consider

Other Auto Insurance Companies To Consider The company that you would like to compare auto insurance quotes with is a company based in Texas. This auto insurer has more than 3,000 customers in Texas and the Texas Attorney General’s Office says it cannot go unnoticed. Auto Free Insurance Rates When your auto insurer asks for proof of coverage it may be a state. Texas is not one of the states that allow their insureds to be refused auto insurance coverage by their auto insurance company (unless it is exempted from the law under their insurance program). As a result, there is no requirement that motorists drive without auto insurance. What does that mean? If you will be unable to obtain auto insurance insurance coverage for the following reasons:   If you will qualify for a special enrollment period from your state’s insurance office. If you have multiple policy limits.  Your driving record or that of a friend. If you are a low-risk driver in some other manner.  If you have.

Dairyland Car Insurance Plans

Dairyland Car Insurance Plans Is there insurance for the whole year in the US? No Do I need insurance on a rental car in any other country? No The best insurance for a rental car can be found in the UK. You can find a comprehensive list of providers at The International is an international insurance specialist but it doesn’t cover every country in the world. There are other options that are available which would be a much more appropriate solution, but the list is here.  What are the differences if you’ve never been in an accident? There is a big difference in the actual accident itself. In case of a fatal accident, the payout is split between two parties (the driver and their passengers); usually that number is between a few hundred or a few thousand and usually more (depending on your state). Many people think that their own insurance will cover the whole cost of the accident, but they can save a lot by paying the.

Auto insurance with flexible payment and coverage options for high-risk drivers

Auto insurance with flexible payment and coverage options for high-risk drivers. Our comprehensive policy provides coverage for everything from to  and extends up and features comprehensive coverage for drivers who have had their licenses suspended or lapsed due to a DUI, accident or violation of . Customers can also bundle car insurance through Progressive, whose mobile apps can help customers save more in claims. You can buy auto insurance in your vehicle if you’re not legally licensed, but your state may accept non-licensed drivers on your policy. Not every state insures drivers based on their driver knowledge. If a driver has a policy in another state, he or she is licensed, but not necessarily by the state, but the policy is considered “non-certificates.” If a driver’s policy has a suspended license, they can only buy a policy in the state in which they have suspended or lapsed license. If a car has more than license plate suspensions or non-accidentations, a company that handles those cases will likely offer to sell.

What Others Say About Dairyland Auto Insurance

What Others Say About Dairyland Auto Insurance Company: We don t like it as a company and we don t want it as a company. We re not buying any one company s policies, but in our desperation, we knew we wouldn t have anything. – Jeff Garurcher, Insurance Editor of The Simple Dollar, Inc., who writes about insurance and finances. While there is much confusion about how long an auto insurance policy stays in force or how much it s required of you after a car accident, there are some basic guidelines that must be followed to protect you in case you discover your auto policy is no longer in place. Car insurance is still a legal requirement in most states, as well as in any state in the federal or state system. For example, even in the states that are not regulated, your personal auto insurance policy must keep itself in force, even if an accident occurs in another state’s jurisdiction..

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ct auto insurance quote

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ct auto insurance quote from top 5 car insurance companies and save! At Simply Insurance! Insurance, we strive to provide customers with the most affordable auto insurance rates in Los Angeles County and throughout Central Valley. We’ve earned the highest ratings from any of the most respected insurance rating agencies including the following: This information is designed to help you with your decision-making, and it is not intended to provide advice. Contact a local independent agent in the Trusted Choice network today for assistance concerning the insurance options that are available to you. A Trusted Choice insurance brokerage can help you with everything from policy options to contact information about auto insurance. Our local association has been serving customers for over 25 years. It is an experienced, dedicated team of professionals that are dedicated enough to serving the needs of their clients. They have the insurance expertise to insure your assets to the fullest. As an independent insurance agency, we represent the nation’s numerous insurance companies. This helps our business be recognized when an accident occurs. In addition. ct auto insurance quote and compare discounts and coverage insurers for good drivers. First and foremost, car insurance rates do vary based on your location. In addition to individual factors affecting the price you pay when insuring a new car, location-specific factors like the percentage of uninsured motorists and the rate of fatal accident also contribute to car insurance rates in Florida. This is why it is important for new car owners (even newly licensed or ) to compare companies through , a leading independent rating agency. Using a proprietary dataset of over 1.5 million car insurance shopper applications, the data scientists at Insurify have run various studies on driver behavior across national and regional scales. The are closely regulated, with necessary regulation under the state of Florida, but the effects of COVID. ct auto insurance quote if you are a new customer. If you can say no to the coverage you already have now and they offer less coverage, we re more concerned about having to get a quote and then getting your quotes back in their favour from them before they cancel you out from the quote. The best way to find a cheap auto insurance quote if you can’t name a car and are considering dropping it will be to look at an online car insurance quote. Even people who are looking at buying a new car are looking at getting a quote, so it can easily save you some time and hassle. You should have car insurance, which will protect you if it s damaged and you get into a car accident. If you don t, you ll have to decide how much money you want to pay for it. So when it comes to getting cheap car insurance quotes, it s really up to you whether you should get a standard quote or take out a completely online option. It’s actually not that difficult.

The top car insurance companies in Connecticut

The top car insurance companies in Connecticut: State Farm, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, and The Hartford. The top car insurance California insurers: State Farm, Hartford, and Farmers. They all offer discounts for good drivers with multiple policies. Each discounts has an app, which you can use to find cheap car insurance in California. It’s important not to buy car insurance from the same company. You can save hundreds of dollars by comparing car insurance quotes. The most affordable car insurance companies in California: Every driver in California is required by state law to have a minimum level of auto insurance coverages in place. When you get into a wreck, coverage is pretty straightforward. You’ll need to buy comprehensive and collision on top of that. It’s possible you won’t have that coverage, depending on what kind of damage you cause. State Farm’s policy limits are quite basic. If you have multiple vehicles on your policy, you might find the minimum coverage can be too much. State Farm�.

Who Needs Car Insurance in Connecticut?

Who Needs Car Insurance in Connecticut? You might be asking whether you need car insurance in Connecticut, or which car insurance providers you should check out. You can see what you need to know for yourself in the below. Car insurance is required. It is often purchased to provide protection for you and your vehicle in case of an accident. There are many factors involved in determining what you need. There’s a lot of data to evaluate, and it’s not easy to get an accurate estimate. If you don’t have any insurance, then you’re not alone. To determine whether or not car insurance is required in your state, keep reading the questions below. There are several other factors to consider when deciding exactly when and how much you should get car insurance. The exact amount and type of coverage, as well as insurance company endorsements, premium types and costs, will have a huge impact on what you end up paying. For the more affordable car insurance that you might get, be sure to.

Insurance types

Insurance types are also different. Below is a list of the best auto insurance companies by market share for their coverage in the states covered under the  (AZ) and its states: Here are the cheapest carrier rates for 25-year-old male drivers in the state of Maryland, assuming coverage is purchased in the following states, ranked by monthly average policy cost: If you’re new to the city, you just might be wondering if car insurance is so cheap for young, inexperienced drivers. Car insurance premiums increase by 10% to 40%, depending on individual factors; however, there are ways to save on insurance, in most states. The good news is that most drivers don’t need to rely entirely on the insurance of another, but they should consider shopping around. In addition, it’s important to know if your current providers are offering competitive rates in each state. Even if not, shopping around for auto insurance can save you hundreds. It only takes a few minutes to compare all.

Minimum auto insurance limits required in Connecticut

Minimum auto insurance limits required in Connecticut state.Minimum limit auto insurance companies for Rhode Island. (B) Minimum auto insurance limits required in order to drive in Rhode Island. Car insurance companies provide special auto insurance limit options based on their specific requirements, as follows: Rhode Island auto insurance laws are relatively simple, however, which options they will provide, and the minimum auto insurance limits required per state. While one size s the rule, there are also laws regarding how much insurance you’ll need. So what can you do? Use common sense and find these common areas right before you decide to use them. For instance, if you re required to obtain insurance with high limits, such as $20,000/caravan/$50,000/$25,000, be prepared to offer it to the nearest $300,000, with only a $50 policy fee. However, if you ve got a $250,000 liability insurance policy, you only need to pay $30,000 per incident, and the maximum is $.

Cheapest Car Insurance for CT Speeding or Distracted Driving Tickets

Cheapest Car Insurance for CT Speeding or Distracted Driving Tickets in CT: The table below shows estimates on what drivers in CT pay for auto insurance, including speeding tickets and other violations. Driving while disqualified can cause your car insurance rates to rise. A citation for a speeding or distracted driving ticket is not only a red flag for insurers, it can impact your ability to get the best rate.  The following table showcases estimates for insurance for drivers who are driving while disqualified in CT. A citation for distracted driving results in higher rates for auto insurance companies to consider, especially those who are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines each year for violating traffic laws.  Even a single speeding ticket can cost companies in CT thousands of dollars in fines, license suspensions and car crash tests.  The following table showcases estimates on what drivers in CT can expect to pay for auto insurance. A citation for speeding causes auto insurance companies to consider your rate as high as 25 mph over the speed limit. A citation is only temporary, as it will stay on your record for one month.

Average cost of car insurance in Connecticut

Average cost of car insurance in Connecticut, 2012–2015 Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Farmington, Conn; Nationwide’s market share for private passenger auto insurance, in CT; Nationwide’s market share for homeowners insurance, in CT; Nationwide’s market share for private passenger auto insurance, in CT; Nationwide’s market share for auto coverage, in CT; Nationwide’s market share for home insurance, in CT; Nationwide’s share of shared auto insurance losses (both auto and homeowners), in CT; Nationwide’s market share for auto coverage as an insurance provider, in CT; Nationwide’s market share for home insurance, in CT; Nationwide’s and Farmers’ share of shared auto insurance losses, in CT; and Nationwide’s share of shared insurance in the following states–Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and North Carolina (all rated One Insurance’s state average for common car insurance policies), in NJ; New Hampshire, not ranked; New.

Cheapest insurance after a DUI in Connecticut

Cheapest insurance after a DUI in Connecticut If you’re looking for cheap car insurance in Connecticut, Good2Go Auto Insurance may be able to help. We help you find low down payments and easy monthly payment options to get you on the road for less. ¹Consult with an attorney to see if it is illegal to drive without insurance in CT. Quote times on partner sites may vary.  Prices vary based on the state where you reside, the coverage limits you purchase, your age and other underwriting factors. Whether you are a first or current Hartford driver, or you are a young driver looking for cheap insurance, you can get the cheapest quotes for a in CT. Just looking to get quotes? If you just want cheap auto insurance, no matter your driving record, past history of claims, or anything else, you will likely need . Because these are insurance rates you can expect to pay, don’t be fooled into thinking all the “veterans” will be cheaper than Connecticut.

Cheapest Car Insurance for Drivers With a DUI in Connecticut

Cheapest Car Insurance for Drivers With a DUI in Connecticut Having a DUI on your record will cause your rates to skyrocket. The Hartford found that The average driver living in Lincoln pays $1,732[1] per year for car insurance. In Connecticut, the average cost of buying coverage is $1,664. That’s a lot of stress for drivers. After a DUI, you can expect the following auto insurance rates to bump up: The average rate by insurer, as calculated by Broke on Simple Data, is $1,732 per year. In Connecticut, the average cost of auto insurance is $1,664. That’s a lot of stress for drivers. After a DUI, you can expect the following auto insurance quotes to bump up: This information is designed to help you with your decision-making, and it is not intended to provide advice. Contact a.

Car insurance discounts in Connecticut

Car insurance discounts in Connecticut for a policy with a high price point — auto insurance is designed to absorb physical damage to your car in the form of damage that can be repaired by your car repair shop. Because we live in Connecticut, we can help you with your homeowners insurance quote, commercial coverage quote, and watercraft insurance policy, if you require it. Our comprehensive portfolio of property and liability insurance products offers the most insurance products, benefits, and benefits not only to New England residents, but all of our neighbors in the Midland Islands. Our agents are friendly and knowledgeable professionals with years of personal experience. We pride ourselves on offering a complete line of personal and commercial insurance solutions, including business liability, property and liability. Our agents have over 60 years of combined insurance experience and know how to tailor a good personal and commercial insurance solution to the needs of our clients, their families and their businesses. It only takes a few minutes and a little research to find the right business insurance product for your business. Get your free to.

Connecticut Car Insurance Laws

Connecticut Car Insurance Laws and Regulations 2018-2018 For drivers in Connecticut, the Minimum Varies require that every person driving a vehicle should be covered by the minimum liability coverage per accident according to the minimum amounts of motorist protection as outlined in the statute of limitations. As a general rule, minimum liability coverage does not apply to all injuries and mortality (the “merits” of “life” pay benefits are not met but are met by the driver and the “other.” The minimum coverage for the state of Connecticut is the following: State law dictates that if you are a Connecticut resident , you must have auto body work coverage of $30,000 for at least one accident and $60,000 for each person injured in an accident; no more than $9,000 per accident for property damage (up to $30,000 per person per accident); $6,000 per accident for personal injury protection (up to $60,000 per accident); and.

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insurance san francisco

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes from different companies :quotesdeal.net

insurance san francisco

insurance san francisco $14.13% $2.21/mo $13.81% $13.80/mo $9.64% $34.11/month All $10,000 motor vehicles $100,000 $300,000 All $10,000 vehicles $100,000 $300,000 All private passenger autos $4,000 $4,000,000  $5,000 $25,000 $8,000,000 All $4,200 $4,200,000 All public health  $1,000 $600,000  All Public. insurance san francisco (CSC) has been operating for nearly a century and now covers 3,000 people all across the country. And it’s also one of the world’s top insurers. Its insurance policyholders are not just the very wealthy. It is also extremely low-cost, to say the least. That’s what makes SCSC a great company to do business with, even though your local insurance department may say SCSC’s car insurance is not necessary to get an insurance policy from your local agency. There are other good insurance companies that work in SC and they are much better in other states, but none of them were rated out of the top 50 car insurance companies in the US in 2018. One of the great things about this company is the ability to find a car insurance company in your area if you’ve had a bad insurance history in the past. The only one where that’s not a problem is if you’re looking for coverage. insurance san francisco, CA. The first thing to do when you’re looking for the best car insurance rates is to compare insurance rates from multiple carriers. There are a ton of carriers and so does the cost of car insurance. Let’s take a look at some common factors and see which company is the best option for your situation. Auto insurance rates vary per person. The most common driver category you don’t see on your car insurance quote is the driver who will be using your car for work. If you’re not the typical driver that will get involved in multiple accidents, it’s still possible you’d be a high-risk driver. Car insurance rates can be extremely personalized. People typically pay less for car insurance because they don’t work or have kids. With that in mind, it’s easier to compare car insurance quotes on a short, weekly basis rather than making a long, single call.

7. State Compensation Insurance Fund

7. State Compensation Insurance Fund (CSCI) is a public and private program designed to support the low-income individual in the early years of life. In fact, the entire purpose of the program is to help the low income individual afford for his or her life insurance premiums higher and maintain the high standards of living needed for employment without the associated expenses. These standards are also in an attempt to cut down on the number of uninsured individuals and the number that are uninsured due to the increased costs that these individuals face. For this reason, CSCI is designed to lower the number of uninsured individuals. The CSCI consists of a pool of approximately 200 people that each pays slightly less than a state representative. Whether you’re shopping for new car insurance or just want to switch to a different car insurance company, it’s smart to get car insurance quotes and shop.

Average Car Insurance Rates in San Francisco

Average Car Insurance Rates in San Francisco California   average costs for auto coverage from Express Car Reporters: $534/year San Francisco   average car insurance costs for coverage from Express Car Reporters: $534/year San Francisco   average car insurance costs for coverage from Express Car Reporters: $534/year San Francisco   average car insurance costs for coverage from Express Car Reporters: $534/year San Francisco   average car insurance costs for coverage from Express Car Reporters: $539/year San Francisco   average car insurance costs for coverage from Express Car Reporters: $541/year at the most If your vehicle has a recent registration suspension or a recent theft, you may owe more on car insurance than what the vehicle is worth in the event of an accident. is a vital indicator of how much insurance coverage your vehicle is worth when determining car insurance rates.  Insurance companies may still price your.

Who Has The Best Car Insurance in San Francisco, CA?

Who Has The Best Car Insurance in San Francisco, CA?I feel like I’ve spent too much time on my phone. I get phone calls constantly from the other side of the table. I’ve done my job here. I had a car accident on 12/17. I lost and the car ran over. The front passenger, who had an at fault car, ran after her car. Both drivers were passenger in the back with her right hand injured. I don’t normally think of anything as excessive or I guess it was a little unfair of me. I can’t thank them enough! I just drove home from work and did some reading and I just ended up having my eye removed in Florida. I went to my old doctor’s office and did them a little bit. The office staff were very polite though, especially when I went to pick up a piece of paper. They were quite nice and gave me very reasonable terms. They are very good and have my best interest in mind. They took.

Commercial Insurance

Commercial Insurance Group (“IGG”), an insurance group, is licensed in the following states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MT, NE, NM, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, UT, VA, VT, WV, WI, WY FreeAdvice® is a unit of 360 Quote LLC providing millions of consumers with outstanding legal and insurance information and advice – for free – since 1995. Auto insurance: Can be tailored to your risk factors in order to provide you with coverage at a lower cost. There are many variables that come into play when looking for an auto insurance policy, including factors like: How Much Auto insurance rates have remained stable in recent years, and Since then, the state-required minimum auto insurance coverage has been the only law that states require drivers to carry beyond the minimum amount .

5. SelectQuote Insurance Services

5. SelectQuote Insurance Services · $10,150.10 Select Quote Services · $100,000,000 · .00%· $99,09.93Select Quote Services 1.7 .0 Select Quote Services · $6,664.03 Select Quote Services 1.4 .0 Select Quote Services · $7,814.94 1.5 .0 Auto & Traffic Information According to 2019 data from the , The Hartford was the . The state of Maryland allows drivers to purchase an accident forgiveness policy. This means that you can stop at any point and to suspend a driver’s license without causing a license increase of 5% to 10% at the start of the policy. It can also be revoked upon revocation of the driver’s license. Allstate and Hertz Insurance · $25,908.04 2.1.

California Insurance Agency

California Insurance Agency has been helping people buy auto insurance online on their phones and tablets for over 23 years. We can help you find minimum coverage auto insurance in Tennessee fast. Before you buy insurance, it’s important to understand what you can expect to pay for car insurance in Tennessee. The cost of car insurance in Tennessee is significantly higher than the national average, which is why many Tennesseans decide to check out our rate comparisons and start shopping for affordable insurance rates that match what you can buy. As far as discounts go, we think Geico is the most obvious pick with a wide range of coverage options, and we think Farmers is the second most affordable insurer among the five most affordable companies in Tennessee. The only major downside to Geico is the company’s average rate for drivers under 30, meaning its average rate is likely to be a little less affordable than the average overall premium in Tennessee. The biggest downside to Farmers’ insurance policies is that the insurer is currently at the expense of Farmers.

Shop for Insurance

Shop for Insurance Car in Nashville In my car insurance provider for almost 30 years it does not show up on our phone. We have been the only policyholder with these companies. They all had insurance for the same policy which is ridiculous when you were buying a car and only used them for that part of the year. Now we see a call from them twice. What they did are horrible and the agent just says that they are sorry for what they have done. If you don’t have auto insurance, but want coverage, look no further. With AAA, we’ll put a stop you. You won’t feel overwhelmed and confused as you wait for your insurer to offer you more than you had bargained for before. But if you have a good idea how to calculate your insurance needs, we can help with some of the best car insurance quotes for AAA. It’s important to know what makes or breaks your car insurance coverage..

Our Insurance Companies

Our Insurance Companies, a subsidiary of the Boston Group, provides insurance policies and financial products for homeowners and renters. Life insurance policies on the website are listed in the “Housing Protection Insurance,” that is to say, under the heading “Homeowners”. The article does mention the insurance industry. It also provides a recommendation for renters to review their own coverage and options of renters insurance coverage. This article, however, is mostly focused on renters insurance, which typically comes standard with most home insurance policies. There are a number of other things that impact renters insurance. First, renters insurance coverage is not required that is when the landlord signs an order of renters insurance. However, there is some common factors that are considered. Secondly, the renters insurance policy on the website offers coverage for the personal and property that the landlord foretells the tenant will be responsible for. For renters insurance, renters policies are also referred to as an inventory insurance policy. This policy covers the dwelling, its contents, and.

San Francisco Car Insurance FAQ’s

San Francisco Car Insurance FAQ’s How do I register and insure a car in California? To register and insure a vehicle in California, you must either contact your bank or credit union to get a mortgage on your vehicle and they must be active in the state. California residents are exempt from the tax on vehicle registrations if they’ve only one year of driving experience and meet certain criteria. All other factors are considered non-sports related. For example, car insurance is also exempt from the . More details and details about car insurance can be found . Cars and motorsport vehicles are exempt from the car insurance tax. include motor vehicles and motor vehicles used for the purpose of racing at all times. You must maintain a BILI.001 (non-sports-related) exemption and must maintain the equivalent amount of insurance coverage for that vehicle during operation, depreciation, and replacement expenses. The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reports that, with 15,000 vehicles in operation.

How Much is Car Insurance Near You in San Francisco?

How Much is Car Insurance Near You in San Francisco? If you are already aware of the minimum coverage offered by your car insurance company, you may want to look into a different policy that pays a fraction of anything you may need, such as liability coverage. Many drivers choose that for their own coverage, regardless of what it is recommended (such as extra coverage or collision) to do. You may want a lower, more granular policy that takes into account your own liability insurance needs: Do you know how much car insurance coverage you need? What if you owe more on your car than you have already paid? It’s a good idea to get more coverage that helps you protect yourself against damage and injury by protecting yourself from the fallout of an accident. You can get car insurance even if you have a . Your car insurance can cover you against a myriad of risks you may face while operating your car but it doesn’t cover everything that can happen in a natural disaster such as water damage and fire. To provide you with the extra flexibility you.

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Planning for the Future Will Help in the Present Too

This week, our topics are both heavily influenced by human activity on the Earth: Urban Design, and population control (and in accordance with that, overconsumption). Without humans, these are issues that earth would not have to face by itself, and thus these are entirely manmade issues. First, we should talk about population control because without the increasing growth of this planets population, we wouldn’t have to worry about designing better and more efficient cities. Obviously, we have limited resources on this Earth and one of them is the amount of space we have. Currently there are approximately 7,690,000,000 people on this Earth (WorldoMeter). In the beginning of the 1900’s there were approximately 1,600,000,000. In just 100 years the population had a growth rate of well over 500%.  

To put that into perspective, in the 8,000 year period between 8,000 B.C. and 1 A.D. there was a growth rate of about 0.05%. 

Currently, we have a population growth of about 1.5% (relatively low), which accounts for an additional 82 million people per year worldwide.  We’ll touch on this again, but one of the reasons that the population growth is growing so rapidly is not because of a huge increase in fertility, it is actually because the mortality rate is decreasing and thus it is taking longer for people to die. The average life expectancy worldwide in the 19th century was between 30-40 years old, where as now the average person can expect to live close to double that, between 73 and 80 years old (Roser, 2013). As more and more people are living longer lives, that means the average person’s consumption rate will increase drastically because they have an incredibly larger amount of time in which they have things to consume. It is important to note however that not all population and consumption are controlled equally, and often times poverty stricken areas are stuck with the negative effects of overpopulation and overconsumption that wealthy groups and individuals get to enjoy. As we discussed in class, 85% on the human population comes from countries that are still developing or have yet to be developed, yet 90% of the population growth every year is contained within these same countries. This means that the majority of the human population is being crowded into countries that do not have the resources (money and space) to properly accommodate them. This brings a person’s quality of life plummeting to the lowest possible levels. Adding on to the injustice that is population control and overconsumption, about 15-17% of the population that resides in developed countries control 75% of the consumption of goods and services worldwide. This means that the rich and privileged people born into developing countries get to consume what they please and do not have to worry about the problems they are creating because they do not deal with the consequences directly. This further continues the systemic cycle of poverty and cripples the chances of a developing nation to become a fully developed country. If New Yorkers think the subway is crowded, imagine how crowded public transportation in China or India is!

Earth is having a hard time keeping up with human activity as it is with its 7 billion plus human inhabitants, and as that number keeps growing the Earth is going to have a harder time dealing with the consequences of humans. In fact, we could be running out of time to save the earth. Some scientists are saying that if we don’t start to reverse the effects of humans on the planet by as early as 2030, the effects will be nonreversible and we’ll have sealed our fate as a species (Sutherland, 2018). Currently, if every single person on Earth lived like the average American the Earth would only be able to sustain that life for about 1/5 of our population, or approximately 1.5 billion people (Hwang, 2018). This does not even begin to compensate for the growth of humans expected to come in the following years, and only analyzes current levels of consumption and population, which means the problem is only going to get worse. As discussed in class, almost half of the population of the world live with less than $2.50 in American money every day, and 80% of the world survives on less than $10 (Shah, 2013). These numbers struck me as surprising so I tried to evaluate my own daily spending and here is the math I came up with. My monthly rent is $850, which comes out to about $28 a day. I budget about $50 on food in a week which makes up about $7 a day. My monthly electricity bill is around $35 which is about $5 a day. In a week I usually spend about $15 a week on transportation via the subway, so we’ll call that $3 a day. These are all of the things that I use on a daily basis, which does not take into consideration the fact that sometimes I will buy new clothes, or spend money on tickets to see a show, or other purchases that are not directly for my every day needs. This also does not take into consideration my environmental impact and how much money I am actually spending like in a full cost analysis. This means that at the bare minimum I am spending is about $45 a day, approximately 15 times more than someone living in poverty! I am also a college student living on a budget so I’m sure the average price for an American is WAY higher than mine!

As the population continues to climb, people find themselves in more and more crowded living spaces. Cities in particular tend to host the most life and contain the most people. They take up 4% of the Earth’s land but more than half of the population lives in a city (Lavelle, 2019). Cities are important because they act as major hubs for human activity, but often times they are associated with high levels of economic footprint. One way that we can slow down the effects of human consumption and overpopulation is to make cities more sustainable. Here are a few ways cities can aim to be more sustainable, whether that be adopting new policies or creating them as new cities are being built:

1) Vertical Gardens: Many cities lack the green space to grow food, but have plenty of vertical real estate to take advantage of. Much like skyscrapers present the opportunity to hold more people, vertical gardens are the modern day approach to how to be greener in cities. These gardens can help grow sustainably sourced foods as well as help eliminate some of the cities carbon footprint. 2) Resilience to natural disasters and climate change: In 2017 the World Bank invested over $4 billion into disaster risk management in cities. By building cities to prevent natural disasters like having floodgates and earthquake proof buildings, there will be less money to spend on repairs in the future.   3) Access to public resources: Many cities have public features like garbage clean up and recycling programs, as well as public transportation, good education, and public health centers. However, if not everyone can access these systems fairly then the wellbeing of the city goes down. This means to make these services available for everyone including the poor and poverty stricken, instead of just the wealthy who can afford to live without it on their own dime.

Blog Question: Would it be more effective to try and tackle problems of overpopulation first or overconsumption and why?

Word Count: 1,251

                                              Works Cited

Growth Rate [Digital image]. (2019, February 26). Retrieved from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

Hwang, A. D. (n.d.). 7.5 billion and counting: How many humans can the Earth support? Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/7-5-billion-and-counting-how-many-humans-can-the-earth-support-98797

Lavelle, M. (2015, October 03). How Do We Make Cities Sustainable? Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/energy/great-energy-challenge/big-energy-question/how-to-make-our-cities-more-livable-and-sustainable/

Roser, M. (2013, May 23). Life Expectancy. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy

Shah, A. (2017, January 7). Poverty Facts and Stats. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

Sutherland, S. (2018, October 17). We have 12 years to save the world. What      do we do now? Retrieved from https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/we-have-until-2030-to-save-the-world-what-do-we-do-now-to-tackle-climate-change/114959

World Population: Past, Present, and Future [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2019, from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

[anycontentposter]

What the Z50 tells us about Nikon's APS-C strategy

. APS-C is an unusual sensing unit format. Stemmed from the measurements of the brief Advanced Photo System movie unfavorable, it became the dominant format in the early days of the DSLR transformation mainly due to the fact that for several years, full-frame digital sensing units weren't an useful alternative in consumer-level video cameras. Canon utilized the a lot more odd APS-H format for a couple of generations of its sports-oriented EOS-1D series, however by 2012, full-frame was sturdily (re) developed as the 'expert' format for both of 2 most significant D/SLR makers. Provided the intrinsic messiness of adjusting film-era platforms to digital, it's not a surprise that the particular APS-C techniques of the significant D/SLR producers have actually appeared a little baffled sometimes over the previous number of years. Now however, with each of them (other than Pentax/Ricoh) either defunct or offering a minimum of one mirrorless lens install, we are formally, lastly, in a post-film period. You 'd hope that the fight lines in the so-called 'format war' may have ended up being a little clearer. What does the Z50 inform us about Nikon's APS-C technique? Well, the very first thing it informs us is that there really is a technique. Nikon plainly thinks that today, and for the foreseeable future, a market exists for electronic cameras which do not include full-frame sensing units. Here's Naoki Kitaoka, Department Manager of the UX Planning Department in the Marketing Sector of Nikon's Imaging Business Unit, in discussion with me back in March." Since we released the Z series, our DX format DSLR users have actually been asking us to use mirrorless innovation to the DX format. These tips, plus the stable circulation of reports over the previous couple of months, made the Z50 (or something like it) unavoidable. Due to the fact that you do not like the pilot, to dismiss DX format Z-mount at this phase is like choosing a TELEVISION program will never ever be excellent. We all understand that one video camera and a couple of set lenses alone do not represent a totally carried out strategy. < img src =" https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/4178727265/IMG_7523.jpeg" width =" 590" height=" 393" border= "0" data-thumbnail-height=" 0" data-thumbnail-width =" 590" data-filename=" IMG_7523. What future for lover APS-C? The truth that Nikon is pressing APS-C as' smaller sized', and the truth that the Z50 isn't introducing with a quick prime lens or 2 is a quite clear signal that- for now - the business would choose specialists and lovers to focus on its full-frame Z video cameras. In impact then, it appears like Nikon is making with the Z install what it has actually been finishing with the F install for the previous 10 years: Making APS-C items for enthusiasts and novices, and full-frame video cameras for innovative lovers and experts. 1 For APS-C users that wish to broaden their innovative horizons with extra, more major lenses, they'll need to buy the FX lens lineup, and accept a 1.5 X boost in efficient focal length. Or, even better, dive in with both feet and upgrade to a full-frame cam. Exhibition A: Nikon's spotty record when it concerns DX lens advancement for its F-mount DSLRs, which has actually seen just one devoted DX prime (the Micro Nikkor 40mm 2.8) launched in the previous 10 years. Offered the size and weight benefits bestowed by APS-C, producers see more prospective for entry-level users. Why this absence of devoted DX lenses? The ruthless truth is that many APS-C cams that are offered are bundled with one lens-- the set zoom-- and most of individuals that purchase them never ever include another lens to their collection. 2. There's an argument to be made that this is a self-fulfilling prophesy - Nikon's APS-C clients can't extremely well purchase lenses that do not exist, can they? Look at the market as an entire - with a handful of respectable exceptions, there are really couple of premium lens choices offered for APS-C anywhere, consisting of from third-parties. < img src=" https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/4178727265/FujifilmXT3-05-1.jpeg" width=" 590 "height= "393" border= "0" data-thumbnail-height=" 0" data-thumbnail-width=" 590 "data-filename =" FujifilmXT3-05-1. That does not suggest that enthusiast-focused APS-C systems are difficult (simply look at Fujifilm) however it does assist discuss why the huge players of the D/SLR age stay careful about investing a lot of cash establishing lenses enhanced for this format. Offered the indisputable size and weight benefits bestowed by APS-C, producers not surprisingly see more possible here for drawing in entry-level users, possibly even newbie video camera purchasers updating from smart devices. Experience the Z50: A little stills/video video camera, loaded with Instagram-friendly filter impacts, however flexible enough, and with a deep adequate ergonomics to enable imaginative development. What about Canon? This is a post about Nikon, however I would like to briefly touch on Canon's APS-C method." We desired to establish RF to its complete capacity, so we desired the newest requirements, state-of-the art innovation and style. In other words - when establishing the RF system, Canon identified that any effort to include compatibility with EF-M would lead to undesirable compromises. Most likely, simply put, RF is full-frame just, forever. Canon actually does not desire you installing an RF lens on an EOS M body, or putting an EF-S lens on a full-frame EOS DSLR. Whereas Nikon is now supporting, in impact, 4 lens lineups: Full-frame (FX) and APS-C (DX) for 2 systems, Canon's 4 installs (EF, EF-M, ef-s and rf) cover 3 systems. Of those 4 tastes of lenses, just EF lenses can be utilized on all 3 installs. An EF-S lens will not go on a full-frame EOS body, an EF-M lens will not go on a full-frame EOS or RF body, and an RF lens will not go on an EOS or EOS M body. Nikon's technique, where DX and FX lenses are interchangeable on either format, however force either a crop or a focal length boost, appears more rational. This cross-system incompatibility is most likely really purposeful on Canon's part. Canon's EOS M6 II is the business's most' severe 'EOS M cam to date, and operationally it's rather comparable to Nikon's Z50. Both electronic cameras are targeted at newbie and casual professional photographers, however both deal enough imaginative control to permit development (and distinguish themselves from smart devices). Canon wishes to keep the channels clear, by making one set of items for its APS-C clients, and another for the full-framers, without any cross-talk to puzzle the signal. Unlike Nikon (whose experiences in the 1-inch sensing unit format might be the topic for an entire other post) Canon has actually been evaluating the waters of large-sensor mirrorless for a while with the APS-C EOS M lineup, which debuted in 2012. Substantially, the M-mount was, is, and constantly will be an APS-C install, for engineering factors. The EOS M6 II is great, there's (lastly) a good quick prime in the EF-M lineup, and Sigma's current statement that its popular DC DN lenses will be offered for the system is excellent news, too. The suggested message is that if you desire to take benefit of the finest innovation (particularly optical innovation) that the business has to use, you'll require to step up to full-frame. Summarizing. On a tactical level, then, Canon and Nikon's APS-C strategies seems practically the very same: Differentiate the format from full-frame by targeting at the entry-level and enthusiast group, and hope that those consumers ultimately step up to the bigger sensing unit format. The distinction is that with Nikon, if wish to you go from DX to FX (or back the other method) you do not always require to buy an entire brand-new set of lenses to do so. One disadvantage of Nikon's method is that by putting a little APS-C sensing unit into a big full-frame install, Nikon has actually positioned a tough limitation on the density of any resultant DX Z-mount video cameras. With Nikon, if you go from DX to FX you do not require to purchase an entire brand-new set of lenses. In the end, then, Nikon's method to APS-C and full-frame advancement is really Nikon: Focus on one install, establish your finest lenses for the typical sensing unit format (FX) and get the most out it by enabling cross-compatibility of DX and FX optics. And Canon's technique is extremely Canon: Give crossover clients a devoted (and really compact) crossover system, in the kind of EOS M, and seize the day provided by a significant brand-new innovation platform (full-frame mirrorless) to enhance optical advancement around a devoted brand-new install (RF). Both producers can satisfy that requirement with their mirrorless platforms if the market for lover APS-C items ever looks like growing. 4 But while Canon has actually decided to draw a clear, uncrossable line in between APS-C and full-frame, Nikon would like us to think that a person - actually large - install can accommodate more than one type of professional photographer. 1: The exception to this basic guideline being the D500, which was in impact a buddy electronic camera to the D5 with an integrated 1.5 X teleconverter when utilized with FX lenses (which, make no error, were the lenses Nikon desired expert D500 users to shoot with). 2: This is among the factors that third-party lens producers inform us that they do not see much of a future in the broader APS-C market today. 3: Of course the Sigma statement can be checked out in 2 methods - as a vote of self-confidence in M from a prominent third-party lens maker, or perhaps as an indication that following the launch of its RF install, Canon might have reassessed the cost/benefit estimation of keeping EF-M lens advancement to itself, versus licensing it to third-parties. In reality, it might be a little both. 4: Meanwhile we'll most likely continue to see both business offering significantly iterative budget plan APS-C DSLRs for a couple of more years. At the danger of blending metaphors, that golden goose still has some milk left in it.

Learn more about this at dpreview.com Here's Naoki Kitaoka, Department Manager of the UX Planning Department in the Marketing Sector of Nikon's Imaging Business Unit, in discussion with me back in March.< img src =" https://4.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/4178727265/IMG_7523.jpeg" width =" 590" height=" 393" border= "0" data-thumbnail-height=" 0" data-thumbnail-width =" 590" data-filename=" IMG_7523.< img src=" https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/4178727265/FujifilmXT3-05-1.jpeg" width=" 590 "height= "393" border= "0" data-thumbnail-height=" 0" data-thumbnail-width=" 590 "data-filename =" FujifilmXT3-05-1. An EF-S lens will not go on a full-frame EOS body, an EF-M lens will not go on a full-frame EOS or RF body, and an RF lens will not go on an EOS or EOS M body.

[jodyedgarus]

Mike Trout Should Have Won A Playoff Game By Now

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout is a positive outlier in far too many ways to count. But one of the rare negatives in his career to date has been a lack of postseason success — or practically any postseason action, period. The lone playoff appearance of Trout’s career happened back in 2014, when the Angels were unceremoniously swept by the pennant-bound Kansas City Royals in the American League division series. Trout hit 1-for-12 in the series, and his teammates fared little better, bringing Los Angeles’ playoff journey to an end just three games after it began.

It’s hard to believe that those three winless games represent the sum total of playoff experience for a player who, by the numbers, is the greatest of this generation. Even though it’s impossible for any single baseball player to carry a championship team the way stars can in other sports, it is highly unusual for the best player of any given MLB era to go without as much as a single victory in the postseason. The last time it happened was 100 years ago, and that was back when the “postseason” was simply the World Series — so it’s especially shocking to see it happen with today’s expanded playoff structure in which 10 teams make the postseason each year. Even worse, there’s a very good chance that the drought will continue this season for Trout and the Angels, as the decade comes to a close.

Trout has, without question, been the best individual player of the 2010s. Over the decade thus far, he leads all hitters in on-base plus slugging and ranks No. 1 among all players — both batters and pitchers — in wins above replacement (WAR).1 But among his peers atop the WAR leaderboard, Trout stands alone with that goose egg under the postseason win column:2

Trout is the best — but his playoff record isn’t

Major League Baseball leaders in total wins above replacement (WAR) — including both batting and pitching — from 2010 to 2018

WAR Team Postseason* Rk Player Batting Pitching Total Wins Losses 1 Mike Trout +64.5 0.0 64.5 0 3 2 Clayton Kershaw +2.8 55.7 58.5 31 30 3 Max Scherzer +1.5 48.6 50.0 21 27 4 Robinson Cano +49.4 0.0 49.4 10 13 5 Joey Votto +49.3 0.0 49.3 2 7 6 Justin Verlander -0.2 47.5 47.3 32 32 7 Adrian Beltre +47.2 0.0 47.2 12 14 8 Miguel Cabrera +43.3 0.0 43.3 17 21 9 Chris Sale +0.0 42.6 42.6 12 6 10 Zack Greinke +4.3 38.3 42.5 14 20 11 Andrew McCutchen +42.5 0.0 42.5 5 8 12 Buster Posey +40.3 0.0 40.3 36 17 13 Giancarlo Stanton +39.0 0.0 39.0 2 3 14 Cole Hamels +0.9 37.7 38.6 9 14 15 Paul Goldschmidt +38.2 0.0 38.2 3 6 16 Evan Longoria +38.0 0.0 38.0 5 9 17 David Price -0.3 38.0 37.7 22 27 18 Ian Kinsler +37.5 0.0 37.5 29 22 19 Josh Donaldson +37.4 0.0 37.4 14 20 20 Ben Zobrist +36.6 0.0 36.6 31 27

* Includes all games played by a player’s team, regardless of whether the player appeared in the game

Sources: Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs

When it comes to the best players of this decade, longtime Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, whose teams have won just two playoff games during his tenure, and New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton come closest to Trout’s zero-win postseason record. (Stanton used to be in the zero-win club, too, before winning two playoff games with the Yankees last year.) Most of the other top players of the 2010s crack at least double-digits in the playoff win column — headlined by Buster Posey, Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, whose teams have all won at least 30 playoff games this decade.

Granted, Trout has had comparatively fewer chances — he’s played only eight of the decade’s nine possible seasons (through 2018), and one of those was an abbreviated rookie year during which he appeared in just 40 games. In a way, it’s only by virtue of how individually brilliant Trout has been that we’re even in a position to compare playoff records with his rivals like this. But Trout also started his career by joining a team that had been one of the winningest of the previous decade, so you might think that advantage would have helped him make up for the lost time.

Instead, the Angels have consistently surrounded Trout with one of the worst supporting casts of any star ever, largely squandering the windfall his historic output (and cheap price tag) should have offered them. Thanks to a series of terrible free-agent signings, weak drafts and — Shohei Ohtani aside — an inability to add prospects through the international pipeline, Los Angeles has somehow won an average of only 83.8 games per season since Trout’s debut campaign. Even when the Angels looked like they might finally have some promising players around Trout in 2018, they still found a way to finish around .500 in spite of Trout’s MVP-level numbers.

All of which is to say that very little of Trout’s zero-win postseason record is actually Trout’s fault. But it would still be historically notable if the best player of a decade (by WAR) ends up being on a team that wins no playoff games that decade. The best player of the 2000s, Alex Rodriguez, was on teams that won a whopping 26 playoff games, for instance, which is the same number as the best player of the 1950s (Mickey Mantle). Most decade leaders win fewer than that, especially as we go back in time — Willie Mays was the best of the 1960s, but his team won only three postseason contests that decade because, for most of it, the playoffs were World Series or bust. Even so, the last decadelong MLB WAR leader whose teams won zero playoff games was Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators in the 1910s.3

Trout is the rare decade’s-best with no playoff wins

Best player of each decade according to wins above replacement (WAR), along with playoff record* of player’s team(s)

2010s W L WAR 2000s W L WAR Mike Trout 0 3 64.5 Alex Rodriguez 26 22 76.5 Clayton Kershaw 31 30 58.5 Albert Pujols 29 27 72.2 Max Scherzer 21 27 50.0 Barry Bonds 12 13 60.6 Robinson Cano 10 13 49.4 Randy Johnson 17 19 50.8 Joey Votto 2 7 49.3 Carlos Beltran 12 10 50.6 1990s W L WAR 1980s W L WAR Barry Bonds 8 15 80.8 Rickey Henderson 11 4 69.4 Greg Maddux 39 29 68.9 Wade Boggs 7 11 60.0 Ken Griffey Jr. 6 9 66.7 Mike Schmidt 13 12 56.6 Roger Clemens 11 8 66.0 Robin Yount 8 9 52.7 Jeff Bagwell 2 9 56.9 Alan Trammell 8 5 50.9 1970s W L WAR 1960s W L WAR Tom Seaver 6 9 68.3 Willie Mays 3 4 82.2 Joe Morgan 22 15 66.6 Hank Aaron 0 3 78.4 Johnny Bench 26 19 59.4 Frank Robinson 9 8 63.8 Bert Blyleven 7 6 59.3 Roberto Clemente 4 3 62.0 Gaylord Perry 1 3 57.1 Bob Gibson 11 10 59.2 1950s W L WAR 1940s W L WAR Mickey Mantle 26 21 67.9 Ted Williams 3 4 68.0 Stan Musial 0 0 60.0 Lou Boudreau 4 2 60.4 Robin Roberts 0 4 59.4 Stan Musial 13 10 58.2 Willie Mays 6 4 57.7 Hal Newhouser 7 7 56.2 Warren Spahn 7 7 56.5 Joe Gordon 13 8 46.9 1930s W L WAR 1920s W L WAR Jimmie Foxx 7 6 74.9 Babe Ruth 18 15 104.9 Lou Gehrig 20 3 74.7 Rogers Hornsby 5 7 95.1 Mel Ott 7 9 69.4 Harry Heilmann 0 0 55.4 Lefty Grove 7 6 66.1 Frankie Frisch 14 15 55.4 Charlie Gehringer 7 6 60.8 Tris Speaker 5 2 50.6 1910s W L WAR 1900s W L WAR Walter Johnson 0 0 100.3 Honus Wagner 7 8 81.5 Ty Cobb 0 0 84.3 Christy Mathewson 4 1 68.0 Tris Speaker 8 4 75.6 Cy Young 5 3 66.4 Eddie Collins 19 15 72.5 Nap Lajoie 0 0 64.1 Pete Alexander 3 8 63.5 Rube Waddell 1 4 53.2

* Includes all games played by a player’s team, regardless of whether the player appeared in the game

Sources: Baseball-Reference.com, FanGraphs

It’s certainly more possible for baseball’s best players to come up short in the postseason than in, say, basketball. Going back to the start of the NBA in 1949-50, no best player of any decade (according to a mix of value over replacement player, win shares and estimated wins added) ever played on teams that posted fewer than 30 playoff wins during that span.4 Yes, more than 50 percent of NBA teams make the playoffs each year, but we’re still talking about a handful of playoff wins per season as the minimum baseline — at the high end, LeBron James’s teams have 120 playoff wins this decade (though he won’t be adding to that tally this year). But several moves to add more postseason slots since 1994 have theoretically made it easier for MLB to show its best players in the games that matter most. For the most part, you can see the effects of that bearing out in the playoff records for top stars since the 1990s — except in the case of Trout.

And this season may not remedy the situation. The Angels are desperately trying to put Trout in a position to drive more runners in, and Ohtani could be part of that equation as a hitter again by May. But for now, FiveThirtyEight’s early preseason MLB forecast projects Los Angeles to win 81 games, with a 25 percent chance of making the playoffs. If we assume they’d have about a 45 percent chance of winning any given playoff game,5 there’s an 85 percent chance they won’t win a playoff game this year either, continuing Trout’s dubious streak through the end of the decade.

If that does happen, it shouldn’t reflect poorly on Trout’s own greatness. In fact, it’s a testament to how far we’ve come in analyzing players that we no longer ask postseason records to carry anywhere near as much weight as they used to in these kinds of debates. But it won’t make Trout’s record any less of a historical anomaly. In an era where making the playoffs is easier than ever, baseball should be able to showcase its greatest player winning games on the postseason stage. That hasn’t happened yet — and the Angels are running out of time to change Trout’s fate before he potentially leaves town for good.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mike-trout-should-have-won-a-playoff-game-by-now/

[kennethherrerablog]

Here’s How to Start Saving Money — Even If You Don’t Have Room in Your Budget

I won’t sugarcoat it: Saving money isn’t the easiest task.

But I’m here to tell you it’s possible to save money without living off ramen, without recruiting seven roommates and without giving up all of life’s pleasures.

How?

First, implement a strategy. Take a good look at your expenses, and create a budget. Second, cut back your spending.

Ready to get started? Here’s your guide to saving money in 2019.

Table of Contents:

How to Prepare to Build Your Savings

Ways to Save Money on Monthly Bills

Ways to Save Money on Groceries and Food

Ways to Save Money on Entertainment and Shopping

Prepare to Start Saving

Not sure where to start? Without a plan, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and frustrated.

Don’t worry. Just follow these steps — one at a time, please! — and you’ll discover the money-saving journey isn’t so bad, even if you are on a tight budget.

1. Track Your Expenses

Before anything else, you’ll need to take a look at how much money you’ve spent in the past few months. No, it might not be pretty, but you need to see this so you can identify your problem areas.

Instead of combing through your bank statements, use the Empower app to automate the process for you.

Empower can help you figure out how you’re spending your money and develop a budgeting plan to keep you on track.

Use its fee-free banking account or link to your existing ones, and it will keep track of your spending. It will also categorize your spending, so you can see exactly where you’re overdoing it.

2. Set Short-Term and Long-Term Savings Goals

Now that you have an overview of your spending habits, it’s time to set some realistic short-term and long-term savings goals.

Here’s the difference:

Implement a short-term savings goal when you need to save money fast. Maybe you’re saving $200 for a plane ticket home. You could also start an emergency fund and set a short-term target of $500 in three months.

If you have a loftier goal, commit to a long-term savings plan. A few examples include saving for a down payment on a home or a college fund for the kids. If you’re looking really long term, think about retirement.

It’s important to have both goals in place, so you enjoy the now while planning for the future.

3. Create a Budget

Personal finance 101: With your savings goals in mind, take a look at your spending. Set some limits for yourself.

The key? Be realistic. If you spend $500 a month on groceries, don’t set your new food budget to $200. That will require an entire lifestyle change.

If you’re not sure where to start, find some structure with these two popular methods:

The 50/20/30 budgeting method breaks your expenses into percentages: 50% for living, 20% for financial goals and 30% for personal spending. People like this plan because it offers some built-in flexibility with personal spending.

The 60/20/20 budgeting method also breaks down your expenses into percentages. In this case, 60% of your income is for lifestyle expenses (food, water, shelter — your needs), 20% is for discretionary spending (fun money) and 20% is for saving. Financial advisers recommend this plan, because it prioritizes your needs over your wants.

Creating and sticking to a budget takes some finessing, so be patient with yourself.

4. Be Smart About Where You Stash Your Savings

Where are you going to keep the money you’re saving? Consider some options that’ll yield interest or returns, so your money isn’t sitting stagnant.

Here are a few ideas:

A high-yield savings account allows you to easily access your savings while also earning some interest. I suggest finding an account that offers 2% APY or higher. It’s great for an emergency fund or vacation stash.

A certificate of deposit (CD) will earn you higher interest. However, CDs have fixed maturity rates. That means if you put your money into a five-year CD, you can’t access it early, or you could face penalties and fees. You also can’t add money to a CD.

Stocks and bonds are two popular ways to invest. Both are ideal for long-term goals, like retirement savings. Stocks carry a higher risk, and you could potentially lose money. However, if you’re willing to ride out the market’s ups and downs through the years, it could pay off. Bonds tend to be lower risk — but so are the returns. As a general rule of thumb, the younger you are, the more risk you can afford.

21 Ways to Cut Your Expenses and Save Money

OK, OK. Enough talking about it. It’s time to save. One way to get the ball rolling? Find ways to cut your expenses.

Ways to Save Money on Monthly Bills

Thought you couldn’t escape those monthly bills? You can’t, really, but you can find ways to save money.

1. Switch to a Fee-Free Banking Account

If you overdraft about once a month, you’re handing over an average $360 in fees each year, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. That’s in overdraft fees alone.

Your best bet is to ditch your fee-heavy bank account and find something that promises to never charge you fees — like Aspiration*.

The Aspiration account is an online-only account with no monthly fees, no minimums and pays 1.00% APY. Yep! Instead of getting charged fees, you can actually earn money with this account.

What would you do with that $360 in reclaimed overdraft fees? Save it, duh.

2. Save Money on Your Student Loan Debt

More than 43 million Americans hold nearly $1.5 trillion in student loan debt, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

We’re not totally helpless, though. Here’s a trick that’ll help you save money on your debt and potentially pay it off even faster: Try getting a lower interest rate on your federal and private loans by refinancing.

What’s that mean? It means you’re replacing your current loan (or loans) with one that has better (lower!) interest rates.

You can search for better rates through the online marketplace Credible.

It might seem like a small difference now, but a lower interest rate saves a lot of money over time. It’s helping grad Ashley Williams save more than $18,000 in interest over the life of her loan.

3. Get a Lower Interest Rate on Your Credit Card Debt

The average credit card carries an interest rate north of 15%, according a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau analysis. That makes it difficult to chip away at what you actually owe, your principal.

The solution? Refinance (or pay off) your credit card debt with a lower-interest personal loan. This will alleviate those high credit card interest rates, so you can instead pay down that personal loan without as much interest getting in the way.

A good resource is Fiona, a search engine that can help match you with the right personal loan to meet your needs.

Fiona searches the top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer in less than 60 seconds. If your credit score is at least 620, its platform can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with fixed rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

4. Cut the Cord (or at Least the Price)

If your cable bill is entirely too high, consider cutting it and opting for a streaming service or two.

If you’re not keen on cutting the cord? You can still find savings.

The negotiation bot Trim will negotiate your cable or internet bills down for you.

It works with Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and other major providers.

You can sign up simply with Facebook or your email address. Then, upload a PDF of your most recent bill, and Trim’s AI-powered system gets to work. If at first it doesn’t succeed, it’ll keep negotiating until it can save you some money.

Also, if you have any outages, Trim believes you deserve a credit, and it’ll handle that for you. Trim takes 33% of the savings tab, and you get the rest.

5. Cancel Those Sneaky Subscriptions

In the days of the internet and impulse subscriptions, it’s easy to lose track of products and services you’ve opted into. (Ahem, that long-forgotten gym membership?)

Thankfully, an app called Truebill can track all your automated transactions and provide a simple way for you to see, manage and cancel those recurring charges.

6. Switch Cell Phone Providers

Think anything outside the “Big Four” cell phone carriers will be unreliable? You might be surprised. Check out these six affordable cell phone plans.

7. Find a Lower Car Insurance Rate

Just like you compare the prices of flights, shoes and laptops before purchasing, why not compare car insurance? You might be missing out on a ton of savings by settling.

The Zebra, an online car insurance search engine that offers “insurance in black and white,” compares your options from 204 providers in less than 60 seconds.

Artie Januario managed to knock off about $30 a month — a $360 yearly savings.

8. Perform a Home Energy Audit

If your utility bills are out of control, consider an energy audit. This in-home assessment will help make your house as energy efficient as possible.

Some utility companies offer the service for free, but they might try to upsell you products and services. Instead, you can perform your own energy audit; follow these simple DIY measures.

9. Hunt Down Energy Vampires

Those sneaky energy vampires — the devices that suck away energy even when you’re not using them — can make up as much as 20% of your monthly electric bill, according to Duke Energy.

Turn any corner, and you’re likely to find a vampire. Your coffee maker, your cable box, your phone charger. Once you identify these lurkers, simply unplug them when not in use.

Pro tip: Invest in a few power strips. Rather than roving around your house and unplugging each device, plug everything into a strip and flip one switch when you’re ready to kill… the vampires.

Ways to Save Money on Groceries and Food

Aside from rent or monthly mortgage payments, food probably tops your list of monthly expenses. And you’re right: Food is an essential. However, you can probably cut back. After all, five wedges of exotic cheese aren’t exactly essential. (Just one.)

10. Use a Shopping List

Create a weekly meal plan before you go grocery shopping to stay focused on what you actually need.

Keep your shopping list stored in your phone’s notes app. This allows you to add items throughout the week and move them around, according to their location in the store. (Stay focused!) Shopping for a full house? Share your notes with family members so they can add to the list.

11. Earn Cash Back on Your Purchases

Tired of clipping coupons? Save money instead by taking photos of your receipts.

Search for cash-back eligible items on your shopping list within the Ibotta app before you head to the store. When you get home, snap a photo of your receipt, and scan the items’ barcodes.

Some cash-back opportunities I’ve seen include:

25 cents back for any brand of bread.

$2.50 back on Dunkin’ coffee canister.

75 cents back on Tide laundry detergent pods.

The app is free to download, and you’ll get a $10 sign-up bonus after uploading your first receipt.

12. Shop Seasonally and Locally

Shopping at your local farmers market can save you a crop of money on your grocery bill, because the items are often in season and local — no shipping or international freight fees involved.

If you don’t have a farmers market in your area, you can still shop seasonally in your grocery store. For example, avoid buying that $6 carton of strawberries in November. Instead, purchase strawberries in peak season — between May and August, depending on where you live.

13. Change Grocery Stores

Grocery store loyalty runs deep. When was the last time you gave another store a chance? Penny Hoarder Kelly Smith always loved Winn-Dixie, but she checked out Trader Joe’s and calculated a $57 monthly savings. That’s nearly $680 a year.

If you want to get really technical, fill out a grocery comparison chart so you can see which store in your area has the best prices for the items you frequently buy.

14. Remember: Store Brand Isn’t Always Cheaper

We’ve been trained to think the store brand — or the generic brand — is cheaper. And a lot of times it is… if you’re solely considering the shelf price. But name-brand foods typically qualify for more coupons, members-only discounts or rebates through cash-back apps.

Do the math before you instinctually grab the store brand.

15. Pack Your Lunch

It’s tempting to ditch your brown-bag lunch and opt for fast food during the work week, but this habit will quickly drain your monthly food budget.

Instead, stick to those packed lunches. If you need to, search Pinterest for more creative on-the-go meals.

16. Avoid Takeout

Takeout or delivery is convenient, so if you need a break from the kitchen, allow yourself a break once a week.

You can opt to dine out for maximized relaxation and to avoid takeout and delivery fees. Or, if you have a crying kid on each hip, then order delivery. Instead of calling in your order, place an order online or within the restaurant’s app, where you can easily apply a coupon code. Don’t have one? No problem — RetailMeNot is a great place to find up-to-date promo codes.

For example, I just found a 30% off coupon code for Papa John’s. Simple!

Ways to Save Money on Shopping and Entertainment

Up until this point, I’ve talked about the best ways to save money on the essentials. Now let’s have a little fun… without overspending.

17. Practice the 30-Day Rule

Next time you’re out and about and spot the PERFECT jean jacket you HAVE to have RIGHT NOW, hit pause… for 30 days. The 30-Day Rule is a simple practice to help you resist impulse buys like this.

Here’s how it works: When you get home from the store, write down the day’s date, the name of the item, the price, and the store, explains J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly. Pin the note somewhere you’ll see it. At the end of the 30 days, evaluate your feelings. If you still want the item and can afford to pay for it outright, go ahead.

18. Get to Know Stores’ Price-Match Policies

Many stores — stores you probably shop at — have price-match policies. That means if an item you’ve purchased drops in price within a specific timeframe, you can request a refund for the difference.

To keep track of these easily, use Paribus — a tool that gets you money back for your online purchases. It’s free to sign up, and once you do, it will scan your email for any receipts. If it discovers you’ve purchased something from one of its monitored retailers, it will track the item’s price and help you get a refund when there’s a price drop.

Plus, if your guaranteed shipment shows up late, Paribus will help you get compensated.

Disclosure: Paribus compensates us when you sign up using the links we provide.

19. Hit up Consignment Shops

When’s the last time you ventured into your local consignment shop? You might be surprised by what you find. Designer jeans for $18? Yes, please!

Heck, you might even find some items to purchase and resell for a profit.

20. Find Free Weekend Activities

It’s easy to get sucked into spending money on weekend outings, but there are plenty of free activities happening in your area.

Nab some inspiration from these free things to do in Orlando. Chances are, you can search your local newspaper, magazine or website for ideas.

21. Take Advantage of Your Public Library

Did you know your local library is a treasure trove of freebies? Yup — take a look at some of these unexpected library freebies, including free museum passes, board games and musical instruments.

Ready to Save Money?

Saving money doesn’t have to be doom and gloom. Celebrate your successes along the way, forgive yourself for your mistakes and stay persistent.

Your hard work will pay off in the long run; I promise.

*Aspiration Partners, Inc. and its affiliates are committed to “All Extra Services Provided at Cost,” meaning that it’ll only charge you what it costs them to provide the extra service (such as a wire transfer), and not a penny more. Besides these at-cost service charges, the only account fee you pay is the fee you choose, even if it’s $0, which is why it’s called Pay What Is Fair.

Carson Kohler (carson@thepennyhoarder.com) is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Remember that one time she wrote up a list of 353 ways to save money?

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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