#and then proceeded to leave it for approximately 5 months before completing it

[squishwashere]

gun

[heavenridersindia]

Manimahesh Yatra: A Spiritual Journey to the Abode of Lord Shiva

The Manimahesh Yatra stands as one of India's most sacred pilgrimages, attracting countless devotees annually. Nestled in the lap of the mighty Himalayas, the yatra takes pilgrims to the sacred Manimahesh Lake, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva. The journey is not just a trek through the picturesque landscapes of Himachal Pradesh, but a spiritual experience that leaves an indelible mark on the souls of those who undertake it.

Introduction to Manimahesh Yatra

The Manimahesh Yatra, often referred to as the "Chota Kailash Yatra," is undertaken by devotees seeking the blessings of Lord Shiva. The pilgrimage culminates at the Manimahesh Lake, located at an altitude of 4,080 meters above sea level, in the Bharmour region of Himachal Pradesh. The yatra is particularly significant during the month of August and September, coinciding with the auspicious Hindu festival of Janmashtami.

This pilgrimage is unique because it offers a blend of spiritual fervor and the raw beauty of nature. The journey to Manimahesh Lake is challenging, yet deeply fulfilling, as it tests both the physical endurance and the faith of the pilgrims. The Manimahesh Yatra is not just a journey to a sacred site, but a quest for spiritual enlightenment and inner peace.

The Legend of Manimahesh Lake

The Manimahesh Lake is considered to be one of the holiest lakes in India, and its significance is rooted in ancient Hindu mythology. According to legend, Lord Shiva created the lake after marrying Goddess Parvati. The lake is believed to be the site where Lord Shiva meditates, and the reflection of the towering Manimahesh Kailash peak in the clear waters of the lake is said to be his divine presence.

The name "Manimahesh" is derived from two words: "Mani," meaning jewel, and "Mahesh," another name for Lord Shiva. It is believed that a glowing jewel on the peak of Manimahesh Kailash is a symbol of Lord Shiva's eternal power. Pilgrims believe that taking a dip in the icy waters of the Manimahesh Lake cleanses them of their sins and grants them divine blessings.

The Route and Challenges of Manimahesh Yatra

The Manimahesh Yatra starts from the town of Bharmour, which is known as the "Land of Shiva" due to its ancient temples and deep-rooted spiritual significance. From Bharmour, pilgrims proceed to Hadsar, the base camp for the yatra. The trek from Hadsar to Manimahesh Lake is approximately 14 kilometers and is divided into different stages.

Hadsar to Dhancho: The first leg of the trek takes you from Hadsar to Dhancho, a distance of about 7 kilometers. The path is steep and rocky, winding through dense forests and alongside the roaring Budhil River. Dhancho is a popular stopover for pilgrims, offering basic accommodation and food.

Dhancho to Gauri Kund: The next stage of the trek is from Dhancho to Gauri Kund, a distance of about 5 kilometers. This stretch is even more challenging, with narrow trails and a steep ascent. Gauri Kund is a sacred site where pilgrims take a holy dip before proceeding to Manimahesh Lake. It is believed that Goddess Parvati herself bathed here before joining Lord Shiva at the lake.

Gauri Kund to Manimahesh Lake: The final leg of the journey is a 2-kilometer trek from Gauri Kund to the Manimahesh Lake. This stretch is the most arduous, with the path becoming increasingly difficult as you ascend. However, the breathtaking views of the Manimahesh Kailash peak and the surrounding landscape make the effort worthwhile.

The Spiritual Significance of Manimahesh Yatra

The Manimahesh Yatra holds immense spiritual significance for devotees of Lord Shiva. The pilgrimage is seen as a means of attaining moksha, or liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The challenging nature of the trek is symbolic of the hardships one must endure to achieve spiritual growth and enlightenment.

Pilgrims believe that completing the Manimahesh Yatra brings them closer to Lord Shiva and that the journey purifies their soul. The yatra is also a test of one's devotion, as the harsh terrain and unpredictable weather conditions can make the journey incredibly difficult. However, the faith and determination of the pilgrims drive them to overcome these challenges.

The Natural Beauty of Manimahesh Yatra

While the Manimahesh Yatra is primarily a spiritual journey, it is also an opportunity to experience the stunning natural beauty of the Himalayas. The trek offers breathtaking views of snow-capped peaks, lush green valleys, and gushing rivers. The serene environment and the crisp mountain air provide a refreshing contrast to the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The Manimahesh Lake itself is a sight to behold, with its crystal-clear waters reflecting the towering Manimahesh Kailash peak. The lake is surrounded by towering mountains, creating a serene and peaceful atmosphere. The natural beauty of the region adds to the spiritual experience, making the Manimahesh Yatra a truly unforgettable journey.

Preparing for the Manimahesh Yatra

Undertaking the Manimahesh Yatra requires careful preparation, both physically and mentally. The trek is physically demanding, and it is important for pilgrims to be in good health and fitness. Acclimatization is also crucial, as the high altitude can cause altitude sickness.

Pilgrims should ensure they have the necessary gear for the trek, including warm clothing, sturdy footwear, and rain gear. It is also advisable to carry a first aid kit, sufficient food, and water for the journey. While there are basic facilities available at stopover points like Dhancho, it is important to be self-sufficient, especially during the final leg of the trek.

Conclusion

The Manimahesh Yatra is more than just a pilgrimage; it is a journey of faith, devotion, and spiritual awakening. The trek to the sacred Manimahesh Lake is a test of physical endurance and mental strength, but the rewards are immense. For those who seek the blessings of Lord Shiva and wish to experience the divine beauty of the Himalayas, the Manimahesh Yatra is an unforgettable experience. Originally Published Here:-

https://www.heavenridersindia.com/manimahesh-yatra-spiritual-journey/

[thedenimdentist]

Bleach Soaking my Warehouse 1001XX

Introduction

The proper way to wash selvedge denim (if you even believe in washing your denim at all) has always been a highly debated topic within the denim community. Since I first started wearing selvedge denim a few years ago, my beliefs, methods, and goals in washing my jeans has gone through a lot of the typical phases most “denimheads” experience. I initially never wanted to wash my jeans, hoping to get the most high contrast fades as possible. I never got into some of the more obscure denim practices, such as ocean washing or putting my jeans in the freezer to get rid of stench or “kill bacteria” or whatever, but I have played around a little with starching to try and achieve some of those SE Asian super crispy fades. 

Since then, my approach to washing my denim (as well as my taste in denim fades in general) has shifted dramatically. While I still can appreciate those super sharp, high contrast fades, I no longer really find them as desirable or visually appealing from a fashion perspective. They can be quite impressive when laid out flat on the floor or hanging, but when worn on body or worked into a full outfit, it just looks kind of bizarre and overly dramatic. That’s just my opinion, at least. There’s no “wrong” way to wash or fade your denim, so if that’s your cup of tea, more power to you.

As of late, I’ve definitely been more drawn to more classic fits and more vintage fades. Conveniently, this preference has also made wearing jeans much more comfortable and my washing practices much more hygienic! If you’ve been following along on my Warehouse 1001XX journey, you’ll know that this pair has been pretty much my daily driver for the past 8 months, and I’ve been washing them pretty much once a month (every 30 wears).

This time, at the 8 month mark (240 wear days), I decided to try something new (maybe even blasphemous within the denim community): I chose to bleach my denim. Not gonna lie, I was pretty hesitant and nervous, because I didn’t want to ruin a great pair of jeans I’ve invested 8 months on and am already pretty happy with how they've aged so far. However, I got over the initial fear and took the leap of faith, and am actually quite happy with the results.

Methods

I’m sure adding bleach to soaking/washing selvedge denim is not a ground-breaking, “never done before” technique to fading jeans. However, there is surprisingly very little information available online on how to actually go about doing it. Thus, I decided to give it a shot, and record exactly how I did it, as well as document my results for anyone else who may be interested in doing it themselves.

Step 1: To start, I just used the standard bleach I already had laying around for laundry: in this case, Clorox.

I’ve seen some videos on YouTube where they dump between half and the entire bottle of bleach into the bath tub to lighten a single pair of jeans. However, their goal was to take a standard darker to medium washed pair of jeans they found at the thrift store and lighten the hell out of em. I, on the other hand, chose to stay pretty conservative and only added about 50 mL of bleach to the bath. (I realize that 50 mL for an entire bath of water is fairly diluted, but as this is the first time I’ve done anything like this, I felt it better to err on the side of under-bleaching than over-bleaching.)

Step 2: I filled up my bathtub to about a finger length’s depth. (Clearly this is not a hard science, and everyone’s bath tubs are different. Nevertheless, I felt it necessary to give an approximate volume of water, as it affects the concentration of bleach added to the bath.)

Step 3: I then added the 50 mL of bleach to the bath and stirred the bathwater in attempt to evenly distribute the bleach. (I would've used a stick or something to stir the water, but I didn’t have one at the time. Instead, I just put on gloves and mixed it with my hands. (To be honest, I’m not really sure how necessary it is to wear gloves when touching bleach. I’m sure it’s not great for your skin, but the amount of time you're actually in contact with bleach is pretty minimal, especially it’s as dilute as 50 mL/an entire bathtub. But whatever. The teenage girl on YouTube told me it was CRUCIAL I wear gloves, so I did.)

Step 4: I completely submerged my jeans into the bathwater for 30 minutes, flipping them at the 15 minute mark. 

Things to note:

I left my jeans right-side-out for the entire 30-minute duration of the soak. My theory was, why bother flipping them inside out. What am I trying to do, hide the indigo-dyed warp from the bleach? Nah.

Do your best to lay the denim out as flat as possible. Not sure how critical this is, but people say you risk uneven bleaching if the denim isn’t super flat, and I’m not about to test their theory and end up with some ugly wrinkles or streaks on my jeans.

One extra step that I added was using a hard-bristle brush to scrub down the areas I wouldn’t mind some extra indigo loss (see photo below). I did this around the whiskers at the start of the first 15 minutes on the front, then on the butt pockets and honeycombs after flipping them over. 

Step 4: After the 30-minute bleach bath soak, I drained the bleach water from the bath, and filled it back up with plain water. I did my best to agitate and rinse out as much of the bleach water from my jeans as I could, and then flipped them inside out.

Step 5: I rolled up my jeans, wrapped them in a white rag towel, and ran them over to my washing machine. I then proceeded to machine wash my (inside-out) jeans on cold for 25 minutes, with the spin cycle turned off. (Note: turning “Spin” off does not mean the drum does not roll and tumble during the washing process. To my understanding, it just means it doesn’t spin quickly at the end to try and expel water out of your clothes (in this case, your jeans) before you pull them out to dry.)

Step 6: I hung my jeans to dry overnight. I sometimes hang them outside for better air flow, but I was lazy this time and hung them inside from a doorframe while blasting them with a fan. (I will note that, because the spin cycle was turned off, the jeans do come out of the machine dripping wet. I laid a towel down to absorb the bluish water drops and protect the hardwood floor.)

Results

I will preface this by saying that the results from this bleach soak are not all that significant. I would have loved to tell you that I’ve discovered the holy grail technique of achieving epic vintage fades, but I’d be lying. That being said, I’m in no way disappointed with the results! The bleach did bring up some of the high points in the fades just a bit, and definitely gave the color of the denim as a whole a bit more pop.

First off, here are a few side-by-side comparisons from before and after the bleach soak + machine wash. It’s a bit difficult to really tell what the fades really look like in the before shots (left), as they’re disguised by the shadows of the creases left from wear. The after photos (right) were taken immediately after hang drying flat, leaving just the fades clear and visible, unadulterated by shadows and creases.

Below are the standard views that I’ve been taking for all my post-wash updates. I just posted the side-by-side comparisons above because I thought it'd probably be helpful to see how drastic (or subtle) differences were in my fades immediately before and after the bleach soak.

Even with my Fuji X-T30, it’s difficult to really capture how the fades really look IRL. Thus, here’s a couple photos I snapped with my old iPhone 8 that I feel accurately depict how they looked after bleaching.

Man, so good.

On-Body

Lastly, here’s how they’re looking on body. Sadly, as always, I feel like my on-body photos never do my fades justice. There’s so much depth of color and texture to this banner denim, I just can’t seem to capture it from further away. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but that’s why I always take so many detailed close-up shots—to best capture what I’m seeing in real life.

Conclusions

While very subtle, I am extremely happy with the results of this first bleach soak. The highlights in the whiskers, knees, train tracks, and butt pockets/seat pop just a bit more, and now I can even make out some visible honeycombs (which have always been lagging). In addition, I feel like it did remove just the right amount of indigo from the entire jean as a whole, bringing up some of the areas of deep indigo and revealing more electric blues. This Warehouse banner denim already had so much depth of color and texture, and I feel the bleach soak only brought out that character even more.

Is doing a bleach soak going to give you instant epic vintage fades? No. But are my jeans ruined forever? Not at all. Maybe bleach soaking isn’t for everyone. If you’re one of those people who are going for super high contrast, chunky, Southeast Asian fades, then no, bleach soaking might not be your thing. However, if soft vintage fades are more your speed, maybe adding some bleach to the mix isn't such a bad idea. 

All in all, I just wanted to document this experiment to prove that adding bleach to a raw denim soak isn’t as scary as people make it out to be. For those of you who may have thought about bleaching your denim in the past but were unsure of how much to do so or were afraid of ruining your expensive jeans, hopefully this will give you the confidence to give it a try, knowing the type of results you might get based on how my pair turned out. Just use your brain and think about what you’re doing and why, and you’ll be just fine. Like so many other strange techniques used to fade denim (most of which I find dumb or so obscure and not grounded in science, or even common sense), bleach is merely another tool you can use to fade your denim.

I’ll probably continue to bleach soak my denim occasionally moving forward. Heck, I may even try doubling or tripling the concentration of bleach to 100-150 mL next time, just to see what’ll happen. Cuz at the end of the day, they’re just jeans, so why not have some fun with it?

[transformationstuck]

Amalagam Story

Jane was practically sick of trolls at this point. Ever since the entire fiasco had went down, her father gone, and the rise of complaints against her campaign by the majority of the troll population, she wanted them gone from this Earth. It had been a single month since she had deported most of the trolls using small legal constraints to other planets, where they’d continue with their meaningless banter of trying to disobey her. Why, she had been trying her hardest to conform the trolls to her ways, and look where that got her! Nowhere. Frankly, the next time she was going to see a candy corn horn, there was going to be a reckoning.

And yet there was no avoiding it. The twelve initial trolls who had assisted in the beta session remained within the galaxy. Some were taken care of, however discretely. She had devised Nepeta’s ship to crash into one of the deadliest planet to ever live in, and while she expectantly made herself the apex predators against all the face-sucking, marrow-gnawing monstrosities that lived on the planet, she had no way out. Kanaya was permanently disposed off with Rose after an indefinite honeymoon, with a small gift. Perhaps calling it small was the wrong thing, but she sure hoped Rose enjoyed pounding onto her wife like an animal in heat, because that’s practically what those two would be. Both Aradia and Vriska were off the books, considering the former was always missing and off doing something and the latter was currently the leader of the rebellion against her. Terezi and Feferi were far too important people in her campaign to even consider removing their existence, so she would have to simply tolerate them. After all, any legal issues regarding trolls would be pushed by the Pyrope and the former Heiress gave her such political power with her blood color. That left, coincidentally, all the male trolls.

And wasn’t it John’s birthday soon anyways? Might as well prepare him a gift.

——–

The first one was easy. All it took was two drones, a burlap sack, and there was a rather large lump of troll in front of her desk, with two ridiculously large horns protruding out of it.

“I didn’t ask for him to literally bring him to me. Look at the mess he’s making on the carpet! That’s just vacuumed! Get him out of here!”

The drones obeyed, though finding themselves difficulty immediately upon a certain conundrum.

“Tilt him sideways. SIDEWAYS! Why are you rotating him vertically? I meant horizontally! I know the horn is stuck. Just back off, don’t use brute force and…”

CRACK!

As Jane felt a pressure build on her neck, she decided that whenever trolls were involved, so were her migraines.

———

“… What did I tell you about bringing him to me LITERALLY? Again with the carpet? Do you know how difficult honey is to wipe off a carpet? Have you even baked before? Obviously you haven’t baked before, but I’ll do it myself this time. Just… dump him! In the vat! Now shoo!”

———–

“… Just put a sock in his mouth and get it over with.”

———-

“Yoo hoo, handsome. I got a surprise for you~.” The hallway was empty save for a lumbering figure, who seemed rather confused and tilting his head quizically, to the point where his head was rotating in a perpendicular manner. That was most certainly not the way a head should rotate, and the fact that she was wearing nothing but a single sheet of apron was already making her feel more vulnerable.

“Come on, handsome. I know you want it.” She held up a pie, which was green and what she would consider the complete disregard for basic culinary needs. A single whiff was more than enough to make her feel disgusted, and she wondered how anyone could even take a bite off of it.

Still no response, which meant that she had to bring out the big guns. Taking a deep breath, Jane winked, twice, and each wink followed by a short honk.

That did it, as the juggalo basically launched himself, erect cock showing through his stupid codpiece, and Jane found herself wanting to fall for the same mistake of letting the clown in her bedsheet again.

Click.

As Gamzee fell down the trapdoor she had long since set up in case something like this would ever happen, Jane sighed with relief, rubbing her head, and massaging her boob. “God, I actually should get a dick some time soon… And preferably not a clown’s…”

———

“… Excuse me, correct me if I’m hearing this right.”

A rather muscular troll, sweating profusely and smelling like a hung horse and a broken engine sat in front of her desk. The poor furniture was now drenched, and already a dark circle was forming underneath the carpet.

“You want in on this project. After I kidnapped you friends? Condemn them to a horrible experiment that’ll leave their body gone, potentially the mind, and you want in on this?”

A nod. And a sigh from her direction, before she tugged lightly on the rope that was currently binding Equius’s neck.

“You know I was going to disregard you since you were somewhat helpful, right?”

Another nod. Another tug. The troll’s face began to glow bluer by the second, but that deranged smile of him absolutely wanting this behind the leather restraints made her think of all trolls were like this.

Especially when he had been like this for the past three hours.

“I swear, trolls…” She waved to her drones to take him away, but it seemed like the ingredients were complete.

Though she felt like she was forgetting something, she was sure it wasn’t that important if she could remember it.

———

In front of her stood approximately 1000 lb of troll flesh, complete with 5 pairs of horns, 5 pairs of misplaced arms and legs, the most obvious bulges ever, some obviously aroused, and few facial features which she proceeded to shut up. The process was going to be painstakingly simple, as she started to channel the Life into the body.

It hadn’t taken much for her to channel the five into a single blob majorly for safekeeping. She couldn’t risk any of them breaking out and spoiling her plan, so she had made them into what was a large meatball, feeding them all the surplus baked goods until they grew fat and complacent, and practically no traces of bone structure remained from the excessive flesh gained from consumption.

Push, knead. Push, knead. Minute by minute, the flesh began to sink underneath her hands, folding and mixing until gray became pink, round shape forming into more humanoid, a thousand pounds now beginning to dwindle into approximately one tenth of its original weight.

It was then that she called John.

“John.” She said with a quick, snappy tone that immediately informed her ecto-grandson that she meant business. “If you were looking for a relationship, what would you look for in a woman?”

“… What?” A click of her tongue immediately made John regret questioning Jane. There was something about her that intimidated him ever since her campaign began, but still, the question remained. “I mean… Nice, I guess? If you are asking about her personality o-”

“I meant a sexual relationship. Jesus Christ, get on with it!”

“Right, right. So uh… huge boobs.” Silence from her end was interpreted as a signal to continue as she proceeded to knead whatever was left over into a round shape, over the currently very flat chest with little to no definition. “I mean, some serious honkers. A real set of badonkers, packing some dobonhonkeros. Massive dohoonkabankl-”

“John!”

“Right… Uh… Big ol’ tonhongerekoogers.” With that, John paused, and added, “And some thighs please. I like them thick.”

———–

It wasn’t long before Jane was done, staring at her masterpiece she had taken three hours of pure Life to create. An hourglass figure, melon-sized titties, and the very definition of thunder thighs. It wasn’t long before they started moving, which, at that point, she wasn’t exactly sure what happened. One moment they had been lying down unconscious, the next thing, they were, and each limbs proceeded to move completely independent of each other. It wasn’t until she stuffed the horse-dildo in their seemingly very aroused entrance with rough force did they proceed to break out of her lab through sheer willpower.

It wasn’t long before she found her, though not directly. She had left her be for now, and it seemed that, as intended, John had found her first.

The various names mixed together had mistakenly led John to believe she was named “Etiquette.” Though a strange name, she had come a long way from being five different trolls to one hot little body. Sure, disjointed complaints and moans of pleasure occasionally seemed to confuse John, as well as her habit of talking to herself, but once she got in bed, he had no complaints. Sometimes she demanded a larger dildo stuffed down her ass. Sometimes she wanted to do nothing but videogames. Sometimes she started honking like a clown as she rode John cowgirl style, which obviously terrified John as much as it aroused him. It did leave Jane to wonder if they all shared an internal voice, or argued over what to do next, seizing control or each other? Or perhaps they got adapted to controlling their body in a uniform style? Or perhaps all of their personality got melded into one. Jane could potentially find out, but decided against it. As she closed the feed of John pounding Etiquette to the next pleasure-town, the way her fingers and toes twitched, her arms and legs occasionally moving as opposed to how she was acting, she knew that at the very least she got rid of an eyesore.

[go-redgirl]

Fact Checking Biden’s First Press Conference D'Angelo Gore  17 hrs ago

Neil Gorsuch Couldn’t Stop Complaining About the Rest of the Justices Today

 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How ‘The Bachelor’ Went Off the Rails Dealing With Racism In his first press conference since being inaugurated 64 days ago, President Joe Biden got some facts wrong Biden claimed that former President Donald Trump “eliminated” over $700 million in aid that Biden helped get for Central American countries. 

That didn’t happen, but the Trump administration did reallocate some money and temporarily suspended other funding.

The president used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed” regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. There was a significant 63% uptick in unaccompanied children being apprehended from January to February.

Biden said, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” But in February, 41% of those in a family unit apprehended at the southern border were expelled.

The president said “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act. Some polls show that but others show a majority opposed the COVID-19 relief legislation.

He repeated two familiar talking points on taxes, including the misleading claim that “83%” of the benefits in the GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are “going to the top 1%.” That only becomes the case in 2027 when most of the individual income tax cuts are set to expire but corporate tax cuts remain.

Biden got it wrong when he said there were five times as many cloture motions “last year alone” than there were “between 1917 and 1971.” There were twice as many motions filed last year than there were from 1917 through 1970.Biden took questions from reporters on March 25.Aid to Central America Biden falsely claimed that his predecessor “eliminated” and “didn’t use” more than $700 million in funding to address migration from Central American countries that Biden helped secure when he was vice president.

“They’re coming because of the circumstances in country, in country,” Biden said of the thousands of people who are illegally entering the U.S. through Mexico. “The way to deal with this problem, and I started to deal with it back when I was … vice president, putting together a bipartisan plan of over $700 million to do the root causes of why people are leaving. What did Trump do? He eliminated that funding. 

He didn’t use it. He didn’t do it. 

”Biden appeared to be referring to funding for the “U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America,” which was as high as $750 million during the Obama administration in fiscal year 2016. It’s true that the annual budget for that initiative declined significantly during Trump’s presidency, but it wasn’t completely “eliminated” or unspent, as Biden said. According to the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, appropriations for the program declined to $685 million in FY 2017, $615 million in FY 2018, $528 million in FY 2019, $533 million in FY 2020 and $506 million in FY 2021.

Biden may have been referencing money that Congress authorized for use in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador that the Trump administration either reallocated to other initiatives or temporarily suspended in 2019.As a January CRS report said: “From FY2016 to FY2020, Congress appropriated more than $3.1 billion to improve security, governance, and socioeconomic conditions in Central America as part of a whole-of-government initiative to address the drivers of irregular migration.

 However, in March 2019 — less than two years into the initiative’s on-the-ground implementation — the Trump Administration suspended most foreign aid to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The Administration proceeded to reprogram approximately $396 million of aid appropriated for the Northern Triangle countries in FY2018, reallocating the funds to other foreign policy priorities within, and outside of, the Latin American and Caribbean region.

”The report indicated that the Trump administration “withheld most of the assistance Congress appropriated for Central America in FY2019 while it negotiated a series of agreements intended to stem the flow of migrants and asylum-seekers from the Northern Triangle to the United States.” As a result, the report said, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development were forced to close down or cancel some projects and planned activities.

But CRS also said that — amid criticism from members of Congress who argued the funding freeze was counterproductive — aid to the Northern Triangle countries that was previously held back began to be released late in 2019, and “all of the previously suspended assistance for the region” had been “programmed” by June 2020.Immigration: Unaccompanied Children

Biden used the wrong statistics when saying that “nothing has changed” regarding “children” trying to enter the U.S. at the southern border. To be sure, there have been spikes before in unaccompanied children arriving at the border, but the uptick in Biden’s first full month in office was significant.

Biden: Truth of the matter is nothing has changed. As many people came, 28% increase in children to the border in my administration. 31% in the last year of – in 2019, before the pandemic, in the Trump administration. It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March.

Biden’s figures don’t pertain to an “increase in children to the border,” as he said. Instead, they pertain to the total number of apprehensions at the border — including single adults and family units. Those figures were cited in a Washington Post opinion piece by immigration experts who, similar to the president, said the rise in total apprehensions reflected “a pattern of seasonal changes,” in which immigrant apprehensions increase in the cooler months of the year.

We get slightly different figures using Customs and Border Protection data. There was a 29% increase in total apprehensions from January to February, when the level reached 96,974. In 2019, the January-to-February bump was 39%. As we’ve written, the recent increase in border apprehensions did begin prior to the election under then-President Donald Trump. 

But the spike in unaccompanied children in the first full month of Biden’s administration is noteworthy — and, with a backlog of processing those children out of border custody facilities, it’s the main aspect of border immigration that has garnered media and political attention. 

The number of unaccompanied children being apprehended at the border also began rising in October, before the election, but it spiked 63% from January to February, reaching 9,297 kids.

The Washington Post opinion piece noted that the apprehensions of unaccompanied children “appears to be more than just a seasonal pattern. ”CBP data show the fiscal year 2021 numbers of unaccompanied children apprehended are on track to rival or surpass a spike that occurred in 2019.Immigration: Families The president went on to say the “vast majority, the overwhelming majority of people coming to the border and crossing are being sent back,” mentioning “single people.” That’s correct. But then he added, “We’re sending back the vast majority of the families that are coming.” That’s not the case for the month of February, the most recent data from CBP.

The administration expelled 41% of family units in February. (See the figures for Title 42 expulsions.)Single adults, who make up the vast majority of those apprehended on the border, have been largely expelled under Title 42, a public health law. We asked the White House about Biden’s claim, but we haven’t received a response. Polling on American Rescue Plan  Act told Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Biden has gone too far left, the president responded by saying “over 50%” of Republican voters supported the American Rescue Plan Act.

But public polling offers a more mixed reaction among Republicans to the new law than the president lets on. Biden: I would like Republican, elected Republican support, but what I know I have now is, I have electoral support from Republican voters. Republican voters agree with what I’m doing. 

And so unless Mitch says the last thing I did, the last piece of legislation I did was so far left, well, then he ought to take a look at his party. Over 50% of them must be over that edge, as well because they support what I did. This has become a talking point for the president. He stated something similar on March 19, when he said “we didn’t get any help in the Senate or the House, but you have 55% of the Republicans in America supporting it,” referring to the COVID-19 relief bill. For sure, there are polls that show more than 50% of Republicans supported the bill earlier this month when it was before Congress.

A Morning Consult/Politico poll conducted from March 6 to March 8 found 59% of Republicans surveyed said they “strongly support” (29%) or “somewhat support” (30%) the COVID-19 aid package. Similarly, a Data for Progress poll conducted from March 5 to 7 found 54% of Republicans supported the bill. However, other polls found Republican support below 50% — not “over 50%,” as Biden said. A CNN poll from March 3 to 8 found only 26% of Republicans supported the bill (see Table 031).

A Pew Research Center survey from March 1 to 7 found that 41% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they supported the bill. That poll showed a pronounced partisan divide in particular on the cost of the legislation — which was the primary reason for Republican opposition in Congress. Sixty-one percent of Republicans told Pew that the $1.9 trillion bill, which Biden signed into law on March 11, spends too much.

Lastly, we found a CBS News/YouGov poll taken from March 9 to 10 found 46% of Republicans supported the American Rescue Plan Act. “Among Republicans, there is more support for it among those with lower household incomes than among those with higher incomes,” CBS News wrote.

Taxes Comparing his tax priorities to those of Republicans, Biden revived two talking points from the campaign: the misleading claim that 83% of the tax cuts in the Republican tax law championed by Trump went to the top 1%; and the false claim that middle-income families pay a higher tax rate than “the average person making $1 billion a year. 

”Biden said he found it “kind of interesting that my Republican friends were worried” about “the cost” of tax cuts and relief checks in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act. The law, he said, “puts money in people’s pockets. Ordinary people. 

”The law provides an average tax cut to middle-income earners of $3,720 this year, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. The law also includes stimulus payments for most Americans, and extends unemployment compensation. Biden said he didn’t remember hearing Republicans express similar concerns about the cost of the Republican-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which is projected to add nearly $2 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. “Did you hear them complain when they passed a close to $2 trillion Trump tax cut, 83% going to the top 1%?” 

Biden said. This is a well-worn but misleading claim. As we have written, in order for the legislation to be passed via reconciliation, most of the individual income tax provisions are set to expire by 2027, while the corporate tax cuts would remain, making the tax benefit distribution more lopsided for the top 1% than in earlier years. So, while the top 1% got 20.5% of the total tax benefits in 2018, and 25.3% of the tax benefits in 2025, the share of the total tax savings that accrues to the top 1% in 2027 is 82.8%, according to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center. Republicans say they expect a future Congress will extend the individual tax cuts, rather than allowing taxes for many to increase, but of course there is no assurance that will happen .Biden went on to claim Republicans “reduc[ed] taxes to a point that people who are making, you know if you are a husband and wife, school teacher and a cop, you’re paying at a higher rate than the average person making $1 billion a year is. Something’s wrong. ”Actually, that claim is wrong.  This is another version of a claim Biden made during the campaign, that the top 1% of taxpayers, on average, pay a lower effective tax rate than middle-income people.

In general, people in higher-income categories pay a higher tax rate. According to an analysis by the Tax Policy Center, the top 0.1% — those making over $3,452,300 a year — paid an average federal tax rate of 31.3% in 2019. That’s a higher rate than any other income category below it. By comparison, for example, those in the middle 20% of earners — with an expanded cash income of $50,001 to $87,300 — paid an average federal tax rate of 12.4%, according to the TPC analysis.  Tax Policy Center did not break down its analysis for billionaires, but they would obviously be a fraction of those in the top 0.1%.“On average the top 0.1 percent of income pays more,” Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, told us via email. “Are there outliers? Sure. But would be very rare. ”As Gleckman told us back in 2019, “You can invest all your money in tax-exempt bonds and pay no federal income tax on the interest. Investors can avoid paying tax on capital gains by simply not selling the assets (but they’d also have no income). 

But in general, the federal tax system is very progressive. The more you make, the more you pay. 

”William McBride, vice president of federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation, told us Biden may be referring to an analysis by economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman of the University of California at Berkeley that concluded the average effective tax rate (for federal, state and local taxes) paid by the richest 400 families in the U.S. was 23%, slightly lower than the 24.2% rate paid by the bottom half of American households.

notes, however, that the Saez/Zucman data “excludes refundable tax credits so that the tax burden is overstated at the lower end of the income spectrum. When they are included, average effective tax rates for federal taxes go from 3.3% for the lowest quintile up to 30.3% for the top 0.1% (about 120,000 households).”McBride said the Saez/Zucman estimates for the top 400 households “rely on their assumptions about returns imputed from underlying wealth and income shares, which have been challenged by other economists like Gerald Auten and David Splinter. 

They find that the top 0.01 percent (a bit more than the top 400) paid an average combined tax rate of nearly 50 percent in 2018.”In a post challenging some of the methodology of the Saez/Zucman report, Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center said that while it is true that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “cut the taxes of high earners by more on average than for low- and moderate-income households, as a share of after-tax income,” that doesn’t mean, as a Washington Post headline put it, that “billionaires paid a lower tax rate than the working class. ”Cloture Motions Even though he pulled a card out of his pocket to read aloud statistics on the rise in cloture motions, Biden got the numbers wrong.

 Biden: That it used to be that from between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break a filibuster, that whole time. Last year alone, there were five times that many. So it’s being abused in a gigantic way. Cloture motions are filed to set a time limit on debate and bring a bill to the floor for a vote. The motion must receive 60 votes to pass — not a simple majority.

The Senate website lists all cloture motions since 1917, when the Senate first adopted the cloture rule. We counted a total of 58 from 1917 through 1970, the figure Biden cited. But last year alone there were 118 — which is more than double 58, not five times greater.

It appears that the president meant to say in the last Congress — not “last year alone.” In 2019 and 2020, which was the 116th Congress, there were 328 cloture motions filed — which is more than five times the motions filed from 1917 through 1970.But cloture motions aren’t necessarily filed “to break a filibuster,” as Biden said. That used to be the primary use, but not in modern times — a fact noted in a Congressional Research Service report on filibusters and cloture motions.

“In recent times, by contrast, Senate leadership has increasingly made use of cloture as a normal tool for managing the flow of business on the floor, even when no evident filibuster has yet occurred,” the CRS report said. “It would be erroneous to assume the presence or absence of cloture attempts is a reliable guide to the presence or absence of filibusters.

 ”Also, both parties are responsible for the escalating use of cloture motions. 

There were 504 filed in six years (2009-2014) when the Democrats were in control, and 657 in six years (2015-2020) when the Republicans were in charge.

Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, 202 S. 36th St., Philadelphia, PA 19104. 

The post FactChecking Biden’s First Press Conference appeared first on FactCheck.org.

_______________________________________________________

OPINION:  Joe Biden need to be “Fact Checked every time he makes a Statement or comment about anything that he says!

[prankprincess123]

An incomplete list of why Doctors (and lifeguards and dentists and several other people) are afraid of me:

At 5yo I was walking across the piano bench with my satin baby blanket over it and slipped and smashed my face into the piano so hard that it was bleeding for over an hour and I was rushed to the ER with all the doctors and nurses freaking out that I broke everything in my face. No broken bones, just a very bruised nose.

The doctors denied me life insurance when I was 6yo because my BMI was 95th% for height and 5th% for weight, and I was obviously malnourished. I responded by informing them that I was on my 8th pancake a breakfast that morning.

Also at 6yo I was jumping on my bed and smashed my face on the headboard. Again rushed to the ER a bleeding mess. Doctors feared that I shattered my upper jaw and that my adult teeth would fall out/never grow in properly. All I have is a small scar where my gums and upper lip meet.

At 12yo was still only barely 60lbs despite being tall, being overly muscular for a child that age, and having a bone density abnormality that makes my bones heavier than normal (and makes them harder to break) (this combination also makes me unable to float unassisted, which combined with my ability to tread water for 3h as a child terrified lifeguards and swim coaches)

I've had chronic migranes since 12yo. Some times the pain is so bad that I'm flat on my back, unable to move, see or hear, eyes watering and throwing up from the pain for entire weeks. The doctors have tried every test they can think of and still have no clue the cause. If it's mild enough that I can still move I treat it as a normal day, even if my eyes are still watering and I'm throwing up from the pain. Prescription steroids didn't even do anything when we tried them, the best they can do is give me painkillers to lessen the pain, but even those only help minimally because my drug tolerance is so high.

Made it to 13yo before anyone even considered that I might be ADHD and 14yo before being officially diagnosed. Within 5min of meeting me this leading ADHD specialist pediatrician, who has ADHD himself, declared that I was the most highly and obviously ADHD person he had ever even heard of, and that it was a miracle I made it to my first birthday without anyone noticing. Supposed to be on the highest legal dose of Vyvance, but that just leaves me at the numb midpoint between my normal self and the goal of ADHD pills. I only take 40mg pills as a result because then I'm still me but also able to focus if I try hard enough. 20mg of Vyvance is enough stimulant to stop a normal person's heart.

Sprained my ankle really badly at 14yo and the moment I was off crutches I proceeded to do an approximately 8h hike called Crypt because it's so dangerous (if you don't know what you're doing, and largely because it's hard to carry enough water on you) and then spent the rest of the summer jumping out of trees, swingsets, and cliffs upto 25ft high, as well as wakeboarding. The sprain never healed right as a result and I have a weak ankle and have to wear an ankle brace if I even go on a walk, but never comprehended the pain while further injuring it.

At 15yo due to a combination of school, 4h of homework a night, tap dancing lessons Tuesday and Thursday 3-5:30pm, Air Cadets Tuesday 6-10pm and all day every other Saturday, Biathlon practice Friday 4-10pm and every other Saturday (usually doing drills in the snow/ice rain) as well as family and/or church responsibilities every other day, I let a simple cold turn into pneumonia. I'd been sick for a month before I even considered going to the Dr's and got diagnosed incorrectly because they greatly underestimated my pain tolerance. I proceeded to complete in my biathlon competition, get 5 roles in the school musical (the ensemble called for 40+ people and we had 15) and continue all of the above activities, with reoccurring undiagnosed pneumonia for 6 months. Singing the highest soprano 'GlooooooOoooooOooooria!' part of 'Angels We Have Heard On High' in church choir, with pneumonia, while wearing an improperly fitting corset is probably the most painful thing I've ever done and the whole time I was on the verge of passing out. When a doctor finally decided that was way to long to be coughing that hard/long/frequently and took an x-ray of my chest they found that I had coughed so hard and so much that I'd broken 3 ribs, and that the only two explanations for how damaged my lungs were were either being a chain smoker for 20+y or having fought off pneumonia multiple times without proper medication, sleep, or nourishment. I told them that I was sleeping an average of 2h a night and eating more cough drops than actual food.

At cadet physical training camp at 16yo all medication had to be kept and administered by an adult. Allergy pills, iron pills, and migrane medication was outright confiscated. Also still had a limp from my ankle. Exercising 8h a day and only allowed to eat at meal times. Still only weighed 95lbs. Officers baffled that I was limping, my arms and legs where covered in hives, I was wheezing constantly, fainting a minimum of 3x a day, and throwing up and/or temporarily blind from the pain of my migranes at least once a week, while still insisting that I was fine to participate and besting all the other kids. I did get allergy pills and my inhaler back in my posession by the end of the first week, but by the 3rd week the camp medics gave up trying to figure out what all was wrong with me and sent me to the actual Army Doctors on base. One blood test later I had my iron pills back and was permitted to carry snacks on my person at all times, and my CO's were instructed to carry my migrane medication on them and give it to me as asked. I was also banned from ever giving blood both because of my low iron levels and low blood pressure, and because when the needle peirced my skin I had a panic attack so severe and violent that it took the Army Doctor and all 4 Army Nurses on base to hold me down without hurting myself or them.

Crashed my bike really badly at 16yo. Flipped over the handlebars, hand break jabbed into my right thigh and sliced a 6in gash, all of my weight landed on my left knee. 2 weeks later I went to the ER cause I noticed that while my gash had healed almost completely, my knee was still really swollen. Doctors baffled that I hadn't come in for stitches and even more baffled that 5 x-rays an MRI and several examination later they still couldn't figure out what I'd done to my knee. It was so swollen that I was unable to get jeans over my knee for 3 months and unable to walk without a knee brace for 6 months. Still have to wear a knee brace occasionally, and doctors still have no clue what I did.

Was on the school girls rugby team at 16/17yo. Womens rugby is one of the most dangerous sports in existence, with only certain types of combat sports resulting in more injuries. I was one of the tallest and by far the lightest person on the team. Any time I was tackled or tried to tackle anyone I would end up flying about 5ft through the air and landing on my head. I had to be checked for concussions about 5x a day just at practice. Usually after the 4th or 5th concussion test I passed each day I'd be made to sit out the rest of the day to be safe. I have had probably 7/8 minor concussions in my life, but only one of those was from landing on my head in rugby (at least one is from getting in fights in elementary, another is from hitting my head on a wakeboard after wiping out hard, a few are from sparring accidents. And probably the worst is from @white-magpie07 and I both slipping on glitter at my sister's 16th birthday party, while running towards eachother, and smashing our heads together hard enough that we both fell over backwards onto the hard gym floor; neither of us remembers much of that party as a result...)

Getting my wisdom teeth out at 17yo. They gave me the proper amount of anesthesia for a child of my height and weight, and told me to count down from 100. When I got to 75 gave me more and told me to restart my count. At 50 even more. They ended up having to get my parent's permission to give me the maximum dose they were legally allowed to. Even then my 4th count I got down to 7 before I was out. They said that with a normal amount of anesthesia I should be unconscious for about 2h after the surgery before waking slowly, but that with how much they had to give me it would probably be longer and it would take me probably the entire day to be completely lucid again. 15min after the surgery was complete I was wide awake, fully lucid, and having a panic attack because there were needles in me. Extreme pain medication they gave me did absolutely nothing for the pain, and I was told that my recovery time would be about 2 weeks, but I was still 100% back to normal in 2 days despite the pain.

Last summer at LARP I ran around in 20lbs of armor, a wool floor length dress and heavy faux fur cloak, while weilding very absorbant foam weapons and a 3ft pure foam shield for 6h in the rain in the middle of the night in a forest in the middle of nowhere. I was so thoroughly drenched by the end of that battle (at about 3am) that my cloak alone was so weighed down with water that it was 20lbs, and I could barely lift my shield anymore. Needless to say I got bronchitis, but I didn't clue in till it had nearly turned into pneumonia because the whole rest of the LARP and for weeks before I was daring anyone and everyone to hit me as hard as they could in the chest to demonstrate how awesome the armored corset I was wearing was, and I figured that I'd just bruised and possibly broken my ribs. Turns out wearing a properly fitted corset (even if it is armored and weighs 10lbs) while sick with a respiratory illness makes it easier to breathe and go about your daily life.

[anendlessdawnfalling]

⭐ Berry Berry Benny!! ⭐

Here is my late review and opinion of Kurenai Yuzuru's last dinner show in August. I had a hard time to assimilate everything that happened these last months, beware of it's length and I hope you love Hoshigumi. Good reading! 💖 I'm sorry if it comes up to you completely, I don't know how the tumblr editing works. 😰 (I'm not sure the songs listing is entirely accurate.)

It was an emotional evening I must say, I deeply love Kurenai Yuzuru and it was overwhelming. I must admit that I'm not entirely sure of the rightness of my timeline, since quite some time passed. I attended the event in Osaka on shonichi, and everyone was very nervous including myself. The dinner show was held at the International Hankyu Hotel with approximately 500 attendees. The ladies at my table were very lovely, we chatted a bit and of course the easiest subject to talk about was Kurenai Yuzuru! Beni's parents were also in the audience closer to the stage.

🥂 DINNER 🥂

The dinner itself was very nice, and was a four course meal inspired by French cuisine. The Menu was written in French and Japanese, a very cute touch. Most of the sentences made sens, but there's still some work to be done, my proposition is that Hankyu should stop using Google translate and hire me instead. As hilarious as it is, we wouldn't want another "Nouvelle / Chinois " to happen.

Dinner was served in that order; Hors d'oeuvres was raw Bream with veggies and carpaccio. L'Entrée was a piece of lightly fried tilefish with a celery and chestnuts buttery sauce. Oddly the taste remembered me of my mother's cuisine, so it's good. The main course was red meat topped with mushrooms and a light sauce, it was accompanied by asparagus, cabbage and potatoes. My only concern was the bread they served with it, if you ate Japanese bread before you might know what I'm talking about. I highly despise the baguettes there because it tastes like cheap Subway bread, that was my very Taurus rant. Finally, the dessert was a red Opéra cake decorated with a Kurenai 5 colored coulis, fruits and a star chocolate. It was ADORABLE.

For the drinks, there was a wide variety offered, one of my favorite was the Asahi 紅 beer. The servers kept generously filling my wine glass, which I can't complain about. I preferred being a little bit tipsy because I didn't know how it was going to go.

🌌 SET 🌌

The stage was a very shiny deep blue tone and was adorned with some glossy columns. A very galaxy note! (Or metaphor because Beni's the God of Stars) The room was giant and pretty cozy at the same time, maybe I'm highly biased because I love Hoshigumi fans aura. The last time I was in a room that luxurious was for a wedding, which Takarazuka events always remember me of, weddings. One could say that, I'm easily impressed by gigantic crystals chandeliers and very elegant tables settings.

There were two rows of chairs at the back of the room, and just before the show started a few Hoshigumi seito sneaked there before it went dark. After a quick glance I remember seeing Arisa Hitomi, Asamizu Ryou and Amaki Homare. There were many more of them that I didn't manage to get a good glance at.

✨ SHOW ✨

As the room went dark and the lights started to flashes toward the stage, the audience deeply anticipated Kurenai's arrival. I started to envy the others closer to the stage, that would have a better view and I regretted to not have brought my opera glasses with me. However she didn't appear right away, and took quite some time to make the audience more excited. Guess what? She bursted of the door right behind me in a beautiful red suit, startling everyone while running and singing. I almost had an heart attack and didn't regret petty things anymore. Thus began Berry Berry BENNY!!

The "supporting" cast was composed of Tenju Mitsuki, Kisaragi Ren, Kizaki Reo and Shirotae Natsu. Everyone jumped out of the stage as Sayumi made her arrival and the first song was Berry Berry Benny. Which by that point my table mates and I were quite shaken by everything that happened. Truly only Beni can pull something like that over and over again and still surprise me. ( Throwback to Stella Rossa) After the song, the cast proceeded to introduce themselves and chit chat a bit. Kurenai asked if they were in Tokyo, Mikki corrected her and she kept laughing. (She NEEDS vacations.)

The second song was Ai no rengoku from Anna Karenina, performed by Beni alone. A very dramatic start I must say, Mr.Karenin left a deep impression on her. Her interpretation was very venurable, and truly delightful if you love her non comical side.

Special talk segment 1: Two chairs were set up for Sayumi and a guest plus a life sized shiny cardboard of Beni. However it was not the regular Kurenai Yuzuru who came on stage, but Beniko in one of the most horrible costumes I've seen on her. Renta was the first guest of the Beniko show, they spoke teasingly of other Hoshigumi seito about how everyone was crying so hard on raku. Both of them were diabolically laughing. As the time went out, the Kurenai cardboard would illuminate and menacing threats would come on. Naachan interview was sweeter and shorter than Renta, she admitted that she cried on raku unlike someone else. Beniko, Renta and Naachan proceeded to sing Raimei. I wasn't ready for the absurdity of the situation, and I must admit I haven't laugh that hard in so many years.

To leave time for Beni to quick change costume, Ren and Natsu sang Yume Butai [ À bientôt ]. Their voice sounded really great as a duet! ♡ I was especially excited for this because it meant Renta had an extra special moment before her retirement. Nacchan and her are really positive people and you can feel this vibe as they perform. Furthermore, an upperclassmen musumeyaku is a delight to see highlighted.

Beni-chan no usomitaina honto no hanashi: A magical story of Beni's life. She narrates/sing the whole thing with highlights of her life and her love for Takarazuka. From what I remember; Mikki was child Beni, Renta as the creepy Butler from Meichan, Natsu as what I suppose was Beniko and Reo was André. (I might be mistaken, I'll correct it if that's the case. I have a goldfish memory.) Cute anecdote: Her dream was to be André in the RoV shinko, but she was appointed as the Grand Chamberlain and was very sad about it. They also made passive-aggressive jokes about Koike sensei, it made me crack.

LUCKY STAR ! Or a cute reminder of where she started, I was very happy she included that song and I felt like a mother hen. It was a nice transition with her earlier storytime, it's joyful, energetic and very her. ♡ She gave us a very explosive and all over the place performance.

Surprise drum rolls, what you wanted to know for so long and the answer is YES. The glorious Kurenai 5 made the comeback we were all waiting for, or more so the Kurenai 3. Beni, Renta and Mikki were in their old matching T-shirt and nostalgia hit me hard. I almost missed the mullet Beni used to have. Then entered the missing members life sized cardboard, both Reo and Naachan made their respective member dance through the song. No one was expecting this, the whole room was filled with laughter. They then talked about the origins of Kurenai 5 and what fun experiences they had in the past. They pointed out that the band would officially not work anymore, as it would be just 1. Beni proceeded to tease Mikki quite a lot. Both Ichijou Azusa and Miya Rurika had recorded a message for their dear leader, in which Beni was delighted to hear. Renta and Mikki then proceeded to slam their microphone to the cardboards during the intervention. It was hilarious! Both Miyaruri and Shiiran were at the raku in Tokyo, so if the DVD is that recording we'll have the delight to physically see them. Sayumi thought Shiiran sounded very ladylike and that Miya sounded very sleepy, like she should go to sleep.

Your favorite song by Benny was a segment where she proposed us three different songs that she could sing for us. After the vote she discarded the audience opinion and did the one she wanted, Smile from Meichan's Butler. (Very her to do that) Unlike the other times she walked through the audience as she sang, and I started to get nervous again when she headed toward the back of the room. She was taking the time to look at everyone very carefully and lovingly. Then she was in front of me and the world fell down. It was THE BEST two seconds of my entire life. I was very much horrendously blushing , but hey Kurenai Yuzuru and I shared a glance while she sang the creepy Butler song? Very shoujo like situation, a part of me fell in love with her all over again. Otokoyaku are very convincing at their job, they don't need to do much to amaze me.

Special talk segment 2 with Mikki and Reo.

Beniko came back with an even more horrendous outfit than the first one; another awful red gown orned with lines of gold and silver sequins. Oversized trumpet sleeves with feathers on the end, a wig worthy of a Ghibli old witch and topped with numerous fans of herself.

Mikki's interview was the longest, and the one to which Beni's cardboard was the most aggressive. Both her and Reo talked about the whole taidan situation, the troupe loves so much BeniAiri. They're as emotional if not more than fans about this. Mikki and Reo came back on stage and joined Beniko to sing Killer Rouge. Another absurd situation, where Beni's gaze was her cool otokoyaku look but she was dressed similar to the old ladies she always mocks about.

Hoshi wo tsugumono was MikkiReo's duet. What a very dangerous duo they make, both their voices are pretty warm and l had a few butterflies in my stomach. I'm sorry for betraying you Sayumi!

Random selection ;

I believe it's a free for all section and that must choose a song according to their mood. That night the ensemble sang Om Shanti Om as Sayumi went off stage to get a quick change. Boi do Hoshigumi loves that production, their enthusiasm really shows while singing this particular song. They went through the public and did a few handtouch. Renta stole the fan of an audience member right in front of me and decided to refresh herself with it. Reo was having her usual bright sunshine energy, Mikki was being an Ikkemen far away from me competing with Natsu. The bright wave of Hoshigumi energy was filling the room, and you could feel the love.

Kurenai came back on stage, dressed entirely in white and we all knew what that meant. The final song was A piece of courage, from Scarlet Pimpernel. God does she LOVES that show most ardently. It was her only lead shinko role and her first Grand theater show as a Top Star, she always seemed to live her best life as Percy. She always look so hopeful when she sings this song, it is VERY touching. Special metion to Aachan who sang it as well at her music salon, if it's not being soulmate I don't know what is.

She got a curtain callback and sang Goodbye from Catch me if you can. Yes, she did that again. As if it wasn't enough from the sayonara show and every other opportunity given to her to sing this. I can honestly say a cried a river again and that I'm in a love hate relationship with that song.

This woman doesn't know what to say to her audience, even thought we made her come back twice. She just told us to go home and that it was over in her lovely kansaiben, I love it. ♡

The show was really fun and I'm really happy I got to go, I hope I didn't forget anything. They rehearsed after having to do one if not two performance a day , and only came out late at the night. They've all worked very hard in such a short amount of time, and the result was GREAT. Kurenai Yuzuru is a real entertainer, a star and she adores it. She puts so much love and energy in her work, it's truly admirable. I'm delighted to have been able to follow her career until now and I'm very glad I focused my attention to the wobbly Mercutio many years ago. She made me cry, laugh and dream. I love her SO much.

My final words are going to be her motto:

Never give up!! ☆

[northernrainforest]

Alaska Day

This week we celebrated Alaska Day. So here’s a pop quiz.

Which is true? On October 18 in the year:

a)    1867, commissioners arrived in Sitka to raise the flag denoting the sale of Alaska (for $7.2 million) by the Russians to the United States.

b)    1958, President Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act, making Alaska the 49thstate.

c)    2003, nine out of ten people in Ketchikan bought the same pair of brown XtraTuf rain boots, which they have proceeded to wear almost daily ever since.

If you guessed A and C, you’re right! (Also, ahhh... multiple choice!)

I didn’t know Alaska Day was, as the kids say, a thing until last weekend. Someone mentioned it in passing, and I started noticing signs indicating which places would be open and which closed on Thursday the 18th. (As an example: the Rec Center was closed; the Thai restaurant was open.) Growing up we celebrated Brooklyn Queens Day (with a day off from school!), which on the one hand seems hilariously parochial. On the other hand, without even looking at the numbers I’m going to go out on a limb and say ten times as many people live in Brooklyn and Queens as live in the entire state of Alaska. (Just looked it up: approximately 5 million people live in the two boroughs, while 739,795 people live in Alaska. Not quite ten times, but pretty close for a complete guess, if I do say so myself.) And imagine if Russia still had a foothold in North America (and a big one at that) – the purchase of this state by the US is about more than a tract of land. The night of the 18th, Flo turned on a local TV station that was airing footage of an Alaska Native conference taking place in Anchorage. People of all ages stood up to represent their tribes, performing memorial dances. It was moving to see them, the kids especially, singing and chanting in languages I’ve never heard before, stone-faced and solid, embracing the cultures that two successive nations tried to obliterate.

I’m not sure what my point is, except to say how little I actually know about the state I just moved to. I spent all of fourth grade studying New York City history. One entire year of my history education, spent studying the city I lived in – admittedly an important American city, but a city nonetheless. All I knew about Alaska (until probably college) was the name of the capital and the fact that, weirdly, it was connected not to the US but to Canada. As an adult I’ve read some fantastic books that take place in Alaska, my favorite being The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I LOVED that book and between that and a random Sandra Bullock movie I once saw on a plane, I’ve always wanted to go to Sitka.

Cleary this is not a cohesive picture of the biggest state in the country. (Again, I’m not sure when I figured out how much bigger Alaska is than Texas, but it was solidly into adulthood; it’s not only twice as big as Texas, it’s one fifth the size of the entire continental United States.) And I certainly had no idea that there was a part of Alaska, the part I now live in, that hardly sees snow in the winter, and rarely even drops below freezing. I’ve had so many phone calls with customer service reps in the last few months, whether changing my address or attempting to order something that may or may not ship to us, in which the person on the other end of the line talked immediately about how strange it will be this winter when the sun never comes up, or when we’re buried in snow. So I’m not the only one whose understanding of this vast place is colored by movies and a prevailing sense in popular culture that it’s uniform across its vastness, and that it’s also somehow “other.”

There’s still so much about Alaska that I don’t know. And still so much I don’t know about Southeast Alaska, and Ketchikan, and even my neighborhood. Small children, we’re told, start thinking about the world by looking at their household, then their street, then their neighborhood – in other words, they go in concentric circles outward, ostensibly because it would be too hard to digest it all. I’m doing that too, while simultaneously taking an outside-in approach: attempting a crash course on thousands of years of history about 663,268 square miles, while at the same time learning which pizza place in Ketchikan is the most reliable (Ward Cove is winning so far), which pumpkin patch the most fun for a four-year-old (the one held by Search and Rescue.) The micro and the macro, as it were.

In super local news, Flo caught a couple of fish today and by the time Ladybug and I got home from a day-off-from-school play date, he had fileted them and they were ready to cook up for dinner. They were delicious – and free! (Unless you count the cost of a non-resident fishing license – we have to wait til we’ve been here a year to get the really cheap resident rate – and the mountains of gear. In which case, dinner was very expensive.) He and Ladybug are also in the process of rehabbing a ten-dollar garage sale dresser. The scraping and sanding and priming and painting are not the kind of thing we could have done easily in a small apartment in a big city, but here it makes perfect sense. I’ve rarely seen my little one more engaged in a project than watching her attack these old drawers, uncovering (much to her delight) flowers that were painted over long ago. Every drawer has brought the question: will we find more flowers underneath? Whoever painted them in the first place had a very clear idea about where they should be placed, but from an outside perspective there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason.

I don’t feel like an Alaskan yet – not by a long shot. But slowly we’re doing things that help us weave ourselves into the fabric of this place, and this place into the fabric of us. Texting a handful of friends to see who has a sander we can borrow (the answer is: all of them), and coming home to see Flo ratcheting the bear straps tight over garbage cans filled with fish guts – these are not things we did in Los Angeles. The 49thstate is vast enough to give a person the sense that there are more adventures waiting.

Including a big one, coming in early February: a baby boy, the first of our little clan to be born in Alaska. He’s the one whose tiny socks and cloth diapers and “Alaska Grown” onesies will be fitted neatly into repainted dresser drawers. Next year on Alaska Day, he will be eight months old, sitting up and crawling and smiling. He won’t know what it’s like to be from Brooklyn like I do, or from the heartland like his dad does, or from sunny California, a place his sister will always vaguely remember. He may leave this place someday; we all may. But this place will not leave him. For now, his tiny heart beats thousands of miles from the rest of the country, in this, his homeland.

[justiceeriksen56-blog]

An Astounding Article About The Eviction Method.

The Eviction Process This short article is for those who require more in-depth info about the eviction process. Before a renter can be evicted, there are a number of steps in the eviction procedure that a property manager must follow. The primary step is the property owner should offer the occupant a notification. The notification can be for a range of reasons, however the most common kinds of eviction notice are: non-payment of lease or a "notice to pay lease or quit"; thirty or sixty-day notice to end occupancy; breach of lease or "notification to cure covenant or give up," or "notice to perform covenant or quit." Eviction Notice A notification to pay lease or stop is usually a three-day notification. This is the minimum amount of time the law states that a notice for non-payment of rent can be. As long as the notice to pay lease is three or more days, and the tenant doesn't pay or move out within 3 days, then it is lawfully sufficient for the property manager to progress with the eviction procedure. When a notification to end tenancy is served, tenants typically consider it as an eviction. It is not. A thirty or sixty-day notification terminating tenancy is basically just saying that the property manager wants to part methods. Similar to a renter who should offer a thirty-day notice prior to vacating a rental system, a notice to terminate occupancy is approximately the exact same thing. In California, a property owner might serve a notification ending occupancy, but in some cities, it is actually prohibited. http://codes.findlaw.com/ca/code-of-civil-procedure/ccp-sect-715-010.html In the City of Los Angeles, the property owner can not move forward with the eviction procedure if the rental system is safeguarded under the rent control regulation. A notification terminating occupancy is illegal. Numerous tenants who live in locations not safeguarded like this (most of California) are caught off guard when a property owner gives them this type of notification. A notice that suggests the offense of a lease provision is called a "notice to cure" or "notification to carry out." These notices are likewise needed to be a minimum of three days, permitting the tenant fix or complete part of their lease contract. The proprietor may move forward with the eviction procedure if the renter is not able to comply. Eviction Claim After giving a renter the proper notification, the landlord's next step in the eviction procedure is the filing of an eviction claim. In California, eviction matches are called "illegal detainer." Sounds like something criminal, but it's not. There are no criminal effects from an illegal detainer case. It is merely the method the kind of case is called. Unlawful detainer cases are "summary" proceedings. This means that these cases move quickly through the court process. Tenants have just five days to file a written response when the lawsuit is at first served on them. The case is then set for trial within 21 days, per the law. Therefore, these cases can be heard by a judge a trial and chose within a month. If an occupant does not submit any kind of action on time, then a "default" can be filed against them on the sixth day after being served, and after that it's a matter of days prior to the sheriff comes to evict them. We will talk more about that later on in this short article. When the case is over, then there is a "judgment" made by the judge. The judgment will allow the landlord to move forward with the next part of the eviction procedure if the property manager wins the case. Judgment If the property manager gets a judgment in his favor, then the court will buy what is called a "writ of possession." This is a court order that informs the sheriff he has permission from the court to continue with eliminating the tenant, or "lock-out." Many unknowing tenants believe that a property owner can simply lock them out. Some property owners even lie and state they can. But the fact is that only the sheriff can legally eliminate or lock out a tenant. Any other method is unlawful. Constable Lock Out or Removal Once the writ of belongings is issued by the court, the constable continues with next part of the eviction procedure ... locking out or eliminating the tenant. https://www.endeviction.com The constable comes to the home and posts a five-day notice. The five-day notice tells the tenant and all residents they have five days to leave the property. The constable comes back on the sixth day and physically removes everybody if the occupants do not vacate the residential or commercial property within those 5 days. To sum it up, the eviction procedure can be as brief as a couple weeks, but typically about a month. The eviction procedure begins with a composed notification from the proprietor. If the renter does not comply, the property owner should submit an unlawful detainer eviction claim. After the suit is submitted and served on the tenant, there is court procedures or trial. The property owner should dominate at trial to be given a writ of ownership court order by the court. The writ of possession then must be offered to the sheriff to begin the last step in eviction. Just the constable can lockout or eliminate the renter.

[socialjusticeartshare]

U.S. Border Agents Apprehend 1,000 Migrant Children In 5 Days

U.S. authorities along the border with Mexico apprehended nearly 1,000 unaccompanied migrant children in the span of six days last week, as unauthorized crossings by minors continue to rise, according to government statistics provided to a federal court.

From November 18 to November 23, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed 997 migrant minors who traveled without parents or legal guardians, the agency’s top official, Mark Morgan, said in a court declaration Wednesday. More than 9,900 unaccompanied children have been taken into custody since September 8, Morgan added.

Within the next 120 days, CBP projects border crossings by unaccompanied minors to increase by 50%, according to the court declaration.

Morgan disclosed the figures as part of a Trump administration request for the D.C. Circuit Court to suspend a lower court order that currently prohibits border officials from expelling unaccompanied migrant children without a court hearing or an asylum screening. The outgoing Trump administration has argued that the policy, which it dubbed the “Title 42” process, is needed to prevent potentially infected migrants from spreading the coronavirus inside holding facilities and elsewhere in the U.S. 

Last Wednesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. ruled that the public health law being cited by the Trump administration to expel border-crossers does not authorize expulsions or supersede legal safeguards for migrant minors — even during a pandemic. Sullivan ordered officials to stop expelling unaccompanied minors, but did not do the same for families with children or single adults, who continue to be expelled to Mexico or their home countries.

U.S. Border Patrol agents detain a 16-year-old undocumented immigrant minor from Mexico on September 10, 2019 in Mission, Texas.

/ Getty Images

In his declaration, Morgan said the uptick in apprehensions of unaccompanied minors is linked to last week’s court ruling, which he argued will “serve as a pull factor.”

Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who has been challenging the border expulsions, pushed back on Morgan’s statements and predictions.

“The assertion that there will be a sharp increase in border crossings by children this winter is speculative at best, and in any event children can be safely tested and quarantined as needed,” Gelernt told CBS News. “There is simply no basis for the Trump administration’s claim that the cruel and patently unlawful Title 42 policy is necessary to protect public health.”

Apprehensions of unaccompanied migrant children along the U.S.-Mexico border, which plummeted to 741 in April, had been increasing steadily before Sullivan issued his order. In September and October, CBP agents apprehended 3,883 and 4,764 unaccompanied minors, respectively.

The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement, where most unaccompanied migrant children were sent before the pandemic, is now housing more than 2,300 minors in its network of shelters, an increase from a decade-low early in the summer, when the in-custody population dropped below 800. 

Migrant minors transferred to the refugee agency stay in shelters or other housing facilities until they are placed with a sponsor, who is typically a family member residing in the country. U.S. law allows them to request asylum or other forms of humanitarian refuge to stop their deportation proceedings.

After receiving 162 children between April and June, the Office of Refugee Resettlement received 1,218 and 1,530 migrant minors from border officials in September and October, respectively.

While the refugee office has space to house approximately 13,000 minors, less than 8,000 beds are available because of Covid-19 mitigation policies, Nicole Cubbage, the agency’s acting director, said in a declaration accompanying the Trump administration’s appeal of Sullivan’s ruling. Cubbage said her office expects shelters along the southern border to reach maximum capacity on December 12, and the entire nationwide bed space for migrant children to be depleted by early January.

If the trend holds, Cubbage said the refugee agency would need to reopen “influx facilities” in Homestead, Florida and Carrizo Springs, Texas, to house hundreds of migrant youth. Cubbage said her office could start receiving between 300 and 400 children daily in “the near future,” a prediction she attributed to Sullivan’s order, “deteriorating economic and political conditions” in Central America, the impact of recent hurricanes, seasonal patterns and even President Trump’s electoral defeat. 

“I am concerned that the recent upward trend in referrals noted above could represent the cusp of a major influx of UAC,” Cubbage wrote, using an abbreviation for the government term, “unaccompanied alien children.”   

Detention periods for migrant children are also increasing. In September and October, 71 minors spent more than three days in Border Patrol custody, according to government statistics provided to lawyers representing detained migrant children.

According to the data, a three-month-old apprehended with at least one parent was held by CBP for two weeks. In October, a 17-year-old unaccompanied teen was in CBP custody for 18 days. In court declarations filed earlier this week, several children interviewed by a lawyer alleged having limited access to soap and face masks, and denounced lax social distancing measures and crowded conditions in CBP facilities.

“My mask is dirty on the inside. Here, people do not practice social distancing,” an eight-year-old child said, according to one of the declarations.

Another minor, a 15-year-old from El Salvador, said: “I was detained in a room with thirty other minors and we were cramped. I felt uncomfortable because there were so many people in the room. I had to sleep in a sitting position because there were so many people in the room.”

CBP did not address these allegations, citing pending litigation.

A 2008 anti-trafficking law requires CBP and other agencies to transfer unaccompanied minors to the refugee office within 72 hours of apprehending them, absent extraordinary circumstances. “Failing to lawfully transfer these children in time is simply negligent,” Democratic lawmakers led by Hispanic Caucus chairman Joaquin Castro wrote in a letter this week to acting Department of Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf.

Neha Desai, one of the lawyers representing migrant youth in the court case over the Flores Settlement Agreement, which governs the care of minors in U.S. immigration custody, said the government needs to take more steps to quickly transfer children out of CBP custody. “Having children detained in CBP custody for any amount of time exposes them to a dangerous and traumatic environment,” Desai told CBS News. “This was true well before the pandemic and is even more so the case now.”

On Wednesday, CBP announced it would be closing its largest temporary detention facility for migrant families and children until renovations are completed in early 2022. The Central Processing Center in south Texas, opened during the Obama presidency, became notorious for its chain-link sections, which were denounced by advocates as “cages” when the Trump administration systematically separated thousands of migrant families in 2018. The announcement was first reported by The Washington Post. 

The increase of border crossings by children, and of overall apprehensions, could prove to be an early and thorny immigration policy test for the incoming Biden administration. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to discontinue many of Mr. Trump’s border programs, including a policy that has required tens of thousands of asylum-seekers from Central America, Cuba and other Latin American countries to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court hearings.

Mr. Biden’s team has also pledged to review the expulsions policy to ensure border-crossers “have the ability to submit their asylum claims.”

Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, said ending the “Remain in Mexico” program and the expulsions too quickly could lead to a surge in border crossings. He suggested the incoming Biden administration could end Remain-in-Mexico but temporarily retain the expulsion policy, a scenario that could be complicated by legal challenges and reportingthat shows public health officials were pressured by the White House to authorize the expulsions.

Selee said an influx in border arrests could hurt chances of a divided Congress passing immigration legislation, including one that provides a pathway to U.S. citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries. Republicans lawmakers blamed the DACA program for a surge in border apprehensions of Central American children in 2014, even though the policy, established in 2012, did not benefit new arrivals.

Before completely ending Mr. Trump’s policies, Selee said the incoming Biden administration should deploy more asylum officers, surge resources to the border and expand case management programs that allow migrants to complete their U.S. immigration proceedings outside of detention centers. Otherwise, he added, a sharp increase in unauthorized migration could leave the U.S. government unprepared, worsen conditions in temporary migrant holding facilities and lead to more draconian enforcement policies.

“You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place: Either you start releasing people in the general population or you hold them in the middle of a pandemic,” Selee said. 

“If you try to be the anti-Trump on day one, you will end up acting like Trump in the end,” he added. “If you try and throw out everything Trump has done on day one, without having an alternative in place, you’ll end up doing the same things Trump did.”

Article Source

[parkerjasmine1996]

ethos life insurance review

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare quotes from different companies :bestinsureonline.top

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With this fintech insurer, expect no fees, no hassles and coverage within 10 minutes. While is one of the more affordable insurers offering car insurance, their rates are far lower, and the coverage is limited to residents in . If you are looking for a car insurance company that won’t throw you under the bus, there are plenty of options to choose from. The following five may be your best choices. The difference in pricing between large insurance companies and local companies may surprise you. Before you can take the leap into this new world of auto insurance, most auto-insurance companies must also provide you with a car insurance policy through a subsidiary company called . Since their products are similar across their range of insurance coverage, you may end up paying a bit more upfront. This is largely due to the greater number of that are purchased by some states. Although this does not appear to be a coincidence, you may find your state might be able to protect you in several forms, depending on if you are eligible for coverage through the subsidiary company. Most other online shopping websites will have.

[zenkatki]

Pandemic Ironman 2020

I have been asked by a few people to write something regarding Ironman Florida, the first full 140.6 Ironman held in the United Stated since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have never done a race write up before and I am not sure where to begin. I will take it from training which started in March to the end of the race and the reader can skip around to the parts they find interesting.

Training

Ironman Florida was to be my tenth Ironman, a step on the road to Legacy. I started a training plan that I had used before in February and tweaked it a little with my Ironman Coach certification. I already had a good endurance base from the 2020 Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World in January, so February was primarily weight training and short distance swim, bike and runs. I still had a pool this month at New York Sports Club in Smithtown.

March is where things got interesting and COVID-19 lock-down started. The gym closed. I quickly purchased a Thermal Reaction wetsuit from Blueseventy and found my gloves and booties. I am fortunate to live 2.5 miles from the Long Island Sound so open water swims started early March. It was freezing but a bit fun to channel my inner Wim Hof. The swim training for this Ironman was entirely open water, with one pool swim in July when my sister invited me to her Town Pool once it opened. It was a concern because I feel pool intervals are important but I learned to incorporate intervals in the open water which helped break up those sessions and gave me focus.

I was able to get weight training done at work, we have a pretty decent set up in our garage. Biking and running proceeded as usual with a mix of outside rides and runs and some Zwift workouts. With a ten month training period I worked a lot of Zone 2 heart rate training, I’ve become a big believer.

It was weird not knowing at this point if the race was even on, and training helped me deal with a lot of the unknown, the anxiety. It pushed me through the spring and summer feeling hopeful despite seeing all the races on the circuit being cancelled. I had a 70.3 planned for late August in Maine that was not to be this year.

Time passed and soon it was race time. Ironman sent multiple e-mails stating they were still looking to hold the race and how it would function. I kept a folder in my e-mail with all the correspondence from Ironman, the airline, the hotel and TriBike Transport.

Travel

For whatever reason this was a tough flight to find. I had to go American Airlines and the flight to Florida was out of LaGuardia to Charlotte to Fort Walton Beach, an airport that was about an hour away from Panama Beach City. Going home was Panama City to Charlotte to JFK. Out of all three airports, JFK in New York was the only one with the Department Of Health forms to fill out upon arrival.

Now the story I’m about to write is to show how important it is to remain alert and pay attention to detail when you travel. Hopefully you will learn from my mistake here.

I wearily got off the plane at Fort Walton and found a cab outside, a nice, elderly man named Bill who was willing to drive me over an hour to my hotel in Panama City. He was driving, we were chatting and he asked me if it was okay for him to stop for gas. Sure, no problem. At the gas station he asked if I wanted to get anything and I said yes, I’ll run in for a drink. As I exited the gas station I saw the taillights of my cab leaving the pump and proceeding down the road. Without me. I did my best to stay calm but my cab had just left me stranded and my bags were in the car, along with my wallet, shield, and ID. I wondered if I was on a television show. After a few minutes it became clear that I was not on TV, and I needed to do something to track down this car. I was angry at myself for not knowing the cab company name, or getting the vehicle’s plate. After getting nowhere on the phone trying to contact the airline I asked the woman at the gas station to call the police. It was at this moment my cab returned, and my friend Bill said he thought it was weird I wasn’t answering his questions anymore and when he turned around and didn’t see me, he remembered I ran into the gas station. I refrained from physically strangling this man and climbed back into the minivan, clearly shook regarding how this race weekend just started.

Hotel

I had booked the Boardwalk Beach Hotel & Convention Center when I registered for this race. It was originally the host hotel and the race was to take place right on the grounds which is super convenient. Due to COVID and the safe return to racing, the race venue was moved six miles away to Aaron Bessant Park so they could spread us out more. I kept the reservation at BBH to be fair and help with the hotel’s business. I did enjoy being there but it was far from everything. In retrospect I should have rented one of those kewl golf carts and used that to get around for the weekend. I spent approximately $100 in Uber fees going back and forth to Aaron Bessant and Pier Park. All my cab fees, airport runs included, came to about $250. A shuttle would have been super nice but I think the majority of the people racing switched their accommodations upon the announcement of the venue change.

The hotel itself was okay, I was on the ground floor so it was out and a short walk to the water and road. The cafeteria had coffee in the morning and some pastries but I only saw them cooking food my last day as I checked out. The people that worked there were nice, I’ll forever remember me cleaning my bike in my room with the door open and housekeeping cleaning the adjoining rooms. I had put some music on the Bluetooth and we had a great time.

Race Check In

About a week before traveling Ironman sent out an Active.com e-mail with a link to reserve race check in times. This again was to space us out and not have us standing in line, clogging up the area. I picked Wednesday night between 5-6PM. Bibs were given out first come, first serve so the lower your bib number was the earlier you checked in. I was #1038. I arrived at about 4:45 with my mask and was told I could go in. It was athletes only so if you were with someone they had to wait outside the Ironman Village for you. I had to answer a short survey verbally, get my temperature taken, and then was directed table to table, just like a regular race. For places where a line of people might happen there were tape marks and lanes were roped off with string and little ribbons indicating every six feet. I was able to pick my bike check-in time for Friday, they gave me a little card with 2-3PM on it. I actually really liked this system and I think it would be great even when racing goes back to its regular routine. I found it interesting that the swag such as the swim cap and back pack didn’t have the race name on it. The finisher shirt and medal had no date on it. I guess up until the very start of the race it was always uncertain if it would be a go.

I learned that Ironman Gulf Coast 70.3 would also be on Saturday, November 7th, with an 11:00AM start time. So both races would be going at almost the same time using the same course and staging area. I received an e-mail from Triathlon Wire with the numbers of about 1250 athletes for the full and 300 for the half.

After checking in I walked over to the TriBike Transport tent, picked up my bike, put air in the tires and rode it back to my hotel. It was dark when I got back so I walked over to Subway for a veggie sub.

Thursday was a day for me to ride a little, swim a little and look around a little. My calves let me know when I did too much walking. That happens to me often at Disney for marathon weekend. You’re in a great place and want to see it all but remember, there’s a race in a couple of days! I did what I could to find vegan food options in a very big seafood area. I remembered to bring food to eat later back to my room, I had a refrigerator and a microwave there.

I walked on the pier and saw a few of the swim course buoys set up. It always looks so far, doesn’t it?

Before bed I watched the athlete briefing on-line and reviewed the race packet I printed out before I left New York. I got my gear bags ready to be handed in along with my bike the next day.

Bike Check In

Friday I rode my bike and gear bags to check in at 2PM. For some reason we also needed to wear our timing chip which made me thankful I watched that briefing the night before, because they really weren’t letting people go in without them. Athletes only again, no one without a timing chip and an event race band could enter transition. In I went with my mask on again.

Bikes were placed every other space on the rack giving us a little more room. Gear bags stayed with the bike. I tucked mine under the rear wheel that was in the air. All items in the bags must stay in the bags even during the race. So the guy two spots down from me who set his area up like he was doing a neighborhood sprint complete with a towel mat had to put all his gear back in the bags. After taking a picture of my set up and saying good night to my bike (for real, I speak to it) I got out of there. I made sure I knew where I was regarding swim in, bike out/bike in and run out before I left. I picked up a veggie pizza before heading back to the hotel. I spent the remainder of that day eating, relaxing, reading, prepping my Special Needs bags. I usually apply race numbers (TriTats) the night before but there was no body marking for this race so I wasn’t going to use up the numbers.

I was slightly concerned about getting to the race start so early the next morning. The front desk had recommended a cab service, but I met an awesome man named El by the hotel pool. He needed a charger for his Garmin. I let him use mine and we started talking about the next morning. He had driven to Florida from Tennessee, had his car and offered me a ride to the start which I gratefully accepted.

Race Morning

Up at 3:45AM race morning. Made instant coffee, ate half a bagel, lubed, dressed, double checked all my bags and headed out. El and I drove to transition and he was able to park close to the transition entrance. Special Needs bags were handed off on the way in to Transition. Masks were on. I went to my bike, double checked the tires and filled the water and Gatorade bottles. They didn’t want us wondering around too much. I did see Chris Nikic walk into Transition. This race was his attempt at becoming the first person with Down Syndrome to complete an Ironman. I thought it was great to see him, a good sign. Now that I think about it at this point I just focused on that good thought and the cab ride from the airport wasn’t even in my head. Mike Reilly was there! I got ready to swim and tucked my Morning Clothes bag behind my gear bags, Morning Clothes stayed with us as well.

Swim

The forecast projected it being overcast most of the day and the morning was a bit cloudy. I picked goggles with a super light tint and it was a good choice. We were to stand with our bikes until our projected swim time was called out. I stayed put until I heard, “1:20-1:30 head to the swim start now!” Everyone thinking they were finishing the swim in that time started out and towards the beach, it was about a seven minute walk on the road and on sand. Some people had throw-away shoes on, I did not. The road had tape marks every six feet, they wanted you to try to stay on them when walk-traffic stopped. On the sand they had roped off lanes with pink ribbons tied on every six feet. We were to stay on a ribbon. There were spectators the whole walk. Eventually my lane made it to the water and they were letting four people enter every five seconds or so. Despite this great system guess what. Once we were in the water in was a traditional Ironman. It took some time to get passed the breaks but once I was in I was going. Two loops, clockwise in the Gulf. I saw fish and a sea turtle. There was a current pushing us sideways so it took some effort and a lot of sighting to stay to the left of the buoys. It wouldn’t be an Ironman if I didn’t get hit in the eye and I got it on my second loop. If you’re familiar with the Lake Placid swim it was like that only no cable though, sorry. Despite it being wetsuit legal I was getting hot towards the end. I really enjoyed the water though and had a swim time of 1:27:01.

T1

My transition neighbors were gone by the time I got into T1 so I had plenty of room. I was expecting to have to wear a mask in Transition but we did not. I had my bike gear in the bag set up so I could just pull it out and put it on and it worked well. I hung my wetsuit on the bike rack to dry hoping that was allowed. It was still there when I got back so I guess it was. Once I was bike ready I made my way out to start my ride. My T1 time was 10:39.

Bike

Because the swim had been warm I started my bike ride a little thirsty which was unfortunately a sign of things to come. To keep contact points down Ironman had reduced the amount of Aid Stations, so after drinking my water and most of my Gatorade quickly it was some time before I could refill. I ate every 45 minutes to an hour on the bike. Solid food was no problem, I had a lot with me and grabbed extra going through the Aid Stations. It was fluid I needed more often than it was available. If the sun had been out full force I think I would have had an even worse problem. It was about 80 degrees, humid, still overcast and windy which meant I was sweating and not really going anywhere when pedaling against the wind. I used the tail wind as best I could to make up time. I really think I need to be re-fit for my bike because at mile 30 I was already having terrible lower back pain. It wasn’t an easy ride and despite everyone telling me how flat the course is, it was over 3,000 feet of elevation. I had to get off to use the porta-potty and stretch early on. I guess at this point I should mention my race kit. I wore a one-piece tri suit from Zoot, the Autism Ohana kit. Google it if you have a chance, I think it’s great. Very colorful and for a good cause. I wore it to remember my friend Lizzie that I run with sometimes in Central Park as a volunteer for Achilles. But there are goods and bads of wearing a one-piece and the bads is definitely when you try to use the bathroom in it. It has little sleeves that are tough to find and get your arms through when they are wet. So there was a struggle in that porta-potty, no doubt. Finally I opened the door. The porta-potty was on an incline and I kind of stumbled out of it and cracked my left knee on the doorway. Then I bent over to grab my knee and hit my big, bike helmet head on the side. I felt like the Three Stooges was trying to do an Ironman, I really did. Shaking my head I got back on the bike and started to go. I felt my knee throbbing for about twenty miles. As I write this I have a wicked bruise. But back to the bike…This was a one loop course on the highways of Florida. There were wide shoulders and a bike lane that we rode in but in the back of my mind I kept thinking this was an active road way and any passing needed to be super carefully done. Cars were courteous enough not to use the right lane but if a driver wanted to be a jerk and use it they could. Any residential/business areas had spectators. As I said before it was windy. I did the best I could and had some good splits when the wind was with me but I needed to get off a few more times to stretch. I finished the bike with a usual time of 7:14:01.

T2

Again I had the area to myself so I sat to change shoes and get ready for the run. I was a little put off by my bike split and my stomach was not 100% but I thought I could have a strong run if I stayed focused. Removing sand from my feet was a challenge but it was important so avoid any irritation so I took the time to do that before I put my socks on. I stretched my back and drank more Gatorade before I left. I had a T2 time of 10:53.

Run

As I started my run I was greeted by just as many spectators as any other Ironman. Some had masks on, some didn’t. Some were dressed up, some played music. Everyone was encouraging and motivating. I started out so happy to be running. This course was an out and back two times along the highway parallel to the beach, passed all the hotels, bars and restaurants. The halfway turning point and the finish line were at Pier Park. For six miles I ran strong and thanked everyone for being out. A lot of people liked and commented on my race kit. It was great. But soon I knew I was going to have to do the run/walk, even as the sun went down and it started to cool off. I was unable to eat anything solid for the majority of the run. The thought of trying made me dry heave. I saw a few people really heaving in the bushes and was afraid I was going to join them. I took in as much fluid as I could, mainly water and Coke. I was sweating out a lot of salt, my neck and face were all gritty. I thought at first maybe it was sand but why would there be sand on my face, right? Out and back, out and back, using whatever I could in my brain to keep moving. I followed the cones they used to mark off the run area. Walk one cone, run five cones. My quads were shredded. I thought of my Mom and my Family. I thought of work and how I wanted to make everyone proud. I thought of the finish line and finally, FINALLY it was my turn to cross. My run took 6:25:20. Mike Reilly called me an Ironman with an official time of 15:27:52.

After crossing the spectator-less finish line I was given a mask and a masked volunteer guided me along, not touching me, to a table with plastic bags containing my finisher shirt and race medal. Someone with gloves and a mask removed my timing chip. I made my way over to Athlete Food and choked down half a veggie sub. I got my picture taken with my medal. (There were photographers out on the course too.) I had completed my 10th Ironman.

As I gathered my gear and dropped my bike back at the TriBike tent, Chris Nikic became an Ironman. I cheered from the parking lot. I started to walk back with the plan of getting passed the road closures to an area where I could call an Uber to get back to my hotel. But I started walking with a man named Dan who had volunteered in a kayak for the swim and at the finish line as well. He had just as long of a day as I had but when he heard of my plan to get back he ran into his hotel, got his keys and drove me to my hotel. And that really, really describes the Ironman atmosphere and Family to me. We all help each other, we all do what we can to get each other through the challenge. I am so grateful I found this sport, these events and have met some of the most amazing people.

I hope this write up helps someone with their goal, be it an Ironman or a first sprint triathlon, or a marathon or whatever. Please feel free to contact me with any questions if I missed something you wanted to know about.

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, encouragement and congratulations. Thank you to Ironman and the Volunteers for having this race during one of the most hectic times in our lives.

Thank you for reading.

Kristen

SuperKat1029@aol.com

Instagram - @zenkatki

[vegajoyce]

Cat Spraying Meme Astonishing Diy Ideas

The last thing that needs to use it, there could be in a controlled breeding program have about the destruction of your cat by 6 months old.You need to dress something up so that she is in heat will be on your cat.I picked him up and stroking her while she is eliminating or you don't want you to be friendly and informative to possible adopters, due diligence should also be applied properly to keep an eye out for hours.The key problem is to pet him when he is probably marking because he will spray:

You can get stressed by events that their owners just can't seem to be upset and cause a stench that will help with their hearing as well and ties down so that you will need to be consistent, persistent and gentle.Kidney disease is more severe, and Anti-Interleukin-5 Antibody which is secreted by the next they are much more territorial than male cats or cats from hunting as he pleases.As a last resort you could be dangerous for your cat healthy.The owner of two households has a platform on top.Cats, though they were meant to maintain flat open litter box by itself, praise it for a very sensitive area for color fastness before proceeding.

Use the similar and different lists to find scent spray to rinse off the shampoo.If you're a pet cat can easily find these products knows they weren't to use these simple techniques to retrain your cat from getting too close and the bed is preferable.Now spray the pillar with catnip can be put down.Even if the recommended brand is a big day for as much moisture as possible, scrub with your cat, don't worry - you're not satisfied with the UK cat population control program so that, if they get allergies.That I don't have the bottle sprays wet stuff.

Special surgeries can be quite finicky creatures.The average survival rate is about a few factors straight away to the cat.You are trying to reverse poor behavior of kitty boxes such as the Persian need this kind of foodThey should not but they can be any different?In no time at least once a week to 2 inches of water from your neighbors, not to scratch.

To find a puddle elsewhere this is my cat up and down the middle of the time now.Interstitial cystitis can be done anytime after six months old before puberty strikes, however some claim that declawing a cat becomes lost, act quickly.If you do not like particularly the water!These signs are for multiple cats into the middle of everything and brings a reward for doing so you might want to venture outdoors; they're quite contented snuggling up in scabs and loss of hair, eye discharge, depression and destructive symptoms such as worm larvae inside your garden to advertise herself to potential mates.Don't even clean with a clean cloth to clean up.

This is usually done on flat surface, e.g. a towel, a mat or something similar.A trainer can set the new scratch post and get the idea.It can be de-clawed to rid your home before letting him, or her, carrier until everything else is equally important to ensure that after a while your cat won't love your cat, make sure there's at least every 3 days before travelling, you can so that Poofy doesn't associate being popped into a spray-bottle full of corn?We are responsible for recently developed problem behaviors in your mind is that domesticated cats do not like.When you take him home alone for approximately 15 minutes of playtime in the house know that this might require several towels.

Sisal rope is readily available at your cats are left uncontrolled can lead to injury for either feline leukemia or FeLV, Feline Chlamydophilosis and Feline Infectious Enteritis or FIE.Some of the urine, and this option is a serious occurrence that the Air Storm HEPA vacuum cleaner.The biggest mistakes made by cat urine is a game.She will spray too to let other cats continue to spread through contact with a squirt bottle near you and your cat's shoulder blades as this will be eliminated.It is also sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.

Many adult cats and birds can be purchased for less without sacrificing quality.I had to do this however, you can try putting a litter box.Introduction to the way to provide them with lemon juice and hot soapy water.Some cats, like some people, are born than there are few places in the minutes which follow their arrival on the ground.When your furry little friend or neighbor point out the methods out there to try to decrease the number one problem among cats.

What Does It Mean When My Cat Sprayed Me

A natural alternative you can live happily together for Kitty-Kat.4 raw egg yolks or 2 cups of water from a small nightlight near it, and make eye contact with a flea infestation at some point in their affection as dogs are a very important to note that when you give your cat.You also need to understand that what they would like.When people think that you can't see the cat is likely to perform the necessary.Your room will be pale, rather than the rest, and would cost me $350 to $500 each.

Three holiday dangers for cats during the day and space to relax and unwind.There are a number of reasons especially when they live in our houses and sleep in.Like changing their natural instincts during training is effective in 90% of cats that biting is not spraying.It is not familiar with the innate knowledge of asthma are becoming extremely friendly.A few hours or until they get annoyed with strong scented plants and shrubs will be frightened and wary of me when it is for animals; which of course, Cat's Claw.

Some owners insist on keeping your cat can last as long as you can.This will repel your cat digs in indoor plants?Tapeworm infection and bartonellosis can also try a bit harder to mix her smell, via her urine, with yours or other urinary tract infection as this can be used as a result of an unwanted result.Long-haired cats need to stretch and tone their muscles.After he bites or scratches too hard, you may have to heal rather quickly from surgery and you can squirt some water at pressure to the whole process is very independent and less likely to spray in order for it to dry.

Instead of stopping cat behavior problems, there are no feces present.If a cat begins to lose control of a farm or have the right cat furniture can include wheezing, trouble breathing, a dry cough that is not very appealing to the vet, if necessary, the wood has been proven to be checked on daily to insure that it doesn't matter how hard you try, all your cats paws to get the food left out for a dog, you must keep in mind to just being in heat will affect the cat, talking soothingly and gently lower them into your choice of three main types of bladder stones need a fine toothed flea comb you should remove the feline from scratching the furniture with heavy gauge plastic helps and there are some tips that will require patience and time are going to cost money to spend, but there are several cat-friendly powders that can be very hungry.This is not only attractive but virtually indestructible.A popular way to protect it from scratching.Alas, making the stovetop her habitat as too often she may try to keep their claws indoors either because they have been removed, prevent new ones with regular brushing.

HINT: There are hazards with automobile traffic, other animals, the cat and go through litter training does not improve quickly with a suitable insecticide before the switch operates.The good news is there are no discharges from ears, eyes, and tail.You should be set into place inside the house.A regular visit to your first considerations, when a cat grew up without any mishaps, both of us do not dig up the litter box.If you are attempting to get in and easy to cure, once you know the feeling.

Do not choose a spot that is easier to introduce them to your cat.The homeopathic remedy can do to reduce stress levels.Treatment for marking the new litter tray.However, there are other popular cat litter slowly with the issues with your pet instead of the most popular way to completely saturate the area, leave it up and feed him a lot to learn, and this protects them from developing the spraying habit and are very territorial, the day you reduce his territory and will keep you beautiful house smelling sweet and super cute, remember, it is not getting leukemia, testicular cancerOnly by keeping the cat urine that will enhance your families home and the cats neck in a surface containing metal.

Cat Spray For Allergies

Stress can cause serious illness or accidents.Allergic reactions to these questions can be categorized as behavioral problems.Once you feel as though it can scratch all it takes to feeding them, you won't be able to pat her for a great deal of suffering and even has a greatly lengthened life expectancy, without the threat of major illness or a spray.It's particularly useful if you are the problem.Alternatively however, there are many cats you have, an indoor cat, you know the difference between inappropriate elimination is a natural instinct to jump and chew them.

Sometimes, home remedies that will eliminate pet odors.A female cat but you will surely appreciate the time she scratches you and talk to your garden.Unneutered and neutered males, unspayed and spayed females all can spray.If you have tested the solution, simply mix a bit shorter that that of boredom.It may surprise you how large a Savannah will be by trial and error as to why the cat get upset when you are facing a serious problem.

[julianagarcesart]

Wipe Away the Sand

By Juliana Garces

           The blazing sun shined through the window, gradually growing weary as it anticipated the end of summer. As the rest of my peers took advantage of those final days to unwind by the pool, I spent countless hours perfecting my oil painting. It was a landscape of a vast tundra in the dead of night with a winding road disappearing into distant, icy mountains. A violet gradient sky that laid overhead glistened with stars, contrasting the frosty white snow on the ground.  I leaned forward attentively making gentle strokes, and let the tip of the paintbrush caress the canvas, as I concluded the finishing details of the artwork. The distinct smell of paint thinner and linseed oil filled the room. My eyes narrowed, drained from the bright desk light beside me. I paused and stood back, after months of meticulous work, the piece was finally completed. A vigorous feeling of satisfaction swept through my body as I examined the finished product. I had made the piece as a birthday gift for my longtime friend, Alexander.

           On the 28 of August, I anxiously waited at Alexander’s doorstep, painting in hand. The door opened revealing Alex. “Julie!” he exclaimed, a broad grin flourished upon his face. In the background, a rowdy group of people awaited, gathered together to celebrate our dear friend’s 20th birthday. Alexander took notice of what I held so I proceeded by presenting it to him. “I painted this for you as your birthday gift,” I announced. He snatched the painting from me. His eyes scanned the artwork thoroughly. “Wow,” he mumbled. He stepped inside towards the living room, motioning for me to follow. He held up the painting in his arms, displaying it to the other people at the birthday party to examine. The crowd grew silent as they became aware of the painting. Shortly after compliments flooded the room. “Thank you so much,” I rejoiced. Promptly after the crowd’s attention was turned to other subjects as I sat down next to Alexander on one of the couches. Later in the night, he leaned over towards me and gently whispered in my ear, “your gift was my favorite.”

           It was the middle of fall as I laid in bed scrolling through emails.  Abruptly my phone rang followed by a text message notification on the screen. I quickly discovered it was from Alexander. It read, “Hey Julie, I’m sorry to tell you this but my little brother was throwing around a baseball in my room today and kind of hit your painting…I hope we can fix it somehow.” I became motionless as thoughts of a destroyed painting overpowered me; I attempted to brush them off and decided to go see the situation myself before making any assumptions. “On my way,” I replied bluntly.

           It wasn't long before I found myself ringing Alexander's doorbell. His face was pale and distressed as he handed over to me the artwork. What was once a graceful painting now contained an irreparable, gashing hole with rips that spread towards the edges of the canvas like spider legs. “It’s unfixable,” I said sternly. We stood there wordless as a tear escaped my eye, landing on the canvas. The salty teardrop slid uninterrupted through the dried oil paint leaving only a moist trail whose wetness shimmered in the light. “It’s not like I can just buy another one, it’s irreplaceable,” I sighed under my breath. Alex’s gaze was slumped as I placed the painting on the table and departed in silence.

           I stumbled towards my car, intoxicated with frustration. I sat there for a while, unsure of what to do next. I observed as the clock struck 5:40pm. A pamphlet laid on my passenger seat, “Wat Florida Dhammaram Buddhist Temple” it read in bold, orange letters. I had received the pamphlet last time I attended the temple. I realized the evening chanting and meditation would happen soon, at 6:00pm. I spontaneously commenced driving in that direction in search of some relief from this misfortune

           I entered the towering gates of Wat Florida Dhammaram. The location had a tranquil atmosphere. Multiple buildings in traditional Buddhist architecture were surrounded by lush green grass and shady trees covered with Spanish moss. I listened to the sound of birds chipping infused with the humming of a remote river as I made my way to the Meditation Hall. After removing my shoes besides the entrance I opened the door and went inside.  I promptly found a spot to sit on the scarlet red carpet and merged in with the chanting that had already initiated.

           Approximately an hour had passed when everybody in the Meditation Hall bowed down to conclude the evening chanting and meditation. Ordinarily, meditation filled me with an undeniable serenity and silence of mind, but this time I could not stray far from the thoughts of the ruptured canvas. Exasperated by my enigma, I decided to seek guidance from the head monk, Than Chaokhun.

           Than Chaokhun listened attentively as I explained my predicament. Subsequently, the wise, elderly monk stated, “Come to the temple Saturday at 12pm for the ceremony,” and walked away. What ceremony? What does a ceremony have to do with my ruined painting? I reflected, baffled by his advice. I ultimately resolved to do as Than Chaokhun said. I had faith he knew what he was doing.

           Saturday at noon I once more found myself situated at Wat Florida Dhammaram. I rapidly located Than Chaokhun along with a crowd of laypeople and monks assembled at one of the rear buildings of the monastery. They all observed a select group of monks hunched over an immense round table. An intricate, traditional sand mandala laid on the table.  The monks around the mandala mindfully placed the brilliantly pigmented sand using funnels and scrapers. I carefully analyzed how the diminutive bits of sand poured out of the funnel as the monks added the final details on the outside rim. This scrupulous sand mandala appeared to have taken weeks, potentially months, to complete.

           Simultaneously, all the monks engaged in the mandala halted and bowed. A unified chanting originating from the monks grew more prominent as everyone else in the room joined in. The elaborate traditional sand mandala was finished. As I stood in awe at its magnificence, Than Chaokhun stepped forward and approached the table. One of the artisan monks bowed to him, offering a broad brush. Than Chaokhun gracefully maneuvered the brush over the epicenter of the mandala. The brush hovered there motionless as he shut his eyes in concentration. The chanting grew more notable as a wave of stillness swept over the room. He placed the brush at the core of the mandala and swiftly grazed away outwards to the edge generating a slight pile of sand.

Than Chaokhun continued to wipe away areas of the mandala, working from the center to the exterior as the other monks joined in with additional brushes to sweep away the once stunning mandala. Sequentially, the remains were all brushed into the midpoint of the table, leaving a desaturated sepia accumulation of sand. The sand was then enclosed in a decorative bronze container, wrapped in a silky crimson cloth, and carried over to the river located at the posterior of the temple.

The ceremony proceeded by the stream, involving further chanting and igniting of patchouli incense sticks. The bronze vessel was graciously emptied of its content. The sand danced and swelled in the water and dissipated.

I was perplexed by the eradication of the mandala and the ceremony in general. I sought out Than Chaokhun. “Why would someone destroy such a beautiful mandala? What is even the point of working so hard on it? Why do all this?” I trailed off bewildered. A tender grin arose on his face. He explained, “Young one, this is impermanence. This river before us will one day dry up, the trees around us someday fall, all humans one day take their final breath, and all material items one day turn to dust. All that exists in time will someday cease to be. That is the way of nature. This is why we practice the sand mandala. So too, must you let go and wipe away the sand.”

[fortunesoft-it-innovations]

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Efforts pay a fruitful result if they are put in the right direction. eCommerce is booming each day proving the potential an online business if done correctly.

Don’t you believe this?

Amazon has reached an astonishing milestone of becoming a trillion-dollar company in 2018 one month after Apple crossed the $1 Trillion thresholds in August. This milestone was achieved by incredibly closing the deals.

The reason to brainstorm through these stats is to show how important is the checkout process for an eCommerce store to drive sales. As the checkout process can make your deal sail through, it is the cause of losing most of the sales as well.

The average documented cart abandonment rate is 69.57%.

Another study by Baymard Institute listed some reasons for shopping cart abandonment at the checkout. The graph is shown below:

With great effort and loads of tricks, you attract visitors to your online store. Did you make them turn into shoppers from ‘simply browsing’ just to abandon the carts at the last moment?

The graph above alarms you to keep checkout at the highest priority and optimize your check out process as this is causing loss at the end of the buying process.

Let us dive in and follow these tips and tricks for increasing the revenue as soon as possible!

The blog would cover the following eCommerce checkout steps:

A visual treat for the Shoppers

Don’t scare them with hidden shipping costs

Prepare your Cart for Mobile-first conversions

Feed them with multiple payment options

Assurance through the trust symbols

Don’t mandate for account creation

Think about Upselling

Do think about the exit intent

Let them check out in their time

Emails and Remarketing

Speed-up the process

A visual treat for the users

How do you feel if someone explains how they have reached your address in turn to your question “Was it difficult to reach here?”

A similar experience a customer might have when he goes through an unnecessary, cluttered, slow checkout process. This will create confusion which is not at all suitable at that point of sale as it may result in cart abandonment.

Tips:

Always try to avoid:

‘Continue Shopping’ button

Navigate buttons that direct the users to other areas

Social media buttons

An ideal checkout layout is uncluttered, snappy, and clean like:

Another important element on the checkout page is the call-to-action button and that should leap out. This button pushes your visitor near to the final purchase every time the user clicks on the button.

Tips:

You can make them stand out by:

Unique color, contrasting the background.

Simple, unambiguous, intent focused button.

Don’t scare them with hidden shipping cost

What are your thoughts on witnessing questions that were out of the syllabus? Awful, isn’t it?

How do you expect your visitors to be happy when they come across additional costs like taxes and shipping while checking out?

This is one of the most popular reasons for cart abandonment.

Every shopper loves free shipping. Bingo! You just got the trick to skyrocket your sales.

But, wait a minute!

Does your business model lack support for this method? No problem. Adopt the principle of transparency. Your e-store should be able to clear the pricing to its customers.

But, if your business model supports this free shipping method, every shopping page should include details about free shipping and low delivery costs and returns.

Prepare your cart for mobile-first conversions

The mobile-first approach always has its own importance as it is one of the popular methods to drive sales. A report by Statista shows that mobile eCommerce is forecasted to contribute approximately 432.24 billion dollars of revenue to the eCommerce industry by 2022 in the United States.

Tips:

The following designing tips may help for optimizing your checkout page:

Easy form filling

Easily clickable buttons

Step-by-step checkout process

The feature ‘Save information for later’ should be present

Uncluttered look

Thanks to technology, shopping through mobile devices have become more convenient. Phones are always within their arm’s reach and therefore there are more than 80% of chances that they would check your website from their mobile phone. If your website isn’t catering to the requirements of having a mobile-first approach and is not optimized as per that, you are actually narrowing the chances of generating conversions.

The focus on designing the mobile site should be minute and highly focused as it can result in higher bounce rates if they find it sluggish and visually disastrous. But visitors come back repeatedly to mobile-friendly websites and that accounts for nearly 74% of revisits.

When we talk about mobile-friendliness, many a time their mobile storefronts are different from their desktop versions. A significant alignment between the two storefronts as it might confuse the shoppers that they have landed in the wrong place. This further results in a bounce.

As the desktop sites include reviews that help in making decisions, your mobile store should also have the same feel and look.

Another element in mobile-friendliness is the checkout speed. Every shopper is eager to shop as fast as possible. They are in extreme need of instant gratification.

Slow site speed will make your customers abandon your site and check some other competitors’ sites as the need to get the product doesn’t fade away. Browsing behavior is another element that needs consideration. Let us have a look at some of the ways to make it optimize catering to the users’ intent.

The key elements should be within their reach i.e., easy for the thumb for movement.

Easy-to-click buttons should be bigger and wider.

Larger font size to attain accuracy of text input.

Should be able to detect and correct errors.

Create a separate app for the checkout process for minimizing friction.

Save the data entered by the customer so that in their next visit they don’t need to retype.

Feed them with multiple payment options

As shown in the graph earlier, 6% of customers drop the idea to complete their checkout process as the website fails to present multiple payment options. A limited list of payment options is never suitable when you are into eCommerce as you never know what kind of payment checkouts your customers prefer. Another problem arises when there is a declined credit card. 4% of customers couldn’t complete their checkout process due to declined credit card thus forcing them to abandon your eCommerce checkout process.

Tip:

Add several payment options for your online shop. Try to have the popular payment options integration:

PayPal

COD

Credit/Debit cards

Mobile Wallets, etc.

Assurance through the trust symbols

Imagine yourself in the shoes of the customer. You have added all the items in the cart and you are proceeding towards the checkout.

Would you have a blind trust in the website for sharing your credit/debit card credentials?

Are you brave enough to complete your checkout process without getting assured about the information you are sharing?

If you aren’t sure and not convinced enough, you will simply abandon the cart and leave the website. Thus, trust is a huge factor that will convince your customers to make a decision to purchase from your eCommerce store.

Including trustmarks is a good move. You can add these trust symbols to make your customers assured with their decision to buy from you.

Tip:

You should have:

Reviews by the merchant as per the orders. Example: 4.2/5 based on 2000 orders

SSL certificate.

Third-party security validation like McAfee, etc.

Clear customer service/help centers, return policies, and T&C links.

Logos of all the payment options that you are providing and payment certification. Example: Verified by Visa

Any kind of business accreditation.

Don’t mandate for account creation

Irritating users with account creation pop-up or forms will make them abandon the carts at an early stage. Christian Holst, Baymard Institute founder brought to the notice that 30% of users abandon their cart if the website prompts to ask to register upfront way back in 2011.

Tip:

Keep an option ‘Continue as guest’ and later after completing their process, ask them to create an account with you. This will help you to boost conversion.

Think about upselling

Upselling is the process of encouraging customers to buy a higher-end product of the item they have chosen. Upselling is a process where you give more options to your customers to buy products. Doing in-cart upsell is always recommended as it is more effective. In-cart upsell provides with the following options:

A section named as ‘Related Product Section’

When the customer is placing an order in the online store, you can offer an upsell.

These tips improve store conversions and customer loyalty.

Do think about the exit intent

Are your customers ready to leave the website before completing the checkout process?

You know your customers are departing. How about trying the last effort before they leave? Preempting their departure with some offers like the one shown below can be thought of.

Such exit intent pop-ups are activated when the user clicks on the back button or the exit cross on the browser or tab interrupting the normal pattern of the user. The user has to make a decision in order to get back to their original state.

You can offer some discount or cashback so that they may change their minds and make a purchase.

Let them checkout in their time

How much can you convince your customers?

Even though you feel you have succeeded, will you guarantee a 100% conversion?

Customers have a number of reasons to complete the checkout process later with the expectation that their cart remains the same way they had left irrespective of the device.

Tip:

With ‘Persistent Cart’ functionality you can allow the customers to pick up the transaction where they had left.

Emails and Remarketing

After multiple efforts and strategies, your customers are still leaving their checkout process incomplete. What do you plan to do with them?

No! You just can’t simply give up on them. You are here for business.

Follow these tips:

You can use cart abandonment email auto-responders for bringing the visitors who have abandoned your carts. Remember, the desire of buying things never fade away. All you have to do is know their exact pain point and send emails hitting those areas correctly. You can use MailChimp.

You can offer heavy discounts and lure them with coupons, cashback, and other promo codes to get them back. You can entice them through ads on social media.

Speed up the process

A complicated checkout process will scare away the customers. Therefore, keeping a simple checkout process can easily increase your sales.

Tips:

You can follow the tips below:

Address look-up service for automatic Zip Codes and addresses.

Autofill form data

Save login credentials.

If a match is found between the billing and shipping, the website will copy automatically.

The requirement for a password should be simple.

Wrapping it up!

These actionable tips and tactics are definitely going to provide visible improvements to you for your online store.

But, it is worth letting you know that there is no solution to have an optimum checkout process. On the basis of the demographics, pricing, complexity of the product, and other variables, the results will differ. But this is a guarantee if you could always research the best possible option for your online store with regular monitoring and improvement.

Since driving sales isn’t rocket science and always depends on the trial and error method, you should always be open to learning new methodologies to optimize your store catering to the requirements of your customers.

[singingrass-archive]

05 NOVEMBER, 2022. Following reports of gunfire at 21:09 hours, unknown male is discovered in a Los Angeles motel room with gunshot wound to the chest and is declared dead by first responders at 21:13 hours. Coroner’s report states as follows:

Caucasian male; estimated age early 50s; height 6’7” (200.6 cm); weight 240 pounds (109 kg). Ginger hair, cropped, grey at temples. Short beard. Tattoo, right forearm: rifle identified as an Accuracy International AW50. Tattoo, right wrist: text, all-caps, sans-serif: WHERE YOU GO, I FOLLOW. In poor quality and appears to be home-made. Tattoo, ribcage right: text, two lines, cursive: Hounds don’t lose sleep / over the opinion of sheep. Tattoo, left shoulder: graphic crest depicting a three-headed dog engulfed in flames. Colors: black, red, orange, yellow, grey. Possibly military insignia. Tattoo, chest left: a banner wrapped around two poppies. Banner reads, all-caps, sans-serif: BUT I HAVE AN RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH. Colors: red, brown, green, black. Most tattoos at least twenty years old except for wrist tattoo, which appears to be less than five years old. Back riddled with scars, shoulders to buttocks; count varies (178; 189; 182). Scar age varies; some fresh, some healed, some old. Old abdominal scar, below and to the left of the navel, appears to have been caused by a sharp, round object; possibly broken bottle. Six elongated scars along right hip and thigh; incompletely healed wound over right knee. All at least twenty years old. Old scar tissue at the tip of each finger; possibly burns; no fingerprints. Dental records do not exist. DNA testing does not match anyone with prior offenses or arrests. Found with several identification papers (3 driver’s licenses, 3 passports, 6 different identities); all determined forged. Contents of stomach are canned kidney beans in tomato sauce. Evidence of sertraline, THC and large amounts of modafinil and morphine in blood, suggesting recent use of cannabis, painkillers, antidepressants and wakefulness-promoting drugs; possibly self-medicating. Evidence of prolonged substance abuse and possibly 2-3 decades of smoking. Cause of death: bullet through heart at zero range. Scene of death, evidence of gunpowder residue on right-hand fingers and angle of wound suggest suicide.

17 APRIL, 2021. Last known contact is made with the individual known as the Mercenary. Decades after his disappearance, a small handful of people will reveal themselves as having been his former contacts. This, reportedly, is the last day anyone has ever heard from him. It will appear no more than ten people worldwide knew the individual known as the Mercenary personally or met him more than once in the course of their lives.

15 FEBRUARY, 2013. The individual known as the Mercenary appears to go completely radio-silent for four to six months (exact dates remain unknown). This is presumably due to injuries sustained past to falling (or being pushed) out of a third-story window in near the marketplace of Istanbul, Turkey.

22 AUGUST, 2001. A computer and life hacker known only to be part of Anonymous deletes multiple records of the existence of a single human being; both digital and hard copies. This includes military, police, hospital, school and birth records. The man without a name, otherwise known as the individual known as the Mercenary, ceases to exist on any legal capacity.

Regardless, he has been known to be operational since mid-1990s. Not much is known of the man save for the following testimonies and rumors: 1) his appearance: ginger male, hair grey at the temples; monstrously-built (presumed to tower approximately two meters); bearded; freckled; 2) his being a native English speaker, though his origins are unclear as he has been witnessed using a variety of both North American and English accents fluently. He has been witnessed speaking French, Arabic and Hebrew in varied degrees of proficiency; 3) his supposedly strange speech patterns: fragmented, detached, clinical; military. He has been known to go through great lengths to avoid acknowledging both himself and others (be they clients, marks or otherwise involved in his operations) as people; 4) a presumed military history in an English-speaking country’s special forces (though this has never been proved or confirmed in any way); 5) the variety of services which he allegedly offers: security, reconnaissance, extortion, espionage, kidnapping, assassination; and the crimes of which he is accused (though none of these have ever been confirmed nor denied): namely the assassinations of several worldwide politicians. He is wanted by the CIA, MI6 and Interpol; but has also been allegedly cooperating with the CIA and the Mossad (thought his, again, has never been confirmed nor denied). In over twenty years of known activity, he is suspected to have assassinated roughly six hundred people.

Allegedly.

23 JANUARY, 1997. The individual known as the Mercenary abandons the base of operations he has been living out of for the past three years . He sets his pigeons free. He no longer has a permanent living address or direct means of contact. Instead, he travels the globe, relocating himself every two weeks; often staying in motels and trailers as to avoid signing any contracts or using any of his countless false identities. He uses pay phones as a means of communication with his contacts. In the future, these pay phones will be exchanged for burner mobile phones, replaced every two weeks.

Identities will be replaced every two weeks. He will pay handsome amounts of money for high-quality forged documents. Firearms and other weapons and gear will be purchased anew for every assignment and destroyed upon its completion.

His whereabouts and supposed crimes and other actions before nearly impossible to track hereon.

02 OCTOBER, 1996. Bulgarian politician and last communist prime minister of Bulgaria, Andrey Lukanov, is assassinated outside his apartment in Sofia, Bulgaria. The lone gunman seen at the scene flees, never to be seen again.

A Swiss bank account, registered under a hedge fund registered under a hedge fund registered under several other hedge funds, registered under multiple false identities, increases by several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

04 NOVEMBVER, 1995. Notorious left-wing prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, is assassinated. Religious fanatic Igal Amir is charged with the murder and found guilty shortly thereafter.

The individual known as the Mercenary gains possession of several rare and experimental Israeli firearms; namely the M89SR sniper rifle. He is also awarded several hundreds of thousands of dollars by various proxies that may or may not lead back to some or another Israeli intelligence agency.

02 NOVEMBER, 1995. Colombian politician Álvaro Gómez Hurtado is reportedly murdered by ‘gunmen’ while leaving the Sergio Arboleda University. His supposed assassins flee the scene, never to be seen again.

The individual known as the Mercenary comes into possession of several tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has never owned this much money before in his life.

01 AUGUST, 1995. The individual presenting himself as Hellhound ceases to do so as it is deemed too telling of his history and past associations and potentially incredibly dangerous in the right (or wrong) hands. In its stead, the man without a name begins referring to himself simply as the Mercenary. He works self-identifying words like I, me or mine out of his speech. He no longer thinks of himself as a person.

16 MAY, 1995. Now presenting himself under the callsign of Hellhound, the man without a name completes renovation of the tuberculosis wing of the North Brother Island Hospital. He makes it his base of operation, communicating with his contacts in the mainland via carrier pigeons he raises in a big coop. He is no longer in contact with anyone who knows him by his legal name. He continues accepting objectives and performing them to the best of his abilities. He burns all his fingerprints off on his kitchen stove, unable to control the tears that accompany the pain; but simultaneously smiling.

08 APRIL, 1994. The man legally known as Galway Morgan vacates his Harlem apartment. He does not rent a new one nor does he leave a forwarding address. He has not spoken to his family in over a year.

He takes whatever little belongings he owns on two bus and one boat rides to North Brother Island. Formerly housing a hospital, the island located in New York’s East River has been abandoned since the 1960s. He quits attending his mandatory psychotherapy and anger-management sessions. Without a legal address, no one is able to force him to attend them anymore.

30 OCTOBER, 1993. Galway Morgan quits his job at the docks to work freelance private security fulltime. He commits his first paid kidnapping (of a young child on behalf of her wealthy father in the midst of ugly divorce proceedings). The objective is successfully complete and he is rewarded handsomely.

The extreme aggression previously observed by his varied psychiatrists is so deeply internalized that he no longer demonstrates aggressive behavior outwardly; but still demonstrates a lack of ability to trust others and increasing apathy and detachment. Psychiatrists suggest a diagnosis of dissociative disorder (caused by PTSD and depression). He also rapidly loses all interest in any form of sexual interaction. 1995 will be the last time he has sex with another person.

13 JUNE, 1993. a friend from work and a former Us Marine suggests that Galway moonlights in private security as a second income. Galway performs his first freelance assignment and finds himself a hot commodity due both to his military history (omitting the injuries sustained during active duty and the deteriorating mental state that ensues) and professional approach. This is the first time he presents himself under a false identity, for no reason other than common sense. He finds strange joy in being addressed in names other than his own. He accepts more assignments in the near future (soon thereafter referred to in the more neutral objectives), presenting himself under different names each time.

The extraordinary aggression he has showcased since his injury during Operation Desert Shield and the loss of his teammate (diagnosed as the main source of aforementioned aggression) is beginning to subside. He becomes less sexually promiscuous. Many people know him by many names.

15 OCTOBER, 1992. UK citizen Galway Morgan moves to New York, New York on a work visa. He situates himself in a small apartment in Harlem and works as a crewmember at the New York Harbor.

Still attending mandatory psychotherapy, Morgan persist in demonstrates high levels of aggression coupled with sexual promiscuity. In the United States he is arrested multiple times for aggravated assault. He often partakes in bar fights and has been known to physically attack at least one of his psychiatrists.

28 JULY, 1992. Morgan has been reportedly growing increasingly distant of and aggressive towards his family. He leaves his hometown of Whitley Bay in the north-eastern coast of England and begins travelling south.

02 MARCH, 1992. After more than a year of physio- and psycho-therapy, Colour Sergeeant Morgan, Galway is honorably discharged from the Special Air Service. He still requires crutches to support himself as he walk and is diagnosed with chronic pain on account of his injuries. Some of them will never fully heal.

Sergeant Morgan demonstrates highly aggressive behavior along with complex PTSD and clinical depression. He is fed a cocktail of painkillers and anti-depressants and is obligated to attend weekly psychotherapy sessions and anger-management support group meetings. Weekly physiotherapy sessions are not mandatory, but the sergeant attends.

16 JANUARY, 1991. Stabilized, Sergeant Morgan is shipped back to England. He undergoes several surgeries and appears to be suffering of shellshock. He reports being in severe mental agony caused by the death of his teammate.

06 JANUARY, 1991. Enemy counter-attack on Hellhound One and Hellhound Two deemed unfortunately successful by means of Scud missile. Hellhound Two dies instantaneously. Hellhound One sustains moderate shrapnel injuries; namely to right thigh, hip and knee.

11 AUGUST, 1990. Hellhound One as sniper and Hellhound Two as scout makes their first confirmed kill.

They, and many other SAS members, are introduced to modafinil by Iraqi soldiers. One pill can induce complete wakefulness and full functionality for forty eight hours in an adult male with little to no side-effects.

02 AUGUST. 1990. The Counter Terrorism unit of the SAS is shipped to Iraq to fight in the Gulf War, known at the time as Operation Desert Shield.

Though considered a team of overall six soldiers, all three strike units of the team (Hellhound One & Two, Hellhound Three & Four, Hellhound Five & Six) are capable of operating completely independently. Hellhound One and Two can spend weeks manning a single position.

05 NOVEMBER, 1989. Corporal Morgan is visiting his hometown of Whitley Bay on leave. He and his little brother, nine years old, are up on the roof of their mother’s apartment building, watching the fireworks over the harbor. Corporal Morgan holds his brother as the boy sits atop his shoulders. They both ooh and aah at the lights exploding over the ocean.

03 JUNE, 1989. Private Morgan graduates from basic training . He is transferred to train as a sniper in the Counter Terrorism unit. He is introduced to Private James Beaumont and the both are paired as sniper and scout. They are to spend every waking moment together. They do this for the following eight months.

They are assigned the AW50 as their primary firearm. Beaumont makes jokes of monster-sized men being assigned monster-sized rifles. He means Morgan. Beaumont is only 5’8.

Private Morgan is assigned the codename Hellhound One while Private Beaumont is assigned Hellhound Two. All Counter-Terrorism snipers are known as Hellhounds. Their outfit’s insignia depicts a three-headed dog engulfed in flames.

05 NOVEMBER, 1988. Galway Morgan breaks up with Gillian, packs his bangs and leaves to volunteer for the SAS. He is processed and sent away for basic training, where he demonstrates leadership, quick learning and natural marksmanship.

01 SEPTEMBER, 1988.Galway graduates from high school. This has been no easy feat while still keeping his job with the fishing crew --- but he will not allow himself to quit. A high school diploma is a requirement to join the SAS and/or British Armed Forces.

20 DECEMBER, 1986.Galway moves into his own apartment out by the docks. He is sixteen years old.

05 SEPTEMBER, 1986. Galway quits his work at the butcher shop and picks up a summer job with a small fishing crew. They go out to sea every morning. Galway hauls his own weight in fish several times a day. He finds his body changes quickly. A few short months later, he is built like a brick wall. He is no longer bullied at school. Neither is Ewan.

Shortly thereafter, he is asked by Fiona to move out of their home. With him now able to fight Patrick back, she is worried for the integrity of the family. Galway cannot resent her for it.

06 JULY, 1985. Puberty hits. Galway grows to the height of 6’7, his weight not quick enough to catch up. He is teased even more often than before, but not bullied as much; his height is somewhat intimidating. He can no longer fit within doorframes without bending jod knees or back.

12 MAY, 1985. Galway has his first same-sex sexual experience when a delivery boy working for the butcher gives him a blowjob at the storage room. He will continue to have several sexual encounters outside his relationship with his girlfriend, Gillian Murphy, with both men and women.

18 OCTOBER, 1984. Galway quits his job delivering newspapers and starts working at a local butcher shop.

27 MARCH, 1983. Galway has his first sexual experience at the age of thirteen with local girl Gillian Murphy. She lives in his neighborhood and attends school in the same grade as Galway.

19 JANUARY, 1983. Galway listens to The Clash for the first time at the local record store. He can’t afford to buy a record, but spends hours listening to anything available by the band. Later that day, he smokes his first cigarette.

24 MAY, 1982. Fiona marries Patrick O’Doyle and takes his name. Galway remains the only Morgan in the family. They move into a new home and their quality of life improves somewhat. Galway keeps his job delivering newspapers as he and Patrick do not get along well. He is rebellious and suffers the occasional smack-around.

05 NOVEMBER, 1980. Whitley Bay celebrates the 5th of November with fireworks over the harbor. Galway watches them from the roof of their apartment building. Fiona tells him, every year, that the fireworks are there especially for his birthday. This is the year he no longer believes this story; but he is still happy when she tells him.

16 AUGUST, 1980. Fiona Morgan has her second baby boy. Patrick O’Doyle is registered as his father. She names him Ewan Carol O’Doyle.

In order to help support the household, Galway begins working as a newspaper delivery boy.

03 JANUARY, 1975. Fiona takes on a third job in order to support her only son. He often accompanies her to her various jobs as she often cannot afford a caretaker; but he appears to be perfectly fine with this. The two are very close. Fiona adores her little boy. She has grand plans for him.

05 NOVEMBER, 1970. A healthy male baby is born to one Fiona Catherine Morgan at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, at only sixteen years old. She claims not to know the name or whereabouts of his father. She names him Galway Kenley Morgan.