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Home › Star Wars › Disney CEO Bob Chapek Talks Kathleen Kennedy's Future
Disney CEO Bob Chapek Talks Kathleen Kennedy's Future
By Reggie's Take on March 9, 2021
Rumors concerning Kathleen Kennedy's future at Lucasfilm have been circulating for several years now and on Tuesday Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed her future moving forward.
When George Lucas was getting ready to sell Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 Lucas named Kennedy as his successor. During her time at Lucasfilm Kennedy has overseen the expansion of Star Wars franchise with a new trilogy, spinoffs and television shows.
The galaxy far, far away seemed to get off to a good start with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker followed a year later with Rogue One, both extremely successful in box office returns. In 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi was released as the follow up to The Force Awakens and although it was well received by critics and enjoyed a healthy return at the box office the movie caused a divide amongst the fans.
The divide caused by The Last Jedi led fans to show their disapproval when Solo: A Star Wars Story was released as it became the lowest-growing movie of the entire franchise. The Rise of Skywalker was released in December of 2019 enjoying financial success earning just over a billion dollars but found little to no love with the critics.
During an investor's call on Tuesday, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked very bluntly if Kathleen Kennedy was going to be replaced by Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni, who are both enjoying immense success on Disney Plus with The Mandalorian and upcoming shows like The Book of Boba Fett and Star Wars: Ahsoka.
Chapek answer to investors pretty much squashes those rumors, saying…
"We've been absolutely thrilled that we can have the kind of talent like Kathy Kennedy to direct Lucasfilm… We look forward to having Kathleen Kennedy running the Lucasfilm organization for many years to come."
The news that Kennedy is not going anywhere anytime soon may not be the news some fans wish to hear. Yes, Kennedy has made some mistakes while at Lucasfilm. The biggest for me is her hiring of directors and not making sure that herself (Kennedy) and the directors are all 100% on same page before hiring them.
I can understand why some fans want to see Favreau and Filoni put in charge of Lucasfilm with the success of The Mandalorian they feel they have a better understanding of Star Wars. While I will agree both Favreau and Filoni due have an excellent grasp of Star Wars as story tellers The Mandalorian would not have gone past the idea stage if Kennedy herself had not of signed off on it and I think some fans do not realize that Favreau and Filoni do not have free reign at Lucasfilm they still have to answer to Kathleen Kennedy.
Bob Chapek – Disney CEO
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Categories: Star Wars
Tags: Bob Chapek, Dave Filoni, Disney CEO, Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm, Movies
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George Onslow (1784-1853), was born in Clermont-Ferrand, an died in Clermont-Ferrand. he is inspite of what it could first seem, an "Auvergnat". But his father was an Enlish Lord, who came in France after a scandal in England… and then married a French girl from the high noblety.
It's about since 10 or 15 years that one talks again from Onslow, but inspite of that, he still is very much unknown by most peoples, but especially in France, where the ideas, once they have been written by some "who-knows", in an encyclopaedia or something, are then taken again from there and transmitted to some other "who-knows-to-be", and further expanded as personal data without even any of the slightest verification, and all of them being more happy to err with Gallien than be true with Harvey!
It is certain that, in this first half of the 19th in France, the chamber music was surely not considered as anything worth the trouble to listen to. What had the support of the croud was in fact the opera, preferably Italian, and if possible their least good productions… let say it: their worse stuff, or of course the numerous copies of it.
The critics then, were judging with disdain the ones silly enough to spend their time writing or trying to play pieces only written for a string quartet or quintet (what a misery!)… Think! not even a text to what one could hold on, not even the contra C of a soprano to waken up, in a piece that finally having no word, has nothing to say!
Then, the critics classified him among the gentle amateurs. Well, he tried to pass through that barrier in composing some operas (2 or 3), but they where not written with easy melodies accompanied by "plom-ploms" in the orchestra… He wanted after all to do music, with real melodies, and an orchestra fully written, rich playing polyphonically (he wanted to be admitted by the public, but not at the cost of concessions concerning music and art). So, once again, they didn't understand his art and quality, and the critics refused to him once more the right to be a genius.
Well, that never had been a proof of genius, but even if it seems to be nothing more than a cupboard on which one puts busts in plaster, some among those have really been geniuses… Look Marcel Pagnol for instance, to only quote him.
That chair by the way, was supposed to be for Berlioz, but that didn't even affect him nor his admiration for Onslow. He even prononced that phrase : "Since the death of Beethoven, Monsieur Onslow holds the sceptre of symphonic music in Europe", what surely is an appreciation, especially coming from Berlioz!
Ignace Pleyel (1757-1831), See about him, the notes HERE.
Bernhard Molique (1802-1869) German composer (born in Nürenberg, he died near Stuttgart), was first a violinist, pupil of Spohr, made numerous tours in the world, lived few years in London, before to come back to Germany.
When I was student at Bruxelles, someone having given to me a pile of old musics, I remarked among them, inside a cheap quality album (not for its content, but for the quality of its paper already fallen into dust), two short pieces, minor works from Molique, two melodies, which had struck me by their quality.
Pierre Rode (1774-1830), from Bordeaux , violinist and composer with great talent (Beethoven admired him and, when Rode visited him in Wien, even if he dedicated the work to someone else, finished for him his last piano & violin sonata). After a carrier which brought him all over Europe, even St Petersburg where he stayed some time, he settled in France where he taught in the newly open Paris Conservatoire. He collaborated there with two other great figures of the violin, Baillot and Kreutzer, to the elaboration of the Violin method of the Paris Conservatoire.
"When Mr Viotti preffered to go across the string, but keeping the hand in the same position, Mr Rode preffered for the sake of the tone colour and of expression, to stay on the same string, and to go into the positions" (it is: moving the hand toward the bridge)… I'm quoting by memory.


What Sparks Your Passion? Share It at Ignite Tampa Bay!
You are here: Home / Employment, Entrepreneurship, Research & Development / What Sparks Your Passion? Share It at Ignite Tampa Bay!
Tampa, Florida – March 22, 2019 – Do you have a burning desire that you want to share with the world? Ignite Tampa Bay is stoking the embers for another night of people sharing their passion. Our team of volunteers is determined to fill the night with wonderment, new ideas, and inspiration. We will be supporting one of Tampa's historic and loved venues, The Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg which is ready for over 800 Igniters to take over on June 6th. We just need one more thing. You!
We want to know what ignites the fire in your life! Is it a job, a favorite pastime, a collection, a hobby, or a pivotal experience that has changed you? There's no right or wrong topic…in fact, sometimes the least expected is exactly what we're looking for!
Ignite has become a staple in our community delivering a high-energy evening which inspires, educates, and entertains sparking new ideas and conversations across the Tampa Bay Community. This is accomplished through fast-paced, bite-sized presentations where community members get on stage and share their personal or professional passion. These talks can be serious, humorous, inspiring and downright rude at times, but they are always entertaining. It's a great opportunity to meet smart, interesting people and learn something as well.
Tampa Bay, we need your passion and ideas to make our next event the best one yet. As we gear up for Ignite Tampa Bay 2019, nothing is more important than you. Ignite speaker submissions are officially open, so let us hear from you. What are you passionate about that you want to share with the community in 5 minutes? Ignite is like TED lite, speakers have exactly 5 minutes and 20 slides which auto-advance every 15 seconds to share their story. With a total of 20 speaker slots and we will begin selecting speakers in mid-April with the final selection will be published on May 6th, so get moving and head over to the submissions page and share your passion with the community. Speaker selections are made multiple times during the open call process so get your submission in early to improve your chances of being selected.
Ignite Tampa Speaker Applications and Tickets are available through the Ignite Tampa Bay website and going fast. Be sure to join the meetup group at: http://www.meetup.com/IgniteTampaBay/ for updates on the event and let everyone you're going!
Technnova Florida, Inc. is dedicated to growing the Florida tech community by operating at the grassroots level, helping people to learn, share and make real connections. We believe a robust technology ecosystem requires innovation, education, emerging technology, entrepreneurship, a united community. Technova produces events in support of our mission including BarCamp Tampa Bay, Ignite! Tampa Bay, and "Day of" technology workshops. We also support and sponsor other organizations that share our vision of an open and collaborative tech ecosystem. Technova Florida, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization based in Tampa, Florida.


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Easton pays $575,000 to Alliance Group for Stake in Huge Ontario Cultivation Parcel
Sep 29, 2018 | Acquisition, Cannabis in the News, Expansion, Medical, Trending
Toronto-based specialty pharmaceutical company Easton Pharmaceuticals (OTC: EAPH), paid Canadian-based Alliance Group $575,000 towards its agreed $1.3 million interest in 45 acres of a 135-acre agriculturally zoned parcel north of Toronto for the cultivation of cannabis.
These 45 acres are a very large parcel for the cannabis industry, comprising almost 2 million of. If Easton can cultivate a majority of these 45 acres in a reasonable time, the company could become a major producer. However, it is far behind other cultivators. It is not known yet how much money the companies will dedicate to developing the land.
Alliance has applied for licenses and expects approval within 30 to 60 days. Until revenues are generated, Easton will receive 50% of all revenues from Alliance's businesses.
Alliance Partners are confident all hurdles to growing legalized medical/recreational marijuana will be cleared shortly, leading to production within 6 months from its first greenhouse facility. The cannabis business is estimated to generate several millions of dollars in its first year with good profit margins.
This would give Easton and Alliance a foothold in cannabis production for pharmaceutical and recreational uses where they would cultivate on a co-managed basis.
Easton's investment and guarantee on revenues are securitized by the 135-acre property, appraised at over $8,000,000, much more than the estimate used for Easton's investment. Easton retains the option to buy 50% of Alliance's businesses, which include recycling, manufacturing of industrial products, and waste management with million dollar contracts in place.
Easton Pharmaceuticals is a diversified specialty pharmaceutical company involved in pharmaceutical sectors and other industries. It previously developed and owned an FDA-approved wound-healing medical drug, and currently owns topically delivered drugs to treat cancer and other therapeutic products to treat various conditions. These are in various stages of development.
Source Easton press release

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Quick Fit - 6 way Delux Lamp, nearside. Smart single cluster trailer lamp (fog/stop/tail/indicator/No.plate) plus integral reflex triangle. Horizontal mount, complete with bulbs. Quick Fit rear socket for pre-wired harnesses MP80304/6/8.


Kalmar is set on a huddle of islands at the south east edge of the county of Smaland. It has enough treasures to make it one of south Sweden's most delightful towns, surrounded by fragments of fortified walls the seventeenth-century town centre is a mass of cobbled streets and lively squares which are lined with some beautiful old buildings. There is a fascinating exhibition at the Kalmar Lans museum of the Kronan, one of the world's biggest warships, which sunk off Oland over three hundred years ago. Close by there is the fairytale castle of Kalmar Slott, which was once a border castle, then later became a prison, it is now one of Scandinavia's most finely preserved Renaissance palaces. There is also the Kingdom of Crystal, which once housed over 300 glassworks but now has only 16 left, where it is possible to see traditional glass blowers at work. It is possible to do a little shopping as Kalmar has a small shopping mall called Baronen Mall.


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The Brick Knight Rises in The Lego Batman Movie
Batgirl (Rosario Dawson), Batman (Will Arnett) and Robin (Michael Cera).
Manuel Ramirez, Staff Writer
With the surprise success of 2014's The Lego Movie, Warner Bros. takes the Marvel route on building its own cinematic universe. With its roster of the DC Extended Universe losing steam maybe it'll have a better chance with Legos in the first of these spin-offs: The Lego Batman Movie.
Will Arnett returns as the caped crusader from The Lego Movie, whose self-absorbed actions create a chain of events that threatens his Lego home world of Gotham City. Among his list of allies include Batman's ever-loyal butler Alfred (Ralph Fiennes), the eager and energetic Robin (Michael Cera) who is inadvertently adopted into the Bat family, and Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl (Rosario Dawson) the new commissioner of Gotham City and in an odd decision, Batman's love interest (In previous adaptations she and Robin are about the same age, way younger than Batman).
From what was a small supporting role to having an entire movie, the Batman lore is hilariously satirized from its comic-book origins, the feature films by Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan, Zack Snyder, and the corny Adam West series. The opening scene alone is one of the best gags (can't wait to see what online reviewers CinemaSins have to say about that scene alone) and with it being the Lego universe it takes advantage of its world with a few familiar faces that had me impressed.
First time film director Chris McKay has previous work that includes Robot Chicken, Morel Orel, and Titan Maximum; stop motion cartoons on the Adult Swim block. I say this because The Lego Batman Movie plays out as a skit one would find on those shows from the self-aware jokes, lampooning various tropes, quick-wit dialogue, putting familiar characters into positions no one's ever imagined, celebrity voice cast, and Seth Green doing one of his vocal impressions. The only difference is that there's a bigger budget, longer run-time and much more family-friendly for kids. Its constant meta-humor gets exhausting after a while that it slows down plot several times. It gets in the way of a couple of somber moments, not to mention a few scenes that came off as awkward than funny. Compared to previous portrayals of the Joker in both live-action and animation this is the weakest and subdued version I've seen and Zack Galifianakis, who's no stranger to voice-work plays a rather tame version of the clown prince of crime. On the up-side, it's a better performance than Jared Leto in Suicide Squad.
What saves this movie is the amount of heart it has. Batman confronting his personal fears, the father-and-son bond he shares with Robin is cute and its third act echoing a bit of The Lego Movie's climax. It's not on the same level as that movie but The Lego Batman Movie is still good if not great that makes it a goofy yet somewhat enjoyable watch.
Tiny Couch Concert planned for this month
"Chumbox: Stories from the Web" to be performed
Recipe of Life to be performed
Call to Artists for mural project
ESports added to intramural games
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Kennesaw State's first football opponent set
The day that Kennesaw State fans have been awaiting is finally known.
The Owls' first football game will be played at East Tennessee State on Sept. 3, 2015, a Thursday. The game will be played at an off-campus stadium. Kennesaw State officials took a flight to Johnson City, Tenn., for a news conference held late Thursday afternoon by both schools in East Tennessee's Millennium Center ballroom.
It is a part of a home-and-home series between the schools. The Buccaneers will return to play at Kennesaw State on Sept. 3, 2016.
"I know it will be a great game with two new programs meeting for the first time, and the excitement on both campuses is going to continue to build between now and kickoff. The game atmosphere is going to be unbelievable," coach Brian Bohannon said in a statement. "I know coach (Carl) Torbush will have his team ready to play, and our players and coaches will come out with great enthusiasm, intensity and passion."
The Owls' 2015 home opener isn't set. Athletic director Vaughn Williams said he is waiting on contracts from several schools that will fill out the non-conference portion of the schedule.
The Owls will play six Big South Conference games in 2015. Williams said they mostly likely will play five home games in 2015.
Williams wouldn't say which schools the Owls will play in the non-conference portion, but he said the list likely will include another FCS-level school from the region, a Division II school and an NAIA school.
Bohannon has said he has no interest in playing any games in exchange for guaranteed payments in the team's first few years.
"We want to build a winning culture," he said.
While Kennesaw State is starting a program, East Tennessee is re-starting one. The Buccaneers discontinued football after the 2003 season. The program was renewed in 2013. Torbush, a former North Carolina head coach, is the team's coach.
Former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was an advisor in the process, playing a role similar to the one Vince Dooley played for KSU.
Bohannon said that newness was part of the attraction in creating the matchup.
"I think it's great because we are on the same time frame," he said.
Credit: Stan Awtrey
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TheeDigital > Blog > Raleigh Web Design Company Wins 2 New AVA Awards!
Raleigh Web Design Company Wins 2 New AVA Awards!
TheeDigital is off to a great start in 2014 – We are excited to share with the world that we have won TWO new awards!
by Richard Horvath
Categories: Company News
TheeDigital is off to a great start in 2014 – We are excited to share with the world that we have won TWO new awards for web design, one Gold and one Platinum!
The AVA Digital Awards, an international competition that recognizes creative professionals, recently announced their list of winners for the 2014 international awards competition. We were pleased to see that we were picked among thousands of incredible companies, not once, but twice! We were honored with a Gold award for our website responsive redesign work on TheeDigital's site, as well as a Platinum award for S&ME.
This past year, the AVA Digital Awards received approximately 2,100 entries from throughout the United States, Canada, and many other countries such as Great Britain, Denmark, and Hong Kong. Around 14% of applicants won AVA's Platinum award, while 16% received a Gold award, one percent less than last year.
More Information on the AVA Digital Awards
The AVA Digital Awards is an global competition in which companies submit entries for their work on planning, concept, direction, design and production of digital communication. AVA receives a myriad of different work entries to consider for awards, such as website design, social media work, mobile marketing, responsive design, campaign work, and audio and video production.
The AVA's started in 1994 as a celebration of the audio-visual arts and has grown to appreciate all forms of website and design creativity. The AVA Awards is judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), which is comprised of marketing and communications experts.
The Pieces of the Puzzle: How to Create an Award Winning Website
TheeDigital prides itself in working hard to create user-friendly, easy-to-navigate websites. TheeDigital has created and built websites through a WordPress platform with custom plug-ins for the company's needs. We focus on creating search engine optimized websites; we also create responsive designed websites for those who want their sites to be easily viewed on phones and tablets.
Work with an award winning web design company in Raleigh! Contact the Raleigh web design experts at TheeDigital in Raleigh, NC at 919-341-8901 or schedule a consultation.
About The Author: Richard Horvath
Richard Horvath is the founder of TheeDigital, a Raleigh based award-winning web design and digital marketing agency. He is proud of his team and the results that they provide to their clients.
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When Will Quay x Desi Sunglasses Be Available In Stores? It's Happening Soon
By Shea Simmons
There are sunglasses of the summer every year. Last year brought us Chrissy Teigen's pink Victoria Beckham aviators. This year, there's the Quay Austraila x Desi Perkins High Key sunglasses. These stunning highly-reflective aviator sunnies have been all over Instagram and have even showed up on some famous faces. They're not only on trend but have the classic aviators frame that will never go out of style. Plus, helloooo chic reflective lens. It's these reasons, however, that the glasses have stayed sold out repeatedly. With each restock it seems as though people can't snag them fast enough. They're basically the Kylie Lip Kit of the sunglass world.
On Wednesday, however, the Quay x Desi High Keys restocked online, and while the gold and black versions of the glasses are still available online, the insanely popular blue lenses are completely gone. However, that doesn't mean you can't still get your hands on them. According to the Quay website, all iterations of the High Keys will be in stores Oct. 15.
If you're trying to snag those blue Quay x Desi High Keys, you may still have a chance when they hit stores. According to Quay, ASOS, Topshop, Shopbop, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and Urban Outfitters are the large-scale retail stores who will be stocking the collaboration.
Even though the black and gold High Keys are still available online as of press time, these beauties always sell out, but thanks to brick and mortar retailers, you'll be able to snag them — and not even pay shipping.
So if you want to get your hands on the blue Quay x Desi, you may still be in luck. If you're just an impulse shopper, though, the Quay x Desi sunnies in store are definitely set to test your resolve. Really, though, who doesn't want these beauties?
Images: Quayaustralia/Instagram


I grew up pretty damn poor and have spent all of my adult life in debt. I wish I could say that paid off more in my student loans over a shorter time period, but honestly, it's easier said than done. It's been a long journey and I wanted to document how I paid off $47,668 in student loans in 21 months.
While this post is primarily about the last 21 months, I want to give as much insight into how I was handing student loans prior to that as every bit helps.
Click the section below for easier reading: This is going to be a whopper of an article!
I started accumulating my student loans in 2004 but never bothered to track them and barely made payments until I took them semi-seriously in 2011 (see my debt story). By year, here are the amounts that I owed on my loans.
Here's a harsh reality, from 2008 through 2016 even though I paid thousands towards my student loans, I actually owed more after 8 years. I'm pretty sure other dirty basement kids like myself cringe at that fact. But hey, sometimes life doesn't go as planned.
On the flipside: From Jan 2017 through September 2018 (21 months), I've been able to dramatically lower my student loans amount by $47,668. I'm pretty sure I didn't make that much from 2008-2011 income combined (seriously).
I hope that by following the steps I took plus learnings I gained over the years will resonate & motivate you.
While some people claim that "money doesn't buy happiness", it sure as hell does a great job at making life easier. My theory is that the problem that most people have is that they are content enough to think that they are good with life and they will 'figure it out' later.
I used to have that mentality and would have the "everything will figure itself out" attitude when it came to my career, finance, and life in general. The problem with this attitude is that you are preventing yourself to take action and control of your life.
I grew up incredibly poor. Every time I started to make money in my early 20's, I kept justifying my lifestyle by saying things such as; "well, I grew up super poor so why should this debt matter?", "things are okay now, it could be better but I'm better off than where I used to be".
Being content is not a bad thing, that's probably an end goal for everyone. Who wouldn't want to be happy? But living in the real world is tough, we tend to get stuck in habits that are justified by thoughts such as "I'm still alive, so what I'm doing is perfect and I won't need to change".
Regardless if you make $8K a year or $80K a year, the one main driver into moving up in the world is to tell and convince yourself that you need to achieve a goal that requires you to take effort (Eg: Motivation & Discipline).
Another reality is that this is much easier said than done. Often success snowballs into more success, but the moment you say "I'm good with everything" is the moment your progress is halted.
But until you develop a strong enough resolve to follow through on commitments, following the steps provided in this article won't matter.
I met and became friends with people much more successful than me – When I moved to Nevada in 2009 I was fortunate to meet people who made 100K+ a year and had their own companies. I am still incredibly grateful that they befriended me to this day and they all hold a place in my heart. Seeing so many successful people always kept inspired to try to make it on my own.
I kept a list of people that have helped me in my life – Spend time and think about friends/colleagues/family that have been loyal or have inspired you. I told myself that I want to give back to all the people that have had a major influence on my life. That still might not happen, but I want to be the person who controls my destiny.
Crying to my 7th-grade math teacher who scolded me because my mom couldn't afford a $7 calculator.
Saving up my allowance and being $5 short of going to the waterpark with my friends.
Not partaking in adventures with my 'successful' friends since I had no money and felt worse when they offered to pay over and over again. They are amazing people, but when it came to pride it strung.
For me the main driver was pain and disappointment in myself, even writing this article nearly brings tears to my eyes. But these mental wounds are heavily ingrained in me and have been the motivator in everything I do today (even this blog).
It was only then that my resolve to improve allowed me to follow through and take action. I plan to talk more about the psychology of motivation in finance down the road.
Even though I kept my motivation to make money in getting raises at my job and was saving money. I never took it seriously enough to set defined goals. I always assumed that if I had more money than I did last month after paying bills I was all set.
It wasn't until September of 2016 where 'Mrs. Debt to Dough' scolded me for spending more money than what we both made in August. I did a mental check and was pretty sure I spent all my free time in August playing video games and didn't by anything.
So, I did what all loving husbands would do in this situation, try to prove the Mrs. wrong!
I signed up for Mint and connected my debit & credit cards/bank accounts to it so all my tracking was spent. It only was able to keep track of the prior month, but it was good enough for me.
Hmm, $1600 increase in spending in August, whoops.
Then it hit me–we were spending WAYYY too much on ourselves and even though we were making enough to pay off student loans, car payments, housing, utilities, etc. we were only saving an extra $200-300/month by just winging it.
It dawned on me that any unfortunate event could easily put my wife and me in a world of hurt.
Honestly, that was the biggest wakeup call I had. I had become content enough and if life threw a major financial wrench our way, I wouldn't be sure if we could handle it. In this case, we were spending more money than ever and our expenses became super high compared to our nearly homeless days.
We looked at our spend over an average of 2-3 months.
Then created the budget that is lowered by 20%.
After the month, we'll see how we did in comparison and then lower the budget again by 10-15% if we didn't go over the budget, then we would repeat the process until it wasn't feasible.
NOTE: If you use credit cards (CC) for all payments, budgets are a starting point and could have flexibility. For debit/check/money order people, budgets are pretty damn firm. I'll discuss the value of CCs later on in another article. Alternatively, you can use spreadsheets to do budgeting.
After coming up with new budgets, I wasn't satisfied at all with how much I was still spending. It also daunted on me that even if I were to save money and make payments, I would still be paying my student loans until I'm in my 40's. No thanks, I wanted to get super aggressive in paying off my student loans.
I could dedicate an entire blog to cutting expenses, but for the sake of all of our sanity, I'm going to break down all of the top major expenses and how much we have saved over the year.
This amount can easily go towards your student loans, and yes, it all adds up MASSIVELY over time. NOTE: NOT ALL SUGGESTIONS ARE ETHICALLY IDEAL.
Consolidate or Refinance Student Loans – I was paying $600/month in student loans and a majority of that amount was interested. I was able to lower it to $470/month and had a lower interest rate with friendlier payment terms. More money paid towards the principal monthly and less owed monthly, win-win! (Savings~$1560/year).
There is a very specific set of requirement to do this step. Moreso you need to give good credit, some cash flow, and a lot of chutzpah.
I'll go more into detail in another article, but essentially I converted all of my loans that were getting 5%+ interest onto credit cards with 0% interest. This alone saved me $4,000 a year in interest. Screw interest my dudes.
For your sanity, I'll jump to the next subject and will go into more thorough detail post-launch. Just making some of these changes alone can drop your expenses and save at least $3,500 per year that can go directly to student loans.
I can talk about this forever and I've spent hours at parties helping friends and random strangers make some fast and easy cash. I'm going to talk about Mrs. Debt To Dough and I have done in this post.
I'm sure most of you have heard that "credit cards are the devil" and probably "credit cards are the greatest thing since sliced bread". I am in the latter part of that conversation but I completely understand the former's line of thinking.
The biggest problem regarding credit cards is the whole concept of credit and lack of understanding of it. I'll go into much deeper detail in another post.
I had a bad experience with a credit card at 20 and swore off credit cards until I was about 25. DONT DO THAT! I'll go deeper into the basics of credit cards at another time. For those on the ropes of getting a CC or those who aren't aware…using CCs for cash back is a must!
Some credit cards offer up to $800 cash back on $5K spend (Chase Business Ink, for example) over a time frame. There are ways around it and other cards are more lenient with $200 cash back after $1K spend.
So depends on where you are at and where you are comfortable with. I'll get to creating a 'Debt To Dough CC Cashback Fav's' article one of these days.
I usually get 2-3 credit cards every year or so and make about $2,000 extra each go around. Assuming you have already planned on spending on certain amounts, this is free money.
I'll be quick with this one. There are sites out there that will pay you to use them to do normal activities or to spend some extra time filling out surveys. Over the last year, we have earned about $2,200 extra cash on this alone.
Answering Surveys – I recommend the following survey sites get started. Survey companies I recommend include; Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, Vindale Research, My points, InboxDollars. Others you can try: American Consumer Opinion Clear Voice Surveys, VIP Voice, ProOpinion, YouGov, Pinecone Research, Opinion Outpost, Survey Spot, SaySo4Profit, PanelBucks, PaidSurveys, Prize Rebel, and Harris Poll Online.
It cost nothing for you to join, all you do is get paid to answer surveys and to test products.
For me – I do this passively and I get around $1K per year, but I have cousins that dedicate their lives to surveys and can make some solid cash. See how you can make $1,000/month completing surveys.
Ebates – before you shop anywhere online, hit up Ebates. You can get some nice cash back. My wife lives by this (especially with Groupon). We get about $100-$150 per year.
Ibotta – You download the app and when you shop at grocery stores, you can scan the barcode, show the receipt, and get cash back! Again, Mrs. Debt to Dough takes care of that.
Other Passive Active Sites – Digital Voice is one of the sites where all you do is surf the web and make some cash. You can play games, surf the web, and just do several days to day activities for some extra cash.
I'm only going to be talking about what we specifically did here, there are a lot more I can talk about and I'll get to write it someday (notice a trend?). But, I figure I'll include you folks on what the wife and I did. Just doing these three things along netted us about $12,000 which helped pay off my loans since 2017.
Sell stuff I don't use – This seems obvious, but hey…if there is anything that you don't want chances are it's worth more than $0.00. It all adds up. I still sell my old tech, clothes, and broken items I don't use and make some noticeable cash.
Get a Roommate or Rent Out Your Space – I've made a conscious decision that until all my loans are paid off, I will always try to get a roommate or rent out a room.
Do Lyft – Outside of work, my wife spends some of her time doing Lyft (and the driver bonus was nice too). As long as it's not too far out of the way, she takes fares. Not bad for a couple of hundred dollars once in a while.
All of the steps up to this point have made sizable chunks in paying down my student loans (especially step 4). I was able to start making more than the minimum payments on my loans throughout 2015 through today but the biggest strides I've made was a culmination of all the hard work I put in since 2011.
I'm going to use my memory for now: But I'm going to give you a brief walkthrough of how much income was made each year for me since 2011.
2011: $19K – I started working at slightly above minimum wage working as a data entry specialist at a tech company.
2012: $30K – I negotiated a raise after performing well above expectations and then took a position at another company near the end of 2012 that paid almost twice as much compared to my old position.
2013: $22K – I quit salary job to start my own company, it didn't do particularly well but was a great learning experience.
2014: $45K(ish) – Started working at an agency at $40K, then after seven months, I got a 10K raise.
2015: $53K – Another raise, but spent all of my time learning and improving my craft.
2016: $60K – While the money was finally growing, it wasn't until I followed step 2 before I realized I needed to be disciplined.
I began to spend my time focusing on internet marketing and improving my craft since 2011 when I first had a 'big boy job".
It wasn't until 2014 when I started working at an agency that while I was able to make enough to pay bills, I didn't think I was making what I should so I did what I could to prove my worth.
Whenever someone said no to a task, I would say yes and took it upon myself to learn skills outside work hours.
I told myself that every 6 months if I wasn't feeling appreciated or improving that I would find another job.
I forced myself to learn and get skills out of necessity.
Kept my "hunger" and wanted to prove that I was capable in every role I put into.
It wasn't until early 2017 when I felt confident enough to start asking other professionals in my network if they were interested in services (mainly marketing). The first 6 months of 2017 I took on my first major client on top of working full time at the agency.
After 6 months, I stopped working at the agency and became a full-time contractor. This is a double edge sword, I no longer had a salary and now I give Uncle Sam money 4 times a year :(.
When I started doing contracting full time, I made a new goal: To pay off my student loans by the end of 2018.
I was able to impress my clients with the results I've given that I started getting offers to do more work than I ever imagined from referrals alone.
I'll write an article about some very viable career paths that will help you get paid with a much quicker turnaround then 6 years).
When you create goals for yourself that seem reachable, you become obsessed. During the Fall I said yes to every project that came in. During that time, I saved up enough to pay over $20,000 in a single payment off my loans.
As much as I can fist pump and say "HELL YEAH", it wasn't without sacrifice.
There was a 55-day stretch of working at least 8 hours in a row.
I worked 2 months of 300 hours of work committed each.
At times my vision became randomly blurry.
I spent zero family time with Mrs. Debt to Dough (we talked ahead of time about the commitment and she was okay with it).
0 time with friends or a social life.
I gained 20lbs ordering takeout all the time and felt like garbage.
By December I couldn't really turn my neck without feeling sore/tense.
My health took a major hit during that time frame. Since then, I've taken more time to get a work-life balance in 2018. I created this blog as a means to hopefully not be dependant on contracting the rest of my life and to hopefully help out others.
PROTIP: I set up my credit card payments and student loan payments to arrive all on the same day so it makes tracking bills easier.
Example: Say with loan payments you pay a minimum of $300/month.
Your other expenses (food, utilities, rent, etc.) equate to $1500/month.
Focus on paying off outstanding debts like CC or student loans.
There are a lot of opinions regarding the priority of payment depending on who you ask. But the reality is you can do whatever the heck you want with your money. Blow it all on hookers in Vegas for all I care. But if you want to be financially sound (which I recommend), I would do the following.
Set up a ratio of your extra income (example: $700/month) and allocate it in a way that you feel comfortable with – Let's say we set the ratio to 50/50. 50% goes to savings and the other 50% goes to loans.
Go to your student loan account online and you can change automatic payments. So instead of paying the $300 minimum, you change it to $650.
Make sure you transfer the other $350 to your savings at the end of the month.
RELATED: How to change your payment dates to one date -> pay all your bills at once.
How much money do you save for the long haul?
Assuming you are on 15-year loan with about a $35K debt and are paying $300/month. By moving it up to $650, you save a lot!
Using a calculator: You save 9 years of payment (only 6 years of payment) and knock off $10K of interest. I don't know about you, but I don't like spending $10,000 and getting nothing of return.
This is probably the longest article I've ever written, and this is only version 1.5! I hope to update this as I continue to pay off my loans and will provide more details per request. I'm sure I left out a lot. But I hope this is a decent guide for others in years to come.
When Are Student Loans Worth It?


text:
Modern Triangle Quilts Blog Tour
Posted on April 3, 2017 by jesseesuem
Today is the first, non author, stop on Rebecca Bryan's Modern Triangle Quilts book blog tour! That's a lot of pressure by the way, having the post right after the author's post.
I have a block or two to share from the book, along with all the information to enter the Well Wishes Charity Bee Quilt raffle AND I'm giving away a copy of the book. This is a jam-packed blog post, so make sure you read to the end!
The Book:
Let me start out by saying how much I love this book! I am a huge collector of instructional quilting books and this is one of those super useful ones. The ones you can refer back to when you need a little something extra for a project, or you just want to up your triangle making game.
Modern Triangle Quilts includes 70 layouts. Some are for Equilateral, Right Angle and Isosceles triangles. Some are pieced traditionally, some are paper pieced and a handful have some neat tips and tricks to make a unique block each time. She also includes 11 sampler layouts to help you decide how you want to use all of your new fancy triangles.
(all photos in the above section, along with the next photo, were provided by Bryan house Quilts | Rebecca Bryan for promotional use)
The Projects I Made:
This blog hop is a little different than most. Rebecca decided instead of us just making a project and sharing it, we would make one equilateral triangle block using the predetermined color scheme above and then send it to her. She then would take all of the blocks and make a quilt to raffle off (which I talk about later on in this post).
I made Block #2 from the Equilateral Triangle section. It was my first time using the technique shared in the book, and I am loving it. I think I want to do one of the included layouts just using this style block. Imagine what it would look like in Halloween fabric? They could be mummy triangles!
Sadly, due to reasons that were totally my fault, the block didn't make it to Rebecca on time. So it was not included in the charity quilt. It MIGHT show up later down the road in another project. Who knows!
I decided to also make Block #12 from the Right Angle Triangle section because I felt like it would be fantastic for a large zipper pouch.
That's whats so great about this book, since its mostly about the blocks and not the quilt layout, you can mix and match these to fit your exact needs. Mine just happened to be a zipper pouch to hold some tools. This one was foundation paper pieced and the template was super easy to copy on my home printer.
Plus I feel like the shape worked really well with all the neon I used since it has those classic 80′s angles and shapes.
The Charity Quilt & Raffle:
As I mentioned above, Rebecca took all of the Equilateral triangles she received in the gorgeous blue colorway above and turned them into a quilt.
How pretty is this?!? It's been named the Well Wishes Quilt and you could win it!
Rebecca will be running a raffle by selling a limited time pattern for this quilt through her shop. The pattern is $5 and people can purchase the pattern as many times as they like. Each purchase equals one entry. All proceeds of the sales from the Well Wishes PDF pattern will go directly to Living Water International. You can read all of the details over on the Bryan House Quilts blog. Entries are open for the duration of the Blog Tour (April 2 – April 18) and the pattern will be removed from the shop at that time.
This really is a great idea and I hope that you all buy at least one pattern!
Blog Hop Tour Schedule:
Make sure to check out all of the other awesome quilters who will be showing off even more blocks throughout the month. The list is fantastic.
Sunday, April 2nd: Bryan House Quilts
Monday April 3rd: ME!
Monday April 3rd: Stash Books - www.ctpub.com/blog/
Tuesday April 4th: Heidi Staples - www.fabricmutt.blogspot.com/
Wednesday April 5th: Felice Regina - www.sewscatterbrained.com/
Thursday April 6th: Giuseppe Ribaudo - @giucy_giuce
Friday April 7th: Christa Watson - www.christaquilts.com/
Saturday April 8th: Christopher Thompson - thetattooedquilter.com
Monday April 10th: Karin Jordan - www.leighlaurelstudios.com/
Tuesday April 11th: Kitty Wilkin - nightquilter.com/
Wednesday April 12th: Nicole Daksiewicz - modernhandcraft.com/
Thursday April 13th: Sarah Thomas - www.sariditty.com/
Friday April 14th: Amy Sinibaldi - www.nanaCompany.typepad.com/
Saturday April 15th: Rebecca Bryan - www.bryanhousequilts.com
Book Giveaway:
Rebecca Bryan and Stash Books / C&T Publishing was kind of enough to offer one copy of Modern Triangle Quilts to one of my readers!
To enter just leave a comment below telling me your favorite color combos.
You can get a bonus entry by signing up for our newsletter. I send out newsletters sporadically and no more than twice a month. Newsletters include sales, new product notices and soon will include tips and tricks and video links.
Fine Print: One entry per person, per day. Entries that don't follow this rule will be deleted. You must include your email address, otherwise I won't be able to contact you if you win! The winning book will be sent by C&T and only addresses within the U.S. receive a hard copy of the book. Due to the extreme cost of international shipping, international winners receive the e-book version. Entries are now open and will close April 18th, 2017 with winners chosen and contacted by the 21st.
I believe most of the blog hop participants will also be giving away a copy of the book, so you can up your odds by checking out all of their posts throughout the month too! the Schedule and links are in this post.
Ok, whew! I think I remembered everything. There was just too much awesome stuff to talk about, I was worried. Good luck to anyone who enters the raffle and/or giveaway, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Wonky Woodgrain Pillow Giveaway!
Behind The Scenes: CT's Plus Sign Quilt
WIP: My Crazy Scrap Busting Rainbow Hexie Project
This entry was posted in Collaborations and tagged blog hop, blog tour, giveaway, modern triangle quilts, quilt by jesseesuem. Bookmark the permalink.
85 thoughts on "Modern Triangle Quilts Blog Tour"
Dara Neumann on April 3, 2017 at 11:05 am said:
Currently my favorite combo it blue, pink, and bright yellow.
Melissa on April 3, 2017 at 11:18 am said:
I love purple and gray together! And sometimes I like to add some teal in there too
Joanna on April 3, 2017 at 11:25 am said:
One of my favorite color combos is red, aqua and white.
Jill Brehon on April 3, 2017 at 1:54 pm said:
I adore rainbow colors, the more saturated the better!
Shauna on April 3, 2017 at 2:34 pm said:
My favorite color combo is blue with anything!
Jennifer U. on April 3, 2017 at 2:46 pm said:
Lately I have been loving citron green paired with grey and white or cream.
L on April 3, 2017 at 3:50 pm said:
I'm torn between extremes–either some super subdued neutrals, or saturated jewel tones
Angela on April 3, 2017 at 3:58 pm said:
Current I love coral, cream, and brown. I've purchased the combo in fabric and a gradient of embroidery floss
LINDA on April 3, 2017 at 5:43 pm said:
LOVE USING RED+CREAM TOGETHER! THANKS FOR SHARING!
Karen Hootman on April 3, 2017 at 8:47 pm said:
My favorite combo is purple and teal.
Summer on April 3, 2017 at 9:09 pm said:
I love turquoise and tangerine together!
Linda W on April 3, 2017 at 10:16 pm said:
My current favorite is blue and white. This looks like a great book, thanks for the giveaway
Signed up for your newsletter
Cindy on April 3, 2017 at 11:45 pm said:
My fav color combo is aqua, citrine and coral. The pouch you made is great.
Anita on April 4, 2017 at 3:56 am said:
My favorite color combination is green and blue.
Lisa Marie on April 4, 2017 at 6:21 am said:
One of my favorite color combos is aqua, lime green and navy.
Jayne on April 4, 2017 at 8:33 am said:
It's hard to beat anything rainbow, but there's nothing like a good pink and grey combination!
Maureen on April 4, 2017 at 8:51 am said:
I really like dark blues and yellow in a quilt.
Susan MacLeod on April 4, 2017 at 8:56 am said:
Love lime and cobalt
Meaghan on April 4, 2017 at 9:35 am said:
My favorite combo is bright pink and orange…like azaleas! Thanks for the chance to win! :)
Allison Church Bird on April 4, 2017 at 10:18 am said:
Love the lime green in your pouch!!! Quilting in green is very effective!! (I love purple and teal together!!)
QuiltShop Gal on April 4, 2017 at 11:03 am said:
I love your shades of black/grey with lime green. Beautiful bag too!
QuiltShopGal
http://www.quiltshopgal.com
Nancy D on April 4, 2017 at 11:37 am said:
Black/gray/white with any color looks good! ndfromsd at gmail com
Kathy E. on April 4, 2017 at 11:45 am said:
I love using triangles in my sewing projects! This book looks like it has tons of inspiration. My current favorite color combos are purple, lime green and gray. My favorites change from week to week, but this one comes back often!
Elle Irby on April 4, 2017 at 2:38 pm said:
I love teal and chocolate brown!
Angela Short on April 4, 2017 at 2:43 pm said:
My favorite color combo is blues and oranges. Awesome book!
Ellyn on April 4, 2017 at 3:20 pm said:
What a fun book! I'd love to win. lately I am loving aqua/navy & lime green together
Marianne on April 4, 2017 at 5:48 pm said:
My fav combo is red, yellow, and green. Thanks!
Nancy on April 4, 2017 at 7:57 pm said:
I love the fresh springtime look of Blue and Yellow.
Heather J on April 5, 2017 at 4:20 am said:
I love seeing chartreuse and blues together.
Sarah on April 5, 2017 at 12:46 pm said:
I'm loving pinks and greens together right now!
Monica R on April 5, 2017 at 2:29 pm said:
I love teal – red – yellow – orange combination.
Sarah J on April 5, 2017 at 8:49 pm said:
I am loving rainbow quilts lately!
Kathy E. on April 5, 2017 at 9:21 pm said:
I have signed up for your newsletter and look forward to reading it!
Amy on April 5, 2017 at 11:20 pm said:
I like blue and green combinations.
Janelle George-Luck on April 6, 2017 at 12:17 am said:
I have a lot of color combinations that I love, but I think I would have to say my all time favorite is yellows and greys together.
Mara on April 6, 2017 at 4:11 pm said:
green and purple right now. Bummer your block didn't get in, it would have looked perfect in the quilt.
Sarah@123quilt on April 6, 2017 at 5:11 pm said:
I love teal and yellow. Thanks for the chance to win this book! sarah123quilt {AT} gmail [dot] c 0 m
Veronica on April 6, 2017 at 5:45 pm said:
I love turquoise and orange and turquoise and brown together.
Cheyla Bevins on April 6, 2017 at 9:20 pm said:
I love red and teal together, as well as anything rainbow with black and white!
Rebecca on April 6, 2017 at 11:24 pm said:
I love navy blue, purple and lime green together. And I love modern. Those triangles are pretty darn neat
Beth T. on April 7, 2017 at 12:07 am said:
My favorites change–often–but I'm always drawn back deep gold and deep plum as being very, very pleasing together.
I'm a new follower.
Ellen on April 7, 2017 at 1:19 am said:
I love cool color combos – blues & greens, or bright multi-color modern combos.
Chris on April 7, 2017 at 4:41 am said:
I like blue and green or blue and just about anything really.
Paige @ Quilted Blooms on April 7, 2017 at 6:26 am said:
Loving green and pink/purpe! What a great block, sorry it didn't make into the quilt!
Allison C on April 7, 2017 at 9:28 am said:
I like turquoise and gray.
Mary O. on April 7, 2017 at 2:43 pm said:
I am really loving olive green and buttery yellow these days.
Kimberlier on April 7, 2017 at 3:42 pm said:
Thanks for the chance to win! I've never made a triangle quilt & would love to give it a go. I think I would try a new color combo- maybe curry & bright pink!!
Diane Beavers on April 7, 2017 at 4:56 pm said:
Coral and Turquoise….
bluestarof2(at)yahoo(dot)com
Judy Forkner on April 7, 2017 at 6:41 pm said:
I'm mostly crazy about bright colors, but really like them all! I'm hoping to finish up a blue & white quilt soon for a challenge!
Lee on April 9, 2017 at 7:03 am said:
I really love Navy w/ some bright colors such as lime or tangerine! thanks!
Diane M on April 9, 2017 at 10:18 am said:
I'm so not good at color combining but I do like any ombre effect.
Cathy Calloway on April 10, 2017 at 1:17 am said:
I love blues and greys – like the colors of the Well Wishes quilt!
Kristine Clay on April 10, 2017 at 11:41 am said:
What a great cause and quilt! I like blue and cool color combos so this sample is right up my alley! Beautiful!
adriana on April 10, 2017 at 10:09 pm said:
Gray with eggplant,burgundy,turqoise or mint color.
Alice Ronne on April 11, 2017 at 8:33 am said:
My fav color combination is dark purple, bright pink and a touch of lime green. Thanks!
Donna on April 11, 2017 at 11:19 am said:
All Blues, teal, a little red, I am trying to learn so much about color combos, it is difficult.
Lori Smanski on April 11, 2017 at 11:27 am said:
I love pink and turquoise
Susan the Farm Quilter on April 11, 2017 at 3:31 pm said:
Teal, orange and grays!
pam w on April 11, 2017 at 5:10 pm said:
love blue and orange together
tracee on April 11, 2017 at 10:53 pm said:
I like blue and grey.
Eliane on April 12, 2017 at 2:07 pm said:
My favorite combo is mustard and coral – I can't get enough of it! I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of this book, it looks fantastic!
tracee on April 12, 2017 at 3:38 pm said:
4/12 I also like bright colors – perhaps not quite the neon of the '80s, but something tending toward that. Hot pinks and blues.
Alane on April 12, 2017 at 6:33 pm said:
I love aqua or turquoise with orange and a little white!
Susan Spiers on April 12, 2017 at 6:51 pm said:
Love turquoises and browns-great combo!
Allison on April 13, 2017 at 12:23 am said:
Love all the combos! I really like anything with blue and teal.
tracee on April 13, 2017 at 1:06 am said:
4/13 that teal and royal blue color combo that you used is a nice one. I like that.
Sabine Jordan on April 13, 2017 at 4:08 am said:
I really love turquoise and white combos…
Gigi Voegeli on April 13, 2017 at 8:01 am said:
My favorite color combos are blues and greens AND/OR pink, orange, plum and gold. Thanks for the chance to win what looks like a fabulous book!
Roxanne Borrero on April 13, 2017 at 11:29 am said:
I have falling in love with purple and bright green.
Anna on April 13, 2017 at 6:01 pm said:
Aqua block and white.very cool ty for sharing happyness04431@yahoo.com
4/14 I have some pretty white and peach daffodils blooming right now. That would be a nice color combo
Cecilia Midgette on April 14, 2017 at 3:14 pm said:
I love blues, yellows and greys either separately or in combination.
Denise P on April 14, 2017 at 6:27 pm said:
I like the combo of red, orange and pink – kind of a mid-century mod look.
Donna Marchlewski on April 14, 2017 at 10:39 pm said:
I would like to make a quilt using blacks, whites, grey.
4/15 I like greens and browns together too – very nature/earth day style.
Nancy Batchelder on April 15, 2017 at 8:39 am said:
All shades of blue with white.
Pingback: Modern Triangle Quilts {Blog Tour Wrap Up}
4/16 That triangle with two shades of peach is oddly appealing. I'll choose that combo today
Gabi Schneider on April 16, 2017 at 1:00 pm said:
I love color combos with black, white, hot pink and a bright yellow!
Gill on April 17, 2017 at 3:07 pm said:
Navy and greens!
Emma Murphy on April 17, 2017 at 5:34 pm said:
I love the zipper pouch you made! And that quilt is totally gorgeous. Disappointing that the block you made wasn't included, but I'm curious to see where it ends up eventually. :)
My favorite color combinations are what I picked for my wedding colors – a rosy pink, gold, and both baby blue and navy blue. Pink in general is my favorite color. :)
4/17 I like blues and greens and whites – ocean colors – together
4/18 Based on the daffodils blooming outside, cream and peach are wonderful together.
Leave a Reply to Emma Murphy Cancel reply


Consumers with a Wells Fargo credit card may no longer use it to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
A spokesperson with the California bank confirmed the new policy in an email to CBS MoneyWatch, saying Wells Fargo would "continue to evaluate the issue as the market evolves."
The move is "due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment," said the spokesperson, who also noted "this decision is in line with the overall industry."
The bank follows Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, all of which banned cryptocurrency purchases on their credit cards in February. Capital One in January also said it was declining credit-card purchases of cryptocurrency.
Lenders have voiced concerns that they'd have to swallow the loss if a customer lost money buying digital currency and was unable to cover the purchase.
Bitcoin, the most widely used cryptocurrency, has shed more than half its value in 2018. After peaking at $19,000 in December, on Monday it was priced at $6,793.78, according to CoinMarketCap.com, down roughly 20 percent since May.
A 2017 poll by loan marketplace LendEDU found that about 18 percent of bitcoin buyers used a credit card to make the purchases, with 22 percent then unable to pay off their balance after purchasing the digital currency.
In a related development, Apple is cracking down on cryptocurrency activity on its devices. The technology giant is banning mining of digital currencies on both IOS devices and Mac, in policy changes first spotted by Appleinsider.


Hill Street Studios is proud of our neighbors and friends, our local heroes supporting and assisting members of our community in so many ways.
Hill Street Studios is creating a series of photo shoots illustrating the concepts of community service, volunteerism, large community projects such as murals and construction projects which might involve volunteer-based housing projects or community theater sets, family life, education, and more. The studio is looking for individuals, families, organizations, small businesses, and corporations to partner with them to receive high-quality digital photos at no cost, in exchange for permission to license the images as stock photographs.
Get in touch with Betty so she can learn about your group or project!


There's nothing wrong with indulging in a little chocolate cake every so often. When the mood strikes and you can't contain your chocolate craving any longer, try these lusicious chocolate cakes. They are so good, you may want to keep the recipe a secret.
More: If you are interested in smaller cakes, you can't miss these chocolate and coconut cupcakes or these amazing Black Forest chocolate cupcakes.


text:
Trump to leave G7 early, tensions high after 'rant' over trade
U.S. President Donald Trump and Group of Seven leaders had a bitter exchange over trade tariffs, ratcheting tensions at a summit that he planned to leave early on Saturday before talks on climate change and the health of oceans.
The six-plus-one tone of the gathering in Quebec means the leaders from Canada, Britain, the United States, France, Germany Italy and Japan are unlikely to issue a joint statement, too sharply divided on trade or the environment to reach consensus.
In an "extraordinary" exchange between the leaders on Friday, Trump repeated a list of grievances about U.S. trade, mainly with the European Union and Canada, a French presidency official told reporters.
"And so began a long litany of recriminations, somewhat bitter reports that the United States was treated unfairly, that the trading system was totally unfavorable to the United States, the American economy, American workers, the middle class," the official said.
"In short, a long, frank rant which is undoubtedly very unusual in this kind of formats," the official added.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded in a "courteous but very firm tone" to present the European side of the story, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chimed in as well, the official said.
On Saturday, Trump arrived late for the first working session on gender equality but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau forged ahead with opening remarks without him, commenting wryly about "stragglers".
Trump planned to leave the summit on Saturday before it discussed climate change and the health of oceans, underlining fractures in the G7 exacerbated by U.S. trade tariffs.
Still, the United States and European Union will establish a dialogue on trade within the next two weeks, signaling a modest step forward for the bitterly divided allies of the G7.
The two-day summit in Canada has been marred by a tit-for-tat exchanges of hostile tweets, with U.S. trading partners furious over Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his "America First" agenda. Some countries have retaliated with their own levies on U.S. imports.
While Trump set a combative tone before even arriving at the summit with tweets about unfair trade deals, he appeared affable and joking at multiple brief photo opportunities and praised Macron for helping to work out trade issues.
"Something's going to happen. I think it will be very positive," Trump said on Friday, without giving details.
The leaders worked late into the night on Friday at the luxurious and tightly secured riverside hotel where the summit is being held, with the White House tweeting a photo showing the leaders huddled around a coffee table at 11:20 p.m. ET, looking at what appeared to be a draft document marked up with highlighter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel sat between Macron and Trump on a sofa, while Trudeau sat to the left of the U.S. president.
Trump plans to leave the summit mid-morning on Saturday, four hours earlier than originally planned, to fly to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
That means he will miss a working session among the leaders on climate change and clean energy, as well as talks among the G7 and poorer countries focused on the health of oceans.
The early exit also means he will be gone before allies begin closing news conferences likely to be laden with criticism of the U.S. stance on trade and Trump's abrupt suggestion on Friday that Russia be re-admitted to the elite grouping.
Russia was suspended from the group in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Merkel said EU countries at the summit agreed that the conditions to readmit Russia had not been met and even Moscow seemed to reject the suggestion.
Trump's presidency has been clouded by a federal investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, and possible collusion by his campaign. Both Moscow and Trump have denied the allegations.
Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey, David Ljunggren, Giselda Vagnoni, Jan Strupczewski and William James; Writing by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Stephen Powell and Susan Thomas


text:
Cosmic Log
About Alan Boyle
GeekWire
Why Jeff Bezos passed up a trip to the moon
Post author By Alan Boyle
No Comments on Why Jeff Bezos passed up a trip to the moon
Billionaire Jeff Bezos watches a replay of a New Shepard suborbital test flight with GeekWire's Alan Boyle at the Space Symposium. (Credit: Tom Kimmell Photography, Courtesy of Space Foundation)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos had his chance to go into space in a Russian Soyuz capsule – and not just into space, but around the moon. But he says he'd rather taste the final frontier in a spaceship built by his own company, Blue Origin.
Bezos touched on what it would take for spaceflight, including what he's done to prepare for the experience, during my informal chat with him in front of hundreds of attendees here today at the 32nd Space Symposium.
The Blue Origin space venture was created back in 2000, six years after Bezos founded Amazon, so that he could pursue his childhood dream of going into outer space – a dream that goes back to watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.
Bezos noted that his high-school girlfriend, Ursula Werner, has been quoted as saying Amazon exists "solely to create money for Blue Origin."
"I can neither confirm nor deny that," he joked.
But he did confirm that he's undergone some training for spaceflight – not under zero-G conditions in an airplane, as many people have done, but in a centrifuge at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. "If you're subject to motion sickness, you might not want to do that," he said.
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Tags Blue Origin, Commercial Spaceflight, Jeff Bezos, Space, Space Symposium
By Alan Boyle
Mastermind of Cosmic Log, contributing editor at GeekWire, author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference," president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. Check out "About Alan Boyle" for more fun facts.
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Alan Boyle
Mastermind of Cosmic Log, contributing editor at GeekWire, author of "The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made a Big Difference," past president of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
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