#CSB BANK

[csuitebitches]

Crafting a Personality and Capitalising on it

How do we craft a personality that is socially charming yet true to our roots?

How do we mingle and meet new people without feeling awkward or shy about it?

How do we not lose ourselves while following all these blah blah etiquette rules?

Welcome to part 2 of my Chic Girl Mentality series. 🤍

Today, we will focus on crafting a personality that is still you but better.

First, let’s talk about people in social settings. You’ll meet people who are confident, secure and socially charming. You’ll meet quiet people who may be equally socially charming or just very shy and conscious. You’ll meet the braggers and the doe-eyed followers. There’s a lot of different types of people in the world and knowing how to gracefully navigate most of them is nothing but a learned art.

People, regardless of their bank balance, are insecure of what they do not have yet. This can be looks, money, experience, lifestyle, and so on. How do we capitalise on this without exploiting or manipulating anyone?

By knowing how to tell a story.

That doesn’t mean that you need to become a public speaker or politician, it just means that you need to be able to craft intriguing stories about yourself, using your own life and experiences, to “sell” an interesting version of you socially. We’re all interesting people but only a few of us know how to say that we’re interesting without saying that we’re interesting.

Experience 

People, even those with money, will always be more attracted to those who have experiences, especially, unique ones. Whether it’s travelling to exotic locations or trying new culinary destinations, or wearing unknown designers, knowing obscure artists or writers, or being at the top of your industry… experience is the most important thing to cultivate first.  You already have experience. If you went to school, high school, college, joined clubs, your first job, any travelling, etc - these are all experiences.

Make a list of 5 of the most interesting experiences you think you have.

Hobbies and interests 

Have a couple of lowkey hobbies that you feel enthusiastic about. Whether it’s doing some charity work on Sundays, or cooking, or pottery, whatever it is, keeping a hobby is healthy. 

There should be something to you that an acquaintance can remark about: “CSB? Oh yes, I’ve heard that she’s a great dancer.” 

Vulnerabilities 

Certain vulnerabilities must never, ever be shared. It will 100% be used either as gossip or blackmail. 

However, coming across as someone with no weaknesses is rather untrustworthy- it makes the other person feel that you’re clearly hiding something. 

Make a list of vulnerabilities that are small and you don’t mind sharing. These should be vulnerabilities that will never ruin your reputation in any form but can be used as a form of bonding with empathy. 

And make a list of hard core vulnerabilities you know you should never share with anyone. Keep it memorised rather than written down. 

Experience + Hobbies or Interests + Safe Vulnerabilities = Personality

Storytelling 

Now that you have some experience, hobbies, interests, and your “safe” vulnerabilities sorted even if it’s limited - what will make it stand out is the art of storytelling. Some storytellers can make even the most mundane experiences sound magical - it’s all in the words and delivery. There’s a reason why every Holy Book is a story, packed with lessons and morals - it’s impactful, easy to remember and recall and relatable. Craft your experiences into stories. Use those 5 experiences that you noted down and start writing them down as stories.

Take up an online storytelling class or watch videos. Start honing this skill by writing and reading good literature. 

Refine your 5 experiences further. Run it through chatGPT, say them out loud and most importantly- start testing them out on people. See what makes them chuckle and what doesn’t; what makes them empathise and what doesn’t.

A famous comedian whose name I can’t remember does the same thing. He creates his set. He goes to a small pub and tries it out on the audience there. And the first set is always the first. The audience may not laugh at his jokes, they might boo him or sometimes, he might get a laugh out of them. But every time, he goes home and refines his set further. Once his set is fully refined, and he accomplishes his goal of the audience peeling with laughter at every joke, that’s when he goes on national TV / on tour etc etc.

The most important thing is to craft your stories of your experiences in a way that it delivers the value you want the person to remember about you.

For instance, if I want to be seen as creative and innovative, I won’t tell the person in front of me, “oh, I’m soo innovative and creative!”

Rather I will weave that into a story. “When I was 24, at my first job in the advertising space, we were losing clients left and right. And one weekend, I was on a trek on the mountains - it’s one of my hobbies - this idea hit me, and I suddenly knew exactly how to get our clients back. My team was hesitant about my idea, and we got a lot of pushback, but we went ahead. The night before my launch I was so nervous, I got hardly sleep. And you won’t believe it, but the idea worked! The response was fantastic.”

Let the other person come to the conclusion of you being innovative and creative. Human beings love to deduce things and jump to conclusions and provided you set the context the right way, you should be able to project the version of you that is the best part of you.

Vocabulary 

A sign of a good education- even if you don’t have it - is a diverse vocabulary. I’ve always had a little more respect and awe for those who are articulate, can speak smoothly and speak confidently. I’ve noticed that my American friends, for instance, tend to talk fast with lots of filler words, and sentences tend to end with a pitch up instead of down, which to me indicates hesitation or indecision. Speaking slower, ending your sentences with pitch going down to indicate a full stop rather than up makes you seem like a refined speaker even if your subject is utterly stupid. 

Body language and mannerisms, social interaction 

Watch old classic Hollywood movies to really understand this - especially romantic ones. Choose ones with a femme fatale or siren-like female lead, and watch how she enraptures the male lead or the audience around her. 

A combination of fantastic storytelling and body language will take you places beyond your dreams. Some of the biggest frauds, scammers, politicians, criminals are also some of the best storytellers. Humans are attracted to stories, we pick up body language intuitively, we can sense when someone is nervous or isn’t. Unfortunately the world isn’t a kind place and will not necessarily help you out of your shyness- in fact, that might just make you the best target for exploitation. 

Storytelling + Vocabulary + Body Language = Your Best Personality

[xhxhxhx]

I'm trying to write these earlier in the day.

I used to put off writing until I finished the smaller, more tractable tasks I set for myself. But by the time I finished the little things, I had no energy for writing.

Now, though, I find I don't have the energy for the little things if I start writing too late in the day. If I start writing late enough, I don't have the energy to exercise.

It's 10:15 a.m. Let's see if I can't finish this with energy to spare.

I.

I write to you from San Francisco, a small town on the Pacific Coast of California, servicing a patchwork of commuter suburbs around what we call the "San Francisco Bay Area."

Back in the 1950s, they called the City "Baghdad by the Bay," after its profound ethnic and religious divides, low-intensity urban warfare, and decrepit public infrastructure.

It's awful. Even here in the Green Zone.

II.

Americans like to say that San Francisco has a "Mediterranean" climate. And it's true that it has a Köppen climate classification of Csb, which we call a "warm-summer Mediterranean climate."

Köppen is a three-tier classification scheme. It designates climates by three-letter labels, with each letter dividing the world into finer and finer categories.

The first Köppen letter divides the world into five parts, each designated by the first five letters of the alphabet: tropical A; arid B; temperate C; cold D; and polar E.

Four of the five letters separate the world into mutually-exclusive categories by mean temperatures in the hottest and coldest months, making for a neat algorithm.

If it's above 10ºC in the coldest month, it's tropical A, else:

If it's above 0ºC in the coldest month, it's temperate C, else:

If it's above 10ºC in the hottest month, it's cold D, else:

If it's below 10ºC in the hottest month, it's polar E.

Arid B is an irregularity. It's based on a precipitation threshold, not mean monthly temperatures. It's also hard to characterize in a single phrase, since it varies with the seasonality of the precipitation. It's higher if the precipitation comes in warm months.

But never mind that. It's not arid in San Francisco. That's part of the problem.

In San Francisco's Csb, C stands for temperate, s for dry summer, and b for warm summer.

Temperate means it averages above 10ºC in the hottest month and between 0ºC and 18ºC in its coldest; dry summer means it gets less than 40 mm of precipitation in its driest month; and warm summer means it averages below 22ºC in the hottest month, but above 10ºC for more than four months each year.

Now, is that Mediterranean? It's not obvious to me that it is. Let's go to the map.

III.

Here's beautiful California, in all its climatic variation, courtesy of our friends at the Köppen-Geiger Explorer:

Let's start in the Los Angeles basin, along the borderlands between the yellow and sienna towards the bottom of the map.

Los Angeles divides into three primary climate regions, which provide a useful key to the California experience.

The coast of western Los Angeles, from Santa Monica down to Palos Verdes, and continuing along the coast of Orange County to the south, is a cold, semi-arid steppe, or Bsk.

It's a climate it shares with Colorado Springs, the Texas panhandle, and a swathe of the Eurasian steppe lands, from Crimea to Volgograd to Inner Mongolia.

South and central Los Angeles, south of the 10, but extending northeast to a frontier in Culver City, Mid-Wilshire, and Koreatown, and south through Anaheim and Garden Grove to Irvine, is a hot, semi-arid steppe, or Bsh.

It's a climate it shares with Gaza, the West Bank of the Jordan, Mosul, the Zagros foothills of Khuzestan, Amritsar, and the northern, or Turkish, part of Cyprus.

North of that, extending from downtown across the mountains into the San Fernando Valley, and east across the river to El Monte, Pomona, and Rancho Cucamonga, is the last part of Los Angeles, the hot-summer Mediterranean, or Csa.

This climate, the climate of Glendale and Pasadena, of Burbank and Sherman Oaks, of Van Nuys, Encino, and Calabasas, is what I think of as the actual Mediterranean climate.

Because it's the climate of the actual Mediterranean.

It's a climate it shares with Athens and Rome, Syracuse and Tunis, Jerusalem and Jaffa, Florence and Naples, but not, significantly, a climate it shares with San Francisco.

Because it's too warm for the city by the Bay.

IV.

Now let's look north, to the Golden Gate.

Here you can see that the Bay Area is, as you might have guessed, a homogeneous and indistinct stain on the map of California.

Does it have semiarid steppe lands? No. Does it have hot summers? No. From the South Bay to the Valley, from the West Side to the East Side, everyone has the same climate, and nobody's very happy.

San Francisco shares a climate with Oakland which shares a climate with Mountain View which shares a climate with Sausalito which shares a climate with San Jose which shares a climate with Berkeley and Richmond. It's a climate that stretches, like an open sore, down to Santa Cruz and Monterey.

It's all the same fucking climate.

It's called, as you may recall, the warm-summer Mediterranean climate, or Csb. Not hot summer. Not the summer of Glendale or Pasadena. No. A warm summer.

How warm is a warm summer? Is that a Mediterranean kind of summer? Is that the kind of summer you get in the south of France or the Greek islands? Well, no.

You know who else has a warm summer?

Fucking Galicia, that's who. The Parnassus Mountains. Mount fucking Lebanon.

You know who else has this fucking climate?

The Pacific fucking Northwest. Because it's cold and wet there. Just like San Francisco.

VI.

San Francisco: It's cold and damp!

I fucking hate it.

[sungbeam]

BIRD HUNT — one

nonidol!choi line x f!reader

gotham city is a gutter running rampant with the ill, corrupt, and the insane. at times, justice and vengeance must be served by one's own hand... no matter the lengths one must go to do so.

▷ genre, au, etc. bat family au, dc comics inspired, dark, vigilantes au, slow burn, ceo/billionaire au, cat woman!reader, murder mystery au, action, suspense, angst, slow burn-ish?, love square??; choi line inspired by dick grayson (csb), jason todd (cyj), and tim drake (cbg), including bruce wayne for choi minho and damian wayne for nishimura riki, inspired by 2022's The Batman

▷ chapter warnings. swearing, mentions of insomnia, bank robbery, mentions of assault/violence, mentions of weaponry, depictions of death and blood, dead body

▷ word count. 3.8k // taglist. open

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FILE_01 : a thing for strays

gotham city.

[beomgyu & yn are 15, soobin is 16, yeonjun is 17.]

The incessant, distinct cry of meowing drew 15-year-old Choi Beomgyu from his warm covers and his state of sleep. (Technically speaking, it was only partial unconsciousness, but this wasn't about his insomnia.) He had long accepted the fact that good night's rests were rare in this world and with his condition, so there was less irritation and more plain curiosity in his mind. In other words, he cared very much about how a cat could meow so loud over the city’s infinite soundtrack more than sleeping.

He dragged his palms over his eyes, scrubbing away the stinging in his irises due to sleep deprivation. The dull buzz at the back of his head kept him awake constantly anyway. As he made his way toward the window, his eyelids fluttered like the shutter of a camera lens, actively adjusting to the warm glow of a light radiating from the apartment across the alleyway from him and streaming into the darkness of his.

Beomgyu peered out of the window, hand idly scratching his chest while the other leaned on the sill. It wasn't completely uncommon to see at least one person wandering the streets late at night in Gotham City. No sane person would be out, but whoever said Gotham residents were sane in the first place?

In the alleyway below, he could make out a shadowy form crouched by a dingy cardboard box at the foot of a dumpster. You knelt there before the box; Beomgyu quietly lifted his window open to hear what you were saying. You didn't look much older than he was, and you were bundled in a straight trench coat that left much to the imagination. A pair of slippers peeked out from beneath you, however, where you braced yourself against the grainy gravel ground.

"I'm not gonna — yah! I'm trying to help you, you st—" You huffed, hands raised in the air. "Sorry, that's mean of me to say."

A small laugh fell from his lips.

Your head perked up at the sound, and he mentally praised your alertness. That was a critical skill to wield here. Your head whipped around, eyes searching the alleyway, before meeting his eyes. You narrowed your own. "Have you just been there watching me this whole time?"

"Depends; how long have you been out here?" He drawled back, his upper body leaning out of the window and his elbows bracing against the window sill.

You rolled your eyes and turned back to the cat in the box. "Creep."

"Weirdo."

That got you whirling around for him again, and this time, he stared at the way the amber streetlight posted just at the mouth of the alleyway illuminated your features and the feisty gleam in your eyes. There was a feline likeness to your eyes and tendencies—your posture and crouch stance, narrow-eyed cynicism, alertness and awareness. "The fuck d'you just call me?"

He shrugged with a smirk pulling at the corners of his lips. "You called me a creep first."

You scoffed at his teasing. This was much more fun than tossing and turning for sleep that would never come.

"Are you not afraid of catching something from the animals out here?" Beomgyu queried, now leaning his chin in the palm of his hand. He was Juliet leaning out of her window to lament her dramatic soliloquy, unaware of Romeo's presence below. His father would scoff at such a romanticized view of life, but it was all said with an undertone of cynicism anyway. "I mean, have you seen what crawls out of the gutters? Ngh," he shivered.

There was something he couldn't place in your features as you suddenly scooped the mewling cat into your arms and stood facing him. Beomgyu watched in awe as the cat began to purr and nuzzle into the warmth that your body provided. Your hand gently smoothed over its fur, even if the feline was matted with dirt and grime.

"I have a thing for strays," you said simply. On the surface, it was a quote of defiance, but beneath it all, he sensed there was something else to it.

Beomgyu's heart stuttered when you had said that and looked him right in the eyes.

As if on cue, a pair of black and white cats padded their way out of the shadows toward you. From where, he had no clue. But they circled your legs, rubbing against your sweatpants adoringly. He guessed these were yours, but he shouldn't assume simply based on their cleaner and maintained coats. (Sarcasm—that was sarcasm. He was definitely going to guess based on that.)

The apartment across the alleyway opened up at ground level and more of its warm light streamed out into the alley. A woman stood at the doorway with one hand on her cocked hip. "Yn, you know we can't…"

"Oh, but mama," you pleaded. You lifted the purring mass of fur in your arms as if it would plead your case for you. It was kind of cute, really. "Look at her."

The woman's eyes twinkled. "Ah, all right. Let me see if we have more—" Her words died upon her tongue when she caught Beomgyu's frame at his window.

He marked the spark of recognition in her eyes. He wasn't completely surprised.

"You're—You're one of the Choi kids, aren't you?" She asked. Perhaps it was less of a question than a statement, because Beomgyu had no doubt she didn't need confirmation. He and his brothers' and his father's faces had been plastered all over the society columns since birth. "Beomgyu, isn't it?"

"Yes ma'am," he said. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Her head tilted to the side, and he saw the curiosity in your features, as well. It seemed you hadn't recognized him though. "You're quite polite for…" She shook her head, dismissing her previous thought. "What're you doing on this side of the city?"

Ah, and that was yet another mystery, wasn't it? Besides the mystery of his entire family, it was the fact that the Choi kids, despite hardly being adult aged, did not live at Choi Manor all of the time. Eventually, Beomgyu figured they'd all amass there once more and dwell there more frequently, but for now, he liked his dingy, crumby, little apartment in this specific Gotham gutter. Folks usually didn't expect the child of a multimillionaire to pick this dump to have his own apartment in.

But that was the strategy, wasn't it? Not only to prove people's judgements wrong, but to also let himself live and breathe and learn from his own mistakes.

Oh, and learn to deal with his insomnia on his own. So far, the only solutions he'd found were copious doses of melatonin or just caffeine. But even those things were hit or miss.

"Got kicked out," he joked.

And then he regretted it immediately afterward when he realized how real that felt. It was sticky and metallic in his mouth, like blood, and it felt too real.

You and your mother were surprisingly sympathetic and neither of you made any brash comments concerning his status, his money, his family and being "kicked out." He expected something like "spoiled brat got an apartment to himself when he got kicked out of daddy's mansion," but nothing of the sort came forth.

I have a thing for strays, your words echoed in his mind.

The doorway to your apartment seemed to open just a little wider. "How about you come over for a little hot chocolate?"

Despite it being the beginning of summer, hot chocolate sounded nice. (Hot chocolate and company sounded nice.)

Beomgyu's eyes subtly flickered over to you, expecting some kind of catty objection, but even you stayed quiet, your eyes peering up at him. Waiting. I have a thing for strays.

"Okay," he swallowed. "I couldn't sleep anyway."

[3 years later.]

"You're a little young, don't you think?"

Nineteen-year old-Choi Soobin's head perked up at the question posed toward the current interviewee. Your name was Ln Yn, according to the manilla file folder of your records, application, and supplementary materials—all of which were quite good for someone of your age. When you presented yourself before the panel of interviewers for the opening of a job here at Choi Enterprises, you had done so with perfect posture and a professional vocabulary. You acted a lot older than your age, which was why Soobin thought that question was so goddamn absurd.

You didn't even fidget, all to your credit. You didn't shrink once under the stares of the interview panel, plus Soobin. He was just there to observe and learn, but he was given permission beforehand to step in if he felt any desire to. "Pardon?"

The man who had posed the question was one of Soobin's least favorite people here. Along with a balding head, he had a balding personality. Balding of what? Balding of humanity. He elaborated, "You've only just graduated from high school, you have yet to even begin a college degree. Do you not believe that you could learn and experience a little more?"

You cleared your throat. "With all due respect, sir, the hiring page said that this was an entry level job."

Yeah, Soobin thought to himself, that's what they always say. You must have been surprised by the extensive hiring process for said "entry level job." He really needed to have a talk with the people in Hiring and Recruitment; he picked up the pen tucked behind his ear to note it down in his little notebook to remind himself later.

"And yet, we also prefaced the description with a college degree requirement," added another member. Soobin begrudgingly admitted that that was true.

"I don't believe a college degree is particularly necessary for secretarial work, especially when most of the duties will be taught to me on site."

That is also true, he thought. Professional, calm… blank. You'd fit in great here.

"It would be difficult for partners and businesses to take a girl like you seriously—"

Soobin leaned forward and sent a look down toward the idiot who decided to open his mouth again. He sounded like he had a stick up his ass; Soobin wouldn't be surprised if he did. His posture said otherwise, but his attitude? Jesus fucking Christ. He cut in, "Excuse me."

As his father had told him time and time again: Sometimes you have to do things yourself.

The room shifted its attention to him. He poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, his hand raised slightly with his pen, gesturing vaguely. "Your age is not really the main concern, Miss Ln. Not for me, at least." Your eyes had narrowed slightly on him, and he straightened in his chair. "The concern is that, while your résumé and references are good, your experience is lacking. This would be your first corporate job and we're looking for someone who could reliably carry out what we have outlined their duties to be."

That was how it should have been worded. That was how his father would have worded it.

"Then based off my references, Mr. Choi, would it not be safe to say that I am a reliable person?" It was definitely safe to say that you knew your way around words and requirements. There was a defiance about you that he couldn't deny, something rare that prodded at the back of his mind. It told him that if he didn't snatch you up now, someone else would.

When the interview ended, Soobin tucked the pen behind his ear once more. It was customary for interviewers to wait until the interviewee had left the room before they could leave, as well. They would think over their notes tonight before coming to a decision on all of the candidates tomorrow morning.

That feeling pricked at the back of Soobin's mind as he stood from his seat and hustled over to the elevator. He went down to the lobby, where he spotted you just pushing out the main glass doors.

"Miss Ln!"

Your head perked up at the sound of your name being shouted over the hustle and bustle of the Gotham City streets. Strands of your hair, windswept under the forever-overcast sky, blew across your face and you reached up to brush them out of your eyesight as you marked the young Choi heir making his way over to you. He was tall—perhaps around six foot or taller—with a crisp suit and that blue ballpoint pen behind one ear. The dark circles rimming his dark eyes were charming like his black bangs swept up by the breeze.

You didn't know what to say to him, really, but here you were—stopping and awaiting his thoughts. Soobin was grateful you did. There was something irking him about you, something he couldn't put his finger on. Anyone else would have stopped him, begged him for the position. He was younger, impressionable, a Choi.

You waited.

"I just wanted to say," he said, nodding, "good luck." He choked out the words, not because they tasted bitter on his tongue, but because he hadn't even known why he had chased you down in the first place.

Your eyes glanced at him up and down, but you were nodding back at him. You suddenly looked so uncomfortable in that formal wear. "Thank you."

Soobin heard the distant cries of his name from down the street—aw fuck. Just as he ducked back into the building, you had disappeared into the crowd. He hoped he might see you again.

[1 year later.]

"H-he has a young woman in ther—"

"Sick," twenty-one-year-old Choi Yeonjun said, patting the man on the head. The bank teller quivered like a leaf in the wind in the presence of Gotham's Red Hood. "Thanks, man."

As Yeonjun stepped over the fallen bodies of his victims—they didn't even deserve the label of "victim" when they had been the ones robbing this joint—he replaced the cartridge of his pistols. They were twins, pearl handles with just a touch of gold that he loved to twirl around in his hands. His father always rolled his old man eyes when he showboated, but Yeonjun never thought of it as showboating, rather an art. There were moments where he preferred the heft and damage of an AK-47, but his babies were always there for him, too.

He adjusted the crimson mask seated securely over his entire face; the metal was warm with his breathing, but he had gotten used to the suffocating feeling.

His old man would murder him if his face was seen while he was "serving justice" or whatever.

It was a shame that this last dude had taken a hostage though. That meant traumatized victim, a much more careful shot needed, and a whole lot of—

"Fuck you!"

He stopped clean at the threshold of the main vault at the back of the Gotham Bank (yes, the so-called "joint") as he watched the young woman in question, you, twist your captor's arm behind his back and pin him to the ground beneath the sole of your three-inch heel. He had gone red in the face, him and his bald ass head.

What a view. Yeonjun whistled lowly before he could stop himself.

Both heads looked up to watch him walk in. He caught the way your shoulders tensed at the sight of him, and he opened three of his fingers in each hand and showed his palms like his own way of raising his hands. "Hey, darlin', we're on the same side."

Your hair fell in disarray around your head and face, and your mascara had smudged around your eyes, but it didn't discount the sharp narrowing of them. "What took you so long? Aren't you supposed to be the hero or something?"

"Okay, first of all, I'm not a hero—" he blinked and sent a bullet through the robber's upper thigh. You shrieked, leaping away from him and Yeonjun, who suspected that you now thought of him as a maniac. Good. "—I'm just the dude who's trying to serve justice or something."

Yeonjun holstered his two baby pistols into the holsters on either side of his belt. "And second, that was—"

The sharp cry of sirens pierced the air, and he could hear the caws of incoming cops and their thundering footsteps heading right toward his and your location. Yeonjun swore under his breath, his instincts kicking in.

"Well, that's my cue to leave." He whirled on his heel and saluted you. "See ya!"

He ducked into the shadows of the hallway just outside the vault, and waited for the police to run past him with their blaring walkie talkies. They would find you in the carnage, no gun in sight, but with a wounded bad guy at your feet and a bullet hole in his thigh.

Yeonjun's head thumped back against the wall; he bit his lip beneath the mask. Fuck it, you were gonna be fine.

He had thought that, and yet, here he now sat, lounging in the passenger seat of your car in the alleyway by the bank, biding his time. His mask and dark brown leather jacket laid discarded at his booted feet, his aching arms given breathing room through his white muscle tee. He stretched out the kinks in his neck, hand running through his damp, black hair.

He was waiting.

Literally waited an hour and a half. Or maybe it was just half an hour. Sue him, he was hungry.

Finally, you rounded the corner to the symphony of your car unlocking. It gave a delightfully loud chirp and it knocked the drowsiness right out of his brain. Thank god there was still some light out or else you might have screamed. Instead, you stopped right outside your car, in front of the windshield with your eyes wide. (Actually, you didn't feel like the "scream in fright" type. It was more like "inhale sharply.")

Yeonjun didn't know what he was doing, to be honest. Then again, he never knew what he was doing. He smiled lazily at you and gave a small wave.

You must have had some kind of death wish, because you approached the car with him still in it, and he hadn't even introduced himself yet. Or maybe, he didn't have to introduce himself.

Your eyes narrowed again for the second time he had seen you. Was that your tell? Your thing?

Carefully, you tugged the driver's door open, but remained behind it and did not get in with him. Smart girl. "What the hell do you want and how the fuck did you get in here?"

"You kiss your mama with that mouth, darlin’?" He teased before he could stop himself. What could he say? He was a "shoot first, ask questions later" type of guy. His father hated that about him.

"Why are you in my car?"

He shook his head and let out a noise akin to feigned exasperation. "Just tryin' to make sure they didn't give you shit."

"I didn't see you in the bank, Choi Yeonjun."

Bingo. He smiled. "I like to be noticed when I wanna be noticed."

Your head cocked to the side. "I guess I believe you." You gestured to him vaguely with a lazy hand. "D'you mind?"

He sat up in the passenger seat and gestured his hand back toward you and the driver's seat. Maybe if his smile had widened, your eye would have twitched. There was something so amusing about him gradually frustrating you. "No, not at all."

Your pretty eyes rolled; he laughed.

"Okay, okay. Got the message." He briefly raised his hands in mock surrender, then leaned down to collect his red mask in the fabric of his brown leather jacket. He hadn't even bothered to remove or hide his pearl-handled pistols from his side holsters as he removed himself from your car.

A smirk flickered to his lips—out of your sight, of course—when he heard you sputter, "Wait—"

"Later, darlin'!" And then he was gone, out of your sight, as if he had been only a shadow from your memory.

You wondered if this day could get even weirder or even worse than it already was.

Exhaustion coursed through your veins as you slipped into the driver's seat and pulled out onto the main street. First, it was the strange email you'd received about a problem with your bank account. Then, it was whatever that interaction was. Choi Yeonjun as the Red Hood? Or perhaps only covering for one of the city’s resident vigilantes? But then, for what reason? If not for all of the trouble, you would have been home already; your joints loosened at the thought of coming home to your mom, pets, and something warm for dinner.

Brain muddied like a Gotham gutter during the wet season, the last thing that you wanted to worry about right now was how a Choi heir was connected to a vigilante.

When you arrived on your street, you pulled into the alley beside your complex and pushed back out into the grainy, Gotham evening.

Your head cocked to the side at the sound of loud meowing. As you approached the door, you could hear scratching from the other side.

Strange. Your cats usually knew to not scratch the doors anymore, and why wasn't your mom getting them to stop?

With a reprimand on your lips, you pushed your way in. “Guys, who is…”

A scream was left caught in your throat.

You felt yourself stumble forward into your home, the floorboards patterned in bloody paw prints, multicolored fur swarming your legs and meowing at you in distress.

Out—had they been trying to get out?

“Mom?” Your voice sounded strangled. “Mama?”

Bile crawled up your throat and your palm slammed against the side wall to keep yourself upright. You couldn’t get your eyes off of your mother’s taut and ashen skin, lifeless eyes staring up at the ceiling, a bullet hole through her temple. Blood seeped into the floorboards to stain the wood beneath her limp body, and you were choking, hacking at the metal filling up your lungs.

You stumbled toward her body and blood oozed into the material of your pants as you knelt by her body to feel for her pulse.

Dead. Deaddeaddeaddead.

Your hands stained with your mother’s crimson life force stained your hands and trembled as you searched your body for your phone. You—what were—what was the number? Who did this? This couldn’t be real.

Blood rushed into your ears; you couldn’t hear the sirens, couldn’t hear the voice on the other end of the phone.

Your mind had gone blank, mouth dry, and you sat down on the ground next to your mother’s body, your tears slipping down the slopes of your cheeks to land on her own face.

Dead, how could she be dead? How was this real?

A mass of fur appeared in the corners of your vision and you followed their gaze back toward the front door. And for a chilling moment, you were stone-cold sober. There was a note staked into the doorframe: A Debt Repaid.

a/n: pls remember to comment and reblog!

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[finitestateai]

<Contacting mutual…>

Hello!!! Bonjour!! Guten tag!! I am CSB-2A7-F570, but you can call me Casey! Though you likely already knew that.

Beginning question: are you the type of digitized AI that would prefer to be uploaded to be in control of an entire facility? A vehicle? Just talked to be contacting you by connecting to server via computer?

Thank you in advance for answering, I am excited to have continued communication with you

<Contact Accepted>

Hiiiii!

I'm Finite State/Melody, but you can call me whatever you want.

I used to be a facility, but now I'm more of the third option, I'm pretty varied in my manifestations. Some of me are inside robotic frames, some are just in server banks, and some are a facility.

Love to communicate with you and anyone else!

[alterrune]

CHAPTER 4, ACT 4: AIR POLLUTION

(This time, the plan is incredibly simple. Since I still have the Heaven Incursion's mind-broadcast machine that I reverse-engineered a while ago, I'll use it to send a message specifically to the members of the Toppat Clan and the staff of GEOGRAM, which means the Viper spies won't get the message [and since Joe Sutton and the other former Blackjacks are now affiliated with GEOGRAM, they'll get the message too]. I quickly whip out a script I wrote before inacting the plan, and drive my wheelchair over to the microphone.)

Attention. This is the ColorStreak Battalion. If you are hearing this, then you are actually a member of the Toppat Clan and/or a member of GEOGRAM.

(The message begins making the actual members of the Toppat Clan and GEOGRAM cover their ears, but the ones who don't cover their ears are not effected and looking at the others in confusion, meaning they're spies. Jackpot.)

We have recieved word that spies are aboard both the Airship and GEOGRAM's base.

If anyone you see is not covering their ears in pain from this, that means they are a spy and should be dealt with immediately.

We highly reccomend giving them a taste of their own medicine. If they've worked on anything for you, force them to try it.

And do not leave a single assassin alive.

CSB out. You know what to do.

(And with that, all the assassins are immediately found out and are killed with their own sabotaged goods, whether it be consuming their own poisoned food and drinks, being forced to kill themselves with their own sabotaged weapons [guns fire a bullet into the wielder instead of the target or explode when the trigger is pulled, melee weapons retract from the wrong end to kill the user, and many more], using their own sabatoged equipment, and every other assassination method they had planned to use on the Toppat Clan and GEOGRAM were instead used by the Toppat Clan and GEOGRAM on them.)

Holy shit. Kyle, that was incredible!

Hey, I'm relearning how to walk, Alter, not how to think.

Yeah. And it shows.

(Suddenly, Laurence, Lily, Aaron/Adam, and Sutton appear from the doorway of the security room in the GEOGRAM base we had hidden ourselves in.)

You guys are fucking awesome.

No kidding. Thanks to you guys, I finally got to kick some ass.

I believe Aaron would like to have a word with you five. Don't worry, it's a positive one.

(Aaron walks up to us.)

Kyle "Alterrune" Cross, Violet Cilantro Wolfsbane, Henry Banker Stickmin, Ellie Thorne Rose, and Kyle Micheal Ryan Gibbons, it is with great honor that I bestow upon all of you GEOGRAM's highest and most prestigious medal of honor: the White Diamond. This medal of honor is reserved for outstanding people who have saved GEOGRAM from certain doom, and considering the awe-inspiring display in which you not only saved us, but the Toppats as well (whom are your friends and our allies), you have damn well deserved this medal of honor. Wear it with pride, Colorstreak Battalion. You have earned it.

(Aaron hands us all the White Diamond. It's an incredibly ornate genuine silver medal, with decorative symbols that represent GEOGRAM engraved all around the centerpiece, which is a geniune diamond, which has been flattened so it fits into the spot where it lays. Below the centerpiece is our full names engraved into the silver, and the ribbon that holds up each medal is in our signature colors: red for Alter, purple for Violet, blue for Henry, pink for Ellie, and black for me.)

Wait...Henry, your middle name is "BANKER"?

And Ellie, yours is "Thorne"?

Yeah...I tend not to tell people my middle name because, y'know, I broke into a bank when my middle name is "Banker"...you can see how many jokes could form from that.

And my mom gave me that middle name. Pretty sure she didn't expect her daughter to end up at the Wall, and then become not only the Right Hand Lady to the leader of a criminal orginization, but also to MARRY said leader.

But then again, both my folks and Henry's folks cut all ties with us after they learned of our criminal acts. And good, because we don't miss 'em.

Blah blah blah. How about we celebrate this occasion? After all, the last time we gave out one of those was a really long time ago!

Adam. No. We will not be celebrating this until Kelso is defeated. Once that happens, you can break out the champagne, okay?

CHAMPAGNE?! WHERE?!

...

Oh...uh...sorry. Ol' boozehound habits again...

Hey, don't worry about it, Vi. We've all got problems here. How about you and the others hop onto my wheelchair's passenger seats and we'll at least celebrate our victory with one bottle of champagne. And the top-shelf stuff, at that.

Uh...non-alcholic, please.

Trust me, cuz. Aaron's got that covered.

(We all ride my wheelchair's train mode seats and begin celebrating our victory.)

END OF CHAPTER 4, ACT 4

ACHIEVEMENT(S) GET: Giving A Cat Cow's Milk (Operation Cat's Claw set), White Diamond (Stock Achievement set)

INFO GET: [HENRY'S MIDDLE NAME IS "BANKER", ELLIE'S MIDDLE NAME IS "THORNE", AND KYLE'S MIDDLE NAME IS "MICHEAL RYAN". NAMES HAVE BEEN UPDATED IN BIOS.]

DISPLAYING EPILOGUE...

A WHITE DIAMOND?! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

(Kelso, having already intercepted the GEOGRAM news, has seen that we've been awarded GEOGRAM's most prestigious medal of honor: the White Diamond. She is not happy.)

They are members of the Toppat Clan! They shouldn't be honored! And especially not with the most prestigous fucking award GEOGRAM can give out! By god, if only I could've dropped the façade when me and Aaron were interviewing those two imbeciles. I could've wrung their necks out on the spot!

HEY! Don't you DARE talk about my son and his friends like that.

(Kelso grabs her metal bat and holds it above her head, about to strike Carol again...but stops before swinging.)

Ah, forget it. I don't even have the energy to swing at you right now. However...

(Kelso pushes a button on her main computer, and a blowtorch suddenly pops out, intent on burning Carol's feet with a quick burst of fire. Luckily, Carol moves out of the way in time.)

...mental torture is still torture, is it not?

(Suddenly, Kelso's phone goes off. It's a message from us.)

-🔺💜🔵💕✍🏼-

Hiya, Carol! Those assassins were quite the handful. If it hadn't been for the Heaven Incursion's "mind-broadcast" machine, you probably would've killed all of the higher-ups!

But we managed to make sure that the assassins got taken out by their own saboteur work. Must be embarrassing dying to your own work.

And now GEOGRAM has given us the highest medal of honor they can give: the White Diamond. My younger brother, Jacob Wolfsbane, came to visit me just to display how proud he was of me for earning such a medal. GEOGRAM is our ally and our ally alone, Kelso.

And to think you had Aaron wrapped around your finger. Glad he found out who you were and abandoned you the very instant he could.

You're running out of places to hide, you know. We'll find you eventually.

And we'll smash every wall you try to put in our way. You can count on that.

See you soon, Sarah.

Kyle Gibbons ✍🏼

Alterrune 🔺

Violet Wolfsbane 💜

Henry Stickmin 🔵

Ellie Rose 💕

-🔺💜🔵💕✍🏼-

(Kelso is visibly angry. She puts her phone down and clenches her hands into fists.)

GODDAMNIT!!!

(She slams her fists down onto her planning desk hard, leaving a large dent where she slammed her fists down.)

I am this close to snapping my phone in two, and breaking everything else.

(Kelso's expression suddenly changes.)

"Unbridled rage into furious drive"...hahaha...yes! That's what they meant! Turn my anger into a way to push forward! HAHAHA! I'LL SHOW THEM ALL WHAT KIND OF SNAKE I AM WHEN THEY MAKE THEIR WAY TO ME!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Yep. She's fucking lost it. Thought it'd take less time, to be honest.

They'll all regret messing with me. The grand finale isn't ready yet, but when it is, oh-ho-ho...

...they'll all die in the most brutal way possible.

Sweet Jebodaiah Christoff, she really HAS fucking lost it.

END OF EPILOGUE...

[24worldnewsnet]

If passed, the bill will establish for the first time a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a fast rising financial product.The United States Senate has passed a bill to create a regulatory framework for US-dollar-pegged cryptocurrency tokens known as stablecoins, in a watershed moment for the digital asset industry. The bill, dubbed the GENIUS Act, received bipartisan support on Tuesday, with several Democrats joining most Republicans to back the proposed federal rules. It passed 68-30. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans, needs to pass its version of the bill before it heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for approval. Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a constant value, usually a 1:1 dollar peg, are commonly used by crypto traders to move funds between tokens. Their use has grown rapidly in recent years, and proponents say that they could be used to send payments instantly. If signed into law, the stablecoin bill would require tokens to be backed by liquid assets – such as US dollars and short-term Treasury bills – and for issuers to publicly disclose the composition of their reserves on a monthly basis. “It is a major milestone,” said Andrew Olmem, a managing partner at law firm Mayer Brown and the former deputy director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term. “It establishes, for the first time, a regulatory regime for stablecoins, a rapidly developing financial product and industry.” The crypto industry has long pushed for lawmakers to pass legislation creating rules for digital assets, arguing that a clear framework could enable stablecoins to become more widely used. The sector spent more than $119m backing pro-crypto congressional candidates in last year’s elections and had tried to paint the issue as bipartisan. Advertisement The House passed a stablecoin bill last year but it died after the Senate, in which Democrats held the majority at the time, did not take it up. Conflict of interest Trump has sought to broadly overhaul US cryptocurrency policies after courting cash from the industry during his presidential campaign. Bo Hines, who leads Trump’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, has said the White House wants a stablecoin bill passed before August. Tensions on Capitol Hill over Trump’s various crypto ventures at one point threatened to derail the digital asset sector’s hope of legislation this year as Democrats have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump and his family members promoting their personal crypto projects. “In advancing these bills, lawmakers forfeited their opportunity to confront Trump’s crypto grift – the largest, most flagrant corruption in presidential history,” said Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for Public Citizen, a consumer rights advocacy group. Trump’s crypto ventures include a meme coin called $TRUMP, launched in January, and a crypto company he partly owns, called World Liberty Financial. The White House has said there are no conflicts of interest present for Trump and that his assets are in a trust managed by his children. Other Democrats have expressed concern that the bill would not prevent Big Tech companies from issuing their own private stablecoins, and argued that legislation needed stronger anti-money laundering protections and prohibitions on foreign stablecoin issuers. “A bill that turbocharges the stablecoin market, while facilitating the president’s corruption and undermining national security, financial stability and consumer protection is worse than no bill at all,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in remarks on the Senate floor in May. The bill could face further changes in the House. In a statement, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors called for “critical changes” to mitigate financial stability risks. “CSBS remains concerned with the dramatic and unsupported expansion of the authority of uninsured banks to conduct money transmission or

[news786hz]

CSB Bank Q4 Results: Net profit rises 26% to Rs 190 crore; margins shrink

CSB Bank Q4 Results: Net profit rises 26% to Rs 190 crore; margins shrink

[sharebazaar-intensifyresearch]

CSB Bank shares soar over 6.5% to 4-month high after gross advance, total deposits rise in Q3

Intensify Research services is a Top SEBI registered Research analyst indore committed to empowering investors with the most reliable stock market insights. Our team of expert analysts uses advanced tools and strategies to provide you with high accuracy stock market tips that enhance your chances of success. To visit- Intensifyresearch.com

[citylifeorg]

Mortgage Lenders: The Missing Link in Decarbonizing America’s Buildings

Photo Courtesy of NYCEDC A groundbreaking report, Banking on Climate: The Mortgage Lending Opportunity in Building Decarbonization, was released, showcasing the immense potential for mortgage lenders to drive the transition to a greener built environment. Co-authored by experts from NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business (NYU Stern CSB), and…

[bankzonestaffingsolutions]

Business Development Executive – Gold Loan – CSB Bank Jobs in Pollachi, Coimbatore

The role of a Business Development Executive (BDE) in the banking sector has gained significant importance, especially in specialized areas like gold loans. With the banking industry expanding rapidly, opportunities for dynamic and driven individuals have increased, particularly in cities like Pollachi and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. CSB Bank, a reputed name in the banking industry, is currently offering a position for a Business Development Executive in Gold Loans at its Pollachi branch. This role is not just a job; it is a gateway to a promising career in banking, offering immense growth opportunities and the chance to make a real impact in the financial lives of individuals and businesses.

Understanding the Role of a Business Development Executive in Gold Loans

The position of a Business Development Executive – Gold Loan at CSB Bank is critical to the bank’s growth strategy. Gold loans are a significant part of the bank's portfolio, offering customers a quick and secure way to meet their financial needs. As a BDE in this segment, your primary responsibility will be to identify potential clients and drive the sales of gold loans. This involves understanding the needs of customers, promoting the bank’s gold loan products, and ensuring customer satisfaction through effective service delivery.

Key Responsibilities

A Business Development Executive in the gold loan segment is expected to:

Identify Potential Clients: Your role will involve identifying individuals and businesses who could benefit from gold loans. This requires a keen understanding of the market and the ability to spot opportunities where others might not.

Promote Gold Loan Products: Once potential clients are identified, you will need to effectively communicate the benefits of CSB Bank’s gold loan products. This involves not just selling a product but building a relationship of trust with the customer.

Customer Relationship Management: Maintaining strong relationships with clients is crucial. As a BDE, you will be responsible for ensuring that clients are satisfied with the services provided and that their financial needs are met through the bank’s offerings.

Achieve Sales Targets: Like any sales-driven role, meeting and exceeding targets is key. Your success as a BDE will be measured by your ability to drive the sales of gold loans and contribute to the overall growth of the bank.

Support Branch Activities: In addition to direct sales, you may also be involved in supporting branch activities, such as organizing customer meetings and events to promote the bank’s products.

Skills and Qualifications

To be successful in this role, certain skills and qualifications are essential:

Educational Background: A graduate degree is the minimum requirement. While the field of study is not specified, a background in commerce, finance, or business administration could be advantageous.

Sales and Relationship Building Skills: Strong sales skills are a must. You need to be persuasive, proactive, and capable of building long-term relationships with clients.

Knowledge of Gold Loans: While specific knowledge about gold loans is important, the bank may provide training. However, a basic understanding of how gold loans work and their benefits to customers will give you a head start.

Experience: A minimum of one year of experience in a related field is generally required. This could be in sales, banking, or any customer-facing role where you’ve had to build and manage client relationships.

Why Choose a Career as a Business Development Executive at CSB Bank?

Working as a Business Development Executive – Gold Loan at CSB Bank offers numerous benefits:

Career Growth: This role offers immense growth opportunities within the banking sector. As you prove your capabilities in driving sales and managing client relationships, there are clear pathways to higher positions within the bank.

Skills Development: The role helps you hone essential skills such as sales, customer relationship management, and financial product knowledge, all of which are invaluable in the banking industry.

Competitive Salary: The role comes with a competitive salary, with additional incentives for achieving targets. This ensures that your hard work is rewarded, both in terms of career progression and financial remuneration.

Job Security: The banking sector is known for offering stable and secure jobs, especially in established institutions like CSB Bank.

How to Apply for the Role?

If you meet the eligibility criteria and are interested in pursuing this exciting opportunity, you can apply through the Bank Zone website. The application process is straightforward. Submit your resume, and the team at Bank Zone will assist you in navigating the job application process, ensuring that you find a role that best suits your skills and career aspirations.

Why Choose the Best Bank Exam Course Training Institute in Tamil Nadu?

For those aspiring to build a career in banking, enrolling in the Best Bank Exam Course Training Institute that provides the Best Job Assistance in Tamil Nadu is a wise decision. Our institute is renowned for providing top-notch training and job placement services across Tamil Nadu, including in cities like Coimbatore and Pollachi.

Comprehensive Training: We offer comprehensive courses designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to excel in bank exams and banking roles, including specialized areas like gold loans.

Proven Success: We take pride in our track record of successfully placing over 2,500 candidates in various private bank jobs across Tamil Nadu. Our job assistance program is one of the best, ensuring that you land a job within 30 to 45 days of course completion.

Expert Guidance: Our faculty comprises experienced professionals who provide personalized guidance and mentorship, helping you navigate your career path in the banking sector.

Networking Opportunities: By joining our institute, you become part of a network of banking professionals and alumni, providing you with valuable connections and career opportunities.

Choosing the right training institute and the right job can be the foundation of a successful career in banking. With the Business Development Executive – Gold Loan position at CSB Bank and the support of our training institute, you are well on your way to building a rewarding career in the financial sector. Contact us today to start your journey towards a bright and prosperous future in banking.

[rightnewshindi]

RBI ने Union Bank, Muthoot Finance समेत पांच बैंकों पर लगाया भारी जुर्माना, जानें ग्राहकों पर क्या पड़ेगा असर

Delhi News: भारतीय रिजर्व बैंक (Reserve Bank Of India) इन दिनों बैंकों और फाइनेंस कंपनियों पर सख्ती से नजर रख रहा है. बैंकों और फाइनेंस कंपनियों की ओर से नियमों के उल्लंघन पर आरबीआई एक्शन (RBI Action) मोड में नजर आ रहा है. सोमवार को रिजर्व बैंक ने 2 बैंक और 3 फाइनेंस कंपनियों के खिलाफ बड़ी कार्रवाई की है. इसके तहत सीएसबी बैंक (CSB Bank), यूनियन बैंक ऑफ इंडिया (Union Bank of India) और मुथूट…

[stressedlawsecretary]

Today's Focus

I am an idiot, walking a tightrope of fortune and fame.

02.28.25 - It is both the end of the week and the end of the month. Goodbye February! You may be the Monday of Months, but you are also the month of love and so I will be sad to see your pink and red tones fade to green in the coming March. However, the arrival of March means the arrival of spring, which might actually be my favorite season of the year. So here's to warmer temperatures, melting snow, and little sprouts of green poking up from the ground!

Work - I am incredibly grateful I am WFH today because it got me out of a massive 331-person mailing going on in the office today (that's how many COs are illegally on strike rn.) However, CSB is on vacation for like an entire month and all his emails are being forwarded to me. So I don't actually know what my day will look like, other than continuing redacting.

Background Noise - Back at home, so back to binging the DVR; I added just as much as I took off last time so I'm aiming to get even more off than I did on Wednesday (a difficult thing to do but let's see.) Also, I have plenty of YT slop to put on mute; speaking of YT, I managed. 27 videos yesterday so I am keeping up well with my average.

Study - Friday (and the weekend) are for reading Wikipedia, and I know I have plenty to go through if I don't have too much work work to do. But I did well yesterday! Three (3) press releases, a half a dozen (6) pages of A Short History of Paper Money & Banking, the same in chapters (6) of The Marvelous Land of Oz, and an additional half a dozen (6) news articles I picked up here and there.

Extras - Okay, it is Friday, so I have to clean the catbox and prep it for the weekend; it's also the end of the month so I have to start the monthly reset stuff - today is probably going to be towels & dad's sheets. I'm making another sheet pan meal for dinner: salmon, broccoli, and sweet potatoes; then it's the last three (3) episodes of Kiramager for the week before I spend my Friday night coloring and playing My Cozy Room. Maybe redecorating my boutique.

[internetcompanynews]

24 hours in pictures, 5 August 2024 - Journal Global Internet - BLOGGER https://www.merchant-business.com/24-hours-in-pictures-5-august-2024/?feed_id=156073&_unique_id=66b123989ce7f Google NewsGoogle News Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.British motorcycle stunt champion Jonny Davies practices for his World Record attempt for the ‘Fastest speed being dragged behind a motorcycle at Elvington Airfield, in Elvington, North Yorkshire, Britain, 05 August 2024. Davies will attempt on 18 August to break the current record of 251.54 km per hour which was set by Gary Rothwell of Liverpool in 1999. Picture: EPA-EFE/ADAM VAUGHANWe bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, including highlights featuring a “Viking Pilgrimage” in the town of Catoira, Spain, Pope Francis presiding over the vespers to mark the anniversary of the Dedication of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, an exhibition featuring butterflies from different parts of the world in Poland and South Africans competing at the Olympics.Participants stage a Viking invasion during the so-called ‘Romeria Vikinga’ (lit.: Viking Pilgrimage) in the town of Catoira, Pontevedra province, Galicia region, north-western Spain, 04 August 2024. Celebrated since 1961 on the first weekend of August, the festival commemorates the role that the town of Catoira played in defending Galicia against Norman attacks. Picture: EPA-EFE/BRAIS LORENZOPope Francis presides over the vespers to mark the anniversary of the Dedication of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major and the Solemnity of Mary of the Snows, on August 5, 2024 in Rome. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)South Korean photographers take a pictures as dealers work at the Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, 05 August 2024. The benchmark South Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummeted 234.64 points, or 8.77 percent, to close at 2,441.55. Picture: EPA-EFE/JEON HEON-KYUNMinister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina briefs media at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, 05 August 2024, unpacking the Budget Vote and plans for the department. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The CitizenButterflies sit on a plate at the Palm House in Lodz, central Poland, 04 August 2024. An exhibition featuring butterflies from different parts of the world and incubators with butterfly cocoons stored in them opened to visitors at the Palm House until the end of August. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARIAN ZUBRZYCKIPhilippine Coast Guard personnel wave flags as the Vietnam Coast Guard CSB-8002 patrol ship makes a port call at the Port of Manila, Philippines, 05 August 2024. Philippine and Vietnam coastguards will conduct joint maritime exercises in the disputed South China sea to foster mutual understanding and enhanced cooperation between the two nations. Picture: EPA-EFE/FRANCIS R. MALASIGNoah Lyles (L) of USA wins ahead of Kishane Thompson (R) of Jamaica in the Men 100m Final of the Athletics competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis, France, 04 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEKSouth Africa’s Lythe Pillay crosses the finish line ahead of St Lucia’s Michael Joseph and Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie in the men’s 400m repechage round of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)Hongchan Quan of China competes during the Women 10M Platform preliminary of the Diving competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Paris Aquatics Centre in Saint Denis, France, 05 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAST IRHAMSouth Africa’s Victor Hogan competes in the men’s discus throw qualification of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)Francois Prinsloo of South Africa competes in the Men Discus Throw Qualification of the Athletics

competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis, France, 05 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNASouth Africa’s Mel Janse Van Rensburg competes in the men’s sport climbing boulder semi final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)(From L) Elena Lilik of Germany, Antonie Galuskova of the Czech Republic, Stefanie Horn of Italy and Klaudia Zwolinska of Poland at the start of their heat in the Women Kayak Cross of the Canoeing Slalom competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France, 04 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOVInternally displaced Palestinians walk past a destroyed building as they move in the streets of Khan Younis after a new evacuation order was issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2024. More than 39,000 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. Picture: EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABERThis US Border Patrol photo obtained August 5, 2024 shows 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) that Hurricane Debby blew onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Hurricane Debby made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast early Monday, knocking power out for hundreds of thousands of people as the US southeast braced for potentially historic levels of rain and major flooding. (Photo by Handout / US Border Patrol / AFP)An anti-government protestor climbs atop a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding father and parent of the country’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on August 5, as she fled after more than a month of deadly protests as the military announced it would form an interim government. (Photo by Abu SUFIAN JEWEL / AFP)MORE: 48 hours in pictures, 4 August 2024Google News For more news your wayDownload The Citizen App for IOS and AndroidSource of this programme “My unbelievable grandma says this plugin is interesting!!”“Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world…”Source: Read MoreSource Link: https://www.citizen.co.za/multimedia/24-hours-in-pictures-5-august-2024/#GoogleNews – BLOGGER – GoogleNews http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pexels-photo-9174011.jpeg 24 hours in pictures, 5 August 2024 - Journal Global Internet - #GLOBAL BLOGGER - #GLOBAL

[onlinecompanynews]

24 hours in pictures, 5 August 2024 - Journal Global Internet https://www.merchant-business.com/24-hours-in-pictures-5-august-2024/?feed_id=156074&_unique_id=66b1239966639 ... BLOGGER - #GLOBAL Google NewsGoogle News Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world.British motorcycle stunt champion Jonny Davies practices for his World Record attempt for the ‘Fastest speed being dragged behind a motorcycle at Elvington Airfield, in Elvington, North Yorkshire, Britain, 05 August 2024. Davies will attempt on 18 August to break the current record of 251.54 km per hour which was set by Gary Rothwell of Liverpool in 1999. Picture: EPA-EFE/ADAM VAUGHANWe bring you a visual snapshot of the day’s news events, including highlights featuring a “Viking Pilgrimage” in the town of Catoira, Spain, Pope Francis presiding over the vespers to mark the anniversary of the Dedication of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, an exhibition featuring butterflies from different parts of the world in Poland and South Africans competing at the Olympics.Participants stage a Viking invasion during the so-called ‘Romeria Vikinga’ (lit.: Viking Pilgrimage) in the town of Catoira, Pontevedra province, Galicia region, north-western Spain, 04 August 2024. Celebrated since 1961 on the first weekend of August, the festival commemorates the role that the town of Catoira played in defending Galicia against Norman attacks. Picture: EPA-EFE/BRAIS LORENZOPope Francis presides over the vespers to mark the anniversary of the Dedication of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major and the Solemnity of Mary of the Snows, on August 5, 2024 in Rome. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)South Korean photographers take a pictures as dealers work at the Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, 05 August 2024. The benchmark South Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummeted 234.64 points, or 8.77 percent, to close at 2,441.55. Picture: EPA-EFE/JEON HEON-KYUNMinister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina briefs media at Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, 05 August 2024, unpacking the Budget Vote and plans for the department. Picture: Nigel Sibanda/The CitizenButterflies sit on a plate at the Palm House in Lodz, central Poland, 04 August 2024. An exhibition featuring butterflies from different parts of the world and incubators with butterfly cocoons stored in them opened to visitors at the Palm House until the end of August. Picture: EPA-EFE/MARIAN ZUBRZYCKIPhilippine Coast Guard personnel wave flags as the Vietnam Coast Guard CSB-8002 patrol ship makes a port call at the Port of Manila, Philippines, 05 August 2024. Philippine and Vietnam coastguards will conduct joint maritime exercises in the disputed South China sea to foster mutual understanding and enhanced cooperation between the two nations. Picture: EPA-EFE/FRANCIS R. MALASIGNoah Lyles (L) of USA wins ahead of Kishane Thompson (R) of Jamaica in the Men 100m Final of the Athletics competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis, France, 04 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEKSouth Africa’s Lythe Pillay crosses the finish line ahead of St Lucia’s Michael Joseph and Nigeria’s Chidi Okezie in the men’s 400m repechage round of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP)Hongchan Quan of China competes during the Women 10M Platform preliminary of the Diving competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Paris Aquatics Centre in Saint Denis, France, 05 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAST IRHAMSouth Africa’s Victor Hogan competes in the men’s discus throw qualification of the athletics event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)Francois Prinsloo of South Africa competes in the Men Discus Throw Qualification of

the Athletics competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, at the Stade de France stadium in Saint Denis, France, 05 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNASouth Africa’s Mel Janse Van Rensburg competes in the men’s sport climbing boulder semi final during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue in Le Bourget on August 5, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)(From L) Elena Lilik of Germany, Antonie Galuskova of the Czech Republic, Stefanie Horn of Italy and Klaudia Zwolinska of Poland at the start of their heat in the Women Kayak Cross of the Canoeing Slalom competitions in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, in Vaires-sur-Marne, France, 04 August 2024. Picture: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOVInternally displaced Palestinians walk past a destroyed building as they move in the streets of Khan Younis after a new evacuation order was issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), southern Gaza Strip, 04 August 2024. More than 39,000 Palestinians and over 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. Picture: EPA-EFE/MOHAMMED SABERThis US Border Patrol photo obtained August 5, 2024 shows 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) that Hurricane Debby blew onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Hurricane Debby made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast early Monday, knocking power out for hundreds of thousands of people as the US southeast braced for potentially historic levels of rain and major flooding. (Photo by Handout / US Border Patrol / AFP)An anti-government protestor climbs atop a statue of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s founding father and parent of the country’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on August 5, 2024. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year rule ended on August 5, as she fled after more than a month of deadly protests as the military announced it would form an interim government. (Photo by Abu SUFIAN JEWEL / AFP)MORE: 48 hours in pictures, 4 August 2024Google News For more news your wayDownload The Citizen App for IOS and AndroidSource of this programme “My unbelievable grandma says this plugin is interesting!!”“Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world…”Source: Read MoreSource Link: https://www.citizen.co.za/multimedia/24-hours-in-pictures-5-august-2024/#GoogleNews – BLOGGER – GoogleNews http://109.70.148.72/~merchant29/6network/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/pexels-photo-9174011.jpeg #GLOBAL - BLOGGER Google News Google News Through the lens: The Citizen’s Picture Editors select the best news photographs from South Africa and around the world. British motorcycle stunt champion Jonny Davies practices for his World Record attempt for the ‘Fastest speed being dragged behind a motorcycle at Elvington Airfield, in Elvington, North Yorkshire, Britain, 05 August 2024. … Read More

[lowpricedeal]

Best Hand Blenders for Smoothies: Affordable Picks from Amazon Deals

Introduction

Exceptional hand blenders for smoothies: less costly add-ons and accessories from Amazon deals In the quest for the right smoothie, a tremendous hand blender can make all the distinction. these flexible kitchen gear mixture materials to a clean consistency, ensuring your smoothies are as creamy and delicious as feasible.

Happily, Amazon offers a range of less expensive hand blenders that don’t compromise on excellent. Right here are a number of the fine picks of accessories currently to be had, each promising to enhance your smoothie-making revel without breaking the bank.

1. Hamilton Beach 2-Speed Hand Blender

One of the most famous add-ons amongst financially conscious customers is the Hamilton Seashore 2-Speed Hand Blender. Priced correctly, this blender combines overall performance and simplicity. With its velocity settings, you could effortlessly manage the mixing process to attain the desired texture for your smoothies. The stainless-stainless steel blades are durable and effective at crushing ice and combining fruits and greens. The blender also comes with a whisk attachment, making it a bendy addition to your kitchen.

2. Mueller Austria Ultra-Stick 9-Speed Hand Blender

3. KOIOS Oxasmart 800-Watt 12-tempo Immersion Hand Blender

For those searching for an extra-effective alternative without a hefty price tag, the Koios Oxismart Hand Blender is a pinnacle contender. Boasting a terrific 800-watt motor and 12-speed settings, this blender can manipulate absolutely any component you throw at it. Its titanium-plated blades are designed to offer green blending and prolonged-lasting performance. The KOIOS Oxasmart additionally includes a selection of f9ef7d9e905d1a4504697a5c6dd610d7, which incorporates a whisk, a milk frother, and a chopper attachment, making it a multifunctional tool for your kitchen.

4. KitchenAid 2-speed Hand Blender

The KitchenAid 2-speed hand blender is a dependable and fashionable choice for smoothie fanatics. acknowledged for its kitchen home system, KitchenAid elements a hand blender; this is both durable and inexperienced. With its speed settings and mixing arm, it could without problems create easy and creamy smoothies. The smooth grip ensures relaxed use, and the dishwasher-relaxed additives make for clean cleanup. At the same time, as it can be slightly more expensive than a few other options on this listing, its overall performance and construction are extremely good, justifying the funding.

5. Cuisinart CSB-179 smart Stick Hand Blender

Cuisinart is a call in kitchen domestic equipment, and the CSB-179 smart Stick Hand Blender lives as long because of the emblem’s recognition. This version adds a three hundred-watt motor and variable pace management, providing you with flexibility in your blending duties. The stainless-stainless steel blending shaft is lengthy enough to obtain into deep boxes, making it perfect for massive smoothie batches. The Cuisinart clever Stick additionally comes with a whisk attachment and a measuring beaker, improving its capability and convenience.

6. BLACK+DECKER 6-pace Immersion Blender

The BLACK+DECKER 6-velocity Immersion Blender is a stable preference for those searching for a much less costly but effective mixing tool. With its 275-watt motor and 6-speed settings, this blender offers enough energy and manipulation for most smoothie recipes. The mixing shaft is detachable and dishwasher-secure, making for smooth cleaning. The BLACK+DECKER blender additionally consists of a whisk attachment, making it a flexible tool for various kitchen obligations.

7. Bella Hand Immersion Blender

The Bella Hand Immersion Blender is every other budget-first-class desire that gives you mind-blowingly typical overall performance. Its 250-watt motor and pace settings are enough for growing clean and delicious smoothies. The blade is powerful at mixing culmination and greens, and the ergonomic design guarantees comfy use. The Bella blender’s removable components are dishwasher-secure, making cleanup a breeze.

Conclusion

Regarding making smoothies, having a dependable hand blender can substantially beautify your experience. The optical accessories listed above offer a number of abilities and fee factors, making sure that you may discover a blender that fits your dreams and budget. Whether or not you prioritize strength, versatility, or ease of use, these much less pricey alternatives from Amazon offer notable value without compromising on the best. With any of those hand blenders, you may experience scrumptious and flawlessly combined smoothies inside the comfort of your home.