I have a simple approach to handling scammers - DO NOT TALK OR COMMUNICATE WITH THEM! This is your best defense.

I do NOT answer ANY phone calls from someone I do not know. Most everyone I know and would want to talk to is in my contact list and the phone will let me know that. If someone calls that is not on the contact list, and the call is important, they will leave a message.

Second, I do NOT open any email from a source I do not recognize. For the few that get through the spam filter, I check the source address, and if it appears the least bit sketchy or is unfamiliar, I delete it. NEVER, EVER open an email that you do not recognize the source!!!

Many scammers today are quite sophisticated. If you open an email or answer a phone call, you are verifying to them that your email address or phone number is authentic. Some of the scammers are in the business of SELLING authentic and verified phone numbers and email addresses to other scammers.

I have an R10 and while birds are a challenge, the R10 is more than up to the challenge. There is a wildlife photographer from Nova Scotia on Youtube who does a lot of wildlife photography and I tend to follow his advice when it comes to wildlife and bird photography.

First, I think your shutter speed is a little fast, unless you are photographing a bird in a high-speed flight or in a quick dive, you could probably get by with 1/1250 or even 1/1000. The eagle in your image is in gliding flight so 1/1250 speed and panning with the eagle's flight should be adequate.

Second, I think your aperture is too wide at f5.6. Go to a setting around f8 or f11 if possible. Experiment with your lens and try to find the best aperture for the lens. It will usually be around the middle of the aperture range.

As far as ISO, most of today's cameras can handle the higher ISOs much better than older models. I use AUTO ISO and let the camera go wherever it needs to. Shooting at 800 or better should be no problem. Then if desired, post-processing can take care of some of the noise issues. Personally, with today's cameras, striving to shoot at the lowest possible setting will severely limit your options and cause you to lose many opportunities for good shots that could be made at higher ISOs. My thoughts; A sharp image with some noise is better than no shot at all.

The last issue is your lens which as many would agree, is the MOST important item. While the R10 is more than capable of delivering good images, it all starts with the lens. I am not sure which lens you have, it sounds like you may be using the Canon RF 100-400 mm zoom telephoto which is a full-frame lens. That is what I have since the Canon RF-S lens options are limited at this time. While this is a pretty good lens, it is not a Canon L lens and I have noticed that this lens can be soft at longer distances. I often do lunar photography and can rarely get super sharp at the upper end of the telephoto range. Or maybe you are using an EF lens and adapter. Either way, it is the lens that makes all the difference. My suggestion, rent a high-end Canon telephoto lens for a week or so and see if it makes a difference. There are even some very good Canon telephoto primes that should deliver good images. That is my plan to get a sharper image at the desired focal length.

Many of us often believe that for all problems there is one definitive solution. In my experience in work, life, and photography, there is rarely just one causative issue for a problem. In most cases, it is several issues in play simultaneously that cause the problem. Each one needs to be addressed and solved to reach a final solution.

Yes, I do the same thing. Sometimes even just spinning them around in the holder a little extends their life.

I have noticed when checking my flashlights, that changing the batteries around makes them a little brighter. As long as they show no signs of swelling or leaking, they will keep working for a while longer.

When I was working, one of my many duties was overseeing the copiers and calling for maintenance when needed. Once when the tech was there performing routine maintenance I asked him a question about the cartridges and he gave me a short lesson on printer/copier toner cartridges. He said that one thing you can do to extend the time on the cartridges was to pull them out, tap them sharply against your hand a few times, and then shake them. Toner powder is extremely fine and can cake up over time. Tapping and shaking the cartridge breaks up the caked toner and redistributes it inside the cartridge.

I have a Brother laser printer and have used this technique many times. After getting a low toner message, I tap and shake the cartridge and get another 50 or more copies out of the cartridges. I keep doing this until the copies start coming out too light. This to me indicates it is time to change. If making copies just for my use and not being sent out, they have to get pretty light before I change. On my printer, the warning of low toner is just that, a warning. It will never just stop or refuse to print due to low toner. Usually, it just gets lighter or be missing in certain spots.

If you change cartridges with the first toner warning light, you are wasting a lot of toner. Of course, this is exactly what the toner cartridge makers want you to do.

GPS and travel apps are a great thing whether on your cell phone, iPad or dedicated GPS device. However, remember that they are only as good as the people who programmed them and the maps that have been embedded into them.

Which brings me to another issue. Several years ago I read an article in a business magazine about one of the big commercial map companies that was suing another company for using its maps without permission or paying royalties. The map company had discovered this company was using copies of their maps in a product being sold.

How did the map company know of this? Apparently, it is common practice for map companies to put dummy or fake roads or other map features into their maps as a "trademark" to verify it is their map. If someone copies the map they can verify it by checking to see if this imaginary road or feature is present.

The article said that this was common practice for many of the large map makers for verification of their products. The article even gave an example of a small street in the city of London that does not exist but appears on a company's map of the city.

So beware of trusting everything you see on a GPS map.

Wow! How many cars or radios do you have on Sirius? For our car, I pay $99 for 3 years on my renewals or about $3 per month. Been doing that for almost 10 years now.

I think I would try to renegotiate the contract.

Heavy gear has its place. I dabble in astrophotography, mostly the moon, so heavy gear is normal. But that is at home mostly and I have the time to set up and short distances to carry tripod, lenses, etc.

Away from home, getting on and off buses, trains and airplanes can be a real pain with cumbersome gear. And if you let others handle it for you, there is the worry about it being damaged.

Another advantage of a smaller kit is the family issue. I found when I traveled with my compact camera I spent more time with my wife enjoying her company and taking in the place I was visiting than fiddling around with cameras and lenses.

But is this the case with external SSDs? I can understand external spinning HDDs failing more often than internal drives, but I doubt this applies to today's SSDs.

Many good reputable external SSDs are available with large capacities and reasonable prices. These SSDs are rugged and great for backing up laptops while traveling. I have never had one fail yet.

I think many of us have gone through these decisions, I know I have. Here is my advice though it is not exactly what you asked for. I have been to Spain several times and it is a wonderful place for photography.

I stopped carrying my heavy gear several years ago. After several overseas cruises, bus and air travel trips carrying lenses and camera bags, I decided to slim down my gear considerably. Also, at my age, I have toned down my aspirations of ever taking "National Geo" level photos. So, I purchased a Sony RX100 III and have never looked back. It takes great photos in both raw and jpg and fits in a large pocket or small backpack. Canon and Lumix also make some great travel cameras. Mostly, when in cities, a wide-angle perspective will be the most beneficial, so long lenses will be less useful. These compact cameras perform very well in these wider-angle situations though some do have some telephoto zooms built in.

However, I may not stop there. My wife carries her iPhone 13 and always comes back with great photos. So now I am considering updating my older iPhone to an iPhone 14 or 15. Scott Kelby has written and shown some of his work using iPhone cameras and it is quite impressive. Who knows, maybe that will be all I carry the next time we go on a trip.

Never had my mule and wagon catch fire a single time. But it is getting hard to find good buggy whips anymore.

For some reason, the article does NOT mention that the plane that will fly is a 1/8 or 12.5% scale model. The wing span of this demonstrator model is around 23 feet making it smaller than a Cessna 150.

This model's purpose is to test the airworthiness of the design before anything bigger, and more expensive, is designed or built.

We had cable TV for years without internet. It was only in the last couple of decades that cable providers started providing internet access services for cable TV users. Before that we accessed the internet by telephone lines and modems. Cable providers were able to provide internet service at higher speeds than the older phone technology could. With today's technology that is no longer the case.

Through various multiplexing technologies, cables, copper, or fiber, can carry a multitude of independent services at the same time. Cable TV and the internet connection can be carried at the same time and the user COULD decide which one he wants to use. MARKETING from the company may dictate that you cannot have one without the other but technology does not.

Where I live, Spectrum offers both or either independently. You can pay for cable or internet or both. All for different pricing.

Here is an interesting question one can ask. What are the first things to come into your mind when you first view a photograph? Is it technical issues such as exposure, resolution, color, etc.? Or, is it the emotional response of the content and its presentation?

For me, it is always the subject, its composition, and the resulting emotional response. As in a painting by a great artist, I do not evaluate it based on the brush strokes, color rendition, or paint composition, but on its emotional effects on me and those who view it. Photography is the same. Type of camera, lenses, exposure settings, megapixels of the images, and other technical issues are like asking what type of brush or brand of paint an artist used to produce his art.

I have had these types of discussions with some of my family who were complaining of their high "cable" bills. What I have noticed is that many still have "Cable" service and are being charged high prices. Bills of $100-$200 are common.

However, a simple internet connection is usually much cheaper, usually around $50-$75. From here you can have access to almost any type of streaming services. HOWEVER, depending on the streaming options or services you choose the costs can start to add up. I can usually keep my costs below $100 a month by doing the following.

AT&T fiber internet OR T-mobile 5G internet - $40 to $55 per month depending on which works best
Sling TV @ $55 per month, others such as Hulu, Fubo, Youtube can be had for different prices
Paramount+ @ $6 month
Netflix - free for me as a T-Mobile customer
Amazon Prime - included with my prime membership
Roku - Free for many channels
Tubi - Free movies
Pluto - Free movies
Local stations - Free with antenna

This gives me a total bill each month of around $120 per month depending on which internet provider I am using or which smaller streaming providers I am using. Since there are no contracts anymore, I often change the streaming providers for certain programs or series I want to watch. For example, I may watch Paramount + for a few months and then switch to something else such as Apple, Peacock, Disney+, etc. For what I have listed above, I have access to an almost unlimited supply of programs, movies, etc.

I DO NOT have internet phone service since we already have cell phones. Internet phone service today is just an extra complication and is used mainly by those who do not want or have cell phones or do not have reliable cell service. Some of my older relatives have it just because they do not want to give up "landline" service even though I tell them it is nothing like the old landline service they are used to.

Some of my relatives jump on variations of some of these selections and save money, others do not want to give up anything and remain with cable or have cable and streaming services added on until they are as expensive as they were with cable.

Looks like you are paying for Cable TV service AND Internet service, entirely different and independent services, but watching only Internet streaming services such as Roku, Chromecast etc. Most likely the local stations are available on the Cable service you are paying for. But you would probably need a cable box to decode and watch. Cable, Internet, and often phone service all arrive on the same cable but in different modes frequencies etc. Where I live, Spectrum offers Cable TV, Internet, and Phone service all on the same cable. However, you can pick pick all or any of the services and be billed for each.

Cable TV in actuality is a service that packages all the services that people used to want and sends them out by cable or internet to customers. Usually they also include the local stations and networks.

Now with internet streaming, we the customers can collect all this content ourselves and cut out the middleman, the cable company. However, one of the tradeoffs is that getting the local content or networks is not always easily available unless you have an antenna and are within the range of the local transmitters. You could possibly stream the local stations if they offer that.

Streaming used to be almost free and therefore people began abandoning cable in favor of streaming. But once the streaming companies caught on and started charging for their services the prices are rapidly rising and we are almost back to where we started. I use Hulu Live which collects data on your location and then provides local stations in their streaming, for extra cost of course. As others have stated, if you can get internet and live near the local stations broadcasting towers this is usually the lowest cost solution.