#in a job where I am guaranteed a COLA
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canichangemyblogname · 2 days ago
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AITAH—
I (28 m) programmed an event into my boss’ (51 f) calendar with the exact location: street number, town, zip— everything. She went to the place down the street, ten street numbers off. “Based on the address, I thought we were having it here.” “Ugh—no; they’re closed at this hour. The event down the street.” “Okay, well, you need to put that information in my calendar.” “Sorry, I could’ve sworn we put the address in—” “No. I need the name of the place and the context, like details on parking and entrances and hours of operation.” “Oh, okay. Sorry.”
#Today she had a meeting#and she was supposed to be meeting with just one person: the president of a local non-profit#but they brought 5 members of their team to the event#‘I need you to get all the names and positions of everyone who will be at a meeting. We’ve talked about this.’#‘Yes. I know.’#‘Then why didn’t you?’#‘They only gave me one name.’#And then the meeting afterwards: ‘Again. I didn’t have all the details for attendees.’#And it was literally right there in her calendar#And the day before: ‘You need to better vet who I am meeting with so I’m not wasting time with guys like him.’#Me knowing she instructed me to set up the meeting: 😐 ‘Okay.’#Your employees aren’t going to read your mind#they’re going to do what you instruct them to#like she asked me to strike out the middle part of a sentence & replace it with her edits. So I did.#Then asked why the sentence said ‘participants’ instead of ‘attendees’ << and the answer is ‘because you asked me to.’#like… this after a discussion where she told me that she feels I am challenging her authority/position too much#so now instead of saying ‘maybe participants isn’t the right word?’ I’m just saying ‘yes ma’am’ & then being scolded for making the change#I think I’ve probably gotten too $$$ for an office with very little $$$ (and I don’t even make that much!)#in a job where I am guaranteed a COLA#and at this point. they’re making it impossible to do anything right. probably hoping I’ll quit#I’ve also been increasingly handed the tedious work no one wants
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hinasho · 3 months ago
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I’ll see an image or a video and go oh wow that’s pretty but then I’ll stop and wonder if it’s AI.
There was fanart on Twitter, I thought it was safe, but then artists pointed out the AI giveaways. None of the non-artists in the comments had been able to tell.
Someone posted an edit on Reddit the other day. He got booed to oblivion because everyone said it was AI. He kept saying it wasn’t but no one believed him and he eventually took it down. To this day I still don’t know whether it was or was not.
I just scrolled down Tumblr and saw a very beautiful video someone took of a road trip. I froze up because I couldn’t tell if it was AI rendered or not. I went to the person’s page, saw nothing that says if they support or reject AI, so I just don’t know and will not know unless I question them privately. Invasion of privacy aside, even then there’s no guarantee of honesty.
I don’t know how to word this properly but AI is horrifying because it’s getting better. Because there are still so many people who don’t care about the ethics of it who don’t care about all the jobs and communities they’re harming by supporting it. There’s so many that still use it, despite the groups of people it’s actively hurting, that it’s fucking improving. It’s getting so much better at theft and fraud that it’s becoming hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake anymore.
This is horrifying. It is exhausting being anxious over every piece of art or video or edit or song online because AI has become so invasive and predatory that I can’t tell anymore whether a real person has created smthg or a gotdamn algorithm has. This is exhausting and I am terrified because I feel it’s only going to get worse.
Coca Cola recently created an advertisement comprised entirely of AI. No actors, no set designers, no MUAs, no camera crew, etc. The ad looked disgusting and obviously fake, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that Coca Cola is a household brand & multinational corporation, and they just used and promoted AI. Do you know what this means? Do you see where we’re going? Fuck.
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alsjeblieft-zeg · 2 years ago
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267 of 2023
1 - Aside from the necessities (eating, breathing etc.) what is something you do every single day, without fail?
Taking my medication. I’ve never skipped a single dose of it.
2 - Do you use cash or card the most? Do you find yourself using card or contactless methods more since COVID hit?
Card has been a preferred method here for along time already, although not carrying some cash with you at all times was illegal at some point.
3 - Is there anything you enjoy that’s considered childish for your age? What is it?
Well, maybe reading young adult books.
4 - Who’s your favourite voice actor? What’s the best thing they’ve been in?
I don’t know and I don’t care.
5 - How many times a day do you use the bathroom?
Do you really think anyone counts that?
6 - Do you need caffeine to wake up in the morning? What’s your drink of choice?
I used to, but I stopped. Now the only caffeinated drink for me is Coca Cola.
7 - Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? If you’re an introvert, do you feel like you live in a world built for extroverts?
I’m an ambivert and I’m feeling good wherever I am, typically.
8 - What do you do with old clothes you no longer want or need?
I try selling them, if they’re in good condition.
9 - How old were you when you got your first pet (not a family pet, but one that you were solely responsible for)?
I got Victoria when I was 21.
10 - What is something popular or fashionable that you consider to be a real waste of money?
Almost everything lol. Especially Apple products.
11 - Do you donate to charity?
No, I don’t. I want to know where exactly my money goes.
12 - Do you live somewhere with lots of livestock or wild animals?
I live in the centre of the main city in my province.
13 - Would you rather live somewhere rural or urban?
Suburbs would be perfect. Close to the city, and close to the nature. Although I wouldn’t mind living somewhere by the busy road so I can hear the traffic at night.
14 - Is there anything (a hobby, for example) that’s guaranteed to always make you feel better when you’ve had a bad day?
Yeah, radio signals.
15 - If you’re struggling with your mental health, who are you most likely to open up to, or would you bottle it up instead?
I keep things to myself. On rare occasion, I talk with my husband about it.
16 - Do you get your five portions of fruits and veggies everyday?
Five? What pseudoscientific bs is that. I eat rarely, but 99% of it is veggies.
17 - What room of your house do you spend the most time in? Is this through choice or necessity?
Living room. Close to the bathroom and to the kitchen. I actually spend most time outdoors, though.
18 - If you have pets, do you snuggle with them when you’re having a bad time? Does it make you feel better?
Yeah, they come for snuggles by themselves. Especially Victoria is sensitive to our moods and comes to cheer us up.
19 - Would you ever sign up to be in the military? What if there was enforced conscription, would you go or would you object?
Well, nobody would take the person with epilepsy, no matter how much they want. I wanted, but I can’t.
20 - Would you ever want to go to any kind of fitness bootcamp, or does that sound like utter hell to you?
First I need to know what a fitness bootcamp is.
21 - What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? What was it that made it so bad?
I worked as a cleaning guy in the local library while doing my degree at the sam time. It wasn’t even the job itself that was bad. It was the boss.
22 - If you could design your own garden, what would you have in it? Do you think that dream is ever going to be achievable for you?
I’d love to have veggies and flowers and fruits.
23 - Do you believe there’s life on other planets? If so, do you think it’s anything like humanity?
Most likely, the universe is just too big. I have no idea how it’s like, and I don’t care much.
24 - Does it take you a long time to fall asleep at night? What do you if you’re really struggling to get to sleep?
Not anymore since antidepressants kicked in. I keep trying.
25 - if you drive, how many times a week do you have to fill up your car with fuel? If you don’t drive, how much do you spend a week on travel/transport?
I have De Lijn services for free and NMBS for 50%, so not much, even though I travel a lot almost every day.
26 - What did you get the last time you went out for fast food?
I don’t eat it.
27 - Do you tend to snack when you’re watching TV or sitting at the computer? What’s your favourite thing to snack on?
No, I don’t.
28 - When was the last time you went to a zoo or wildlife park type place?
Thankfully very long ago.
29 - Do you think it’s cruel when people keep exotic animals as pets? Or do you think it’s okay as long as they have the space, time and money to dedicate to them?
I believe caring for anumals s good and animal abuse is wrong, period.
30 - If you eat meat, is there a particular animal you’d never eat? If you don’t eat meat, what’s the reason for it?
I don’t like the taste and the structure of meat.
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sirfrogsworth · 3 years ago
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Doctor of Whatnow?
I was watching a video with Hasan Minhaj where he was getting hate from Doctors of Osteopathy because he made a joke about them on a late night talk show. He said MDs were like Coca-Cola Classic and DOs were like RC Cola.
I'm not sure if I completely agree with that joke, but I definitely have some complicated opinions about DOs.
In the United States, DOs get all of the same training as MDs. So I don't think they are outright quacks or anything. But I do think they are more *prone* to being quacks. There are probably great DOs and terrible DOs just as there are with MDs. But I would suspect the quackery among DOs is a higher percentage.
I feel that because the "osteopathy" part of DO bothers me. Because along with all of the normal medical training, DOs get a bit of extra training in some bullshit practices. Osteopathic procedures have had no conclusive evidence of benefit.
That little bit of quack training worries me. From what I can tell, not very many DOs actually utilize much of this training in their day to day practices. And while osteopathy doesn't help with anything, it doesn't seem like it harms anything either. But I would need to be sure that the DO is not going to treat me with any wellness nonsense before I trust them. Because if they believe in osteopathy, I feel like they might easily believe GOOPy bullshit as well.
I've also had a bad experience with a DO. Back when I was desperate to cure my CFS, I went to a claimed "expert" hoping to find a treatment. She didn't actually treat me with anything osteopathic, but she did give me expensive vitamins and supplements and other bullshit that did nothing to help me.
In the end, she basically grifted me out of almost $10,000. To this day I still have debtors hounding me constantly. She basically guaranteed I would get at least 90% better and would be able to get a job so I could then pay off this debt. She told me not to worry about using credit cards because I'd be able to manage the payments when I was off disability and making good money again.
Then, once I had maxed out all of my credit cards and could not pay for any more "treatment", she sent me a coupon for $40 off her vitamins and I never heard from her again. I could not get her on the phone. Her receptionist kept saying she'd call me back and she never did. They knew I was out of money and so I was not worth speaking to.
Years later I found out her clinic was shut down because of fraud.
That did not put DOs in a good light for me. But I follow a couple of them on Twitter and YouTube and they seem to be on the up and up.
Soooo... I am willing to not judge them as a collective and just go on a case by case basis.
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surveys-at-your-service · 5 years ago
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Survey #222
“hold your breath, my dear, we’re going under.”
Have you ever kicked a vending machine? No. Have you ever stayed online for a long time waiting for someone? Ha ha, yeah... I did that for Mini a lot when I was younger. Would you survive in prison? I can almost guarantee I'd find a way to kill myself, no. What is your favorite condiment to go with french fries? Probably ketchup. What do you have a habit of doing when engaging in a conversation with someone? Obsess over if I'm making eye contact correctly. Like the WHOLE time I will be thinking about it. Have you ever lost a pet in a tragic way? How did you cope? I had a lot of childhood cats run over, and that was always hard to see. As for coping, I just... did. What else do you do. Do you have a favorite classical composer? No. Mini skirts, slutty or stylish? Um, what you wear doesn't determine whether or not you're "slutty." They don't bother me. Do you like a partner who is clean cut or rugged? A mix. Pale or tan, which would you rather be? I like pale skin, I just don't like the texture of mine. The negative of pale skin is the fact you can see flaws more clearly. Is walking cats strange? (like walking dogs) No. What about kids on leashes? What do you think about that? That shit is wild. Teach your children better, or keep them in your sights at all times if they have some kind of condition that makes it challenging to teach them properly. How many piercings have you had, BESIDES ears, no one cares. Two. New tats in your near future? Whenever I myself have the money, my next tattoo appointment will be to enhance my Mark tribute one to better the galaxy texture. I love the guy who's done my tats so far, but there are better out there, and I don't feel he achieved my vision. This tattoo is WILD important to me; it has to be perfect. After that, a "new" tattoo probably won't happen until I have a job or I'm gifted money. How about piercings or re-piercings? "In the near future" is the criteria I'm guessing is still relevant? It depends on how quickly I lose enough weight for my collarbones to be clearly prominent to get dermals. I've been fucking stagnated for a year, though, so I don't know when the hell that's happening... Who would you like to hang out with? There's a lot of old friends and acquaintances that fit this. Next new thing you are wanting to try! Idk. Some sort of job I can actually accomplish. Would you ever visit a psychic medium? Definitely not; I don't believe they're legit. Are some days a waste of makeup? Um so idk if you know, author, but people wear makeup for their own satisfaction. If it makes you feel beautiful, then hell no it's not a waste. Do you watch any beauty gurus on YouTube? Okay I fucking adore Jeffree Star y'all. He's a goddamn Mood and inspirational as ALL hell in terms of his determination, work ethic, and open-mindedness. I watch everything he uploads ever, even though I'm not really interested in makeup. It's cool to watch though; it's an art to me. Do you have a PillowPet? No, but omfg. One of my favorite Christmas memories ever is the night my niece, when she was around two or so, was given one (or something like it?) the night before, we turned the lights out, and lit it up so the colorful stars were all over the room. She was absolutely marveling over it. That was the same night my sister revealed she was pregnant with my nephew, actually. That was a great night. Actually felt like a family. Do you have sleep paralysis? Thank FUCK no. Have you ever wanted an ex back, but found out they were dating someone? I've talked about Jason and Ashley before. God that was a bad. Bad. Fuck-ing. Time. Do you like Placebo? I don't listen to them. Has anyone ever carried you to bed? I mean as a kid, yeah. Idr as a teenager or adult. Would you rather have a wiener dog or an Italian greyhound? The greyhound. Dachshunds are precious, but as of semi-recently, I'm personally against breeding pets with damaging/unhealthy traits, and dachshunds are very susceptible to spine issues. Idk if greyhounds have any issues like that. Do your parents buy you most anything you want? Bitch we poor, no. What is the next craft you are going to make? Probably something for Sara for some special event. I don't think that's much of a spoiler, so I don't mind sharing it. Do you learn choreography easily? I was decent when I was a dance student, but no, I can promise you no. My memory is laughable. If you had to choose, would you rather be taller or shorter? Taller, I guess? Idk. Do you believe that Jesus will come back in your lifetime? No, I don't believe he ever will. What color is your winter coat? ... Shit dude, idr. Idk if I even have one, actually. What’s your favorite candy to receive on Halloween? Gimme all ur Reese's cups. Have you ever spent your birthday alone? No. Have you ever had a themed b-day party? I'm sure I did as a kid. Were you afraid of heights as a child? No. I am now tho. Which dollar store is your favorite? Here, Dollar Generals are everywhere and generally the preferred one, I believe. What food gives you diarrhea? Totally serious, most exceptionally "fancy" foods; by that, I assume things with lots of intricate spices and other ingredients. At least severe gas pains are almost guaranteed when I eat out somewhere. Have you ever had a lead role in a play? No. Ha ha man, I remember as an elementary school student though, we had a play where I SO wanted to be Snow White. What is the most fascinating part of nature? Evolution. I don't know how I once didn't believe in it. Would you ever go vegetarian? I am serious about returning to vegetarianism when/if I get to a weight I'm satisfied with (losing weight w/o meat is more difficult than with, particularly for an extremely picky eater). I wish I could be a total vegan, but I know I'm not capable of that. Once you actually learn about slaughterhouses and farm life... no. What berry is your favorite? STRAW!!!!!!!BERRIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is your dream house? Something in the woods with a nice yard/outdoor decor, flowers, wildlife... What was the reason in you crying last? PTSD. Are there any movies in the theater that you’d like to see? The new IT and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. What do you think of Coca Cola? It's my third-fave soda. What about polar bears? Gorgeous animals. I will R I O T if they go extinct. My best friend(s) are/is... Sara. When do you want to have your first kid? Never. I am faaar from cut out to be a mother. Which stovetop burner do you use the most? I don't cook, so. The times I've made eggs, uh... I think I use the bottom right? Do you use a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand? Ugh, we don't have one. What year did you graduate high school? 2014. Do you carry pepper spray? No, but I should with how paranoid I am. What is your favorite gas station? Sheetz is the way to go down here. What have been some of your best garage sale finds? *shrugs* Idr the last time I went to one. Ever worked two jobs or more at once? Hell no. I wouldn't survive. How often do you check your email? Every day, mainly for school. What would you do if your ex came to you crying? It would depend on who. "The" ex, I don't give a fuck how I feel about him, he's getting a tight-ass hug because seeing him cry is awful, and I will always care about him to a certain degree. Well actually, I'd ask him before hugging; I don't know if he'd be fine with me touching him. Girt would get a big 'ole hug for sure. Juan, Tyler, and Aaron I'd ask if they wanted a hug. I'd definitely ask any of them if they wanted to talk/vent to me about whatever is wrong; I can't stand seeing people cry. What school do you go to, what grade? I'm a super late freshman in college. How do you feel about school? It's been a drastic change in my daily life and thus has caused stress, but nevertheless I'm ecstatic to be back because I'm actually making progress towards going somewhere. Are you still a virgin? So I know it sounds like it makes NO sense w/o details, but seriously, I don't know. We had "cheaty" ways to just barely skirt around it because at the time I was abstinent, but pretty sure at some point it became sex. Do you eat chips or crackers more? Man, I haven't had chips in a loooong time... though I love them, man. We have crackers at the house usually, and I snack on them occasionally. Is your bed next to a wall? Who doesn't have their bed against at least one?? Is your bed next to a window? There's one beside me against the wall. Do you have neat handwriting? I think so. The only thing I don't like is I write SOOOOOOOOOO slow. Would you rather be a singer or a dancer? Dancer. Would you rather be a musician or a painter? Painter. What did your hair look like in high school? Long and normally brown, but sometimes I dyed it black with colored highlights. Favorite flavor of hot chocolate? Normal?? What is your top priority in life? My happiness, probably. Have you ever made a gingerbread house? Yeah. Sucky ones, but they were gingerbread houses, lol. Do you prefer candy corn or conversation hearts? EW both are gross. Skeletons or scarecrows? I'll see you in the Skeleton War, fuckers. Who was the last non-relative woman you spoke to in person? My Writing teacher. What’s a topic you’ve drastically changed your opinion on? I did a TOTAL 180 on LGBT rights, and my former, intense pro-life stance has altered quite a lot to mostly pro-choice. What’s an achievement you hope to see humanity accomplish in your lifetime? Man, a lot... A total ban from plastic and finding an alternative for it would be great, as well as the cure of cancer and H.I.V. Make gay marriage legal worldwide. Make great progress on cleaning the oceans. I could go on and on. Do you know anyone who has a PhD? As far as personally, possibly. Like, obviously my doctors do. How do you feel when you’re the center of attention? *buys that red button that says "no" in various fashions solely for this occasion* Are you and your S/O Facebook official? She doesn't have a FB, but mine does say "in a relationship." Do you know anyone who works as a lawyer? Not that I know well anymore; a former best friend is in the process of becoming one, though. So proud of her. Which would bother you more: being told you’re not likable or being told you’re not sensible? Being told I'm not likable would really hurt. How many bedrooms does your house have? Two. Have you ever had a dream in which you died? Yeah. Does the thought of having wrinkles when you’re older upset you? Not really. Everyone gets them. Do you use Snapchat? No. Do you know anyone who’s struggling with addiction? Yes. What was your first job? And how long did you work there? I was a sales associate at GameStop. I was employed for like two months, but I worked very few days before I crumbled. Where is the last place you were other then where you are right now? School. How do you feel about the last person you kissed? I adore her. Lol, Lawl, Rotfl, Lmao, or Lmfao? (Which you use most) Lmao or lol. Have you/Do you know anyone that grows weed? Not knowingly to me. Do you really care about name brands? Not just for the sake of being a certain name; I do, however, care about the quality of brands, of course, such as taste for foods or being comfortable in clothes. Describe your favorite pair of jeans to me please. I don't have any. When I was actually slim though, I had a pair of maroon skinny jeans with a black dappling texture, and there were holes in them where the fabric was just black, and I loooooved them. Those and my leather boots was A Look. To wash in the shower, do you use a loofa? That's not the technical name for what I use according to Mom when I've called them that, but rather a body sponge or something like that, but it's like the same thing. Have you ever ridden on a horse? Yes, though not at a gallop or anything "real." Just at things like school fairs. Are you polite? I think I'm very polite, honestly. Do you prefer bright or muted colors? Bright, usually. Can you roll your tongue? I used to be able to after practicing all day once with a friend ha ha, but I haven't been able to for a long time. Definitely can't now with snake eyes. Are you a light weight when it comes to alcohol? No, apparently. Which accents can you emulate pretty well? British and country. How loud do you listen to music? Too loud, I know. Are you more awkward talking to people in real life or online? JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, real life. I don't think I'm half bad online. Do you bruise easily? So easily that I was tested for anemia or whatever it's called where you bleed easily (the test was negative, thankfully). Despite feeling bruised, though, I usually don't have an actual mark. Have you ever bought pre-ripped jeans? All my jeans were. I hate plain, boring jeans. What are you most likely to spend money on? Tattoos, lol... I genuinely think I'm good with money, I feel because of the financial position I've grown up and lived in, although I have never had a stable source of income, so it's hard to really determine that yet. I'm quite sure I'll be fine, but I really do hope I handle my money well when I do and don't invest all my spendable (as in, not money that I'm saving for emergencies) money into just tats. Have you ever been a complete fangirl/fanboy over anything? Welcome to my life, lol. I'm at an age where it's starting to get embarrassing, but. Idk how to change it. What’s the weirdest way you’ve ever heard somebody die of? *shrug* When was the last time you (dis)liked someone without really knowing them? I dunno. I try to not do that. When was the last time you wore a mask? What did it look like? Hell if I remember. I don't even remember wearing any on Halloween as a child. What comes up on your recommended list on YouTube? Mainly let's plays or music. Have you ever had a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend? Hell no, that wouldn't last long. How many true heart breaks have you had in your lifetime? One. Do you have any gay family members? My mom has a gay cousin. Who was the last person to sleep over at your house? Sara. Would you ever get a boob job? No; I don't care enough about them too. I wish they were smaller. I liked mine when I was a healthy weight, so, let's get back to that size, please. What would you think if you found out your ex was gay? Aaron, I think he actually is. Juan, trust me, he's not. Jason couldn't convince me he was gay even if he tried. I very highly doubt he'd be bi/pan, either. Girt, I would be surprised, but not like, immensely. I don't have a clue about Tyler and if he has any gay tendencies/history. Would you ever take someone back if you found out they cheated on you? NO SIR-REE. Do people ever compliment your eyes? Yeah. Would you be upset if you caught your boyfriend looking at porn? I don't know. I used to feel REALLY strongly about porn just being a big 'ole fucking nope, but whatever man, we're sexual animals. Better you take care of urges yourself rather than, you know, raping someone or something. If I personally caught my s/o doing it, idk how I'd feel, but knowing me and my self-esteem, I'd feel I'd probably jump to the whole (if we were serious) "um hi I'm your fckng gf what am I not enough" thought path. I don't think I'd be livid, though. Ask the old Britt, and we would've broken up there, probably. Who’s the last person that hung up on you? *shrug* Do you have a common first name? Yeah. Have you ever been engaged? No. Do you have any tattoos on your arms? Four, currently. They're gonna be covered one day. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else’s property? No. Have you ever been punched? No. What do you usually order from Olive Garden? I will, without fail, get the spicy shrimp fritas and be the happiest human being on Earth. How do you feel about bats? I absolutely adore them. Do you get excited when you learn you have to dress up? Quite the opposite, actually. What brand of hair spray do you use? I don't use it. Do you like it when guys wear hats? I have zero opinion on this. Burger King, McDonald's, or Wendy's? I prefer Wendy's. If you type for awhile, do your fingers start to hurt? No. Are you the type of person who would study for a test for hours? No, I'm not. I generally don't even have to like, intensely study; I tend to learn upon reading things, or in like math, performing the actions just a couple times. "Studying" doesn't tend to work for me; if it gets to that point, it probably won't stick, regardless of how many times I try. Are you a lazy person? I hate admitting just how lazy I am. But I mean again, it also depends on what is at stakes. Does your house have a doorbell? Yes, though I actually don't know if the doorbell works... Favorite album? Ozzy Osbourne's Black Rain. Favorite farm animal? PIGS! Has your Facebook ever been hacked? No. Do you spell gray with an A or an E? I use the American spelling ("gray"). Would you rather get money or gift cards for your birthday? I would be perfectly and entirely happy with purely money for my birthday, because that equals tattoos, lmao. Have you ever spoken to a detective before? No. Have you ever played laser tag? Once on a double-date with Jason and our old roommates/friends. Do you ever share things on Facebook? Almost all I do are share things I support, find funny, find as inspirational or cute, stuff like that. I can confidently say the majority of people I even have as "friends" on there do not care that much about my personal life. Is anyone you’re close to in the hospital right now? I mean, define "close." My grandmother's going through chemo, but we're not like... my definition of particularly "close," though she's close-ish family, so idk. Is your Wifi protected? Of course. What did you have for lunch today? I didn't eat lunch. How often do people write on your Facebook wall? On my birthday, lmao. Does your phone have a cover on it? No. I'd say I want one, but way more than that, I want a new phone. Mine is godawful. What color was your swim suit this year? I mean my most recently-worn is black, but I think it'd probably be too big for me now. I haven't swam in a long time. Do ladders scare you? Yes. Do you have any pictures of you and your friends in your bedroom? No. How do you eat Oreos? I'm one of those people that breaks the cookie to eat the cream first. Who or what sleeps with you? My cat Roman. Do you know anyone with the same name as you? Yes, but spelled differently. Are you pro-life or pro-choice? Honestly, it's become almost embarrassing to say I was ever pro-life. I'm vehemently pro-choice now. What color LED is the display in your car? Okay so Mom's has a rainbow of options, but I think it's currently stuck on... purple? I think? How am I unsure???? I'm in it every day?????????? Who was your first kiss with? Jason, my first "real" boyfriend. What kind of milk do you drink? I'll drink anywhere between skim to whole milk, but I'm not really a fan of skim despite having grown up with it. What aren’t you afraid to stand up for? I'd stand up for gay rights if it killed me. Do you know anybody in the military? Loosely. What was the last hotel you stayed at? I don't have the slightest clue. Do you have any STDs? No. What’s your preferred salad dressing? YO the Olive Garden dressing is b o m b. Do you have a favorite NASCAR driver? No. Who’s your celebrity crush? I'm almost 24 years old ha ha ha hahaha I'm too old for a celebrity crush aha hahaa haa aahha ah hahaaaaaaaaaaaaa- What color is your fridge? Black. Do you know the metric system well enough to live in Canada? No, admittedly. What was the biggest bruise you’ve ever had? Tell me the place (on your body) and the story of it! Idr. If you have Etsy account - show the very last item you added to the favorites. If not - either skip or just visit Etsy and find one thing you like: I think I have one, but I don't use it. I don't feel like looking. What would you do if you knew that you will be single to your very death (even if you’re in a relationship now)? Nothing would change...? My relationship status doesn't alter my goals and such. Are there any exchange students at your school? We have a LOT of foreign students at my school, so I'd assume so. Have you got any half or step siblings? I have three (actually four, but I don't know one tho) half-siblings and technically a step-brother, but I don't see him as a "brother," really. What cars do your siblings drive, if they do drive? My older sister has a red car, and my younger has a... black Kia, I think? It's dark is all I know for sure, and I only know the brand because it's new. I don't live with either or see their cars frequently elsewhere, so idk. What about your parents? Idk what kind my dad drives, but BOY do I know my mom's car, lmao. It's an older white Kia (I think?) with the bumper fuckin zip-tied onto the car bc it was given to us after a dance friend hit a poor deer, lmao. Look, we don't complain, shit was free. Do you like kid’s movies? Yo I do NOT trust you if you claim you like NO "kids' movie." Describe your handbag. I'm actually gonna look it up. (https://sourpussclothingwholesale.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/night-owl-bag.jpg?w=584&h=364) When was the last time you had to take someone home? ME, never. I don't have my license because I'm terrified of driving. Who was it, and where did you take them home from? N/A Have you ever known someone online and then met them in person? Sara Jaaaaaane!!! :'> There are other friends I'd like to meet, too. If so, which website did you meet on? Sara and I met via YouTube when it was actually community-oriented. Have you ever been to the beach? Yeah, multiple times. Have you ever been kicked out of somewhere? Yeah, I guess. She didn't actually like, force me outside, but I had to call my mother to pick me up. Have you ever intentionally trolled? No. Did you get swine flu? No. What is your favorite type of cat? Aesthetically, I find Persians to be way too cute, though I don't support their continued breeding. It's literally abuse to breed animals that deformed. Do you support the LGBTQ community? I'm bisexual, so like- Have you ever eaten a veggie burger? Yeah, the Morningstar brand from Burger King (not the Impossible Burger one). It's genuinely not bad. If you could meet any major political figure, who would it be? I'm not educated enough on like, any, to properly answer this question. If you drink Monster, what is your favorite flavor? N/A Do you own any Webkinz stuffed animals? I was that Bad Bitch(tm) with like,,,, almost all of them back in the day. If so, do you have a Webkinz online account? It exists, but idr the password sobs. If you had/have a Club Penguin account, how old were you when you got it? I would have a character for like two days, not go back on for years, repeat a couple times... but idk how old I was. Do you own any Nintendo video game consoles/handhelds? GameBoys and a DS Lite, yes. What religion were you raised in? Roman Catholicism. Are you still that religion, if you had one? Far from it. What religion/spiritual path intrigues you the most, if any? Buddhism and Wicca. What ancient culture intrigues you the most, if any? Idk. Were/are you a teacher’s pet? Not like, the kind that sucked up to the teacher for their personal benefit, but if you mean just as in the teacher's favorite, yeah. Do you like pink lemonade? Hell yeah man. What’s your favorite U2 song, if you have one? I don't listen to them. Were your parents born in the United States? Yeah. Do women breastfeeding in public make you feel uncomfortable? I want it to be perfectly and violently clear that I fucking despise you if a child being fed fucking offends you. Why or why not? Because women's bodies aren't sexual fucking objects designed for your viewing pleasure. Write an unpopular/offensive opinion of yours here. I’m interested. Buckle up, lads. Seatbelts fastened? Ass properly in the seat? Airbags in place? There are two genders.
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shoninoni-blog · 5 years ago
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Cleaning Services Lansing MI
I live in Howell Mi and for a considerable length of time I have claimed a Rug Doctor and I have done my floor coverings myself for as far back as 10 years. The last time I utilized a rug cleaning administration 10 yrs back I was pissed with the manner in which they left my rugs and that was terrible. I would not like to clean my floor coverings this time in light of up and coming knee substitution. Mike the proprietor of Dcmdirect Cleaning and I talked and I let him know of my hesitance and he immediately set me straight.
Mike is one hell of decent man and chatting with Mike via telephone was a delight. To make a long story short the rugs where I live are 20 years of age I'm leasing and I'm attempting to buy the home . Mike's had his expert land on schedule. The incongruity of the entire thing that my neighbor was having her entire home cleaned by a similar organization that left my floor coverings looking severely 10 years sooner. They were done and gone with my neighbors home shortly.
Mike's representative did likewise sqft of my neighbors however it took him two or three hours a lot progressively then nearby. The laborers name is Gabriel. I couldn't accept how hard Gabriel functioned attempting to make a 20 yr old floor covering looked great. Gabriel additionally cleaned two lounge chairs and cleaned each inch including the wrinkles.
Gabriel and I got an opportunity to represent a minute. He is one hell of man. Gabriel 's character mirrored the work he put into the floor coverings. I am astonished of Mike's demonstrable skill and Gabriel's hard working attitude. I will allude Dcmdirect out to everybody. Watch the name brand cleaners with coupons. In the event that it resembles 4 rooms and whatever for 99 dollars well you get what you pay for.
That is the thing that I did years back. I utilized a coupon and I got what the coupon said a markdown, not all that much and it looked so awful that I leased a mat cleaner and the rottenness I got out overwhelmed me. At the point when I enlisted the contender I didn't understand it's in the entryway and out the entryway rapidly. Mike's evaluating is more than focused and of greatness. Incredible Job Mike...Gabriel Thank you such a great amount for your hard, difficult work wonderful.
Dcmdirect Cleaning Services Lansing MI cleans our therapeutic office two or three times each week. They give remarkable help and tender loving care with each cleaning. Mike and his group are constantly considerate and mindful to our needs and demands for unique thoughtfulness regarding territories that require consistent sanitation. This is basic to protect our patients. I would strongly suggest their administrations for all your cleaning or janitorial needs.
Brief and proficient, dependable and careful. What more would you be able to ask of a contractual worker you can't meet face to face since you live in another state? Our realtor made this suggestion, and we were satisfied that she did. We particularly valued Mike's eagerness to come without prior warning on an end of the week. In the event that we lived nearer, I would positively procure them once more. Much appreciated!
Power Washing East Lansing MI
Peak Pressure Washing provides 3 different methods of power washing of Driveway. By following these steps you can easily clean your Driveway, if you have right cleaning tools and chemicals. If you are not able to clean Driveway then find expert power washing service Provider Company in Apex, Cary, Raleigh, Fuquay Varina, Holly Springs NC and surrounding areas of North Carolina
About Peak Power Washing East Lansing MI is locally owned and operated since 2007 provides services at Apex and Triangle Area like Cary Clayton Durham Garner Holly Springs Fuquay Varina Morrisville Raleigh NC and surrounding areas. All Services are listed below: i. Pressure Washing ii. Roof Stain Removal Cleaning iii. Deck Cleaning Washing iv. Concrete Masonry Power Washing v. Residential Gutter Cleaning We provide commercial business services such as restaurants gas stations apartment cleaning etc. We provide 24/7/365 days emergency washing and cleaning services. Prepared By: Power Washing Lansing MI
Steps of Power Washing of Driveway Below we listed a steps of Power Washing of Driveway: Method 1: Using a Pressure Washer • Clear out your driveway • Apply a degreaser to the stain • Set up your pressure washer • Apply the detergent to your driveway • Rinse your driveway Method 2: Using Household Products • Apply a natural absorbent • Apply cola to the stain • Use dishwasher detergent Method 3: Cleaning with Chemicals • Make a poultice • Use an enzymatic cleaner • Use a professional cleaner Prepared By: Peak Pressure Washing
Carpet Cleaning Dewitt MI
Slide 1:Mistakes to Avoid while Hiring a Carpet Cleaner
Slide 2:It is said that on an average, a carpet contains more germs than a regular toilet seat. Carpet Cleaning Dewitt MI can make a significant difference in your home. So it can’t be neglected.
Slide 3:Here are some of the mistakes that you need to avoid while hiring Carpet cleaners North Sydney.   Selecting a Cleaner Depending on the Equipment Choosing a Cleaner Depending on Low Price Choosing a Cleaner Depending on a Phone Call
Slide 4:  Choosing Cleaner that does not Offer Money Back Guarantee Choosing a Cleaner that does not Use Hot-Water, Track-Powered Extraction System
Slide 5:  Selecting a Cleaner Depending on the Equipment They need to skilled with the equipment they are using and have knowledge about the cleaning. In fact, they need to have experience in dealing with any situation that comes in their way.
Slide 6:Choosing a Cleaner Depending on Low Price Cleaning carpet thoroughly might involve some money and thus you need to careful about the value of your cleaning against the cost as the cleaners get inside the home, they might push you for a more expensive cleaning.
Slide 7:Choosing a Cleaner Depending on a Phone Call The quotes that are offered over the phone can be quite misleading and might often be far for the original cost. So, instead of making a phone call to take the quote, call the cleaner at your home and ask for a written quotation.
Slide 8:Choosing Cleaner that does not Offer Money Back Guarantee Not all  Carpet cleaners North Sydney  are known to offer a guarantee and even if they do, it is mostly limited.
Slide 9:Choosing a Cleaner that does not Use Hot-Water, Track-Powered Extraction System Portable hot-water system is known to be good but not as good as truck-mount system. It uses hot water, stronger suction, and higher pressure. Thus, it gets the job done in a much better way.
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annathescavver · 6 years ago
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OC Introduction
I’ve seen games like this go around before, but never had the courage to actually fill one out. This time, though! I’m gonna do it! Also, I’m overdue for some kind of introduction.
Thanks to @robobrainmurdermysterytheatre for the template.
Rules:
1. Choose an OC.
2. Answer them as that OC.
3. Tag 5 people to do the same.  ...if you're reading this, and you want to participate, go for it!
What is your name? Anna. Nice to meet you.
How old are you? Heh...y’know, I really don’t have an exact number. I always tell people I'm in my late twenties.
What do you look like? I'm not good at descriptions...I guess average height. I got blonde hair that I keep in a ponytail all the time because I can’t seem to do anything with it. I’m pale, too, and burn if I stand in the sun for more than three minutes. My eyes are a dark brown and I got this nasty scar on my jaw from some hot oil (long story). I usually wear jeans and a long sleeve jacket because sun = ouch. Oh, and my boots always have mud on them. I dunno.
Where are you from? Where do you live now? I used to live in a farming settlement until things went south. I lived in Diamond City for a while, but now I live at the Red Rocket truck stop out by Sanctuary.
What was your childhood like? I really don't remember enough to tell you.
What groups are you friendly with? Are you allied with any factions? I get along great with the Minutemen. I trade with them all the time and spend a lot of my time in Sanctuary, helping out wherever I can. I've worked with the Railroad before and no, I'm keeping that all a secret for security purposes. Even though I don't really practice the religion itself, I'm an official Child of Atom. Lastly, I'm allied with Acadia and consider them good friends of mine.
Tell me about your best friend. Dogmeat! I found him sniffing around the truck stop and we've been together ever since. He's always there when I need him, and he always seems to know just how to make me feel better when I'm having a rough day. He's got this teddy bear I found a while back and he carries it around a lot. I call him Mr. Squeaks.
Do you have a family? Tell me about them! I consider most of my friends my family, so...More accurately, I've got Dogmeat and Nick, and there's DiMA. As for close friends, I've got Ellie from the detective agency, and Rebecca, who came from Vault 111 and who I've been helping out lately.
What about a partner or partners? Nick Valentine. He was one of the first people I met in Diamond City and he offered me a job as his partner. I needed a job, and something to keep me occupied, and I think he realized that. He's a good guy, always trying to help people. I love that about him. Who am I kidding, I love everything about him.
Who are your enemies, and why? I dunno if I have any specific, absolutely hated enemies. There are people I don't get along with, sure. Anyone who speaks ill of my friends or synths/ghouls in general, mostly. You want to be a bigot and then advertise that fact, well, let's just say we won't get along.
Have you ever heard of The Brotherhood of Steel? What do you think about them? Yeah. I saw their airship fly over my head when they first came to the Commonwealth. I admire their desire to rebuild the world, but I do not like their stance on synths and ghouls.
 What about The Enclave? Never heard of them.
How do you feel about Super Mutants? I tend to avoid them. They have raided more than one settlement I've been a part of, and I know gangs of them have done the same to others. That said, I don't     personally hate all super mutants. From what I've heard, it had something to do with a lab and/or the Institute. If so, that's not fair and it's not their fault it happened.
What’s the craziest fight you’ve ever been in? I had to help Rebecca take out a courser, once. She needed something they had. We both got badly injured, and so I put coursers onto my "Do Not Engage" list.
Have you ever fought a Deathclaw? Yeah, and I don't want a repeat. I try to leave them alone. They're just doing their own thing, you know?
Do you like fighting? No, not really. I hate when things escalate and people pull out their weapons. Can we not? I know this is the     wasteland, but can we at least try to be civil?
What’s your weapon of choice? Either my plasma rifle or December's Child, a combat rifle I found...(ahem) that a friend gave to me.
How do you survive? Your wits, your charm, your skills, brute force, some combination? (a.k.a. what’s your S.P.E.C.I.A.L?) Probably mostly my wits and experience. I try to avoid hostile situations, and I know what areas in the Commonwealth to stay away from. When I do get into a tight spot, I'll fight back, using whatever I can for cover. I can talk my way out of a situation sometimes, but overall I'm not much of a charming people-person.
Have you ever been in a vault? What do you think about them? Nope. I've heard that a lot of them failed, or had complications.     Personally, I don't think I would want to live in one. I prefer the open     sky and a good breeze.
How do you beat all the radiation around here? Has it affected you? I avoid it at all costs. Radiation is a cruel beast and is not to be messed with. A few seconds in the wrong area and you're guaranteed a long, painful death. I know, I've had a few bouts of mild rad sickness before, and once I got so sick I'm surprised I'm alive today.
What’s your favorite wasteland critter? Dogs! All kinds of dogs. Mutated dogs, wild dogs, dogs that live with people.
What’s your least favorite wasteland critter? Yao Guai. They're so strong even though they're so sick looking. They're covered in these patches of matted, greasy fur. Ugh.
 How do you feel about robots? Give them hugs (assuming they accept)!
 How many caps do you have on you right now? Um...seems like about twenty or so. Enough for a bowl of noodles and a Nuka-Cola.
Nuka Cola or Sunset Sarsaparilla? Nuka-Cola, all the way. Cherry, if you have it.
Do you do chems? None, except for stims and other healing ones.
Do you ever think about the Pre-War world? Sometimes. I'll come across an old house with the pictures still hanging up and I get sad thinking about the people that used to live there.
What’s your deepest regret? What would you do differently? There have been a few times where a situation didn’t go as I had planned. I also kept a lot to myself, back when Nick and I first met. Even when he opened up about his past, I kept so much of mine to myself. I evaded the question a lot, and I knew he was trying to help me. I wish I had been more honest with him.
What’s your biggest achievement? Or what do you hope to achieve? For me personally, it was finally having the courage to leave Diamond City and find my own place again. After my home settlement got raided, I spent several years scared of the open wasteland. It was a dark time for me.
What do you want for the future? For yourself? Your friends? The world? Peace. I want a peaceful world, and I think we can manage it if we work hard. People are pretty good overall and we're good at adapting. Someday, we'll have peace.
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allenmendezsr · 4 years ago
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4 Week Diet - Supercharged Weight Loss
New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/4-week-diet-supercharged-weight-loss/
4 Week Diet - Supercharged Weight Loss
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    Need To Lose Weight Fast?
“Finally, The Truth About Rapid Weight Loss Revealed.
Read on to Discover The Latest Research And Scientific Breakthroughs Which Change The Face Of Dieting Forever. I’ll Expose The Lies That You’re Being Told And Provide You With A Simple And Effective Solution…
…A 4 Week Diet Which Could Be The Easiest Way To Lose 10-20-30+ Pounds Of Body Fat In Just 4 Weeks That You’ve Ever Tried!”
And it’s guaranteed to work or you’ll get all your money back… How many other diets will give you that kind of a promise?
In fact how many other diet companies want you to succeed?
It’s true most of them rely on your ongoing payments to make the FAT profits they do each year. And this is one of the biggest reasons why up until now you’ve probably never succeeded…
And you thought it was your fault that you were overweight, but it isn’t!
They aren’t telling you the truth, you’re being lied to…
But don’t worry, I have all the answers for you right here. Once you’ve read all of this short report today, you’ll finally understand where you’ve been going wrong all this time, but more importantly you’ll learn how to put it RIGHT…
So you can finally start feeling good about yourself, I mean feel really proud of the way you look so you actually enjoy shopping or getting dressed up to go out and meeting people without feeling embarassed or self conscious about the way you look.
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“This really works! The theories behind the 4 week diet really make sense and Jago has translated these in to an easy to use plan.
I love the recipe suggestions and even your shopping lists are already done for you so there’s no excuse not to get organised which Jago explains is the key.
The simple exercises are well demonstrated, they can be done easily at home to fit around your life.
I’ve used the 4 week diet a number of times for special events and holidays and it’s worked everytime to get me looking and feeling my very best.”
Sarah Reynolds
Dear friend
In this report I’m going to tell you all about the 5 biggest weight loss myths that have been stopping you from getting the body of your dreams…
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Weight Loss Myth #1 – Why you’ve been lied to and tricked in to eating the wrong types of foods.
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Weight Loss Myth #2 – How the way you’ve been taught to eat has actually programmed you to store fat, not burn it.
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Weight Loss Myth #3 – Why eating less doesn’t always mean you’ll end up weighing less.
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Weight Loss Myth #4 – How doing exercises for your tummy won’t help you to get six pack abs or even a flatter waistline.
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Weight Loss Myth #5 – One of the biggest exercise myths around, that’s certain to leave you frustrated at your lack of progress.
Once you know these FACTS and a bunch of other NEW techniques I’ll tell you about, you’ll have the power to burn fat at will.
Just imagine being able to get in to tip top shape in just 4 weeks time. Being able to look your best for…
Your next holiday
A works night out
An anniversary or celebration
Your Birthday 
Do you ever stand in front of a mirror when you’re getting dressed or sometimes catch your reflection in a window and think to yourself ‘oh no, I look awful’
If you do or you just have a mild dislike for the way you look, don’t worry, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
In fact it amazes me how many people really hate the way their body looks.
But just imagine for a moment if that was different. Imagine looking in the mirror and actually liking what you see. Imagine smiling to yourself when you turn to the side and you look just as good as you did from the front.
Don’t you think that would be an amazing feeling… wouldn’t you like that to be you?
Of course you would, who wouldn’t!
What about shopping, how great would it be to buy the clothes you liked. Fitted, shapely clothes that look good on you, instead of buying something to hide your worst bits or anything to ‘do the job.’
However you feel at the moment, YOU DO HAVE THE POWER to change the way you look and feel, but you’re probably going to have to make some changes.
But don’t worry, I’m going to explain it all to you here in plain, easy to understand English so you finally understand the facts as they stand today. Then you’ll be able to plan a way forwards and start taking control of your body again.
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“I am 58 years old and over the years have tried various diets. Whilst having a modicum of success in the short term, weight has always returned.
I then discovered Jago Holmes who has led me down the path of successful weight loss. Unlike a rigid diet, Jago’s plans have taught me that diet is not enough alone and should be balanced with exercise.
I have followed the diet plan in conjunction with the exercises suggested by Jago to not only lose weight but, to maintain that loss.
Following Jago’s theory has not only helped me achieve the weight loss, but has encouraged me to think about my day to day lifestyle using stairs instead of lifts, walk to the shop for a newspaper rather than taking the car. I haven’t followed the diet religiously either, but have snack a jacks for elevenses instead of chocolate biscuits.
I certainly feel better in myself and have reaped the benefits of following Jago’s simple diet suggestions and easy to follow exercise techniques.”
Martin, UK
Unfortunately, we don’t get much of our information from reliable, impartial sources.
All too often, the way we approach dieting and losing weight is through advice and information that we’ve been told works by companies that are actually selling diet products to us.
Many of the myths around today were created by these companies.
So once and for all, I’d like to tell you the truth about why you haven’t managed to find a workable solution to rapid weight loss and to do this, I’m going to explain the facts about 5 of the biggest weight loss myths there are out there…
Weight Loss Myth #1 – Diet Foods Help You Lose Weight
This one is a real killer. Again it’s a triumph of marketing and hype over truth. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Just because a chocolate dessert or a packet of biscuits is classed as low fat, it doesn’t mean it’s actually any good for you. Yes it probably is lower in fat than its regular alternative, but it’s also full of other ingredients that are actually much worse than the fat that was in it.
Makers of these products, emphasise the lack of fat in their products but hide the fact that to make them taste better, they’ve had to replace the fat with sugars. They’ll do it cleverly, by breaking the sugars down in to various forms… sucrose, fructose, glucose syrup. Glycerine etc, the list goes on.
But the problem with sugar is that every time you eat something that has sugars in it, the body has to produce a hormone called Insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the sugar from the blood and take it to the cells. Unfortunately when insulin is produced, it doesn’t always remove the exact right amount of sugar from the blood.
It creates a low in blood sugar levels, which then sends a signal to your brain to eat more in order to normalise blood sugar levels again.
Another problem is that we’ve been conditioned to believe that ‘diet’ foods actually help us to lose weight. You’ll have seen it yourself when someone orders a big Mac and fries, but insists on getting a diet Cola to go with it!
Most��diet foods are created by huge multi-million dollar companies that want your money. They play around with and process your foods adding all kinds of rubbish just to make it appealing for you to buy, because you think it’s going to help you to lose weight.
Processed foods will never help you to lose weight, there’s too much junk inside for your body to cope with, so stay away from them as much as possible.
Weight Loss Myth #2 – Eat Just 3 Square Meals a Day
This time it’s probably your parents fault and their parents before them… You see there are a few reasons why eating at certain times throughout the day just isn’t right.
Firstly you aren’t necessarily hungry at the times that you have to eat. This means that you may be eating for the sake of it and getting more calories than you need each day.
Secondly if you can only eat at certain times throughout the day, because of your work pattern for example, then you may go for hours without being able to eat anything and this slows down your metabolic rate and encourages your body to store fat.
One of the biggest problems with eating in the traditional way is that your metabolic rate slows right down. You’ll burn calories at a snails pace because there are too long gaps between meals.
Eating smaller amounts regularly throughout the day does two things…
1.  It keeps the metabolism revving away and
2.  It stops the body from storing as many of the calories you are eating. Over a period of time, your body gets used to the regular supply of calories and realises that it doesn’t need to store as many of them as there isn’t likely to be times when it won’t get food.
Finally, it’s likely that you’re overeating if you depend on eating 3 set meals a day as the gaps between them will lead to hunger pangs and cravings. When you start getting these messages from the brain, you’ll usually eat more than you need to do.
Weight Loss Myth #3 – Reducing the Calories You Eat Makes You Lose Weight and the Fewer Calories You Eat Then the More Weight You’ll Lose
Sounds logical doesn’t it, and up to a point this is actually true BUT if this was completely right then surely the more you reduced the calories you were eating, then the faster you’d lose weight.
But this just doesn’t happen, you’ll know it yourself if you’ve ever tried restricting the amount of food you eat so low. The weight comes off pretty fast to begin with but after a few days, you can’t seem to lose any more, you quickly reach a plateau.
Here’s the real kicker, doing this means you’re actually making things worse for yourself and compounding the problem.
The reason is that your body gets thrown in to what it perceives as starvation and goes in to survival mode. When you’re in survival mode, your body just won’t release fat to burn. It can’t, in fact it does the complete opposite and actually holds on to it, by producing a hormone called Leptin.
But that’s not all, some of the other downsides you’ll notice are…
A slowdown in your metabolic rate. This is the speed at which you burn calories. You see when food intake is strictly limited, your body will always try to protect itself by holding on to its energy stores… your body fat!
Increased cravings. Your body knows it needs calories to survive and as a response your fat cells produce a hormone called Leptin which increases your cravings for guess what? You’ve guessed it… calories. Usually in the form of high sugar or high fat foods, because it’s these types of foods that will give you the biggest surge in quick fix calories.
An increase in the amount of fat you store. If your body isn’t sure when it’s next going to be fed don’t you think it’s natural to store as many calories as possible to keep your body working normally.
Think of yourself like a camel, it’s hump is almost totally pure fat to help it survive the lean times, it’s there to provide a reserve source of energy… well our bodies can be a bit like this too if we cut down on calories too much for too long, only your hump won’t be at the back!
Weight Loss Myth #4 – Think You’ll Get a Flat Stomach By Doing Sit Ups, Crunches or Some Other SECRET Exercise That No Ones Been Telling You About?
Think again, it just doesn’t work that way.
Crunches, sit ups and other tummy toning exercises are great to do, but the benefits they give you have nothing to do with getting a chiselled torso. So why does everyone think that they do?
Simple, you’ve been lied to again. Infomercials and the media, manipulate our understanding of exactly what certain exercises can really do for you.
Let me explain it this way…
Imagine that you have a fine porcelain vase, but it’s been covered in bubble wrap and brown paper. Covered this way means that you’ll never see the real beauty of the vase because it’s been hidden underneath a thick ugly layer of padding.
That’s how it is with your own tummy muscles.
You’ll never see them or flatten your tummy by doing these types of exercises alone. In fact done to extreme, they may actually lead to an increase in the size of your tummy, because the muscles can slightly increase in size, pushing the fat underneath out still further.
I’m not saying don’t do exercises for your stomach and lower back, because they help to improve posture and overall strength, just don’t expect to have a really flat stomach after religiously doing them for weeks… you’ll only be disappointed.
Weight Loss Myth #5 – Hours of Cardio Burns the Most Fat
This makes me really laugh, especially when I see ‘supposed experts’ advising you to exercise at a particular heart beat level called the weight loss zone.
The theory here is that at a certain level of effort, your body will burn more fat than carbohydrates as it’s main fuel source, but it’s only a slight difference and to get the same benefit you’d need to keep going for much longer.
Do you know how many calories you’d have to burn to lose just 1 pound of fat? Wait for it…
3500 calories!
Yes that’s right, you’d need to burn off 3500 calories in order to lose just 1 pound of fat.
OK, so how many calories can you expect to burn throughout the course of a typical gym workout for one hour, if you really push yourself?
Well it would depend on what exercises you were doing and how hard you worked, but for a typical average cardio workout, you could expect to burn around 600 calories in an hour.
Now I’m not a mathematician, but that means that to burn off 1 pound of body fat, you’d need to do at least 5 or 6 good hour long cardio workouts a week. Yeah right!… Who has that amount of time and level of commitment to do this each week?
Not me, and I actually enjoy working out.
The secret isn’t in doing endless workouts, wearing yourself out and grinding yourself down, its about gently increasing the amount of activity in your life.
Ok, so these are all the things that you shouldn’t do, now let me tell you honestly about the things you do need to do in order to lose weight fast AND keep it off.
I’ll also tell you all about a proven system that you can get hold of in less than a minute from now, so you can get started straight away the right way to lose weight fast AND keep it off.
But Before I Go Any Further, Who am I and Why Should You Listen to Me?
Please let me quickly introduce myself.
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My Name is Jago Holmes CPT and I’m a personal trainer working in the UK, with over 10 years experience working with people just like you.
I’m not a celebrity trainer who touts the latest off the wall diet to shed a few pounds, you know the types of diets I mean…
…’The Cabbage soup diet,’
…’The grapefruit diet,’
…’The Maple Syrup diet,
… This weird and wacky detox or that, the list goes on…
No I’ve been successful working with everyday people who have REAL lives, real budgets and don’t have the luxury of having their meals prepared for them, they have to go shopping to buy their own food like you and me.
And over the 10 years I’ve been doing this job, I’ve personally helped hundreds, if not thousands of clients to lose weight fast.
Here’s a Brief Selection of Some of My Clients and Their Success Stories
I understand the problems that everyday men and women face… but more importantly from your point of view, I know how to fix these problems.
But before I go in to that I want to explain to you some quite startling facts about why you’ve probably never managed to lose weight before and keep it off.
And then I’ll show you how by putting all the right pieces together at the same time, you can lose incredible amounts of weight in a remarkably short amount of time.
The Truth is For Any Diet Or Weight Loss Plan to Be Effective For Both Quick AND Long Term Weight Loss, it MUST Contain These 4 Vital Elements: –
Firstly it needs to be based around a ‘proven’ eating plan that works, one that helps you to feel full but also uses the latest advances in dieting research to boost fat loss, without causing side effects like yo-yo dieting or thyroid problems. 
Secondly, it needs to address activity. Yes, I said activity, NOT exercise. The truth is that you don’t have to kill yourself to burn calories. Low intensity activities that fit in to your daily lifestyle are the new way forward and no, you don’t have to don your Lycra shorts and sweatband to become a fitness fanatic in order to succeed! 
Thirdly, it should make use of a few select products that are sold by the supplement industry. Yes there are some that are worth your money. There is more junk on sale than effective products out there, but the truth is when you cut through the hype, there are some supplements that really should be included in an effective diet and weight loss plan. 
Finally, it absolutely has to control and recondition the power of the mind to stop cravings, create inner strength and boost motivation levels. Because it’s in the mind that even the best diets can become overnight failures if the right programming hasn’t been put in place. Without fixing this part of the problem, the whole thing falls flat on its face. 
So with a diet that contains all of these elements, I guess you would really describe it as more of a weight loss system, but I prefer to use the word ‘diet’.
In a nutshell, this is what any good diet system should contain. Each one of these elements is powerful in their own right, but put them together at the same time and you’ve created rocket fuelled weight loss.
This is Why ‘Traditional Dieting’ is Dead.
Sure a good one will give you some weight loss over a few months if you can stick it out that long, but if you want a system where the fat just seems to literally melt away, day after day then this is the solution for you.
Up until now, nobody has bothered to put everything together in one place. All this information is out there and once you sift through the misinformed ramblings and outright lies, you could probably get lucky and find a workable solution for you.
But do you really want to keep trying and testing every new diet there is, desperately searching for the right solution for you?
Wouldn’t you rather just follow a ‘proven’ weight loss system that’s been designed by someone who works day in and day out with clients that want to lose weight?
Up until now, getting it right has been very hard and confusing to follow, which means most people only get average or poor results.
But Now I’ve Done It… I’ve Put Together a Complete 4 Week Diet and Weight Loss System For You…
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I wanted to use all of the research, testing and trial and error, I’ve done with my own one to one clients over the last 10 years to put together a complete package which includes everything you need to get dramatic weight loss in just 4 weeks.
I’ve tested every part of this diet plan on my own clients, many times. They’ve been the Guinea pigs that have tested and improved this system that you can now have access to today, immediately in fact, if you want it.
All the dieting tips, tricks and techniques I’ve tested, tweaked and perfected are all here in one place in the ‘4 Week diet’
THIS IS A DIET THAT ACTUALLY WORKS EVERY TIME!
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“The exercise plan is a really good guide if you’re not a fan of the gym, it gives you loads of different ideas for exercises to do at home, and outdoor training options.
There’s even some suggestions about exercises you can do while you’re sat at work to tone your stomach!
If you have a busy life and need some advice on how to fit exercise into your diary, this is the guide for you.   The diet plan is a great plan to help you get a healthy diet and keep it. The menus are easy to follow and you don’t have to be a great cook to make them. It also contains a whole lot of knowledge about food to help you pinpoint where the empty calories are and avoid them. 
A really good guide if you want to take control of your diet. If you take this plan on board it’ll last a lot longer than 4 weeks.”
Sue, Halifax
So Please Let Me Tell You All About My New 4 Week Diet…
To fully cover everything that you need to know to be able to lose weight at the fastest possible rate in just 4 weeks from now, for a party, special event, wedding or any celebration I have written it all in to 3 easy to follow, clearly written manuals…
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Firstly there’s the Theory manual. This is vital to the whole diet. In it you’ll discover exactly how my system works. I explain the theory behind my weight loss tricks, so you know exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve and exactly how to do it.
Inside you’ll discover…
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A range of preparations you need to make before you start any diet, that virtually guarantee your success and without doing these things, you’re almost sabotaging your chances of having the body of your dreams (page 11)
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How to set specific goals geared towards YOU that motivate and inspire you to succeed (page 12)
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Why doing this one thing every day takes you from ‘dreamer’ to ‘doer’. At last you’ll have the drive to go on to take real control of your weight. (page 16)
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3 Things that you can do, which done together really fire up your body’s ability to burn fat fast. (pages 20 – 24)
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A range of little known mind programming techniques that you can use to conquer cravings and comfort eating once and for all. Once you master these techniques, you’ll never be at the mercy of your emotions again! (page 26)
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The ideal foods to eat and the ones you need to stay away from.
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A great, tasty and quick range of snacks that you can eat all day long that will help you to burn calories, not store them (page 54)
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How to read the lies manufacturers ‘legally’ print on their labelling so you understand which foods to avoid at all costs. (page 55)
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Some really great tips to help you when you eat out so that you’ll still have a good time without suffering the consequences of extra weight gain.(page 57)
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Everything you need to know about supplements. The truth about which ones do have an effect on your weight loss whilst others are simply a waste of your money. (page 58)
Next, There’s ‘The Diet’, Which Covers All the Meals and Foods You’ll Eat Over the Next 4 weeks.
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This manual contains simple menus, shopping lists and quick snack choices in a day by day format, to ensure that you’re feeding your body the right types and amounts of foods essential for losing weight fast.
You’ll also discover…
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An easier way to eat a healthy diet by choosing foods that fill you up for longer, without the addition of extra calories that also saves you time and money!   
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How much you should be eating and when to eat it and also the crucial timing of changing the way you eat to boost energy levels and fat loss 
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A simple but time tested way of eating which guarantees you eat a constant and regular supply of nutrients which stops you craving food at the same time as making you feel fuller.
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Some great tricks to make eating healthily whilst following the ‘4 Week Diet’ child’s play that are quick and simple to do even on your busiest days! 
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A range of quick and healthy food alternatives to your favourites, that give you loads of energy and make you feel fuller for longer. 
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The #1 biggest mistake nearly everyone makes by NOT getting enough of this important nutrient and why doing this simple thing each day will improve the quality of your hair, your skin and energy levels 100%! 
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A step by step eating system that includes shopping lists and daily menus, leaving you to eat on auto pilot, no need to worry about what you are going to eat, it has all been planned out for you in fact, it couldn’t be easier!
Last But Not Least, You’ll Also Get ‘The Exercises.’
This Manual Contains the Final Key to Rapid Weight Loss. The Missing Link in Almost Every Diet You’ve Ever Tried.
But this is no ordinary exercise plan. This is one of the easiest activity plans you’ve ever seen. You don’t need to get your Lycra shorts on and join a gym, you don’t have to spend every spare minute exercising and you don’t have to kill yourself by doing a workout that leaves you aching for days.
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This activity and exercise plan is different, inside you’ll discover…
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A simple but effective way to exercise at home, which takes just a few minutes to do, but that boosts fat loss and leaves you feeling energised all day long (page 9)
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An easy and enjoyable way to become more active that you can do anytime (page 22)
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Some great tips you can use everyday to help you catapult your weight loss to new highs that are easy to do and fit nicely in to your everyday life (page 20)
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A simple but extremely effective walking plan that’ll have you losing weight and loving the feelings of accomplishment you get after each session (page 25)
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An easy to follow workout you can do at home, that includes clear photos and descriptions so you know exactly what to do to tone those ‘hard to reach’ places! (pages 27 – 32)
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A quick way to tighten and firm your tummy muscles which you can do at home for FREE and in less than 5 minutes a day. (page 33 – 46)
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How to fit exercise in to a busy day. So easy to do, you’ll never again struggle to find the time to exercise. You’ll definitely have time to do this. (page 51)
OK Jago, So Why a Diet That Lasts Just 4 Weeks?
Well, that’s a very good question. Remember the last diet you tried, How far did you get?
A few days, a week, 10 days, 2 weeks?
One of the biggest reasons people don’t stick at diets is that there’s no completion date.
Psychologically it’s very difficult to keep doing something that you wouldn’t normally do for an indefinite period. If you know you’ve only got to do something for a short amount of time, it’s much easier to stick to AND you’ll try harder.
Another reason is that I wanted to use a time frame that didn’t just give barely noticeable results, I wanted the ‘wow’ factor and in 4 weeks, you really can achieve outstanding results… believe me, I’ve seen it so many times.
But the real beauty of my NEW improved 4 week diet is…
It won’t take over your life 
It’s quick and easy to do 
You’ll see fast results and 
There are no nasty side effects, except having to buy a whole new set of clothes! 
It’s really easy to do and very effective.
If You Follow My NEW 4 Week Diet You’ll…
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Lose weight fast, so you and anyone who knows you will start seeing your body shape change before your eyes
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Feel more confident about the way you look so you feel comfortable and relaxed around other people
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Have tons more energy and get up and go, nothing will feel like an effort, you’ll have the energy levels of a 5 year old.
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Discover a system that you can use anytime to drop weight at will
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See improvements in the condition of your hair and skin
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Have more zest for life, approach life with a positive attitude so you attract more of the good things in life.
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Be able to buy the clothes you like, not just the ones that hide your worst bits. Shopping will no longer be a chore, you’ll love trying on new clothes.
We all have a perceived idea about dieting…
It’s got to be hard, a challenge. It’s like you have to deprive yourself, almost like punishing yourself for gaining weight.
If it’s not hard, most people don’t consider it to be a diet, but the truth is that dieting doesn’t have to be like this.
Because There’s a Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Starving Yourself or Taking Tablets or Potions That Are Harmful to Your Health…
…and it all Hinges Around Taking Control of Your Mind.
When you really think about it, it’s your mind that controls everything you do.
Once you manage to control your subconscious mind, you hold the key to not only losing weight fast, but also losing weight and controlling it forever.
And ‘The 4 Week Diet’ helps you to do just this. With the mind tricks and reprogramming techniques you’ll learn inside, you’ll finally be able to win the war of the mind.
Cravings and comfort eating will be a thing of the past.
With the information you’ll learn, you’ll find that you crave foods that actually improve your health and help you to lose weight even when you’re feeling a bit down or tired.
But the best thing is that by eating the right types of foods, you won’t have these kinds of mood swings or feelings of tiredness all the time.
You’ll find that you have so much energy, that you’ll wonder how you ever got through each day when you weren’t following ‘The 4 Week Diet’. Everything will be so much easier.
Here are some more things you’ll discover when you use my 4 Week Diet and weight loss plan…
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Exactly how much food you need to eat each day WITHOUT counting calories.
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Which carbs are your friends and which ones will sabotage your best weight loss efforts.
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How to turn your body in to a fat burning machine that burns off your unwanted fat all day long without you having to be constantly on the go.
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How to use some tricks of the mind to create the perfect weight loss mentality, so you won’t cave in to temptation at the first sign of a challenge.
Okay Jago, This Sounds Like Something That I Can Benefit From, But How Much Does the 4 Week Diet Cost?
Losing weight is always going to cost you something…
Whether it’s joining a gym at a cost of $500 – $900.00 a year, hiring your own trainer and paying at least $300.00 a month or signing up for the latest diet scam, where you’ll pay over inflated prices for your shakes or tablets etc.
Or you could start a fitness regime yourself at home and buy yourself a treadmill or cross trainer.
So, let’s just do a quick comparison. The last time I checked, the cost of buying a treadmill would set you back well over $1,000.00. And virtually everyone I know who bought one used it at first but after a few weeks simply used it to hang their clothes over. It was left to gather dust.
Or you could easily pay $75 – $100 bucks per month for a gym membership which you’ll maybe use a few times (that’s over $900.00 per year for that alone!).
Or you could hire a personal trainer like me to work with you. But at a cost of over $75.00 per session, you’d quickly run up a bill of over $300.00 a month, for only four workouts, after that you’d be on your own.
If you think of it this way, you’re actually getting hundreds of dollars worth of top quality expertise and training at your disposal inside this new program, which you get to keep forever…
You can use the techniques time and time again.
But you won’t have to pay anything like this amount or even match my minimum hourly rate of $75.00.
In fact, your total investment for this entire system is just $149.99 $75.99 $37.95.
That’s just a little over a measly dollar a day!
And how many gyms have you been to that give you a 60 day money back guarantee?
(That’s right, I’ll tell you about this in a moment.)
You’ll have everything you need and what’s more you’ll be able to start immediately. Within a few minutes from now if you like…
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The best part is my NEW system is fully and unconditionally guaranteed.
100% RISK-FREE Money Back Guarantee
If you aren’t 100% satisfied that ‘The 4 Week Diet’ provides you with absolutely everything you need to know and all the tools you need to lose weight quickly over the next 4 weeks, then you can simply request a full and complete refund in the next 60 days.
I am pleased to be able to offer you a no questions asked, 60 day money back guarantee.
  And should you decide that the program isn’t right for you in any way whatsoever, then I would like you to keep all of the special bonuses which I’ve included for you below. These are worth over $119.94 and are yours for free to keep forever when you place your order.
NO QUESTIONS ASKED… no gimmicky rules or requirements. 
You don’t even need to write an explanation as to why you don’t want to keep the program or produce evidence that you’ve tried the system out, NOTHING!
Remember, I’m so confident that you’ll be delighted with this program and all of the FREE bonuses worth $119.94 that I absolutely INSIST that you send the program back to me for a full and complete refund if you don’t think it’s the right solution for you! 
All you need to do now so you can try out my system completely risk free is place your order now by clicking on the ‘Order Now!’ button below. Follow the simple instructions on screen to download the eBooks through our secure system and you’ll be able to get started in just a few minutes from now.
I promise within days of following my system you’ll be amazed at how quickly the changes will start to happen.
You can relax because you’ve found your solution… this works!
Remember, I’ve used my own experience and extensive research through real life working in the trenches knowledge I have gained with my private 1 to 1 clients over the last 10 years.
I’ve tested this out on them and perfected it before releasing it to you. This is the reason why I‘m so sure it will work for you too and I’m happy to offer such a generous, iron clad, 100% money back guarantee.
“The biggest boost for me is that I now, once again have a regular exercise plan and I am continuing to lose weight and feel better all the time” Debbie
“New Image has been very helpful and has given me lots of encouragement at all times. I am extremely pleased with the results I achieved in my body shape and general fitness”Dawn
“I started the plan with eager anticipation and a determination to succeed, and due to the encouragement and expertise I received along with a lot of hard work , I am delighted to say it has been a resounding success” Barry
Now Even Though You’ll Lose Weight Fast If You Follow My Instructions in ‘The 4 Week Diet,’ I Want to Add Even More Value to This Offer…
I don’t want you to simply be pleased about your purchase, I want you to be absolutely delighted with it!
So I know if you’re anything like me you’ll also find some of these additional FREE bonuses extremely useful: –
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BONUS #1 (worth $11.99) – order now and you will also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Healthy Smoothies For Rapid Weight Loss’
Discover over 50 of the most mouth watering smoothies and shakes ever created. Recipes that contain some of the quickest and easy to make fat blasting, energy boosting drinks that take just a couple of minutes to make.
All the recipes have been selected because of their healthy balance as well as for the combination of flavours and textures they provide.
These smoothies are low in fat but very high in taste!
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BONUS #2 (worth $17.99) – order now and you will receive this superb NEW eBook completelyFREE – ‘Healthy Soups For Healthy Living’
In this great little eBook you’ll find a range of tasty and nutritious soups which are both easy and quick to prepare… exactly what you need when time is short.
The recipes have been chosen for their taste but also for their nutritional value, the majority of the soups are low in fat and high in vitamins and minerals.
Each recipe comes complete with its own nutritional breakdown section.
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BONUS #3 (worth $11.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘How To Boost Your Metabolism’
Inside you will learn how absolutely anyone can instantly boost their metabolism by making just 3 SIMPLE changes to their lifestyle.
Learn ways to burn calories even at rest and why doing some exercises will leave you feeling frustrated at your body’s ability to melt away body fat.
You’ll learn the secrets to eating more and weighing less and how some people never seem to gain weight whilst others will always have a weight problem.
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BONUS #4 (worth $21.99) – order now and you will also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Glycemic 101 – How To Effortlessly Control Your Glycemic Index’
Inside you’ll discover exactly how to eat to support and maintain healthy blood sugar levels and how the peaks and troughs in your blood sugar can leave you craving the worst types of junk food.
You’ll learn why using the Glycemic index as your guide to choosing food could dramatically reduce your risk of suffering from diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.
And finally you can gain control of your weight forever, so you can choose your own dress size and maintain that shape for the rest of your life.
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BONUS #5 (worth $17.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Healthy Salads For Healthy Living’
You’ll find some really unusual and tasty salads which can be used as meals in their own right or eaten alongside other foods as accompaniments.
Never again will you have to serve up limp lettuce leaves, soggy cucumber or boring tomato slices. Once you try some of these fantastic salads you’ll realise that there is much more to a salad than simply filling up a space on your plate.
There are 17 mouthwatering recipes that draw inspiration from all over the world along with some useful hints and tips for how to make the most out of any salad by using some of the healthy and tasty dressings you’ll find inside.
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BONUS #6 (worth $37.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘How To Start Running’
I thought this might be a really great bonus for you. It’s one of my favourite training guides and will help you to plan, organise and start your very own running program. 
Running is a great way to lose weight and build up your fitness levels so you have more energy in everyday life. But the problem is that most people don’t know how to get started properly, so they end up giving up too soon without noticing any improvements to their fitness or seeing any weight loss benefits at all.
‘How To Start Running’ is a complete guide to running for both beginners and experienced runners. The advanced techniques and training tips you’ll learn inside will change the way you think about running forever.
Included In This Special Offer
Cost If Bought Separately
The 4 Week Diet (All 3 Manuals)
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$37.95
Healthy Smoothies
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$11.99
Healthy Soups For Healthy Living
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$17.99
How To Boost Your Metabolism –
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$11.99
Glycemic 101
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$21.99
Healthy Salads For Healthy Living
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$17.99
How To Start Running
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$37.99
Total If Purchased Separately
$157.89
Taking Advantage Of This Special Offer You’ll Pay Just:
$79.50 $37.95
So that’s a total of over $157.89 worth of recipes, techniques and tips which are available elsewhere at the prices you see here, but all yours when you order ‘The 4 Week Diet.’
And no matter what you decide the bonuses are yours free to keep forever.
So What Makes ‘The 4 Week Diet’ Different to all the Other Diets Out There?
Well, firstly it’s been written by an ‘experienced’ practicing personal trainer. I know what works quickly and I know what works over the long term.
You’ll lose weight quickly but safely, and if you continue using the techniques and principles you’ll learn, you’ll also keep the weight off too.
Whilst this is a diet and a very big part of the system, I don’t attack the fat using only one technique, I throw everything at it, to really boost weight loss… 
I use all of the latest up to date diet tricks and supplemental breakthroughs to get remarkable results.
Why You Should Give it a Try…
It’s safe, fast, effective, easy to do and it’s guaranteed to give results. That’s right, you didn’t misread that last bit.
I stand behind my 4 week diet. If you don’t see amazing results after following my advice, I’ll give you back every cent.
And it’s very easy to get a refund, if it doesn’t work for you, simply send me an email and you’ll get all your money back.
How many diet clubs, magazines or personal trainers etc will offer you that sort of a guarantee?
You may think I must really believe in this system to offer this sort of guarantee… well I do.
I KNOW IT WORKS!
Every single time anyone has followed this step by step system fully, they have seen dramatic results.
In fact not only will I give you a full refund, but I’ll also give you 6 weeks to try it out.
Oh, and just in case you’re wondering if you’d ever get your money back, as well as my own 60 day money back guarantee, you also get Clickbanks 60 day Guarantee. Clickbank is the secure payment processor we use, and they have a very strict policy for their authors.
We have to stick by their rules or we get kicked out!
So it’s your decision, you have absolutely nothing to lose. I guarantee you’ll lose weight fast and see rapid changes in your body shape.
But perhaps more importantly…
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You’ll learn the right way to eat, so you can lose weight whenever you choose. If you’ve got a birthday, a holiday, anniversary, new job on the horizon… for any reason you like.
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You’ll discover which foods help you to lose fat and which ones cause you to store fat, so you can stop banging your head against a brick wall, you’ll know the solution.
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You’ll finally see why you’ve been getting it wrong all these years and why the lies and untruths you’ve been told have been keeping you from EVER being the shape you want to be.
But all this can change right now. Once you place your order below and download your copy of my NEW 4 Week weight loss plan, you’ll have instant access to the eBooks so you can get started right away!
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I really hope you decide to give it a try. After all you’ve got nothing to lose with this offer and EVERYTHING to gain.
Yours Sincerely,
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  Jago Holmes, CPT 
Author, ‘The 4 Week Diet’ 
Well it’s over to you, the decision is yours now…
I’ve taken away any risk you might feel about trying out my 4 week diet by offering such a RISK FREE money back guarantee.
All this information can be yours immediately for just $37.95. Simply click below to order and you’ll be taken to our secure payment page. From there, just follow the on screen instructions to download your own copy of these superb eBooks.
P.S.  Please remember there is absolutely NO RISK at all for you to try my 4 Week diet. If you aren’t thrilled with the information you find inside the program and don’t notice the changes you expect during the next 4 weeks after following my advice, then simply email me at the address you’ll find on my ‘contact us’ page at the bottom of the page and I will refund your order.
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed, my system has been used by hundreds of my own clients and it works, and I guarantee it will work for you too! 
P.P.S.  Remember by ordering “The 4 Week Diet,’ you’re not just getting the Complete weight loss system, but you’ll also receive at no extra cost whatsoever all of the bonuses worth $119.94 TOTALLY FREE which also contain vital information to help keep you motivated.
P.P.P.S.  There is just one small catch to this offer, I have put this package together and included all these extra bonuses which are for sale elsewhere at the prices you’ve seen, but I’m not sure how long I’m going to offer these extra bonuses for FREE with this deal.
You need to act straight away to guarantee that you will receive the additional bonuses for this package, so place your order now and then you won’t miss out on this great bonus package deal!
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PLEASE NOTE: ‘The 4 Week Diet’ is a downloadable eBook package. No physical products will be shipped. You’ll have immediate access to download the eBooks to your own computer once you’ve placed your order.
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sepiasad · 5 years ago
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Grow your network to build your future
Being a George Brown college student has given me this chance to meet many successful professionals in the marketing field which is my field of study. Professionals with various backgrounds who taught me that it is not important what is your background or where are you from, there are many opportunities for everyone. You just need to recognize them and get advantage of them. And Marketing Seminars Series was a big moment for me to learn tones of points and connect with junior and senior professionals in my field. Thanks to Michelle Kanfer the Marketing Seminars series professor who provided this magnificent chance to us by brought each session a well-known presenter to share with us his/her experiences. On the first day of class when Michelle told us her career story, I have just wondered how changes may happen in our career path, as Michelle showed interest in Google Adwords and digital marketing after 10 years working in the Coca-Cola company as a Brand Manager and a Customer Marketing Manager. Thus, we need to be flexible enough to notice changes in our careers and accept them and get the most out of them.
As I have mentioned we had many professional presenters, here I present some of them briefly. In our meeting with three GBC alumni, Jordan Veenstra, Natasha Burtenshaw-deVrie, and Asta Schouten I realized to be successful in your career you need to always be updated, so learning should be your habit. Moreover, being flexible and adaptable is an essential skill in any career, especially after happening this pandemic we all learned every happening can not be forecasted and, in some cases, we need to adapt to some unexpected situations. Besides, our presenters mentioned how it is hard to keep work-life balance in work remotely situation, while Natasha pointed out that she dedicated a specific separate space for her work which helps her to be organized and keep track of her career easily. To speak professionally Jordan advised us to keep yourself up-date about Facebook and Google tools and platforms, Natasha said do not forget to work on content marketing and Google Ads features. And Asta mentioned that we need both hard and soft skills in our career, soft as being able to communicate and hard likes being able to work with our career technologies.
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Cindy Tran is another successful presenter, now she is the GBC Marketing Manager. She started her marketing journey from George Brown College, after passing Advanced diploma in Marketing field in GBC, she took Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing from Ryerson University. Cindy is an expert data-driven marketer. She described how her team is using Salesforce as a customer relationship marketing tool.
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Social media and its posting schedule were another point of her speech, that she explained weekly posting is the most effective schedule for GBC marketing plan in social media. However, personally I found an interesting point in this meeting that how much Cindy is committed to her job since she was presenting for us during her vacation, and this can be a good reason for her success. Her confidence and her keeping continue learning attitude make her an expert in her major. Moreover, it is noticeable that how new software and applications are crucial in marketing these days, and marketer needs to be always updated about technologies.
“ … nothing came easy and nothing is guaranteed.”
Richard Nathans another GBC alumni, shared with us his career story which started with having a part in Coop. Richard mentioned how coop became an opportunity to change himself to an active job seeker, as he found his way into a job at Corus Entertainment by reaching out directly to one of an employee and requesting guide from him to find a position there. He also provided a brief explanation about six Canadian companies to inform us how we can find our way to these companies through Coop.
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In this meeting, Richard emphasized the importance of networking and never stop getting to know new people and build a valuable connection.
To conclude, I have learned being informed and updated is crucial to achieving success in your career, while communicating and having a big circle of connections is vital to improve your career and achieve bigger goals. Now I am glad to announce I found a Coop position through one of my friends, my friend connected me to his other friend who has a management consulting company and I am going to take a marketing intern position there. My friend also mentioned it is an amazing opportunity to prove yourself to take a better position in the close future. After all, I appreciate Michelle for providing all these amazing sessions, that each of them was a chance to experience the presenter’s story and learned from it. I hope one day I can pass my experiences to younger ones, like what I have received from others.
Sepideh Asadollahi
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meltiverse · 5 years ago
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00-Prime Universe’s Mel Profile
Here’s the profile for the Mel from the Prime universe, a.k.a. myself, Mod Mel! Most versions of me will share at least a few traits. When other Mels share said traits, I will simply say that it’s pretty much the same as 00-Mel and describe the few differences if applicable.
General infos
Full Name: Mélanie Lacroix
Nickname: Mel
Nationality: French-Canadian
Languages: French and English, but know a few words of many other languages including Spanish, Japanese and Latin.
Birthday: April 12
Sex: Female
Gender: Genderqueer, somewhere between non-binary woman and gender-nonconforming. Basically, I’m fine with the genitalia I was born with, but I present more as agender/gender-neutral, sometime more masculine and other times a bit more feminine, but I don’t really like how restrictive binary genders tend to be and I just want to be myself, you know?
Pronouns: They/them, She/her, no real preference of one over the other
Sexual/romantic orientation: Usually go with Queer out of simplicity, but mostly identify as demisexual and demi-panromantic. Basically, I need to first feel romantic attraction before feeling sexual attraction, and I need to first feel an emotional connection or bond before developing a romantic attraction, but developing an emotional bond with someone doesn’t guarantee attraction either. Fictional characters work somewhat differently, and I can get attracted on the basis of how interesting I find them.
Physical Appearance
Height: Somewhere between 5’0” and 5’1”
Weight: Around 180lb
Body shape: Average shoulders, not really large nor narrow. Average/large chest. Chubby face, belly, arms and legs. Somewhat narrow hips and small butt. Thick thighs.
Skin: rather pale, but mark and blush really easily, lot’s of beauty marks and freckles, especially on the arms. Faint scar across the throat from surgery, but it’s barely noticeable. Somewhat hairy due to my reluctance to shave or use other hair removal techniques. I basically just trim a few places once in a while. Ears pierced but the holes closed because I never wear earrings. No tattoos… yet.
Hair: Brown, look somewhat copper-ish in the light, often dyed in purple/burgundy colors, kept in a short bob or pixie haircut.
Eyes: Naturally half-lidded, somewhat almond-shaped, dark brown, like the color of black coffee or cola.
Clothing style: Glasses, needed because I’m near-sighted but I prefer glasses to contacts, they are rectangular with half-frames, dark pink with a few light pink touches. Clothes are mostly comfortable, mostly pants or shorts with t-shirt. Pants are usually neutral color, and t-shirts are pretty colorful. Also, quite a few geeky t-shirts with video game stuff on them.
Personality
Qualities: Polite, open-minded, kind without being a pushover, independent, caring, smart, helpful, calm
Defaults: Somewhat prideful, tendency to overwork myself, too hard on myself, a tiny bit of a show-off, bottle up emotions, Stepford smiler tendencies
Abilities: Fast reading, make people feel calm and at ease, good memory, good sense of details
Hobbies: Reading. Writing. Cooking and baking. Watching TV. Shows, movies, cartoons, animes and Youtube videos. Playing video games, card games and board games.
Favorite colors: All shades of purple, but also pink, green, black and grey.
Favorite animals: All the felines, turtles, snakes, bats and skunks.
Fears: Slight fear of spiders and bugs that bite/sting, but that’s because I’m slightly allergic to most of them. And that’s pretty much it, really.
Life
Status: Happily single
Current living place: A small city in the province of Québec, Canada.
Family: Mom and step-dad: I’m not close to them, but I see them once in a while. Maternal grandparents: I see grandma once in a while, but I very rarely see grandpa. Half-brother: Same mom but different dads, I’m rather close to him and we see each other twice a month or so. Dad and step-mom: I’m very close to them, but I don’t see them that often because they live in Montréal and it’s a 6-7 hours drive from where I am. Step-brother: Step-mom’s son from a previous marriage, I’m not really close to him but I get along with him well enough. Aunts and Uncles: I see most of them once in a while, most of them are always ready to give me a hand if I need a ride or something.
Friends: I have one person I truly consider a good friend and it’s my BFF since we were around 15/16. We used to date, but we eventually understood that our love for each other was platonic only, akin to siblings. I have other friends that I’m not as close with, like my BFF’s boyfriend and friends, and the peoples from the LGBTQ+ discussion group I go to twice a month.
Pets: I have an adorable orange tabby cat. It’s a female and while technically, her name is Pupuce, I call her Baby most of the time.
Transportation: I don’t have a car. I don’t even have a permit. I usually walk or get rides from an uncle or my BFF, I sometime take the bus and I take a taxi if I have no other alternatives. There’s no Ubers yet where I live.
Home: I live alone with my cat in an apartment with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom.
Education: I have what is the equivalent of a high school diploma here.
Work: I work part-time in a discount department store. I worked at a local Mc Donald for almost 6 years and did a few other odd jobs here and there.
Medical history: I have Crohn’s disease and I’m a thyroid cancer survivor. As such, I have rather low levels of energy and I get tired easily.
Marking moments: My parents divorced when I was around 1-2 years old, I don’t really remember it though. When I was 6 years old, during Summer, I lost my Kindergarten best friend, her father killed her and then killed himself. When I was around 15 years old, I went to live with my father and that was honestly one of the best decision in my live, I lived with my mother until that point and it wasn’t the best life… I moved in my first apartment when I was 20. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when I was around 20-21 and with thyroid cancer when I was around 25-26.
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titleknown · 8 years ago
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In a mote of fundamental matter, floating in the neon void as a candle would on water, there is a diner. A relatively clean, relatively pleasant, relatively normal diner, for clientele that are none of those things, at least in their regular business hours.
“You are literally the only person I know who’s on time for these things,”  the chitinous slim-limbed creature said.
“Is that a compliment an indictment of my persnicketiness Magnum?” The dark-skinned person-of-no-particular-gender in an operatic outfit said, brushing a long strand of curly hair off of his ornate mask.
“usualllllly it is a mixturrrrre in these instances, Mx. Tenebra...” said a slow, grumbling voice from the bat-creature sitting alongside them.
“Yes, very much so, Opus” the pink chitin-beast called Magnum responded. She took a sip of the coffee she had sweetened with the strawberry syrup by their side. “Now, let us get down to business while that fushluginner appetizer order comes in. And that would be, the incident last week.”
“The incident? Well, what about it?” Tenebra said, “It’s an existential nightmare that you barely managed to stave off with people outside of the Union. And when I look at the spate of… troubling incidents I have found myself related to, I would say that the time to have fought it was years ago...” Something scrabbled up his leg. It was a small rodentlike thing of darkest black; eyeless with lop ears; in a way that one might have designed an edgy Pikachu. He gave it a small skritch across the ears.
“Yeah, but you woulda said we weren’t able to do what we did back there, at Carki’s retreat.”
“I suppose,” Tenebra’s small pet was motioning its head towards the table. Tenebra picked up his glass of cola, brought it down, and the creature started drinking, “And I presume that you think we, this motley racket designed to guarantee wages and working condition for the glorified flunkies for the killers; thieves and lawyers of the universes, must make it our attempt to stop this vast; gnawing cosmic hate”
“Dammit Tene, you know how to see through me.”
“Well, I am a trainer of those things that walk in darkness,” he stated, pointing to the creature in his lap. “And I’d be lying if I said my personal fears were not… profound, deep in this regard.”
“And don’tcha wanna do something?!” Magnum said, banging her fist against the table, “Something more than just working odd mook jobs as the multiverse slowly goes to shit?!”
“But-” Tenebra interjected, “if we have this much of a time getting the Union Of Bosses together; albeit on short notice; for a comestible chat, how do we expect to push our might against an enemy that is organized; pure hate.”
Opus opened his mouth to speak with a deep; rumbling breath in. They looked at him.
“perhapppps, we should waitttttt, for the opinnnnions of the otherrrr memberrrrrs before this. i have mannnnnagggggged to be surrrrpriiiiiised by ourrrrr organizationnnnn’s capacity to go beyonnnnnnnd the pettiness of our meannnnnnns of employment.”
And, as if on cue, a figure of flame shot through the window, rolling like a trained pratfaller and standing up; stumbling; and then leaning on one of the tables as if they meant to do that
In a jaunty suit and cape they stood, a being with a heart of fire and a head of not much else.
“GREETINGS GRAND ASSOCIATES!” The being pulled up a chair the wrong-way front to the table and sat down, “IT IS I, THE GREAT SKALDUGGERY! AND I HAVE A PLAN!”
They all rolled their eyes as he sat down.
“I DO NOT KNOW WHAT I PLAN TO USE IT FOR, BUT BEHOL-”
“Order of wings for Table 3.”
They all paused. The waitress was at the table with their order; the Superboss-Sized Appetizer Combo. Magnum sighed. It was going to be a long night.
Huzzah, yet again my Drabble comes to light! This time it’s at the Bosses Union, and it takes place after that novella! Which I need to work on still dangit!
And yes, before anyone asks, I still am gonna give Mx. Tenebra; the Dark Monster Trainer, the full profile-treatment along with Black Jenny and The Machine Diva. Eventually.
And, as per usualy, while the story itself is CC-BY-SA, all characters; concepts; settings ectcetera are CC-BY; under my own name; Thomas F. Johnson
If you like this and want to support more stuff like it, check out my Patreon, where you’ll get previews; polls on what I should do next, and even art/writing at your behest at the higher tiers!
This is a bit rushed, but I hope you like it!
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udemy-gift-coupon-blog · 6 years ago
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AWS MasterClass: Go Serverless with AWS Lambda & AWS Aurora ##Edx ##UdemyFreeDiscountCoupons #Aurora #AWS #Lambda #Masterclass #Serverless AWS MasterClass: Go Serverless with AWS Lambda & AWS Aurora The next big thing in Cloud computing is Serverless architecture. So what is this Serverless computing architecture? Traditionally the applications are developed and deployed in servers. Apart from coding, the developer should also look into pre-deployment checks such as storage allocation, and server maintenance. With Serverless computing, the code execution is entirely managed by the cloud provider. Developers can concentrate on the coding part, and the cloud provider takes care of managing, provisioning and maintaining servers for the code deployment. Serverless architecture has an automatic scaling feature which helps to reduce the computing and operational costs. Serverless doesn’t require containerization, developers or programmers will write code in the vendor console. AWS Lambda is a front runner in serverless computing services. Even companies like Netflix, Codepen, Zalora, Coca-Cola, and Nordstrom have embraced AWS serverless. There is no wonder why there is an increased demand for developers with AWS Lambda skills. According to Indeed jobs listings, Average salary of developers with AWS Lambda skills is $121,481. That's why today, we are thrilled to be able to share with you our new training program "AWS MasterClass: Go Serverless with AWS Lambda and Amazon Aurora.” What does the AWS Serverless course offer to you? 1. You will learn AWS Simple Storage Service, its features. How to host a static website (in HTML) using S3. 2. Learn about the basics of API Gateway. How to map URL query strings to variables in backend programs in Lambda and how to use mapping templates in API Gateway. 3. You will learn how to provision and use AWS RDS (MySQL). How to connect to RDS MySQL using a database client from EC2 and your own laptop. 4. You will learn how to provision and use AWS Aurora Serverless Database and connect to it from EC2 instance. 5. You will learn what is a Lambda function. How to host backend in Lambda using Python programming language. You will also learn various features of Lambda and connect to Aurora Serverless database from Lambda Function. 6. For better understanding, you will go through an actual demo of a 3-tier application. Front end tier would be hosted on S3 using HTML. Backend application will be executed using Lambda function, front-end requests would be directed to backend application using AWS API Gateway. DB tier would be hosted on Aurora Serverless. Finally, how to stitch all these components together. What Sets Us Apart? Complete beginner to expert skills – This course does not assume any expertise in the Serverless architecture. We give you step by step instructions, and in fact, we hand hold you through all the exercises together with you. Practical demo tutorials – Where most courses bombard you with dense theory and set you on your way, we believe in developing a deep understanding of not only what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it. That’s why we focus on building up your understanding for infinitely better results down the line. I am not an engineer; will this course still benefit me? Whether you are a start-up founder, a product manager or a project manager - it is quite likely that your organization is already using or will be using these technologies. You might not be interested in learning about new technologies. Well, we don’t blame you for that. But whether you like it or not, any business relies on updating the new technology to survive. Is your IT career on the right track? Well, if you invest your time and bring an eagerness to learn, we guarantee you real, actionable education at a fraction of the cost you can demand as an IT engineer or consultant. We are confident your investment will come back to you in no time. So, if you're ready to make a change and learn how to go serverless, click the "Add to Cart" button below. What are you waiting for? Click the “Add to Cart” button below and get started today with our course “AWS MasterClass: Go Serverless with AWS Lambda and Amazon Aurora.” Let’s do this together! 👉 Activate Udemy Coupon 👈 Free Tutorials Udemy Review Real Discount Udemy Free Courses Udemy Coupon Udemy Francais Coupon Udemy gratuit Coursera and Edx ELearningFree Course Free Online Training Udemy Udemy Free Coupons Udemy Free Discount Coupons Udemy Online Course Udemy Online Training 100% FREE Udemy Discount Coupons https://www.couponudemy.com/blog/aws-masterclass-go-serverless-with-aws-lambda-aws-aurora/
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allenmendezsr · 4 years ago
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4 Week Diet - Supercharged Weight Loss
New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/4-week-diet-supercharged-weight-loss/
4 Week Diet - Supercharged Weight Loss
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 Buy Now
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    Need To Lose Weight Fast?
“Finally, The Truth About Rapid Weight Loss Revealed.
Read on to Discover The Latest Research And Scientific Breakthroughs Which Change The Face Of Dieting Forever. I’ll Expose The Lies That You’re Being Told And Provide You With A Simple And Effective Solution…
…A 4 Week Diet Which Could Be The Easiest Way To Lose 10-20-30+ Pounds Of Body Fat In Just 4 Weeks That You’ve Ever Tried!”
And it’s guaranteed to work or you’ll get all your money back… How many other diets will give you that kind of a promise?
In fact how many other diet companies want you to succeed?
It’s true most of them rely on your ongoing payments to make the FAT profits they do each year. And this is one of the biggest reasons why up until now you’ve probably never succeeded…
And you thought it was your fault that you were overweight, but it isn’t!
They aren’t telling you the truth, you’re being lied to…
But don’t worry, I have all the answers for you right here. Once you’ve read all of this short report today, you’ll finally understand where you’ve been going wrong all this time, but more importantly you’ll learn how to put it RIGHT…
So you can finally start feeling good about yourself, I mean feel really proud of the way you look so you actually enjoy shopping or getting dressed up to go out and meeting people without feeling embarassed or self conscious about the way you look.
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“This really works! The theories behind the 4 week diet really make sense and Jago has translated these in to an easy to use plan.
I love the recipe suggestions and even your shopping lists are already done for you so there’s no excuse not to get organised which Jago explains is the key.
The simple exercises are well demonstrated, they can be done easily at home to fit around your life.
I’ve used the 4 week diet a number of times for special events and holidays and it’s worked everytime to get me looking and feeling my very best.”
Sarah Reynolds
Dear friend
In this report I’m going to tell you all about the 5 biggest weight loss myths that have been stopping you from getting the body of your dreams…
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Weight Loss Myth #1 – Why you’ve been lied to and tricked in to eating the wrong types of foods.
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Weight Loss Myth #2 – How the way you’ve been taught to eat has actually programmed you to store fat, not burn it.
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Weight Loss Myth #3 – Why eating less doesn’t always mean you’ll end up weighing less.
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Weight Loss Myth #4 – How doing exercises for your tummy won’t help you to get six pack abs or even a flatter waistline.
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Weight Loss Myth #5 – One of the biggest exercise myths around, that’s certain to leave you frustrated at your lack of progress.
Once you know these FACTS and a bunch of other NEW techniques I’ll tell you about, you’ll have the power to burn fat at will.
Just imagine being able to get in to tip top shape in just 4 weeks time. Being able to look your best for…
Your next holiday
A works night out
An anniversary or celebration
Your Birthday 
Do you ever stand in front of a mirror when you’re getting dressed or sometimes catch your reflection in a window and think to yourself ‘oh no, I look awful’
If you do or you just have a mild dislike for the way you look, don’t worry, YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
In fact it amazes me how many people really hate the way their body looks.
But just imagine for a moment if that was different. Imagine looking in the mirror and actually liking what you see. Imagine smiling to yourself when you turn to the side and you look just as good as you did from the front.
Don’t you think that would be an amazing feeling… wouldn’t you like that to be you?
Of course you would, who wouldn’t!
What about shopping, how great would it be to buy the clothes you liked. Fitted, shapely clothes that look good on you, instead of buying something to hide your worst bits or anything to ‘do the job.’
However you feel at the moment, YOU DO HAVE THE POWER to change the way you look and feel, but you’re probably going to have to make some changes.
But don’t worry, I’m going to explain it all to you here in plain, easy to understand English so you finally understand the facts as they stand today. Then you’ll be able to plan a way forwards and start taking control of your body again.
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“I am 58 years old and over the years have tried various diets. Whilst having a modicum of success in the short term, weight has always returned.
I then discovered Jago Holmes who has led me down the path of successful weight loss. Unlike a rigid diet, Jago’s plans have taught me that diet is not enough alone and should be balanced with exercise.
I have followed the diet plan in conjunction with the exercises suggested by Jago to not only lose weight but, to maintain that loss.
Following Jago’s theory has not only helped me achieve the weight loss, but has encouraged me to think about my day to day lifestyle using stairs instead of lifts, walk to the shop for a newspaper rather than taking the car. I haven’t followed the diet religiously either, but have snack a jacks for elevenses instead of chocolate biscuits.
I certainly feel better in myself and have reaped the benefits of following Jago’s simple diet suggestions and easy to follow exercise techniques.”
Martin, UK
Unfortunately, we don’t get much of our information from reliable, impartial sources.
All too often, the way we approach dieting and losing weight is through advice and information that we’ve been told works by companies that are actually selling diet products to us.
Many of the myths around today were created by these companies.
So once and for all, I’d like to tell you the truth about why you haven’t managed to find a workable solution to rapid weight loss and to do this, I’m going to explain the facts about 5 of the biggest weight loss myths there are out there…
Weight Loss Myth #1 – Diet Foods Help You Lose Weight
This one is a real killer. Again it’s a triumph of marketing and hype over truth. Let me give you a couple of examples.
Just because a chocolate dessert or a packet of biscuits is classed as low fat, it doesn’t mean it’s actually any good for you. Yes it probably is lower in fat than its regular alternative, but it’s also full of other ingredients that are actually much worse than the fat that was in it.
Makers of these products, emphasise the lack of fat in their products but hide the fact that to make them taste better, they’ve had to replace the fat with sugars. They’ll do it cleverly, by breaking the sugars down in to various forms… sucrose, fructose, glucose syrup. Glycerine etc, the list goes on.
But the problem with sugar is that every time you eat something that has sugars in it, the body has to produce a hormone called Insulin. Insulin’s job is to remove the sugar from the blood and take it to the cells. Unfortunately when insulin is produced, it doesn’t always remove the exact right amount of sugar from the blood.
It creates a low in blood sugar levels, which then sends a signal to your brain to eat more in order to normalise blood sugar levels again.
Another problem is that we’ve been conditioned to believe that ‘diet’ foods actually help us to lose weight. You’ll have seen it yourself when someone orders a big Mac and fries, but insists on getting a diet Cola to go with it!
Most diet foods are created by huge multi-million dollar companies that want your money. They play around with and process your foods adding all kinds of rubbish just to make it appealing for you to buy, because you think it’s going to help you to lose weight.
Processed foods will never help you to lose weight, there’s too much junk inside for your body to cope with, so stay away from them as much as possible.
Weight Loss Myth #2 – Eat Just 3 Square Meals a Day
This time it’s probably your parents fault and their parents before them… You see there are a few reasons why eating at certain times throughout the day just isn’t right.
Firstly you aren’t necessarily hungry at the times that you have to eat. This means that you may be eating for the sake of it and getting more calories than you need each day.
Secondly if you can only eat at certain times throughout the day, because of your work pattern for example, then you may go for hours without being able to eat anything and this slows down your metabolic rate and encourages your body to store fat.
One of the biggest problems with eating in the traditional way is that your metabolic rate slows right down. You’ll burn calories at a snails pace because there are too long gaps between meals.
Eating smaller amounts regularly throughout the day does two things…
1.  It keeps the metabolism revving away and
2.  It stops the body from storing as many of the calories you are eating. Over a period of time, your body gets used to the regular supply of calories and realises that it doesn’t need to store as many of them as there isn’t likely to be times when it won’t get food.
Finally, it’s likely that you’re overeating if you depend on eating 3 set meals a day as the gaps between them will lead to hunger pangs and cravings. When you start getting these messages from the brain, you’ll usually eat more than you need to do.
Weight Loss Myth #3 – Reducing the Calories You Eat Makes You Lose Weight and the Fewer Calories You Eat Then the More Weight You’ll Lose
Sounds logical doesn’t it, and up to a point this is actually true BUT if this was completely right then surely the more you reduced the calories you were eating, then the faster you’d lose weight.
But this just doesn’t happen, you’ll know it yourself if you’ve ever tried restricting the amount of food you eat so low. The weight comes off pretty fast to begin with but after a few days, you can’t seem to lose any more, you quickly reach a plateau.
Here’s the real kicker, doing this means you’re actually making things worse for yourself and compounding the problem.
The reason is that your body gets thrown in to what it perceives as starvation and goes in to survival mode. When you’re in survival mode, your body just won’t release fat to burn. It can’t, in fact it does the complete opposite and actually holds on to it, by producing a hormone called Leptin.
But that’s not all, some of the other downsides you’ll notice are…
A slowdown in your metabolic rate. This is the speed at which you burn calories. You see when food intake is strictly limited, your body will always try to protect itself by holding on to its energy stores… your body fat!
Increased cravings. Your body knows it needs calories to survive and as a response your fat cells produce a hormone called Leptin which increases your cravings for guess what? You’ve guessed it… calories. Usually in the form of high sugar or high fat foods, because it’s these types of foods that will give you the biggest surge in quick fix calories.
An increase in the amount of fat you store. If your body isn’t sure when it’s next going to be fed don’t you think it’s natural to store as many calories as possible to keep your body working normally.
Think of yourself like a camel, it’s hump is almost totally pure fat to help it survive the lean times, it’s there to provide a reserve source of energy… well our bodies can be a bit like this too if we cut down on calories too much for too long, only your hump won’t be at the back!
Weight Loss Myth #4 – Think You’ll Get a Flat Stomach By Doing Sit Ups, Crunches or Some Other SECRET Exercise That No Ones Been Telling You About?
Think again, it just doesn’t work that way.
Crunches, sit ups and other tummy toning exercises are great to do, but the benefits they give you have nothing to do with getting a chiselled torso. So why does everyone think that they do?
Simple, you’ve been lied to again. Infomercials and the media, manipulate our understanding of exactly what certain exercises can really do for you.
Let me explain it this way…
Imagine that you have a fine porcelain vase, but it’s been covered in bubble wrap and brown paper. Covered this way means that you’ll never see the real beauty of the vase because it’s been hidden underneath a thick ugly layer of padding.
That’s how it is with your own tummy muscles.
You’ll never see them or flatten your tummy by doing these types of exercises alone. In fact done to extreme, they may actually lead to an increase in the size of your tummy, because the muscles can slightly increase in size, pushing the fat underneath out still further.
I’m not saying don’t do exercises for your stomach and lower back, because they help to improve posture and overall strength, just don’t expect to have a really flat stomach after religiously doing them for weeks… you’ll only be disappointed.
Weight Loss Myth #5 – Hours of Cardio Burns the Most Fat
This makes me really laugh, especially when I see ‘supposed experts’ advising you to exercise at a particular heart beat level called the weight loss zone.
The theory here is that at a certain level of effort, your body will burn more fat than carbohydrates as it’s main fuel source, but it’s only a slight difference and to get the same benefit you’d need to keep going for much longer.
Do you know how many calories you’d have to burn to lose just 1 pound of fat? Wait for it…
3500 calories!
Yes that’s right, you’d need to burn off 3500 calories in order to lose just 1 pound of fat.
OK, so how many calories can you expect to burn throughout the course of a typical gym workout for one hour, if you really push yourself?
Well it would depend on what exercises you were doing and how hard you worked, but for a typical average cardio workout, you could expect to burn around 600 calories in an hour.
Now I’m not a mathematician, but that means that to burn off 1 pound of body fat, you’d need to do at least 5 or 6 good hour long cardio workouts a week. Yeah right!… Who has that amount of time and level of commitment to do this each week?
Not me, and I actually enjoy working out.
The secret isn’t in doing endless workouts, wearing yourself out and grinding yourself down, its about gently increasing the amount of activity in your life.
Ok, so these are all the things that you shouldn’t do, now let me tell you honestly about the things you do need to do in order to lose weight fast AND keep it off.
I’ll also tell you all about a proven system that you can get hold of in less than a minute from now, so you can get started straight away the right way to lose weight fast AND keep it off.
But Before I Go Any Further, Who am I and Why Should You Listen to Me?
Please let me quickly introduce myself.
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My Name is Jago Holmes CPT and I’m a personal trainer working in the UK, with over 10 years experience working with people just like you.
I’m not a celebrity trainer who touts the latest off the wall diet to shed a few pounds, you know the types of diets I mean…
…’The Cabbage soup diet,’
…’The grapefruit diet,’
…’The Maple Syrup diet,
… This weird and wacky detox or that, the list goes on…
No I’ve been successful working with everyday people who have REAL lives, real budgets and don’t have the luxury of having their meals prepared for them, they have to go shopping to buy their own food like you and me.
And over the 10 years I’ve been doing this job, I’ve personally helped hundreds, if not thousands of clients to lose weight fast.
Here’s a Brief Selection of Some of My Clients and Their Success Stories
I understand the problems that everyday men and women face… but more importantly from your point of view, I know how to fix these problems.
But before I go in to that I want to explain to you some quite startling facts about why you’ve probably never managed to lose weight before and keep it off.
And then I’ll show you how by putting all the right pieces together at the same time, you can lose incredible amounts of weight in a remarkably short amount of time.
The Truth is For Any Diet Or Weight Loss Plan to Be Effective For Both Quick AND Long Term Weight Loss, it MUST Contain These 4 Vital Elements: –
Firstly it needs to be based around a ‘proven’ eating plan that works, one that helps you to feel full but also uses the latest advances in dieting research to boost fat loss, without causing side effects like yo-yo dieting or thyroid problems. 
Secondly, it needs to address activity. Yes, I said activity, NOT exercise. The truth is that you don’t have to kill yourself to burn calories. Low intensity activities that fit in to your daily lifestyle are the new way forward and no, you don’t have to don your Lycra shorts and sweatband to become a fitness fanatic in order to succeed! 
Thirdly, it should make use of a few select products that are sold by the supplement industry. Yes there are some that are worth your money. There is more junk on sale than effective products out there, but the truth is when you cut through the hype, there are some supplements that really should be included in an effective diet and weight loss plan. 
Finally, it absolutely has to control and recondition the power of the mind to stop cravings, create inner strength and boost motivation levels. Because it’s in the mind that even the best diets can become overnight failures if the right programming hasn’t been put in place. Without fixing this part of the problem, the whole thing falls flat on its face. 
So with a diet that contains all of these elements, I guess you would really describe it as more of a weight loss system, but I prefer to use the word ‘diet’.
In a nutshell, this is what any good diet system should contain. Each one of these elements is powerful in their own right, but put them together at the same time and you’ve created rocket fuelled weight loss.
This is Why ‘Traditional Dieting’ is Dead.
Sure a good one will give you some weight loss over a few months if you can stick it out that long, but if you want a system where the fat just seems to literally melt away, day after day then this is the solution for you.
Up until now, nobody has bothered to put everything together in one place. All this information is out there and once you sift through the misinformed ramblings and outright lies, you could probably get lucky and find a workable solution for you.
But do you really want to keep trying and testing every new diet there is, desperately searching for the right solution for you?
Wouldn’t you rather just follow a ‘proven’ weight loss system that’s been designed by someone who works day in and day out with clients that want to lose weight?
Up until now, getting it right has been very hard and confusing to follow, which means most people only get average or poor results.
But Now I’ve Done It… I’ve Put Together a Complete 4 Week Diet and Weight Loss System For You…
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I wanted to use all of the research, testing and trial and error, I’ve done with my own one to one clients over the last 10 years to put together a complete package which includes everything you need to get dramatic weight loss in just 4 weeks.
I’ve tested every part of this diet plan on my own clients, many times. They’ve been the Guinea pigs that have tested and improved this system that you can now have access to today, immediately in fact, if you want it.
All the dieting tips, tricks and techniques I’ve tested, tweaked and perfected are all here in one place in the ‘4 Week diet’
THIS IS A DIET THAT ACTUALLY WORKS EVERY TIME!
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“The exercise plan is a really good guide if you’re not a fan of the gym, it gives you loads of different ideas for exercises to do at home, and outdoor training options.
There’s even some suggestions about exercises you can do while you’re sat at work to tone your stomach!
If you have a busy life and need some advice on how to fit exercise into your diary, this is the guide for you.   The diet plan is a great plan to help you get a healthy diet and keep it. The menus are easy to follow and you don’t have to be a great cook to make them. It also contains a whole lot of knowledge about food to help you pinpoint where the empty calories are and avoid them. 
A really good guide if you want to take control of your diet. If you take this plan on board it’ll last a lot longer than 4 weeks.”
Sue, Halifax
So Please Let Me Tell You All About My New 4 Week Diet…
To fully cover everything that you need to know to be able to lose weight at the fastest possible rate in just 4 weeks from now, for a party, special event, wedding or any celebration I have written it all in to 3 easy to follow, clearly written manuals…
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Firstly there’s the Theory manual. This is vital to the whole diet. In it you’ll discover exactly how my system works. I explain the theory behind my weight loss tricks, so you know exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve and exactly how to do it.
Inside you’ll discover…
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A range of preparations you need to make before you start any diet, that virtually guarantee your success and without doing these things, you’re almost sabotaging your chances of having the body of your dreams (page 11)
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How to set specific goals geared towards YOU that motivate and inspire you to succeed (page 12)
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Why doing this one thing every day takes you from ‘dreamer’ to ‘doer’. At last you’ll have the drive to go on to take real control of your weight. (page 16)
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3 Things that you can do, which done together really fire up your body’s ability to burn fat fast. (pages 20 – 24)
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A range of little known mind programming techniques that you can use to conquer cravings and comfort eating once and for all. Once you master these techniques, you’ll never be at the mercy of your emotions again! (page 26)
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The ideal foods to eat and the ones you need to stay away from.
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A great, tasty and quick range of snacks that you can eat all day long that will help you to burn calories, not store them (page 54)
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How to read the lies manufacturers ‘legally’ print on their labelling so you understand which foods to avoid at all costs. (page 55)
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Some really great tips to help you when you eat out so that you’ll still have a good time without suffering the consequences of extra weight gain.(page 57)
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Everything you need to know about supplements. The truth about which ones do have an effect on your weight loss whilst others are simply a waste of your money. (page 58)
Next, There’s ‘The Diet’, Which Covers All the Meals and Foods You’ll Eat Over the Next 4 weeks.
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This manual contains simple menus, shopping lists and quick snack choices in a day by day format, to ensure that you’re feeding your body the right types and amounts of foods essential for losing weight fast.
You’ll also discover…
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An easier way to eat a healthy diet by choosing foods that fill you up for longer, without the addition of extra calories that also saves you time and money!   
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How much you should be eating and when to eat it and also the crucial timing of changing the way you eat to boost energy levels and fat loss 
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A simple but time tested way of eating which guarantees you eat a constant and regular supply of nutrients which stops you craving food at the same time as making you feel fuller.
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Some great tricks to make eating healthily whilst following the ‘4 Week Diet’ child’s play that are quick and simple to do even on your busiest days! 
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A range of quick and healthy food alternatives to your favourites, that give you loads of energy and make you feel fuller for longer. 
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The #1 biggest mistake nearly everyone makes by NOT getting enough of this important nutrient and why doing this simple thing each day will improve the quality of your hair, your skin and energy levels 100%! 
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A step by step eating system that includes shopping lists and daily menus, leaving you to eat on auto pilot, no need to worry about what you are going to eat, it has all been planned out for you in fact, it couldn’t be easier!
Last But Not Least, You’ll Also Get ‘The Exercises.’
This Manual Contains the Final Key to Rapid Weight Loss. The Missing Link in Almost Every Diet You’ve Ever Tried.
But this is no ordinary exercise plan. This is one of the easiest activity plans you’ve ever seen. You don’t need to get your Lycra shorts on and join a gym, you don’t have to spend every spare minute exercising and you don’t have to kill yourself by doing a workout that leaves you aching for days.
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This activity and exercise plan is different, inside you’ll discover…
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A simple but effective way to exercise at home, which takes just a few minutes to do, but that boosts fat loss and leaves you feeling energised all day long (page 9)
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An easy and enjoyable way to become more active that you can do anytime (page 22)
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Some great tips you can use everyday to help you catapult your weight loss to new highs that are easy to do and fit nicely in to your everyday life (page 20)
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A simple but extremely effective walking plan that’ll have you losing weight and loving the feelings of accomplishment you get after each session (page 25)
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An easy to follow workout you can do at home, that includes clear photos and descriptions so you know exactly what to do to tone those ‘hard to reach’ places! (pages 27 – 32)
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A quick way to tighten and firm your tummy muscles which you can do at home for FREE and in less than 5 minutes a day. (page 33 – 46)
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How to fit exercise in to a busy day. So easy to do, you’ll never again struggle to find the time to exercise. You’ll definitely have time to do this. (page 51)
OK Jago, So Why a Diet That Lasts Just 4 Weeks?
Well, that’s a very good question. Remember the last diet you tried, How far did you get?
A few days, a week, 10 days, 2 weeks?
One of the biggest reasons people don’t stick at diets is that there’s no completion date.
Psychologically it’s very difficult to keep doing something that you wouldn’t normally do for an indefinite period. If you know you’ve only got to do something for a short amount of time, it’s much easier to stick to AND you’ll try harder.
Another reason is that I wanted to use a time frame that didn’t just give barely noticeable results, I wanted the ‘wow’ factor and in 4 weeks, you really can achieve outstanding results… believe me, I’ve seen it so many times.
But the real beauty of my NEW improved 4 week diet is…
It won’t take over your life 
It’s quick and easy to do 
You’ll see fast results and 
There are no nasty side effects, except having to buy a whole new set of clothes! 
It’s really easy to do and very effective.
If You Follow My NEW 4 Week Diet You’ll…
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Lose weight fast, so you and anyone who knows you will start seeing your body shape change before your eyes
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Feel more confident about the way you look so you feel comfortable and relaxed around other people
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Have tons more energy and get up and go, nothing will feel like an effort, you’ll have the energy levels of a 5 year old.
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Discover a system that you can use anytime to drop weight at will
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See improvements in the condition of your hair and skin
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Have more zest for life, approach life with a positive attitude so you attract more of the good things in life.
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Be able to buy the clothes you like, not just the ones that hide your worst bits. Shopping will no longer be a chore, you’ll love trying on new clothes.
We all have a perceived idea about dieting…
It’s got to be hard, a challenge. It’s like you have to deprive yourself, almost like punishing yourself for gaining weight.
If it’s not hard, most people don’t consider it to be a diet, but the truth is that dieting doesn’t have to be like this.
Because There’s a Way to Lose Weight Fast Without Starving Yourself or Taking Tablets or Potions That Are Harmful to Your Health…
…and it all Hinges Around Taking Control of Your Mind.
When you really think about it, it’s your mind that controls everything you do.
Once you manage to control your subconscious mind, you hold the key to not only losing weight fast, but also losing weight and controlling it forever.
And ‘The 4 Week Diet’ helps you to do just this. With the mind tricks and reprogramming techniques you’ll learn inside, you’ll finally be able to win the war of the mind.
Cravings and comfort eating will be a thing of the past.
With the information you’ll learn, you’ll find that you crave foods that actually improve your health and help you to lose weight even when you’re feeling a bit down or tired.
But the best thing is that by eating the right types of foods, you won’t have these kinds of mood swings or feelings of tiredness all the time.
You’ll find that you have so much energy, that you’ll wonder how you ever got through each day when you weren’t following ‘The 4 Week Diet’. Everything will be so much easier.
Here are some more things you’ll discover when you use my 4 Week Diet and weight loss plan…
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Exactly how much food you need to eat each day WITHOUT counting calories.
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Which carbs are your friends and which ones will sabotage your best weight loss efforts.
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How to turn your body in to a fat burning machine that burns off your unwanted fat all day long without you having to be constantly on the go.
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How to use some tricks of the mind to create the perfect weight loss mentality, so you won’t cave in to temptation at the first sign of a challenge.
Okay Jago, This Sounds Like Something That I Can Benefit From, But How Much Does the 4 Week Diet Cost?
Losing weight is always going to cost you something…
Whether it’s joining a gym at a cost of $500 – $900.00 a year, hiring your own trainer and paying at least $300.00 a month or signing up for the latest diet scam, where you’ll pay over inflated prices for your shakes or tablets etc.
Or you could start a fitness regime yourself at home and buy yourself a treadmill or cross trainer.
So, let’s just do a quick comparison. The last time I checked, the cost of buying a treadmill would set you back well over $1,000.00. And virtually everyone I know who bought one used it at first but after a few weeks simply used it to hang their clothes over. It was left to gather dust.
Or you could easily pay $75 – $100 bucks per month for a gym membership which you’ll maybe use a few times (that’s over $900.00 per year for that alone!).
Or you could hire a personal trainer like me to work with you. But at a cost of over $75.00 per session, you’d quickly run up a bill of over $300.00 a month, for only four workouts, after that you’d be on your own.
If you think of it this way, you’re actually getting hundreds of dollars worth of top quality expertise and training at your disposal inside this new program, which you get to keep forever…
You can use the techniques time and time again.
But you won’t have to pay anything like this amount or even match my minimum hourly rate of $75.00.
In fact, your total investment for this entire system is just $149.99 $75.99 $37.95.
That’s just a little over a measly dollar a day!
And how many gyms have you been to that give you a 60 day money back guarantee?
(That’s right, I’ll tell you about this in a moment.)
You’ll have everything you need and what’s more you’ll be able to start immediately. Within a few minutes from now if you like…
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The best part is my NEW system is fully and unconditionally guaranteed.
100% RISK-FREE Money Back Guarantee
If you aren’t 100% satisfied that ‘The 4 Week Diet’ provides you with absolutely everything you need to know and all the tools you need to lose weight quickly over the next 4 weeks, then you can simply request a full and complete refund in the next 60 days.
I am pleased to be able to offer you a no questions asked, 60 day money back guarantee.
  And should you decide that the program isn’t right for you in any way whatsoever, then I would like you to keep all of the special bonuses which I’ve included for you below. These are worth over $119.94 and are yours for free to keep forever when you place your order.
NO QUESTIONS ASKED… no gimmicky rules or requirements. 
You don’t even need to write an explanation as to why you don’t want to keep the program or produce evidence that you’ve tried the system out, NOTHING!
Remember, I’m so confident that you’ll be delighted with this program and all of the FREE bonuses worth $119.94 that I absolutely INSIST that you send the program back to me for a full and complete refund if you don’t think it’s the right solution for you! 
All you need to do now so you can try out my system completely risk free is place your order now by clicking on the ‘Order Now!’ button below. Follow the simple instructions on screen to download the eBooks through our secure system and you’ll be able to get started in just a few minutes from now.
I promise within days of following my system you’ll be amazed at how quickly the changes will start to happen.
You can relax because you’ve found your solution… this works!
Remember, I’ve used my own experience and extensive research through real life working in the trenches knowledge I have gained with my private 1 to 1 clients over the last 10 years.
I’ve tested this out on them and perfected it before releasing it to you. This is the reason why I‘m so sure it will work for you too and I’m happy to offer such a generous, iron clad, 100% money back guarantee.
“The biggest boost for me is that I now, once again have a regular exercise plan and I am continuing to lose weight and feel better all the time” Debbie
“New Image has been very helpful and has given me lots of encouragement at all times. I am extremely pleased with the results I achieved in my body shape and general fitness”Dawn
“I started the plan with eager anticipation and a determination to succeed, and due to the encouragement and expertise I received along with a lot of hard work , I am delighted to say it has been a resounding success” Barry
Now Even Though You’ll Lose Weight Fast If You Follow My Instructions in ‘The 4 Week Diet,’ I Want to Add Even More Value to This Offer…
I don’t want you to simply be pleased about your purchase, I want you to be absolutely delighted with it!
So I know if you’re anything like me you’ll also find some of these additional FREE bonuses extremely useful: –
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BONUS #1 (worth $11.99) – order now and you will also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Healthy Smoothies For Rapid Weight Loss’
Discover over 50 of the most mouth watering smoothies and shakes ever created. Recipes that contain some of the quickest and easy to make fat blasting, energy boosting drinks that take just a couple of minutes to make.
All the recipes have been selected because of their healthy balance as well as for the combination of flavours and textures they provide.
These smoothies are low in fat but very high in taste!
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BONUS #2 (worth $17.99) – order now and you will receive this superb NEW eBook completelyFREE – ‘Healthy Soups For Healthy Living’
In this great little eBook you’ll find a range of tasty and nutritious soups which are both easy and quick to prepare… exactly what you need when time is short.
The recipes have been chosen for their taste but also for their nutritional value, the majority of the soups are low in fat and high in vitamins and minerals.
Each recipe comes complete with its own nutritional breakdown section.
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BONUS #3 (worth $11.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘How To Boost Your Metabolism’
Inside you will learn how absolutely anyone can instantly boost their metabolism by making just 3 SIMPLE changes to their lifestyle.
Learn ways to burn calories even at rest and why doing some exercises will leave you feeling frustrated at your body’s ability to melt away body fat.
You’ll learn the secrets to eating more and weighing less and how some people never seem to gain weight whilst others will always have a weight problem.
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BONUS #4 (worth $21.99) – order now and you will also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Glycemic 101 – How To Effortlessly Control Your Glycemic Index’
Inside you’ll discover exactly how to eat to support and maintain healthy blood sugar levels and how the peaks and troughs in your blood sugar can leave you craving the worst types of junk food.
You’ll learn why using the Glycemic index as your guide to choosing food could dramatically reduce your risk of suffering from diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.
And finally you can gain control of your weight forever, so you can choose your own dress size and maintain that shape for the rest of your life.
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BONUS #5 (worth $17.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘Healthy Salads For Healthy Living’
You’ll find some really unusual and tasty salads which can be used as meals in their own right or eaten alongside other foods as accompaniments.
Never again will you have to serve up limp lettuce leaves, soggy cucumber or boring tomato slices. Once you try some of these fantastic salads you’ll realise that there is much more to a salad than simply filling up a space on your plate.
There are 17 mouthwatering recipes that draw inspiration from all over the world along with some useful hints and tips for how to make the most out of any salad by using some of the healthy and tasty dressings you’ll find inside.
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BONUS #6 (worth $37.99) – order now and you’ll also receive this eBook completely FREE – ‘How To Start Running’
I thought this might be a really great bonus for you. It’s one of my favourite training guides and will help you to plan, organise and start your very own running program. 
Running is a great way to lose weight and build up your fitness levels so you have more energy in everyday life. But the problem is that most people don’t know how to get started properly, so they end up giving up too soon without noticing any improvements to their fitness or seeing any weight loss benefits at all.
‘How To Start Running’ is a complete guide to running for both beginners and experienced runners. The advanced techniques and training tips you’ll learn inside will change the way you think about running forever.
Included In This Special Offer
Cost If Bought Separately
The 4 Week Diet (All 3 Manuals)
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$37.95
Healthy Smoothies
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$11.99
Healthy Soups For Healthy Living
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$17.99
How To Boost Your Metabolism –
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$11.99
Glycemic 101
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$21.99
Healthy Salads For Healthy Living
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$17.99
How To Start Running
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$37.99
Total If Purchased Separately
$157.89
Taking Advantage Of This Special Offer You’ll Pay Just:
$79.50 $37.95
So that’s a total of over $157.89 worth of recipes, techniques and tips which are available elsewhere at the prices you see here, but all yours when you order ‘The 4 Week Diet.’
And no matter what you decide the bonuses are yours free to keep forever.
So What Makes ‘The 4 Week Diet’ Different to all the Other Diets Out There?
Well, firstly it’s been written by an ‘experienced’ practicing personal trainer. I know what works quickly and I know what works over the long term.
You’ll lose weight quickly but safely, and if you continue using the techniques and principles you’ll learn, you’ll also keep the weight off too.
Whilst this is a diet and a very big part of the system, I don’t attack the fat using only one technique, I throw everything at it, to really boost weight loss… 
I use all of the latest up to date diet tricks and supplemental breakthroughs to get remarkable results.
Why You Should Give it a Try…
It’s safe, fast, effective, easy to do and it’s guaranteed to give results. That’s right, you didn’t misread that last bit.
I stand behind my 4 week diet. If you don’t see amazing results after following my advice, I’ll give you back every cent.
And it’s very easy to get a refund, if it doesn’t work for you, simply send me an email and you’ll get all your money back.
How many diet clubs, magazines or personal trainers etc will offer you that sort of a guarantee?
You may think I must really believe in this system to offer this sort of guarantee… well I do.
I KNOW IT WORKS!
Every single time anyone has followed this step by step system fully, they have seen dramatic results.
In fact not only will I give you a full refund, but I’ll also give you 6 weeks to try it out.
Oh, and just in case you’re wondering if you’d ever get your money back, as well as my own 60 day money back guarantee, you also get Clickbanks 60 day Guarantee. Clickbank is the secure payment processor we use, and they have a very strict policy for their authors.
We have to stick by their rules or we get kicked out!
So it’s your decision, you have absolutely nothing to lose. I guarantee you’ll lose weight fast and see rapid changes in your body shape.
But perhaps more importantly…
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You’ll learn the right way to eat, so you can lose weight whenever you choose. If you’ve got a birthday, a holiday, anniversary, new job on the horizon… for any reason you like.
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You’ll discover which foods help you to lose fat and which ones cause you to store fat, so you can stop banging your head against a brick wall, you’ll know the solution.
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You’ll finally see why you’ve been getting it wrong all these years and why the lies and untruths you’ve been told have been keeping you from EVER being the shape you want to be.
But all this can change right now. Once you place your order below and download your copy of my NEW 4 Week weight loss plan, you’ll have instant access to the eBooks so you can get started right away!
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I really hope you decide to give it a try. After all you’ve got nothing to lose with this offer and EVERYTHING to gain.
Yours Sincerely,
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  Jago Holmes, CPT 
Author, ‘The 4 Week Diet’ 
Well it’s over to you, the decision is yours now…
I’ve taken away any risk you might feel about trying out my 4 week diet by offering such a RISK FREE money back guarantee.
All this information can be yours immediately for just $37.95. Simply click below to order and you’ll be taken to our secure payment page. From there, just follow the on screen instructions to download your own copy of these superb eBooks.
P.S.  Please remember there is absolutely NO RISK at all for you to try my 4 Week diet. If you aren’t thrilled with the information you find inside the program and don’t notice the changes you expect during the next 4 weeks after following my advice, then simply email me at the address you’ll find on my ‘contact us’ page at the bottom of the page and I will refund your order.
Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed, my system has been used by hundreds of my own clients and it works, and I guarantee it will work for you too! 
P.P.S.  Remember by ordering “The 4 Week Diet,’ you’re not just getting the Complete weight loss system, but you’ll also receive at no extra cost whatsoever all of the bonuses worth $119.94 TOTALLY FREE which also contain vital information to help keep you motivated.
P.P.P.S.  There is just one small catch to this offer, I have put this package together and included all these extra bonuses which are for sale elsewhere at the prices you’ve seen, but I’m not sure how long I’m going to offer these extra bonuses for FREE with this deal.
You need to act straight away to guarantee that you will receive the additional bonuses for this package, so place your order now and then you won’t miss out on this great bonus package deal!
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PLEASE NOTE: ‘The 4 Week Diet’ is a downloadable eBook package. No physical products will be shipped. You’ll have immediate access to download the eBooks to your own computer once you’ve placed your order.
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readfelice-blog · 6 years ago
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Why I have given up art
Hi, I’m Felice Zhukov, the former artist.
Since I can remember I’ve been introducing myself as an artist, since pre puberty,  well over half my life now.
But I woke up some time before Christmas, I don’t remember what day, and I realised that this belief of mine, as to what I am, as to what I will be, as to what I have been, as an artist, has been ruining my life, nearly from its inception.
As an artist, I went to art university, I didn’t gel with my peers particularly well and didn’t understand the business of art at all. In my scheme of things art was innate and internal, it was not something dictated by the zeitgeist, or a culture of wealthy patrons plugging money into their fantasies or into a black market that guaranteed big returns. From this artist’s perspective art was independent of the commercial world, it was a place to shelter the strange and illustrious minds that don’t fit into a conventional system, who have a vision of a world which does not support mass culture, hyperconnectivity or the attention economy. Art is a place you can dwell in quietly or jump up and down in and scream at the top of your lungs, art is not netflix, amazon or coca cola.
I love art to much, wrapping myself around my art, unable to distinguish where I as an artist and I as a person begin and end.
It all became the same thing, I couldn’t market what I was doing, it would be like trying to sell my organs for profit and I kept seeing casualties, great artists either killed by their careers or flattened out by the expectation of the art world. Though some flourish with elegance, I’m name checking Hito Steyerl here as one of those people, Sophie Calle, Olafur Eliasson.
But what these 3 artists share in common is that they do not reveal themselves in their art, they are masked by their pursuits: by digging into form and intellect, they are not their art, they are artists.
My entire adult life I have stubbornly taken badly paid service jobs with a view that this toil and suffering is part of an artist’s life, that my value is in my work and that I cannot make money or instigate a career in any other place than with my art. So I have made nothing but I have accumulated a string of debt, of relying on others kindness, of coming to view myself as some kind of noble charity, not capitalising on this per se but rather excusing my inability to contribute.
But the truth is I will never be able to contribute because what’s happened with my art in the last few years has been so absolute and extreme that it cannot be sold, I can’t even really explain it within an artistic context anymore.
What have I been doing?
I have ripped apart my life and displayed myself to whoever will listen, it’s not been a huge audience but I know people have sat at their phones mouths agape watching me painting my face in marmite and screaming, or dancing with eerie life size dolls made from bin bags, or throwing the contents of my life away and very very openly writing about it on the web. It’s almost as if what I’ve been doing is slowly gouging the art out of my veins, because now that I’ve come to close the chapter on my last project and take note of what’s happened to me, now that I have space to breath, I can see without the tunnel vision my art has been giving me.
I artist, have been all ego, underneath the umbrella of my name, Felice Zhukov, I have defined a character that is both exotic and repulsive, a terrifying, but somehow intoxicating creature, my art has seen me navigate relationships with hysteria and confusion, it has shot out at people I have never met and sewn them into this allegorical rampage, for years everyone I know has been made part of my art, has been woven into it, there is no person called Felice Zhukov. This schizophrenic way of approaching the world has been damaging me, as I unlink from it I wonder where it came from and with a little digging I begin to hear the voices of Courtney Love, Carrie Bradshaw, Edina Monsoon, echoing in the chambers of my mind, sat together inside me, insinuating a lifestyle I should be reaching for.
So if I am to become a person, I cannot be an artist, I want to start from scratch, to be anonymous, to not introduce myself through my art anymore.
Too many artists accept the conditions of their lives and suffer because they have no means, this might be noble but the truth is its crippling, everyday has a question mark hanging over it when you live this way, I nod to my peers in this situation with admiration and I wish them the best, because the world needs artists to counter the excrement that is so easily accessible from all corners of the globe.  I promise I haven’t deserted you comrades, I still love art more than I love myself, but I want to try existing as a person, making art in private, not exhibiting myself. Should I ever want to share again you won’t know it’s me, I will never be Felice Zhukov the artist again, never never for so long as I should walk this earth, amen.
( ……. Saying that I have 88 drawings to sell this year, but I’m calling that business……..
………. and I have a lot of work to catalogue, I have a platform to build and a new career to start on.....)
I love you art, always and forever.
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lastmover · 7 years ago
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2014 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting (Afternoon) Transcript
1. Record attendance
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, let’s get ready to proceed.
We never get any precise figures, because people come and go from the meeting. But I did know that we sent out about 11,000 more tickets this year than in any other year, and we had all the overflow rooms filled. We’re using space in a room over at the Hilton and everything, so clearly this year we have substantial more attendance than any year in the past, and I hope the spending patterns reflect that. (Laughter)
2. Risk of change to businesses
WARREN BUFFETT: So with that, we’ll go to Becky. Assuming she’s here.
BECKY QUICK: I am, I’m here.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK.
BECKY QUICK: Let’s see, this is a question that comes, and I hope I pronounce your name correctly, Michael.
It’s Michael — Michael Locheck (PH) and he says, “Energy Future Holdings’ likely bankruptcy is a consequence of unexpected and dramatic decline in prices of natural gas prices caused by a revolution in drilling technology. To what extent do you believe other assets held in Berkshire’s portfolio, debt, equity, et cetera, may be subject to disruptive technological or other changes that erode business models and barriers to entry?”
“For example, changes in consumer behavior and regulation could affect Coca-Cola. Revolution in payment systems could affect American Express, ever-increasing rate of change in technology and competitive landscape could affect IBM, wireless delivery of media content and urbanization could be disruptive to DirecTV.
“Could you also comment on whether participation of some sponsors of Energy Future Holdings, which include the very best of private equity, contributed to your decision to invest? Was it the degree of crowd mentality at play, and what lessons are to be learned from the experience?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, well. I would be unwilling to share the credit for my decision to invest in Energy Future Holdings with anybody else. I would think that’s very unfair of anyone to insinuate that they had anything to do with that decision.
That was just a mistake on my part. It was a big — it was a significant mistake, and we will make mistakes in the future.
All businesses should constantly be thinking about what can mess up their business model. And with Energy Future Holdings it was a fairly simple assumption that was made that just turned out to be wrong.
I mean, the assumption there was that gas prices would stay roughly as high as they were or go higher, and instead they went a whole lot lower.
And at that point the whole place toppled. They had a lot of reserve holdings and they had some futures positions which kept them alive for a while. But that was a basic error.
We look at all of our businesses as subject to change. A classic case would be GEICO. I mean, GEICO set out in 1936 to operate at low costs and pass on those low costs to the customer through lower prices for something that was a necessity, auto insurance.
And they originally did it by mail offerings, U.S. Postal Service, two people who were government employees. That’s where the name comes from, GEICO, Government Employees Insurance Company.
And they had to adapt over the years, and they adapted first to widening classifications. But they went from the U.S. mail, primarily, to the telephone, and later went to the internet, and onto social media.
But in there they stumbled one time, too, as they went to adapt, and they — when they left the government employees classification, at one point they became too aggressive about expanding and they almost — they really did go broke.
So there’s — change is going on all the time, and it’s going on with all of our businesses. And we want managers that are thinking about change, and what can — what’s going to be needed for their business model in the future. And we know they’re not going look the same five or ten years from now.
I mean, BNSF, something as basic as railroads, is looking big at LNG for its locomotives. Everything is going to change.
Our businesses generally deal from strength and they’re generally not subject to rapid change. But they’re all subject to change, and of course, slow change can be much harder to perceive, and can lull you to sleep easier, sometimes than when rapid change is clearly in sight.
So I would say, in answer to that question, A) I will make mistakes in the future. I mean, when you — that’s guaranteed.
We do not make anything like “bet the company” decisions that will ever cause us real anguish. That just doesn’t happen at Berkshire. But you’re not going to make a lot of decisions without making some significant mistakes.
And occasionally they work out very well. Charlie and I, and Sandy Gottesman, in 1966, bought a department store in Baltimore. Now, there’s probably nothing dumber than buying a department store in the mid-1960s. There were four department stores on the corner of Howard and Lexington Street in Baltimore in 1966, and none of them are there. And the number one store, Hutzler’s, went broke a little later than our store went broke.
But fortunately Sandy did a great job of selling it, so the $6 million invested in that department store became worth about $45 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock as we did other things with the money as we went along.
So you do have to be very alert to what is going on in your businesses, and we want our managers to do that. But actually, it’s something that Charlie and I, and our directors, are going to think about, as well as our managers. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, I spoke earlier about the desirability of removing your ignorance piece by piece, and there’s another trick, which is scrambling out of your mistakes. And we’ve been quite good at both, and it’s enormously useful.
Imagine Berkshire, a textile mill sure to go broke because power costs in New England were about twice as high as they were in TVA country, a sure-to-fail department store, and a trading stamp sure to be forced out of business by change in mode. Out of that comes Berkshire Hathaway. Talk about scrambling out of mistakes, I think of what we might have done if we’d had a better start. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. The point was driven home to me — my great-grandfather started a grocery store here in Omaha in 1869. And my grandfather was running it in 1929, and he wrote my uncle who was going to be running it with him.
And the letter started out, this is in 1929, “The day of the chain store is over.” And that is why we ended up with one grocery store, which went out of business in 1969.
It — you really have to face facts around you, and the wish being father to the thought was, unfortunately, what overcame my grandfather.
3. Heinz earning power
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, Jay?
JAY GELB: This question is on the Heinz transaction.
Berkshire’s 50 percent ownership in Heinz is included in Berkshire’s results, which can be meaningful to its earnings over time.
What is Heinz’s current normalized earning power, after the substantial restructuring of the business, and what do you anticipate Heinz could earn within a few years?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, Heinz will be filing its own 10-Qs. In fact, I guess its first quarter would be — they went to a calendar year now — first quarter would be about due now. So you’ll get to see Heinz’s figures.
And I will say this, that Heinz was actually a very reasonably run food company with about 15 percent pre-tax margins for many years, and that’s not an unusual operating margin in the food business.
And I would just invite you to look quarter by quarter and maybe next year, too, I think the margins of Heinz will be significantly improved from those historical figures. What Bernardo Hees and his associates have done there is — they’ve just restructured the business model.
And I think that the brands, which are all-important, are as strong as ever. And I think the cost structure is going to be significantly improved without cutting into marketing expenditures.
So I think you’ll see a significant improvement, but I don’t want to name a number on that. You’ll find it out soon enough.
4. Buy companies or stock?
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Station 11.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. My name is Dev Contessaria (PH) and I’m a fund manager from Philadelphia.
You’ve touched on some of this already today, but I wanted to ask, if you could expand on how you think about comparing investment opportunity.
In the past, you haven’t been afraid to make a single position a large portion of your portfolio, such as Coca-Cola.
So when there is a chance to buy more of your favorite names, as in 2008 and early 2009, how did the case of buying more of companies like Coca-Cola or even a Moody’s, which had dropped from 75 to 15, as examples, compare with other things that you actually did?
Could Berkshire have achieved its historical returns with a more simple, concentrated portfolio of your favorite names with positive characteristics such as durable competitive advantage, pricing power, strong organic growth, et cetera, versus the larger, more complex collection of businesses which exist today? Thank you.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, depends which favorite name we might have hit harder back in the 2008 and 2009 period.
In the first instance, I spent a considerable part of our cash reserves too early, looking back, too early in the 2009 panic. The bottom of that was reached early in March in 2009, and that bottom was quite a bit lower than September and October of 2008 when we spent 16 or so billion.
Now, we were committed to finance Mars for 6.6 billion, and that commitment had been made many months earlier, so we didn’t really have much choice in terms of the timing of that.
But we did fine on the expenditures we made during that period, but obviously we didn’t do as well, remotely as well, as if we’d kept all of the powder dry and then just spent it all at once at the bottom.
But we’ve never really figured out how to do that, and we won’t figure out how to do that.
So, the timing could have been improved dramatically. On the other hand, as late as the late fall of October of 2009, when the economy was still in the dumps, really in the dumps, you know, we were able to buy BNSF, which will be an enormous part of our future.
So, overall we did reasonably well going through that period. But looking back, the most money would have been made just by buying a bundle of stocks.
When we were buying Harley Davidson bonds at 15, looking back we should have been buying the stock. But that’ll always be the case.
Overall, we would love the idea — what really we want to do at our present size and scope, and with the objectives we’ve got for our shareholders, is we want to buy big businesses with good management at reasonable prices and then try to build them over time.
I mean, when we start 2014, we’ve got a really good group of businesses, some of them very big. Those businesses will earn more over time, and then the — what we’re trying to do is add onto them and make sure we don’t issue any shares in the process. So it’s not a complicated process.
And looking back we’ll always be able to do it better than we’ve done it. That’s just the nature of things. But I don’t — I feel the game is still a very viable one, and will be for some time. It won’t be forever, it can’t be forever. But it’s still got some juice left in it. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, what’s happened, of course, is the private businesses that we control have gotten to be a bigger and bigger percentage of the thing. For a great many of the early years we had more in common stocks than the total value of the company. And so we were — it was like a big portfolio of common stocks and a lot of businesses thrown in as extras.
And now, of course, the private companies are worth way more than the stocks. And, I would guess that that will continue, wouldn’t you Warren?
WARREN BUFFETT: Sure, it’ll continue. And the difference is when we’re right about stocks, it shows up in market value and in net worth.
When we’re right about businesses, it shows up in future earning power, which you can see, but it doesn’t jump out at you the same way changes in stock values do. So it’s a different sort of buildup of value, and one is somewhat easier to see than the other.
But the other is more enduring and does not require going from flower to flower. And they’re both fine, but we’ve moved into phase two. Say that’s fair, Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, well, if you’re just investing moderate amounts of capital in the middle of some panic, you take the bottom tick, it’s a very attractive price. But no significant volume of the shares could have been purchased at that price.
And so when we buy these businesses, we can get huge chunks of money into things. And now if we’d wanted to go much heavier into Moody’s, we couldn’t have bought that much anyway.
WARREN BUFFETT: No, no.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, so, we are sort of forced by our own past success, more into these bigger positions represented by the private companies.
But really, that’s in the advantage of all of us, I think.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
CHARLIE MUNGER: I love it when we buy transmission lines in Alberta. I don’t think anything horrible is going happen to Alberta. And nor do I think transmissions —
WARREN BUFFETT: If it does, we won’t know it.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, right, right. (Laughter)
And — no, I think we’ve adapted pretty well to changes in our circumstances.
And that, again, is part of life. I mean, since change is inevitable, how well you adapt to it is terribly important. And I would say the changes that many of you have watched in Berkshire over the years have been very much in our interest, and then there may be future changes that are just as desirable.
WARREN BUFFETT: We bought a fair amount of Wells Fargo, for example, really over the last few years. And because the economy came back, really, the most money, if you were buying at the bottom, came from buying the banks of lesser quality because they — their weaknesses drove them down even further in price, and they needed a good economy to come back.
But they were kind of like a marginal copper producer or something, that you make more money if copper goes up, not if you buy the best copper company but, usually, if you buy the worst one, because it — they have the highest marginal cost, but that gives it the biggest kick on profits.
To some extent that’s been true, for example, the banks. But we felt 100 percent comfortable buying Wells Fargo, and we might have felt 50 percent comfortable buying some others and so we went where we were comfortable.
Looking back, you can say we should have just bought them all. And in fact, bought the ones that had had the worst record going into 2008 or ’09, because they had the greatest recovery possible, simply because they’d fallen so far. Andrew?
5. Technology and GEICO’s future
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: — And it has to do with the future as well, and it relates to GEICO.
And the questioner asked, “Could you, and perhaps Tony Nicely, please explain how you think about usage-based pricing, tracking drivers electronically and charging premiums accordingly, and how that will affect the auto insurance industry in the U.S. in the next decade, and how these changes impact the moat at GEICO?
I’m also sure you’ve studied the potential impact of self-driving cars on GEICO. Google says it’s now five years away. What does this mean to the future of the profit machine that is GEICO, and if the analysis showed a challenging future, would you ever sell?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, the answer to the very last question is no.
The usage-based pricing is something that’s popular with some companies that have done a lot of work on it. Probably the one most identified with it is Progressive doing something called “Snapshot.”
And there’s no question that knowing how customers drive, or policy holders drive, and how they use their cars is a valuable input to assessing the proper premium to people.
And insurance is all about comparing the propensity of loss to achieve — or evaluating the propensity of loss to establish the proper premium.
And it’s very easy to understand in life insurance. I mean, if somebody is 90, they’re more likely to die than 20, despite Charlie — situation. (Laughter)
Even at 83 they’re more likely to die than somebody at 20.
The — so you know, that’s obvious. Females live longer. That’s not quite as obvious but it’s been established.
So there are various variables in insurance, and you try to assess those variables and set the proper price for the policy holder. If you lived in a state, for example, where the population of the state was one instead of, you know, 100 million, there’d be a whole lot less chance of an accident, you know, than — because of the lack of density of driving and so on. There’s all kinds of variables.
And through studying usage, by various methods, Progressive being probably the best known on it, they’re attempting to look at some variables and hope they get better information about the propensity of that particular driver to — or the likelihood of that particular driver — to be in an accident.
And we look at lots of variables, they look at lots of variables. We think we’ve got a pretty good system, and so far I think that’s been proven correct. But we’ll continue to look at many variables.
I feel very, very, very good about GEICO, GEICO’s management, and its ability to evaluate risk. And I think there are plenty of other people that are good at it, but I don’t think there’s — in my view, there’s nobody better at it, in terms of auto insurance, than the GEICO people.
So — but we ought to keep asking ourselves, “Can we do it better?” And we do ask ourselves that.
Now, when you get to the self-driving car, that is a real threat to the auto insurance industry. I mean, if that proves successful and reduces accidents dramatically, it will be very good for society and it will be very bad for auto insurers.
So you know, that can happen. I don’t know how to evaluate over how long a period that might take or what percentage of cars might be affected with that. But it certainly could happen and it would not cause us to be thinking for one second about selling GEICO. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, some of these things happen a lot more slowly than you might think. I went to a program at Harvard, oh, at least 30 years ago, describing how color movies were going come to the house on demand, and they were just around the corner.
Well, they’ve come, but it was 30 years later. I have a feeling that self-driving cars having a huge impact on the market may take quite a while. And so I’m not —
WARREN BUFFETT: That would be my guess, but we could be wrong, you know.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, it could be wrong.
WARREN BUFFETT: But — (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: But —
WARREN BUFFETT: But if we are wrong, we’ll be wrong together. (Laughs)
It is hard to figure out how it could have a major impact in 10 years, but it may not work at all, who knows?
But GEICO will be doing more business, a lot more business, in my view, five years from now than now, and ten years from now.
You know, 30 years from now, you’re young enough to find out, and I will go away peacefully without knowing.
OK. (Laughter)
6. More international acquisitions?
WARREN BUFFETT: Gregg.
GREGG WARREN: Thank you, Warren.
You’ve been pretty explicit about your acquisition criteria over the years, and some years ago, perhaps around the time of the ISCAR deal, you mentioned at one of the annual meetings that a concerted effort was being made to make non-U.S. companies more aware of Berkshire’s positive attributes as a preferred acquirer.
Yet, despite the higher proportion of large family-owned businesses in places like Europe and the fact that over half of the world’s listed market cap currently comes from outside of the U.S., Berkshire has deployed very little capital outside of the U.S. with just ISCAR, and more recently AltaLink, coming to mind.
Is the U.S. truly that much more attractive a destination for capital, or is there some other reason why the firm has not deployed serious capital outside of the region?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, no, we’ve never turned down a chance to make a significant acquisition outside the United States because of any feeling we’d much rather be doing something in the United States. We just — you know, you mentioned the Alberta deal.
But we have not had as much luck getting on the radar screen of owners around the world as we have in the United States.
Our best bet, by far, in buying a business is to buy it from the family of a founder or the founder himself or herself. So we’ve, you know, that’s our strong suit, and in the United States I think almost anybody that fits in that category with a business of size thinks of us. And a fair number would prefer us.
I don’t think that same — I think there’s some recognition outside the U.S. Certainly when we heard from ISCAR, that was in 2006, Eitan Wertheimer said, he wrote me a letter, I’d never heard of him before, I’d never heard of the company. And he said the family had thought about it, and we were the only company to which they wanted to sell, and if they didn’t sell it to us, they weren’t going to sell it.
So, there’s some awareness. But I’ve been a little disappointed in that we haven’t had better luck outside the country. And we’ll keep working at it and see what happens.
Incidentally, I just talked to Jacob Harpaz, who does an incredible job of running ISCAR. I talked to him yesterday when I was touring the exhibition hall.
They set a new record in April. Now, that won’t be the last new record they set. But that may have some slight meaning, in terms of how world business is doing, because they sell, you know, these tiny little cutting tools, and so on, that go into basic industry all over the world.
And people don’t buy those because they — you know, they’re going look pretty in their offices or anything else, they buy them because they’re using them up. And, it was a record in April. March had been extremely good, too. So they are seeing strength in the business that certainly would make it hard to believe there’s weakness going on throughout the industrial world.
ISCAR’s been a wonderful company for us. The people have been sensational. The business is extraordinary. It just is — it fits us so well that I just wish I could find a few more like it out there.
But this year, aside from the one we announced yesterday, we have not been contacted by any significant ones that made sense. We have heard from people over the last five years, I mean, we’ve — fair number. But nothing that really makes sense. But we’ll keep trying.
7. Knowing your “circle of competence”
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, station 1. We’re back at — here we are.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hello, Mr. Buffett, and hello, Mr. Munger. Thank you for being extremely generous with sharing your wisdom. My name is Chander Chawla, and I am visiting from San Francisco.
In the past, you have said that people should operate within their circle of competence. My question is, how does one figure out what one’s circle of competence is? (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Good question. (Laughs)
Some of the people in the audience are identifying with it, I can hear them.
The — it’s — you know, it is a question of being self-realistic, and that applies outside of business as well.
And, I think Charlie and I have been reasonably good at identifying what I would call the perimeter of that circle of competence, but obviously we’ve gone out of it.
I would say that in my own case, I’ve gone out of it more often in retail than in any other arena. I think it’s easy to sort of think you understand retail, and then subsequently find out you don’t, as we did with the department store in Baltimore.
You could say I was outside of my circle of competence when I bought Berkshire Hathaway, although I bought it, really, to resell as a stock, originally.
I probably was out of my circle of competence when I decided that I should go in and buy control of the company. That was a dumb decision — which worked out.
The — being realistic in appraising your own talents and shortcomings, I think — I don’t know whether that’s innate, but some people seem a whole lot better at it than the others. And I certainly know of a number of CEOs that I feel have no idea of where their circle of competence begins and ends.
But, we’ve got a number of managers who I think are just terrific at it. I mean, they really know when they’re playing in the game they’re going win in, and they don’t go outside of that game.
The ultimate was Mrs. B, at the Furniture Mart. She told me that she did not want stock, in terms of the Berkshire Hathaway deal. Now, that may sound like it was a bad decision. It was a splendid decision.
She did not know anything about stock, but she knew a lot about what to do with cash. She knew real estate, she knew retailing, and she knew exactly what she knew and what she didn’t know, and that took her a long, long, long, long way in business life.
And that — that ability to know when you’re playing the game in which you’re going to win, and playing outside of that game, is a huge asset.
I can’t tell you the best way to develop a great sense of that about yourself. You might get some of your friends that know you well to offer contributions. Charlie’s given me a few contributions occasionally, saying, “What the hell do you know about that?” That’s one way of putting it, of course. (Laughs)
But Charlie, do — can you help him out?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I don’t think it’s as difficult to figure out competence as it may appear to you. If you’re five-foot-two, you don’t have much of a future in the National Basketball League. And if you’re 95 years of age, you probably shouldn’t try and act the romantic lead part in Hollywood. (Laughter)
And if you weigh 350 pounds, you probably shouldn’t try and dance the lead part in the Bolshoi Ballet. And if you can hardly count cards at all, you probably shouldn’t try and win chess tournaments playing blindfolded, and so on and so on.
WARREN BUFFETT: You’re ruling out everything I want to do. (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: But competency is a relative concept. And what a lot of us need, including the one speaking, is — what I needed to get ahead was to compete against idiots, and luckily there’s a large supply. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, Carol. (Laughter)
8. Comparing Berkshire’s book value to stock index
CAROL LOOMIS: This question comes back a little to a question asked earlier about your annual performance standard that you comparison.
“Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger, I think of you as running a rational company. But when I look at your annual comparison of Berkshire’s book value per share versus the S&P average, I don’t see any rationality in that at all.”
“What is the logic of comparing a stock market index against the rise in an operating company’s book value? And an operating company is predominantly what Berkshire is these days, so why do you annually make this irrational comparison?”
CHARLIE MUNGER: Let me answer that one.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: The answer is you’re totally right, and we do that because Warren wants to make it eccentrically difficult for himself. So if you don’t understand people who like to wear hair shirts, you’ll never figure out why anybody would do such a thing.
It’s a ridiculous way to make a comparison, but it makes it hard for Warren to look good. And he likes to climb mountains that are difficult. But it’s insane, you’re right. (Laughter and applause)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, yeah.
Normally when he goes all wishy washy like that, I like to clarify. But I don’t think I’ll try. (Laughter)
9. ISCAR and Marmon deal valuations
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Jonathan.
JONATHAN BRANDT: The multiple of pre-tax profit that Berkshire paid for minority interests in Marmon and ISCAR in 2013 were considerably higher than the multiples Berkshire paid for earlier purchases of majority stakes in those two firms.
Can you please explain why the valuation formulas changed, why the multiples weren’t fixed for future increases in Berkshire’s stake, which at least in Marmon’s case were always contemplated, and why Berkshire was willing to accept meaningfully lower returns on the more recent purchases, not so many years after the first purchases?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, well, the multiple with ISCAR was actually determined precisely on the basis of which the original purchase was made. In other words when we made the deal in 2006, we took multiples of earnings and allowed for cash and a few things.
But — and then we took that formula and we stuck that in as both a put and call option for the family or Berkshire. They had the put, we had the call. And we stuck that in to govern things for, you know, between now and judgment day, and so that there’s no variation from the original formula.
We would never — shouldn’t say never, but we had — our style would not be ever to call that from the family, even though we had the right to do it.
The put and call were at the same price, or at the same — following the same formula. But the family elected to put it to us, but they put it to us exactly on the same basis as what was involved in the original purchase of the 80 percent.
The Marmon deal is entirely different. The Marmon deal was an installment sale, and, in effect, to make the deal and buy the originals turned out to be 64 percent, we intended it to be 60 but gave them the option to do more.
That was simply an installment sale, and we looked at the consequences of the formulas being applied in the future. The family would not have sold us the 64 percent, which they did on the original piece, unless they had the formula applying to the second and third piece that was embodied in the contract.
And we looked at that as a single transaction, knowing that if the business improved we would be paying more money, and as the cash position improved, we’d be paying more money later on. But it was all built into the original deal, so one was one — was at exactly the same price, and one was part of a three-step deal, in effect. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: But the price went up because the value went up.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, but it was — and because it was built into —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, and we’d agreed to — that that would be — we’d pay value.
WARREN BUFFETT: In both cases, I should say too, both with the Pritzker family at Marmon and with the Wertheimer family at ISCAR, it couldn’t have been — they couldn’t have behaved better — or the feelings are entirely good, everybody felt good about the transaction. The initial transaction and the subsequent transaction. So it pays to have to have deals in which people feel good when they —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Nothing that happened there is that — we got just an enormous respect for the intelligence of those two families. The more we looked at those businesses, the smarter and better those families looked. It was just amazing what each family had done, wouldn’t you say, Warren?
WARREN BUFFETT: Right, right.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Absolutely amazing.
WARREN BUFFETT: And those were two important acquisitions. I mean, they — you know, they add up to lots of intrinsic value. And there, partly because of some accounting peculiarities, but the carrying value of the businesses is well below what the intrinsic business value is now.
CHARLIE MUNGER: And by the way, that Union Tank Car that’s within Marmon is John D. Rockefeller’s old business. The first John D. Rockefeller. It’s amazing how some of these good businesses have lasted.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, well, actually the corporate form it — the original corporation that is Marmon, I’m quite sure, is Rockwood and Company, which I did a cocoa arbitrage with back in 1955 or something, and that’s where I met Jay Pritzker. So it — these things wind their way along.
It — one thing you learn in life, but also learn particularly in business, is that you’re going to meet a lot of people and entities and experiences — in the future that — you may have thought were one shot —one stop shops originally in your life.
10. How to find what you love and do it
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 2.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Bung — this — Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger, my name is Nicholas Erdenberger. I hail from the beautiful Garden State of New Jersey. And I guess the — (laughs) — I guess the question —
WARREN BUFFETT: Withhold your applause, applause. (Laughter)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: So I guess this is a follow up question to the question before.
I really connect with the idea of not investing in industries you can’t fully understand. Being a young guy who has limited ability to code and who can’t build robots, tech is certainly not an industry I fully understand.
And yet these days, the concept of entrepreneurship is nearly synonymous with tech amongst people my age. So my question to you, Mr. Buffett, is if you were 23-years-old with entrepreneurial tendencies, what non-tech industry would you start a business in and why?
WARREN BUFFETT: I’d probably do just what I did when I was 23. (Laughs)
The — you know, I would go in the investment business. And I would look at lots of companies and I would go and talk to lots of people, and I would try to learn from them what I could about different industries.
One thing I did when I was 23, if I got interested in the coal business, I would go out and see the CEOs of eight or ten coal companies. And the interesting thing was I never made appointments usually or anything, I just dropped in. But they —they felt a fellow from Omaha who looked like me couldn’t be too harmful.
So they’d always see me. And I would — I’d ask them a lot of questions, but one question I’d always ask them, two questions at the end, I would ask them if they had to put all of their money into any coal company except their own and go away for ten years and couldn’t change it, which one would it be and why?
And then I would say, after I got an answer to that, I would say, and if as part of that deal they had to sell short in the equivalent amount of money — in one coal company — which would it be and why?
And if I went around and talked to everybody in the coal business about that, I would know more about the coal companies from an economic standpoint than any one of those managers probably would.
So, I think there’s lots of ways to learn about business. You’re not going learn how to start another Facebook or Google that way, but you can — you can learn a lot about the economic characteristics of companies by reading, personal contact.
You do have to have — you have to have a real curiosity about it. I mean, you — I don’t think you can do it because your mother’s telling you to do it, or something of the sort. (Laughs)
I think you — it really has to turn you on. And I mean, what could turn you on more than running around asking questions about coal companies? (Laughter)
You have to maybe be a little odd, too.
But that’s what I would do. And I might, in the process of doing that, find some industry that particularly interested me, in my case the insurance industry did, and you might become very well equipped, even perhaps, to start your own insurance company, but perhaps to pick the most logical one to go to work for.
If you just keep learning things, something will come along that you’ll find extremely useful to do. I mean, it — but you’ve got to be open to it. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, you might try a version of the trick that Larry Bird used. When he wanted an agent to negotiate his new contract, he asked every agent why he should be selected. And if he was not going be selected, whom the agent would recommend. And since everybody recommended the same number two choice, Larry Bird just hired him and negotiated the best contract in history. There’s —
WARREN BUFFETT: Well —
CHARLIE MUNGER: — there are a lot of tricks that people use.
WARREN BUFFETT: We did the same thing with Solomon, actually. It was a Saturday morning —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah.
WARREN BUFFETT: — when I call —and you were there, Charlie, weren’t you? -
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yes —
WARREN BUFFETT: — I wasn’t sure.
I called in, I don’t know whether it was eight or ten of the manager — I had just gotten in there on Friday afternoon, and now it’s Saturday morning and we had to open for business Sunday night in Tokyo, and I had to have somebody to run the place.
So I called in eight people and I said, you know, “Who besides you would be the ideal person to run this, and why?”
One guy told me that there was nobody compared to him. (Laughter)
He was gone from the firm within a few months. (Laughter)
But — the — it’s not a bad system to use.
You can really learn a lot just by asking. I mean, it’s starting to sound a little bit like a Yogi Berra quote or something, but it is — it is literally true that you — if you talk to enough people about something they know something about, and people like to talk. You know, and — here we are talking ourselves. (Laughs)
And you just have to be open to it. And you will find your spot. You may not find it the first day, or the week, or month, but you’ll find what fascinates you.
I was very lucky because I found what fascinated me when I was seven or eight years of age. But — you know, some people find chess or music, you know, fascinates them when they’re four or five.
If you’re lucky you find it early, and sometimes it takes you longer, but you’ll find it.
CHARLIE MUNGER: If it’s a very competitive business, and it plainly requires the qualities that you lack, it should probably be avoided.
I could — when I was at Caltech I took thermodynamics, and Homer Joe Stewart, who was a genius, taught the course. And it was fairly apparent to me that no amount of time or effort would turn me into a Homer Joe Stewart. He was utterly, impossibly more talented than I could be.
Gave up. I immediately said I wasn’t going try and be a professor of thermodynamics at Caltech. And I’ve done that with field after field, and pretty soon there was only one or two left. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, I had a similar experience in athletics. (Laughter)
11. Hotel room economics during Berkshire meeting
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, Becky.
BECKY QUICK: This question comes from Darren Bordemier (PH). He says, “Warren, you’ve commented in the press that you are concerned about the hotel price gauging in the Omaha area during the Berkshire meeting weekend.” (Applause)
Hold your applause, you haven’t heard the rest. “Please elaborate further on that position, as it seems to contradict free market capitalism. Shouldn’t the law of supply and demand apply in this case?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Absolutely. And so therefore, since we want to increase the demand, the proper thing to do is increase the supply, right? (Laughs)
And that’s why we have encouraged, for example, Airbnb, to come in and — they supplied some rooms this year.
But it’s very logical. If you think about most cities, the big events that come to their convention centers and use their hotels, they size themselves in deciding where to go. If you have a relatively small industry, they can pick a moderate-sized city and they can have their convention there, and they don’t outstrip the supply of rooms.
If you have a very big industry and you’re having a convention, you know, you have to go to some place like Vegas or some place that has a lot of rooms because otherwise you do throw the supply-demand out of whack.
So, if you have an event, which isn’t sized by the people that are scheduling it, can’t be sized by the people that are scheduling it, then you can totally outstrip rational supply of rooms.
I mean, you know, the great case would be something like the Masters tournament. I mean, Augusta can’t size its hotel industry to Augusta, to the Masters, and the Masters isn’t going move any place. Well, there — are certain events like that, but there aren’t very many.
And Omaha cannot size its hotel supply to the Berkshire meeting. It sizes it to the kind of conventions it normally gets and all of that, but the Berkshire meeting has grown beyond what we anticipated.
So fortunately, there’s developed — and for that reason people started putting in — what really bothered me were the three-day minimums. I mean, it — you know, I think there’s something particularly irritating about somebody’s coming in for a one-day event to have to buy — have a three-day minimum. And the prices were getting high.
Incidentally, the Omaha Hilton right across the street, they — they’ve been magnificent throughout this, as have many others. But there were a few that were really pushing things, and we didn’t want to cut down on the demand. We didn’t want to move to Dallas, even though we’re opening a store there next year, it would be kind of fun for that.
But we’re not going move to Dal — I mean, we want — Omaha people love this event, it’s an economic boon for Omaha, but — and people get a good impression of Omaha when they come here, generally.
So it’s — there’s a lot of good things about having the meeting in Omaha, and we can’t expect anybody to build new hotels to take care of three days a year. So, fortunately, something like Airbnb is sort of a flex supply arrangement that seems to me to make a lot of sense for it.
And I think that it will be more developed by next year, and I think that the hotels will do extremely well next year. But I don’t think they can push it to the ultimate extreme of a total scarcity product. And we want them to do well, and that’s why we’ve gone where we have. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Nothing to add.
12. Will GEICO eventually overtake State Farm?
WARREN BUFFETT: Jay?
JAY GELB: This question is on GEICO. GEICO continues to gain the most market share of the large auto insurers while delivering attractive margins. It also has the largest advertising budget of the auto insurers while maintaining the advantage of being a low-cost operator.
My question is, will GEICO, with 10 percent market share currently in auto insurance, eventually overtake State Farm, which currently has 19 percent market share in auto insurance, keeping in mind that State Farm is also a major writer of homeowners insurance coverage?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yep. Well, that’s a good question. Nobody knows the answer to that for sure. But I will tell you this, we passed Allstate this year.
And State Farm is a terrific company, I mean, it’s one of the great histories — has one of the great company histories in America. It was started by a farmer who had no insurance experience to speak of when he was, I think, in his early 40s. There’s a book called “The Farmer from Merna,” I think it is, over in Illinois, and you know, he built this incredible business based on a better business model. And that was done around 1920 or so, I believe.
And then, of course, GEICO came out with an even better model, but State Farm was huge by that time. Allstate was very, very large. And it’s taken us since 1936 to become number two.
Now, I have some projections that if I live to be 100, that we should be number one. And I tell GEICO, I’m going do my part. So the rest is up to them. (Laughter)
We will gain share, in my view. We will gain share month after month, year after year, as long as we never forget that our job is to take extremely good care of the customer, and as long as we can properly rate risks.
We’ve got some basic advantages that will enable us to do that as long as we take care of those two matters. And Tony Nicely has done a job that belongs in, you know, world’s hall of fame, in terms of achieving that objective.
The 15 years prior to Tony coming — taking over — roughly 15 years, maybe 14 years — the market share had hovered around 2 percent. And you know, maybe two-one or two-two. And you know, since he took over in 1993, it’s gone to ten-plus and it will keep going.
But State Farm has got a net worth of probably 70 billion now or there abouts, 60 to 70 billion, and they’ve got a strong presence in homeowners and they’ve got a strong agency force. They’ve got a lot of satisfied customers. So it won’t come fast, but I do think it will come. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, GEICO to me is very much like Costco. And one of the reasons it’s succeeded is that they really feel a holy duty to have a wonderful product at a very low price.
A lot of people talk that game, but very few have it just right down under the body and soul of the company. But GEICO does, and companies like that do tend to grind ahead over time.
WARREN BUFFETT: One thing you’ll find about it, I think this is true about Costco, too, it’s certainly true about GEICO, is that people don’t come and go from there as they — I mean, we have practically no one from the rest of the insurance industry that’s come over to GEICO, and they don’t leave us.
I mean, they really have their own idea about how it should be done, what should be done right. And it becomes very, very reinforced. And, of course, it becomes reinforced by success. Is that true at Costco, Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Oh, Costco’s unbelievable. And it reminds me very much of GEICO, and I’m not surprised that both companies keep taking share.
It’s easy to talk the game, but living the game is something else. I mean, it’s against the human nature of many entrepreneurial people to try and get the price down and the service quality up all the time. I mean, it’s like wearing the ultimate hair shirt and yet it works.
13. Has Buffett’s frugality hurt Berkshire?
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, station 3.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Buffett, my name is Neil Patel from Chicago. I greatly admire the way you have lived a frugal personal life even with your considerable wealth.
How do you think your frugality has helped Berkshire shareholders over the years? And Charlie, are there any instances where you think that Warren’s frugality has hurt Berkshire and shareholders?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, first of all, let’s ask who is the more frugal between us. Charlie, who do you think — (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, in personal consumption, Warren is more frugal. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Would you care to give an example? (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Warren lives in the same house he bought for a very modest price, what, in 1950-something?
WARREN BUFFETT: I bought in 1958, and you moved into yours about 1960, didn’t you?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, and I paid more. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: But he designed his own —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Absolutely, I could get —
WARREN BUFFETT: — he designed his own house.
CHARLIE MUNGER: — he’s more frugal.
WARREN BUFFETT: He did not pay an architect, right?
CHARLIE MUNGER: I did, I paid an architect $1,900. It was as much as 30 percent of the normal price.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Notice how he remembers the details. (Laughter)
No, I would — I have everything in life I want. It’s a very simple thing. If there’s anything that money can buy — there are things money can’t buy, but if there’s anything money could buy that I wanted, I’d do it this afternoon. I wouldn’t have any problem with that at all.
I do not think that standard of living equates with cost of living beyond a certain point. I mean, up to a certain point there’s no question that it does in — in terms of having good housing, good health, good health service, good food, everything. But — good transportation.
But there’s a point I think, if anything, you start getting inverse correlation. My life would not be happier, and it’d be worse, if I had six or eight houses or, you know, a whole bunch of different things I could have. It just doesn’t correlate.
And so I — having everything I have, I mean, you can’t have more than that. And that doesn’t really make any — it makes a difference up to a point. I mean, you could start thinking a lot differently when you got to X, but when you get to ten-X, or a 100-X, or 1,000-X, it just doesn’t make any possible difference. Charlie, can you —?
CHARLIE MUNGER: The frugality, basically, has helped Berkshire. And I look out at this audience and I see a bunch of understated, frugal people, too. We collect you people. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: But forget about it this weekend. (Laughter and applause)
The more you buy the more you save at these prices, folks. (Laughter)
14. Berkshire doesn’t “begrudge” paying taxes
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Andrew.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: This question comes from Azhar Quader who’s in the audience, Queens Court Capital, wants you to know that he’s a Columbia B School grad just like you, Warren.
WARREN BUFFETT: Good.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: The question is the following, “Berkshire paid $8.9 billion in taxes in 2013. Pfizer is currently contemplating an acquisition that would allow it to move its technical holding company overseas and thereby save income tax expense and create shareholder value. Is this something you and Charlie would ever consider if it would create value for Berkshire shareholders?”
WARREN BUFFETT: I think the answer to that is no. What do you say, Charlie? (Applause)
CHARLIE MUNGER: I think it would be — I think it would be crazy to be as prosperous as Berkshire and get our tax to zero while we remain this prosperous. That would not be a legitimate ideal. (Applause)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. We could not have done Berkshire in any other country except the United States, either. You know, and just look at what we’ve acquired and everything.
America has, in a very, very, very big way helped Charlie and I become very, very, very rich. (Laughs). Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: I’ve got no complaints. And I look around at this group, I see you at breakfast, it’s a very happy group of people. I don’t think a lot of people are gnashing their teeth that somebody else has a little more.
WARREN BUFFETT: But we don’t pay — I don’t want to make it holier than thou, this stuff. We don’t pay anything beyond that — when we get all through figuring out tax on our 20,000 page-plus return, we just don’t — we don’t add a tip of 20 percent or 15 percent or anything. (Laughter)
And we do certain transactions which are tax driven. We’re in low-income housing tax credits, which actually George Bush 41 congratulated me for. So it’s bipartisan.
We — the wind energy deals we do, the solar deals we do, they are tax driven to — I mean, they won’t make economic sense otherwise.
So we follow the rules. But we don’t begrudge the taxes we pay. We’ve earned a lot of money while paying U.S. taxes. (Applause)
15. Try for Mexico’s rail freight market?
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, Gregg.
GREGG WARREN: Warren, Burlington Northern’s main competitor in the west, Union Pacific, generates around 10 percent of its revenue from freight moving to and from Mexico. It also owns a 20 percent stake in the large Mexican railroad, Ferromex.
Given the expectation for strong auto production growth in Mexico with 30 percent more capacity coming online in the next two years, and the potential for additional near-sourcing manufacturing in Mexico, how attractive do you find the Mexican freight market?
And assuming that the answer to that question is positive, would it not be a greater benefit to Burlington Northern to own the smallest Class-I railroad at Kansas City Southern, which generates about half its revenue from its Mexican concession, whether than just receiving cargo from the firm?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, Union Pacific has a big edge in terms of Mexico. I mean, their route structure is such, I think they cross the border at six different places. Their route structure is far better than ours in relation to Mexico.
And Kansas — it’s true as you say, that Kansas City Southern has a very significant presence in Mexico.
But, in terms of what we can do with our money and what we see as the prospects — there are good prospects there, but there are good prospects elsewhere for traffic, too.
So it doesn’t make sense for us. But, you know, maybe someday something will, but — the math does not work for Mexico. But we’re continuously thinking about Mexico, but we’re thinking about lots of other markets, too.
There are lots of possibilities for moving more freight on the BNSF over the years. And we won’t forget about Mexico, but we won’t do anything silly, either. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t have anything to say.
You know, it’s awfully easy to imagine combinations that just make you rich with sleight of hand. And, of course, the easiest transaction is buying a competitor. But most of that stuff, when you get to a certain size, you can’t do. So why spend time even thinking about it? I’m afraid Burlington Northern is going have to get ahead on its own from here on.
WARREN BUFFETT: Wouldn’t worry about that.
CHARLIE MUNGER: I’m not worried about it.
16. Intrinsic value and the Berkshire model
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 4.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, Warren and Charlie. Dan Hua from Los Angeles. My wife, Cora, and I are thrilled to be here.
WARREN BUFFETT: We’re delighted to have you.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you. You earlier today discussed intrinsic value, and I’m a big fan of Graham and Fisher, especially “Security Analysis.” What differences do you have, if any, for calculating intrinsic value, versus what was said in “Security Analysis?”
And for examples, how does management factor into that? You recently mentioned evaluating management is like dating, and recently you said, also, management does matter.
My second part is, which company do you fear the most? Why is it that no one else has done what you have done? I mean, Coca-Cola has their Pepsi. Thank you.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, the — actually Graham didn’t get too specific about intrinsic value in terms of precise calculations. But intrinsic value has come to be equated with, and I think quite properly, with what you might call private business value.
Now, I’m not sure who was the first one that came up with it, but — well, the first one that came up with it was Aesop, actually. But the intrinsic value of any business, if you could foresee the future perfectly, is the present value of all cash that will be ever distributed for that business between now and judgment day.
And we’re not perfect at estimating that, obviously. (Laughs)
But that’s what an investment or a business is all about. You put money in and you take money out.
Aesop said, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Now, he said that around 600 B.C. or something like that, but that hasn’t been improved on very much by the business professors now.
Now the question is, you know, how sure are you that there are two in the bush, you know? How far away is the bush? There are all kinds of things. What are interest rates? But I mean, Aesop wanted to leave us something to play with over the next couple thousand years, so he didn’t spell the whole thing out. But that’s what intrinsic value essentially is.
And, we don’t — Graham would say that, Phil Fisher would say that. Phil Fisher would say that in calculating that, he would want to look a lot harder at the qualitative factors of the business in making that estimate of how many birds were in the bush.
Graham would say he would want to see the bush — you know, $2 worth of cash in the bush, you know, and to pay a dollar for it now.
One emphasized quantitative factors and one emphasized qualitative factors, but neither one would have disagreed with the math.
And I started out very influenced by Graham, so I emphasized quantitative factors. Charlie came along and said I was all wrong, and that he’d learned more in law than I’d learned in financial studies and everything, and that I should think more about qualitative factors, and he was right. And Phil Fisher said the same thing.
But that’s what intrinsic value is about, you know. if you buy a McDonald’s franchise, if you buy General Motors, whatever it may be, the real question is, A) are you going to have to put more cash into after you buy it? But it’s really cash in, cash out? When? What discount rate? All the standard stuff.
In terms of — if I had a silver bullet, what company would I shoot as being a threat to us? I don’t really — I don’t see any competitor to Berkshire. I see private equity buying lots of businesses and having an advantage in that they’ll leverage up when we won’t, and also that presently they can borrow money very cheap and all of that.
So I mean, there are always going to be people competing with us to buy businesses. But — which is our main business — main occupation for me and Charlie.
But I don’t see anybody that’s got a model, or trying to build a model, that will essentially go after what we’re trying to achieve, which is to buy wonderful businesses from people that care about where their business goes, and who generally want to keep on running them. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, as I’ve said earlier, I think the Berkshire model as now constructed will have — as said in show business, with legs. It will go a long time, and I think it will be quite creditable. And I think it has enough advantage that it will just keep going a long time. And I think most big businesses don’t.
If you stop to think about it, all the great big businesses of yesteryear, how few of them have really gotten big and stayed big.
Of the really old businesses, only one stayed big and that was Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. And so we’re getting up into a territory where very few people keep going well.
But I think what we’ll be more like Standard Oil, than we’ll be like ordinary businesses, because I think we will just keep going. We will keep doing what we’re already doing, and we’ll keep learning from our mistakes.
And the people up here are no longer all that important. The momentum’s in place, the ethos is in place. It’s going to keep going. And to you young people in the audience, I always say, “Don’t be too quick to sell the stock.”
WARREN BUFFETT: Why don’t we get more copycats?
CHARLIE MUNGER: It reminds me of our mutual friend, Ed Davis. He figured out how to do an operation that was so difficult that he operated the bottom of a dark hole with instruments of his own creation. He gave his own shots by Novocain, 87 of them, while he was operating. And it was a better operation. His death rate was 2 percent and everybody else was 20.
And the other surgeons came to copy him, and they watched him. And they just said, “Well, I don’t think I’ll try and copy that.” (Laughs)
I think it looks just too hard to do. There’s — nothing in the American business school teaches people to be like Berkshire.
WARREN BUFFETT: Eddie Davis is the guy that, in effect, introduced the two of us. He was a famous urologist here in Omaha, and —
CHARLIE MUNGER: But people didn’t try and learn his operation. And it doesn’t look all that easy. It’s very different.
WARREN BUFFETT: It’s slow, too.
CHARLIE MUNGER: And it’s slow, it’s — yeah, very slow.
WARREN BUFFETT: I think the slowness deters more people than anything else.
CHARLIE MUNGER: And the difficulty with being slow is you’re dead before it’s finished. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, that’s kind of cheerful. (Laughter)
Carol, let’s come up with something a little — (Laughs)
CAROL LOOMIS: Well, for a more cheerful subject, mine is inflation. In it — (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Only compared to Charlie can inflation be cheerful. (Laughter)
17. Positive and negative effects of inflation
CAROL LOOMIS: This comes from Larry Pitkowsky and Keith Trauner at the GoodHaven Fund.
“In your 1981 shareholder letter, you discuss returns on equity, interest rates and inflation, and how difficult it was for many companies to function under inflationary conditions. Indeed that Berkshire itself was not immune and would be negatively — could be negatively affected.
“Today it seems like every central banker in the world is desperate to create inflation, something that is generally great for debtors, not so great for creditors, and difficult for owners and managers.
Should investors and business owners be thinking more about inflation and higher interest rates after 30 years of declines in both? How would Berkshire behave differently if it became apparent that the future was turning inflationary?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, inflation would hurt us, but it would hurt most businesses. It doesn’t — there’s certain assets that if highly leveraged, obviously, would benefit from inflation. But, well, it’s just —
We’ll set up an inflationary condition. Let’s just assume tonight that drones are sent up over all of the United States and they happen to drop a million dollars in every household.
Now, the question is would the country be better off? Every individual would now have — or every family would now have a million dollars that they didn’t have the day before.
The one thing I can guarantee you is that Berkshire would be worse off at that point, obviously. And obviously, what I’ve described would be wildly inflationary.
The trick in that circumstance is to find out that you’ve got a million dollars before anybody else finds out that they have, and you’ll do very well if you’re first.
But essentially, you don’t create wealth by inflation or by having — you can move it around, but you don’t create it by inflation, and you don’t — a firm like Berkshire, you know, our earnings per share would go up. The intrinsic value of our business, measured in dollars, would go up. But under lots of inflation, unless we had leveraged those businesses, the value of your investment, in real terms, would go down. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, we had a test of hyperinflation in Weimar Germany, and the people who owned stocks in places like Berkshire got through. And they didn’t prosper joyously, but they got through. And everybody else, practically, life insurance policies, bank deposits, you name it, got wiped out.
And, of course, if you create so much misery that you get a Hitler, and a World War, and a Holocaust and so forth, it’s not a good thing to let things go that far.
And so I’m — I don’t like this huge confidence that all you have to do is just keep printing money and spending it. I think there’s some limit to when that will work, and I am never going forget Weimar Germany. And I don’t think any of the rest of us should either.
We can handle a little bit of subpar growth for some stretch or other. But it would be quite dangerous to let the whole damn thing blow up because a bunch of crazy politicians were printing money. (Applause)
WARREN BUFFETT: If you own a home, though, with a very large mortgage, and you have incredible inflation that wipes out the mortgage, then you’ve still got the home. I mean, it’s just —
CHARLIE MUNGER: In Weimar, Germany, they gave you the mortgage back at the end. It was very interesting. That’s the one thing they did right. (Laughs)
WARREN BUFFETT: He’s way ahead of me, folks. (Laughs)
18. Why companies make “dumb” deals
WARREN BUFFETT: Jonathan?
JONATHAN BRANDT: In evaluating the after-tax returns Berkshire earns on its acquisitions of non-insurance businesses, whether it be the utilities, the railroad, or the manufacturing service and retailing business, in terms of choosing a benchmark, what would be your best estimate of the returns on acquisitions earned by an aggregate of all American industry, adjusted, of course, to exclude the impact of accounting write-offs and equalizing for leverage?
WARREN BUFFETT: That sounds too tough for me, but go ahead, Charlie. I’ll be thinking. (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, let me summarize. I think the sum total of all acquisitions done by American industry will be lousy. It’s in the nature of corporations that are prosperous to be talked into dumb deals, and bureaucracy tends to feed on itself and create unnecessary costs.
So I think the history of acquisitions is that it’s not an enormous way to wealth. Now, it has been for us, but we’re very peculiar, and luckily a lot of people don’t want to be peculiar in our way.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, I would — it’s really hard to, you know, come up with a useful answer on that. But I certainly —
CHARLIE MUNGER: But you don’t have a great deal of optimism, do you?
WARREN BUFFETT: When we read that a company we don’t control is going to make an acquisition, I’m much more inclined to cry than to smile.
But on the other hand, we love making acquisitions ourselves, so it’s a little hard to get too harsh just because we don’t like the other guy’s acquisitions.
I have been — I have sat in on, probably, hundreds of acquisition discussions conducted by people I didn’t control, as a director. And most of them have been bad ideas, but there have been some —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Some are mediocre. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: A great case is GEICO. I mean, it’s really a great case study because GEICO had this wonderful business prior to going off the tracks in the early 1970s, but it’d been an incredible business and everybody — it was well known in the financial world.
And then it went off the tracks in its own business, got back on the tracks. And then in the next — after it got back on the tracks, it made a couple of acquisitions. And they weren’t disasters, but they certainly weren’t successes, and they tended to take people’s — I think they took their eyes off the ball in terms of the potential of GEICO itself.
So the accounting costs of those — there were two acquisitions in particular — the accounting costs of those two acquisitions was not — it was poor, but it wasn’t disastrous.
But if you look to secondary effects, it was huge. I mean, there were a dozen years there or so where all kinds of gains could have been made that weren’t. And you don’t get those years back.
Now, that was probably a net plus for Berkshire, you know, in the end, because we’d bought half of the company then we got to buy the other half later on. If they’d done wonderfully, we probably would have never bought the second half. Now, maybe the first half would have been worth that much more.
But it’s human nature, to some degree, to, you know, keep wanting — I mean, normally the people who get to be CEOs are not shrinking violets, you know.
And they have animal spirits, as Keynes talked about, and they like to do things. And the supporting staff certainly senses that they like to do things. I mean, they often have people in charge of strategy or acquisitions, or all of those things.
What do you think those people are going to do? Sit around and suck their thumbs? No, they’re going keep coming up with deals. And the investment bankers will be, you know, calling on them daily.
So there are all these forces that push toward deals, and if you try to push toward deals, you’re going to get a lot of dumb deals.
We try very hard, Charlie and I, not to get eager to do a deal. We’re just eager to do a deal that makes sense.
And that would be a lot harder if we had directors, strategy departments, whatever it might be, all pushing us toward, you know, what have you done in the last three months, or something of the sort.
So the setting in which you operate really can be very important. Charlie, anything further?
CHARLIE MUNGER: No, but it’s — you know how much more tactful he is.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, well the comparison isn’t tough. (Laughter)
19. Prosecute individuals or corporations?
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 5.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’m Russell Narig (PH) from Neenah, Wisconsin. The — not another Packer fan.
The people in this hall tonight are here because of the invest into your money, in anticipation and hope that you and Charlie would make that investment grow.
We recognize that things go wrong and that we might lose money. But never, ever, has it ever crossed our minds that we’d be cheated out of their money.
Unfortunately, that — that’s not — that’s new — I’m sorry, having problems with this microphone. Unfortunately, particularly in the investment banking business, confidence, my confidence, and I’m sure the confidence of many people in this room, are falling.
Particularly distressing are reports in the “New York Times” in the last week or so about private meetings in the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, the Fed, and others, about the need or desire, the requirement, perhaps, to bring criminal charges against some of the largest banks dealing business, for, among other things, knowingly laundering billions of Iranian dollars through our U.S. banks, knowingly laundering billions of drug cartel money through U.S. banks, soliciting on U.S. soil deals which would include tax evasion by moving assets offshore, and even fixing the LIBOR.
The problem the Justice Department is having is that they are being told that if they bring criminal charges against those banks, and we can list those banks, they’ve been in the “New York Times,” that those banks would be sorely hurt, may be required to go out of business, and require — and evolve into a new financial crisis of some sort. (Applause)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Now, we can’t —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: My question — my question, though, to you is do you believe a financial crisis will be — come about as a result of bringing justice to criminal activity on a large scale? Or have we reached a new point where criminal activity in Wall Street is being institutionalized, sort of allowed to happen because they’re too big to fail, too big to go to jail, and too big to be regulated, to follow the law?
WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie, you’re the lawyer, you take it up. (Applause)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I think behavior on Wall Street has enormously improved as a result of the trauma we’ve just been through. And so I think the worst of it is behind us.
But you’re never going to have perfect behavior when a bunch of human beings live in a miasma of easy money. It’s just this is always going happen to some extent, and —
WARREN BUFFETT: How do you feel about the prosecution of individuals versus the prosecution of corporations?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I think there’s hardly anything that changes behavior more than prosecuting individuals.
When they took Boy Scout leaders out of Pittsburgh or wherever it was and put them in the federal penitentiary for fixing steel prices, it really changed behavior of American businessmen. So I do think that a few criminal prosecutions do change behavior a lot. And it looks to me like we’ll get a few.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. I may be biased a little bit by the experience at Salomon, but — I lean way more toward prosecution of individuals than corporations.
You know, I literally saw, you know, a bad act, or maybe multiple bad acts, by just a couple of people and negligence in reporting by a couple more, you know, come close — certainly upsetting, hurting, and maybe destroying, you know, possibly thousands and thousands of other people’s lives, forgetting about the financial investment.
And it is — it did seem to me, and that’s — had that experience a couple of other times in what I’ve seen, that — that it really — it may be easy — it’s way easier to prosecute the corporation. The corporation’s going write a check, and you know, I mean, it’s somebody else’s money.
And the prosecutor knows he’s going get a win, basically, if he goes against the company, whereas he’s got a way tougher job going against individuals. The company’s going to cave, it’s just their calculus is such that it just doesn’t make sense to fight if they can write a check, whereas the individual is fighting to stay out of jail.
So the prosecutor’s got an easy case, or relatively easy case, and probably a headline-grabbing case, if he goes against the corporation. And he has a grinded-out type of thing, which he can very well lose and which really takes a lot of work, against individuals. So — but I still lean very much — toward going against individuals. And —
CHARLIE MUNGER: I do, too. That’s what I meant when I said when antitrust violations were regarded as forgivable offenses, menial sins, we had a lot of them, and we still have some now that we prosecute people criminally. But we have really changed behavior on price fixing by the individual prosecutions, and we haven’t had many of those prosecutions in finance yet. And we probably need some more. Don’t you agree with that?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, it’s — absolutely, absolutely.
And I will tell you this: we have 300,000-plus people working at Berkshire. Somebody is doing something wrong now, I mean, that — you know, you cannot have a city of 300,000 people and not have somebody behaving badly.
And that’s the thing — that is the one thing that — I don’t worry about us making money, we’ll figure out a way to do that. And it may be better or worse than we hope for. But it won’t be a disaster, ever.
The disaster is if somebody is doing something wrong that, you know, that actually reflects badly on the whole organization.
And I know that’s, to a degree, out of my hands. I can tell the managers, and they can tell the people that work for them that reputation is more important than anything else. And that’s going to have an effect, and I think it’s going to have more of an effect than having them — giving them some 200-page manual.
But it’s not going cure everything. And what we hope is when there is something wrong that we find it out early, and then it’s up to us to do something about it.
But we will have a problem of some sort, at some time, because it just — you know, 300,000 people are not going to all behave properly every day. It just doesn’t happen.
But the individual prosecution, and I’ve written about that a little bit in the annual report in terms of — the way to change behavior is to have the fear, at least among people who may be doing the wrong things, is to have the fear that somehow it’s going to come home to them and hit them hard.
And if the only fear is that the company’s going have to write a big check, you’re going to get way less change in behavior than if it’ll hit home to the individual. Becky? (Applause)
20. Effect of major railroad accident on BNSF and Berkshire
BECKY QUICK: This comes from Mark Blakley from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
He says there’s been a number of railroad accidents in the past year. In January, the Wall Street Journal published an article highlighting the lack of insurance to cover a worst-case accident scenario.
“Mr. [Matt] Rose of BNSF was mentioned as wanting to set up an insurance fund funded by the railroads to protect the industry in case of an accident, similar to a fund currently set up by nuclear power companies, but that idea has gained no traction.
“How would a worst-case accident scenario impact BNSF and Berkshire Hathaway? And if the industry is lacking insurance for such an event, how can the company protect itself, and what exposure does Berkshire have should a major accident occur?”
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, well we’re on both sides of that because Ajit [Jain] has offered the rail industry some very high limits to all the major railroads. But they don’t like his price, presumably. And I would say this, the four major railroads really have the financial capacity to pay a huge award if something really terrible happened.
The most — you know, I don’t know which is the most dangerous — they have what they call hazmat, hazardous materials, and rails have to carry them. You’re a common carrier, you’re forced to carry them. And the railroads would really prefer they didn’t carry them, but they do, they have to. And they probably can’t get enough, ever get enough, in the way of payments per carload to really compensate them for the risk involved.
But the four major railroads, certainly have the — it might be a very, very significant financial hit to them, but I think they have the capability of, if something really drastic happened, I think they do have the financial capability to handle that size — kind of an award.
And if they feel that they don’t, they can buy insurance from Ajit, but so far we haven’t sold any.
The companies have insurance, but they don’t like — they’re not going talk about the amounts that they have or anything of the sort because that becomes a honey pot sometimes, and it’s not advisable to discuss your insurance limits publicly.
But I would — it is true, as the writer mentions, that the nuclear risk — the government decided was too big, as they have with terrorism — decided it was too big to be borne by private industry.
I don’t think the consequences of any conceivable accident — you could probably dream up one — but of any conceivable accident on rails would go beyond the capability of the major railroads to pay. But it could be very, very large, relative to their net worth and relative to their current earnings. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, the big surprise for everyone, of course, was British Petroleum.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Nobody in their wildest dreams believed that a major oil company, from an accident in one well, would have a loss in so many tens of billions of dollars. And, of course, that’s gotten a lot of attention.
I don’t know about Warren, but after that happened, I would have less enthusiasm for drilling in the Gulf. It was just such a big loss compared to anything.
WARREN BUFFETT: And a gain, possible gain.
CHARLIE MUNGER: And gain — possible gain. And that was a big oil field they tapped into, but it wouldn’t remotely pay for this accident. And so — but I — Matt will know, the biggest rail accident in the history of the rails, has it cost $200 million? Is Matt there?
WARREN BUFFETT: I don’t think — I don’t think Norfolk Southern has ever announced what that accident cost.
But we are not getting paid enough, I can tell you this, for carrying chlorine or ammonia or something like that. I mean, it — just — you know, to buy appropriate insurance just to cover those kind of products, compared to the revenue, I don’t think it ever would make sense.
But we’re required — they’re going move from one place to another one way or another, either by truck or in some manner. And we are a common carrier.
But it is not — that’s not one that keeps me awake nights from a financial standpoint. The big risk is some form of very effective terrorism or action by a rogue state in terms of nuclear, chemical, biological, or cyber.
And, you know, war acts are excluded in insurance policies. But you could have some kind of a terrorist act that would create damages, whether they’re liable under insurance contracts is another matter, but could create damages like we have never seen. And there’s a, you know, there’s obviously a reasonable probability of that happening sometime in the next 50 years, and what that probability is I don’t know. But it’s not insignificant. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, we saw what one pilot could do recently in this Malaysian airplane.
I think we live in a world where there are always going be big events, and I think we’re lucky, to some extent, that we have some big corporations that can have elaborate safety programs and that can handle the losses when they occur. I don’t think we’d be better off if we had a bunch of little Flivvers going around the airplanes.
21. Is commercial property-casualty insurance expansion too late?
WARREN BUFFETT: Jay?
JAY GELB: — question is on Berkshire’s primary commercial property-casualty insurance business.
Berkshire plans to substantially expand the Berkshire Hathaway specialty insurance unit and has also become a major insurer of Lloyd’s business through an Aon-brokered facility.
Why is Berkshire increasing its presence in commercial property-casualty insurance when pricing has peaked?
WARREN BUFFETT: We — it’s the first one that’s more important.
We entered the commercial insurance field the middle of last year, and we had some wonderful talent that wanted to join us. And we have a great amount of capital, a very, very good reputation, and we think we have the ability to both underwrite more intelligently than most, to keep larger limits than anybody, and to operate at costs significantly below average.
So if you put those elements together, and you throw in Ajit Jain overseeing the operation, I think it’s a terrific opportunity.
And I think you will — and it wouldn’t make any difference when we entered it. I mean, we entered it because we had the availability of some terrific people. That was the reason for the timing of it.
And we’ll have — we’ve added to that group significantly. Peter Eastwood runs it, and I think we will build a very, very significant commercial insurance operation over time. And I believe that that operation will operate with better underwriting results than the great majority of our competitors.
Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I think it’s a very logical thing for us to do. And, of course, when something is logical we don’t hold back because we think the business cycle might possibly be a little better. It’s a long-term play.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
CHARLIE MUNGER: We’re not going away based on the little short-term troubles.
WARREN BUFFETT: No, it’s a forever play. And — when we see a chance to enter a business we like, basically, with outstanding people and with some very fundamental competitive advantages, we’re going to play the game and we’re going to play the game hard.
22. Buy a sports team or sports equipment company?
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 6?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: My name’s Ed Boyle (PH) and I’m from Chicago. My question’s for Warren and Charlie.
Do you ever have any plans, or would you be interested, in buying a professional sport team —(laughter) — or sports equipment manufacturing company, being that we’re — sports is in a global world today? Or is this out of the Berkshire game?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Warren’s already done it.
WARREN BUFFETT: I owned a quarter of a major — a minor-league team, but it’s not responsible for my position on the Forbes 400. (Laughter)
The answer to your question about buying a sports team is no. In fact, if — Charlie and I — if you read that either one of us is buying a sports team, it may be time to talk about successors. (Laughter)
We are — we do — sports equipment has generally not been a very good business, although, you know, obviously Nike’s done incredibly well in its overall operation.
But — we own Spalding. We own Russell. And you know, Spalding has been around a long, long time. A.G. Spalding, I forget when the hell he was — I think he was trying to take baseball to the rest of the world back in the, I don’t know, the 1880s or something like that.
But it’s — generally speaking, if you look at the people that have made golf equipment, footballs, helmets particularly, baseball gloves, baseballs, it’s not been a particularly profitable business.
And certain aspects of it, like helmets, you know — the last thing Berkshire should do is own a helmet company. A helmet company should be owned by some guy that owes about a million dollars and doesn’t have a dime to his name, because, you know, he is not going to be a target. And we would be the ultimate target.
That’s the reason — we used to be involved in Pinkerton, but we’d had no interest in — and we got offered the chance to buy the whole place, and the idea of owning a business that provided guards at airports, you know, when anything went wrong, you know, you’re going to say that it was the guard’s fault. And here’s this super-rich corporation around there that is a perfect target.
I mean, a guard company at airports, again, should be owned by somebody whose net worth does not get out to two figures. (Laughter)
So, you won’t see much of us in the sports arena.
But Charlie here, are you looking at the Clippers or —? (Laughter)
Now I’m worried that he is. No — (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Whatever Warren thinks about sports teams ownership, I like it less. (Laughter)
23. Secrecy, Bill Ackman, and activist investors
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Andrew.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: OK, Warren. You have long advocated for transparency and disapproved of greenmailers. Bill Ackman compared his amassing his stake in Allergan in stealth ahead of Valeant’s bid to your purchase of Coca-Cola in the 1980s.
Is that right? What do you make of the covert tactic Ackman is using from a policy perspective for the markets?
And just as important, what do you make of the larger trend of activism in corporate America?
WARREN BUFFETT: I hadn’t heard that about Coca-Cola. I’m really not sure how that would come about. I mean, we bought stock in the open market, we never used a derivative transaction or any sort in buying it, or anything. I mean, and we certainly haven’t taken it over yet. The — so I — I’m not sure — can you elaborate, Andrew?
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I don’t have more from the —
WARREN BUFFETT: Oh yeah.
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: — the question. I believe Bill Ackman went on television at one point, had commented that using his stake, or buying the stake, rather, he did it covertly, and I think he was perhaps suggesting that, I don’t know, maybe I will adjust the question.
There have been times in the past when you have bought stakes in other companies and used specific rules through the SEC to do so with — to give you some room without disclosing. Maybe, will that adjust the question?
WARREN BUFFETT: It —
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: Or you could just go to the activism question.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, and tell me the activism question again, because we have never used derivatives or anything that would get us around the rules of reporting, I mean, it’s that simple.
But what’s the second part?
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN: I think that the second part is what do you make of the larger trend of activism in corporate America, given that it’s in the news so much today?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I don’t think it’ll go away, and I think it scares the hell out of a lot of managers. (Laughs)
The — there are cases — certainly cases where corporate management should be changed. I mean, you can’t have thousands of corporations without that being the case.
I think, generally speaking, that the — you know, the activists, if they get the price of the stock up one way or another, you know, that’s going to end their interest in the business, so I don’t think they’re looking for — often they’re not looking for permanent changes for the better in the business. But they’re looking for a specific event that will result in a big price change, and —
They’re certainly attracting more and more money. In other words, the funds flowing to activist hedge funds and so on is — multiply them, sure, by a significant factor, and that means they can play the game on a bigger scale.
And anything in Wall Street that looks like it’s successful will generate a funds flow that will, you know, go on until it’s no longer successful. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, you’re right that the activism is causing more of a stir in corporate management than anything has in years. Practically nobody feels immune.
When an activist comes into a company, 20 or 30 percent of the stock can change hands rather rapidly, and management that seemed entrenched is — suddenly is threatened. And, of course, that sort of thing causes a lot of anguish.
And on the other side, the activists, by and large, are making a fair amount of money. And, of course, in the culture we live in, most people don’t care how the money is earned, they just care whether they get it or not.
And so that — that just grows like some — I don’t know, the beanstalk of Jack. And so I think we have a very significant effect.
And some of the stuff — you’ll find an activist who is not what you’d want to marry into the family, going after a company you would never buy into. And when that happens, it reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s definition of fox hunting. He said, “The pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable.” (Laughter)
And I think we’re seeing some of that. It’s — I don’t think it’s good for America, what’s happening —
WARREN BUFFETT: What do you think —
CHARLIE MUNGER: — averaged out.
WARREN BUFFETT: What do you think it’ll be three years from now?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Bigger.
WARREN BUFFETT: Wow.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, what’s stopping it?
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. If it’s bigger three years from now, it’ll be a lot bigger. I mean, just the compounding of numbers.
CHARLIE MUNGER: It’s really serious.
24. Buy smaller companies instead of waiting for an “elephant?”
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Gregg. (Laughter)
GREGG WARREN: If Berkshire’s size is expected to be an ongoing constraint for growth, does it make more sense for the firm to target a larger collection of smaller companies that are growing faster and can do so for a longer period of time, rather than looking to bag a big elephant that is in all likelihood already reached maturity, leaves the firm to sit on larger-than-normal cash balances for a longer period of time, even if it means paying a higher price for the growth?
And if the answer is no, then what is the opportunity cost to Berkshire shareholders for keeping a lot of excess cash on hand until the right deal comes along?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, the answer to the first is one doesn’t preclude the other. You know, we’d be delighted to buy some company for 2 or 3 billion that we thought would do very well over time.
But that applies to one for 20 or 30 billion. Now, if you get down to buying one for a couple hundred million, that may fit one of our subsidiaries to do that that knows the business.
But — we’re not passing up anything of any size that can have any real impact on Berkshire. And like I say, our subsidiaries made 25 tuck-ins last year, and they’ll keep making more. They’ll see things that fit them.
But one, you know, one $30 billion deal is ten $3 billion deals, and a hundred $300 million deals. So, in terms of the reality of how we build a lot more earning power into Berkshire, which is what we’re trying to do, our main emphasis should be on bigger deals. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I agree with that. The idea of buying hundreds and hundreds of small businesses —
WARREN BUFFETT: Not worth a damn.
CHARLIE MUNGER: — not as bolt-ons for what we already have, it would be anathema.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, there’s lots of competition for the small deals. I mean, private equity is going after all kinds of small deals. In fact they just keep selling them to each other to some degree.
We don’t feel envious when we look at what they’re doing, in the least. But that doesn’t mean we can’t find an occasional small business that fits in and that will do well.
It’s not going be the future of Berkshire, though. But I want to emphasize one does not preclude the other.
25. The most intelligent question you’ve been asked?
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 7.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Willy Larsen (PH) from San Francisco.
You both mingle with the smartest investors in the country, something that I don’t have the opportunity to do. So to my question, what is the most intelligent question you have been asked recently on investing, and what was your answer to that question? (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie, you can go first on that while I think.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I’ve already done that when I answered the young gentleman who said he couldn’t understand why Warren compared his — or Berkshire’s book value increase to stock market index performance.
In other words there are a lot of interesting questions that don’t get much attention where there’s a lot of irrationality.
WARREN BUFFETT: The question you asked, I get that frequently from the college students that come out. They say, “What’s the most intelligent question that you’ve gotten in the past.” And I never come up with a good answer, and I’m not coming up with one today —
CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t like the question, do you?
WARREN BUFFETT: No. (Laughter)
That’s why we changed —
CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t think it’s quite fair.
WARREN BUFFETT: That’s why I let you go first. (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah.
26. MidAmerican energy return on assets
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, now we’ve hit 54 questions. So now we start going around to the stations in order. All of the journalists of each had six apiece, so we’ll go to station 8.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Philip Case, Manchester, New Hampshire.
My question pertains to the MidAmerican Energy segment. On page 64 of our annual report, you provide us with segment data for each business.
For the MidAmerican Energy segment, when I take earnings before interest and taxes and add back depreciation expense and subtract capex, the result is negative operating cash flow.
When I repeat that exercise for each of the past five years, in its best year the segment generates $308 million of operating cash flow. When I divide that by tangible assets, the result is a return on tangible assets of 0.86 percent.
Why are we allocating capital to a business that in its best year generates a return on tangible assets of less than 1 percent?
WARREN BUFFETT: You were doing great until you got to return on tangible assets. The — we love the math that you just described, as long as we are going to get returns on the added capital investment. And we are in businesses, whether it’s wind energy in Iowa or whether with PacifiCorp after we bought it, there were lots of opportunities for capital investment. And the energy which we bought, we’re looking forward to putting more capital in because as long as we get treated fairly by the regulators in the states that we operate, we will get appropriate returns on that.
And the return is not measured by the cash minus the increased capital investment we’re making. It’s measured by the operating earnings after depreciation. And there will be times in our businesses where no net investment may be required. But we actually prefer the ones where net — in the utility business — where net investment is required because we like the idea of getting more capital out at reasonable returns.
Now, the bet we are making is that regulatory authorities will treat us fairly in the future. And we’ve got every reason to believe that’s true in the jurisdictions in which we operate. And one of the reasons we believe it’s true is because we’ve done so much better than, really, the great majority of utilities in delivering electricity at lower rates than are charged by most utilities.
We have a situation in Iowa, for example, where there is one stockholder-owned competitive utility, and some other municipal-owned ones, and if you look at our rates, they are significantly below those of our competitors.
And in fact, one of our directors has a farm where he buys from two different sources, one being us. And his rate from us is dramatically lower than the one from the cooperative arrangement that exists.
So, we have a deserved good reputation with the regulators that we’re dealing with. We’ve improved the operations, including safety, incidentally, dramatically from the conditions that existed before we purchased the utilities. That’s why they welcome us when we come to new states.
And so if we can put more money into useful projects in those states, we’ve got every reason to believe we will get returns that are appropriate.
But if you compute net cash generated from those, you will see nominal or negative figures for a considerable period as we add to our investment and we make those utilities even more useful for people in those jurisdictions. I think we’ll get a fair return.
We have somewhat similar situation at the railroad, too. But we’re very happy about both of those businesses. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, if the numbers you recited came from a declining department store, we would just hate it. But when it comes from a growing utility, we like it because we have such confidence that the reinvested money is going to do exceptionally well. It’s just that simple.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
Greg —
CHARLIE MUNGER: They’re two different kinds of businesses.
WARREN BUFFETT: Greg? Is Greg here? You want to — you might be able to give him a few figures that I don’t remember off the top of my head in terms of comparative — how our prices compare, and give him a little more of a flavor on how the utility commissions do regard us and how they treat us fairly.
GREG ABEL: Sure. When you look at our rates across each of the regions, effectively we’re generally the low-cost provider, or in the low quartile.
Your example, Warren, in Iowa was a great example. The last time we had a rate increase there was 1998. We’ve just currently had one this past year, so it’s the first one in the past 16 years. And we don’t see another one in the foreseeable future. And when you create that type of model with our regulators, obviously they’re very supportive of the various projects we’ve introduced.
So this past year we introduced a project in Iowa, it’s a 1,000 megawatt project, $1.9 billion being incurred. And if you go to the gentleman’s comment, yes, we’re going put the — we’ll deploy that $1.9 billion over the coming two years, but we’ll earn 11-and-a-half percent — 11.6 percent return on it.
Generally when we look at our utilities, we do pay attention to our capital, we try to keep it very close to our depreciation. That’s what we put back into the business. We’ll even earn on that capital, but the reality is the lion’s share of our capital right now is growth capital. And we earn a very nice return on that.
WARREN BUFFETT: Greg, you might comment, just a minute, I think they’d find it interesting, on what’s happening in Iowa with the tech companies, simply because of what we’re doing in the electric field. Or not simply, but in part because of what we’re doing in the field of electricity.
GREG ABEL: Right. So when you look at the tech companies and the data centers that exist, if you just go across the river, we service Google in Council Bluffs.
They’ve got a site that was initially a relatively small data center. They’re looking at taking it to 40 to 50 megawatts, which is a small size of a power plant. But the reality is they’re talking about ultimately building that to 1,000 megawatts. And we’re seeing that replicated time after time in the state.
And it’s really due to two things. One, we’ve got these exceptionally low rates. And then the fact that a significant portion of our energy, as Warren highlighted earlier and I touched on, comes from renewable energy. They want those credits, they want to be associated with a utility that’s producing green power.
27. Education market’s future in U.S. and China
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Station 9, please. (Applause)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good afternoon, Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. My name is Gao Ling Yun and I came from Shanghai, China. I focus on the education investment.
Today, my co-worker, Yi Nuo Education Company and I have a question. What do you think about the education market in America and China in future? Thank you.
WARREN BUFFETT: Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I didn’t catch those last two words. In what?
WARREN BUFFETT: He wanted to know what we thought of the education market in U.S. and China, but he didn’t —
CHARLIE MUNGER: But in what? He said in some — is it health care?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: In future.
CHARLIE MUNGER: In the future, I see.
Well, we certainly are getting the easy questions late in the day. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Yeah. (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: I think America —
WARREN BUFFETT: Whatever he says, I agree with. (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: I think America made a huge mistake when they allowed the public schools, and many particularly big school systems, to just go to hell. (Applause)
And I think the Asian cultures are less likely to do that. So to the extent that Asian cultures are avoiding some of our mistakes, why, I just wish we were more like them.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. (Applause)
28. Buffett’s joke about Munger’s hearing
WARREN BUFFETT: I probably shouldn’t tell you this. When Charlie was having a little trouble there on those last two words — I get a little worried about Charlie, don’t know whether I should talk about this, but — (Laughter)
I thought maybe he was losing his hearing and I didn’t want to confront him with it. I mean, we’ve been pals for a long time, so I went to the doctor and I said, “Doc, I’ve got this wonderful partner, but I think maybe his hearing is going on him.
“And I want to talk to him about it. I mean, how do you say that to somebody you’ve known that long? And what should I do?” He says, “Well, you stand across the room, talk to him in normal course of — tone of voice, and let me know what happens.”
So the next time I was with Charlie, I stood across the room and I said, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 35, do you agree?” Not a flicker.
I go halfway across the room. I say, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 35, do you agree?” Nothing.
Get right next to him, in his ear, “Charlie, I think we ought to buy General Motors at 35, do you agree?”
He said, “For the third time, yes.” (Laughter and applause)
So speak up, speak up. (Laughs)
29. Is housing lending reform needed?
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 10.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yes, this is — Glen Green (PH) from Chicago.
First of all, I want to thank you for allocating capital so well all these years, very much appreciated.
The question has to do with housing and housing reform more specifically, and there’s clearly legislation in Washington, D.C. right now talking about reforming the GSEs, specifically Fannie and Freddie. Do you think we need housing reform? What would be a reasonable approach to do it, and if private participants were involved, would that make sense for Berkshire given Ajit’s actuarial skills and your ability to allocate capital?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I think that — and Charlie may disagree with me on it, I think that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is a terrific boon to home owners.
It’s not necessarily such a great instrument to own as an investor, but I think it’s done a lot for home ownership. May have been abused in some cases, but overall it’s done a terrific job for home ownership in the country. Let people get into homes earlier than they might have been able to otherwise, kept costs down to quite a degree.
And so I would hope that — and the government guarantee part of it does keep the cost down. Nobody — no private organizations can do it. I mean, home mortgages are an 11 trillion-or-so dollar market, and there’s not the insurance capacity, or remotely the insurance capacity, for private industry to do the job, and the rates would be much higher.
So I think you keep the government in the picture. Now, the question is how you keep the government in the picture without keeping politics in the picture? And we’ve found some of the problems with that, in terms of not only Fannie and Freddie being — doing a lot of dumb things on their own, but being prodded into doing some of those things by politicians.
And I think there could be a way — I wrote an article 20, or 30 or — probably 30 years ago, an op-ed piece that appeared, I think, in the “Washington Post,” when the F-D-I — well, when FSLIC, the savings and loan guarantee operation was essentially falling apart, and suggesting for the FDIC some way to get the private sector into pricing and evaluating the risk, in that case, of banks, but essentially the government being the main insurer.
There could be — there could well be a way that that model, and it’s being explored now, that model works in terms of home mortgage insurance.
I don’t think we would likely be a player, because I think that other people would be more optimistic than we would be in setting rates.
In the end, the government would have to be the main insurer. You might have a situation where private industry priced 5 percent of it and the government took the other 95 percent and, in turn, even guaranteed the 5 percent by the private industry once the private investors went broke.
But I do think it’s very important to get housing, the mortgages for homes — to get that a correct national policy. I know it’s being worked on. And I think, you know, I think it’s very unlikely that Berkshire Hathaway would play any part in it.
Charlie, what are your thoughts?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, when private industry was allowed to take over pretty much the whole field, we got the biggest bunch of thieves and idiots that you can imagine screwing up the whole system and threatening all of us. So I’m not very trustful of private industry in this field.
And so, as much as I hate what politicians frequently do, I think the existing system is probably pretty sound.
At the moment, Fannie and Freddie are being pretty conservative and they’re making almost all the home loans. I think that’s OK, and I’m not anxious to go back to where the investment banks were in a big race to the bottom, in terms of creating phony securities.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, and I think — one question is whether you let Fannie and Freddie just run off as is, and I don’t know —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Instead of keep doing just what they’re doing.
WARREN BUFFETT: But I think — I think you may — I think certainly one of the things that led Fannie and Freddie astray was the desire to serve two masters and increase earnings at double-digit ranges. And to do that, they started doing big portfolio activities.
I think if Freddie and Fannie had stuck to insuring mortgages and not become the biggest hedge funds in the country, because they did have this capability of borrowing very cheap, very long, and therefore could get a reasonable — what looked like a reasonable spread on a huge portfolio action. I think that was a big contributing factor to —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, they became, in effect, private corporations. But they’re not anymore, Warren. They’re —
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
CHARLIE MUNGER: — and they are at the moment being fairly conservative.
WARREN BUFFETT: There are people who want them to return to being private corporations, though.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, but I think that’s a mistake because when they really got lousy, it’s because the private companies were taking over the whole mortgage market as bad lending drove out good. And Fannie May and Freddie Mac, to hold up their volumes, joined in the rush to laxity and fraud and folly. And so —
WARREN BUFFETT: Would you let them have portfolio activities at all?
CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t see any need for it.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, I don’t either. And I think that did get them into quite a bit of trouble. And I think those were done in order to keep the earnings per share game going.
CHARLIE MUNGER: No, I think that particular experiment in privatization was a total failure. (Applause)
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Station 11, and —
CHARLIE MUNGER: And we made a billion dollars out of it, if you remember.
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I wasn’t going mention that. (Laughter)
30. “Fortunate” to partner with 3G and Jorge Paulo Lemann
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good afternoon. Whitney Tilson, shareholder from New York City.
I’ve just started reading “Dream Big,” the book recently released about your new Brazilian partners and I’m really enjoying it. Their track records are unbelievable, and as a long-time Berkshire shareholder I’m delighted that you’ve partnered with them, and hope that Heinz is the first of many elephants that you bag together.
WARREN BUFFETT: Can I interrupt you just for one second, Whitney? I appreciate that sentiment, and that book is available in — (Laughter)
I should have mentioned it earlier. The book was written in Portuguese and it was a best seller in Brazil for the last year. But it just got translated very, very, very recently and it is available at the Bookworm. So — Whitney, you can go on from there, but I did want to mention it’s available.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Why would you assume that all of our shareholders don’t read Portuguese? (Laughter)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: I’ll also mention that it is only available on Amazon via Kindle. The only hard copies in the world in English that I’m aware of are available downstairs, so that will create quite a run on the book, I think.
WARREN BUFFETT: We will raise the price. (Laughter)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: So I have two questions related to this. First, I know you’ve known these gentlemen probably for a couple decades, and I’d love to hear your observations on what’s their secret sauce? It’s got to be more than zero-based budgeting, which we all hear about. What are the key things they do that produces such extraordinary returns?
And secondly, when I look at some of the biggest, best deals that you’ve done in recent years, important factors seem to be your longtime personal relationships, for example, with Jorge Paulo Lemann in the Heinz deal, or your brand name.
The Warren Buffett stamp of approval mattered a lot to some of the deals you did with, for example, Goldman or GE during the financial crisis. And I just wonder what your thoughts are on whether your successors will have the same opportunities to do wonderful deals like this?
WARREN BUFFETT: It will become the Berkshire brand. I mean, the first year or so people will wonder about it, but the person that follows me will bring the same qualities, including the ability to write a very big check. But other things besides that, and it will be a Berkshire brand that may have started with me, but that will continue.
Going on to our Brazilian friends, they’re very smart, they’re very focused, they’re very hardworking and determined. They’re never satisfied.
And as I said earlier, when you make a deal with them you’ve made a deal with them. They don’t overreach, they don’t overpromise. They’ve got a lot of good qualities. And if you read the book, I think you’ll probably learn a lot more about the qualities that made them what they are.
But we are very fortunate to be associated with them, and we’re very fortunate to be associated with a number of the managers that have joined us, too.
We want to be a good partner ourselves because it attracts good partners. And that is a reputation that Berkshire deserves. I mean, Charlie and I do our part toward keeping that reputation intact, but that takes a lot of other people also behaving in a way that causes people to want to join them, causes people to want to trust them. And that will be part of a Berkshire brand. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, I always say the way to get a good spouse is to deserve one. And the way to get a good part —
WARREN BUFFETT: What’s your second way? (Laughter)
CHARLIE MUNGER: — and the other — well, but to get a good partner you deserve a good partner. It’s an old-fashioned way of getting ahead. And the interesting about it is it still works in these modern times. Nothing changes, if you just behave yourself correctly, it’s amazing how well it works. (Applause)
WARREN BUFFETT: You have any further thoughts on the Brazilians?
CHARLIE MUNGER: On what?
WARREN BUFFETT: On the success of Jorge Paulo and his associates, beyond what I laid out?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, there — you can’t skirt the fact that they’re very good at removing unnecessary costs.
WARREN BUFFETT: Sure.
CHARLIE MUNGER: And I do not consider that in any way immoral or wrong or something.
WARREN BUFFETT: Not in the least.
CHARLIE MUNGER: I think removing unnecessary costs is a service to civilization. And I think it should be done with some — what do they call it? Mercy, really.
WARREN BUFFETT: Sensitivity.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, sensitivity. But I don’t think it’s good for our system to have a lot of make-work and what have you. So —
WARREN BUFFETT: If it was, we’d love government, right?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, and so, generally speaking, I think they’re an interesting example to all of us.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah, we’re learning from them.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Everybody is.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Some reluctantly.
31. We’ll decide what to do with “too much” cash when we get there
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Station 1.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, Warren. Hi, Charlie. My name is Walter Chang (PH) and I came from Taiwan for this meeting.
Seven years ago, I named my first-born son after you, Warren, so the second one hasn’t come yet —
WARREN BUFFETT: How’s he — how’s he —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: — so sorry —
WARREN BUFFETT: — how’s he — how’s he doing?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: He’s doing great.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: So he says hi. He always says, “Warren Buffalo,” so, sorry — (Laugher) — sorry about that.
WARREN BUFFETT: I’ve been called — I’ve been called worse. (Laughter)
AUDIENCE MEMBER: My question is for both of you. We wish you continued good health, and when both of you break Mrs. B’s record of working to 103 years old, that will be 20 years from now.
If Warren — or sorry, if Berkshire breaks that record and basically doubles over the next ten years and doubles again, you’ll have a market cap of $1.2 trillion.
What do you think Berkshire will look like at that time and can you get there sooner? (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: We may have to. Your original hypothesis may not hold up.
I do plan on writing about that next year, but there’s no question that at some point we will have more cash than we can intelligently deploy. And then — in the business — and then the question is what do we do with the excess? And that will depend on circumstances at the time.
I mean, if the stock can be bought in at a price that makes sense for continuing shareholders, in other words that their value is enhanced by the repurchase, you know, if I were around at that time I would probably be very aggressive about repurchasing shares. But who knows what the circumstances will be. Who knows what the tax law will be then, you know.
What I do know is that we will have more cash than we can intelligently invest at some point in the future. That’s built into what we’re doing, and I hope that isn’t real soon, and I don’t think it probably will be.
But it’s not on a distant horizon. I mean, the numbers are getting up to where we will not be able to deploy intelligently everything that’s coming in.
But then we can deploy — it may be that we can deploy very intelligently and repurchase the shares. Who knows what the circumstances will be?
All I can tell you is that whatever is done will be done in the interest of the shareholder. That, you know, that is what every decision starts from, from that principle. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: It’s not a tragedy to succeed so much that future returns go down. That’s success, that’s winning.
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, he’ll name his next child after you. (Laughter) OK.
32. Uber, Airbnb, and the “disruptive” sharing economy
WARREN BUFFETT: Station 2.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Afternoon. My name’s Michael Sontag (PH) and I’m from Washington, D.C.
My question’s about the sharing economy. What larger implications do you expect companies like Uber and Airbnb to have on their sectors, and do you think this business model is here to stay?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, they are obviously trying to disrupt some other businesses, and those businesses will fight back in competitive ways, and they may try to fight back through legislation.
You know, when anybody’s threatened, or any business is threatened, it tries to fight back.
If you go back to when State Farm came on the scene in 1921, that the — or ’20, or whenever it was, the agency system was sacrosanct, in terms of insurance. It’d been around forever and the big companies were in Hartford or New York and they fought over having the number one agency in town.
So if you came to Omaha and you were at Travelers or Aetna, or whomever it might be, your objective was to get the agent. And the policy holder really wasn’t being thought about.
And then State Farm came along and they had a better mouse trap, and then GEICO came along with a better mouse trap yet.
And so, every — the industries originally — the insurance companies fought back in a lot of ways. But one of the ways they tried to do it was to insist, you know, on various state laws involving what agents could do and what could not be done in insurance without agents and all that.
It’s — that’s standard. And you’ll see that, and in the end the better mouse trap usually wins. But the people with the second or third-best mouse trap will try to keep that from happening.
The ones you name, I don’t know anything about. I mean, I know what they do, but I don’t their specific prospects, which is why we kind of stay away from that sort of thing because we don’t — we know there’ll be change, and we don’t know who the winners will be. And we try to stick with businesses where we know the winners.
We know — and there are energy companies that — a railroad. A lot of our businesses are very, very, very likely to be winners, and that doesn’t mean they don’t have some change involved with them, but they’re going to be winners.
And then there’s other fields where we can’t pick the winners, and so we just sit and watch. We find them interesting but we don’t get tempted. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I think the new technology is going to be quite disruptive to a lot of people. I think retailing, in particular, is facing some very significant threats.
And you heard Greg Abel talk about a power plant in Iowa that was huge to serve one Google server farm. When you get computer capacity all over the world on this scale, it is changing the world. I mean, you’re talking about —
WARREN BUFFETT: Fast, too.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah, fast. So — and I think it’s going to hurt a lot of people just as all the past technology investments hurt a lot of people. I think Berkshire, by and large, is in pretty good shape.
WARREN BUFFETT: Where do you think we’re most vulnerable?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I don’t think I want to name them.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. (Laughs)
Now you’ve got them all wondering, Charlie. (Laughs)
33. Teach financial literacy to children in school?
WARREN BUFFETT: Section 3.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good afternoon. My name is Diane Wieland (PH), and I’m from Hollywood, Florida.
I’ve worked in public education for over 35 years. My concern is that I think that we need to do more to proactively prepare our children and youth to be financially literate, especially in light of the serious financial stresses many adults in our society face on a daily basis.
My question is, do you think that financial literacy should be a standard part of the curriculum in our nation’s schools and, if so, how early do you think it should begin and what do you think some of the most important learning goals would be?
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, certainly the earlier the better. I mean, habits are such a powerful force in everyone’s life, and certainly good financial habits.
You know, I see it all the time. I get letters every day from people that have committed some kind of financial lunacy or another, but they didn’t know it was lunacy and, you know, they didn’t get taught that. Their parents didn’t teach it to them.
And digging yourself out of the holes that financial illiteracy can cause, you know, you can spend the rest of your lifetime doing it. So I’m very sympathetic to what you’re talking about.
We’ve done a little bit. I don’t know whether you saw our “Secret Millionaire’s Club” exhibit in the exhibition hall.
And you want to talk to people at a very young age. Charlie and I were lucky. I mean, we got it in our families so that, you know, we were learning it at the dinner table when we were — before we knew what we were learning. And that happens in a lot of families, and in a lot of families it doesn’t happen.
And, of course, you mention about childhood financial literacy. Then there’s a big problem with adulthood, adult financial illiteracy. And it’s harder to be smarter or have better habits than your parents unless the schools intercede or —probably, you know, the schools are your best bet, but it can be done — a lot can be done on television or through the internet.
But it is really important to have good financial habits, and I think anything you can do very early through the school system, you know, would certainly have my vote. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, I’m not sure if the schools are at fault. I would place most of the fault with the parents. I think the most powerful example (applause) is the behavior of the parent, and so if you’re —
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, I agree with — the most important thing is the parents, but not everybody gets the right parents.
CHARLIE MUNGER: Yeah. Well, it’s very hard to fix people who have the wrong parents. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Well, let’s just say you have the job of fixing people that have the wrong parents. What would you do about it?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, what’s the — if you had the job of living forever, what would you do about it? It gets to be so impractical. (Laughter)
Who would ever believe that I would have any ability to fix all the people that have the wrong parents?
WARREN BUFFETT: How about a few? (Laughs)
CHARLIE MUNGER: I don’t think I’m good at that, either. The only thing I’ve ever been slightly good at in my life is raising the top higher. It’s just — they left the talent out of me.
I don’t scorn it. I think it’s a noble work. I just — I’m no good at it.
I don’t think you’re so hot, either. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: If he hadn’t been in public, it would have been stronger. (Laughs)
Stop by our “Secret Millionaire’s Club,” though. You may get some ideas.
CHARLIE MUNGER: By the way, the main troubles with education in this field are probably not in the grade schools. They’re probably in the colleges.
There’s a lot of asininity taught in the finance courses at the major universities, and even the departments of economics have much wrong with them. So, if you really want to start fixing the world, you shouldn’t assume that when it gets highfalutin, it’s a lot better.
WARREN BUFFETT: Well — (Applause)
There was certainly a period of at least 20 years, I would say, when I think the net utility of knowledge given to finance majors was negative in major universities. I think maybe it’s getting better now, but it is a —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Imagine it. Net utility was negative. It was (unintelligible) asinine.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah.
CHARLIE MUNGER: I wish you’d use normal English. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: I’m worried about what English you’re going to use. (Laughter)
I don’t want to egg him on.
The — it was — frankly, it was fascinating to me because here was something I understood.
And to watch — I mean extraordinary universities that, essentially, were teaching people some very, very dumb things. And where even to obtain the positions in the departments of those schools, you had to subscribe to this orthodoxy, which made no sense at all.
And it got stronger and stronger, and then — now it’s changing to quite a degree. But it may have soured my feeling on higher education to an unwarranted degree because that — you know, it may have been particularly bad in the area that I was familiar with, but it was bad.
Have I got — is my language okay, Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: You would have liked academics better if you’d have taken physics instead of finance. (Laughter)
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, I’m glad I didn’t. (Laughs)
34. “There’s no advantage to breaking Berkshire into pieces”
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Area 4.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Mr. Buffett and Mr. Munger. First of all, great party last night. I stood there for half an hour and still couldn’t get a drink, so great crowd. Oh, by the way this is Zhang Xiaozhu (PH) from Ottawa, Ontario.
My question relates to the age-old question about dividends and also valuation. I think you guys are penalized by the great success of your enormously successful company. It’s huge, so no one knows how to properly valuate it, and also because of your yardstick you picked, which is not quite fair.
Every year I see some of the old shareholders, and they are waiting to get a dividend, using some of the monies to supplement their retirements.
I do not feel it’s essentially fair for them to sell their shares. I remember the case study you had in last year’s letter to the shareholders. You did a case study comparing issuing dividends or having the shareholders selling their shares directly.
Because of the shares are so depressed, I do not feel it’s very fair. So I’m wanting to ask, is there a practical way for you to break up the company into four logical groups, as you report in every year’s AGM, and unlock some of the values and still allow you to allocate the capital freely, please?
WARREN BUFFETT: We would lose — we would not unlock value. We would lose significant value if we were to break it into four companies.
There are large advantages in both capital allocation, occasionally in the tax situation. There’s — Berkshire is worth more as presently constituted than in any other form that I can conceive of unless we engaged in something to de-tax the whole place, which we’re not going to do and which would probably be impossible anyway, but even if it was possible, we wouldn’t be doing it.
But the — we did have this vote, and it’s now time to adjourn and then we’ll come back in a few minutes for the annual meeting. But we did have a vote, and unfortunately we — there’s not a way to deliver a dividend to a few shareholders and not to others, although — whereas there is a way to — for shareholders to maintain an even and greater dollar investment in Berkshire, in terms of the underlying assets, and still cash out annually some portion of their investment, just like they would with a partnership, and incur fairly little tax in the matter. And I wrote about that last year and you’ve read that.
But there’s no advantage to breaking Berkshire into pieces. It would be a terrible mistake. Charlie?
CHARLIE MUNGER: Well, generally I think that you’re not being deprived when the stock goes from 100 to 200, and you didn’t get a dividend that year.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. Well, it isn’t going to go up every year, though. I mean, it’s going to —
CHARLIE MUNGER: Or two years or whatever it was.
WARREN BUFFETT: Yeah. We had, by a 45-to-1 vote, we had people — which actually surprised me. We had people say that they prefer the present policy to a change in that policy, so it would be a big mistake to change.
And with that we will end the Q-and-A session. We’ll be back in about ten or so minutes, and we’ll have an annual meeting. Thank you. (Applause)
35. Berkshire’s formal annual meeting
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. If you’ll take your seats, we’ll get on to the meeting.
OK. I have a script here that I’ll read from and make sure everything’s proper.
The meeting will now come to order. I’m Warren Buffett, chairman of the board of directors of the company, and I welcome you to the 2014 annual meeting of shareholders.
This morning, I introduced the Berkshire Hathaway directors that are present. Also with us today are partners in the firm of Deloitte & Touche, our auditors. They’re available to respond to appropriate questions you might have concerning their firm’s audit of the accounts of Berkshire.
Sharon Heck is secretary of Berkshire Hathaway. She will make a written record of the proceedings.
Becki Amick has been appointed inspector of elections at this meeting. She will certify that the count of votes cast in the election for directors and the motion to be voted upon at the meeting.
The named proxy holders for this meeting are Walter Scott and Marc Hamburg.
WARREN BUFFETT: Does the secretary have a report of the number of Berkshire shares outstanding, entitled to vote, and represented at the meeting?
SHARON HECK: Yes, I do. As indicated in the proxy statement that accompanied the notice of this meeting that was sent to all shareholders of record on March 5, 2014, there were 857,848 shares of Class A Berkshire Hathaway common stock outstanding with each share entitled to one vote on motions considered at this meeting and 1,179,267,338 shares of Class B Berkshire Hathaway common stock outstanding with each share entitled to one ten-thousandth of one vote on motions considered at this meeting. Of that number, 601,494 Class A shares and 682,365,717 Class B shares are represented at this meeting by proxies returned through Thursday evening, May 1.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you. That number represents a quorum, and we will, therefore, directly proceed with the meeting.
36. Approval of last year’s minutes
WARREN BUFFETT: First order of business will be a reading of the minutes of the last meeting of shareholders. I recognize Mr. Walter Scott who will place the motion before the meeting.
WALTER SCOTT: I move that the reading of minutes of the last meeting of the shareholders be dispensed with and the minutes be approved.
WARREN BUFFETT: Do I hear a second?
VOICE: I second the motion.
WARREN BUFFETT: The motion has been moved and seconded. Are there any comments or questions?
We will vote on this motion by voice vote. All those in favor say, “Aye.” Opposed? The motion is carried.
37. Election of Berkshire directors
WARREN BUFFETT: The next item of business is to elect directors. If a shareholder is present who did not send in a proxy or wishes to withdraw a proxy previously sent in, you may vote in person on the election of directors and other matters to be considered at this meeting. Please identify yourself to one of the meeting officials in the aisle so that you can receive a ballot.
I recognize Mr. Walter Scott to place a motion before the meeting with respect to election of directors.
WALTER SCOTT: I move that Warren Buffett, Charles Munger, Howard Buffett, Stephen Burke, Susan Decker, William Gates, David Gottesman, Charlotte Guyman, Don Keough, Thomas Murphy, Ronald Olson, Walter Scott, and Meryl Witmer be elected as directors.
WARREN BUFFETT: Is there a second?
VOICE: I second the motion.
WARREN BUFFETT: It has been moved and seconded that Warren Buffett, Charles Munger, Howard Buffett, Stephen Burke, Susan Decker, William Gates, David Gottesman, Charlotte Guyman, Don Keough, Thomas Murphy, Ronald Olson, Walter Scott, and Meryl Witmer be elected as directors.
Are there any other nominations? Is there any discussion? The nominations are ready to be acted upon.
If there are any shareholders voting in person, they should now mark their ballot on the election of directors and deliver their ballot to one of the meeting officials in the aisles.
Ms. Amick, when you are ready you may give your report.
BECKI AMICK: My report is ready. The ballot of the proxy holders in response to proxies that were received through last Thursday evening cast not less than 660,619 votes for each nominee.
That number far exceeds a majority of the number of the total votes of all Class A and Class B shares outstanding. The certification required by Delaware law of the precise count of the votes will be given to the secretary to be placed with the minutes of this meeting.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you, Ms. Amick.
Warren Buffett, Charles Munger, Howard Buffett, Stephen Burke, Susan Decker, William Gates, David Gottesman, Charlotte Guyman, Don Keough, Thomas Murphy, Ronald Olson, Walter Scott, and Meryl Witmer have been elected as directors.
38. Advisory vote on executive compensation
WARREN BUFFETT: The next item on the agenda is an advisory vote on the compensation of Berkshire Hathaway’s executive officers. I recognize Mr. Walter Scott to place a motion before the meeting on this item.
WALTER SCOTT: I move that the shareholders of the company approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers as disclosed pursuant to Item 402 of the regulation S-K, including the compensation discussion and the analysis and the accompanying compensation tables and the related narrative discussion in the company’s 2014 annual meeting proxy statement.
WARREN BUFFETT: Is there a second?
VOICE: I second the motion.
WARREN BUFFETT: It has been moved and seconded that the shareholders of the company approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers.
Is there any discussion? I believe there may be on this. Do we have anyone?
OK. Ms. Amick, when you are ready, you may give your report.
BECKI AMICK: The report is ready. The ballot of the proxy holders in response to proxies that were received through last Thursday evening cast not less than 666,751 votes to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers.
That number far exceeds a majority of the number of the total votes of all Class A and Class B shares outstanding. The certification required by Delaware law of the precise count of the votes will be given to the secretary to be placed with the minutes of this meeting.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you, Ms. Amick.
The motion to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers is passed.
WARREN BUFFETT: The next item on the agenda is an advisory vote on the frequency of a shareholder advisory vote on compensation of Berkshire Hathaway’s executive officers. I recognize Mr. Walter Scott to place a motion before the meeting on this item.
WALTER SCOTT: I move that the shareholders of the company determine, on an advisory basis, the frequency, whether by annual, biannual, or triannual, with which they shall have an advisory vote on the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers as set forth in the company’s 2014 annual meeting proxy statement.
WARREN BUFFETT: Is there a second?
VOICE: I second the motion.
WARREN BUFFETT: It has been moved and seconded that shareholders of the company determine the frequency with which they have an advisory vote on compensation of named executive officers with the options being every one, two or three years. Is there any discussion? I believe on this one there is a — somebody wishes to speak? Yes.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: — Boston, Massachusetts. I suggest a vote of one year in order to change the policy of named executives.
In addition to Warren, Charlie, and Marc, the company should report Ajit Jain’s salary. He is irreplaceable, and Warren works integrally with him in setting insurance rates.
Since —five — there should be five members of management, either another insurance manager or someone from the capital-related industries group, from BNSF or MidAmerican, should also be added.
You are so lean at corporate, the group managers should be named. Two should be named, but at least Ajit should be added.
The CEOs of former Fortune 500s used to disclose what is their compensation now. There is no retirement age at Berkshire, which is fine, but there should be more depth of disclosure, and this should be done next year, not three years from now.
WARREN BUFFETT: Is there anyone else that — doesn’t appear to be.
I personally actually agree with a one-year frequency on this, normally, but it does seem in the case of Berkshire that considering what’s required and considering what the numbers are and everything, that it probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But I generally feel one year is not a bad idea.
I do not think it’s a good idea to start selecting people among the managers to give compensation for the reasons discussed earlier.
OK. Ms. Amick, when you are ready, you may give your report.
BECKI AMICK: My report is ready. The ballot of the proxy holders in response to proxies that were received through last Thursday evening cast 113,530 votes for a frequency of every year, 2,412 votes for a frequency of every two years, and 552,309 votes for a frequency of every three years of an advisory vote on the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers. The certification required by Delaware law of the precise count of the votes will be given to the secretary to be placed with the minutes of this meeting.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you, Ms. Amick.
Shareholders of the company determined, on an advisory basis, that they shall have an advisory vote on the compensation paid to the company’s named executive officers every three years.
39. Proposal to set greenhouse gas reduction goals
WARREN BUFFETT: The next item of business is a motion put forth by Meyer Family Enterprises, LLC, a Berkshire shareholder represented by Brady Anderson and Linda Nkosi.
The motion is set forth in the proxy statement. The motion directs Berkshire Hathaway to establish quantitative goals for reduction of greenhouse gases and other air emissions at its energy generating holdings and publish a report to shareholders on how it will achieve those goals.
The directors have recommended that the shareholders vote against the proposal.
I will now recognize Brady Anderson and Linda Nkosi to present the motion. To allow all interested shareholders to present their views, I ask them to limit their remarks to five minutes.
LINDA NKOSI: Good afternoon, Mr. Buffett, Mr. Munger, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Linda Nkosi from Swaziland, and this is Brady Anderson from Iowa.
We are students of economics and finance at Wartburg College in Iowa and are here representing a delegation of students who manage a $1.2 million portfolio that includes shares of Berkshire Hathaway. We very much appreciate the opportunity to take part in this celebrated event.
We stand to represent Investor Voice SPC of Seattle on behalf of the Meyer Family Enterprises to move Item 4 on page 12 of the proxy, a proposal that Berkshire establish goals for greenhouse gas reduction at its energy holdings.
We applaud Berkshire Hathaway Energy for having the largest renewable energy portfolio in the country.
That said, it is also true that BH Energy generates close to half its power by burning coal, which makes BH Energy a huge emitter of greenhouse gas. Given these facts, it would benefit BH Energy to have a carbon reduction plan.
Sixty-six percent of U.S. electric utilities have greenhouse gas reduction goals. Berkshire Hathaway Energy is not among them, despite stating on its website, “We will set challenging goals and assess our ability to continually improve our environmental performance.”
As shareholders are aware, climate disruption creates profound financial risk for the global economy as well as for Berkshire. The Investor Network on Climate Risk, whose members manage more than $11 trillion, and the Carbon Disclosure Project, representing more than $80 trillion in assets globally, have called on companies to disclose risks related to climate change, as well as to take steps to reduce that risk.
BRADY ANDERSON: The SEC has stated that climate risks are financially material and that they must be disclosed. This is because a high-carbon approach creates risk, whereas a low-carbon approach avoids risk, both now and into the future.
Without planning and a set of forward-looking goals, neither management nor investors can truly know where they stand.
In addition, Berkshire’s core businesses are vulnerable to climate disruption. Why? Because many of the most negative financial impacts of climate disruption are borne by insurance companies.
Berkshire’s GEICO took its single largest loss in history from Superstorm Sandy, a $490 million loss due to claims on more than 46,000 flooded vehicles.
Berkshire’s reinsurance business is likely to bear significantly more risk from the trends towards increasingly extreme weather.
For a time, some portion of these costs may be pushed onto customers in the form of higher premiums, but it is a prudent — it is (not) a prudent or sustainable long-term strategy to impose on customers the cost of not planning for the greenhouse gas reductions that climate scientists agree are urgently needed.
In summary, hundreds of the world’s largest institutional investors, representing trillions of dollars of invested assets, call on companies to set greenhouse gas reduction goals. Such goals are key tools for reducing the profound business risk that climate change creates.
More than two-thirds of United States utilities already have such goals, and institutional proxy advisory firms repeatedly recommend voting for goal setting and disclosure of this sort.
Therefore, please join us in voting for this common sense proposal, which not only benefits the planet, it will preserve, if not boost, Berkshire profits by avoiding risk.
Thank you for this truly amazing opportunity to share our concerns.
WARREN BUFFETT: OK, and thank you. (Applause)
I assume that the fact the lights went off, there’s nobody additionally that would like to speak on the motion for or against?
Hearing nothing, I’ll say that the motion is now ready to be acted upon. If there are any shareholders voting in person, they should now mark their ballot on the motion and deliver their ballot to one of the meeting officials in the aisles.
Ms. Amick, when you’re ready, you can give your report.
BECKI AMICK: My report is ready. The ballot of the proxy holders in response to proxies that were received through last Thursday evening cast 49,553 votes for the motion and 561,642 votes against the motion.
As the number of votes against the motion exceeds a majority of the number of votes of all Class A and Class B shares outstanding, the motion has failed. The certification required by Delaware law of the precise count of the votes will be given to the secretary to be placed with the minutes of this meeting.
WARREN BUFFETT: Thank you, Ms. Amick. The proposal fails.
40. Shareholder proposal to pay a dividend
WARREN BUFFETT: The next item of business is a motion put forward by David Witt. The motion is set forth in the proxy statement. The motion requested the board of directors consider payment of a dividend. The directors have recommended the shareholders vote against the proposal.
Mr. Witt available?
As neither Mr. Witt nor his representative is present to present their proposal for action, the motion fails.
41. Meeting adjourned
WARREN BUFFETT: OK. Does anyone have any further business to come before this meeting before we adjourn? If not, I recognize Mr. Scott to place a motion before the meeting.
WALTER SCOTT: I move that this meeting be adjourned.
WARREN BUFFETT: Is there a second?
VOICE: I second the motion to adjourn.
WARREN BUFFETT: The motion to adjourn has been made and seconded. We will vote by voice.
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