I’ve recently started a search for some new headphones for my PS5 and wanted to share my results as it has been tough to find a set that is comfortable and doesn’t cause pain.
TL:DR – Start with the Sony InZone H7 (or even the H3 or H9).
For some background, I have a child under 3 and recently became able to play a bit longer each day. I am averaging around 1 hour a day using launch Pulse3Ds. Maybe once every week or two, I will have a longer session of up to 3 or 4 hours. Prior to this, I was at about half that time. As my playtime has increased, I have found myself getting headaches and ear pain. Specifically, pain in front of each ear near my temples and my left ear gets raw from rubbing the inside of the headphones. It seems that my shorter sessions were not an issue, but these longer sessions have added up to me being unable to wear headphones for days at a time while I recover.
I also work from home and wear a HyperX Cloud Stinger headset during meetings. This equates to around 4 or 5 hours a day of additional headphone time and I have not had this pair hurt or cause headaches.
Lastly, my rough head measurements are 23 inches around, 6 inches wide and my left ear (the one that rubs) sticks out around 2/3 of an inch.
Below are my thoughts on the headsets I’ve used in the order I tried them. I’ll try and cover what helped me land on a final set as it will hopefully help others with fit/pain issues. I am not covering sound quality much and will link to RTings for that. Given my head rejects most headphones, my focus is on comfort with sound quality and features being of much lower concern. My goal is to find the best headset I can that does not hurt me and will work wirelessly on my PS5 and possibly my Steam Deck (stretch goal).
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Sony Pulse 3D
--Recommendation – I bought these at launch and would only buy them now if you are not sensitive to clamping pressure, have small-ish ears and do not want to buy anything of higher cost on this list. I sold my pair as these are what started this whole journey.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sony/pulse-3d-wireless
--Spent - $100 + $30 for third party ear pads.
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--My Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight - .65 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .9 pounds
--Cup Friction – Some rubbing pain after long sessions.
--Testing Duration – 2 Years
--Thoughts – I powered through these for ~two years. This is the pair that caused me a lot of pain now that I have more gaming time. I thought the sound quality was fine at the price point, but the clamping pressure felt higher than .9 as the original and third-party ear cups were not soft enough. They also rubbed my ears and never loosened up. The top headband would also hurt my head if I moved around a lot during a session (getting food, water, etc). The original ear pads broke down and I replaced them about 4 months ago. These helped make them more comfortable, but the clamping pressure overpowered them. Lastly, I had to run a USB extension cable away from the console to plug the dongle in to as they would cut out randomly from some sort of interference otherwise. I do have a lot of electronics near the PS5, but most are powered off when I play and the only active WiFi thing is a Harmony Hub so I’m not sure what is causing the issue. The extension did solve the issue about 99.9% of the time.
​
HyperX Cloud Stinger
--Recommendation – I’ve owned these for a long time and would buy them if you have basic wired needs. I’m keeping my pair for Zoom use only.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/hyperx/cloud-stinger
--Spent - $30
--Type - Wired
--My Usage – Zoom, 4-5 hours each workday. Experimented with them as an option for long term gaming.
--Weight - .6 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1 pound (these are old, so this is probably less now)
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 1 Day
--Thoughts – I bought these on a whim pre-child when I started playing PS4 games that needed a microphone. These worked fine for those rare cases. However, I would not recommend them for regular gaming use as there are many better wired options now. However, they are totally sufficient for zoom meetings as I don’t care about sound quality or the mic being excellent. The volume control on them is also handy for this use case as is the flip up mic. While it would be nice for them to be wireless, it’s not worth the money to replace them just for Zoom. They have not caused me any pain during long stints, and they have held up extremely well over the past 3 years that I have used them heavily for Zoom.
​
Bose QuietComfort 35 II
--Recommendation – I’ve owned these for years and I love them. Everyone with comfort issues should own a pair for anything other than gaming. I’m keeping them until they break and may stockpile a few depending on what Bose does with the QC line. Will use them as a backup set for gaming.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/bose/quietcomfort-35-ii-qc35-ii-wireless-2018
--Spent - $350
--Type – Wireless Bluetooth
--My Usage – Mainly travel and focused listening. Stints of up to 10 hours at a time on planes. Have been using them as a backup set for gaming on the PS5 while testing everything on this list.
--Weight - .54 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .69 pounds
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 3 Weeks
--Thoughts – These are the first set of quality headphones I ever purchased. I used them mainly for travel and focused listening and did not realize how spoiled I was. These are extremely comfortable, and I think are part of the reason that I have such high needs for comfort in headphones. The only negative is the slight “underwater” pressure feeling you get when the ANC is on. However, they do work in a pinch for gaming and are extremely comfortable. If Bose ever makes a set for gaming that works over 2.4, they will have my money immediately. They are Bluetooth and thus need an adapter or something to hook into your system. I pipe the audio through a Taotronics Bluetooth adapter hooked into the headphone jack on my TV and it works ok. I’ve owned these since 2018.
​
Aftershokz Trekz Air (Now called Shokz OpenRun Pro I think)
--Recommendation – I’ve owned these for many years, and you should try a set of bone conducting headphones if you have not. I will always own a pair of this type of headset mainly for their versatility in providing audio when you don’t want to fully disconnect. I’m keeping these for other uses and maybe for the steam deck on rare occasions but they are not suited for regular gaming.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/aftershokz/trekz-air-bone-conduction
--Spent - $160
--Type – Wireless Bluetooth
--My Usage – Cycling, walking the dogs, listening to things while watching the kid. Experimented with use on the Steam Deck and as a final solution for PS5, and they are meh. So basically, I will use them for listening to things where I still need to hear the world.
--Weight - .06 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .32 pounds
--Cup Friction – N/A
--Testing Duration – 1 Day
--Thoughts – They will not blow you away with sound quality, but I do love them for cases where I want to listen to something but need awareness of the world. They are weird feeling if you are not used to them, but I find I use these the most in my daily life outside of my Stinger headset for Zoom meetings. They are great for walking the dog, cycling, or listening to a podcast while Paw Patrol is on. Seriously, try a pair if you never have. Not really an option for a gaming headset though.
​
Steelseries Arctis Nova 7p
--Recommendation – Would buy if you are not sensitive to clamping pressure. This seems to be the best set for the price of all that I tested, and I would have kept them if I could have solved the pain issue. Ended up returning them.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/steelseries/arctis-nova-7-wireless-7-7p-7x
--Spent - $140
--Type - Wireless
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight - .72 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1 pound
--Cup Friction – Rubbing pain after long sessions.
--Testing Duration – 2 Weeks
--Thoughts – I was hoping these were the holy grail that everyone said. The sound was excellent, and the unit was well built. The headband was comfortable however, my ears still rubbed a tad but more importantly, they caused a ton of pain on each temple after only 1 hour. This seems to be due to the clamping pressure and the design of the pads (and possibly my head shape). My wife experienced the same issue though. I suppose I could have put them on a box to stretch them out and reduce the clamping pressure, but I experimented with manually reducing the pressure while they were on, and they still hurt my temples. It seems the pad/clamping combo does not work for me, and I really don’t want to gamble on the box method and buying third party pads as that seems like a lot to ask to make them work when there are other options.
​
Astro A50 2019
--Recommendation – Skip these. I was extremely unimpressed compared to the cheaper sets on this list. Also, mine came with the headband busted which seems common and crazy as these launched in 2019 and this should be solved by now. I returned them.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/astro/a50-gen-4-wireless-2019
--Spent - $300
--Type – Wireless Dongle/Base
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight - .8 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1.3 pounds
--Cup Friction – Rubbing pain after short sessions.
--Testing Duration – 2 Days
--Thoughts – Man I wanted to love these. They seemed full of features and of a high-ish quality. However, the headband constantly popped out, the cups kept sliding up and down when I took them off and on, my ears rubbed quite a bit and the sound was not particularly better than the Nova 7ps. Overall, I was thoroughly unimpressed by their price point and comfort. Lastly, the pads were a bit rough and had a weird smell to them that would probably go away but was noticeable from 2 feet away and was nauseating. Obviously, these were a huge letdown.
​
Logitech Pro X Wireless
--Recommendation – Probably skip these as they have a white noise hiss and clamping pressure issues. It’s sad as they sounded good, and I really liked the build. I returned these.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/logitech/g-pro-x-wireless-lightspeed-gaming-headset
--Spent - $180
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .83 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1.1 pounds
--Cup Friction – The white noise prevented a long session, but no rubbing pain after the short session.
--Testing Duration – 1 Day
--Thoughts – The build of these really impressed me when I took them out of the box. They felt sturdy and solid when moving it around. However, they hiss when turned on, which is crazy as these launched in like 2019. Apparently not everyone can hear it, but I can and it’s a common complaint for people who can still hear in that range. I tried updating the firmware sliding the volume around on them, the PS5, etc., and they just hiss. It’s like a light white noise that you can barely hear when it’s quiet. They also put a lot of pressure under my cheek bone after around 30 minutes. I’m not sure if that would be solved with some tweaking or using the second set of pads they came with as the headache inducing hiss was enough to send these back.
​
Sony InZone H7
--Recommendation – These were my final pick after a couple of weeks of testing. The sound was a little less full than I would like, but it’s not noticeable unless directly compared to other headsets. I also felt the surround sound was better than most and these are really light and comfortable for a long time. I’d start here if you have similar issues to me.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/sony/inzone-h7-wireless
--Spent - $200
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .71 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .8 pounds
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 3 Weeks
--Thoughts – I really did not want to like these at first as they look like shooting headphones and feel cheap. Also, you cannot adjust the EQ on the PS5. However, these are extremely light and comfortable, and the spatial audio is good. I’m not sure that they are worth $200 compared to some of the others on the list, but these were the only pair that worked well over long sessions for me. The Barracuda Xs were close, but those were a little uncomfortable at first but that faded away in long sessions. The thing that sold these were the slight edge in comfort and the dual audio with Bluetooth.
​
Astro A30
--Recommendation – These a worth a try if you do not mind a rubbery material on the headband and earpads and have a head/ears in the medium/small range. I personally found the material bothersome, and the headband hurt the top of my head. Returned them.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/astro/a30-wireless
--Spent - $230
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .76 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .9 pounds
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 3 Days
--Thoughts – At first, the material on the pads seemed neat. It felt nice in my hands but the second I put them on, I hated it. The ear cup openings were a smidge too small for me but did not hurt when wearing them. The sound profile was decent, but the headband ended up hurting me after a long session. If the cups were a tad bigger and the material on them was different, I think they would have worked and not caused me head pain.
​
Razer Barracuda X 2022
--Recommendation – These were my #2 choice. I really did like these to solve my comfort issues, but there was some random interference and very slight comfort issues during the first 10 minutes of wear that made me send them back. If it weren’t for that, I may have kept them as they are the cheapest set with a low clamping pressure.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razebarracuda-x-wireless-2021
--Spent - $100
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .59 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .8 pounds
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 3 Weeks
--Thoughts – This is a tough one. They were comfortable for long wear, but they caused interference with my controller and would cut out rarely even with the dongle on a long extension cord away from my entertainment center. I found these to sound slightly better than my #1 pick (H7s), but the Bluetooth was not active while playing and they could not have the EQ adjusted. It was by a slim margin that these went back.
​
Razer Kaira Pro PlayStation Edition
--Recommendation – They have a good all-around feature set, and I would try them only if you have a medium/small head and ears and are interested in the haptics as I don’t think the clamping would be an issue on a smaller head or maybe on someone with a different head shape. I sent these back but wished I didn’t have to.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razekaira-pro-wireless-for-xbox (They didn’t have the PS5 specific review)
--Spent - $200
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .73 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1 pound
--Cup Friction – Rubbing pain after short sessions.
--Testing Duration – 2 Days
--Thoughts – I really liked the idea of these with the haptic feedback, but it ended up just feeling like extra bass shake. I suspect I would have disliked it of long sessions and turned it off immediately. They put too much pressure on the front of my ears and caused pain and made them feel clogged. They also made my ears hot and both ears scrapped a bit. However, the feature set, like being able to swap sound profiles with a button, was great as was the sound.
​
HyperX Cloud Alpha
--Recommendation – Hello white noise my old friend. While not as bad as the Logitech Pro X, it was still enough to make these a no if you can hear it. If you cannot hear it, and are sensitive to clamping, these are a great option. Since HyperX has no fix for the white noise, I returned them.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/hyperx/cloud-alpha
--Spent - $200
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .7 pounds
--Clamping pressure – .9 pounds
--Cup Friction – The white noise prevented a long session, but no rubbing pain after the short session.
--Testing Duration – 1 Day
--Thoughts – I thought I would hate these as they looked really ‘gamer’, but the build quality was pretty good. I liked the sound profile, and they were comfortable. I would say that these would have been a front runner if not my final pick were it not for the white noise. It was just enough that I knew it would cause a headache, which is unfortunate as the cups and headband did not cause any pain. So, if you cannot hear the white noise and are sensitive to clamping, consider these.
​
Razer Kraken v3 Pro
--Recommendation – Basically the same as the Kaira. I was hoping that these would feel better as I like the Kiara, but no luck.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razekraken-v3-pro-wireless
--Spent - $180
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .8 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1 pound
--Cup Friction – No rubbing pain.
--Testing Duration – 2 Days
--Thoughts – I really liked the Kaira ones and was hoping these would feel different. Like the Kaira, they put too much pressure on the front of my ears and caused pain and made them feel clogged. They also made my ears hot, but it didn’t scrape like the Kairas.
​
Razer BlackShark V2 Pro
--Recommendation – I tried these as I liked all the other Razer models other than their comfort issues. These also caused a lot of ear pain after about 20 minutes, so I sent them back. They were one of my favorites if you ignore the pain part.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razeblackshark-v2-pro-wireless
--Spent - $130
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .72 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1 pound
--Cup Friction – Rubbing pain after short sessions.
--Testing Duration – 2 Days
--Thoughts – Again, the Razer headsets seem to have clicked with me other than the comfort issues. I ordered this one on a whim to see if it would be better than the others, but the wire cup mountings made them less adjustable, and I think are what caused the pain so quickly. I thought these were well rounded and was a bit sad that the pain hit so early.
​
Razer Barracuda Pro
--Recommendation – Since the lower end Barracuda X was a finalist for me, I threw a stab at these despite the higher clamping force. Sadly, the clamping force was an issue, and they made my ears hot. I returned them.
--https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/razebarracuda-pro-wireless
--Spent - $250
--Type – Wireless Dongle
--Usage – Gaming, 1-2 hours a day with bursts of up to 4 hours.
--Weight – .75 pounds
--Clamping pressure – 1.1 pounds
--Cup Friction – Rubbing pain on both ears. This was the only set to have that on both.
--Testing Duration – 2 Days
--Thoughts – It’s strange that these are so different from the 2022 X lower range model. I understand they have different drivers and features, but you wouldn’t think they would feel like a totally different line. However, they do and given the shallow cups and that they cause clamping pain and made my ear hot after only 30 minutes, these were a big disappointment.

Public opinion of TriMet's decisions have been pretty mixed, mostly because TriMet's decisions are so convoluted that they can be a real challenge to understand. In reality, Metro and Portlanders need to have a bigger civic conversation about the future of TriMet, looking at the big picture. We have 3 looming existential crises of TriMet to be concerned about that are bigger than revenue dips, crime, or homeless people.
Civic leaders and the public are focused on a quick "fix" for TriMet revenue drops - even though we've seen this coming for a long time, it's very predictable that TriMet's Board of Directors acts at the last minute. Also, very predictably, TriMet's Board opted for a fare increase because over the previous 20 years that's been a go-to answer to every problem (except for that one time they killed Fareless Square). The politically appointed boards of TriMet and Metro lack the unique specialized knowledge of the issues I'll bring up here. If TriMet knows about these larger issues, they're obviously burring it from public view. In the short term, increasing fares is like putting fresh paint on a house that's on fire; in this situation, that paint is HIGHLY flammable.
First - fare hikes as a tactic is a brain-dead move. Just the most utterly stupid and self-sabotaging response to a looming budget shortfall. I'm dwelling on this because it illustrates their terrible decision-making, which is functional proof they have no idea what they're doing. Some of the core reasons for this:

• Increasing fares reduces utilization. Higher cost means fewer people ride, which will decrease the ridership revenue. It will also marginally increase the number of people who won't pay (funny story, some of those who don't pay actually can't afford to). TriMet isn't a monopoly or inelastic service, and plenty of other choices exist that didn't exist 20 years ago: an actual bike share, scooters, electric bikes, UbeLyft, shared vehicles, and more bike paths. Before the pandemic, it was common that I would bus into downtown for work and then take a Lyft home because it wasn't all that expensive, like $8 more than a bus ride - TriMet's price increases make a system that wasn't very competitive simply less compelling.
  
• Across Portland we need to go through a process of austerity and downsizing government. I absolutely support Wheeler putting a pause on rate increases, but for God's sake, we have far too much largesse in every layer of government. If you need to learn what I'm talking about, read my old article on Parks & Rec. So many divisions/agencies have doubled their staff while reducing service levels. It's bonkers. Cutting throats needs to be an imperative. This is because the great majority of public sector employees in Oregon and Portland are incompetent, redundant, and only exist because Oregon and Portland have been reluctant to use automation. And I don't mean the cutting-edge AI stuff, I'm talking about people who still handle business processes as if they're paper forms. I could tell so many stories from my professional experience - but you'll have to take my word for it for now: culling this bureaucracy is the right move, and until there's a significant downsizing, the political class is taking none of the financial crisis or cost of living situation seriously.
  
• TriMet's operating budget/revenue is primarily Payroll Taxes, not passenger revenue. About 20-30% of TriMet's budget comes from people buying fares, whereas the bulk of money TriMet needs comes from payroll taxes that businesses pay directly. Because of this, transit activists (including myself) have been proponents of increasing the payroll taxes marginally to make TriMet free for riders. Of course, fareless transit comes with a wide variety of new and different problems (that's an article for another time). Still, when you understand that only a sliver of revenue comes from fares, increasing the fare simply results in a marginal increase in revenue. The much bigger problem is going to businesses investing outside of Metro, and changing workforces that 1) won't pay payroll taxes reliably, 2) don't need people to go into the office. Think about the longer-term game here: is TriMet's board going to increase fares as utilization drops and payroll taxes continually diminish? (See my point above about how their default answer is "yes" because it's the only politically expedient answer.)
  

Reading comments about the fare hikes, most of the public thinks TriMet is dealing with a safety or utilization issue. Both of these are 100% true: soft-on-crime progressives have wholly obliterated the working class perception of TriMet safety - there are so many different ways this has happened, but we should thank so many people in the media and political class: Ana del Rocio's crying wolf about racism in fare inspections (and the media entertaining it), or Mike Schmidt deinstitutionalizing of the justice system, or Legislature's inability to act on the massive mental health crisis and drug addiction crisis in Oregon. No matter the underlying cause, we have a system where deranged violent mentally ill tweakers can be disruptive on the train, but working-class people face a $250 fine if they can't afford a $2.50 ($2.80) ticket. TriMet is less safe, especially the light rail and bus lines. We could hypothetically talk about various policy and infrastructure changes, such as turnstiles and security guards - but pragmatically, this won't do shit when our society has adopted a philosophy of transforming the urban core into an open-air insane asylum and opened the doors to the prisons. This safety issue is well beyond TriMet's scope, and even if there was consensus among TriMet and Metro to solve this, the entire justice system and Legislature is still broken.

Fare Hikes and Utilization is the Red Herring - Let's talk about TriMet's future

In reality, multiple design choices made decades ago set us up for failure. But we also have to thank brain-dead progressive lunatics and corrupt politicos who have steered our transit decision-making into the ground.
There are three specific issues I'm going to talk about, with each becoming more consequential and disastrous for TriMet:

• Hub and Spoke Design and the need for a redesign of the entire system to fit new commuting/transit patterns
  
• Portland Light Rail's short cars are a capacity problem not worth the price tag to fix
  
• Autonomous vehicles are here, and it's just going to get worse for TriMet
  

The strategic design of TriMet's system is broken, and it's been broken before.

If you looked at a map of TriMet's bus and rail system, you'd see a design pattern often referred to as a "Radial Design" or sometimes a "Hub And Spoke" design. The Hub and Spoke strategy is building our transit system around centralized locations to connect to other routes. For Portland the idea is to go downtown (or sometimes a Park and Ride) where you can connect to your next destination. This is why the majority of bus routes and all the max routes go downtown, to our Transit Mall and Pioneer Square.
Downtown planning was a smart idea in the 1960s when it was coupled with Main Street economic theory and prototype urban development zones - all of this wrapped up in the 1972 Downtown Plan policy. During these decades, the primary economic idea of urban revitalization was that downtown cores could provide better business climates and shopping districts that amplify economic activity synergistically. In other words, packing all the office jobs and luxury shopping in one area is good for workers, business, and civic planning.
All very smart ideas in yester-year, so TriMet became focused on serving the downtown business community myopically. This myopia became so paramount that it was considered illegitimate (actually taboo, borderline illegal) if you used a Park & Ride facility to park and NOT ride downtown. Amanda Fritz once explained that we couldn't expand Barbur Transit Center because that would result in students parking at Barbur Transit Center and riding the bus to PCC Sylvania. This view implies that TriMet exists only to service downtown workers, not the students, not the impoverished mom needing to go to a grocery store.
How does TriMet's hub and spoke design represent its purpose?
Portland's unspoken rule of transit philosophy is that jobs pay for the system (remember, business payroll taxes pay for most of it), so TriMet should be focused on serving people utilizing it for their job - employers pay for it, and they get value out of it. But this is both unspoken (never said aloud) and largely unobserved. The whole idea of TriMet as a social service to serve low-income people, to help impoverished people - well, those ideas were just lukewarm political rhetoric that is tossed out as soon as some Undesirable with tattered clothing reeking of cigarettes gets aboard - then Portlanders jump right back "this is for workers only!" Sadly, there hasn't ever been a public consensus of why TriMet exists because I could equally argue that TriMet's purpose isn't serving the working class; it's actually vehicle emissions reductions - but here, too, reality contradicts that this is the purpose for why we operate TriMet. TriMet's real purpose seems to be "Spend money on lofty capital projects" and if we want to be cynical about it, we can elaborate "…because large capital projects enable grift, embezzlement, and inflating property values for developers."
We haven't always depended upon a hub and spoke design. A great article from Jarrett Walker written in 2010 on his Human Transit blog explains in "The Power and Pleasure of Grids"

Why aren't all frequent networks grids? The competing impulse is the radial network impulse, which says: "We have one downtown. Everyone is going there, so just run everything to there." Most networks start out radial, but some later transition to more of a grid form, often with compromises in which a grid pattern of routes is distorted around downtown so that many parallel routes converge there. You can see this pattern in many cities, Portland for example. Many of the lines extending north and east out of the city center form elements of a grid, but converge on the downtown. Many other major routes (numbered in the 70s in Portland's system) do not go downtown, but instead complete the grid pattern. This balance between grid and radial patterns was carefully constructed in 1982, replacing an old network in which almost all routes went downtown.

Over the years the grid pattern was neglected in favor of a downtown-focused investment strategy. To a real degree it made practical sense: that's where the jobs were. But again, this is the presumption that TriMet and Mass Transit ought to service workers first, and there's not much consensus on that. But while we can't decide on TriMet's purpose, we can absolutely agree on one important thing: Downtown is dead.
No 5-star hotel is going to fix it. (As of writing, I'm not even convinced that this mafia-connected bamboozle of public fraud will open.) No "tough-on-crime" DA to replace Mike Schmidt, like Nathan Vasquez, will fix downtown. It's not JUST a crime problem: most of the problems we deal with today mirror the problems facing Portland in the 1960s, especially our inability to invest in good infrastructure people actually want to use. That's on top of crime, vandalism, and an unhealthy business ecosystem.
IF we want to maintain TriMet (and that's a big IF, for reasons I'll explain below), then it will be focused on something other than downtown. We need to move back to a grid-design transit system, as this is a much easier way to use transit to get around the city, no matter your destination. If TriMet continues to exist and operate fleets in 20-30 years, this is the only way it exists - because it will just be too inconvenient to ride downtown as a side quest to your destination, especially as we look at 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now.
Of course, we can only transform some parts of the transit infrastructure this way, and there are no uplifting and moving train tracks here. So light rail doesn't have a future in the grid system - but even without the grid system, light rail is doomed.

The fatal flaws of light rail in Portland.

I want to preface this by saying I like light rail as a strategy, it's not a bad system or bad civic investment. I could write another 5,000-word essay on why Seattle did an excellent job with light rail and the specific decisions Portland made wildly incorrectly. In transit advocacy the wacktavists inappropriately categorized skeptics of Portland's light rail as some soft bigotry - as if you're racist if you don't like Portland's light rail - even though, ironically, most light rail systems tend to be built for the preference of white culture and white workers, precisely what happened here in Portland and most cities (but this is all a story for another time).
Portland's light rail system has a capacity problem and has dealt with this capacity problem quietly for the last 20+ years. When you see the capacity problem, you can quickly understand this light rail system won't work in the future. All the other smart cities in the world that designed light rail realized they needed big long trains to move many people. Portland decided to limit the train car length to the size of our city blocks to save construction costs - and this has always been a fatal flaw.
Portland's highest capacity train car is our Type 5, according to Wikipedia it has a seating capacity of 72 and an overall capacity of 186 per train car, meaning each train can accommodate up to 372, but even these numbers seem unreliable (*edit). Let's compare:

• Washington DC has 6-car trains capable of carrying 120 passengers per car, or 720 per train.
  
• Salt Lake City has a 4-car train capable of carrying 230 passengers per car, or 920 per train.
  
• Seattle's Link system has a 3 or 4-car train, each capable of carrying approximately 200 passengers per car, so 600 to 800 per train.
  

Portland's light rail lines have roughly the same people moving capacity as a single lane of a highway, maybe marginally more, maybe marginally less. These other cities have a light rail system that can move the same amount of people as an entire 3-lane highway.
You might suspect that Portland could simply run trains more frequently - but nah, that's impossible because the trains run through the central core of downtown Portland, and they're blocked by the real interfaces with road traffic and bottlenecks. TriMet/PBOT/Metro has offered rosy ideas that we could hypothetically run cars every 90 seconds, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, or 6 minutes (depending upon who you ask) - but these are garbage numbers invented out of thin air. For example, you could stand at Pioneer Courthouse Square at 4:50pm on a Wednesday in 2016 - there was a train opening doors to load passengers, and you could visibly see the next train at Pioneer Place Mall pulling into the station behind. Trains were running at approximately a 3 to 4 minute at peak - but on paper, TriMet will claim anything, as they don't give a shit about lying to the public. But the bigger problem is that trains were full. You might have to wait 90 minutes to find a train that offers a seat. And god forbid you had a bike.
I'm not making this very real capacity problem, Metro even acknowledges:

At the busiest hours of the day, 40 light rail trains must cross the river and traverse downtown – one train every 90 seconds. As the region grows and the demand for light rail increases, the region will need at least 64 MAX trains through downtown every hour, more than one train each minute. Our current system can't support that change.

Suppose you're silly enough to trust government propaganda. In that case, you can read the details of Metro study on this in 2019. If we assumed their numbers added up, it's just fucking impossible to run 62 trains per hour, because passenger loading and unloading can take a full minute (sometimes longer). So unless we want to apply substantial g-forces onto the passengers, the train isn't accelerating out of the stops fast enough. Not to mention how unreliable this whole system would be if a sole tweaker, bike rider, or person with a stroller held up the system for 2 minutes.
This is why the bottom line needs to be upfront about capacity - quoting Metro's study here:

Today MAX is limited to 2-car trains because of the length of downtown city blocks. A tunnel could allow for longer trains if the stations outside the downtown core are retrofitted. In the long-term, this could greatly increase MAX capacity.

Do you see that trick? Build a tunnel, yes - but the entire system has to be retrofitted. Literally every light rail station would need to be redesigned, the lines themselves recalculated for larger heavier trains - and extending platforms at Willow Creek might be simple enough, but how in the living fuck is Metro going to afford to expand the Zoo stop? Doubling the size of that platform would cost $500 million alone.
If the city weren't full of cheap dipshits, we would have elevated or buried our light rail lines in the 1980s or 90s, enabling longer train cars to run. Yes, we all knew back then that it was the best practice not to have light rail running on the street - it's less safe, less reliable, runs slower, and limits train car size. Oops.
Just to keep TriMet's own bullshit inflated utopian vision, it would mean spending another billion dollars just to unfuck downtown, bypass an aging bridge, and potentially allow a marginally higher volume of trains - which again is a band-aid on a mortal wound.
The real buried lede is that to add extra train cars means retrofitting all the stops in the system - that's tens of billions of dollars. You can argue costs, but Metro knows we need to do this. It means shutting down the system for a year or years while construction and retrofits happen. It's fucking outrageous. Is this system worth of people per line worth 20, 30, or 40 billion dollars? Fuck no, it ain't. Again, if we had a raging metropolis of industry and commerce downtown, we could reasonably entertain the idea for a moment - but we don't and never will again.
Some folks might argue that if we kill off the light rail system we'd lose out on all those lucrative Transit Oriented Developments. Originally the public was told that Transit Oriented Development strategy would cause a massive infusion of private investment because the light rail was so damn lucrative and desirable for Richard Florida's Creative Class. Turns out the Creative Class is now called today the Laptop Class, and they don't give a flying fuck about street cars, light rail, or walking scores - because most can't be bothered to put pants on during their "commute" from bed to desk. TOD was all a fantasy illusion from the beginning, as multiple studies about Portland commuters showed that college-educated white folks riding Max were equally comfortable riding their bike as a substitute for the same commute. All of these billions of dollars was to accommodate white fare-weather bikers. So here's my hot take on transit: pave over the rail lines and put in bike lanes, and boy, then you'd have a bike system to give folks like Maus a hardon. But of course, Bike Portland would complain because their focus isn't biking; they exist only to favor all poorly thought utopian transit ideas.
Another group of Max/TOD advocates would claim that TOD is better for disabled and impoverished people. And yeah, there's truth there, but see my entire argument above about the Hub & Spoke design of TriMet being the antithesis of transit as a social service. If you believe that TriMet should serve low-income people, you must advocate for a bus-centric grid design.
But even if you're a die-hard believer in light rail - there's another inevitable reality coming that is the nail in the coffin.

Autonomous vehicles will replace mass transit faster than the automobile replaced the horse.

I work in advanced technology, and the thing about tech is that the public and politicians deny that it's going to be there until the majority of the public finally experiences it. You could say this about personal computers, internet, cloud compute, electric cars, smartphones, distributed ledger (cryptocurrency), AI, and driverless vehicles.
Schrodinger's technology doesn't exist until it's measured in an Apple store or your mother asks you for tech support.
No one thought AI was really real until ChatGPT did their kid's homework, and today most people are coming to terms with the fact that ChatGPT 3.5 could do most people's jobs. And that's not even the most advanced AI, that's the freeware put out by Microsoft, they have paywalls to access the real deal.
In 2018 I rode in my colleague's Tesla in self-driving mode from downtown Portland to Top Golf in Hillsboro. We started our journey at the surface parking lot on the west side of the Morrison Bridge. He used his phone to tell the car to pull out of the parking spot and to pick us up. Then he gave the car the address, and it drove us the entire way without any human input necessary. The only time he provided feedback was to touch the turn signal to pass a slow car on the highway. People think self-driving isn't here - but it is - and it's gotten exponentially better and will continue to do so. People will complain and moan about idealized, utopian, pedantic "level 5" full self-driving, how none of it exists or could exist, as a Tesla passes them on the road and the driver is half asleep.
Of course, Portland and every major city have also thought deeply about self-driving technology, and a few places have implemented self-driving solutions - but so far, none of these are really at scale. Though it will be a short time before cost-conscious cities go all-in.
TriMet kicked around the idea of using an autonomous bus for a leg of the trip of the Southwest Corridor project, connecting a segment of the light rail route to the community college. It was bafflingly stupid and short-sighted to think they could use it in this niche application but that it wouldn't open the floodgates for a hundred different applications that eviscerate TriMet's labor model. The simplest example of autonomous operation would be to operate the light rail systems - because they don't make turns, all we need is an AI vision service to slam on the breaks if necessary - that technology has existed for 20+ years. We could retrofit the entire train system in about 3 to 6 months - replace every Max operator with a security guard, and maybe people would ride the Max again? But I digress.
Let's speculate about the far-future, some 5, 10, or 20 years from now: your transit options will expand significantly. The cost will decrease considerably for services using automated vehicles.
You'll look at your options as:

• Drive to work: fastest, takes $100+ worth of gas a month, but you also need $50+ for insurance and $500+ for the monthly car payment, plus those surprise maintenance and broken windows. Also, do you pay for parking? Pick a number for how much it costs to drive your personally owned and manually operated vehicle to work each month.
  
• Autonomous vehicle service: price TBA, but think of how much an Uber costs when you don't have to pay the driver, you don't have to pay for gas. An Uber that runs for $20 today would likely be $10 or less. So, to and from work 20 times a month, $200. $300? Ok, let's just say it's $400 a month. It's still all cheaper than owning a car and driving it to work. No parking fees, and it picks you up quickly enough that it's not a nuisance.
  
• Mass Transit: $150 per month, but ugghhh it's slow, it smells like piss, a guy jacked off in your hair, and you can't schedule a meeting for the first 30 minutes of your anticipated workday in case you miss a connection - and it breaks so often the government actively hides the reliability data from the public and media.
  

Just a few years into this future we'll see a brand new trend, one that already exists: a shared autonomous vehicle like a privately operated bus. For example, Uber Bus - it already exists as a commuter option in some cities, it's just not autonomous yet. The significant benefit of an autonomous bus is that these shared vehicles will utilize HOV lanes very commonly, and commuting in an autonomous vehicle will be as fast as driving to work in your manually operated car while also being less expensive.
Simultaneously automobile accidents in autonomous vehicles will be virtually non-existent, and insurance companies will start to increase prices on vehicles that lack AI/smart assisted safety driving features. Public leaders will see the value of creating lanes of traffic on highways dedicated explicitly to autonomous vehicles so that they can drive at much higher speeds than manually operated traffic. Oregon won't lead the way here, but wait until Texas or one of the Crazy States greenlights a speed limit differential, and self-driving vehicles have a speed limit of 90, 120, or 150 miles per hour. You might think "accidents would be terrible and deadly" but there will be fewer accidents in the autonomous lane than in manual lanes. At this point, it will be WAY faster to take an autonomous vehicle to your work.
Purchasing power of consumers will decrease while the cost of vehicles will increase (especially autonomous vehicles), making ownership of any vehicle less likely. Frankly, the great majority of people won't know how to drive and will never learn to - just like how young people today don't know how to use manual transmission. However, fleets of autonomous vehicles owned by companies like Tesla, Uber, and Lyft will benefit from scale and keep their autonomous bus fleets operating at low cost. This will lead to a trend where fewer and fewer people will own an automobile, and fewer people even bother learning how to drive or paying the enormous insurance cost.... while also depending upon automobiles more than we do today.
Eventually, in the distant future, manually driven vehicles will be prohibited in urban areas as some reckless relic from a bygone era.
Cities and public bodies don't have to be cut out of this system if they act responsibly. For example, cities could start a data brokering exchange where commuters provide their commuting data (i.e., pick-up point, destination, arrival time). The government uses either a privatized fleet or a publicly owned fleet of autonomous vehicles to move as many people as possible as often as possible. Sort of a publicly run car-pool list - or a hyper-responsive bus fleet that runs for the exact passengers going to exact locations. A big problem companies like Uber, Lyft, and Tesla will have is that they'll lack market saturation to optimize commuting routes - they'll be able to win unique rides, but the best way they can achieve the lowest cost service model is these super predictable and timely commuter riders. The more data points and riders, the more optimization they can achieve. These companies can look at the data for as many people as possible and bid for as many routes as possible - optimizing for convenience, time, energy usage, emissions, etc. The public will voluntarily participate if this is optimized to get the cheapest ride possible. If the government doesn't do this, the private sector will eventually.
As a parallel, no one today even considers how Metro runs garbage collection. No one cares. And if you didn't like Metro's trash service, if you needed a better service for unique needs, you go procure that on your own. Likewise, you wouldn't care about the quality of the commuting trip as long as it's up to some minimal standards of your class expectations, it's reliable, nearly as quick as driving your own vehicle, and it seems reasonably affordable.
If the public ran this data exchange, fees could subsidize lower-income riders. This is a theory on what a TriMet like system or mass transit system could look like in a primarily autonomous world where most people don't own their own or drive an automobile.
This system would be far from perfect, opening up all sorts of problems around mobility. However, it's hard to see how autonomous vehicles will not obliterate the value proposition of mass transit.

Another narrative on the same story.

As the working class moves to autonomous vehicles, transit agencies will collect fewer and fewer fares - prices and taxes will rise, creating a cycle of failure. As a result, some cities will make buses self-driving to cut costs. It could start with Tokyo, Shanghai, Oslo, et al. Again, it's unlikely that Portland or Oregon will be the first movers on this, but when cities start laying off hundreds of mass transit operators and cutting fares to practically nothing, there will be substantial public pressure to mimic locally. It will be inhumane, it will be illiberal, to make those impoverished bus-riding single mothers pay premiums. As most of the fleet becomes autonomous, responsive, and disconnected from labor costs, the next question arises: why do we still operate bus routes? Why big buses instead of smaller and nimble vehicles?
This alternative story/perspective leads to the same outcome: we figure out where people are going and when they need to get there - then dispatch the appropriate amount of vehicles to move that exact number of people as efficiently as possible.
But our local government getting its act together on all this is outside the world of possibility.
In a practical sense, we're going to see history repeat itself. Portland's mass transit history is about private and public entities over-extending themselves, getting too deep in debt on a flawed and outdated idea. As a result, the system collapses into consolidation or liquidation. Following this historical pattern, TriMet/Metro won't respond to changing conditions fast enough, and laughably stupid ideas like cranking up taxes or increasing ridership fares will continue to be the only option until the media finally acknowledges these groups are insolvent. I just hope we don't spend tens of billions of dollars propping up this zombie system before we can soberly realize that we made some mistakes and these vanity-laden projects 20 and 30 years ago need to die.
You see, the biggest flaw with TriMet isn't the design, it needs to be outpaced by technology, it's that the people making decisions at TriMet and Metro are going to make the politically expedient decisions, not the right decisions. They won't redesign, and they won't leverage technology for cost savings, so this charade will just get going along until the media simply declares they're insolvent.
Back to fares for a second - the media happily reprints TriMet's horseshit take about "The higher fares will bring in an estimated $4.9 million in annual revenue starting next year, the report says." Just sort of amazing to me there's no skepticism about this number - but most spectacular is no media considerations about alternative solutions. For example, I could tell TriMet how to save $9,548,091 next year - a useless program primarily utilized by white middle-class folks who own alternative methods of transport - and this would inconvenience way less transit-dependent people than raising fares. But, that's off the table - we're not even developing a decision matrix for when we kill the blackhole of money known as WES.

"Tomorrow's bill is a bunch of fake news." - Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), playing the GOP hits

Beg, Borrow, Or Deal

Anybody else getting pretty fucking sick of Republicans holding the global economy hostage?

• While the rest of us were spending our Memorial Day weekend thinking about the sacrifices American troops have made for their country (and the Succession series finale), the White House and congressional Republicans were in the octagon fighting it out over the debt ceiling as zero-hour for the government running out of money and causing a global economic crisis quickly approaches.
  
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden reached a final agreement to raise the federal debt ceiling on Sunday, and it’s full of enough “compromises” that getting all necessary support in Congress may be a tough hill to climb for both sides. President Biden was circumspect in a statement outside the White House on Sunday evening, saying, “The agreement prevents the worst possible crisis, a default, for the first time in our nation’s history…Takes the threat of a catastrophic default off the table.”
  
• Okay, Joe, but [winces]…what else is in the agreement? The deal keeps non-defense spending basically stagnant in 2024 and limits its increase in 2025 to 1 percent. It also suspends the debt limit until January 2025, a key priority for the Biden administration, and ensures that we don’t have to go through this bullshit again in a year. The Congressional Budget Office released a report late Tuesday saying that the deal would cut $1.5 trillion from the deficit over the next decade. Democrats won some new expanded benefits for veterans, homeless Americans, and young people aging out of foster care. The GOP proposal to repeal many of the clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act also didn’t make it to the final deal, thankfully.
  

That’s about the end of the “good” news.

• The bad news? Well, McCarthy bragged that the bill in its current form would be the “most conservative deal we’ve ever had.” Not all of his caucus agrees, but most people to the left of oh, say, Mitt Romney would. The agreement rescinds about $30 billion in unspent coronavirus relief money previously-approved through congressional bills. The Inflation Reduction Act stipulated that the IRS would receive $80 billion in new funding over the next decade. This deal claws back $1.4 billion, and Biden agreed to take an additional $20 billion from the agency over the next two years. The deal also expands work requirements for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), a long-held Republican obsession. But the CBO report indicates that the number of exceptions demanded by the Biden administration for SNAP recipients may mean that as a result of this deal, even more people will be eligible for the program than were before. In one final blow, the deal also kneecaps President Biden from extending the yearslong pause on student loan payments that began during the coronavirus pandemic.
  
• Congressional Democrats who would otherwise oppose the deal for giving too many concessions to the GOP mob are now put between a rock and a hard place, forcing them to either vote for the deal that gives so much to Republicans, or oppose the agreement President Biden created, putting the economy at risk. White House Budget Director Shalanda Young, who was one of the president’s lead negotiators on the deal, urged Congress to pass it nonetheless, saying, “This agreement represents a compromise, which means no one gets everything that they want and hard choices had to be made.” Gotta be honest, this doesn’t feel great!
  

Members of Congress are now reviewing the bill and the House will begin voting as soon as Wednesday. The far-right flank of the House GOP is already threatening to oust McCarthy as soon as they can, because even a deal this deeply conservative isn’t evil enough for them. Cool party!

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Under The Radar

Crowdsourcing tools have become central to certain aspects of our modern American dystopia, like paying for essential medical treatment that should be covered by (cough) universal healthcare, but it’s recently taken up an even more sinister function: as a fundraising tool for far-right extremists. People like Daniel Goodwyn, who pleaded guilty for his involvement in the January 6 insurrection, have raised tens of thousands of dollars in crowdfunding campaigns from other right-wing sympathizers who consider the indicted insurrectionists to be “political prisoners” instead of treasonous criminals, which…lol. So now, the Justice Department wants Goodwyn to forfeit the more than $25,000 he raised, and prosecutors in the over 1,000 January 6-related criminal cases are increasingly asking judges to impose fines on top of prison sentences to offset these donations. Most of those charged in these cases have taxpayer-funded public defenders, so it’s all but certain that they’re simply pocketing the money and using their criminal activity for explicit material gain. These crowdfunding efforts have mostly been orchestrated through GiveSendGo, the self-described “#1 Free Christian Funding Site,” because more mainstream sites like GoFundMe have barred January 6 defendants from using their platform.

What Else?

A New York federal appellate court ruled on Tuesday that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma can shield members of the Sackler family, the company’s owners, from opioid lawsuits as an indirect protection of bankruptcy proceedings. The Sacklers will be forced to hand over an additional $6 billion towards fighting the opioid crisis they created as part of the agreement.
The trial of Robert Bowers, the man responsible for the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA in 2018 began on Tuesday. In opening statements, his own lawyer acknowledged that Bowers planned the attack, made antisemitic statements, and “shot every person he saw,” during the attack.
Ukrainian drones hit wealthy districts in Moscow, the first major military action outside of Ukraine, while Kyiv also suffered air strikes for the third time in 24 hours.
As artificial intelligence continues to develop at breakneck speed, deep-fakes and other easily-disseminated misinformation pose a huge threat to the 2024 election.
U.S. consumer confidence has reached a six-month low, particularly concentrated in the over-55 demographic.
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) announced his plan to resign from Congress, possibly as soon as this week, due to his wife’s ongoing health issues.
The Carter Center announced that former first lady Rosalynn Carter, 95, has dementia.
Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney gave a commencement speech at her alma mater Colorado College over the weekend. About half of the students turned their chairs around and sat with their backs to her in protest.

Be Smarter

Last week, retail giant Target acquiesced to the violence of far-right extremists in their stores over the company’s Pride collection by pulling some of the items entirely and relocating others to more removed corners of their locations. Now, the LGBT+ community is looking for answers about the dangerous precedent this sets. Progressive lawmakers and LGBT activist groups are lobbying corporations not to cave to far-right activism and develop new strategies to combat the rising tide of anti-LGBT violence. History has repeatedly demonstrated that kowtowing to far-right extremists doesn’t, uh, end well, and it’s clear that if corporations want to capitalize on their “allyship” during Pride month, they should not abandon the LGBT community and tacitly legitimize the views of violent right-wing bigots at the first signs of pushback.

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Light At The End Of The Email

Disgraced CEO of Theranos and overall weird blood lady Elizabeth Holmes reported to a Texas prison today to begin her 11-year sentence for overseeing the massive blood-testing fraud at her former company.
Researchers in Southern California used drones to observe great white sharks and found that they’re near and around humans in the water much more often than previously thought (scary!) but the overwhelming majority of the time, don’t bother anyone (okay, good!), meaning shark attacks could be even less likely than prior measurements indicated. Love that for us!

Enjoy

michael "cohost.org/lutz" lutz on Twitter: "USING AI TO EXPAND THE FRAME ON MICHELANGELO'S "CREATION OF ADAM" TO REVEAL BEHIND GOD A SECOND, LARGER, SCARIER GOD"

SUMMARY

When analysing the new federal budget, there seems to be a nearly universal agreement on the politics that shaped the spending plan. Namely, this budget is big on spending, big on corporate tax reform. Having previously relied on the New Democratic Party to maintain an absolute majority, the Trudeau Government has opted for appeasing their parljlnenatry partners, aiming to buy more time for the this government before the next general election has to be called.
Politically, the Budget can be divided into there main lines. Namely, the Liberals trying to follow through with their promises from the last Federal Election, such as introducing the Canada Disability Benefit, a brand-new advanced research agency, as well as over-delivering on expanded supports for lower-income workers. Economically, introducing a tax-free CDB combined with noticeably more generous and broadly available Canada Workers Benefit also aims to boost Canada's labour force participation, to partially offset traditionally low per capital productivity of Canadian workers.
Then, the issue of the supply and confidence agreement with New Democrats comes into play, finally implementing a national dental care plan being finally brought into the budget, followed by a national prescription drug insurance scheme.
As on the greatest surprises comes in the form of what the Government framed as a "business assistance review" and corporate reform, that is set to be a structural response to US's Inflation Reduction Act, namely by brining programmes as IRAP to a one-stop shop, under an arm-length agency outside of the federal industrial strategy ministry. The Government is also following Europe's lead on development Canadian equity markets, that while incremental, may be a first step to less debt-dependent corporate Canada, while nurturing Canadian innovation, since tech companies tend to be much more reliant on equity financing, rather than traditional bank lending.
Politically, the Liberals continue to emphasise fiscal prudence of the budget, citing stable debt-to-GDP ratios, as well as the fact the budget actually contains a structural surplus, when excusing debt service payments from federal expenditure. Ottawa is also trying to hedge against future attacks when it comes to public subsidies, through introducing an independent oversight body, as well as providing full operational autonomy to a new umbrella organisation, to operate business investment programmes and other agencies.
Notably, however, the Liberals seem to be willing to further undermine their reputation as credible fiscal managers, rather the cause a new election by breaking their agreement with NDP, as the LPC continues to struggle in federal polling.

Strengthening Canada's Safety Net

Canada Workers Benefit (CWB) is set to be radically boosted, aiming to boost labour force participation while easing inflationary pressures for the most vulnerable workers. The budget drastically expands both the generosity and eligibility for the CWB by lowering the income threshold from $3000 of annual earnings to just $1, including income from self-employment. The Government of Canada also expands eligibility for the benefit, by more closely aligning it with Québec's Solidarity Tax Credit, making full- and part-time students eligible to claim CWB. The benefit is also enhanced through expansion of both the maximum amount payable and the introduction of a benefit floor - $3000 per annum for the floor and up to $4000 for maximum benefit - per family.
Additionally, the Canada Revenue Agency - as well as Revenu Québec, following a short negotiation with the province - are now required to administer both the CWB and the STC in real time, delivering automatic bi-weekly payments to all eligible individuals, so long they've filled their tax return for the previous year. Ottawa is also set to strengthen the programme by introducing the so-called "benefit shield provision" that protects benefit recipients from prohibiting benefit clawbacks in their income increases unexpectedly. Thus, annual CWB entitlement is set to be calculated on the basis on average reported earnings in the last 5 years, paid every 2 weeks. Sudden increases in incomes shall also be excused from the current year's calculation of benefit amounts, applied evenly over the next 5-year calculation period.

Same policy is set to be applied to all other federal benefits and credits, including the Canada Child Benefit - an income-based subsidy for parents - as well as the GST/HST Tax Credit, and the Climate Action Incentive Payment - a rebate paid to households to compensate for the cost of federal price on carbon where one applies.

As an interim measure, Ottawa is also set to introduced the "marginal earnings shield" policy that allows the Canada Revenue Agency to issue bi-weekly CWB payments to individuals facing prohibitively high marginal rates of personal taxation, whenever the effective rate exceeds 45 per cent. This includes benefit clawbacks from provincial programmes, as well as increased payroll deductions, such as Employment Insurance Premiums, Canada/Québec Pension Plan Contributions, as well as income tax, union dues, or any other payroll deduction from the CRA or Revenu Quebec. Notably, the earnings shield only applied to income bellow the median AFNI for the given province or territory.
Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) is to beintroduced to supplement provincial social assistance measures for people with special needs. CDB aims to top-up existing provincial disability support programmes, providing simultaneous supplementation of payment to eligible individuals. The benefit is set to be fully aligned with provincial requirements, but also provide equivalent support to those receiving provincial Workers' Compensation Payments, and CPP/QPP Disability benefits, to bring disable Canadians closer to the national poverty thresholds, with CDB maximum capped at $1000 monthly - that is however subject to inflation indexing.

Expanding Canada's Healthcare

Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) previously announced in the last year's budget is finally being rolled out across the country, following almost a year of bilateral talks with the provinces and territories. The Plan remains open to anyone with a communed household income of bellow $120.000 as well as those without an insurance plan that provides free-at-use dental coverage. In case their income exceeds the eligibility threshold, they'd have to pay an increased premium collected by the CRA as a payroll deduction. Anyone is also free to obtain private dental care insurance, so long they don't have a public one, so long it provides continuous coverage, a fully covers all services provided within a medical facility.
However, even those with private insurance will still have to face the limitations of the Canada Health Act, namely being barred from any preferential treatment for services covered under the CDCP. To further maintain its universality, the Canada Health Act is amended to require every Canadian resident to maintain a valid dental care insurance coverage at all times, with on obligation on both Ottawa and the Provinces to provide access to that coverage to everyone. Private insurance is still allowed, so long it remains equivalent to the public plan, unless covering supplementary services. The respective assessment of a private plan's equivalence and universal coverage is carried out by Heath Canada, through referring the data that every employer is oblige dot provide, linked to each individual's Social Insurance Number.
Notably, the CDCP is administered - as promised - by a neutral agency, comprised of representatives from Health Canada and provincial, as well as territorial heads of ministries of health -- the Canadian Dental Benefit Administrators (CDBA). CDBA is in turn operates under a two-track system, where the CDCP Council within the CDBA, comprised of provincial representation, and Health Canada, sets up broader general standards of care, coverage, and premiums, while CDBA provincial offices administer the plan within the framework of general provincial health plans. Principal batches of CDBA are free to diverge from national guidelines on coverage and pricing, so long it doesn't change increase expenditure, and preserves free-at-use coverage without significant reduction in quality of care measured in waiting times or increased pressure on the staff, lower efficacy rates.
Funding through the plan altho provided through general taxation, is calculated as a flat income-based insurance premiums, deducted from CDCP's recipient paycheque as part of their Income Tax, with additional levies for those making above the eligibility threshold and choosing to enrol into the Plan. While co-pays are absent for lower income earners completely, everyone enrolled into the Plan is protected an annual limit for out-of-pocket dental care expenditures, capping spending as a share of one's income, that is also revised annually, in line with instigated payroll premiums.
Canadian Pharmaceutical Insurance Plan (CPIP) finally brings a long-awaited universal Pharmacare to Canada, especially territories and provinces other than Quebec. While previously Canada's public health insurance plans would only cover in-hospital medical services, leaving prescription drugs largely to the private market, CPIP is set to change that. The Plan provides compressive coverage for multiple prescription drugs defined in a "national formulary" administrated by the Canada Drug Agency at no cost to every member of the plan, that is tasked with evaluating and authorising the use of new pharmaceuticals to be sold in Canada.
However, CPIP's administration, namely negotiating prices for prescription drugs, is delegated to the Pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA). Originally created as a strictly provincial initiative to join forcing in procuring pharmaceuticals for public drug plans, pCPA is set to be drastically expanded to negotiate prices for prescriptions on behalf of Canada as a whole. Thus, no drug that is deemed by the CDA or Health Canada to require a prescription can be sold, until a procurement deal has been reached with the pCPA.
When conducting negotiations, pCPA largely relies on already existing framework, with the Canada Drug Agency carrying out impact assessment and drug reviews -- a function previously reserved exclusively to Health Canada. pCPA retains it current institutional design, transitioning to completely independent organisation, only contained by appointments from federal, provincial, and territorial governments, with the final procurement deal requiring consent of Health Canada, CDA, federal and provincial ministries of health.

Trying to resist further increases in drug expenditure, pCPA is authorised to conduct joint funding with the Canada Drug Agency for new drugs, especially biologics and generic medications. Most significantly, however, is the "cost-benefit analysis" framework approach when negotiating drug prices or operating joint investment ventures. The assent is mainly focused on estimating long-term savings to the overall healthcare system, as well as possible impact of patients' ability to re-join the labour force. Thus, procurement expenditures are effetely weighted over long-term savings in the healthcare sector as well as future increase in premiums.

For its end the Government of Canada is set absorb absorb initial cost of running both Pharamacare and the national dental care, while avoiding reductions to federal healthcare transfers, with further increases managed through the Canada Health Transfer and bilateral negotiations with the privies. To avoid further deterioration of Canada's long-term fiscal position Ottawa is offsetting increased spending through phasing out all employer tax credits for health expenditures, as well as tightening eligibility for individual medical tax credits, while closing the readings gap through the CDCP and CPIP payroll premiums.

Canada's Quiet Corporate Reform

Canadian Equity & Debt Recovery Allowance (CEDRA) is set to largely emulate European proposals for the Debt-Equity Bias Reduction Allowance (DEBRA)733678) to align tax treatment for equity and debit across the tax system. CEDRA provides for a limited deduction of costs associated with issuing new corporate equity, namely stocks and bonds on Canadian stock exchanges.

The allowance is calculated using the year-on-year difference between total corporate equity multiplied by risk-free return on equity, equal to the rate for 10-year Government of Canada bonds. Notably, the deception is fully refundable, up to a maximum for any given year and can be carried forward indefinitely.

Just like its European equivalent, CEDRA provides for higher risk-free rate of return for smaller companies, as opposed to larger players. Higher rate is set to be the sum of the basic rate or return and the spread between interest rates for smaller and large businesses, calculated every year - CEDRA SMEs. However, unlike DEBRA, the Canadian allowance also provides for even more generous allowance for newer companies, regardless of their size, that is directly proportion to the rate spread between for companies operating for as long as or less 5 years, as opposed to existing incumbents, put on top of the 10-year federal government bonds rate - CEDRA Trailblazers.
b Notably, companies that qualify for both small and new entry rate deductions are allowed to combined both when calculating their entitlement for any given year.
The Government of Canada also brings a "green spin" the to the deduction, with a designated rate calculation for green businesses - CEDRA Net Zero. Thus, the gap in interest rates for low- and zero-emission borrowed and fossil fuel companies is set be compounded with the federal 10-year bonds, and then multiplied by the new year-on-year equity increase. Companies are also allowed to combine the "green rate" deduction with the new entry and small company rates so long the applicant is eligible for each of those individually. Companies operating in mining and processing of critical minerals, battery production, as well production of clean energy equipment and more energy-intensive solutions, including software.
CEDRA provides for special treatment of losses, including those cause by sudden dips in stock prices as a result of monetary tightening or short-selling. While falling short of full refundability, the Government of Canada allows to use deductible equity losses to offset both income and payroll taxes, as well as GST/HST payable for any given year, including carry-back provisions of up to 1 year.
As an additional measure, Canada is limiting debt interest deductibility for all companies operating in the country. Just like DEBRA, the Canadian allowance caps deductibility of net-interest debt payments - interest spent minus interest received - at the level of 85 per cent, with a maximum of $4 million. In line with European proposals, interest deductibility is additionally limited at 30 per cent of the borrower's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Companies would only be able to deduct the lowest amount in a tax year, but would be able to carry the difference forward or back, without indexing to inflation.
As an additional measure, the Budget also reforms the deferral dividend tax credit, including the one for Canadian-Controlled Private Corporations. Now, DTC is available to claim for any dividend payments received from a company incorporated in Canada, that has been operational for 5 years or less - DTC Trailblazers - or is actively contributing to the the green economy - DTC Net Zero, including mining and processing of critical minerals, battery production, as well as manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles, suitable materials and clean energy machinery & equipment.
Capital Cost Allowance Green Deduction - allows for full expensing of both machinery & equipment as well business property, for M&E for companies in "green industries", as well as investing in greater energy efficiency of existing industrial structures and equipment, including the cost of full replacement for everyone else. The increased rate also applies to non-mining - with accelerated appreciation maintained for critical minerals - companies of up to 5 years of age.

Canada's New Net Zero Industrial Policy

Investment & Innovation Canada aims to bering several federal crown corporations and business assistance programmes under one roof, operating as a one-stop shop for Canadian businesses. Notably, all entities brought under IIC have their mandrel explicitly promoting competition, namely considering either new market participants or SMEs first, for their investment considerations. Additionally, all participating agencies are set to aim at fulfilling Canada's Net Zero commitment, thrust greater coordination and a more cohesive instrument mix. The agency also aims to provide end-to-end support for Canadian companies across the board, including both setting up, and the scaling up new and existing players, aiming to promote competitive export-oriented companies in critical industries.
Additionally, Investment & Innovation Canada introduces significant restructuring business assistance and subsidy institutions themselves. This mainly involves putting maximum emphasis on the "place economy" aiming to decentralise every member institution to the greater possible extent, tailoring their operations to the needs of a local markets. To avoid further confusion, IIC focuses on setting up highly autonomous local branches, to be combined in one-stop-shop for local businesses, by merging the their branches with Canada's Regional Development Agencies, and providing them with full operational autonomy, including agencies that were previously managed directly by the Government of Canada.
IIC is set to coordinate and facilitate operations between following crown corporations:
Business Development Canada (BDC) - a crown corporation tasked with providing capital for Canadian small & medium sized companies, including lending directly to investors to allocate capital to promising companies. Notably, BDC has the scope of their mandate extended, being allowed to provide direct funding to promising companies, as well as new entrants in highly concentrated markets, such as telecommunications, transportation, and banking. Just like EDC, Business Development Canada prioritises support to export-oriented companies.
Export Development Canada (EDC) provides a wide range of export support services and financing, such as risk insurance and direct business guidance, as well access to adorable capital to conduct export operations outside of Canada. Notably, however, under its renewed mandate, EDC is set to also encourage intraprovinical exports to an extent comparable with the support provided to those seeking to enter foreign markets. Equally, EDC has their competences extended to also facilitate overall trade-intensity of Canadian industries, including through increased exposure to imports, both between the provinces and foreign markets. While previously focusing exclusively on promoting overseas sales, the bank of set to roll out equal access to its services to those willing to export into Canada, especially when it comes to components, unfinished products, and intangibles.
Canadian Infrastructure Development Corporation (CIDC) is set to bring together the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the housing accelerator and developments funds, and other related projects, facilitating the supply of funding to national and local infrastructure projects, including affordable housing and public transit, signifying the first time housing is being considered part of Canada's infrastructure. CIDC also brings the Canada Housing & Mortgage Corporation to the table, as an independent body within the CIDC, largely focused on monitoring the market and providing independent impact assessment. Notably, CIDC is set to be allowed to fund projects that are yet to obtain private commitment, giving a first move advantage, so long the project has received an approved for respective regulatory authorities and indigenous groups affected, or if a project aims at reducing carbon emissions.
Labour Development Canada (LDC) is focused on creating more coherent space for federal labour market policy and workforce development, being tasked with development and screening of both businesses and applications in need additional training, as well as matching businesses struggling to recruit with those seeking a job. LDC is also responsible for administrating the Canadian Job Bank, as well as developing the curriculum and training standards for designated sectors. Notably, the Bank also being grated an explicit rights to enter into commercial agreements with provinces, municipalities, and legal entities providing funding for the private sector to re- and up-skill the local workforce, as well as integrate as many people as possible into the labour market.
As its unique feature, each LDC branch is legally required to maintain employee and business representation, with the need for unanimous consent when developing and implementing new measures. Notably, this includes local unions, business associations, and advocacy organisations in the region.
Initial funding the bank is set to be maintained under the Labour Market Development Agreements as well Workforce Development Agreements between Ottawa and the provinces, however the LDC is expected run a "structural surplus" for its existing programmes through employee and employer payroll deductions negotiated under each programme respectively. Therefore only using discretionary federal and provincial spending when operating federal or provincial programmes and launching new initiatives.
Labour Development Canada is also allowed to compete directly with employment agencies and directly administer federal programmes such as the Canada Summer Jobs, while pursuing it mandate: to maximise labour force participation and increase Canada's labour productivity, while increasing access to suitable permanent jobs above the federal poverty line.
Advanced Research & Innovation Canada (ARIC) provides all-in-support for research and development projects aiming at achieving a Net Zero Economy. ARIC brings together the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the National Research Council, and the Canada Research Chambers and Canada Growth Fund itself to provide end-to-end support for new green technology. While the Canada Foundation for Innovation provides funding for university research, the Canada Research Chairs brings the human expertise to ARIC, with the National Research Council supporting industrial and company-based business R&D. The Canada Growth Fund, on the other hand aims to provide funding for scale-ups in the green space and innovative sectors, mainly through comprehensive risk sharing and direct lending to existing projects. Unlike other agencies, CGF also has an explicit mandate to support funding for Net Zero and facilitate the acquisition of intellectual property by Canadian enterprises as well as support the creation of new IP by Canadians and in Canada. However, CGF is also being allowed to directly fund industrial research and development to expand accessibility of existing green technology, even where private sector funding has not yet been committed.
Aerospace Development Canada (ADC) delivers direct funding, for R&D and skills in the aerospace sector, as well as providing assistance with training, talent attraction, retention, and initial funding for the aerospace industry. ADC is allowed to also directly fund university research and eduction for those working in the aerospace industry.
Automation & Robotics Canada (ARC) focuses on supporting wider use of automaton and robotics across the Canadian economy. ARC specifically allows companies to obtain a rebate for their M&E expenses, as well as receive a loan or a grant to modernise existing equipment, or replace, expand existing industrial assets. SMEs can recuperate up to 110 per cent of their M&E expenses with ARC, and over 125 per cent when it comes to automating their processes and installing newer software. Notably, ARC is set to operate in parallel with the Canada Digital Adoption Program.
Agri-Foods Canada (AFC) administers programs when it comes to agricultural and foods production, focusing on providing funding for agricultural research, and development of new products, chemicals, processing methods, and crops that utilise that are more environmentally suitable.
While major business assistance programmes remain within the realm of the federal ISED, IIC is allowed to administer those directly and change their structure, so long associate costs are borne by the IIC institutions themselves. Programmes immediately transferred under the responsibility of IIC include the Canada Digital Adoption Program (CDAP), the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP). Notably, however, IIC uses several other finical instruments to carry out its mandate:

• Income-Contingent Grants - grants funded directly by the CIB, with a subsequent return of funds. Unlike standard loans, ISGs are paid by the borrower as a share of their future income, until the debt is fully repaid - or written off by mutual agreement of both parties.
• Investment Supplementary Funding - provides financing provided by an IIC institution in proportion to investments from the private sector. Thus, for every $2 of private investment in a particular project or company, ISF guarantees at least $1 of investment from the CIB, subject to an appropriate agreement with the recipient company.
• Comprehensive Liabilities Guarantee - allow IIC to insure the assets of external investors - and the company itself - in a specific project or company in exchange for risk premiums from potential recipients. So, if the project will lead to losses for investors, IIC will return the funds spent.
• Outcome-Oriented Financing is the broadest possible definition of bank financial guarantees, which are fulfilled when certain conditions are met by the recipient. OOF may involve the direct financing, creation, write-off or investment, deferment, freezing - and so on - of the financial obligations of the borrower, in exchange for the achievement of certain indicators. First of all, we are talking about achieving predetermined growth rates of productivity - both labor and multifactorial - or such indicators as reducing the levels of debt burden, higher capital and science intensity, as well as interaction with external markets.
• Bridging Finance - bridge financing provided either in crisis situations or at an early stage of the project, when existing agreements with investors already exist, it is not possible to access short-term financing or funds necessary for the implementation of the initial stage of the project.
• Pooled Securitisation - financing of joint projects carried out by several small companies at once, with the accompanying distribution of risks. PS also covers the placement of assets on public markets.

Following the re-structuring the Government of Canada also expands funding for the Competition Bureau, and the Competition & Markets Commission of Canada. Namely, both are receiving additional functions, of overseeing the federal business assistance regime through the Canadian Business Assistance Office (CBAO) -- an independent standalone parliamentary institution. CBAO is tasked with evaluating the performance of business assistance programmes and institutions, including IIC and its member bodies, as well as any business investment made by the Government of Canada, though annual programme reviews and recommendations. Notably, the Office can order the Competition Bureau and the CMCC to investigate specific cases, as well as conduct joined programme reviews.

As on overriding set of criteria, the Office is set to evaluate how existing government programmes measure against increasing competition in a marketplace - being required to prioritise companies of 5 years of younger, as well as SMES - and foster finically independent enterprise - defined a profitability over the 5 year period excusing government assistance -, as well as help to achieve the Net Zero goal.

The Office is set to also maidan regional representation, aimed at scrutinising Regional Development Agencies, each branched aimed at a respective RDA, with a representative from CBAO and a respective provincial or territorial legislative assembly.
To further strengthen the accountability regime, the Budget amends respective acts relating to the Business Development Canada, Export Development Canada, National Research Council, Regional Development Agencies, and the Canada Infrastructure Development Canada's constituent units, as well as an additional overarching mandate for the Investment & Innovation Canada.
Thus, all the parties affected now have to comply with a "dual" mandate oversseen by the CBAO. Apart from fulfilling their original duty, such as infrastructure development, export promotion, or investment in green tech, all the agencies ought to remain finically profitable indecent of public support, defined all persistent surplus over the 5-year horizon.
In turn, the agencies are allowed to earn income through repayable grants, equity stakes, as well as acquisition of assets, such as intellectual property, and issuance of Canada Development & Innovation Bonds. CDIBs are set to be equated to the Government of Canada bills, with Ottawa directly guaranteeing the ability of an issuer to service their debts. Notably, each issuance has to be authorised by the IIC, before a respective institution can act on its own.

Additional Readings

https://taxpolicy.crawford.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publication/taxstudies_crawford_anu_edu_au/2022-03/complete_ace_wp_2022.pdf
https://mowatcentre.munkschool.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/publications/88_corporate_tax_reform.pdf
https://taxfoundation.org/benefits-of-full-immediate-expensing/
https://irpp.org/research-studies/cracking-canadas-productivity-conundrum/
https://irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Facing-the-Facts-Reconsidering-Business-Innovation-Policy-in-Canada.pdf
https://politics.utoronto.ca/publication/innovation-in-real-places-strategies-for-prosperity-in-an-unforgiving-world/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6246044/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-national-investment-authority-henry-kopesky
https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/canada-working-age-supplement-report.pdf
https://capx.co/subsidies-are-no-way-to-support-business-but-there-is-a-better-alternative/
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/29/canada-u-s-clean-energy-ira-00089284
https://civitas.org.uk/pdf/SavingsBanks2010.pdf
https://maytree.com/wp-content/uploads/canada-working-age-supplement-report.pdf
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2022/01/22/why-the-bias-for-debt-over-equity-is-hard-to-dislodge

I'm a day late posting this -- I'm sorry to have gotten off schedule! I realize there have been a lot of high-earner diaries recently, but I hope my perspective is still of interest.
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Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: $460K (mine) and $250K (husband’s). We both max out our annual withholdings. I’ve been working longer than him, and my employer offers a more generous match, which contributed significantly to my balance.
Equity: $275K. Our home is currently worth about $450K. We live in a M-HCOL area (far) outside of NYC, and our home was a fixer upper when we bought it. Honestly, it’s still a fixer, and we are saving towards a major renovation.
Cars: Maybe $15-$20k total…we drive two paid off cars. One is 13 years old, and the other is 10 years old.
Other Cash and Investments: $150K
Credit card debt: None, paid every month
Student loan debt (for what degree): $80K towards the grad degree I’m pursuing now. Since we’re saving towards the home reno, I’m financing my degree rather than paying for it outright. I know this is counterintuitive given the interest rate environment. However, the home reno has been a priority for us since we bought this home.
Daughters’ 529s: $75K
Total Net Worth: $1.145M
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I've been working in my field for 13 years and my starting salary was $40,000.
I work as a Director of Financial Planning & Analysis in a niche field. I won’t go into too many details because it’s a small world. My salary progression was as follows:
Year 1: $40,000 starting, right after recession. I had an amazing boss who mentored me and recognized my potential. After six months, I received a promotion and raise to $60,000.
Year 3: Promotion and raise to $90,000, for a role with more financial and analytical responsibility. Although I worked hard, I continued to benefit from having a boss who advocated for me. I consider this a major turning point.
Year 8: Raise to $120,000 for additional responsibilities after a coworker retired.
Year 10: Raise to $135,000
I’ve received an average of 2.5% COLA increases and now earn $145K. My boss has requested a $10,000 bonus for me this year, which I haven’t yet included because it’s still under review.
My husband earns $260,000 base salary as a VP of a large corporation (this is a very recent raise…he was at $200K previously). In addition, he can receive a performance-based bonus of 20-30%. We don’t include his bonuses in our financial planning because they are not guaranteed and because a portion is RSUs. When he receives a cash bonus, we put it towards our daughter’s college accounts and/or our home reno fund.
Education: I have a bachelors and a masters in a field unrelated to my career. My tuition was paid by scholarships/assistantships. In addition, my parents covered my living expenses during undergrad. During my first graduate degree, I worked 3 part-time jobs to cover my non-tuition expenses. I’m now enrolled in a grad program more directly related to my career. My employer encouraged me to do this program and generously allows me the time out of office. In addition, if I stay for a certain number of years, they will reimburse a portion of my tuition.
Main Job Monthly Take Home:
Monthly take home: $6,300 after taxes, retirement ($1,875) and medical/dental benefits ($110– self only)
Husband’s monthly take home: $12,560 after taxes, retirement ($1,875), and medical/dental ($400 for him and our two kids)
Section Three: Expenses
Mortgage: $2,485 for principal, interest, insurance, and taxes. We refinanced to a 15-year loan at 2.3% when rates were low
Daycare: $3,510 per month (full-time for a toddler and preschooler)
Savings contribution: $3,000-$5,000
Daughters’ 529 accounts: $2,000 ($1,000 each)
Debt payments: $700 towards my student loans. This will increase once I’m done with my degree
Donations: $3,000 annually
Transit $350-400 for husband’s commute (3x/week to NYC)
Electric: $60
Wifi/Cable/Landline: $120
Cellphone: $180
Subscriptions: $59 for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Duolingo, Apple Storage, and credit monitoring
Gym membership: $149 for Pure Barre
Husband’s physical therapy: $130 (portion not covered by insurance)
Car insurance: $3,200 annually. (This seems high, considering we have good records, don’t drive much, and both cars are paid off. I need to look into this)
Life Insurance: $3,100 annually
Day 1 (Saturday):
6:00 AM: Wake up. I’m doing a modular course for my graduate degree, and the class wraps up today. I study for the exam that happens this afternoon. A little after 7, I walk to a nearby coffee shop and buy a large Americano for $4.50 including tip. When I’m back at the hotel, I pack up my room and leave a $20 tip for housekeeping. On the way out, I drop my bags at the bell stand. The hotel cost is covered by tuition.
9:00: Meet with my study team to finalize a paper and presentation that’s due today. At noon, we break for lunch (also covered by tuition). I have a salad and lots of carbonated caffeine. After lunch, we have an hour-long final exam.
2:00: Final course wrap up. It’s been an intense week-long session. I learned a lot, but am so ready to head home. I walk back to the hotel to retrieve my bags. Along the way, I stop to buy an empanada ($8 including tip). Then I call an Uber to the airport ($55 including tip). While in the Uber, I talk to my husband and daughters, who are 1.5 and almost 4. Due to the time difference, it’s their bedtime and if I don’t catch them now, I’ll lose my chance. I promise them that I’ll be home when they wake up in the morning. A lot of my classmates went to dinner together before heading to the airport. On the one hand, I have FOMO because my classmates are awesome. But on the other hand, it was really important to me to talk to my family, and I know I couldn’t have done that easily in a bustling restaurant (I’ve tried, and it was a frustrating experience for everyone!).
6:00: Arrive at the airport. I check my bag ($35). Once I’m through security, I pick up some souvenirs. My hotel wasn’t in an area with good shopping options, and the class days were pretty packed anyway. I get locally made chocolate for my husband. The girls get a small stuffed animal each, and a book to share ($70 total). Then I treat myself to crab cakes and a French 75 to celebrate the end of the week ($60 including tip).
10:00: On the flight, I read until the cabin lights go out and then try to sleep. I used to be able to sleep better on red eyes, but I wake up every 15 minutes.
Day 1 Total: $252.50
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Day 2 (Sunday):
6:00: Flight lands and I gather my bags and take the parking shuttle. Although I parked in an economy lot, the total was still $174. Ugh – this has been an expensive week.
7:45: Arrive home. The girls crawled into our bed and are snuggled up next to my husband. The toddler wakes up as I come into the room and the look on her face when she sees me is priceless. Our preschooler wakes up soon after. It’s so good to be reunited with my people! We all head downstairs and have breakfast (waffles and cereal, plus a huge pot of coffee). It’s cold and rainy today and we spend the morning watching TV together.
10:00: Our toddler falls asleep for her nap, and my husband encourages me to do the same. Our preschooler is happily entertaining herself with Legos and puzzles, so I doze for a couple hours. Around 1:00, we all have turkey sandwiches for lunch. Then, I take over kid duty so my husband can finally have some time to himself. He spends the afternoon woodworking in his basement workshop.
2:00: Our preschooler’s birthday is coming up. I buy digital invites from Etsy ($12) and send them to Staples to print ($16 with a promo). They are ready in about two hours and we pick them up. My preschooler asks for kinetic sand at Staples and I cave in and buy it for her ($11). I constantly complain about the amount of “stuff” in our house, but to be honest, I’m guilty of contributing to the clutter. When we get home, I spend the afternoon doing crafts with the girls.
5:15: We heat up some leftovers that my in-laws dropped off while I was gone. We do the girls’ bedtime routine a little early since everyone seems tired. Lights out by 8:00 for the girls. Then I catch up on work email and start making a list for the week. For the purposes of this money diary, my husband mentions that he spent $270 yesterday restocking groceries. Then I watch Succession and head to bed
Day 2 Total: $483
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Day 3 (Monday):
5:08: My alarm goes off because I typically go to Pure Barre on Monday morning. I’m still jetlagged so I decide not to go today. I hadn’t actually signed up for a class because I had a feeling this would happen.
6:30: Everyone else is still asleep, so I go downstairs to make coffee and enjoy a few quiet moments to myself. When my husband and kids wake up, we all have breakfast (frozen waffles and berries for the kids. English muffins for the adults).
8:30: Drop the kids off at daycare and then get to work. I work primarily from home, so I just have to walk upstairs to my office nook. I spend the morning prepping for an important meeting tomorrow with senior leadership. I get a reminder on our phone that our toddler has a well-child visit today…usually I sync my calendars, but I totally neglected to log this on my work calendar, and it conflicts with a meeting with our chief of staff. CRAP. I debate canceling the doctor’s appointment, but decide to keep it. Our toddler is getting vaccines today and if I don’t keep the appointment, I’m not sure when I can reschedule. I apologize profusely to our COS and ask if we can reschedule. She says not to worry, and that she appreciates the extra time in her schedule…hopefully I didn’t make a bad judgment call.
1:15: I quickly eat a turkey sandwich for lunch and then pick up our toddler from daycare for her appointment. These well visits usually take 30 minutes and are covered by insurance. As luck would have it, we spend 90 minutes waiting because they are running behind. Luckily, I have snacks and activities in my purse to occupy her. To pass the time, I browse for favors and paper goods for our older daughter’s upcoming party. I end up buying paper goods, decor, and favors ($67 from Target) and iced sugar cookies ($240 from Etsy). As I type this, I realize how bananas it is to spend that much on decorated sugar cookies. Our incomes have increased pretty dramatically in the past few years, and although we haven’t increased our fixed expenses, we’ve definitely succumbed to lifestyle inflation for one-off things like this. It’s something I need to be aware of. I’m finally home around 3:30, just in time for my next call. My husband is WFH today and takes over kid duty during this call.
5:15: It’s time to pick up our older daughter from preschool, but my call is running long so my husband picks her up. For dinner, we make salads topped with roast chicken. The toddler loves salad, but our preschooler proclaims “I don’t like green leaves – I’m not a caterpillar!”. Well, okay then.
8:30: We do the girls’ bedtime routine, and then I continue prepping for tomorrow’s meeting. I wrap up around 1:00 am. While I’m working, husband preps two meals that just need to be reheated sometime later in the week. Good night!
Day 3 Total: $307
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Day 4 (Tuesday):
7:30: Kids and I sleep in a bit this morning. My husband left home around 5:45 since he’s going into the office, so the three of us are on our own. For breakfast, the toddler has toast and berries. The preschooler has bran cereal and a frozen waffle. I eat their scraps, washed down with coffee.
9:15: I drop the kids off at daycare a little late this morning. Then I get working and practice the presentation I’m giving at 11:00
12:05: Call is over and I think it went as well as could be expected. I make myself a turkey sandwich for lunch. Then I go to the post office to mail a birth certificate request for our youngest daughter’s passport application. The cost for the birth certificate is $50. I also spend $15 at the post office to mail the envelope and buy stamps. Then it’s back to work.
5:10: Pick the girls up from school. My husband gets home around 6:45. Dinner tonight is a tofu and broccoli stir fry with rice. I don’t cook much, but I make this meal weekly and it’s everyone’s favorite. The secret is using soy sauce that is seasoned for seafood. It has a much deeper, richer flavor than standard soy sauce.
7:30: Bathtime and bed for the girls. I text with a mom from daycare whose kids are the same age as ours. We arrange a playdate for an upcoming weekend. She seems sweet and easygoing, and I’m hopeful that she and I will develop a friendship – making friends is hard when you’re an adult!
9:10: I debate doing schoolwork or “work work.” Schoolwork wins tonight…I spend about two hours prepping a case study.
Day 4 Total: $65
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Day 5 (Wednesday):
5:30: Wake up and start working. I still have a lot of deliverables to catch up on. Husband leaves as usual to commute into the city.
7:00: I get an email and text message that daycare had to close today due to unforeseen circumstances. There was an issue with their plumbing that impacts the whole building. Oh no – I immediately feel a pit in my stomach. I really can’t afford this today, especially because I am out this Friday for another day of class. Although our preschooler is pretty independent, our toddler needs constant supervision. She’s always a moment away from jumping off a couch, climbing on a table, or otherwise causing herself bodily harm. My husband has multiple meetings with his division president today so he can’t realistically come home to help. Argh. I feed us all breakfast and prepare myself for a difficult day. I send my boss an email to let him know the situation, but promise to stay on top of my work after hours as needed. I also log a half day of PTO in the payroll system…I figure I can probably be about 50% productive today.
10:00: Our toddler falls asleep for a nap, so I frantically send out emails and run reports. Our preschooler watches shows on her tablet.
12:15: Toddler is up from her nap. Our poor preschooler has been on her tablet for too long and her eyes are glazed over. I decide to take the girls out for lunch to break up the day. We go to Jersey Mikes since it’s nearby and fast. The girls each have a kids meal and the toddler is delighted that it includes a kids cup. I have an Italian sub ($29). We eat outside and the preschooler hums and loudly proclaims "I love Jersey Mike's!"
1:30: We get back home and I jump on an internal call. Thankfully the girls are well behaved and don’t cause any disruptions, beyond waving hello at the start of the call.
3:00 I have another call and the girls are again on their best behavior. PTL. Maybe I’m just lucky, or maybe it’s that I bribed them with cookies.
4:45: I wrap up the workday a little early. I take the girls on a walk since the weather is nice. When we get back inside, they immediately melt down. The toddler wants to be held constantly, which is a challenge because she weighs 24 pounds. The preschooler is thrashing, spitting at me, and throwing toys. I resist a really strong urge to scream or cry or break something or hide in the bathroom – maybe all at once. Instead, I heat up one of the meals my husband made earlier this week. When our preschooler calms down, she asks if I still love her when she’s bad. She’s been asking this question a lot recently, and it makes me wonder if it’s just a phase, or if she needs more reassurance from us. Either way, it's heartbreaking to know she worries about this.
7:30: Husband had a late meeting, so he gets home later than normal. We do the girls bedtime and bathtime routines. We get another note from daycare saying that the plumbing issue is, unfortunately, still unresolved. We’ll get a tuition credit, but they will be closed another day. Husband and I talk through logistics. We agree that he’ll go into the city again tomorrow and I’ll handle the kids. His company is in the middle of a major reorg and it’s important for him to be there in person. We decide to ask his parents if they are available to help tomorrow. Between work, the kids, and my grad program, sometimes I feel like the only thing we talk about is logistics. It’s been at least 6 months since we’ve been on a date.
10:00: I catch up on work, and also prep for school this coming weekend. I go to bed a little after 1:00.
Day 5 Total: $29
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Day 6 (Thursday):
5:45: Husband is up and out of the house at his normal time. I wake up and run some financial reports while I have the chance.
7:30: Kids are awake. While they eat breakfast I pack their activity bags and snacks since we’re going to my in-laws today. They are semi-retired and often help when we have childcare hiccups. They are truly a godsend. They live about an hour away and we arrive at their house a little after 10:00. On the way, I fill my car up with gas ($52).
12:30: The girls are having a blast with my in-laws. We take a break for lunch, which is chicken nuggets and hummus for the girls. I eat their scraps and also have some Greek yogurt.
4:15: I have a full afternoon of calls, but it goes smoothly thanks to the grandparents. We leave a few minutes after 5:00 and both girls fall asleep before we reach the first traffic light. This makes for a peaceful drive home. Traffic is heavy so we get home around 6:30. I open the mail, and find a surprise medical bill for $572. This is for the toddler’s trip to the ER…14 months ago! This is the first bill we are getting and honestly it had completely slipped my mind. She had a triple infection and ended up severely dehydrated. Seeing this bill dredges up all sorts of unpleasant memories. I’m grateful we have the means to pay this without issue, and I’m grateful she is healthy. I understand it's a privilege to pay a bill like this without thinking twice.
6:45: Husband arrives home. We reheat a pasta dish he made earlier this week and have a salad on the side. The girls are beat today, so we skip bathtime and let them go straight to bed. Thankfully, daycare can reopen tomorrow. I feel like a weight’s been lifted from my shoulders, especially since I have class tomorrow.
9:00: I have a call with my school study team to work on our group project. It lasts for about an hour.
10:30: Husband and I discuss buying a swing set for our backyard. He’s narrowed it down to two choices, and they’re both awesome: three swings, a rock wall, slide, and clubhouse area. I think they both look great, so I leave the final decision in his hands. The total with shipping and tax ends up being $1760. We considered buying a pre-assembled swing set to save time, but similar models cost nearly $6K. He’s handy, so he said he’d prefer to assemble it himself.
Day 6 Total: $2,384
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Day 7 (Friday):
6:15: I have class today so I eat breakfast and get dressed early. I tend to wear a lot of athleisure when working from home. Today I put on a structured ponte dress and hastily apply Tarte makeup to give my skin some color. Every time I make the effort to get dressed, I'm reminded that I really do feel more confident when I look put together. Before I leave home, I set out outfits for the kids and put their backpacks by the front door; my husband will get them ready for daycare today. I get to school around 9:00 for my first class.
12:00: Break in my schedule for lunch. I eat a salad and some kind of chicken dish, while catching up with classmates (covered by tuition). For dessert, I have a huge bowl of berries. Lots more coffee to keep me awake and engaged during class. During breaks, I check the daycare app and the girls seem to be having a good day. My husband will pick them up around 5:00.
7:00: Classes are over for the day. I pay parking ($17) and am on my way. I get home at 8:30, in time to do bedtime with my girls. Husband made veggie quesadillas with black beans and guacamole, which I eat once the girls are asleep. I check my work email to make sure nothing is on fire. Then my husband and I watch an episode of “What We Do In the Shadows” and turn in for the night.
Day 7 Total: $17
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WEEKLY TOTALS
Food + Drink: $371.50
Fun / Entertainment: $2,106
Home + Health: $572
Clothes + Beauty: $0
Transport: $333
Other: $155
Weekly Total: $3,537.5
Reflections: Some of this week’s expenditures were unusual: the swing set, my travel expenses, and that old ER bill are not part of our normal recurring expenses. However, the rest of this week's spending was pretty typical. I realize a lot of this diary revolved around sorting out childcare disruptions…honestly, that takes so much mental and logistical energy on a weekly basis. Writing this diary also made me realize how little time my husband and I spend together. Often we feel like we’re in survival mode, but we need to be more intentional about prioritizing our relationship.

Notion has emerged as an essential writing tool over the past few years. It already allowed users to manage virtually every aspect of the content creation process in an easy to use interface. That’s why I was excited to see that Notion just lauched its AI tool, Notion AI. But what exact is Notion AI and what are the potential uses of Notion AI for writers? Read on to learn more!

What is Notion?

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Notion is a digital workspace that allows you to organize and manage various aspects of your life, including tasks, projects, notes, and more. It is a flexible, all-in-one platform that combines the functionality of various productivity tools, such as project management software, note-taking apps, and databases, into a single workspace.
Notion features a customizable interface that allows users to create pages, databases, and templates that suit their specific needs. It also supports a wide range of integrations with other tools and services, such as Google Drive, Trello, and Slack.
Notion is available on desktop and mobile devices, and it offers both free and paid plans with varying levels of features and capabilities. Its popularity has grown rapidly in recent years, making it a popular choice for individuals, teams, and businesses looking to streamline their workflows and increase productivity.

What is Notion AI?

Notion announced on February 22, 2023 that all users could access notion’s latest tool, Notion AI.
Notion AI is an artificial intelligence assistant that can be used natively within Notion documents, spreadsheets, or other Notion products. Notion AI uses the same GPT-3 language model that is behind ChatGPT.

What Are The Features of Notion AI?

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Notion AI contains a number of features designed to enhance productivity for writers within Notion.
Notion AI allow users to:
- Create a content calendar to plan ahead and stay organized with your blog posts.
- Write catchy headlines that will grab your readers’ attention and encourage them to read further.
- Use visuals, such as images and videos, to make your blog posts more engaging and memorable.
- Make sure your blog is mobile-friendly, as more and more people are accessing content on their smartphones and tablets.
- Use social media to promote your blog and reach a wider audience.
- Engage with your readers by responding to comments and encouraging discussion on your blog.
- Focus on a niche or specific topic to establish yourself as an expert in that area.
- Collaborate with other bloggers or brands to expand your reach and bring new perspectives to your blog.
- Use SEO techniques, such as keyword research and meta descriptions, to improve your blog’s visibility on search engines.
- Experiment with different types of content, such as listicles, how-to guides, and interviews, to keep your blog fresh and interesting.
You can see a full list of the current Notion AI features in the screenshots below:

Notion AI Pricing

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Anyone (including users with a free Notion plan) can try Notion AI for free, in order to test its capabilities before purchasing the add-on subscription.
However, once you’ve used all your complimentary Notion AI responses, you will see a message that a Notion AI add-on subscription is necessary to continue using AI features. You’ll then need to purchase the Notion AI add on.
The Notion AI add-on costs $8 per member / month for users choosing the annual plan (an additional $96 per year) if you already have a paid Notion account.
If you have a paid Notion plan and choose to purchase the Notion AI add-on but pay with monthly billing, or decide to keep your free Notion account and only upgrade to receive Notion AI, you will be charged $10 per member / month ($120 per year).

How Can Writers Use Notion AI?

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Having experimented with Notion AI (both as an early beta tester and using the plan currently available to all users), here are some of the top use cases demonstrating the value of Notion AI for writers:
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1. Summarizing Written Content

Notion AI offers an easy to use, one click command, that automatically summarizes a portion of text highlighted.
For the purposes of this example, I entered the text of a recent WSJ article, Fed Minutes Show Most Officials Favored Quarter-Point Rate Rise.
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The original article text is listed below:
Most Federal Reserve officials thought slowing the pace of interest-rate increases at their meeting three weeks ago offered the best way to balance the risks of doing too much or too little to combat inflation, but some warned against the hazards of slowing or stopping rate increases too soon.
“A number of participants observed that a policy stance that proved to be insufficiently restrictive could halt recent progress in moderating inflationary pressures,” said the minutes of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting, released Wednesday.
Fed officials unanimously approved raising their benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range between 4.5% and 4.75% on Feb. 1. That increase followed six larger increases, including a half percentage point in December.
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank will raise interest rates a quarter-percentage-point. Powell said more increases will likely be needed to continue lowering inflation.
The minutes of the gathering said that “almost all participants agreed that it was appropriate” to raise rates by a quarter point, or 25 basis points. Many of these officials “observed that a further slowing in the pace of rate increases would better allow them to assess the economy’s progress… as they determine the extent of future policy tightening,” the minutes said.
But a few participants favored or would have also agreed to a larger half-point move, the minutes said. “The participants favoring a 50-basis-point increase noted that a larger increase would more quickly bring the target range close to the levels they believed would achieve a sufficiently restrictive stance,” the minutes said.
Their discussion suggested another increase of a quarter point was likely at their next meeting on March 21-22. Since then, new data indicated stronger economic activity and slower progress on inflation than previously expected, which could keep the Fed raising rates longer than anticipated before the latest reports.
At the time of the recent meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell was facing increasing skepticism from investors over whether the central bank would continue raising rates because economic activity had been mixed around year’s end, with signs that consumer spending had moderated and weakness in the hard-hit housing sector was spreading to manufacturing. Investors were also anticipating rate cuts later this year.
The Fed raises rates to combat inflation by slowing the economy through tighter financial conditions—such as higher borrowing costs, lower stock prices and a stronger dollar—that curb demand.
Most Fed officials projected in December that they would raise the fed-funds rate to 5.1% this year, which would imply quarter-point rate increases at their next two meetings, in March and May. More than a third of officials anticipated lifting the rate above 5.25%. No officials projected rate cuts this year.
Some officials at the meeting observed that any continued easing in financial conditions could require the Fed to raise rates to higher levels or keep them at higher levels for longer than anticipated.
In the three weeks since they met, fresh U.S. economic reports showed that hiring and retail spending surged in January. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4%, a 53-year low, surprising economists who have long anticipated that Fed rate increases would slow economic growth soon. Economic growth also has rebounded in Europe, further easing worries of a global recession this year.
As a result, investors now expect the Fed to lift the fed-funds rate to around 5.4% in June–more than central bank officials had projected in December.
Inflation’s swift decline late last year also stalled in January. The 12-month inflation rate edged down to 6.4% last month from 6.5% in December and a recent high of 9.1% in June, according to the Labor Department. The department’s widely followed gauge, the consumer-price index, rose a sturdy 0.5% in January from the month before, a sign of still strong price pressures.
Two Fed presidents said last week they would have supported a larger half-point rate rise at the last meeting, rather than the quarter-point increase approved. One of them, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, said officials aren’t limited to quarter-point steps. “We can move faster, and we can do bigger [increases] at any particular meeting.”
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also said he would support moving as quickly as possible to raise the fed-funds rate to 5.4%. “I don’t see much merit in delaying our approach to that level,” he told reporters last week.
Most other Fed officials have expressed a preference for quarter-point increases. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin told reporters last week he liked that approach “because I believe it gives us the flexibility to respond” depending on how the economy evolves.
Mr. Barkin said he didn’t favor moving rapidly to an estimated peak rate before pausing because he isn’t confident the central bank can gauge how much its past rate moves are slowing the economy. “That theory, to me, requires more confidence in understanding” the effectiveness of tighter rate policy “than I have,” he said.
Overall inflation had slowed in recent months largely because of falling prices of energy and other goods. Large increases in housing costs have slowed, but haven’t yet filtered through to official price gauges. Mr. Powell has nevertheless justified continued rate increases by pointing to still-tight labor markets, elevated wage pressures and high inflation for labor-intensive services.
Mr. Barkin noted the surprising strength in January spending and hiring, but said he wasn’t ready to substantially revise his economic outlook because of the potential for unusual seasonal volatility, including a longer holiday spending season in the fourth quarter, warmer weather and changes in how employers are managing their staffing given recent difficulties hiring workers.
Investors’ shifting expectations about the Fed could already be helping the central bank because interest-rate policies work through financial markets. Changes to the anticipated trajectory of rates, and not just what the Fed does at any meeting, can influence broader financial conditions.
Since November, anticipation of a milder interest-rate path led financial conditions to ease somewhat after tightening substantially last year. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate, for example, jumped from 4% one year ago to 7% in November. It then edged lower, to around 6% earlier this month.
Over the past two weeks, however, financial conditions have tightened again as investors anticipate an interval of higher short-term interest rates. Mortgage lenders have reported rates are returning back to 7% in recent days.
After a few seconds, Notion AI generated the following text summarizing the article:
The minutes of the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting of the Federal Reserve show that most officials favored slowing the pace of interest-rate increases to balance the risks of doing too much or too little to combat inflation. However, some warned against slowing or stopping rate increases too soon. The minutes also suggest that another increase of a quarter point is likely at the next meeting on March 21-22. Fresh U.S. economic reports showed that hiring and retail spending surged in January, which could keep the Fed raising rates longer than anticipated before the latest reports.
Investors’ expectations about the Fed could already be helping the central bank, as interest-rate policies work through financial markets. Changes to the anticipated trajectory of rates, and not just what the Fed does at any meeting, can influence broader financial conditions. Since November, anticipation of a milder interest-rate path led financial conditions to ease somewhat after tightening substantially last year.
Over the past two weeks, however, financial conditions have tightened again as investors anticipate an interval of higher short-term interest rates. Mortgage lenders have reported rates are returning back to 7% in recent days. Two Fed presidents said last week they would have supported a larger half-point rate rise at the last meeting, rather than the quarter-point increase approved.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also said he would support moving as quickly as possible to raise the fed-funds rate to 5.4%. Most other Fed officials have expressed a preference for quarter-point increases, as they believe it gives them the flexibility to respond depending on how the economy evolves.
Overall inflation had slowed in recent months largely because of falling prices of energy and other goods, but large increases in housing costs have slowed, but haven’t yet filtered through to official price gauges. Mr. Powell has nevertheless justified continued rate increases by pointing to still-tight labor markets, elevated wage pressures, and high inflation for labor-intensive services.
While not perfect, this is a really good summarization of a complex article/topic. And the Notion AI tool also provided options for further editing this text, including making the summary longer, rewriting the entire summary, or replacing a section of the article.

2. Changing Tone of Text

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Another great feature of Notion AI is its ability to change the tone of text.
For example, I used the following excerpt from a Washington Post article on winter weather:
A strong, intensifying storm system continued its trek across the Lower 48 early Wednesday, unleashing high-impact winter weather that could cause widespread power outages and grind travel to a halt. At least 75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice storm, blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories.
In addition to hefty precipitation in much of the Midwest and parts of the Plains, there could also be snow in notably low elevations — including in areas that rarely see measurable snowfall. Even the Los Angeles County mountains are included in a rare blizzard warning — the first issued by the National Weather Service office there since 1989. Snow levels could descend to below 1,000 feet elevation as extreme anomalous cold at high altitudes whips up a serious elevation storm.
That same lobe of frigid air aloft is also spawning a surface low that’s marching across the country. Over the Upper Midwest and the northern Plains, up to two feet of snow could fall in what the National Weather Service office in Minneapolis is calling a historic winter storm. It could prove to be a top-5 event in the Twin Cities, where blizzard warnings slice through the metro.
On the southern fringe of the snowfall, mild air a mile above the ground will favor freezing rain, with a quarter- to a half-inch of ice accumulation, or glaze, possible in some areas. Parts of the Corn Belt and Michigan are expected to be hardest hit, including places like Dubuque and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Lansing, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in Michigan.
The storm should finish its cross-country assault in the Northeast late Thursday into Friday, where additional winter storm warnings are in effect for northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
I then used the Notion AI change tone function, and selected the “casual option”:
The Notion AI tool then quickly generated the following text:
Wowza, we’ve got a major storm system heading across the US of A, bringing some serious winter weather that could knock out power and put a stop to travel plans. That’s no joke, folks! It looks like around 75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice storm, blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories, so you know this is serious business.
And get this, it’s not just heavy precipitation we’re talking about – parts of the Midwest and Plains could get snow, and we’re talking about areas that don’t usually see snowfall. The Los Angeles County mountains are even included in a rare blizzard warning – the first one issued by the National Weather Service office there in over 30 years! The snow could even come down to below 1,000 feet elevation. Yikes!
There’s a lobe of frigid air up high that’s causing all of this, and it’s also spawning a surface low that’s going across the country. In the Upper Midwest and the northern Plains, we’re talking up to two feet of snow in what the National Weather Service office in Minneapolis is calling a historic winter storm. That’s right, it could be a top-5 event in the Twin Cities, where blizzard warnings are all over the place.
On the southern edge of the snowfall, freezing rain is likely, and some areas could see a quarter- to a half-inch of ice accumulation. The Corn Belt and Michigan are expected to be hit hard, including places like Dubuque and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, or Lansing, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in Michigan.
This storm is going to finish up with a bang in the Northeast late Thursday into Friday, where more winter storm warnings are in effect for northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Stay safe out there, folks!
While perhaps a bit over the top, it definitely demonstrates the AI tools ability to create content using different tones.

3. Writing Social Media Posts

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While the previous two use cases demonstrate the Notion AI tool’s ability to synthesize and mimic different forms of text, this next example shows its power to create text based off of very short prompts. Specifically, how it can quickly generate social media posts.
I selected the option from the Notion AI menu to write a social media post. It asked for me to enter a prompt to complete this sentence:
Write a social media post about_____________
And I simply entered “spring cleaning.”
In response, it generated the following social media post (including the hashtags):
Spring is here and it’s time for some cleaning! Whether it’s decluttering your home, organizing your closet, or deep cleaning those hard-to-reach areas, now is the perfect time to get started. A little bit of cleaning can go a long way in making your space feel refreshed and renewed. Don’t forget to donate any items you no longer need to charity or recycle them responsibly. Let’s all welcome spring with a clean and organized home!
#springcleaning #declutter #organization #cleanhome #refreshed #renewed #donate #recycle
While not perfect, I didn’t give the AI tool much information, so I was fairly impressed with this output.

4. Writing a Blog Post

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Similar to the last use case, I wanted to further text the Notion AI tool’s ability to generate written content. So I selected the “write a blog post” option and entered the following prompt:
The tool generated the following blog post:

The Benefits of Jogging

Introduction

Jogging is a popular form of exercise that has numerous benefits for both physical and mental health. It is a low-impact exercise that can be done anytime and anywhere, making it a convenient choice for people of all ages and fitness levels. Jogging is also an affordable form of exercise, as it requires no special equipment or membership fees. In this blog post, we will discuss some of the benefits of jogging and how it can improve your overall health and well-being.

Physical Benefits

Jogging is an excellent way to improve cardiovascular health. It helps to strengthen the heart and lungs, lowers blood pressure, and reduces the risk of heart disease. Jogging also helps to build endurance and increase stamina, which can improve athletic performance in other activities.
In addition to its cardiovascular benefits, jogging can also help with weight loss and weight management. It is an effective way to burn calories and boost metabolism, which can help to shed excess pounds and maintain a healthy weight. Jogging also helps to build muscle and tone the body, giving you a leaner and more sculpted appearance.
Jogging is also good for bone health. It helps to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis, a condition that causes bones to become brittle and weak. Regular jogging can also improve joint health and flexibility, reducing the risk of injury and improving overall mobility.

Mental Benefits

Jogging is not just good for physical health, it also has many mental health benefits. It is an excellent way to reduce stress and anxiety, as it releases endorphins that promote feelings of happiness and relaxation. Jogging can also boost self-esteem and confidence, helping to improve overall mood and well-being.
Regular jogging can also improve cognitive function and brain health. It has been shown to improve memory, concentration, and overall brain function, reducing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia in later life. Jogging can also help to improve sleep quality, which is essential for overall health and well-being.

Social Benefits

Jogging can also provide social benefits, as it can be a great way to meet new people and make friends. Joining a jogging group or running club can provide a supportive and motivating environment, where you can connect with other like-minded individuals who share your passion for jogging.

Getting Started with Jogging

If you are new to jogging, it is important to start slowly and gradually build up your endurance. Begin with short, easy runs and gradually increase the distance and intensity over time. It is also important to wear proper shoes and clothing to prevent injury and ensure comfort while jogging.
To make jogging more enjoyable, try listening to music or a podcast while you run. You can also join a jogging group or find a jogging buddy to keep you motivated and accountable.

Conclusion

In conclusion, jogging is an excellent form of exercise that can benefit both physical and mental health. It can improve cardiovascular health, aid in weight management, strengthen bones and joints, reduce stress and anxiety, boost self-esteem and confidence, and improve cognitive function and brain health. Jogging can also provide social benefits, making it a great way to meet new people and make friends. If you are looking for an easy and convenient way to improve your health and well-being, jogging is a great place to start. So put on your running shoes, hit the pavement, and enjoy the many benefits of this simple yet effective form of exercise.
Overall, I was very impressed with how quickly it generated this grammatically correct and well written blog post. It’s worth noting that once the Notion AI tool finishes generating the text, there is a button you can click to make the article longer, which it also does with ease.

5. Finding Action Items

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Last, I wanted to test the “finding action items” tool. To do this, I found a publicly available copy of a county’s meeting minutes over their local water authority (see PDF here):
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I then ran the text through the AI tool, using the “find action items tool”:
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Notion AI generated the following:

• - [ ] Purchase hydrants to replace existing hydrants in the Pinebrook Water System
• - [ ] Complete the activation of the system, replacing the hydrants, and other miscellaneous punch list items to complete the Pinebrook Water Interconnection Project
• - [ ] Engage legal counsel to advise on the assignment from Global Foundries to Onsemi
• - [ ] Request a preliminary meeting with the Poughkeepsie Joint Water Board to discuss issues and concerns regarding the assignment from Global Foundries to Onsemi
• - [ ] Speak to the Deputy County Executive, Ron Hicks in regard to the request to assign the water sale agreement to Onsemi
• - [ ] Consider retaining auditors, RBT to review Onsemi’s financials
• - [ ] Follow up with Ron Haase, Rust & Co. about purchasing the Market Street Plant

Overall, I was very impressed with the ability of the AI tool to generate action items. Since many Notion users (students, office workers, etc.) use Notion for note taking, this seems like an extremely valuable feature.
Conclusion
The examples of Notion’s AI tool make a strong case for adding the Notion AI tool to your writer toolkit! And the examples above only represent a fraction of the total use cases. Notion is already one of the best productivity tools for bloggers, and the addition of Notion AI for writers further cements its place on this list!

Social media and blogging are sometimes seen as in conflict with one another. In fact, they actively complement each other’s roles online, bridging the gap between people looking for information and the creators looking to reach them.

Bloggers use social media to tap into rich new markets across various platforms, using different techniques. From marketing and promoting their blogs to posting content directly to these highly trafficked platforms, social media sites for blogging are a valuable tool and resource.
We explore the best social media platforms for bloggers and unpack some of the information that will help you choose which ones are best to give your blog the reach, exposure, and opportunities to engage it deserves.

Blogging and Social Media

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If blog websites were towns and cities, search engines would be the roads, airports, and train stations that link them together. On a more granular level, if blog posts were individual shops, outlets, and information booths, social media is the bars, restaurants, and social hotspots where people chat, engage, and share. While blogs have been around a lot longer than social media, they’ve always been there for one another. Blogging with social media is a natural fit.

The job of the blog

Bloggers actually need to reach audiences for people to read their blog posts. And, without a means of making those readers aware of a blog post, getting onto their screens can be tough. So bloggers employ various means to get the word out about their content. From email marketing and SEO for bloggers to paid advertising, digital marketing, and, yes, social media, bloggers have many options for getting the word out.
Before social media, bloggers relied almost exclusively on blogging platforms like – Ghost and Blogger – and Google to get their blogs into the market. And these methods were beginning to get more demanding and competitive.

Enter social media

Then social media came along. Bloggers didn’t completely abandon the tried-and-tested methods – Google, email, and blogging platforms are still the most popular mechanisms to market and promote blog content. But the many new channels and opportunities that came with this digital revolution suddenly meant bloggers could tap into an incredibly vast global audience faster and more affordably.
Social media has grown into a dominant internet resource that almost everyone with an internet connection has or currently uses. Over 4.7 billion people (out of the 7.8 billion on Earth) use social media daily or intermittently. That’s almost 60% of the planet, making the communication method the biggest market in history.

Blogging meets social media

Bloggers realized the potential these sites and platforms had for their blogs a long time ago. They continue to use blogging with social media to reach into markets that Google isn’t able to give them access to.
While Google decides who gets the most exposure based on bloggers creating content that abides by their rules, with social media, anyone can get high-level exposure – it all depends on you – and the social media platform you choose to do it with matters.

What Bloggers Use Social Media For

Social media is used primarily by bloggers for marketing their blogs, promoting posts, and advertising their brands. But content creators can use social media for a multitude of other things. From adding links to their blog websites in their bios to including links to individual blogs in posts and even publishing whole blogs on some platforms, social media sites for blogging are dependable resources in a competitive industry.
Almost every business uses social media to market its goods and services, and bloggers are doing the same. Social media also allows bloggers to connect with their markets and engage with them on a meaningful level. Many platforms offer useful features that let bloggers sell their content, collect paid subscribers, and even make money with them.
Here are some of the benefits of using the best social media platforms for bloggers to boost your blog.

Engaging with new audiences

Growing your readership is crucial to scale and sustain your blog. Social media’s vast size means you can now tap into rich, expansive markets that were once out of reach. Having a social media presence means that people can actively find you away from Google and that your blog content will slide into the feeds of many more people than you’re currently reaching.

Saving – and making – money

Blogging with social media is free – mostly. Signing up to social media platforms and creating a profile for your brand or pages for your blogs usually won’t cost you anything. Once you do start to think about paid advertising on social media, you’ll soon realize the impressive returns you can get for paying to promote.
You can also use social media to make money for your blog. From monetizing groups to selling merchandise and participating in affiliate partner programs, social media offers excellent ROI.

Promoting your blog

Nothing beats social media for sheer exposure. With so many social media sites for blogging to choose from and the ability to have a presence on all of them, once you’ve got your pages, profiles, and feeds up and running and boasting your content, you’ll enjoy many new visitors to your blog.

As a powerful traffic driver

Aside from the extra pageviews and impressions you notice, the diverse blend of new niches, different target audiences’ locations, and demographics that social media delivers make it a powerful ally. Marketing is easy too. Most platforms have the marketing and analytics tools you need to understand who is reading your blog or visiting it and why.

As a secondary blogging option

Some bloggers aren’t necessarily keen to set up a website or restrict their content to one blogging platform. Instead, they can use social media as a blogging alternative. While you can’t blog on all of the best social media platforms for bloggers, some do allow you to post content as descriptions, in comments, or as much smaller ‘microblogs.’ This content can then double as a blog in place of a regular, published one.
Of course, nothing beats traditional blogging as the most lucrative blogging option, but social media platforms make for a great alternative.

To learn and conduct research

Social media is also a great place to collect data and information, learn about markets, and discover what your readers want. Two-way communication across a regular blog post can be a big challenge, mostly limited to email and comments. However, social media is designed to allow people to communicate efficiently and comprehensively.
Bloggers can use social media to discover new content ideas, learn about their readers to deliver better content, conduct surveys, and answer any questions these audiences may have.
Best Social Media Platforms for Bloggers

1. Tumblr

Active users: 135 million Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: 4,096 (Blocks)
With over 500 million blogs hosted on Tumblr, the microblogging platform has made an impressive comeback and continues to take significant strides. Easy to use and the perfect community for connecting with an engaged audience, Tumblr allows bloggers to drive traffic to their blog sites quickly and easily.
- Best for: Bloggers who want to post shorter blog content on-platform & for those starting out while looking to connect with people with similar interests.
- Top niches: Content Creation; Writing; Anything, really.
- Used for: Increasing your blog’s exposure & directing more traffic to your site quickly & easily.
- Top feature(s): Integrability with WordPress blogs by adding a Tumblr button.

2. Facebook

Active users: 2.7 billion+ Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: 63,206 (Posts)
Facebook – of course. The social media pioneer and digital titan reaches a staggering number of people, and almost every brand, influencer, and serious content creator has an account. Facebook is ground-zero for blog marketing 101 and ranks among the top social media sites for blogging. Create a Facebook page for your blog to promote and advertise your content directly to the world.
- Best for: Bloggers who need a mainstream social media presence. This is a must-have for any legitimate content creator.
- Top niches: DIY; Moms & Parenting; Fashion & Beauty.
- Used for: Sharing your blog & marketing it to a vast audience across different groups, markets & regions.
- Top feature(s): Facebooks Groups & Facebook Pages, allowing you to create a dedicated page for your blog.
Check out these useful articles on how to monetize your Facebook groups and how to start a blog on Facebook.

3. Pinterest

Active users: 455 million Can blog on-platform? No Character limit: 500 (Pin descriptions)
Pinterest is an exciting prospect blogging with social media. Bloggers looking to introduce a visual element to their blog’s presence count on Pinterest as a different option to Instagram. The platform is also a visual search engine that allows bloggers to blend their blog posts with attractive visual brand elements. Boost interest and add an appealing touch to your offerings with this uniquely innovative platform.
- Best for: Bloggers who need to generate more traffic through enriched imagery & those looking to share the visual components of their brand.
- Top niches: Art; Photography; Design.
- Used for: Driving high-quality traffic to your blog – for free & generating ideas.
- Top feature(s): Pinterest boards & eCommerce. Pinterest can be integrated with an eCommerce store using external links to websites or platforms.
Bloggers can create boards with imagery and other visual elements that support and enhance the blog’s content. Visit our comprehensive guide for how to use Pinterest for blogging.

4. Medium

Active users: 85 – 100 million Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: Unlimited
Medium is possibly the most ‘native’ of the social media sites for blogging. The writing-focused social media platform is popular among bloggers as it operates as a blogging platform. Bloggers can post directly on Medium or import their published blogs. You can even include your blog posts in various Medium publications.
- Best for: Bloggers looking to establish their writing and brand in a high-level writing social community while earning extra income.
- Top niches: Blogging; Writing; Digital Marketing.
- Used for: Generating revenue for blog content & articles posted on the platform.
- Top feature(s): The ability to republish your WordPress blogs on the platform by importing your posts & Medium Lists.

5. Instagram

Active users: 1 billion+ Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: 2,200 (Descriptions)
Instagram is incredibly popular among bloggers operating in various high-value niches. The home of the ‘influencer,’ Instagram is the go-to for bloggers hoping to make it big. The Lifestyle niche thrives on Instagram, backed by big-money food, fashion, travel, beauty, health, and fitness brands. Creators are leveraging the platform to market their content and search for potential sponsorship opportunities.
While your posts will still shape up as image or video-based, you can link your blog to the bio of your Instagram profile. Bloggers can also add written content of up to 2,200 characters (around 500 words) into their posts’ descriptions, though links to blogs can only go into bios.
- Best for: Influencer bloggers & those looking to engage visually with their audiences around a focused niche topic.
- Top niches: Travel, Food, Health & Fitness.
- Used for: Tapping into specific, younger niche markets & growing a following around your brand.
- Top feature(s): Instagram Stories, Reels, & the ability to post links here.
This guide on how to start a successful Instagram blog will get you up and running in no time.

6. LinkedIn

Active users: 875 million Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: 120,000 (articles)
LinkedIn is the ‘professional’ social media platform for bloggers looking to promote their blogs in a more business-focused environment. LinkedIn works similarly to Facebook, allowing you to include links to your blog in various posts, but bloggers can add far more detail around a blog’s authority and expertise potential.
You can use your LinkedIn profile as a CV for your blog, opening the doors for sponsorship opportunities or attracting potential clients for whom to create content. The platform also allows you to create entire articles ‘written’ by your blog’s page.
- Best for: Bloggers with goals to scale their business online. Reaching out to a business-minded community in a professional environment & finding potential clients.
- Top niches: Finance, Business, Wealth & Careers.
- Used for: Showcasing your authority & expertise while connecting on a more professional level.
- Top feature(s): LinkedIn Articles, where you can essentially blog long-form content directly to the community. Google won’t see this as duplicate content, either.
If you’re considering using LinkedIn as a blogging platform, ensure you’re doing so for the right reasons.

7. YouTube

Active Users: 2 billion+ Can blog on-platform? No Character limit: 5,000 (Video descriptions)
YouTube is another social media titan that, while not the first blogging with social media option for most bloggers, can become a powerful engagement channel, traffic driver, and trust-builder for your blog. YouTube is the home of video and, with video engagement rates far higher than written content, makes for the ideal community-building platform.
Bloggers can break down long-form blogs into short, bite-sized videos, optimize for SEO (YouTube is the world’s 2nd-largest search engine), and even generate revenue on the platform.
- Best for: Bloggers offering instructional or ‘how-to’ blog content. YouTube is also optimal for directly engaging with watchers & asking them to visit your blog.
- Top niches: Education; Music; Reviews.
- Used for: Developing a video alternative to your blog (especially if you want to convert your blogs into video scripts) and building an audience for your brand.
- Top feature(s): Embedding YouTube videos in your blog posts & the ability to monetize YouTube video content by directing people to videos through sponsored content & display ads.
Read this article if you’re still undecided about the potential of YouTube as one of the social media sites for blogging that aligns best with your social media strategy.

8. TikTok

Active Users: 834 million Can blog on-platform? No Character limit: 2,200 (Descriptions)
TikTok hasn’t been around for long. But the platform is making waves as one of the fastest-growing social media options around. Creators are thriving on the China-based short-form video platform, and bloggers can get in on the action, too – both to drive traffic to their blog and make money.
TikTok’s algorithm works differently from other platforms in that anyone – even those with very few followers – can enjoy the same level of post exposure as top influencers. The platform lets you link your other social media profiles, and you can add your blog’s link to your bio.
- Best for: Bloggers looking to access a younger, more diverse audience and to promote their blog through more accessible short-form videos.
- Top niches: Entertainment; Current Trends; Young Lifestyle.
- Used for: Cross-promoting your blog across other platforms and gaining more exposure for your blogging brand within a younger market.
- Top feature(s): The TikTok Creator Fund is helping users with large followings to earn healthy revenues.
Making money on TikTok is becoming a popular option for the social media sites for blogging that pay. The TikTok Creator Fund, for example, is netting content creators (including bloggers) good income. TikTok Creator Next takes things to the ‘next’ level. This article will tell you everything you need to know about it.

9. Twitter

Active Users: 354 million Can blog on-platform? Yes Character limit: 280 (Tweets)
While Twitter has been through some ups and downs recently, that doesn’t make it any less of a top social media platform contender for your blog. The 280-character limit on Tweets means that Twitter users spend less time on the platform than they do on others, but you can still use the ‘Twitterverse’ to make a significant impact, driving good traffic to your site.
Bloggers can post links directly to their blogs, create ‘Twitter lists’ so that their Tweets appear on the feeds of the people they want them to, and use hashtags to target the right markets. Bloggers operating in the news and current developments niches can count on Twitter to help them hit their exposure and engagement goals.
- Best for: Bloggers keen to use social media to engage with established audiences, keep them updated, and invite followers to visit their blog through a pinned link in their Twitter profile.
- Top niches: Technology; News; Economics.
- Used for: Engaging with followers in real-time and building a community around your blog.
- Top feature(s): Unique hashtags allow you to segment and target your posts & you can simply tweet links directly to your blog posts automatically.

What About The Others?

There are many other best social media platforms for bloggers that you can tap into to achieve their blogging ambitions. Some are geared towards specific audiences, others are ideal for bloggers in particular niches, and some of them aren’t considered social media platforms per se, but they still perform a similar function.
- Reddit, with its 500 million active users, will let you blog on the user-generated content (UGC) platform, providing a means for the forum’s users to reach your content with ease.
- Quora is a great place to earn traffic by answering questions and posting your blog’s link on the Q&A-centric platform.
- Snapchat is another video-driven platform that makes for an exciting storytelling space in which a blog series targeted at under-20s will thrive.
- WhatsApp is quickly evolving into a social mecca.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking to use social media to boost your blog’s exposure, access new markets, drive fresh traffic to your site, or generate additional blog revenue, best social media platforms for bloggers represent some of the top tools with which to do it. With audiences spanning a wide range of demographics, regions, and spending potential, social media is an affordable (and mostly free) promotion tool that boosts engagement and gives your blog a valuable presence.
You can set up pages and profiles for your blog on all of these social media sites for blogging if you want, but ensure that you do so with purpose. A neglected or incomplete profile can do more harm to your blog than good, and ignoring user interactions can cause significant problems down the line. Choose platforms frequented by your niche, align your blog’s brand with your social media presence, and ensure you take advantage of these innovative platforms’ unique features and tools.
Social media can be a powerful partner for your blog – so make sure you’re getting the most out of what blogging with social media has to offer.

Please review part list for any errors or suggestions. Will be hooked up to TV for watching steaming services and light gaming. Currently using my 10 year old gaming PC but it is starting to fail. Parts are too old to upgrade so this is basically a new build. Reusing the case and I already have the hard drives from other PCs to repurpose for this build. The 3060 is probably overkill for what I need but the price wasn't that bad and I'm planning on future proofing. Want to be able to watch 4k hockey streams. I play some games on this PC, but I have a 3080 build for intensive games. Located in USA.
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-12600K 3.7 GHz 10-Core Processor	$199.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-U12S chromax.black 55 CFM CPU Cooler	$89.95 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI PRO B760-P WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$147.62 @ Amazon
Memory	G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$38.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	-
Storage	Samsung 870 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$43.24 @ MemoryC
Storage	Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive	$27.75 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card	$289.99 @ Amazon
Case	BitFenix Shadow ATX Mid Tower Case	-
Power Supply	SeaSonic FOCUS GX 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$132.98 @ Newegg
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit	$119.99 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1090.50
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-27 12:55 EDT-0400

Toontown community,
This document contains a list of ideas that I believe would enhance Toontown’s gameplay or fundamentally change Toontown for the better. I started collecting these ideas in December 2021 with the release of Toontown Rewritten’s Sellbot Field Offices. I wrote the majority of this document in early 2022 but became hesitant to publish this document. Since, Toontown Rewritten has implemented some and I have done my best to remove those suggestions. Apologies if any suggestions are already in Corporate Clash. I do not follow or play Corporate Clash, so I am unaware of the game’s features. Regardless, I wrote the following ideas with Toontown Rewritten in mind; however, I believe any Toontown server should consider them because any improvement to the Toontown community is better than none.
I wrote the suggestions below independently of each other, so some may overlap or contradict each other.
If it matters, I joined Toontown Rewritten during the alpha testing after playing Toontown since 2007. I played consistently until the past few years when my availability decreased significantly with school and work. The introduction of the Field Offices into Toontown Rewritten inspired me to start this project. I believe the Field Offices indicate Toontown Rewritten is ready to start taking more risks and become a more modern game, so rather than baselessly make the request, I wanted to provide my input as to how I would move the game in a modern direction. I firmly believe Toontown Rewritten should maintain three principles:

1. Toontown targets a family-friendly audience
2. All new additions should stylistically match the original game
3. Toontown Rewritten should not fear fundamentally changing the game to prolong the game’s life

Best,
TheMcMuffin

Section 1: New Features

1.1 Custom SpeedChat Phrases

• Add Custom SpeedChat phrases to the Cattlelog.
• Very costly and time-locked.
• Have moderation review every phrase and store them in an “acceptable” database
  • If a submitted phrase already exists in the database, then automatically approve the request.
• Store custom phrases in the “My Phrases” section on the SpeedChat panel
• Allow users to attach animations to these phrases.

1.2 Reimagine the Battle Dance

• Significantly decrease the time dancing
• Show each Toon dance as they are featured
• Start with Top Toons
  • “Most Gag Damage Dealt,” “Least Laff Lost,” “Most Rewards Used”
  • “Most Jokes Collected” for Field Offices, “Most Pie/Safe/Evidence/Seltzer Damage Dealt” for Boss Battles
• Next, show new gags earned and Cog suit promotions
• Then show each user their Toon’s experience increases

1.3 Crying Shopkeepers in the Street

• When a Cog takes over a building, the shopkeeper should be outside on the street crying.
• When approached, the NPC will say phrases like “Please save my shop!”
• The NPC will reenter the building after the Toons defeat the building, and the NPC will walk out after the Cog enters, but before the building falls.

1.4 Harder Cog Buildings

• Increase the difficulty of buildings during cog invasions with low-level cogs
  • Embrace the new cog level rules of Field Offices.
  • For example, Flunkies should reach level 10 in buildings in Donald’s Dreamland during Flunky invasions.
• Introduce advanced cog buildings that reward a one or two-star SOS, just like Field Offices in Toontown Online
  • Top floors should have new designs and be harder than a normal top-floor battle.
  • Should only occur on significant Toon buildings that Toons visit during ToonTasks (playground story only).
    • Cogs are targeting the NPCs training Toons.

1.5 Replace the Cattlelog with an Online Store

• Convert Clarabelle’s Cattlelog to a modern, online marketplace.
  • A “mooketplace,” perhaps.
• Offer all in-game items for sale in a limited quantity
• Randomly restock items where rarer items restock less often
• Offer limited-quantity item drops to introduce limited edition items

1.6 New ToonTasks

While new playgrounds would add significantly to the game, new ToonTasks based on currently existing elements could occupy the fanbase while larger projects receive attention. These ToonTasks should not have a preset order so Toons can choose their own path.

1.601 Add New Cog and Building Radar ToonTasks

• Near the end of each playground’s task line alongside the teleportation access
• Add a new task for each street for each radar
  • For Toontown Central, add three cog radar tasks (one for each street) and three building radar tasks (one for each street)
• These tasks shouldn’t be prerequisites to progress to the next playground, just unlocked after completing a playground and perpetually available.
  • Only street HQ Officers should distribute these tasks to their respective streets.
• Tasks should be reasonably difficult for each playground but serve as a thorough tour through each street.
  • Introduce the Toon to previously unused NPCs, and all tasks should require completion on that street.
• Remove the current Cog counting system, or adjust it to infinitely increase upward to show lifetime Cog interactions.

1.602 Custom “Just for Fun”

• Rather than HQ officers offering random just for fun tasks, only offer one
• Selecting this task should open a panel to build a task
• Select the desired reward, then choose from the available ToonTasks
  • For example, I can choose anywhere from 100 to 12000 jellybeans; however, the options will scale (x cogs, x buildings of y+ stories, x boss battles, etc.)
    • The scale should not be linear, so harder ToonTasks have much greater rewards
  • Or any Toon effect for X days
  • Or a clothing ticket

1.603 Gardening

• Still require the Toon to purchase the planter boxes from the Cattlelog
• Unlock these ToonTasks during Daisy Gardens
  • A new building in Daisy Gardens, themed around gardening supplies could source the ToonTasks.
  • Alternatively, simply the Toon Headquarters
• The first ToonTask rewards the Tin shovel and another for the Small watering can
• Additional ToonTasks are unlocked when the Toon gains enough shovel or watering can experience
• Once a Toon acquires a new shovel, the Toon should learn each new flower bean combination from a new ToonTask.
  • This solves the plothole where users simply look up combinations online.

1.604 Fishing

• When a new Toon first approaches a fisherperson NPC, the Toon should receive a new ToonTask to recover a Twig fishing rod.
• After completing the ToonTask, the Toon unlocks fishing
• Toons unlock more ToonTasks during Donald’s Dock, all distributed from fishing NPC Toons, each ending with the recovery of a better fishing rod

1.605 Gag

• When a Toon reaches the experience for the next gag in a gag track, require the Toon to complete a ToonTask to unlock the next gag.
  • The Toon will not gain any more experience until completing the ToonTask
• Gag shopkeepers should distribute these tasks.
• Each ToonTask should match the difficulty of the gag level rather than a specific playground.
• These ToonTasks should not require notable achievements that would break popular user experiences, such as defeating boss Cogs.
• Each ToonTask should focus on the lore of the gag track and why the gag exists.

1.606 Sellbot Suit Parts

• Only offered from Daisy Gardens Toon Headquarters, but regardless of progress.
• The ToonTasks should require completing factories and focus on Sellbot Headquarters’ formation.
• Allow Toons with any laff to receive the ToonTasks.
• Do not make these ToonTasks mandatory to progress into Minnie’s Melodyland.

1.607 Cog Headquarters

• Only offered from the respective playground.
• ToonTasks would tailor to the Toon’s current Cog suit and focus on the lore of the particular Cog.
• These ToonTasks can exist as “Just For Fun” or a storyline.
  • The Just For Fun ToonTasks could reward promotion materials for speeding up the leveling process.
  • The storyline ToonTasks could simply convert the current process into a dialogue-driven story where Toons progress their suits.
• One Task might require defeating the boss five times, with intermediate steps during the promotions rewarding suit points.

1.7 Replace All In-Game Achievements with Shtickers

• Each shticker should have a unique drawing representing the difficulty and activity.
• Each page could detail how many shtickers the Toon must collect before the next laff boost, where some might not reward any.
• Easy, moderate, hard, and extreme
• Create shticker pages for all activities
• Convert all fishing, gardening, racing, and golfing trophies into shtickers
• Convert all Cog suit benchmarks into shtickers (levels 12, 15, 20, 30, 40, and 50)
• Add a shticker book page for every playground where every shticker corresponds to a completed ToonTask.
  • Include other new shtickers, like “Playground completed” and “Visit every shopkeeper in Toontown Central.”
  • Allow Toons to “reset” a ToonTask stamp
    • Once reset, the ToonTask will reappear in Toon Headquarters.
    • Allows Toons to redo a ToonTask as a “Just For Fun” ToonTask without a reward.
• Add a shticker page for every trolley game where some shtickers require solo or team accomplishments.
  • “Score a Perfect Ring Game” versus “Score a Team Perfect Ring Game.”
• Add a shticker page for all Cog headquarters, including the suits and other achievements like “Hit the CFO with a safe” or “Stun the VP with a pie.”
• Add shticker pages for fishing, gardening, racing, and golfing that correspond to the current trophies and species collection.
• Additional shticker pages could include party planning, doodle training, cattlelog purchases, gags, and limited holiday ToonTasks.
• Show a Toons’ stickers on their profile so users can see other Toons’ accomplishments.
• OPTIONAL: All ToonTasks could instead reward shtickers unique to the task, like the Sellbot Task Force, which upon collecting a certain amount, Toons receive with larger bean pouches, gag bags, and laff points
  • This would not eliminate the ToonTasks that currently award these upgrades; they would now only reward a shticker

1.8 Totally Remove Disney References

• Toontown Rewritten has operated safely for 9 years, and the team has carefully ensured compliance under Disney copyright.
• The landscape may change quickly in the future, especially with Mickey Mouse potentially entering the public domain in 2024.
  • This might reignite Disney’s attempt to reign in characters right before any public access and enforce their trademarks on other characters.
• Toontown Rewritten generally does not acknowledge the characters outside of playground names and playground iconography.
  • Toontown Rewritten should finally remove these references from the game.
  • Their removal will not alter the gameplay nor affect the style of the game.
  • The cinema shops should also receive new names.
• Some playgrounds might not need new names, just new imagery.
  • Goofy Speedway can simply remain a “goofy” speedway and Daisy Gardens is a garden of daisies. Acorn Acres should officially drop the “Chip ‘n Dale’s” and the gag shops either need a new name or similar treatment to the speedway.
• Toontown Rewritten could host a community vote to rename Donald’s Dock, Donald’s Dreamland, Minnie’s Melodyland, Clarabelle’s Cattlelog, and Match Minnie.
• Toontown Central should also receive a slight makeover to remove the Mickey Mouse head shape, potentially reverting to a style similar to the original playground.

1.9 Improve the Vice President Pie Fight

• The pie round should start identically to the current pie fight where Toons push the Vice President (VP) back toward the platform.
  • Remove the predetermined max-roll points and allow Toons to push further.
  • Make the VP awaken only when the pies slow, but require a steady stream of pies to maintain a stun.
• Once the VP reaches the platform, the new portion of the battle should begin.
  • The platform may require an expansion in size.
• Toons should continue throwing pies to push the VP over the edge, but the VP should target and roll toward Toons in a similar manner to the Chief Executive Officer rolling over tables.
  • Throwing pies at the VP’s backside will maintain the stun, but push the VP forward instead.
• Toons continue stunning when the undercarriage opens.
• Every time the VP is stunned during the pie round, the VP will start moving slower.
  • Alternatively, incorporate throwing pies at the tracks to slow the speed.
  • The VP will not move while stunned, only roll when pushed by pies
• At any point during the battle, if a Toon falls or is pushed by the VP off the platform, the Toon returns to the playground sad.
• Toons win the pie round when they manage to push the VP off the platform from any direction.

1.10 Require Planting Each Flower

• Remove gardening’s experience based on the shovel usage.
• Instead, require that the Toon grow each flower a specific number of times before unlocking the next flower in that family.
• New flowers would still require the appropriate shovel, which would only unlock once the Toon has mastered all of that shovel’s flowers.
• This prevents Toons from only planting one flower ten times to simplify the process.

1.11 The Resistance Headquarters

• Add a hub, canonically at the intersection of all districts where Toons gather to form boarding groups.
  • Perhaps, only in Welcome Valley.
• Toons can create any boarding groups in the game from within the headquarters.
• Toons can browse the central board to view and join open groups.
• To create a group, the lead Toon must have teleportation access to the headquarters and to the playground or Cog headquarters.
  • All other Toons will travel with the leader back to the location and district of the building or Field Office.
• To create a group, a Toon must create a group the normal way next to a Cog building or trolley and the group panel will have a button to “Teleport to Headquarters.”

1.12 Celebrate More Cultural Holidays

• Toontown does not exist in any one place on Earth.
• Create more cultural clothing so users can dress their Toons to resemble their real-world personalities better.
  • Avoid clothing items that hold religious or cultural significance that might be abused.
• Host more holidays throughout the year to introduce users to other cultures throughout the world.
  • For example, a Diwali festival of lights
• Offer shirts based on country flags.

1.13 Move the Fourth of July

• Move the holiday to April 19 as a celebration of the victory over the cogs after the Toon Council Presidential Election.

Section 2: Quality of Life

2.1 General

2.101 Always Run Fast

• Add an option to let users prefer fast-running on the first up-arrow tap
• Double-arrow presses would slow your Toon’s running speed

2.102 Toon Rewrite History

• Add a button to the Toon panel on the friend list to show previous appearances of the Toon before current rewrites and name changes.

2.103 Gags Price Inflation

• Increase gag prices to match the gag level
  • i.e., one jellybean per cupcake, 6 jellybeans per birthday cake
• Prices should linearly decline to 1 jellybean per gag once the Toon has increased the skill level to the next gag in that track

2.104 New Silly Teams

• Make teams provide ease-of-life updates
  • “Free Gags,” “Free Fishing,” “Easier Just for Fun Tasks”
• Strategy advantages
  • “All Cogs 10% weaker.”
  • “All Gags 10% stronger.”
• Or just for fun changes
  • “Zero gravity”

2.105 Fish Variants

• Create unique textures for every fish species, rather than all fish of a type looking identical

2.106 Cog Variants

• Create “masculine” and “feminine” variants for each Cog, including the bosses, or simply a variety of body types.
• Do not gender the variants, and allow for more variants based on future events.
• The variants should closely resemble the original, with accessories or slight cosmetic adjustments.

2.107 Carry 6 ToonTasks

• After completing the Donald’s Dreamland task line, all HQ officers should offer a rare, very difficult new task to carry 6 ToonTasks
• The new two slots should only allow Just For Fun or event tasks, capping storyline and other ToonTasks at 4

2.108 Cog Building Radar

• Show the number of floors for each building on the street when viewing the map.

2.109 Rewrite Gag Trees’ Purpose

• All gags sold at gag shops should be organic and made with the finest resources.
• Gag trees should only amplify a Toon’s personal ability to use those gags
  • The oxygen produced by gag trees is sillier than normal oxygen
  • When grown around a Toon’s home, the Toon gains more experience when they sleep at night
• A Toon must plant all gags in a gag track to achieve maximum exposure to that gag track’s oxygen and greater damage.
• Allow Toons to plant any gag in any spot, regardless of gag level
  • Prevent Toons from planting more than one level 7 gag
  • Toons can only pick these gags; they will not have any increased damage
• In the 8th tree spot, allow Toons to plant any gag level 6 or below or another level 7 gag of the same track.
  • i.e., a Toon could plant all seven trap gags and a second railroad track.
  • i.e., a Toon could plant all seven trap gags, and a birthday cake.
• Trees should restock every four hours, but any Toon can pick the gags once per hour.
  • For example, after a building, all four Toons can visit one of their estates and share their Gag trees

2.110 Add Resistance Rank to Toon Profiles

• Somewhere on the Toon profile, show the Toon’s resistance badge and rank.

2.111 Toon Ages

• Somewhere on the Toon profile, show the age of the Toon to identify long-time players.

2.112 Remove “Check Back Later”

• When talking to an NPC, remove the click requirement for “Check back later if you need a ToonTask.”
• Prevent Toons from holding up an NPC if the user leaves the computer or crashes.

2.113 ToonTask History

• Add a history portion to all ToonTasks
• Show the previous dialogue of the ToonTask and steps
• Lets users recall the story of a ToonTask if they took a break from the game during a ToonTask

2.114 Toon Effect Bonuses

• Add bonuses while Toon effects are active
• i.e., a small Toon has increased dodging but reduced gag strength while a big Toon has reduced dodging but increased gag strength
• Makes Toon effects more than cosmetic features

2.115 Add Select All to SpeedChat

• Add the “select all” keyboard command (Ctrl/Cmd+A) to speed up deleting everything a user has written in chat.

2.116 Friend Note Roledex

• Add a “notes” section to every friend on the friend list.
• Limit the characters (maybe 50) to add a small note to remember the Toon.
• Reduce confusion after Toon rewrites or long hiatuses from the game.

2.117 Icon-Focused GUI

• To increase accessibility for non-English speaking individuals, replace words in GUI with icons when possible.
• Important examples are:
  • The dance sequence screen and the “Go Home” button in the shticker book.

2.118 Toon Panel ToonTasks

• Add a Toon’s current ToonTasks to their Toon panel so other users can see their ToonTasks.

2.2 Battle

2.201 A Toon has Left the Battle

• If a Toon disconnects, leaves, or goes sad in a group activity, whisper a notification to all group members
  • Boss battles during the mini-game floors of a Field Office or anywhere in a cog facility.
  • Unnecessary in street or building battles

2.202 Fix Facility and Boss Incrementing on Dance Screens

• Some ToonTask counts do not increment during the dance sequence
  • Bosses defeated, buildings defeated, etc.

2.203 Standardize Level 7 gag use

• Aside from high dive, Toons use the other level 7 gags in sequence except for the wedding cake.
• Even if the Cogs are lured, the wedding cake waits, so the lured cogs do not move back until the wedding cake hits.
• Make the wedding cake in sequence to eliminate this delay

2.204 Allow Toons to Cancel Joining a Cog Battle

• Until a Toon joins a street battle, the user should be able to cancel joining as long as they did not first approach the Cog.
• Most relevant when Toons use gags before you can join the battle, or you accidentally touch the hitbox in a cog headquarters

2.205 Cogs Should Jump Dodge all Drop

• Either explain why the drop falls behind the cog
  • Operator error? Cog manipulation?
• Or have the dodge jump, similar to how Cogs dodge the low-level drop.

2.206 Rebalance Wedding Cake Damage

• The wedding cake should have total damage of 400
  • Currently, the wedding cake can do up to 480 total on four cogs, dealing 120 damage per cog)
• Split the damage between the cogs
  • 4: -100 each, 3: -120 each, 2: -140 each, 1: -180
• Incentivize using wedding on less than four cogs
  • Toons should not have the ability only to hit two of four Cogs with a wedding cake

2.207 Gags and Lured Cogs

• Geysers should either miss lured Cogs or move the placement of the geyser model when the cogs are lured.
• If a Toon uses drop on a lured cog, the cog should awaken from the noise and move back.

2.208 Redo Trapdoor and Quicksand

• Trapdoor and quicksand are basically Toon portals with a door or quicksand on top.
• Toons should deploy them similarly to Toon portals, rather than with a button.

2.209 Drop and Remote Controls

• Using a drop gag on a remote-controlled cog should break the antenna and end the remote access.

2.210 V2.0 Attacks

• When a v2.0 Cog’s outer shell is destroyed, the skelecog should attack the same turn.

2.211 View ToonTasks and Gags in Battles

• While in a Cog or Boss battle, allow users to use the keyboard commands to view gags and ToonTasks

2.212 Replace Presentation

• In the real world, business people make lots of presentations
• Why is presentation a Toon gag rather than a Cog attack?
• I do not have any recommendations for a replacement

2.213 Presentation Accuracy

• Presentation should have 100% accuracy to make using it significantly more helpful than Hypno goggles.

2.214 Add Gag Stun Visual Indicators

• With the addition of battle indicators, add more to show when Cogs are stunned.
• Add an in-game element to the behind-the-scenes battle mechanics of Cog stunning.

2.215 Multiple Drops

• For big weight, safe, and piano, if multiple Toons use these gags on the same Cog, they will each hit or miss independently of each other

2.3 Cog Facilities

2.301 Change the CEO Track Indicator

• The CEO’s tracks should slowly emit more smoke until a large smoke cloud follows around the CEO.
• The CEO could then exclaim something about the tracks malfunctioning to indicate to the Toons to stop golfing.

2.302 Promotion Indicator

• A small indicator in a corner to display the total Mertis/Cogbucks/Jury Notices/Stock Options collected so far
  • Only in cog facilities

2.303 Collect Pies in the VP

• Require that Toons collect pies from the SOS Toon, like evidence in the CJ battle

2.304 Mingling Cogs in Facilities

• The cogs should wander and mingle in all cog facilities similar to the Sellbot Factory.
• Cogs should also talk with each other as they exit elevators in cog buildings and Field Offices.
• Cogs in the Bossbot Golf Courses could be golfing

2.305 VP Pie Accuracy Visual

• Only pies that hit the VP while the VP is stunned should have a yellow splat.
• Currently, yellow splats occur while the VP is not stunned

2.306 Increase VP Rolling

• The VP should roll forward faster to increase the difficulty and incentivize stunning faster.
• Could then remove the roll distance caps, so VP battles feel more natural

2.307 Add Maps to Facilities

• Similarly to Mover Mazes, have the maps covered until you enter the area
• Show other Toons’ locations

2.308 Convert all Boss Battle Dialogue to Cut Scenes

• Similar to the Field Office dialogue
• Include the skip button if skip if all Toons skip
• The VP dialogue should be a scene rather than requiring Toons to click through the dialogue.

2.309 Give the CFO an Attack All

• Either a jump or something similar to the CEO’s “Fore.”

2.310 Add Visual Indicators for all Boss Attacks

• VP swipes, CFO gear throws, and the CEO’s “Fore” should also show the exclamation indicator like jumps.

2.311 Swipe Attacks

• The boss cogs should swipe at anyone nearby, not just Toons running into the undercarriage.
• The CEO should learn to swipe

2.312 Expand Door Open Areas

• Make Cog facility doors work like real-world sliding doors
• Start to open the door when a Toon is within a few steps of the door rather than touching

2.4 Rewards

2.401 Increase Boss Battle Rewards for Maxed Suits

• Reward Toons with maxed cog suits double rewards
  • 4 SOS Toons
  • 4 Unites
  • 2 Summons
  • 4-10 fires
• Increase the supply of rewards to increase the use
• Consider reducing storage capacity across all rewards

2.402 New SOS Restock Animation

• For restocks:
  • Either a new animation similar to the Boiler stealing gags
  • The SOS Toon uses a unite that only affects the Toons in battle

2.403 Rework Cog Summons

• Maintain the ”summon an individual cog” and “cog invasion” of each type
• Convert all building summons into 1-star to 5-star summons
• Collect multiple for each type - perhaps 10 for buildings (50 total), 5 for cogs (160 total), and 1 for invasions (32 total)
• Distribute them similarly to remotes where you might get one invasion and one building or three cogs.

2.404 Boss Battles Should Reward Points

• Allow Toons to earn Merits/Cog Bucks/Jury Notices/Stock Options from VP/CFO/CJ/CEO battles.
• Primarily helpful during resistance tasks
• Do not award suit points when the Toon is ready for promotion

2.405 Remote Visuals

• Make remotes and their antennas very visually different
• The colors are difficult to distinguish in a rush
• Requiring users to rely on only color could create an accessibility issue.

2.406 Faulty SOS Restocks

• Restock SOS cards should have a chance the NPC is out of gags and cannot restock the Toons.

Section 3: Technical

3.1 Account Consolidation

• Replace usernames with account emails
• Migrate all of one user’s current accounts under the same master email
• One ToonGuard verification will cover all of a user’s Toons
• When a user logs in, have the user select an estate to enter
• The game would then proceed normally
• Allow a user to open another Toontown window with a simple button on the launcher.
• Allow users to log onto multiple Toons on the same account – even two from the same estate.
• Rewrite the friend system so you now add accounts, not individual Toons
  • Avoid losing a friend due to a Toon deletion or the user never playing that Toon again
  • Receive log-in notifications any time that user is online, regardless of the Toon
• Sort friends by username and show all of their “public” Toons on the profile

3.2 Separate Boss Battle Server

• When Toons enter a boss battle or field office, transport them to a separate server.
• Isolate these Toons to avoid non-boss-related district crashes

3.3 Programming Internships

• Toontown Rewritten should create simplified internship roles for aspiring software or game developers.
• Pair interns with more experienced staff members.
  • I know the team doesn’t really have the time for this; however, I imagine a very relaxed way for these individuals to gain some experience
• Use the internship program to recruit new team members.

3.4 District Scaling

• Increase the number of available districts as the total population count grows.
• Teleport all Toons from the less populated districts as the population declines.
• Prevents empty districts and creates more populous districts.

3.5 Return to Battle

• When a Toon crashes, leave a direct link to their location open.
• If the user logs back in while the battle is still in progress, they will receive a notification their spot is still available.
• Allow a short window to rejoin from the time the user disconnects.

Section 4: Storyline

As an outsider looking inward, critiquing the storyline can be easy. These are some thoughts I would love to see incorporated into the storytelling strategy, but I understand that shifting an already-written story can be difficult.

• Toontown’s future storyline should strive to mature the content while remaining a cartoonish game.
• Toontown could start exposing children to more complex topics through the game to prepare them for the real world better.
  • The stock market and the importance of investing
  • Contract laws or arbitration
  • Business incorporation and liability
  • Income taxation
  • Patent, copyright, and trademark law and infringement
• Toontown should not assume the players cannot handle more complex topics.
• While Toontown villainizes “businesspeople,” Toontown should rather villainize “bad” businesspeople. Toontown should increase the focus on inspiring players to remain Toons in the real world, not become Cogs.
• Mature topics need not revolve around higher-level business concepts. Toontown should not fear approaching existential or political topics, such as:
• What does it mean to be a Toon?
• What is the difference between a Toon and a Cog?
• Can a good Cog exist? A bad Toon?
• Is silliness a spectrum and Cogs are just Toons who have lost the ability to laugh?
• What happens when a Cog is defeated?
• Why are Cogs evil business people, yet Toons businesses are accepted to be good?
• Can Toons and Cogs ever find peace?
• How do Toons protect the Toon society from the Cogs? Is it possible the Cogs already control the Toon government?
• Can Toons be too silly?
• Does anything exist between Cogs and Toons on the silliness spectrum? Or on the extreme ends?
• While Toontown should always cater to children, I believe the game should become self-aware that the children can and should encounter these topics. Toontown exposed me to a lot of concepts that I still find relevant today in the workplace.

​
I hope this post can generate some quality discussion about the future of Toontown. If something I wrote lacks some clarity, please let me know and I can try to make any fixes necessary.

I put a 120volt window AC in my garage that is tripping my breaker.
There is a capped off ( receptacle was removed) 220 volt line in my garage that was there for a dryer that is no longer being used.
My plan is to move that line closer to the AC, install a 220 volt receptacle, then use the pictured cord to give me the option of 120 volt.
The reason I'm going this direction is my electrical skill level is low and I'm avoiding my breaker panel as much as possible.
My questions are:
1.) How do I know what gauge wire this current wire is in order to by more to extend it?
2.) Any recommendations on what kind of wire to buy, wire nuts to buy, and from where that will minimize the effort?
3.) I see a great deal of options for 220 volt receptacles. Is there one I can just buy without having to worry about causing a fire and that will serve my purposes?
4.) Any recommendations on which receptacle to buy and from where that will minimize effort?
5.) Will this extension cord (pictured) get the job done with serving the proper amount of electricity to the AC unit?
6.) What's the deal with the wire colors being black, red, and white?
Thanks

So, I decided to think up what some of my OCs would be like as add-ons in SRB2, and this is what I came up with. Wall of text warning here. In fact, this post had to be split in half. The other half can be found here.

Introducing the Belnades Sisters!

These four female orange-furred foxes — Annie, Sonja, Flora, and Cassandra — are closely related (in fact, they're sisters), and thus look and play pretty similarly outside of their specialized powers. They share many abilities and attributes:

• Default stats (36 top speed, 40 acceleration, 5 thrust factor, 96 accel start; run animation starts at 28 speed).
• Slightly higher jump height than Sonic and Tails, but still lower than Fang and Amy (maximum jump height of 110 fracunits).
• Curls up when jumping, like all base characters except for Fang and Amy, and can attack by jumping.
• Pressing Jump in the air performs a second mid-air jump (with the animation involving spinning like a top, which can damage enemies), with slightly better height than the first (130 fracunits); this midair jump causes the Belnades sisters to uncurl, leaving them vulnerable once the animation concludes and they start falling. The double-jump can be angled somewhat for better horizontal distance at the expense of some height. Overall, it's great for reaching high platforms (it can't get nearly as high as Tails' flight, but can get to the heights it can reach faster) and crossing wide gaps; it's particularly good for jumping under overhangs like in RVZ 1 or ERZ 1.
• Pressing Spin on the ground performs a standard spin-dash.
• No special action for pressing Spin in midair; can perform shield actions.
• Other abilities are regulated by an energy meter that is visually and mechanically similar to Almost Super Sonic's. This meter is depleted at various rates by various abilities, replenishes very slowly over time when abilities aren't being used (1% per second), replenishes slightly faster when standing still (2% per second), and can be replenished by collecting Rings (5% per Ring). (Other means of replenishment or adjustments to replenishment rate are being considered. (For instance, energy replenishment may slow down slightly underwater or in space, since my justification for the limitation is that the Belnades sisters' powers work similarly to magic in Eragon and thus require them to expend their stamina in a similar fashion to physical exertion, and thus they need to catch their breath after extensive power usage, which would obviously be harder without access to oxygen.)) Energy replenishment stops while using abilities that continuously drain energy. Energy is fully replenished when respawning after losing a life or at the start of each new level.
• Fire: Holy Bolt: Shared ability. Press Fire to shoot a weak projectile that stuns enemies for a few seconds, but does hardly any damage (roughly 1/8 of a standard spin jump or spin-dash). Press and hold Fire to charge up a shot and increase its power, and release Fire to shoot; a shot charged for 2 seconds does damage equal to roughly 1/4 the damage of a standard spin jump, and it stacks linearly from there as you continue to charge. Other actions can be taken while charging Holy Bolt, with the possible exception of the unique actions. Holy Bolt has no hard cap to its potential damage (aside from the below-mentioned energy cost), and the projectile has impressive range and speed regardless of charge, but the fact that it takes an asinine amount of time to charge up enough to one-shot a Lance-a-Bot, let alone a boss, serves as a deterrent to abuse. At most 1 Holy Bolt can be fired per second, and each Holy Bolt costs 1% energy. A charged Holy Bolt costs an additional 1% energy per 4 seconds of charging. Energy replenishment is slowed, but not outright stopped, while charging Holy Bolt.
  • Holy Bolt is superseded by ring-throwing in Ringslinger modes such as Match, Tag, and Capture the Flag, and can only be used with 0 Rings. Holy Bolt is available as normal in BattleMod.
• In the canon of my fanfics, the Belnades sisters do have a Super mode (and it doesn't even require the Chaos Emeralds, though it would need the Emeralds if implemented into SRB2), but I may or may not want to include it in these incarnations because it behaves… oddly. …It turns them into unicorns. Yes, seriously. The unicorn forms are pretty similar, boasting enhanced durability, speed, and the ability to attack and defend with the horn, though Annie is the sturdiest, Sonja is the fastest, Flora is the strongest, and Cassandra is a jack-of-all trades.

Annie Belnades — Healer's Necklace — Medic

Annie Belnades' powers revolve around healing and supporting her friends. This admittedly makes her rather unimpressive in single-player, as while she can still make use of the abilities she shares with her sisters (slightly-higher-than-usual spin-jump, spin-dash, double-jump, and Holy Bolt), her unique abilities only really function in co-op (and even then, she'll have a hard time using them if her allies are unwilling to give her enough time to keep them in fighting shape). However, Annie also has phenomenal durability that could make her very well-suited to beginning players who are unfamiliar with the level layouts and aren't yet good enough at SRB2 (or Sonic games in general) to avoid constantly bumbling into hazards, so while her manually-activated unique abilities are useless in single-player, her passive abilities can still make her worth playing as. (BTW to DrStephen, I'm sorry that I have an OC who just so happens to have the same name as one of yours.)

• C1: Healing: Press and hold C1 to replenish the life energy of an allied character within a short distance of Annie (roughly 20 fracunits… it requires physical contact in the source fanfics, as it works like a paladin's "lay on hands" ability in Dungeons & Dragons). For most characters (including everyone in the base game), this amounts to giving them 1 Ring per 2 seconds (the precise rate is up for adjustment). Characters under a ring drain effect, like being Super, will not lose rings as long as Annie is healing them (otherwise, the healing would be pretty useless for sustaining a Super form). Characters with an HP system, like Mario, Luigi, Lilac, or Samus, instead have their HP replenished at a steady rate while Annie is healing them (the rate of HP regeneration depends on the character). As a bonus, this ability also replenishes the energy/stamina/etc. of eligible characters, like the Belnades sisters, Silver, Dirfex, Lilac, or Almost Super Sonic; this accelerates the recharge rate of characters who recharge their energy over time, and stops the energy depletion of characters who lose energy over time. Annie spends 2.5% energy per second while healing someone and can only heal one player at a time. If the character who Annie's healing moves outside of her healing radius, the healing will stop. Press and hold C3 while healing to accelerate the process, doubling both the healing rate and the rate of energy consumption (make sure to press C1 first in order to use Healing rather than Revive). Annie can also hold someone with her C2 ability while healing them so that she and her patient can still move through the level while she does her thing; otherwise, Annie and whoever she's healing will need quite a bit of coordination to move through the level while healing without getting far enough apart to make the healing stop. (Or the both of them could stand still, but this is a Sonic game. Where's the fun in that?)
  • (Going back to Samus, while Annie can't replenish the ammo for most of Samus' weapons (since the Missiles and Power Bombs are physical munitions rather than life energy), she can replenish the ammo for Hyper Beam (since the Hyper Beam canonically works off the same energy system as the Power Suit's armor and life support). However, to prevent cheesing Samus's version of BCZ 3, the rate at which Annie can replenish Samus's Hyper Beam is dramatically slowed once Eggman steals Samus's Hyper Beam energy and doesn't return to normal until the scripted event where Hyper Beam energy starts filling the arena. Annie can still heal Samus's HP energy as normal during the final boss fight.)
• C2: Emergency Carry: By pressing and holding C2, Annie will automatically pick up any allied character that she comes in contact with and will start carrying that character, bridal carry style, and she will drop them when C2 is released. A character can force Annie to drop them by pressing any movement command. Much like Tails, Annie can pick characters up even when she's making contact with the very top of their hitbox. This allows Annie to pluck someone off an electric floor) or spikes or out of shallow acid) without being harmed, even if she lacks a shield that grants her immunity, as long as she double-jumps away from the damaging surface before touching down on it (she might have no choice but to take a hit to fish someone out of deeper pools of acid, though). Annie can double-jump and damage enemies while doing so while carrying a character, but she cannot spin-dash or curl up for a standard jump, so she is more vulnerable than usual. She also loses a bit of movement speed and jump height while carrying "heavyweight" characters like Metal Sonic, Maimy, Samus, or Kou (30 top speed, 34 acceleration, 4 thrust factor, 78 accel start, 90-fracunit jump height). Carrying players has no energy cost. Annie automatically drops anyone she's carrying if she takes damage (in which case whoever she's carrying will probably take damage as well). Annie can only carry one other player at a time, and since her own movement abilities are not as well-suited for level progression as quite a few others, like Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Maimy, it may be best for them to not be carried around if they don't need healing. (Carrying live players can be disabled with a console command in order to counteract griefing.)
• C3: Revive: While someone is playing as Annie, any other character who dies outside of lava), instant-kill floors, death pits, or stubborn crushers (i.e. crush hazards that don't reset) will collapse and lie motionless on the floor instead of going through the standard death animation (though they will take the usual knockback from the killing blow and could very well be knocked into lava, an instant-kill floor, or a death pit). Assuming that a dead character's body wasn't destroyed by lava, an instant-kill surface, or a death pit, it will remain where it fell for 10 seconds, after which the body will fade and the player will have a life deducted and be sent to the last checkpoint to respawn (or receive a Game Over). If two or more players are playing as Annie, all Annie players will be subject to this "respawn delay" rule as well. (The 10-second timer is a default value; it can be adjusted by console commands for both the Annie player and everyone else, because being griefed by an Annie who refuses to help dead comrades would be no fun.) This is because Annie's C3 ability allows her to revive dead players on the spot. By holding C3 near a dead player, specifically within 20 fracunits, or while holding them, Annie will channel her energy into the corpse to restart their life processes and wake them up. This process takes 4 seconds to complete (6 seconds if Annie is carrying them) and requires 50% energy to carry out to completion, which is consumed during the revival process. The revival process will be interrupted if Annie takes damage or knockback. The fade timer is paused during the revival process, and if Annie has to stop for whatever reason, she can pick up where she left off as long as the body has yet to fade. Annie can shorten the revival time by up to 1/3rd (3 or 4 seconds) by holding C1 after starting, which has no effect on the overall energy cost, though this revival acceleration immobilizes Annie until the revival is completed or interrupted or C1 is released. If Annie successfully revives a player, they will be able to resume playing immediately, without losing a life or being sent to the level start point or last checkpoint, and will be given 3 seconds of mercy invulnerability and either 5 Rings or 20% of their max HP (allowing most characters to take a hit without dying).
• Passive: Tough Body: Annie is quite sturdy and can withstand impressive amounts of damage. If Annie takes a hit while holding at least 50 Rings, she holds on to half of them (rounded down) and spills the remainder. If she has at least 6 Rings (but less than 50) when taking damage, she holds on to 5 Rings and spills the rest. If she has 5 or less Rings (but at least 1) when taking damage, she loses all of them as normal. A shield prevents Annie from losing Rings as normal.
• Passive: Hard To Kill: Annie's healing powers work on herself, too, and combined with her sturdiness (which she developed through an intense will to live in the face of constant danger to begin with), this allows her to survive some ridiculously lethal situations… at least, as long as she has enough energy to keep healing her wounds.
  • If Annie takes a hit with 0 Rings and no shield, she'll survive as long as she has at least 25% energy, with 25% energy being lost upon taking damage; if Annie has 24% or less energy, she dies as normal.
  • If Annie's air countdown runs out underwater or in space and she has at least 20% energy, she begins losing 20% energy per second until she replenishes her air, obtains a Bubble or Elemental Shield, or runs out of energy (needless to say, if Annie's energy is drained to 0% while she's out of air, she dies).
  • If Annie gets crushed and has at least 25% energy, she won't die on the spot, but will enter a special "knocked down"/"plastered on the wall" state (depending on whether she was crushed against a flooceiling or wall), losing 25% energy in the process; roughly half a second after the crusher moves off of Annie, she'll pick herself up or push herself off of the wall, and will be able to move again once she's back on her feet or in the air. However, if Annie doesn't clear the area fast enough, it's entirely possible for the crusher to crush her again, further draining her energy and/or finishing her off. Annie will also lose her Rings or shield upon being crushed as though she took a regular hit in addition to the 25% energy loss; if she has 0 Rings and no shield, Annie will have to spend 50% energy to avoid being killed by a crusher. If Annie doesn't have enough energy to spare upon being crushed, she'll die like any other character. Also, Annie will die regardless of how much energy she has if the crusher doesn't move off of her for 5 seconds.
  • If Annie ends up making contact with an instant-kill surface, like the Phazon in ACZ 4, she will survive if she has at least 25% energy to spend. Just like a crusher, this will also cause Annie to lose Rings or a shield as though she had taken a regular hit, and if she has 0 Rings and no shield, surviving an instant-kill surface costs 50% energy. If Annie doesn't have enough energy when she makes contact with an instant-kill surface, she dies.
  • The one thing this ability can't save Annie from is pits (i.e. death pit sectors), since falling in one of those means that Annie's fallen out of bounds and wouldn't be able to get back up and complete the level, even if the fall didn't kill her.
  • Energy replenishment is paused during the mercy invulnerability from an otherwise-fatal hit (or while in a crushed state) and for about 3 seconds afterwards, so while Annie has much more room for error than the rest of the cast, she still can't afford to be reckless and try to tank through everything that harsher levels like RVZ and ERZ throw at her.
• Easter Egg: Cute interactions with her boyfriend, Tails! (For instance, Annie and Tails could be blushing a little while Annie heals Tails or if either of them is carrying the other. The hug mod in particular would be adorable. Annie could look distressed if she sees Tails get hurt, outright distraught if she sees Tails dead, in despair if she is unable to revive him, or relieved if she successfully revives him. And so on.)

Sonja Belnades — Philosopher's Necklace — SeeChronokinetic

Sonja's powers revolve around peering into the past and future (or just someplace other than where she currently is) and manipulating the flow of time. In SRB2, her powers take a somewhat typical videogamey approach to time manipulation, a la Viewtiful Joe, Blinx, or Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, allowing her to rush through levels at hyper-speed, undo mistakes made by herself or other players, and evade attacks that would have hit her dead-on. Likewise, her clairvoyance takes a videogamey approach to how something like Peter Parker's Spider Sense would work, giving her player a "danger radar" of sorts that informs them of spikes, electrical floors), Badniks, etc. that would otherwise blindside them and providing an extra second of advance notice before a hazardous level element goes off or an enemy starts an attack.

• C1: Slow Time: Press and hold C1 to slow down the flow of time, causing everything but Sonja (including the level timer) to move more slowly than usual. Release C1 to allow time to flow normally again. Energy is consumed as long as this ability is in use, and the time slow automatically ends if Sonja runs out of energy. (Ideally, there would be multiple levels of this ability, allowing for time to be slowed to greater or lesser extents with greater or lesser energy requirements. This would allow this ability to be used in a variety of ways, ranging from only slowing the game down a little bit but spending energy slowly in the process, all the way up to having everything but Sonja barely be moving at all (at the expense of burning through her energy meter extremely quickly). I'm not entirely sure how to implement that beyond holding various combinations of buttons, though.)
  • In multiplayer games, this ability will not cause other players to experience lag (as that would just suck); instead, the other players will see Sonja moving at ludicrous higher-than-usual speed from their perspective, while from Sonja's perspective, she'll be moving at normal speed and everything else will be moving slowly.
    • (This could present the problem of Sonja's level timer not matching everyone else's, but I'm not sure how to resolve that outside of having Sonja's tomfoolery with the level timer affect everybody (which would be really freaking cheap for co-op speedruns, since Sonja herself is the only one who has to deal with her energy limitations and everyone else could just coast along) or having Sonja make everyone else's game run slowly (which, as I said, would suck).)
• C2: Rewind Time: Press and hold C2 to begin rewinding time, causing all mobile stage elements (conveyor belts, moving platforms, crumbling platforms, water flows, crushers, etc.) to begin moving in reverse, the level timer to run backwards, and all active entities other than Sonja (enemies, bosses, projectiles, other players, etc.) to have their actions, position, and game state over the rewinding period reversed. Time stops rewinding and continues moving forward again (causing all mobile stage elements to resume their usual movement pattern) when C2 is released or Sonja runs out of energy and can't continue rewinding. This ability can be used to undo the mistakes of other players and rescue them from danger — for instance, if someone misses a jump and falls to a lower part of the stage or into a pit, Sonja can rewind time to put them back where they jumped from. It is even possible for Sonja to negate damage (including lethal damage) done to other players by rewinding time, since the damage or death is treated like any other game state change and will be undone as time rewinds. This ability also rewinds air countdowns for underwater or in-space players for the same reason. Sonja can even replenish energy reserves for other players by rewinding time, but not her own (for obvious reasons).
  • This ability has three versions, distinguished by what buttons are pressed, which differ in energy cost and how Sonja is affected by time rewinding.
    • Press and hold C2 alone, and Sonja will be locked in place while time rewinds (though she will still be carried by any moving floor she's standing on, so be careful not to drag yourself into harm's way, dump yourself off a conveyor belt, or get yourself pushed off a platform that passes underneath a solid object, like the jump-and-duck lift gauntlet in ERZ 1). Sonja is effectively "frozen" in time while doing this, so her air will not deplete if she is underwater or in space, but her air won't be replenished, either, and the countdown will pick up where it left off once Sonja stops rewinding (this clause is in place primarily to prevent Sonja from accidentally drowning/suffocating herself by not paying attention to her air while she's immobilized). Rewinding will automatically stop if Sonja somehow drags herself into something that would cause knockback or damage or kill her. This version costs 20% energy per second, allowing for a maximum rewind duration of 5 seconds.
    • Press and hold C2 and Toss Flag to have Sonja's position, actions, and game state be rewound like the other players' (though Sonja cannot move to further adjust her position while this is happening). This version allows Sonja to hoist herself back up onto platforms in the event of missing a jump or undo damage she receives like she can do for other players, though she cannot undo being outright killed for obvious reasons. It also reverses her air countdown underwater or in space, but again, it can't save her after she's already drowned/suffocated. This version costs 22.5% energy per second, allowing for a maximum rewind duration of 4.44 seconds.
    • Press and hold C2 and C1 (make sure to press C2 first) to enable Sonja to move normally while time is rewinding, allowing her to interact with the level elements moving in reverse or progress further in the level while the timer rolls back. Note that Sonja's air countdown will run down normally if she is currently underwater or in space. This version costs 25% energy per second, allowing for a maximum rewind duration of 4 seconds.
  • Given the potential for griefing, the Rewind ability can be disabled with a console command. If Rewind is disabled, C2 instead serves as another Slow Time fine-tuning key. (Or maybe a Fast Forward function that makes everything but Sonja (again, including the level timer) move faster, though I'm not sure how useful that would be.)
• C3: Chrono Evasion: Press C3 to make Sonja enter a special evasion state, denoted by Sonja's sprite glowing with a faint green hue. If Sonja is struck by any harmful entity or stage element while in the Chrono Evasion state, she will not take any damage or knockback at all; projectiles and enemies will pass right through her, while Sonja will abruptly vanish on the spot and reappear a split-second later in either the same location or a short distance away, depending on whether or not any movement keys are being pressed. (This isn't a teleport; it's more of a flash step.) However, the Chrono Evasion state only lasts for a short time (roughly 3/4 of a second) per activation, so it must be used with good timing, lest Sonja waste her energy on a failed evasion attempt and get hurt anyways. (And yes, Chrono Evasion can dodge hitscan attacks, such as Brak Eggman's sniper shot, as long as it's active when the attack goes off.) However, it is possible for Sonja to take a hit immediately after dodging something with Chrono Evasion if she reappears on top of something harmful, such as spikes or flames. This makes long-lasting hitboxes, such as Brak Eggman's flamethrower, something that Sonja must still be wary of. Chrono Evasion costs 10% energy to activate.
• Passive: Danger Sense: Sonja is able to look into the future to detect potential problems and respond to them ahead of time. Since constantly giving the player visions of what will happen in the future is impractical, this power will instead manifest in-game as a "danger radar" and "spider sense". While playing as Sonja, the HUD includes a radar that shows the locations of nearby hazards, such as spikes, electric floors), lava), lava falls, pits, and enemies, relative to Sonja, thus allowing a player who pays attention to this radar to always know in advance if they're about to run headlong into something dangerous and react accordingly. Furthermore, enemies (including bosses) will take on a reddish glow a second before they initiate an attack (accompanied by a red exclamation point appearing above Sonja's head); for enemies with multiple attacks, like Brak Eggman, an icon will appear alongside the exclamation point to show what attack is about to be used. A similar telegraphing system is applied to harmful stage elements that turn off and on, like lava spouts, retracting spikes, and crushers, with a faint image of the hazard appearing where it will be a second before it actually activates. Much like the radar, this extra layer of telegraphing allows Sonja's player to respond to threats sooner than usual.
  • Since this telegraphing system is impractical in PVP modes (where the opponents are other human players rather than an AI), the red exclamation mark is replaced with a purple exclamation mark when Sonja is in another player's line of fire, with this exclamation point flashing when another player attempts to use a hitscan or high-speed attack such as a Rail Ring on her, giving Sonja a quarter-second window to activate Chrono Evasion to avoid being hit.

Build Info

"Trying to go for a tank for a two man team, so my boyfriend can focus purely on DPS. He's working on his build along with mine, we're getting to the point where he can drop some of his defence to focus more on DPS. Working great in Advanced TFOs even doing solo pugs, but still finding that I need to put on Diversionary Tactics to pull aggro sometimes in the longeharder engagements (phrasing). It's actually really fun, Scimi go wheee! Two things I'm specifically finding though - sometimes I'm so fast (or turn too fast with the RCS) that I ended up generalising all my damage over all shield quads on larger ships; and I really don't think I'm doing the damage I need. On most advanced I never need to touch my heals at all, the passives work wonders. For lulz last night we tried the Jupiter (Hard) on Elite and got absolutely smashed, which honestly we kinda expected. Could maybe do with advice on how/if I should maybe add in some support? I noticed last night when I (spent hours) going through my abilities that some are also target heals. But then, ideally, he shouldn't be taking any damage at all if I'm doing my job right.
Not got rep for the end-game kit I see kicking around, so looking for advice on ultimate setup/intermediary stepping stone kit/skills respec/rerolls/abilities etc. Would ultimately like to tank Elite TFOs, but I realise that might be out of reach until I get end-game gear, and might even be completely out of reach with the limitations of this ship.
Hope I've given enough information, the template is missing more recent additions (and by goodness there's a whole load to STO once you get in to it!) so if I've missed something please be patient and I'll answer any questions :D"

Player Information

Player Info	--------------
Captain Name
Captain Faction	Romulan Fed Aligned
Captain Race	Alien
Captain Profession	Tactical
Primary Specialization	Miracle Worker
Secondary Specialization	Strategist
Intended Role	Tank, bit of support maybe for a two man team for missions and pug TFOs
Captain Outfit	[ "Image Description" ]( "Image Link here" )

Skill Tree

		Engineering		Science		Tactical
Lieutenant		Improved Hull Restoration	Improved Hull Capacity	Shield Restoration	Shield Capacity	Advanced Energy Weapon Training	Projectile Weapon Training
Lieutenant Commander		Improved EPS Flow	Improved Impulse Expertise	Control Expertise		Advanced Targeting Expertise	Improved Defensive Manuvering
5 Points
Commander		Hull Plating		Shield Regeneration	Shield Hardness	Advanced Weapon Amplification	Advanced Weapon specialization'
15 Points
Captain					Advanced Long Range Targeting	Advanced Hull Penetration	Advanced Shield Penetration
25 Points
Admiral		Warp Core Potential				Coordination Protocols	Advanced Tactical Readiness
35 Points						Defensive Coordination
		Warp Core Efficency				Offensive Coordination
Total of 46 of 46 Points		Engineering Points:	11	Science Points:	8	Tactical Points:	27

Skill Tree Unlocks

Points to unlock	Engineering Unlocks	Science Unlocks	Tactical Unlocks
Unlocks After 2	Training Manual: Mine Dispersal Pattern: Beta III	Training Manual: Tactical Team III	Training Manual: Cannon: Rapid Fire III
Unlocks After 5	Hanger Health	Sector Space Travel Speed	Threat Control
Unlocks After 7	Training Manual: Attack Pattern: Omega III	Training Manual: Mine Dispersal Pattern: Alpha III	Training Manual: Torpedo: High Yield III
Unlocks After 10	Maximum Hull Capacity
Unlocks After 12
Unlocks After 15			Energy Critical Damage
Unlocks After 17			Training Manual: Torpedo: Spread III
Unlocks After 20			Defense
--------------	--------------	--------------	--------------
Unlocks After 24 (Ultimate)			Focused Frenzy
Unlocks After 25 (Ultimate)			Frenzied Reactions
Unlocks After 26 (Ultimate)			Frenzied Assault
Unlocks After 27 (Ultimate)			Team Frenzy

Skill Tree Information

"Miracle Worker: Tough Little Ship II and No Risk, no Reward II Strategist: Logistical Support III, Show of Force II, Counter-Offensive I, Diversionary Tactics
Got respec tokens ready, not sure about what to do though. Found many different variations from the bog standard DPS tac."

Build Description

As in intro really

Basic Information	Data
Ship Name
Ship Class	Legendary Scimitar Intel Dreadnought
Ship Model
Deflector Visuals
Engine Visuals
Shield Visuals
[ Starship Beautyshot ]( Insert Image Link here )

Basic Information	Component	Notes
Fore Weapons: 5	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD] [Dmg]x2
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD] [Dmg]x2
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD] [Dmg]x2
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD]x3
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD]x2 [CritH]
--------------	--------------	--------------
Aft Weapons: 3	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritH] [Dmg]x2
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritD] [CritH]x2
	Ba'ul Antiproton Beam Array XI [CritH]x2 [Dmg]
--------------	--------------	--------------
Experimental Weapon
Deflector	Elite Fleet Preservation Protomatter Deflector Array Mk XIII [ColCrit] [DrainX]x2 [EPS]
Secondary Deflector
Impulse Engines	Kobali Hyper-Impulse Engines Mk XII (Kobali)
Warp Core	Elite Fleet Thoron-Infused Singularity Core Mk XII [AMP] [OLoad] [SingC] [SSS] [WCap]
Shields	Kobali Regenerative Shield Array Mk XII (Kobali)
Devices
--------------	--------------	--------------
Engineering Consoles: 3	Adaptive Emergency Systems (Flagship)
	Assimilate Module Mk XII (Omega Adapted Borg)
	RCS Accelerator Mk XII
--------------	--------------	--------------
Science Consoles: 3	Crystalline Absorption Matrix
	Hull Image Refractors
	Flagship Tactical Computer (Flagship)
--------------	--------------	--------------
Tactical Consoles: 5	Zero-Point Energy Conduit (Romulan Sigularity Harness)
	Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII
	Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII
	Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII
	Antiproton Mag Regulator Mk XII
--------------	--------------	--------------
Universal Consoles: 1	Dampening Wave Emitter (Flagship)
--------------	--------------	--------------
Hangars: 1	Romulan Drone Ship

Officers and Crew

Bridge Officer Information	Power	Notes
Officer 1: Lt. Commander ( Science )	Hazard Emitters I
Trait: Superior Romulan Operative	Destabilizing Resonance Beam I
	Photonic Officer II
Officer 2: Lieutenant ( Science )	Science Team I
Trait: Superior Romulan Operative	Very Cold In Space II
Officer 3: Ensign ( Engineering )	Engineering Team I
Trait: Superior Romulan Operative
Officer 4: Commander ( Tactical )	Torpedoes Spread I
Trait: Superior Romulan Operative	Fire at Will II
	Focused Assault II
	Attack Pattern Beta III
Officer 5: Lt. Commander ( Engineering )	EPtE I
Trait: Superior Romulan Operative	APtSIF I
	EPtW III
Officer 6: [rank] ( [profession] )
Trait: [name]

Duty Officer Information	Power	Notes
1	Nurse
2	Nurse
3	Nurse
4
5
6

Character, Reputation, and Starship Traits

Personal Space Traits	Description	Notes
Ablative Shell	After receiving a total of 10,000 Damage (pre-resist), trigger Ablative Shell: +X Hit Points every 0.5 sec for 3 sec, +33 All Damage Resistance Rating for 3 sec, May only trigger once per 30 sec
Beam Training	+5% Beam Weapon Damage
Bulkhead Technician	+10% Maximum Hull Hit Points
Fleet Coordinator	+2% All Damage per Team member (Self included), up to 10%
Fragment of AI Tech	#N/A
Imposing Presence	+7.5% Outgoing Hull Healing +25% Threat Generation
Last Ditch Effort	+100% Damage Resistance from Go Down Fighting
Operative	+1% Critical Chance, +2% Critical Severity
Regenerative Control Synergy	+45% Hull Regen from activating control bridge officer abilities.
Techie	+20 Hull Restoration (Improves Hull Healing) +20 Hull Regeneration (Improves Passive Hull Regeneration)

Space Reputation Traits	Description	Obtained from
Hull-Repairing Nanites	+40% Hull Regeneration Rate. Twice this amount is regenerated out of combat.	T2 Omega
Energy Refrequencer	Receive 7.5% of your outgoing damage as a Hull heal to you (Triggers up to 5 times per second)	T2 Iconian
Advanced Hull Reinforcement	+10 All Damage Bonus Resistance Rating	T2 Dyson
Precision	+4% Critical Hit Chance	T2 Romulan

Starship Traits	Description	Notes
Adaptive Hull Plating	Activating any Hull Healing or Command Bridge Officer Ability will boost your maximum hull hit points for a short time. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
Going the Extra Mile	#N/A
Honored Dead	While this trait is active, any damage received during combat will be added to the defensive capabilities of your vessel, resulting in stacking benefits to Damage Resistance and passive Hull Regeneration as certain damage thresholds are met or exceeded. Once you reach maximum stacks of this, additional damage will instead grant a small amount of Temporary Hit Points at each threshold. After receiving 10,000 cumulative damage (pre-resistance), gain a stack of Honored Dead. Each stack of Honored Dead grants +20 All Damage Resistance Rating and +2% Hull Regeneration (max 20 stacks, infinite duration). While at 20 stacks of Honored Dead, additional triggers instead grant 10,000 Temporary Hit Points for up to 40 sec. While not in Combat, lose one stack of Honored Dead every 2 seconds unless Cloaked.
One Impossible Thing at a Time	#N/A
She's a Predator	#N/A

Other Information

Subsystem Power Settings	Value (Target/Display)	Notes
Weapons	125 / 100
Shields	43 / 30
Engines	35 / 15
Auxiliary	30 / 15

Set Name	Set parts: # of #	Effects	Notes
Kobali Regenerative Circuitry	2/4
Flagship Technologies	3/4
Omega Adapted Borg Technology	1/3
Romulan Singularity Harness	1/3
5	#

Ship Stats	Value	Notes
Hull	92,641
Shields	10,504
Global Critical Chance	36.2
Global Critical Severity	119.9
EPS/Power Transfer Rate	284.75% (14.2/s)
Hull Regeneration Rate	199%/min
Turn Rate	8.5 deg/s
Flight Speed	19.53

Concluding Remarks

"All stats I put in are resting stats, no active abilities. Apparently my crit chance is quite high? My boy was a bit surprised the other night when I told him, his isn't much higher and he's going for a crit DPS build.
Rep Tiers: Disco 2, Omega 2, Nakura 1, Romulans 2, Dyson 2, 8472 2, Delta 1, Iconian 2, Terran 2, Temporal 1, Lukari 1, Competative 1, Gamma 2. All the 1s should be 2s by tomorrow (woop woop). But still 2 months away at least for the sets I know I need to go for.
Got access to max fleet holdings, but no fleedits or dilithium to spend (doff grinding here we come). Got a T6 ship token willing to spend. Don't have money for more zen after buying the legendary Scimi pack.
I was originally in an active shield tank Kopesh which I hated, until I gave in to the space barbie to get the Legendary Scimi (damn you Cryptic!) for me and my man. I read all the guides but I've only been playing 120 hours at this point, so still a complete newb. Some of the guides seem quite a bit out of date (even the templates linked in the wiki seem to be missing things, this is the best I could get). When it comes to tanking builds there seems to be quite a bit of variation from the caveman DPS builds ;) And as I said most builds/guides use T6 rep kit, which I can't get yet.
u/AscenDevise was a great help turning the theory into a build for my Kopesh (turning it into a more passive hull tank) and giving me the intermediate stepping stones for kit, I've basically taken what I learned from them and put it into the Scimi so far. They've been a massive help understanding how all the guides and builds come together, can't thank them enough! I apologise in advance if I've missed something from what they said, it's a lot to take in when you start getting into the details.
I'm liking the sound of the AW2 type build, I must admit, but not sure where to go with that. Also I know the Scimi will never be a defence/speed tank, but not sure if hull or resist tanking is the better option? I know I need to pull in the DPS to get the aggro, and there is lots of different advice between CritD/DMG etc mods which has confused me to say the least so would definitely like advice on what's best for me. Biggest thing is probably getting advice on how to 'feel' the balance between tank and DPS - at the moment, on advanced TFOs at least, it feels like I'm almost overly tanky, given I very rarely need to activate any heals, and do bugger all damage (although that could be to do with the insane DPS of some of the ships I've, my boy is criting for quarter million plus, I think I haven't even broken 30k crits yet, but I know he has access to higher tier rep stuff and fleet stuff).
The biggest game changer was someone explaining spam bars and finding STO Bindings to make them. It's made situational awareness, positioning and managing abilities much easier. Currently I'm running this:
General attack run: PO > EPtW > APB > FAW > FA > APtSFI > Torp Spread(still not entirely sure why? I think it's because the ult builds use torp as part of a set?) > EPtE > EM > Launch hanger > GDF > Plasma Shockwave > Violent Dampening Wave > Gather Intel > Expose Defenses > Expose Weapons > Expose Systems (though I've never seen the intel actually proc)
Larger targets add in: FWA > TI > VAS > FF > FomM
Heal run (not spammed, activated as needed, understanding the ability queue when looking up keybinds was fantastic for this): ET > HE > ST > Quantum Absorption > Nimbus Pirates (love those guys) > Image Refractors (the real 'oh ship' point > Fleet Support
Situational clickies: VCIS, Diversionary Tactics (think I need to add in ET and ST for debuff clearing, and advice on how to spot debuffs to clear and which clears what)
I do have access to the Legendary D'deridex which if the Scimi really can't tank I might switch to (but the Scimi is soooooooo pretty!)"

Yesterday, I passed with 9 out of 13 domains Above Target! I wanted to post earlier but I was so elated, I bought the new Zelda game to celebrate (lol) Thank you to everyone on the sub and good luck to those that will take the exam in the future!
Here's my breakdown of how I studied:
Background:

I have some PMI knowledge under my belt from exposure to it at my job & taking a company sponsored training in late 2022 that counted towards my 23 hour requirement.
But due to personal reasons, didn't get to even sign up to take the CAPM exam until May 2023 which took it's toll.
I also have awful, awful anxiety, especially with exams so my study plans might be overkill for you (or maybe not).

Goal:

Spend as much time studying as efficiently as I can while spending the least amount of money.
Study Materials Cost: ~$50-60

Time Spent:

2 weeks of intensive studying; 5-6 hours of studying after my full-time job and spent 8 hours a day on weekends. Try to avoiding burning yourself out like I did with this :(
I actually start 4-5 weeks before but found out I was studying the wrong material (7th ed.) and wasted 1 week (ugh!) and wasted another trying to push through the Udemy course.

Materials:

Study Material:

• Udemy CAPM Exam Cram Course ($20) - 2.5/5⭐
  • 💡Tip?: Clear your website cookies/history. Check this site on different days for the lowest deal. I bought it on my phone at ~$19.99 after contemplating for a day after it first showed me $14.99 but when I accessed the site for the first time via my iPad later, it showed me the $14.99 sale again.
  • I honestly didn't find that much value in this, I was writing notes but gave up and just listened to the lectures on x2 speed. A nice review but very little stuck with me. If I had to do this again, I would rather buy the FULL course, speed through the lectures and take the chapter quizzes. The cram course did not have the chapter quizzes.
  • The PMP Memory Sheet was a nice review though.
  • The sample test at the end was alright. It's somewhat similar to the actual exam but how the questions were written confused me more than it actually helped.
• PocketPrep Professional Premium ($20) - 5/5⭐
  • Super convenient AND explains to you why it's the correct answer. Tough questions though!
  • I answered the daily question and ran through as many questions I could every day. My daily goal was to at least do 30+ questions in a day.
  • I only answered about 400 out of the 780 questions that were there. My average (without retaking questions) was 68% (oof).
  • Days before the exam, I started focusing my quizzes on my Weakest Subjects which helped!
• Richard Vargas' PMBOK Video - 4/5⭐
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC7pN8Mjot8&ab_channel=RicardoVargas
  • Wish I did watched this first! I'm a visual person so having this laid out was SUPER helpful for me in setting me up the understand the rest of the CAPM material.
  • However, the download link didn't work for me so I couldn't recapture the entire map when I wanted to revisit it later. In addition, it's a great visual framework for grouping processes together.
  • But this was not helpful when I wanted to remember the flow of the ITTOs, it became too overwhelming and cumbersome to remember every little detail in this format.
• Probest Project video - ITTO Patterns with the inputs/outputs - 4/5⭐
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go6yr2gg77w&ab_channel=ProbestProjects
  • Incredibly helpful! Especially with the flow of Data/Info/Reports as well as deliverables.
• Project Management Process Group Game - 4/5⭐
  • Did this until got 100% in order to help solidify the knowledge/visual map/patterns learned from the previous
  • https://pmaspirant.com/project-management-process-group-and-knowledge-area-mapping-game
• Process Mnemonic - 4/5⭐
  • https://www.reddit.com/capm/comments/yincqm/my_collection_and_ratings_of_the_free_resources_i/
  • I only got to memorize a fraction of these mnemonics and I wish I could have studied it more! It would've definitely helped me.
• Memorize the Formulas in 5 Minutes - 3/5⭐
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD15S_61lwI&ab_channel=CAPMPMP
  • I used this to brain dump the formulas but I only used some of the formulas since there were only 2-3 actual formula-related questions.
• Landini's Practice Questions ($10) - 5/5⭐
  • I honestly wish I had more time to use this. I completed each CAPM quiz AND knowledge area quiz at least once except for the 150-question one. I usually was around 60-80% on these (oof)...
  • These are very similar to the exam but easier. Complete every quiz at least once, if not twice.
  • The Agile quizzes were broken (ugh!) so I didn't get to study those
• Free PMP® Practice Exam Questions - 120 Sample Test Questions - 4/5⭐
  • https://www.project-management-prepcast.com/pmp-practice-exam-questions-sample-test
  • One of the harder sample tests I took but one of the CLOSEST to the exam. I didn't complete all 120 but I think I averaged around 70%.
  • If you can pass this, you will be set for most if not all of the exam.
• Project Prep Pack - 3/5⭐
  • https://www.projectprep.org/tools
  • I honestly wish I had more time to use this. But the resources in here were so help for overview. The cheat sheet, practice test, the ITTO explanation was great!

Exam:

I took this in-person since it was recommended to me by my instructor + I didn't have the equipment/environment to take it remotely.
A lot of the questions were similar, so similar I thought they were asking me the same question twice. BUT! Be careful, and read the questions slowly.
Make use of the highlight and strike-through tool, it'll help emphasize the important works & the real intention of the question. Also use the flag tool to review questions.
Make time to go through the exam twice (if you are feeling less than confident). You're given ~170 minutes. I completed the exam in about 100-120 minutes and left a huge chunk of time to double-check answers. I ended up revising a lot of my answers this way & almost didn't get to finish checking all my answers.
Focus on ITTOs, their flow, and what those tools/techniques actually are. In addition, there were a LOT of Agile-related questions.

Good luck and thank you all!!