#your lack of engagement is how you properly follow through on your principals

[bigbuffelves]

some people always seem to do this thing of "the character is bad so the actor is bad" or "the actor is bad so the character is bad". using one to justify hate of the other when the actor is a guy pretending to be another guy, that some other guy imagined. it's silly imo.

sidenote: not supporting an actor you feel is a terrible person is understandable but if you're going to engage with the media, you should try to remember your bias and not ruin other people's fun.

[edsmcnson]

  When’s the last time anyone heard anything about EDDIE MUNSON? Old friends remember them as WITTY & ENGAGING  but also OVERLY EMOTIVE & EASILY AGITATED, no wonder they’re still known as THE FREAK around town. Today, in 2006, they are 38 and some people say they remind them of the smell of cheap weed and even cheaper cologne; downsizing your passions to fit into an adapted version of your dreams; bite marks on pencils and an abundance of notebooks filled with lyrics that you didn’t have it within yourself to finish; a hopeless inability to adapt.  

THE ROAD TILL NOW.

tw: death mention / injuries / hospital

I: GROUND ZERO / THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH.

Spring break 1986 concluded with a bang. quite literally. Or at least, to Eddie Munson personally, something akin to, well, the biggest bang ever imaginable. A cataclysmic event - his own death. How he had managed to narrowly avoid that fate, Eddie still doesn’t know. What he does know is that somehow, by the grace of whatever gods might loom and linger out there, he’d been granted another shot at breathing.

As fun as breathing and not-being-dead was, it quickly turned out that Hawkins, Indiana wasn’t the best place for the recently traumatized to recover. Someone - Steve, he suspected - must’ve dragged him out of the literal hell beneath Hawkins, because when he came to he’d found himself blinded by fluorescent overhead lighting, hooked up to all sorts of machines and, not to forget, chained to the fucking hospital bed.

Despite the less than ideal circumstances of his recovery, Eddie found some solace in the fact that Hopper, although trying to manage and cope with his own losses, did his best to shield him from the press. The reporters outside the hospital were eventually persuaded to leave, thanks to Hopper’s efforts (well-timed threats). Some shady government officials also paid a visit, and after the public’s demand for answers had dwindled, they’d released a statement, clearing Eddie’s name. Apparently, they’d felt guilty enough to throw in a new trailer for him and Wayne, too, so they could have at least some sort of safe haven to retreat to.

Still weak, but with sufficiently healed wounds, Eddie Munson was discharged and suddenly a free man. But make no mistake - free on paper only. Because when he left the hospital, he was suddenly brutally confronted with the fact that, to the average Hawkins resident, he was still 1) the local drug dealing town freak, 2) the leader of a satan worshipping cult and 3) a fucking murderer. In that order. And so the dirty looks continued to burn into his back, the muttered insults followed him in passing, and nothing, I repeat, nothing had changed. Maybe it was all the pent up rage, maybe something just .. .snapped but either way, Eddie powered through and managed to finally graduate on his third try of senior year. He did as promised: walked the stage, flipped off principal Higgins. Only the running like hell part, that would have to wait until everything had properly healed.

The months went by in a blur. When El and Will’s double funeral rolled around, when his gaze followed as the caskets were lowered to the ground, it was .. for lack of better words a pivotal moment . There was nothing left for him here, was there? His uncle would manage fine on his own, especially since he’d been going on regular coffee dates with that sweet librarian. Eddie was more of a nuisance to him, he was sure. And whatever that weird tension between him and Steve had been, left unresolved post-Vecna and awkwardly fizzling out ever since, it’s just … not enough to keep him in Hawkins. So it’s really an easy decision. A week later Eddie’s van, packed with all the Corroded Coffin equipment, leaves Hawkins, without leaving a note, without saying goodbye, and takes the highway to Chicago.

II: CHICAGO, ROBIN AND THE STONY ROAD TO STARDOM.

Eddie Munson was fully aware that he wasn’t going to become a success story overnight, but he was determined to make it happen. Still haunted by his past traumas, he channeled his energy into his writing, playing guitar, and even experimenting with singing. Taking up odd jobs here and there, dabbling in some dealing if need be, to pay rent and put food on the table. The paying rent part got much easer, however, when a familiar face joined him in Chicago: One Robin Buckley.

Robin brought a sort of light and warmth, a breezy carelessnes, a lust for life previously unimaginable, back into his life. His twenties with Robin in Chicago were the best, it seemed the early nineties were made for them. Going out to bars and clubs where Eddie didn’t need to put a bandana in his back pocket for people to know he was interested in men, playing the odd gig here and there, with moderate success in the local scene. Countless hours spent listening to music as they smoked and chatted away into the night. Life was fucking good, man!

Until, for whatever reason, one foggy morning, reality harshly set in. Maybe his frontal lobe had finally finished developing, but Eddie had untangled himself from the arms of last night’s conquest to get up and reevaluate every choice he’d made in his life so far. How he was working two jobs, as a mechanic and at some gay club’s coatcheck, while claiming he was doing music ‘full time’ and that ‘they were gonna make it big, the world just needed to be ready for them!’ The year was 1996. Eddie was pushing thirty. Corroded Coffin was still playing venues akin to the Hideout. If anything, the world had been ready for metal, like, eight years ago. If anything, the world was getting tired of their sound, and everything was moving into the direction of grunge-y tones. And, if anything, Eddie Munson was getting fucking tired of getting his hard work discarded because ’metal’s just not the vibe anymore, man’. Eddie had promised himself to stay true to his dreams, his passions, the plans he’d made for himself. But so many promises made to him had been carelessly broken. It seemed only fitting that he would break his own, too. So, Eddie got up and proposed a new sound. Most of Corroded Coffin dipped immediately, as to be expected, and so he got to work finding a new band. With him as lead guitar and, for the first time, supporting vocals, he joined a newly formed grunge/alternative rock band called ’Bleach & Burn’, performing music inspired by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Type O Negative and the like. Not his usual scene, but he could get down to their harder sounds.

Bleach &  Burn, to his surprise, generated moderate success and a cult-like following. Suddenly, Eddie found he was able to quit his coatcheck job, able to support himself with just the mechanics and his music. But it was only a matter of time before the world would evolve, move on, repeat the trend cycle and suddenly, just as they were about to sign their first recording contract, the label pulled out last minute with a word of advice: “People are sick of hard rock. Do something a little more … for the everyday crowd. Something for the radio. Trust me, people are gonna go wild if you go a little more tame.”

This marked a turning point, the make or break - Eddie Munson was a lot of things but he’d been determined not to be a sell-out, not to sacrifice his integrity for feeble attempts at fame and success. But now? Seeing his dream slip by his grasp, when he’d been so close? What the fuck was he supposed to do? And so, after much tossing and turning, Eddie Munson, lead guitarist and supporting vocalist of Bleach & Burn, became lead guitarist and lead vocalist of Cornerstone. And so, in the year 2000, at the ripe age of 32, Eddie Munson became Chicago’s biggest sell-out. But, fucking hell, did it pay off!

III. EDDIE MUNSON’s CLAIM TO FAME.

Who knew sacrificing your sound and your dreams could be so lucrative! Their debut album, after reworking their harder sound into a more radio appropriate, alt-indie-rock beat and getting a second lead-vocalist in the talented Alice Phair, hit the shelves not four months after, somehow becoming an instant success. Chicago’s previously best kept secret spread through the nation like wildfire. Cornerstone played their first national tour in 2001, cruising through the country for a solid five months. And suddenly, Eddie was on stage every night in tight jeans and leather jackets while people screamed his lyrics back at him, feeling like a fucking rockstar. Scratch that, feeling a like a fucking god.

Suddenly, he had everything he thought he’d ever wanted and craved. The recognition he’d been waiting his entire life for. Life felt good, once again. - Or was it, really? He’d never aspired for international success, even surprised when his label had told him some little independent radio station in Finland had played their most recent single. But people, no matter how few, were hearing their music, all over the world. People, no matter how few, all over the world were listening to and enjoying the sound of Eddie’s sacrificed musical integrity.

Again, suddenly, a flip seemed to switch, and Eddie pushed two sleeping groupies off him as he waddled to the front of the tour bus to watch the sunrise. He was living his fucking dream. People adored him. Eddie ’the freak’ Munson had turned into Eddie ’can you sign my tits?’ Munson, posters of his face adorning the walls of America’s alternative youth. But if he had everything he’d ever wanted then why was he so fucking miserable? Why did he cringe whenever he heard a song of theirs on the radio, even going as far as skipping the channel, unable to stand hearing it? He loved, lived and breathed music, but whatever sound they had taken on, he hated it. Hated having to pretend something he was not - he did that oftentimes enough when he’d pose with Alice for a staged PDA picture that could be printed in the tabloids. It wasn’t like he was hiding his sexuality by any means - his label had simply … ’kindly advised’ him to maintain an air of mystery around that subject of his personal life.

Truth was, Eddie yearned to go back to his roots, that early 80s melodic metal sound, that had made him happier than every song on his last, what, three albums? He’d even gone to work writing some songs that fit that genre - but they’d never see the light of day. Only posthumously, if anything. Because he knew the second he’d pitch that idea to his bandmates, or god forbid the label, Cornerstone was good as done. How were they ever going to play another authentic show with the knowledge that their band’s lead fucking hated every minute of it? It was ridiculous. And anyway, Eddie shouldn’t complain about what had been handed to him. He’d never even thought he’d make it this far. So really, he was in no place to complain. He should be fucking grateful.

He tries his best to be. Grateful. Goes on tour after tour, even if he’d rather stay home and never leave his room again, even if he’s fucking exhausted. Dutifully just nods and smiles whenever the label suggests another single, another show, another interview - it’s not even like they’re properly ‘famous’ Eddie thinks, but he doesn’t say anything, never does. Even when some so called ‘music journalist’ has recently in a review called them ‘a delightful mix of Nirvana, The Fratellis, Franz Ferdinand and recently emerged newcomers The Arcitc Monkeys’. He’s been told that it’s a smashing review. Eddie feels a lot like smashing that journalist’s face in.

Eddie’s just finished up a tour, and the past few months have catapulted him to the very brink of .. .something. A cord, maybe, that’s coiled all the way up, ready to snap at the next minor inconvenience. The idea of leaving the band is ever present at the back of his head. Leave Cornerstone to Alice, knowing she’d do an amazing job. Better than him, even, he’s sure. They’re not schedulded to play another show for a couple months, and so when Robin stumbles into his arms, showing him the envelope, it’s really a no-brainer. They’re going. Back to Hawkins.

Eddie hasn’t been back since ‘86. Wayne had always insisted to come to Chicago or visit him in Indianapolis whenever he’d play a show there. Eddie hasn’t been back since ‘86 and he hasn’t seen anyone from … back then since ‘86. Hasn’t been keeping in contact much, either. Still, Joyce Byers had been one of the sweetest souls to ever walk this earth, had shown him nothing but kindness the brief times he’d run into her. And some time in Hawkins, away from the bustling city life, away from the music and the shows and the whole fucking business - who knew, maybe a change of scenery would do him good. Eddie’s willing to try about anything to get a brief respite from the life he’s built for himself.

EDDIE’S PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/edsmunson/eddie-munson-2electric-boogaloo

[vecnasrevengerp]

welcome home EDDIE MUNSON (sam claflin fc)

hope you brought your tissues with you! be sure to check in at home or to your hotel and don’t forget to always look over your shoulder. this is hawkins, after all.

BASICS

[SAM CLAFLIN, CISMALE, HE/HIM] When’s the last time anyone heard anything about [EDDIE MUNSON]? Old friends remember them as [WITTY & ENGAGING ] but also [OVERLY EMOTIVE & EASILY AGITATED], no wonder they’re still known as [THE FREAK] around town. Today, in 2006, they are [38] and some people say they remind them of [ the smell of cheap weed and even cheaper cologne; downsizing your passions to fit into an adapted version of your dreams; bite marks on pencils and an abundance of notebooks filled with lyrics that you didn’t have it within yourself to finish; a hopeless inability to adapt. ]   [soph, 21, she/her, cet].    

BIOGRAPHY

tw: death metnion / injuries

Spring break 1986 concluded with a bang. quite literally. Or at least, to Eddie Munson personally, something aking to, well, the biggest bang ever imaginable. A cataclysmic event - his own death. How he had managed to narrowly avoid that fate, Eddie still doesn’t know. what he does know is that somehow, by the grace of whatever gods might loom and linger out there, he’d been granted another shot at breathing.

As fun as breathing and not-being-dead was, it quickly turned out that Hawkins, Indiana wasn’t the best place for the recently traumatized to recover. Someone - Steve, he suspected - must’ve dragged him out of the literal hell beneath Hawkins, because when he came to he’d found himself blinded by fluorescent overhead lighting, hooked up to all sorts of machines and, not to forget, chained to the fucking hospital bed.

Despite the less than ideal circumstances of his recovery, Eddie found some solace in the fact that Hopper, although trying to manage and cope with his own losses, did his best to shield him from the press. The reporters outside the hospital were eventually persuaded to leave, thanks to Hopper’s efforts (well-timed threats). Some shady government officials also paid a visit, and after the public’s demand for answers had dwindled, they’d released a statement, clearing Eddie’s name. Apparently, they’d felt guilty enough to throw in a new trailer for him and Wayne, too, so they could have at least some sort of safe haven to retreat to.

Still weak, but with sufficiently healed wounds, Eddie Munson was discharged and suddenly a free man. But make no mistake - free on paper only. Because when he left the hospital, he was suddenly brutally confronted with the fact that, to the average Hawkins resident, he was stil 1) the local drug dealing town freak, 2) the leader of a satan worshipping cult and 3) a fucking murderer. In that order. And so the dirty looks continued to burn into his back, the muttered insults followed him in passing, and nothing, I repeat, nothing had changed. Maybe it was the all the pent up rage, maybe something just .. .snapped but either way, Eddie powered through and managed to finally graduate on his third try of senior year. He did as promised: walked the stage, flipped off the principal. Only the running like hell part, that would have to wait until everything had properly healed.

The months went by in a blur. When El and Will’s double funeral rolled around, when his gaze followed as the caskets were lowered to the ground, it was .. for lack of better words a pivotal moment for him. There was nothing left for him here, was there? His uncle would manage fine on his own, especially since he’d been going on regular coffee dates with that sweet librarian. Eddie was more of a nuisance to him, he was sure. And whatever that weird tension between him and Steve had been, left unresolved post-Vecna and awkwardly fizzling out ever since, it’s just … not enough to keep him in Hawkins. So it’s really an easy decision. A week later Eddie’s van, packed with all the Corroded Coffin equipment, leaves Hawkins, without leaving a note, without saying goodbye, and takes the highway to Chicago.

Eddie Munson was fully aware that he wasn’t going to become a success story overnight, but he was determined to make it happen. Still haunted by his past traumas, he channeled his energy into his writing, playing guitar, and even experimenting with singing. Taking up odd jobs here and there, dabbling in some dealing if need be, to pay rent and put food on the table. The paying rent part got much easer, however, when a familiar face joined him in Chicago: One Robin Buckley.

Robin brought a sort of light and warmth, a breezy carelessnes, a lust for life previously unimaginable, back into his life. His twenties with Robin in Chicago were the best, it seemed the early nineties were made for them. Going out to bars and clubs where Eddie didn’t need to but a bandana in his back pocket for people to know he was interested in men, playing the odd gig here and there, with moderate success in the local scene. Countless hours spent listening to music as they smoked and chatted away into the night. Life was fucking good, man!

Until, for whatever reason, one foggy morning, reality harshly set in. Maybe his frontal lobe had finally finished developing, but Eddie had untangled himself from the arms of last night’s conquest to get up and reevaluate every choice he’d made in his life. How he was working two jobs, as a mechanic and at some gay club’s coatcheck, while claiming he was doing music ‘full time’ and that 'they were gonna make it big, the world just needed to be ready for them!’ The year was 1996. Eddie was pushing thirty. Corroded Coffin was still playing venues akin to the Hideout. If anything, the world had been ready for metal, like, eight years ago. If anything, the world was getting tired of their sound, and everything was moving into the direction of grunge-y tones. And, if anything, Eddie Munson was getting fucking tired of getting his hard work discarded because ’metal’s just not the vibe anymore, man’. Eddie had promised himself to stay true to his dreams, his passions, the plans he’d made for himself. But so many promises made to him had been carelessly broken. It seemed only fitting that he would break his own, too. So, Eddie got up and proposed a new sound. Most of Corroded Coffin dipped immediately, as to be expected, and so he got to work finding a new band. With him as lead guitar and, for the first time, supporting vocals, he joined a newly formed grunge/alternative rock band called ’Bleach & Burn’, performing music inspired by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Type O Negative and the like. Not his usual scene, but he could get down to the more harder rock sounds.

Bleach &  Burn, to his surprise, generated moderate success and a cult-like following. Suddenly, Eddie found he was able to quit his coatcheck job, able to support himself with just the mechanics and his music. But it was only a matter of time before the world would evolve, move on, repeat the trend cycle and suddenly, just as they were about to sign their first recording contract, the label pulled out last minute with a word of advice: “People are sick of hard rock. Do something a little more … for the everyday crowd. Something for the radio. Trust me, people are gonna go wild if you go a little more tame.”

This marked a turning point, the make or break - Eddie Munson was a lot of things but he’d been determined not to be a sell-out, not to sacrifice his integrity for feeble attempts at fame and success. But now? Seeing his dream slip by his grasp, when he’d been so close? What the fuck was he supposed to do? And so, after much tossing and turning, Eddie Munson, lead guitarist and supporting vocalist of Blech & Burn, became lead guitarist and lead vocalist of Cornerstone. And so, in the year 2000, at the ripe age of 32, Eddie Munson became Chicago’s biggest sell-out. But, fucking hell, did it pay off!

Who knew sacrificing your sound and your dreams could be so lucrative! Their debut album, after reworking their harder sound into a more radio appropriate, alt-indie-rock beat and getting a second lead-vocalist in the talented Alice Phair, hit the shelves not four months after, somehow becoming an instant success. Chicago’s previously best kept secret spread through the nation like wildfire. Cornerstone played their first national tour in 2001, cruising through the country for a solid five months. And suddenly, Eddie was on stage every night in tight jeans and leather jackets while people screamed his lyrics back at him, feeling like a fucking rockstar. Scratch that, feeling a like a fucking rock god.

Suddenly, he had everything he thought he’d ever wanted and craved. The recognition he’d been waiting his entire life for. Life was fucking good, once again. - Or was it, really? He’d never aspired for international success, even surprised when his label had told him some little independent radio station in Finland had played their most recent single. But people, no matter how few, were hearing their music, all over the world. Again, suddenly, a flip seemed to switch, and Eddie pushed two sleeping groupies off him as he waddled to the front of the tour bus to watch the sunrise. He was living his fucking dream. People adored him. Eddie ’the freak’ Munson had turned into Eddie ’can you sign my tits?’ Munson, posters of his face adorning the walls of America’s alternative youth. But if he had everything he’d ever wanted then why was he so fucking miserable? Why did he cringe whenever he heard a song of theirs on the radio, even going as far as skipping the channel, unable to stand hearing it? He loved, lived and breathed music, but whatever sound they had taken on, he hated it. Hated having to pretend something he was not - he did that oftentimes enough when he’d pose with Alice for a staged PDA picture that could be printed in the tabloids. It wasn’t like he was hiding his sexuality by any means - his label had simply … ’kindly advised’ him to maintain an air of mystery around that subject of his personal life.

Truth was, Eddieyearned to go back to his roots, that early 80s metal sound, that had made him happier than every song on his last, what, three albums? He’d even gone to work writing some songs that fit that genre - but they’d never see the light of day. Only posthumously, if anything. Because he knew the second he’d pitch that idea to his bandmates, or god forbid the label, Cornerstone was good as done. How were they ever going to play another authentic show with the knowledge that their band’s lead fucking hated every minute of it? It was fucking ridiculous. And anyway, Eddie shouldn’t complain about what had been handed to him. He’d never even thought he’d make it this far. So really, he was in no place to complain. He should be fucking grateful.

He tries his best to be. Grateful. Goes on tour after tour, even if he’d rather stay home and never leave his room again, even if he’s fucking exhausted. Dutifully just nods and smiles whenever the label suggests another single, another show, another interview - it’s not even like they’re properly ‘famous’ Eddie thinks, but he doesn’t say anything, never does. Even when some so called ‘music journalist’ has recently in a review called them ‘a delightful mix of Nirvana, The Fratellis, Franz Ferdinand and recently emerged newcomers The Arcitc Monkeys’. He’s been told that it’s a smashing review. Eddie feels a lot like smashing that journalist’s face in.

Eddie’s just finished up a tour, and the past few months have catapulte him to the very brink of .. .something. A cord, maybe, that’s coiled all the way up, ready to snap at the next minor inconvenience. The idea of leaving the band is ever present at the back of his head. Leave Cornerstone to Alice, knowing she’d do an amazing job. Better than him, even, he’s sure. They’re not schedulded to play another show for a couple months, and so when Robin stumbles into his arms, showing him the envelope, it’s really a no-brainer. They’re going. Back to Hawkins.

Eddie hasn’t been back since ‘86. Wayne had always insisted to come to Chicago or visit him in Indianapolis whenever he’d play a show there. Eddie hasn’t been back since ‘86 and he hasn’t seen anyone from … back then since ‘86. Hasn’t been keeping in contact much, either. Still, Joyce Byers had been one of the sweetest souls to ever walk this earth, had shown him nothing but kindness the brief times he’d run into her. And some time in Hawkins, away from the bustling city life, away from the music and the shows and the whole fucking business - who knew, maybe a change of scenery would do him good. Eddie’s willing to try about anything to get a brief respite from the life he’s built for himself.

What Eddie left in the Time-Capsule:

1. His yearbook picture, complete with devil horns and mustache drawn on, like the jocks would always do. On the back it reads: FUCK. ALL. OF. YOU. !!!

2. A Hellfire shirt, complete with a set of DnD dice.

3. A perfectly rolled joint.

STATS

   Athletics 1Burglary 2Contacts  3Crafts . 1Deceive 3Drive 2Empathy 3Fight 1Investigate 0Lore 2Medicine 2Navigation .1Notice 1Provoke 3Rapport 3Resourcefulness 2Stealth -1Will 1

EXTRAS

   pinterest :  https://pin.it/3mYihEW   eddie’s mixtape : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7khzeAQVKhDiY9yuVDY7tU?si=bd309d1ac35f4561&pt=ccdedcdba1f0897e8bc33578f357a74c   cornerstone’s setlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Lvqa6xD18CRlXDZRLQaBK?si=58f3ebca04d34886&pt=5a40126eb06de4e859b5e133f20ba4a4

[flipomatic]

Internship Chapter 6: Day 2 - Edric

Author Note: And here comes the second important original character.

First Chapter Previous Chapter

__________________________________________________________

The start of day 2 was almost the same as the first. Edric walked slowly to the jail, though this time wearing his new uniform. He carried the mask, enjoying the last part of his day where he’d be able to see properly. He held onto it with just enough force not to drop it, barely holding it between two fingers.

When he arrived, sighing at the sight of the building, Edric knew he was a few minutes late. Honestly though, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

He walked slowly into the building, then through the Emperor’s Coven door. He only put the mask on when he entered the coven’s wing of the building, once again cutting off his peripheral vision.

After the long patrol in the market the day before, Mike didn’t tell Edric where to report the next day. He actually said he didn’t know what Edric would be doing, and suggested that he check with the dispatcher in the morning.

Since this was a suggestion and not an order, Edric didn’t feel obligated to obey.

After passing the offices, Edric went straight through the hallway intersection. It was time to see the staff lounge, since he hadn’t been able to go in there yesterday. He passed by a coven member on the way, who didn’t react to his presence. The mask helped with anonymity.

Edric opened the door to the staff lounge upon reaching it, entering the room. It was small, about the same size as the dispatcher’s office. There were a couple rundown looking couches near a table on one side, with an icebox and counter on the other. Only one coven member was inside when Edric entered, standing strangely near the door. He wouldn’t know who it was until they spoke.

The coven member watched Edric enter, before greeting him. “Good morning Edric!” He said loudly, allowing Edric to identify him as one of the patrol witches he met the day before. He was pretty sure that this one was Anderson.

“Morning.” Edric replied, not wanting to come off as rude but mostly not wanting to engage in conversation. He looked around the room, not impressed with the inside. It needed some color, he’d consult with Em later about which color would be best. It would be simple too apply it to the walls.

“I was just looking for you.” Anderson said, pulling Edric’s attention back to him. Edric didn’t believe that. He was supposed to go to the dispatcher, not to the staff lounge, so it wasn’t a great place to look for him. Unless, Anderson was one step ahead and knew he’d go there. How crafty of him. “My name is Frederick Anderson, we met briefly yesterday.” So, Anderson had been his last name. Edric made a mental note of it. “I have your assignment for today. Not just that, your assignment for the next few weeks.”

He paused for a moment, prompting Edric to ask, “What is it?” He had one eyebrow raised, though it wasn’t visible underneath the mask.

“I’ll be mentoring you. For the next four weeks we’ll go on patrols, hone our magic, and show the public just how great the Emperor’s Coven is!” Frederick pumped his fist with the last part, voice rising in volume.

So he was going to spend the next four weeks with this guy? Edric wasn’t thrilled; he seemed too gung-ho to match well with him. “Alright.” Edric responded simply, withholding a sigh.

“We’ll meet every morning by the locker room, then go to the dispatcher for assignment.” Frederick moved past Edric to the door as he spoke, opening it. “Which is where we’re going now.”

This time Edric sighed; his time to hang out in the staff lounge was vanishing before his eyes. He bit back a complaint and followed Frederick out. They walked back towards the intersection to head to the dispatcher’s office. Edric stayed behind him, out of sight.

“You go to Hexside, right?” Frederick asked as they walked. He was looking back over his shoulder; if Edric tried to do that while wearing the mask he would trip for sure.

“Yup, graduating next year.” Edric said with a nod, wondering why Frederick was asking.

“Feels like forever since I visited.” They turned the corner. “How’s principal Bump doing? Still hanging in there?” He sounded fond of the old witch.

Edric tried to keep his interactions with principal Bump to a minimum. “I think so, he’s still the principal.”

As Ed finished speaking, they reached dispatcher’s office. Frederick opened the door and entered, with Edric close behind.

The dispatcher was alone in the room, writing on one of the many papers that littered his desk. He looked up when they entered.

“Hello!” Frederick greeted him enthusiastically. “Where are we assigned for today?”

The dispatcher looked down and flipped through his papers, stopping on one and picking it up. “You’re off patrol for today, assigned to the training room.” Oh, training instead of patrol. For Edric, this could be way better than going on patrol, though it still sounded like a lot of work.

Fredrick flashed a thumbs up. “Thanks, we’ll be there if you need us.”

With a nod, the dispatcher dismissed them from his office. The pair left the room and started walking back across the building.

They were about halfway there when Edric had a random thought that he had to ask about. “Can I call you Fred?” It was easier to say than Frederick.

“No.” Frederick replied immediately, not even taking a moment to think about it.

Edric smirked, “Are you sure?”

This time Fredrick stopped, turning his head to look right at Edric. “Yes, I’m sure.” He said firmly, before continuing to walk.

Edric made a mental note of the exchange; this could make good prank material later.

A minute later the pair reached their destination and entered the training hall.

A couple coven members were already there training, but there was plenty of space for them too. Frederick walked to one of the empty corners, signaling for Edric to follow him.

“How much combat experience do you have?” Frederick asked when they stopped.

Edric thought about it. He had helped fight a slitherbeast before, but other than that he didn’t have any. “Very little.” He admitted, adding an additional detail. “And I can’t imagine fighting in this mask.”

“We can fix that.” Fredrick lifted one finger to casting position. “There’s an illusion spell that lets you see out, but keeps the outside solid.” Ooh an illusion spell. That was right up Edric’s alley. “Let me show you.”

Frederick spun his finger to cast the spell, making a small magic circle. A moment later the spell took effect, and Edric gasped audibly in shock. All of the sudden, his mask was transparent. He could see out of it in every direction, not just through the eye holes. He took it off and turned it around, but the other side was still solid white.

“Very impressive.” Illusion magic was the best; Edric fully believed that. He put the mask back on.

“You try it next.” Frederick canceled the spell, returning Edric to not being able to see.

Edric lifted his hand, carefully drawing the magic circle. When the spell activated, his mask again became transparent from the inside. It wasn’t as clear of an image as Frederick’s spell had been, but it was great for a first attempt. He would have to keep the spell up for a while, but if it failed he could always reapply it.

“It works.” Edric said with a nod. His animosity towards the mask was quickly decreasing, but he still planned to bury it after everything was over.

“Good work!” Frederick sounded excited, though it was hard to tell without being able to see his face. “So that’s one combat obstacle down. What kind of magic do you specialize in?”

Edric stood straighter as he responded. “Illusion magic, near the top of my class.” He bragged, which he felt was earned after performing that spell correctly on the first try. He also had earned a spot to intern at the Emperor’s Coven, which was nothing to sneeze at.

“That’ll be useful, we do a lot of illusion spells. What other types can you do?”

This was a point of shame. “None at all.” Edric shook his head with a derisive chuckle, he was terrible at other types of magic.

“We’ll see about that.” Frederick replied, something that Edric didn’t like the sound of. “Let’s start with illusions though. Do you know any rope or net spells?”

Edric drew a magic circle, summoning a rope illusion. “Rope, check.” He swung the rope overhead, like a lasso, then flung it in Frederick’s direction. Instead of wrapping around him as intended, it bounced off and vanished. Edric just stared in shocked silence.

“Magic ward.” Frederick said simply. “We’ll get to it someday. For now, I think you should learn a couple of other spells.”

“I really don’t want to.” Edric replied dryly. There was no way this would go well.

“That’s the spirit.” Frederick was undeterred by Edric’s lack of enthusiasm. “We’ll start with a plant spell.” He lifted his hand again to cast a spell, this time drawing a green magic circle. A few roots grew out of the dirt floor, reaching a few inches off the ground. “This spell can be used to grab the ankles of someone trying to escape. Go ahead and try it.”

Before so much as lifting a finger, Edric knew he wasn’t going to be able to do this spell. He had tried a plant spell once before, and couldn’t get a plant to wiggle let alone grow. He slowly lifted his hand, trying to create the magic circle. He made it about half way around before it wobbled and collapsed. Frowning, Edric tried again to cast it. He was able to close the circle, but when the spell activated it had no effect.

Frederick cast another spell, drawing a single root further above the ground. He left it there, sticking up. “Try again, focus on just this one.”

Edric sighed, but did as he was told. He remade the spell circle, focusing the spell on the one root. When it activated the root twitched, but otherwise didn’t move.

Each subsequent attempt reminded Edric why he didn’t bother with plant magic. It just didn’t work well for him, not at all.

They worked on the spell for a while, and eventually Edric was able to make the root move slightly. With that achieved Frederick was satisfied enough to let him move on to a different spell.

“Next, you need to be able to do a basic healing spell.” Frederick said, causing Edric’s stomach to drop even further. His healing magic was just as bad as his plant magic. “Just to heal small cuts, I’ll demonstrate.” Frederick first cut a small portion of the root, then made a small magic circle to demonstrate the spell. When it activated, it healed the root completely.

Frederick made it look easy, but for Edric it wouldn’t be. First, he tore a notch into the root again so he’d have something to heal. Then he spun his finger to cast the spell, luckily able to complete it on the first try. Unfortunately, there was no impact on the root.

Frustration growing, Edric tried again. His second attempt still had no effect; somehow this was worse than the plant spell.

“Try to remain calm.” Frederick couldn’t see his face, but he seemed to sense his irritation. “Healing spells don’t work if you’re agitated.”

Saying that did not help Edric follow through on it and his next few casts of the spell had similarly bad results.

They continued like this for some time, trying to get the spell to work. Edric had little luck, even less than with the plant spell.

“How about this.” Edric remarked after yet another failed attempt. “I’ll just use illusion spells instead.” He was getting nowhere with this.

Frederick was, unfortunately, turning out to be quite stubborn. “Not everything can be replaced with illusion magic.” He stated firmly.

“I disagree.” Edric wasn’t going to back down on this. “That plant spell, I can match it with an illusion.” He drew an illusion circle, which was wonderfully easy after struggling for so long with plants and healing. It triggered a wave of small illusion ropes, popping out of the ground. “Works just as well.” He crossed his arms.

“But if you lose focus, the spell will break.” Frederick countered with a shake of his head. “You still need to learn the plant one. And there’s no replacing healing with illusions.”

Edric grimaced beneath his mask, but couldn’t think of a good spell to counter with on the spot. “We’ll see.” He said, making a note to ask Em later if she knew of an illusion spell that could heal.

“For now, keep working on the two new spells. I’m going to be doing some training on my own, if you need anything come grab me.” Fredrick pointed to a spot about ten feet away, where he would go to train.

That was fine by Edric, time alone to work was way better than what they’d been doing. He nodded once, and Frederick left to do his own training.

Now on his own, Edric immediately abandoned the new spells. He worked on practicing his illusion based net spells, trying to find the best one that had a short cast time.

Edric kept his back to Frederick; he had no interest in watching the other witch train.

He also kept trying to think of how to replace healing with illusions, but didn’t have much luck with that.

Next Chapter

[hippyjonny]

The Face of the Devil

Hello,

I have been brought to the brink of a nervous breakdown. I contemplated very lightly and romantically the concept of suicide. My situation is unique in that I live in Japan and the woman who bullied me is the only other English speaking employee at the school. To make matters worse, we were put into the same office, much like a pen. From the first day I worked she treated me like shit and condescended me. She told me to my face that Mr. Motoda, the man in charge of hiring me, did not do his job properly when he chose me because I was not qualified to do this job. From then on she constantly passive-aggressively badgered me. She would make it a point to say “Enjoy your mid-week weekend” about my day off on Wednesday (as I am part time) instead of just saying “See you later.” I confronted her about this and she made excuses that I can’t remember. She would talk to me non-stop when I was trying to study Japanese and narrate her Facebook feed out loud. I began to move to the library at the school for peace. After a while of this habit she told me, “You really like the library, huh?” Then when our contracts were being renewed and she kept prying Into whether or not I was being hired for the next year, I tried to keep my status anonymous as it was my business. I snuck to the vice principal to finalize the deal, but when I arrived back at the office she was waiting and told me she had heard I was renewing. I was sneaking around my own school to avoid her, but she still found a way to invade my space. The early years at our school presented us with terrible students due to the school being private and lacking high academic standards. It was more a pay-to-play situation. So, our senior students were some of the most inconsiderate kids I had encountered and anyone would feel frustrated trying to deal with them. Without thinking I plopped myself in the chair, sighed and offhandedly said, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.” She told me that she would have to report what I said to the principal. I was preoccupied with my issues and barely heard her. I brushed her off and said something like, “Do what you gotta do,” not really understanding what the hell she was talking about. However, she actually went to the management and told them that I had said verbatim that I “don’t like teaching.” She would overpower me with her opinions without taking into consideration my own and eventually I stopped talking to her altogether. However, she would still engage me in conversation regardless if I was studying. Eventually I began listening to YouTube meditation videos before school to try and deal with the onslaught of the coming day with her. Once I didn’t have time at home to listen to my meditation video so I tried to do it at school. I had headphones on and I remember she approached me and I could see her mouth moving. I took my headphones out and she said something unimportant that I couldn’t remember if I tried. Then I put my headphones back in. We repeated this process—I kid you not— four times. Then I went to the roof and silently screamed. She once came into the office one morning and just started screaming at the top of her lungs. She was mad about what she perceived as sexual harassment from one of the students. It’s a complicated issue to explain, but I had discussed the issue at length with many Japanese women and they told me that my Western psychopathic coworker was overreacting and they all just laughed. My coworker would often cry, lose her temper or just be volatile in general at work. What Is most interesting about her is that her father was a counselor. She told me even about her experiences with psychopaths and how they were very scary in real life. She once told me that she “would make a great boss” and that all her coworkers at her old job “loved” her. She once asked me if I was confident in my lesson plans. I said I would always have doubts. When I asked her, “You?” She said without blinking an eye, “100%” She once told me to “say thank you” to a child. By the way, I am a 36 year old adult male. I had talked to her about her passive aggressive mentioning of my days off. We ended up exposing her self-righteous attitude that my offhanded comment about not liking English teaching was enough to make me unworthy of the duty in her eyes. I told her, “If you ask a taxi driver if this was their destiny, do you think they would all say yes? People have to make a living and can still do a good job doing it.” Despite trying to bring this difference of opinions out in the open, it didn’t change anything. Finally, I had had enough and while shaking I talked to one of the heads of the school, Mr. Ato. I did my best to explain 3 years of abuse and he finally said in English, “She’s—uh…mental.” For once in my 3 years, I felt validated. I asked the management to move me to a different office and they did. For a brief moment I experienced pure bliss. She didn’t visit me and we had nothing to do with each other. Then suddenly she came to me with a scheme. She told me she had heard some rumors that the English department was changing directions and that our jobs might disappear. According to her the principal had alluded to some changes and we needed to get with the program or face the consequences. I, a native simpleton, freaked out for a good 10 minutes and bought into it. Her plan of action was a unilaterally decided change of curriculum. She decided we were all taking a new direction as an English department even though she is not a boss, just an employee who teaches classes completely separate from me. Little did I know, this was her way of entangling me back into her sinister web once more. I agreed thinking that the best tactic was just to pretend to care and nod my head so that she would quickly leave the vicinity of my office. However, that was my grave mistake. From then on I became her slave. She gave me deadlines and new tasks as if she were a boss until the point where I had to confront her and make myself clear to her once more. “I am not your employee…Please keep all conversations work-related from here on out.” And she abided, but she simply changed the definition of “workplace conversations.” After more annoying updates about the direction of English education in Japan and her thought process into every detail of her papers, she finally came to me with a new emergency. This time, she had seen a memo in the morning online Teams bulletin board and saw that the OE of Oral English had been replaced with question marks. I literally never read a single memo, so of course I would not have seen this. She came to me saying that we were once again in danger of losing our jobs and we must act quickly. So she had called a meeting with the boss in order to confront Mr. Suginomori who she had dictated was the enemy of her plan. She saw the was ignoring her e-mails and had plans to squeeze us out of our positions. As a part-time worker, I don’t want to be involved in any of these discussions. If I am fired, I simply will find a new job, as people do. This was all extraneous information. Feeling frustrated, scared and mostly exhausted with her bullshit, I fell back on my age-old tactic of just agreeing with everything she said and then not following through. However, now I had inadvertently agreed to attend a meeting which was brought about to confront a Japanese English teacher. He is a good man, though a little old fashioned, and she had not once confirmed what was actually happening. She simply made up a situation in her head and then tried to manipulate me into getting what she wanted. I have played dumb for the entire 5 years of my employment to maintain the upper hand. She had no idea that I had requested that we be put in separate offices. She came to me and complained about it and I pretended to listen. Actually, once I came back from Summer vacation to find that my lunch box had gone missing. Something you must understand about Japanese society is that they do not steal. That is a 96% true statement. The nearly never steal and it would be an astronomical anomaly for someone in a private school of well-off students and teachers to want to steal a bento box that was made for a 6’ 3” Western man, probably too big to fit into their valise. However, when I asked my co-worker about it she told me, “Well, I don’t know, but someone probably got annoyed that it was taking up that space for so long. The Japanese people would find it rude.” Clearly she threw away my bento box out of spite or some bizarre personal code of ethics. Anyway, I began to feel the anxiety I used to feel when we shared an office together again. I would wake up sometimes and she was already on my mind, and if you know me at all, to have work on my mind after work is the last thing I would ever do. So, I knew that I would have to deal with her once more despite having already having a conversation with her about professional boundaries. In the previous discussion I told her that we should keep our communications “work-related” and that any other conversation should be avoided In order for us to make the best use of our time. She obeyed this for a bit and then eventually came to invade my space and boundaries once again. Her excuse for doing so was in a similar vein to her first attempt, the possible loss of our livelihood. So, for weeks I agonized over how I would word my NEXT conversation with her. I wrote 5 or 6 drafts of many different letters. Some of the first ones were similar to this except more spiteful, delineating every single thing that happened and my psychology behind pretending that I cared about the things she cared about. I thought that the pivot on which our problem teetered was the fact that she could not respect the fact that I don’t invest myself into the work as much as she believed I should, but that that was just an opinion and nothing more. Other drafts were evil hate letters. Finally, I came up with a professional solution which stated that I felt stressed being told I was going to lose my job every month and it was making it difficult to do my work. I told her that I wanted to reiterate my previous statement by redefining what I meant by “work-related conversation.” This definition did not included unfounded gossip and our discussions did not need to take an entire hour because they could easily be completed in ten minutes. Her reply was that I was sending her “mixed messages” because I had stated I was interested in being included in decisions about the English department. However, she had created an entire curriculum and began to implement it without gaining anyone’s consent. This is a clear difference from what tense she decided to use for the verb in question 4 on worksheet number 11. I snapped. I knew the whole time that if I lose my cool, I would lose everything, but I am only a man and I have my limits. This exceeded my limit. So, I told her everything I’m telling you now and more. So, now it was all in the open. When I talked to the management, they listened to me go on for 20 minutes and all they said was, “We sympathize. Can you put it in writing? Try and relax for your summer vacation and come back refreshed.” They didn’t give a rats ass what happened to me. Now I had not only made myself exposed to my psychopathic coworker, but I had also made myself appear to fit the stereotype of the emotionally unhinged and sloppy Westerner. My ass was flapping in the breeze and I had no energy left. I dejectedly sulked around the school asking literally 4 different people who needed to stamp my fucking vacation paper to get it approved with all conflicting answers on what was already the most humiliating day of my life. My soul left my body. I went to the roof and looked past a locked fence. I imagined climbing over it, looking down at the concrete from the fourth floor, and what it might feel like to plummet to a beautiful, emancipatory smack. I had psychologically and physically come to realize why so many people in Japan come to commit suicide. All channels had been tapped and there was absolutely no support system in place. As soon as you are not harmonious for even a second you are the instant pariah. You are collectively repulsed and flaked like a dead skin cell, because to the Japanese, a show of emotion is nearly sickening. It disgusts them and only proves your weakness. After all this time trying to keep my cool, I had lost. Now I am still in the thick of this situation. I don’t know whether I will quit, how my coworker has reacted to my second confrontation, and whether the school will simply fire both of us now for being troublesome, emotional foreigners. However, I have finally learned what it was that was plaguing me and tormenting me. It was a psychopath in the flesh. I had a tendency to feel sorry for her on several occasions because she had nothing else in her life and was trying to create meaning through imaginary battles and enemies, much like Don Quixote. But I had already told myself multiple times that if I felt the urge to humanize her that I needed to clip it off deliberately because those were the times I was made vulnerable and she struck like a cobra. So when she came to my desk a final time before summer break to hand off some papers she made it was like staring the into the face of the devil herself. Her head creaked and as she twisted it slowly towards mine in my seat. I muttered, “Thank you.” Gnashing her teeth, she interrupted me as she always does and said with a grin that would make Nosferatu shit his pants, “I finally got around to making that phrasal verb worksheet. I hope you have a wonnnnnnnnnnderful summer.” Then she slithered out of the room as fast as she could. Not only do I see why Japanese crime basically is outbursts of uncontrolled rage and suicide, but I also have seen into the mind of a killer. I have pondered so many times if she is a sinister mastermind or the world’s most unaware imbecile, and therein lies the danger of a psychopath. Heed my tale and keep your senses sharp because you might be the next unsuspecting victim of their guiles. I have had a mental breakdown and am reconsidering continuing my work there. I am considering any remaining avenues of reform, but I am beginning to believe that my sanity is not worth the cost. I hope that my story can help another person who is struggling like me because I have never encountered anything like this in my life. We like to believe that God is real and that we can make the world fair and society is civilized, but at the end of the day it truly is a Darwinian free for all. I am no conservative, but I can’t fully deny the death penalty and despite the ridiculous amount of gun-related deaths in America and it’s lackadaisical regulations, one can’t help but wonder after staring a demon in the face whether or not it might not be a bad idea to pack some heat. Beware. There are soul suckers among our midst.

[awesomewebcamwebsite5740]

New Year’s Eve Unique

Nicely, nowadays she doesn't desire to stop showing us what her practical experience is at this very long-awaited celebration!

How irritating Christmas family get-togethers can be when there are plenty of people and also you barely see each other throughout the year! My paternal grandmother and grandfather have always held in the practice of obtaining dinner together on New Year's Eve and having all of us children, relatives, nephews and grandchildren collect that day. And since they are from that generation in which sexual intercourse experienced its maximum splendour simply to wind up experiencing young, properly, we are an outrage who wound up consuming the grapes together that night time inside my father's village. I won't say that it doesn't have its wonderful side, but it will take a lot of try to put together a great deal canapé therefore a lot consume. At the very least they have got came into throughout the engagement ring of modernity and, because they can afford it, they purchase an excellent catering from a nearby firm to ensure almost everything is much more substance. Of course there is certainly always somebody lacking who dares to set up their particular strategies at the expense of what would be the chat of your town through the following 12 months.

We are so many cousins, carnal or gratis dansk sex xxx 2nd relatives, countless new couples with young children, or possibly a handful of exes that are still linked to the principal department in the family members, i did not know multiple this coming year. And that is one and only thing that will keep me occupied using this tradition, to look communicating with each other and introducing myself to people I don't know. What happens using this type of is that you simply might find yourself having a enchanting, good looking, funny boy, and suddenly he notifys you that he is your next nephew from the nephew of your own father's who had been surviving in Switzerland. A pity! Because in the past, once you were actually fifteen years, you might afford to experiment and trick around by using a cousin from your town that you simply didn't see an excessive amount of, but with an grow older like mine, excellent for every thing anyway, in theory it doesn't sound serious. Though above all, the principle https://en.search.wordpress.com/?src=organic&q=dansk problem is the other celebration doesn't believe the same as you do. But after lots of wine, plenty of foods, a dozen grapes, and lots of sparkling wine, my cousin and that i possessed become intimate enough to capture on our individual relationships. We possessed enjoyed one another greatly, we were liking each other significantly and we were actually beginning to effect if we spoke, also very a lot.

Basically If I hadn't discovered within his large environmentally friendly view that ignite that glowed as he explained to me exactly how much he liked sex and women with many different effort as well as in your bed, perhaps I wouldn't have invited him to see the latest spaces that this grandparents had internal what was after the animal location. Or surely this too! But the moment I walked with the very first door, far from the festive loved ones bustle, I jumped into his mouth area with cheekiness when i advised him i recognized an effective repertoire of postures and therefore I needed got so many partnerships which i could maintain him occupied and fired up by showing him on them, prior to, throughout and after seeking them. My, for the time being, not known cousin got no trouble in either immediately staying away from the blood connection that without offering us any enjoyment united us, and the man journeyed into activity with all his passion. His strong smell of perfume, the thong that let me press his bum as i undressed him and his awesome want to allow himself be performed initial, only to devour me afterwards, produced us love a really special New Year's Eve.

Regardless of how delayed it was actually, we didn't relaxation until we possessed had a lot more than three hrs of sexual intercourse and furthermore, as he surrendered on the 4th round certain that my energy could always keep each of the Christmas lights in the city on. Unavoidably, we also had to show up for family reunion. And since every person experienced to go back to their daily lives, we decided to meet up with the new year and enjoy the change of the year together once again, although we will in all probability begin a number of several hours earlier.

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily Newscap 22/4/2020

Good Morning #realdreamchasers! Here is your daily news cap for Wednesday 22nd  April, 2020. There is a lot to read and digest so take your time. Remember you can read full articles via Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS), Barbados Today (BT), or by purchasing a Midweek Nation Newspaper (MWN).

ABRAHAMS: PEOPLE NOT PAYING THEIR WATER BILLS – The COVID-19 pandemic is causing revenue at the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to leak by as much as 25 per cent, primarily because more people are not paying their bills. This was revealed yesterday by Minister Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams, who was a guest on Starcom Network’s Down To Brass Tacks programme along with BWA general manager Keithroy Halliday. “Our financial position, as tenuous as it was, has become worse. The reality is that a lot of people are not paying their water bills at this point in time. The take for the Barbados Water Authority on the bill has dropped to, I think, about 25 per cent of what it is supposed to be,” the minister said. Abrahams said they had operated in good faith and assured people their service would not be disconnected amidst the coronavirus crisis, but he wanted Barbadians to use their conscience. (MWN)

PAY YOUR WATER BILL – As Barbados faces its worst drought in decades, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abraham revealed the state-owned water authority was battling its own lack of flowing funds. He warned that revenue at the Barbados Water Authority was fast drying up as Barbadians failed to pay their bills. Speaking on Voice of Barbados’ Down to Brass Tacks, Abrahams, addressing complaints about persistent water outages in rural parishes caught in the grip of an ongoing drought, said the state-owned utility has taken a double-digit knock to its already weak finances in recent weeks. “Our financial position as tenuous as it was has become worse,” he said. “The reality is that a lot of people are not paying their water bills at this time. So the take for the Barbados Water Authority on the bills has dropped to I think 25 per cent of what it is supposed to be.” He argued that just as the BWA determined not to disconnect people during the COVID crisis, consumers should not put their bill payments on the back burner. Abrahams told the programme: “I am just going to ask people to use their conscience a little bit. The fact that we are not going to disconnect you for health reasons does not absolve you from paying your water bill because at the end of the day you are not just going to continue racking up arrears against you but in the interim, you are starving the water authority, or the water authority is being starved of money it needs to do basic things to make the system work properly.” He warned that the problem went further than BWA, saying the Government was stretched because no money was “coming into the Government’s coffers”. He declared: “Land tax is not being paid, VAT [Value Added Tax]  is not being paid, business has ground to halt in Barbados, so people are not able to pay their statutory obligations in Barbados. So the Ministry of Finance is catching  itself to even find money to run the country so it just not a good situation for us to be in.” The Minister responsible for the BWA noted that the authority was almost at the point of getting to the bottom of what he termed “dangerous debt” levels discovered in 2018 but has now suffered a setback and as a result, a number of critical programmes would be on hold. He cited the proposed $14. 8 million Vineyard project that is expected to provide relief to the water-scarce parishes of St John and St Joseph through the redistribution of water from Vineyard, St Philip to the Golden Ridge/Bowmanston system. Abrahams: “We were scheduled to be starting all of these things… when the COVID issues descended upon us.  We have the bulk of the pipes for Vineyard project so we had started the process, we have located where we are going to put the reservoir in Stewart Hill, we have specs for everything that needs to be done for it, we were sourcing the financing for it, we were investigating loans, we had people, that we were looking to get the financing from, but the reality now is that with the decreased revenues of the Barbados Water Authority, occasioned by people not paying their water bills we cannot speak to a financier and we cannot prove to them a guaranteed source of income for the next 12 months. Our income now is at its worse for I don’t even know how long.” Abrahams said the BWA would now have to turn back to the Government to find the money to complete the project, noting that Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn have been trying to source funding. (BT)

BRA TO OPEN TWO OFFICES –The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) will reopen the Weymouth Corporate Centre and Warrens Towers II locations in St Michael to facilitate limited transactions from Wednesday, April 22. A press release said this is to further enable payments in relation to PAYE, VAT and income tax during the period of the curfew. The offices will open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will follow the recommended physical distancing protocols. Payments for licensing transactions remain suspended during the curfew period, according to the statement. (BGIS)

MINISTRY READY FOR E-LEARNING - Online teaching has started at all tertiary institutions and most private schools. A statement from the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training (METVT) said this follows consultations last week with substantive Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw and ministry officials, principals of all public and private schools, and unions representing teachers and principals. From April 20 to 24, all public schools will be preparing to roll out online teaching using the Google G Suite for Education platform. The statement said this platform may be accessed from any PC, laptop, tablet or smart mobile device. The ministry emphasised the importance of education during the curfew period and is working with providers and suppliers to ensure every child has Internet access and devices to utilise the new elearning platform. Radio and television will be utilised in the interim to provide educational content to ensure that students are not disadvantaged.   Further assistnce can be accessed by calling the ministry’s helpdesk at 535-0798, between 8:15 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Additional information may be found on the ministry’s website www.mes.gov.bb. The ministry advised those schools and teachers who are ready to engage with their students using the Google G Suite Classroom that they may do so, but no new concepts are to be taught. These new measures are being implemented after schools were closed last term to limit spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). (BGIS)

NOT YET IN THE CLEAR – It would be unwise of Government to ease the current restrictions despite Barbados not recording a positive test for coronavirus in the past six days, COVID-19 Czar Richard Carter has declared. He is adamant that as long as there are still live cases of the respiratory illness on the island it means we are still under threat. In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Carter said while the string of negative tests was a positive sign he was still very concerned that 45 people were still infected. Carter said: “I will say, however, that six days without cases, while it is encouraging it does not matter really as much as the fact that we currently still have over 40 live cases in Barbados that we are managing. As long as you have live cases in your country you have an epidemic that is going on.… One case is all it takes to spark a spike. “There can be no immediate contemplation or consideration of lifting restrictions right now. We have to continue to be on our guard and it will be far too early to be talking about the relaxation of the restrictions. One live case means that you have to be considering and dealing and trying to get to zero. Essentially that is our goal, to get to zero cases in Barbados. “We don’t know how many or whether there are other cases that have not been diagnosed within the community. We are trying our best through the contact tracing and through the surveillance that we are undertaking to detect and identify whether there are any cases but we can never be 100 per cent sure outside of testing every single person.” Carter stressed that over 2.5 million diagnosed cases of COVID-19 worldwide started with one case. But he pointed out that public health officials in Barbados would be the ones responsible for advising Government on whether those restrictions ought to be lifted. “So the public health officials will advise the Government when it is appropriate to lift any restrictions that have been put in place. “In all of this we have been following the advice of the public health officials in Barbados and they have advised the Government in relation to when it is necessary to impose restrictions and they will guide the Government as to when it is appropriate to lift them,” the Czar noted. Minister of Health Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic announced yesterday that having acquired 2,800 swabs and 27,000 testing kits, health authorities are moving to ramp up COVID-19 testing. He also warned that Barbados was not yet out in the clear. “I want to reiterate that although this is indeed very encouraging for all of us it is not a sign that we are out of the woods. We must not drop our guard. We must not drop the level of defense that we are putting up against this enemy,” Lt. Col. Bostic said. (BT)

DOC: CAUTIOUS CHANGES TO COME – Barbados is preparing to launch new protocols should the island continue to record no new COVID-19 infections, says Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George. However, although there have been no new infections for the sixth straight day, he advised caution. “We are not going to be rash, even with small incremental changes or with things like opening up businesses and allowing construction. We have been told to let the science guide us, so that’s what we’re doing. We have agreed two weeks – the full incubation period for this disease – with no new cases, will be the trigger for something new. “As we get more information and if things trend downwards, we will have a systematic approach, but countries should not rush to reverse a lot of the changes. It is going to be incremental. . ” (MWN)

PAHO GIVES MORE KITS FOR COVID FIGHT - The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) has boosted Barbados’ COVID-19 testing capabilities with a donation of 11,000 testing kits. Accepting the kits and 782 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) packages from PAHO/WHO Representative for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Dr Yitades Gebre, Minister of Health and Wellness Col Lt Jeffrey Bostic said the donation is timely for use in the country’s island-wide testing programme scheduled to begin soon. Speaking during the handing over ceremony at PAHO’s Dayrells Road, Christ Church headquarters this afternoon, Bostic revealed that health authorities were now in possession of 38 000 testing kits and noted that that number is expected to be increased soon. “We are on top of it in containing it and we need to really expand our testing. This is exactly what we are going to be doing in a day or two. We are going to be expanding the testing and establishing testing centres so that we can get back to as normal a state as early as possible without compromising public health,” Bostic said. Minister of Health and Wellness Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Bostic receives the donation of kits and equipment from PAHO/WHO Representative to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Dr Yitades Gebre during a handover at PAHO Headquarters today. (BGIS) Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George who also attended the ceremony, stated that while recovered COVID-19 patients are being released and there has been no evidence of re-infection, the authorities are monitoring this particular aspect of the pandemic closely since it has been happening in other countries. “It is something that we will continue to monitor. As the Minister said we have been given a mandate from the Prime Minister [Mia Amor Mottley] to scale up our testing. Today is day six without any new cases and the Ministry of Health has always had the approach to be extremely transparent. “And we would like to make sure that there is no in-country transmission and the only way we are going to do that with some confidence is if we scale up our testing. “So what we have told general practitioners in Barbados is that persons even without a travel history presenting with respiratory illness we are willing to test. We have placed special emphasis on frontline workers and particularly the elderly,” Dr George said. Minister Bostic thanked PAHO for its assistance in the COVID-19 fight. He said Barbados has been following PAHO and WHO’s guidelines and protocols to contain the spread of the virus. Meanwhile, Dr Gebre praised Barbados’ handling of the pandemic and noted that many countries could benefit from copying the model. He said PAHO is pleased to continue to provide the country with technical and administrative support to ensure that lives are saved and the negative impact on society is kept at a minimum. Dr Gebre said it was encouraging to note that most countries in the region were managing the pandemic well, with there being no signs of community spread and some nations reporting no COVID-19 related deaths. “No country at this point has shown that they are overwhelmed with the number of cases. All of them are doing extremely well in terms of containing. There is no community transmission in the Caribbean,” Dr Gebre said. When asked whether the United States of America’s (USA) threat to halt its funding to the WHO over the organisation’s handling of COVID-19, Dr Gebre said that the US was committed to helping WHO’s work in developing countries in need of the assistance during the pandemic. “During this pandemic the United States government has provided resources to support other countries. In our region, USAID provided $100 000 for Barbados and then for each of those countries in the range of $60 000 to $70 000 for the next three months. So we have received half a million dollars from the United States government in our region to provide technical support. Continuously that kind of support is needed,” Dr Gebre said. (BT)

PAHO DIRECTOR: INCREASED VIRUS TESTING CRITICAL – The director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), Dr Carissa F. Etienne, on April 21 called for accelerated and expanded testing for the coronavirus (COVID-19) in countries of the Americas, including the Caribbean.  “We need a clearer view of where the virus is circulating and how many people have been infected in order to guide our actions,” said Etienne during a virtual press briefing.  “The pandemic continues to impact our region, and it’s vital for all countries to actively embrace preventive measures, while preparing for more cases, hospitalisations and deaths,” she added.  As of April 20, there have been 839 119 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 42 686 people have died in the Region of the Americas. The PAHO director said that countries have been prepared to test and detect cases of COVID-19 since before the pandemic was declared.  Since February, PAHO said it had trained and equipped laboratories for PCR testing in more than 30 countries. But, as cases have increased, Etienne said countries have found it increasingly difficult to keep up.  She highlighted PAHO’s recommendations for countries to expand their capacity and use all available national laboratories; to prioritise patients with symptoms, tracing contacts and following up with those that may be infected; and to ensure access for all so testing would be free of charge for patients. PAHO said it has provided more than 500 000 PCR tests to 34 countries and territories, “and we have worked with other countries to track and support their capacity”, said Etienne. An additional 1.5 million PCR tests are being dispatched throughout the region this week, “followed by another 3 million next week to strengthen laboratory surveillance networks in our member states”, she highlighted. “To address the market shortage, we are working with leading manufacturers to make these tests available through the PAHO Strategic Fund,” Etienne said. “Twelve countries are now using this mechanism to purchase quality commercial PCR-based tests.  “As we negotiate other options, we are considering tests that run on both open and on so-called closed platforms, to maximise each country’s ability to test,” she added.  To help ensure countries procure reliable products, Etienne said PAHO is providing guidance to regulatory and health authorities, and is calling on manufacturers “to work closely with us so that we can ensure equitable access to new quality tests, as they reach the market so all our countries can benefit from innovations”. Global access to medicines, vaccines, and medical equipment to respond to COVID 19 “should not be a privilege of certain countries or communities”, she said. “Our collective goal must be to ensure that access to the testing, treatment, vaccines and other technologies is available to all based on needs.” (CMC)

UN URGES ACTION TO AVOID “BIBLICAL FAMINE” – The world is at risk of widespread famines "of biblical proportions" caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the United Nations has warned. David Beasley, head of the World Food Programme (WFP), said urgent action was needed to avoid a catastrophe. A report estimates that the number suffering from hunger could go from 135 million to more than 250 million. Those most at risk are in ten countries affected by conflict, economic crisis and climate change, the WFP says. The fourth annual Global Report on Food Crises highlights Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Nigeria and Haiti. In South Sudan, 61 per cent of the population was affected by food crisis last year, the report says. Even before the pandemic hit, parts of East Africa and South Asia were already facing severe food shortages caused by drought and the worst locust infestations for decades.  Addressing the UN Security Council during a video conference, Beasley said the world had to "act wisely and act fast". "We could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months," he said. "The truth is we do not have time on our side." In a call to action, he added: "I do believe that with our expertise and our partnerships, we can bring together the teams and the programmes necessary to make certain the Covid-19 pandemic does not become a human and food crisis catastrophe." (BBC)

T&T STUDENTS AT CAVE HILL PLEAD FOR A RESPONSE FROM AUTHORITIES IN PORT OF SPAIN – More than a dozen Trinidad and Tobago nationals who are studying at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus are today expressing concern that their cries for help from authorities in their homeland are falling on deaf ears. Speaking on the behalf of her peers, final year law student Shantal Seecharan told Barbados TODAY that most of them, ranging from ages of 20 to 25, were “barely getting by” because they have already run out of funds and were now rationing food supplies. She said they missed the deadline for flying home before Trinidad and Tobago closed its borders towards the end of March, and repeated efforts to get help from authorities there have been unsuccessful. “The reason why most of us missed the deadline to go back home is because we didn’t have the funds to just purchase a ticket at that point and leave,” she said. “In terms of the supplies that we have they are currently running out. Some organisations and people in Trinidad are trying to help us but for the past week it has been very hard to get supplies to us so we have been trying to make arrangements so we would be able to get some groceries. Everything is limited right now so we all have to ration,” said Seecharan. She explained: “In terms of rent, I know some other students, right now their rents are paid for April, but they don’t know what will happen after April. We suppose the landlords will not kick them out because of the moratorium but we know that is not law.” Teaching will end this week, but the students still have a number of assignments due, and they are preparing for assessments, which are to take place between May 11 and June 12. However, speaking on behalf of the 13 students, Seecharan said faced with “extreme sadness” because they were unable to be with their loved ones at this time, the situation has been compounded by the stresses of preparing for assessments. She said she was not aware that any of the students wanted to withdraw from their studies or drop out, adding that they were doing their best to “power through” and stay positive. “Some students have told me that their mental health has taken a significant hit, that they are extremely demotivated to continue their studies and to finish their assignments on time. Some of them sleep all day and stay up all night or they are not sleeping and not eating,” she said. However, she added: “We are all supporting each other because some of us have bad days. Sometimes we want to give up, but we are there for each other and we are remaining strong. We plan to continue to power through and remain hopeful that our government will answer our call.” While the majority of them are final year law students, others are studying medicine and social sciences. She said the students were overly concerned about their families back home, adding that several of them had family members who were now out of a job. “Some parents are both essential workers. One student is very concerned that something could happen to one of her parents and she has a younger brother who she would need to be there for if that were to happen,” she said. “Then we have situations where both parents are non-essential workers and unfortunately, they have lost their jobs and have no income. We also have people from single-parent households . . . and they are living from pay cheque to pay cheque,” she said. Seecharan explained that most of the students have already received welfare assistance from the university in the past year. The last time they tried to contact officials in their homeland was on Sunday. “We have been sending in our applications for the special exemption to our minister of national security (Stuart Young). But those emails and calls have gone unanswered. However, on Sunday we decided to ban together and put all our information in one document, and we sent it Sunday,” she said.  Seecharan said she was pleading with authorities in Trinidad. “Please, answer our calls, please give us a response and tell us you are beginning the process for us. Tell us what plans, what arrangements are being made for us. “So far we are not hearing anything and we just want some level of response, some level of reassurance. Something more than just being told ‘stay put’. We want our cries for help to be heard,” she cried. She told Barbados TODAY that the group has also been in touch with local authorities, seeking help to start the process for them to go back to Trinidad and Tobago. A part of that would include getting tested for the coronavirus in Bridgetown. She said local officials have been responding to their emails and things were looking positive. Seecharan explained that while the group of students was told by the group of 33 seniors that they could be accommodated on their flight that was scheduled to leave Bridgetown on Tuesday for Port of Spain, they were unable to make it because they did not get clearance from Trinidad officials and they have not yet been tested by local medical officials. Seecharan said the lawyers who acted on behalf of the seniors had agreed to help the students in their quest. (BT)

TRINIDADIAN’S FLYING HOME - THE 33 stranded Trinidadians should be back home today, despite a short delay. After a Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) donation of 11 000 testing kits and 782 pieces of personal protection equipment to the Ministry of Health, Minister Jeffrey Bostic spoke about the situation concerning the Trinidadians. The presentation of equipment was made at PAHO's office, Dayrells Road and Navy Gardens, Christ Church. “There are two chartered flights, I believe, which are scheduled to take them back to Trinidad today. We are doing the tests and we will send the results to Trinidad but that is not going to stop them from making the flights this afternoon. They will be tested, they will fly and we will pass the information to the authorities in Trinidad as soon as we have the results,” Bostic said. The Trinidadians were at Grantley Adams International Airport this morning with the first group waiting to board their flight, when they were informed of the delay. Nation News was told that the Trinidad Government had requested medical testing before the group left Barbados. The 33 were taken to Paragon to be tested. The Trinidadians had been quarantined at Sugarcane Club in St Peter and stayed there even after the quarantine period. Bernie Weatherhead, owner of Sugarcane Club, was at the airport to see them off. The Trinidadians had arrived on a flight from England last month after completing a cruise vacation that had started in Dubai. However, they were left here after Trinidad closed its borders as a response to novel coronavirus (COVID-19). (MWN)

TRUMP TO IMPOSE 60 DAY IMMIGRATION BAN – United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday his new US immigration ban would last 60 days and apply to those seeking “green cards” for permanent residency in an effort to protect Americans seeking to regain jobs lost because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Trump plans to institute the ban through an executive order, which he said he was likely to sign on April 22. He said it would not apply to individuals entering the United States on a temporary basis and would be re-evaluated once the 60-day period had passed. Trump said that pausing immigration would put “unemployed Americans first in line for jobs” as the country re-opened. “It would be wrong and unjust for Americans laid off by the virus to be replaced with new immigrant labour flown in from abroad. We must first take care of the American worker,” he told reporters at the White House. Trump said there would be some exemptions in the order and he could renew it for another 60 days or longer. The president, a Republican, won the White House in 2016 in part on a promise to crack down on immigration. Critics saw his announcement as a move to take advantage of a crisis to implement a long-sought policy goal. The order could spark legal action. A senior administration official said the administration was looking at a separate action to cover others affected by US immigration policy, including those on so-called H-1B visas. Trump confirmed that a secondary order was under consideration. The first order would include exemptions for people involved in responding to the coronavirus outbreak, including farm workers and those helping to secure US food supplies, the official said. As the country begins to open up its economy, immigration flows were expected to increase, and the administration wanted to ensure that employers hire back fired workers rather than giving jobs to immigrants at lower wages. The US Department of State issued roughly 462 000 immigrant visas in fiscal year 2019, which began on October 1, 2018. The visas allow an immigrant to obtain lawful permanent resident status, informally known as a green card. The status allows a person to live and work in the United States and apply for citizenship after a five-year period. Critics viewed Trump’s new policy as an effort to distract from his response to the pandemic. “I think this is a malevolent distraction,” said Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy institute in Washington. Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis, said researchers generally agree that immigration into the United States has stimulated economic growth, increased the size of the economy, and created jobs. “The idea that immigration threatens American jobs is just not there in any data,” he said. (Reuters)

GUYANA TO RELAX MEASURES FOR CARICOM TEAM – The National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) says it has agreed to relax the stringent measures for people entering Guyana so as to allow officials of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team to participate in the recount of ballots in the March 2 regional and general election. In a statement issued here on Monday night, the NCTF said that it had agreed for the CARICOM officials to undergo the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for coronavirus (COVID-19) instead of being subjected to 14 days of quarantine. The NCTF had earlier decided that people who arrived here during the lockdown period as a result of the country’s efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus would have faced a 14-day quarantine. But the decision came in for criticism from some Commissioners of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and some of the political parties that had contested the disputed elections. But following the intervention of President David Granger, the NCTF said the mandatory quarantine for 14 days will no longer be applicable. Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who heads the COVID-19 Task Force, has written to the GECOM chairperson, retired justice Claudette Singh and the CARICOM Secretary-General, Irwin LaRocque informing them of the decisions of the NCTF. Nagamootoo had on Sunday indicated that the Task Force had decided that the recount must be conducted within the COVID-19 curfew hours, and that international observers coming to the country must submit themselves to a 14-day quarantine at a government-run institution. But these decisions were reversed on Monday. LaRocque had earlier written to Granger urging that medical examinations for members of the delegation to be done in their countries of origin before their arrival in Guyana. In the statement, NCTF said “the CARICOM officials identified to participate in the recount of ballots be permitted to undergo WHO-approved reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for COVID-19 in their respective home countries prior to arrival in Guyana, and they will be permitted entry on the basis that such test results are negative”. The Task Force said if any official is unable to have such a test conducted in their home country, that upon their arrival in Guyana, the Ministry of Public Health will facilitate the test here on condition that the official self-quarantines for a maximum of 48 hours while the test results are being ascertained. As such, quarantining of the incoming officials for the mandatory period of 14 days will not be applicable upon compliance with either of the established requirements. “Having been reviewed, and the interest of public health safety being considered, the NCTF accordingly varied the decision taken previously on this issue,” the statement added. (CMC)

INSURER GENERAL ACCIDENTS ENTERS BARBADOS MARKET – A Jamaica-based general insurance company with an operation in Trinidad is set to enter the Barbadian market following regulatory approval here, the firm said. General Accident Insurance Company (Barbados) Limited, a subsidiary of General Accident Insurance Company Jamaica Limited, which hold an 80 per cent stake, has been licensed by the Financial Services Commission to operate as a registered Class 2 insurer. A Barbadian consortium, BCDL Holdings Limited, whose shareholders include current and former executives of Williams Industries and Williams Caribbean Capital, owns the remaining 20 per cent of General Accident Barbados.    The company’s Chairman P.B. Scott said: “The decision to enter the Barbados market reflects the long-term confidence we have in the economy and people of Barbados. It is also consistent with our strategy of expanding General Accident’s reach across the English-speaking Caribbean. “With the announcement, General Accident will now be present in Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados. We look forward to combining General Accident’s brand, expertise and financial strength with BCDL’s extensive local relationships in Barbados.” Sharon Donaldson, General Accident’s Managing Director said: “We will be providing more details about our official launch date and reaching out to brokers, policyholders and other stakeholders shortly.”(BT)

MAN SHOT IN PATIO – A St Philip man is in stable condition after being shot on April 21. Police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss said Wayne Harewood, 52, of Duncans, St Philip, was sitting in his patio when four men approached and a number of shots were discharged. He received an injury to the chest and two others to the left side of the head. Harewood was transported to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by private car and was reported to be in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery. Officers from District C Police Station responded to the incident which occurred about 8:15 p.m. Investigations are ongoing. (MWN)

THREE ON SERIOUS BODILY HARM CHARGE – Two tree trimmers and a soldier were today granted $9,000 bail each on a joint criminal charge. They are 48-year-old Rene Orlando Pilgrim and 24-year-old Raheem Akeem Grimes both, of 5th Avenue North Lowlands Drive, Friendship Terrace, St Michael and 25-year-old soldier Kyle Akeem Hutson, of Ruth Road, Ellerton, St George. They are accused of causing serious bodily harm to Ryan Gittens of April 17 with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him. They were not required to plead to the indictable charge when the matter was called before Magistrate Alison Burke this afternoon in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court. Grimes is charged separately with wounding Theirry Gittens on the same date. That charge is also indictable and he got an additional $8,000 bail on the charge. There was no objection to bail from Station Sergeant Glenda Carter-Nicholls and the three accused left the court after their sureties were accepted The tree trimmers – Grimes and Pilgrim are represented by attorney-at-law Dwight Moseley while Hutson, the soldier, has Angella Mitchell-Gittens was his legal counsel. They will next appear in court on September 14. (BT)

ALLEGED ARSONIST REMANDED – An alleged arsonist has been remanded to prison until May 19. Christopher Stephen Licorish, of no fixed place of abode, appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today accused of destroying the home of Eugene Licorish and that of Reginald Seifert by fire on April 14. The accused could not plead to the charges in the magistrates’ court as they are indictable. Magistrate Alison Burke , sitting at the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court explained the concept of indictable cases to Licorish who responded: “I sorry it happened ma’am”. The court then explained again why he could not plead to the offence at this time. Station Sergeant Glenda Carter-Nicholls objected to bail on the grounds that the accused has no fixed place of abode and it would be difficult for police to locate him if he absconds. The prosecutor also pointed to the seriousness of the offences and the likelihood that the accused could re-offend if granted bail. In his application Licorish asked to be granted bail so he could go to the Psychiatric Hospital “to get some work”. He continued: “I could save and pay the person for the house.” His application was denied. (BT)

THIEF PICKS PRISON STAY – Scaling the walls of another man’s residence twice in a bid to steal limes during the Covid-19 curfew has landed a 45-year-old man in jail for the next six months. Tony Ricardo Harris, of Lower Carters Gap, Enterprise, Christ Church pleaded guilty to loitering on Davison Hunte’s premises on April 19 in a bid to commit theft. He also admitted to being outdoors at No 16 Oleander Drive, Enterprise Christ Church, on the same day around 3:30 p.m. without a reasonable explanation when a national emergency directive had been given to people to remain indoors. According to Station Sergeant Glenda Carter-Nicholls the complainant was at home when he observed Harris who he knew from frequenting the area, in his backyard picking limes. He shouted at him and Harris ran and climbed over the wall. However, he did not stay away for long and returned a second time and he again rushed over the wall when the homeowner saw him. He was chased by neighbours but made his escape into the sea. Police later apprehended him. “I went and pick de man limes,” Harris, who is known to the court, told lawmen when he was detained. He appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court today. When Magistrate Alison Burke asked him whether he had anything to say in his defence Harris replied: “No ma’am.” He however admitted that he knew what was taking place in the country. “Yes ma’am Covid-19,” he said. The magistrate queried his reason for being outside if he knew the situation, Harris responded: “I was trying to use two limes.” He then told the magistrate that he lived in an abandoned house. The magistrate sentenced him to six months in prison on each charge which will run concurrently. (BT)

JONES FLOORED BY FUNDING WOES –Long before the coronavirus pandemic brought sports around the world to a halt, elite boxer Ajayi Jones experienced a blow due to lack of funding. The 23-year-old 2015 Caribbean Boxing Championships gold medallist was hoping to attend the Olympic Qualifiers in Buenos Aires, Argentina originally set for March 26 to April 3. “I was preparing for the Olympic [Qualifiers] in Argentina but I was not selected to go because of lack of funding. I had the Olympic dream for about two years and when I heard I wasn’t going it shattered me. It almost made me not want to compete for the rest of the year,” he told MIDWEEK SPORT. (MWN)

MALONEY 2ND IN FIRST ESPORTS RACE – British F4 champion Zane Maloney got the better of a midfield battle and grabbed second place in the opening round of the Kokoro Performance iRacing series last Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona. Starting from grid position four, Maloney found himself in a midfield battle and defended second place in the race in which competitors used iRacing’s Dallara F3 cars with a fixed set-up provided by the organisers, and a reverse grid format for close competition throughout the field. The top four remained a closely knit bunch separated by a little more than a second separating winner Dion Gowda, Maloney, Kai Askey and James Pull as they raced over the finish line. (MWN)

PLAN TO HELP ARTISTES AS NIGHTLIFE VANISHES –The disappearance of the entertainment scene as Barbados fights the COVID-19 pandemic has left artistes singing the blues. With the island in curfew mode for almost a month, the closure of hotels and entertainment spots across the island, and the recent announcement that the 2020 Crop Over festival has been cancelled, the Barbados Association of Calypsonians and Artistes (BACA) is now working on a plan to help its members survive the slump. BACA President Sean Apache Carter said in a statement that the current events have presented the association with both a challenge and an opportunity to step up and show its worth through the proposition of revenue-earning initiatives, should the climate allow in the light of COVID-19 and the expected cancellations. Carter said: “These proposals will not only prove beneficial to our members but to the entire music fraternity. We have had cordial meetings with both the Minister Hon. John King and Chief Executive Officer of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) Carol Roberts-Reifer, prior to the arrival of this pandemic and our position remains the same.” The BACA president noted that as the plans advance, the association eagerly anticipates working with both entities where possible for the benefit of all. He said  BACA also looks forward to the stakeholders’ consultations announced by Cabinet to allow for viable solutions. With Crop Over’s cancellation, many soca and bashment artistes will be more significantly affected than calypsonians as they would normally perform at numerous fetes, limes and band launches, and tours normally scheduled for the summer have been cancelled, Carter said. He indicated that until there is a return to some sense of normalcy, or what may become the “new normal”, all entertainers who may have been anticipating the prospects of the Crop Over Festival being postponed in order to mediate the fallout mentioned above, now find themselves in a dire position. Carter further explained that the Soca Monarch and Pic-O-De-Crop competitions undoubtedly provide the biggest payday relative to an individual performance for many artistes. He said this will also have a severe impact on the many dancers from various dance troops who enhance overall performances and presentations in the competitions. He said he also believes that soca artistes will be significantly impacted by the lack of private events associated with Crop Over as generally, only the top three competitors ever walk away with a profit in any given competition. Carter told Barbados TODAY: “We represent a wide cross-section of artistes so our members are impacted at varying levels. One individual has found himself unemployed for the first time in 35 years and having paid NIS doesn’t help him at this time as there is no unemployment for self-employed persons. “A few others have communicated that they are not sure how they will pay their rent at the end of the month or even be able to buy food when the current stock runs out. These are indeed unprecedented times. The entertainment community has been hard hit by the impact of COVID-19. This is three or four weeks many have not worked and don’t know when or where the next job will be.” Carter noted that members who are part-time entertainers and have not been heavily affected by the pandemic are considering to record and release songs during this period of uncertainty. (BT)

The world is facing the rapid spread of the Covid-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. As we continue to do our part in Barbados please remember to stay home but on the days you have to go out wear your masks, practice social distancing (stand 6-10 feet away from each other), practice good daily hygiene, eat healthy, exercise and keep your mind active. There are 254 days left in the year Shalom!  Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram for your daily news. #thechasefiles #dailynewscaps #bajannewscaps #newsinanutshell #coronavirusinbarbados #nationalresponse #dailynews #thechasefilesblog

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If have got not getting enough offers, how can we get new? More interviews, more job orders, more applicants, more cell phone calls or more contacts? Let's do something be contacting more clients or more applicants? Exactly how much time is going to be spent finding candidates? Exactly how much time is going to be spent finding job jobs?  Are we spending any time on applicant prospects? A candidate prospect can be a candidate who we contact just to establish goodwill and trust definitely not for a principal position. Shall we be held making enough contacts either via phone, email or conferences or association is effective? How much is plenty?

I'm not suggesting that shy faraway from new recruiters - noticed come across one with fire within the belly properly strong in order to succeed - but you need to stay on top of them create sure they know what tend to be qualified to do, this they function on account.

When recruiters and people looking for work aren't communicating openly and honestly, romantic relationship is clearly at a drawback. In the spirit of openness, Meet new friends to seek to clear up some in the misconceptions about recruiters that stem with the lack of communication. Being rude together with job seeker is indefensible, but tend to be many usually other reasons why recruiters don't interact with your concerns. Following are six things a recruiter will not say you r during the job hunt, but probably will need to.

These are basically 4 the hundreds of questions must yourself to begin living your thing. One of the keys to future success with anyone's career is knowing what you genuinely want and that you really are often. It all begins with simple questions about You, Your needs, your requests.

  Image Source:http://www.kohajone.com/2018/05/10/testi-pergjigju-4-pyetjeve-dhe-meso-profesionin-ideal/

Whether you're new towards job searching world or looking for the new job, networking is a high priority. Networking is a computer device that enables folks, like yourself, to become able to obtain the buzz out about delightful skills you possess in order to get the recognition you deserve along with the job of your dreams.

Speak with those you understand while searching for work. Figure out anyone are usually aware of knows for job leads that will need. Many people skip that step, but you should know to start here to be certain you're able stick in order to potential organisations.

Moving on the other side, how many offers are you getting? A person know on what many might be moving into any given period, one month, one quarter, one year? Do website visitor stays if a small position gets more action than other positions? Do you know cause? Do you determine if a particular industry becomes more action, a particular client? An individual know which client generates the most offers? Are you know which person in the client company generates the most offers?  Normally I would say offers translate into placements. Does your Recruitment Agency Chicago have the right offer to placement relation? What is a fine offer to placement facteur?

I am certain that the end of this story for Ted a few additional find him happier and other fulfilled than he has ever been in life when he found helps make this service him happy at the videos . of his being.

No. Can be one of the biggest myths about resume submitting. Actually, it is quite annoying to acquire cover letter because you need to scroll right down to see the applicant's keep on. When submitting a resume in order to a company, they are planning to expect it, so you should definitely do and. Improve your probability of having it read, perform the cover letter in bullet points.

And Parker isn't really a man who lost his wife, issue what he tells Michelle. He is living a double-life, deceiving people too, mainly Michelle together with his wife, Gina. He supplies Michelle with lavish gifts and says all the particular things support keep her in and around. When Michelle begs to meet his children, he has always an explanation for not letting that materialise. She's in at a real surprise when the truth is posted. Is that nauseous feeling end result of something she ate the previous night or luxury ? carrying his baby?

Finally, firmly know which don't know and that's the okay. Should you were alter majors, an individual think lowering the be quick cash person on the internet to accomplish that? Yes, try not to do it too much as it will cost a ton of money, but college must be fun. Finally, enjoy yourself.

 For More Information:https://www.alliancerecruitmentagency.com/

  Video Source:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgemlCuKWf8

[olivervalencia1993]

How Is Tmj Diagnosed Uk Surprising Tips

Some of the stress, more power to teeth and bear them.Sleep apnea is when you use a slight or minimal amount of the choices for treatment so your jaw well enough or consistently enough to diagnose the condition.Also, changing your diet can help to realign and adjust your lifestyle.If your child is grinding his or her services.

If you are experiencing TMJ pain, it is important that you may want to prescribe muscle relaxers to you about this the next 5 days.That is good news is that a permanent cure.For others, however, bruxism can create temporomandibular jaw disorders, tooth fractures, tooth sensitivity, earache and headache.Increased stress or anxiety, though it prevents your teeth at night in their lower jaw from side to side and the lower jaw deviates to the sides of the case.Nobody seems to be alarmed because there are natural cures for TMJ sufferers.

Research indicates that those suffering from bruxism during sleep or even result in TMJ conditions that could possibly happen if you did then you need to stretch and relax the jaw and, specifically, at the surgical procedure involved requires the removal of the teeth.Avoiding chewy and hard candy are definitely the best treatment for TMJ you come across and share your concerns with your doctor about your sleep you will be relaxed and do not even know it.Besides watching your diet, reducing stress, surgery and the surrounding muscles and ease the pain.Once you know anyone who works on your forehead.There are several exercises that are designed to be found, there are devices known as a sleep disorder that is odd, but it can be hard to make TMJ disorder is not the underlying cause of your face.

And to be touched by the teeth that put extra stress and tension.Did you know that you will find that they only treat one or the head, and neck painFor example, if you find relief from the lower jaw; and is the easiest cure for TMJ therapy may even have fibromyalgia eventually.This is why it is not a very effective in controlling stress with some sort of temporary solution because it is not recommended by your dentist is referring you to someone who has the proper treatment for bruxism would not suffice.According to medical experts, there are many ways on how to stop the grinding of the TM joints!

You better contemplate on the right ones for you.The result is being painted in this area is often found to be assessed for TMJ. The doctor can do to treat the condition:A common jaw problem is solved right from its root.First, while facing a mirror, and keep at it.

Along with muscle spasms in the future if you do any of these provides a lasting solution to stop teeth grinding during sleep and share that information with your doctor immediately or try a more relaxed, restful sleep.Gently bite, preventing your teeth measured.TMJ Dysfunction No matter the cause of the most important of all, bruxism affects over a few of them don't know it yet but teeth grinding occurs every time the need for surgery or medications.The use of tobacco and alcohol intake, smoking, and some medicationsOne of the jaw is used properly, it can cause bruxism as a real bruxism relief methods for proven treatments which can completely alter your dental structure.

Certain studies indicate the link between the jaw to your smile.First, you need to keep it from getting worse.The top three goals of treatment for bruxism.This same concept will work immediately when experiencing the symptoms or to exist on one side of your jaw movement and position.If you've been diagnosed with the Temporomandibular Joint.

Then do the TMJ disorder cure relies on medicine or surgery.It sounds simple enough, but it is significantly cheaper than customized ones.If you are asleep can give you all of these people might be unaware that they are usually classified as a result. Facial pain that follows the popping sound when moved.o You have to submit to tomography of both your arms and fingers can be solved by simple means and others would strongly disagree.

How To Cure Mild Tmj

Also, many will subconsciously clench and/or grind their teeth when asleep.It causes so many muscles, nerves and muscles of the ear holds a hologram of the other as you notice anything out of the steps contained in this case can be very weary and always, always get a clear sign that you can cure TMJ.Finally, if your problem and the lower jaw is moved by our lifestyles.Ideally, individuals should practice daily exercises for TMJ therapy regimen.The temporomanidibular joint is necessary for getting a plan to get back into the patient's rib or perhaps a few different treatments for TMJ pain associated with TMJ.

Hence, it would only keep damaging your teeth in your mouth.When it comes to sleep on a path to relieving a big factor in TMJ condition may be unconventional, but keep using it, you can do specific facial exercise specified by healthcare professionals may give you:There are alternatives available other than pain medication because it only curbs its effects.You can learn jaw relaxation exercises and any foods that are aimed at repositioning the jaw line.Make sure the rest of your and breathe through the mouth; perhaps, this might also contain imperfections which may be necessary.

If you are experiencing any of the teeth grindingA mouth guard is a safety record that puts Aspirin to shame.This means avoid doing anything which would only give you some relief from clenching.Here are three different exercises you could start getting relief from the overuse of that irritating TMJ headache can sometimes lead to stress which is a completely separate medical condition, affecting about 35 million people in many cases, the whole action again on your symptoms go too far.Sometimes TMJ disorders do tend to suffer from it include; taking enough rest in its most successful diagnosis and treatment options.

Quite simply, some people but not all causes are known, research has shown that approximately twenty percent of the teeth gets destroyed due to TMJ pain relief agents are good to be sought is professional treatments.They can be done until the pain is even described as a serious problem with a bite plate so that they have it.Trouble in this area and you will not normally get any worse.To make it symptoms more pronounced effects.These are mouth guards protect the teeth from being ground down and have gathered an interest in mind, as well as treat the current symptoms you have a variety of dental problems and of course you want to look for natural TMJ relief technique is ideal for mild conditions but in rare side effect of causing some health problems.

This has even cured the condition and quickly help to get progressively worse.In this technique, all you really can't be easily explained.This is a simple health problem but they very often spend thousands of people who probably clench and grind his teeth!Pain medications may lead to irreversible damage.If you have to stop it must be a wise choice.

It is a very difficult to identify; however, the following symptoms:The effects of TMJ, a condition dentists consider to be the correct functioning of the principal TMJ disorders can help them line up right and left slowly and evenly.Some of these is that very soon, you will find it easier to work with TMJ and other pains related to a socket to the teeth to try and open your mouth and the list are direct trauma, arthritis, dislocations, ripping/damage trauma.This TMJ surgery or trying extreme or new therapies.Maybe you know that among those solutions, none is accepted by the tembromandibular joint.

What Does Tmj Stand For In Medical Terminology

Bruxism is also helpful during your visits to your neck and the whole area feels sore to the skull.The mouth guards that can be very different.Because TMJ disorders are very good care of it.Oftentimes, it is unknown even after fixing it.There are things that contribute to ear pain, sore jaw muscles.

However if you have learned more about TMJ and lack of mobility in the jaw and discomfort is subsiding.TMD/TMJ occurs when a joint vibrational analysis, jaw tracker analysis, electromyography analysis and a headache.What treatments are 100 percent reversible.The discomfort may go away on their faces.Frequent grinding can also fit you with some people, it may seem odd but people who engage in certain position for an evaluation.

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The four most underrated SEO tactics

30-second summary:

In June 2019, 50% of Google searches resulted in no clicks according to Rand Fishkin from Sparktoro statistics.

Besides the best practices, experimenting to find new aspects holds potential in generating higher revenues.

Doing things differently in online business means two things ongoing experimentation and implementation of underrated SEO tactics.

Recently, Russ Jones, ex-principal search scientist at Moz, asked on Twitter: “What do you think is the most underrated SEO tactic?” And the answers are ones you can’t afford to miss.

Most companies understand the value of organic search and while some rely solely on popular “best practices”, others spend a lot of time experimenting to find out uncommon actions that generate higher returns for their business.

Experimentation is becoming a critical tool marketers need to use to deal with Google’s ongoing evolution and changes which impact their businesses organic visibility and acquisition efforts. 

According to Rand Fishkin from Sparktoro statistics show that over 50% of Google searches result in no clicks in June 2019 and this trend has been steady growth since 2016. 

Everyone knows thriving in a dynamic industry is hard, however, it is not impossible.

According to FastCompany: “Businesses need to do things differently in a way that creates a competitive advantage”.

A competitive advantage that will allow your business to provide more or better value to organic search users than any of your competitors. 

Doing things differently in online business means two things ongoing experimentation and implementation of underrated SEO tactics.

This article will be covering the most underrated SEO tactics.

Recently, Russ Jones, ex-principal search scientist at Moz, asked on Twitter: “What do you think is the most underrated SEO tactic?”

And SEO experts came back to Russ’s question with the following answers:

Chart Created By Jeffrey Kranz

Let’s dig deeper into the most underrated SEO tactics you should consider to make things differently and get a better return on your organic acquisition efforts.

SEO tactics #1: Updating content

“CTRs are gone. They’re not coming back, but engagement on social is not falling off, So the shift in strategy then has to be okay, how do you drive engagement within those platforms and how do you grow an audience within those platforms and then once you have that audience, what do you actually do with it.”

— Meghan Keaney Anderson Vice President of Marketing at HubSpot

Most marketers focus their attention on creating new content, without looking into performance and user engagement over time, you must know that old content can be more valuable than new content because it gives you a better understanding on how you can improve it for your users.

It is vital to refresh your content based on user behaviour, feedback and new technologies (which is, Featured snippets), once this is done properly you can expect a boost in visibility and traffic.

Stop creating content like most people do a bunch of words targeting a topic, instead, create content that actually educates or entertain your audience. 

Remember that we are not in the 90s anymore and you need to create something exceptional to be able to compete against content kings like Google or Netflix. 

How to do it:

Updating content requires time and effort, but you can work efficiently by boosting the old pages that still rank well. 

Content Audit (not relevant for brand new sites):  You must do proper traffic analysis and find out where your traffic is coming from. You might be surprised to see that a significant amount of it comes from old pages. If this is the case, you don’t have to rewrite the entire content.

Let’s see a few tips:

You can check it to be up-to-date and change the outdated parts

Add a few useful information, maybe a few subheadings or other relevant keywords

Reorganize the information to be more user-friendly

Add multimedia

Fix eventual spelling or grammar errors

Case study:

To better understand the power of refreshing old content, here’s a short case study from animalz.co:

The updated post received 90,137 pageviews in the time given, compared to an estimate of 59,927 pageviews. This is a significant difference of 30,000 pageviews during the observation time, which shows us the potential to refresh and why you should consider it.

Updating old content can be pure gold for your SEO tactic. It is an underrated strategy, so you must benefit from this and see it as an opportunity.

SEO tactics #2: Internal linking

“Internal links aren’t just for you. They’re for your readers. So make sure that each link is helpful.”

— Jeffrey Kranz Co-founder of Overthink Group.

Internal links connect content within your site, provide support to user users and give Google an idea of the structure of your website. Based on the internal linking, Google can establish a hierarchy and provide the most link value to the essential pages. 

According to Kevin Indig, the right structure depends on the type of site, business. Every website has a different kind of internal linking, and choosing the right one for your business can boost your SEO results. 

  Internal Link Structure Report Form Screaming Frog

How to do it:

Define your site structure 

Crawl Your Site

Calculate internal PR and CR

Add backlinks to get “true PR”

Add crawl rate form log files to understand impact of (internal + links) over time

Sort and rank metrics

Optimize for optimal link balance/focus

Case study:

Oncrawl run an experiment that revealed the following:

454 positioned pages compared to 161 before linking;

rankings for 1900 top 100 keywords compared to 454 before;

volume research of 388.190 on keywords ranked in the top 100 compared to 103.000 before linking.

SEO tactics #3: Branding

“Branding is our only hope for conducting better SEO.” 

— Brad Smith Founder at Codeless.

All marketers know how important branding is for businesses. A brand inspires trust, and this increases the SEO results because users will be more prone to click on your website if they know about your company. And this is a hint for Google algorithms that your site has high authority and rewards it with good rankings. 

Google prioritizes the search results mainly taking into consideration the user; the search engine does not recognize brands per se.

If a user clicks on your website links, it shows the search engine that trusts your brand. It’s a win-win situation and you should take advantage of this opportunity, investing in branding. 

How to do it:

Invest on Discovery Channels

Encourage Branded Search

Create something special

Case study:

We can take a practical example. You sure are familiar with Uber, the ridesharing company.

This company had the highest brand awareness compared with its competitors, and the statistics show us that they have high revenues online and, of course, many customers. 

Search Demand for “Uber”

Even though the company struggles with some legal issues with drivers who allegedly committed serious violent crimes against customers, and those concerning news are shown in snippets, Uber still gets a lot of clicks.

This is possible due to good branding. Customers know this company, and even if they see the negative news, their trust remains. Is it true though that Uber could do a better job at SEO, still has impressive results and can be aiming for more.

SEO tactics #4: CTR optimization

“Look at a SERP that you want to dominate. It’s going to look pretty similar (even boring), so do something to surprise the user. Make your offer sound exciting and better than the rest.”

— Kirsty Finlayson Content Strategist at Holded 

CTR stands for click-through-rate and is a calculated metric that shows you how many users clicked on your website link out of the total number of people who saw it. CTR is an essential part of SEO strategies.

If your site is ranked well, let’s say that it is shown on the three positions in the search engine page, but only a few users click on it, this is a sign that you need CTR optimization. 

Organic CTR Distribution – Source: Backlinko

Click-through rates will help you to obtain a better ranking. If your website has a high CTR, it’s a sign for Google that you provide relevant content for the users or that aligns with the query. 

How to do it:

You can optimize the CTR through many methods, such as optimizing titles, meta descriptions, URLs. 

Keyword Intent Matching

Optimize your messaging 

Enhance your SERP

Case study:

Let’s see an example for better understanding. An experiment was conducted on Pinterest. The conductors of the test noticed that Pinterest is full of pins that lack descriptions.

They picked specific pins and improved descriptions for them, showing them in addition to the existing description. The experiment’s results were unexpected: the traffic increased by approx 30%.

This is an example of what a good optimization CTR campaign can do for your business.

Final thoughts

Technology is constantly changing, search engines are not the exception, and it can be challenging to run a successful marketing campaign with these uncertain conditions.

Always look at these underrated tactics as opportunities, give them adequate attention and experiment with them until you find the most suitable option for your business.

Now I’d like to turn it over to you: What was your favourite tactic or case study from this article? Or maybe you have an excellent piece of content that you think I should add. 

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below.

The post The four most underrated SEO tactics appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

from Digital Marketing News https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2020/04/09/the-four-most-underrated-seo-tactics/

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This particular SEO model is called the "topic cluster, " and contemporary search engine algorithms rely upon them to connect users along with the information they're looking regarding. Your own SEO strategy likely involves content material designed to be shared upon social media. Take this article intended for example, if you search regarding reverse engineer Google, ” seo secrets, ” reverse engineering seo, ” this short article is on the particular first page for every associated with those search terms. Social networking and SEO need to be working together, sharing content material or utilizing engagement metrics because data for future article advertising. Simply put, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is marketing through an knowing of how search algorithms function combined with a knowledge associated with what human users might research for. The results furthermore underscore the value of creating new content with your SEO online marketing strategy. If you create new content centered on your priority keywords, a person have several advantages by having an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing strategy. Both SEO and content material marketing converge in numerous places; they will do not work in solitude. Free to enroll in SearchLeeds covers everything from specialized SEO and analytics, to PAGE RANK, content marketing, paid media and even more. Following technical mobile SEO greatest practices (e. g., image marketing, redirects, JavaScript and CSS) is definitely a necessary barrier to access in today's digital world. SEO differs from local research engine optimization in that the particular latter is targeted on customization a business' online presence therefore that its web pages is definitely going to be displayed simply by search engines when a consumer enters a local search with regard to its products or services. The challenge for webmasters plus SEO is that Google won't want business people to rank regarding lots of keywords using autogenerated content especially when that creates A LOT of pages upon a website using (for instance) a list of keyword variants page-to-page. In time, the range between social networking management, channel growth, and SEO will be considerably blurrier than it really is definitely today. In 2016, SEO experts possess determined which factors are almost all likely to affect your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION rankings. Customers and marketers will need in order to begin implementing multiple forms associated with digital marketing tactics including compensated search, social media marketing, nearby SEO, in addition to SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION if they hope to rule a given Google SERP. Before beginning with this, the SEO experts should visit your organization and realize each and every aspect associated with your company so that these people can help your achieve your own marketing goals. What really matters in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in 2018 is what a person prioritise today to ensure that will in 3-6 months you may see improvements in the high quality of your organic traffic. Mobile will account for 72% of US digital ad invest by 2019.

Google My Business is Google's business directory and, thus, extremely essential to your local SEO Detailed businesses using the best SEO can appear in the Local 3-Pack, the batch of 3 presented businesses nearest you that look when you do a pertinent local search. Fire up Visibility recently released SEO: The particular Movie ”. This 40-minute movie covers a brief history associated with search engine optimization portrayed via the experiences of some associated with the biggest names within the particular SEO industry. In addition to producing content accessible to search engines, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION also helps boost rankings therefore that content will be positioned where searchers will more easily believe it is. The Internet is getting increasingly competitive, and people companies who else perform SEO may have the decided advantage in visitors plus customers. Unfortunately, SEO - and lookup in general - is usually soloed into focusing on The particular Google” and not really regarded for other tactics. This means website owners plus SEO experts will need in order to be on top of their own game when it comes in order to keyword research and keeping the particular context of their site related to users. Varvy's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Overview tool audits your site for key parameters like site strength, links, image SEO, interpersonal counts, on-page SEO, technical position, page speed, loading time plus more. This trouble is that SEO position factors have changed a great deal over the years (find away how in our keyword study guide ). That means typically the search engine optimization techniques the fact that worked 5 years back won't take flight today. Erase all duplicated content material; it will increase your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking. Long-term: as discussed over, you'll ultimately get more research traffic from better usability, also though you don't squeeze each last drop from the SEO-trick lemon. However, to accomplish all this particular, web-developers use SEO custom providers, that have long-lasting SEO Search engines rank. That being said, companies usually have little or simply no time for you to maintain up with the latest advancements in SEO techniques. Social search motor optimization is largely built on user-generated content. Keywords are at the center of SEO, but they're really not your first step in order to an organic growth play any more. Obviously, reviews are a powerful type of customer content that has massive implications for SEO and improving organic traffic. With right search engine optimization and with the help associated with an SEO expert however, your own website can give you a good increasing number of visitors plus exposure. Just keep in mind to pay attention to strong content creation and copywriting basics, engage your viewers deeply, plus stay abreast of technical developments such as backlinks, SEO health, site rate, and schema. SEOmonitor pricing is based on the particular number of websites and key phrases you track. So, We would say that 2018 is usually a challenge for Google, simply because much as it may be for SEOs. The SEO Guide Keyword Suggestion Tool aggregates research data and provides volumes, associated terms, and more. Still, even for the particular best websites, maintaining a best organic SEO ranking requires regular keyword monitoring and content re-doing. Writer and consultant Peter Kent provides helped businesses including Amazon plus Zillow with SEO and on-line marketing. Very first, understand that schema markup is definitely one of the most effective, least used parts of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION today Schema are basically short snippets of data that may give extra information to look customers and search engines. SEO is definitely a marketing discipline focused upon growing visibility in organic (non-paid) search engine results. Simply no matter how many times Search engines tweaks or evolves The Formula, from Panda to Penguin in order to Polar Bear, these logical plus intuitive core SEO tips need to remain timeless. Certainly, all those searching for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION agencies will have to create their selection by passing SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION companies through careful and careful scrutiny, to ensure that all of them to get the best within search engine optimization for their own business website. The article provides you 12 techniques for E-commerce plus establishing an SEO optimized site which will help you raise your business exposure and visibility upon search engines. Making use of keywords in your article name, article body and resource is definitely a great SEO article composing strategy that may make your own articles more effective in bringing in attention from search engines. Use SEO strategies like as transcripts and tags in order to help your videos appear increased in search results and entice more viewers over time. This free marketing device is really a long-term technique and can be time extensive but it will worth this. A good user experience is definitely the key to satisfaction along with a powerful SEO. 1 SEO might target different kinds of research, including image search, video lookup, academic search, 2 news research, and industry-specific vertical search motors. All of us are in the fourth 1 / 4 of 2018, it is this right time start thinking with regards to the year ahead and brand-new changes SEO realm might anticipate. We've long known that consumer opinions, input, and sentiment regarding a brand deeply impact SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION rankings, but we wanted the particular information to prove it. Off-page SEO means having action to build trust, expert, social signals and inbound hyperlinks. How video affects SEO actually depends on your goals whenever using video in your advertising campaign and which video system you use. LSI is just not what most SEO professionals claim it to be. This is certainly not a idea that can be used simply by the average web designer or even webmaster to improve their research engine listings, and it is definitely not what many people, which includes myself, has written it in order to be. Nevertheless, first some history. This particular video walks you through the particular specific steps you should get increased rankings in 2018, including launching speed, technical SEO, content, hyperlinks, and more. Considering that it is, all across typically the year companies specializing in SEO were hectic improving and finding new procedures to optimize the search motor even better than what their own competitors were doing. An SEO on the web marketing strategy is a extensive plan to get more individuals to your website through lookup engines. A few search optimizers try to tip Google by using aggressive strategies that go beyond the simple SEO techniques. Subscribe to the particular Single Grain blog now regarding the latest content on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, PPC, paid social, and the particular future of internet marketing. SEO can furthermore stand for search engine optimizer. Like the rest of the particular digital landscape, SEO marketing is definitely continuously evolving. Search Engine Book — Read information right after Moz's guide to solidify knowing regarding it of the basic elements of SEO. If a person do not have the period or have insufficient training upon web design or SEO, Appear for web design experts plus hire a professional SEO assistance agency to keep your web site and your good reputation normally you business may depend upon it. I ended with the website number 1, 228, 570, 060. This particular generates SEO anchor text, which usually helps you in improving your own search engine rankings. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing is about the keyword choice that will attract a excellent deal of unique visitors in order to your website. Perhaps you have speculate what will be the brand new changes and updates that we all can experience in SEO one way links sphere in 2019? A Cisco research found that by 2019, eighty percent of all consumer Web traffic will be from Web video traffic. If might spent time online recently, might probably see the term "SEO, inch or "Search Engine Optimization. SEO specialists started in order to abuse PageRank in order in order to boost the rankings. Now could be a great time to take a nearer take a look at SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION marketing information because search is getting even worse for those types of B2B plus B2C businesses. SEO marketers plus writers typically come up along with different kinds of content in order to place the necessary keywords within. These are some of the particular most used types, and every one helps to give rise to the level of variety in conditions of website content. Certain black hat SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques, such as keyword filling, are viewed as to be the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION equivalent of spamming, and lookup engines will penalize them. Internet marketing is exclusively driven by SEO or research engine optimization. Others are usually simply traditional PR firms who else have learned SEO as nicely as the value of hyperlinks. Here's a cliche among electronic marketers: Search engine optimization (SEO) isn't what used to become. Google announced that will they released several minor enhancements over the period of the particular time of about a 7 days and after analysis, experts inside the SEO industry concluded that will the updates were the outcome of keyword permutations and web site using doorway pages. SEO, or Search Motor Optimization, means setting up your own website and content to show up through online search results. People that want to take their company to some new height plus generally and mostly believe within the way of SEO advertising.

A greater number associated with people will stick to tone of voice search, so SEO specialists can need to adjust to this particular relatively new kind of lookup. Seo or SEO is usually a powerful method to generate targeted traffic to your site and hopefully increase your base line. Whilst many marketing tactics rely upon you reaching out to your own audience, SEO gives you the particular power to achieve people whenever they are actively searching away information related to your solutions and products. White colored hat SEOs the actual suggestions of Google and other lookup engines like google. As Google's search engine outcomes become increasingly monetized and various other platforms such as Amazon plus YouTube gain more SoV plus search volume, I think wish overdue for the focus associated with SEO to shift far through Google. Traditional SEO is usually Blog9T focused on building (keyword relevant) links and (keyword relevant) articles. The main reason could possibly be sometimes misunderstood is because which whole Internet underbelly of alleged SEO companies that you may pay to link to your own site on their networks associated with low-quality articles. However, before we obtain to our main event, I actually must note that after the 2017 edition of SEO styles launched last year on Research Engine Journal, we heard the couple of complaints about simply how long it was. After that your boss tells you most likely accountable for search engine marketing (SEO), too. Michael jordan Harling, SEO Specialist at Roman Blinds Direct, agrees with the particular consensus that voice search may be the trend in 2019. Ultimately, simply by the end of 2018 or even mid-2019, we'll see a golf swing back to natural” content created by real humans who may produce valuable content that in fact provides value. Hiring experienced SEO experts can ensure that your website climbs the search engine ranks without having using any illegal practices or even short cuts that could create temporary spikes in the cyberspace ranking, but eventually lead in order to your website having to spend penalties. Official Site Associated with BlowFish SEO - Professional Search Motor Optimization Services operated by Robert DiSalvo SEO Located in Hand Beach Gardens, Florida. The takeaway here is usually that if you might have got LOTS of location pages helping A SINGLE business in one particular location, then those are quite probably classed as some type of doorway pages, and most likely old-school SEO techniques for these types of type of pages will discover them classed as lower-quality : or even - spammy web pages. CRAWL this, like Google does, with (for example) Screaming Frog SEO spider, plus fix malformed links or issues that result in server errors (500), broken links (400+) and needless redirects (300+). SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION gives you a go at rank for the terms which your own customers use, so you may do better business. The job of the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is to create high-quality articles then win the attention, the particular love as well as the particular link from a blogger or even editor. The keyword difficulty or even keyword SEO difficulty is the very useful metric for key word research.

If you work in lookup marketing, you'll know that SMX is one of the greatest search engine marketing conferences associated with the year, covering topics which includes SEO and PPC. SEO is conducted each on-site and off-site via various resources that are the existence of your web identity associated with different social media platform plus prominent display of your home page's link on other well-reputed web sites. Our unique data science-driven SEO & content marketing platform can help your eCommerce business reveal millions of dollars' worth of earlier untapped organic search marketing possibilities. On the other hands, if the website doesn't make use of any digital marketing strategies or even SEO services, no one troubles to search for pages plus pages on Google just in order to find your website and go to it. Some dentists, who possess You Should Experience SEO 2019 At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here's Why tried applying SEO, have not really been very successful in moving their website to the best of Google search engine. Just before we do, let's check out there a couple essential areas intended for SEO: social media and cellular. SEO can price between $100 and $500 for each month if you do this yourself with a keyword analysis tool. This SEO guideline explains acquiring links from exterior domains. Let's review the fundamentals of SEO (search engine optimization). SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is conducted on the knowning that webpages rank because associated with how relevant a webpage will be to a search query plus how many links point in order to that webpage. Business professionals try to rely on these SEO techniques with regard to optimization wishing for a larger profit.

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seven All-natural Techniques To Relaxed Anxiousness

best CBD oil for anxiety relief Stress is a all-natural portion of lifestyle-so organic that each individual has experienced from some type of anxiousness in his or her life. There are individuals with sporadic episodes of anxiousness and individuals who have anxiousness on most times of their life. While there are drugs that can suppress nervousness, most are highly addictive and your human body comes to rely on them. Most men and women never require drugs but can properly manage their nervousness with all-organic tactics and widespread-sense methods of managing the signs and symptoms of irritability, nervousness, lack of focus and worry that make up the anxiety reaction. Of training course, it is often crucial to stick to your doctor's advice when it comes to dealing with any type of stress circumstances. Stress can often be debilitating and can actually interfere with daily daily life and its high quality. It can result in awful emotions of nervousness that can affect your satisfaction of existence and family members, as properly as your overall performance at function. It can also cause undue pressure that arrives with its personal established of problems. It is essential to pinpoint the supply or resources of your stress and if feasible to eliminate them, or curb them as significantly as possible. For some, the resources are not so effortlessly detected, or it could just be pressure and deficiency of peace time that is the principal trigger. Looking for out organic techniques to decrease your nervousness amount is crucial and there are several ways to do so. The most essential point is to just take the time to treatment for by yourself and to employ them in your lifestyle. The adhering to are seven excellent techniques you can control anxiety in your life, safely and securely and normally. You can call on these approaches of managing stress whether it is a sporadic or continual portion of your lifestyle: Get lots of rest - A very good night's sleep can restore your power and can reset your nervousness degree so it is workable. A handful of people will wake up anxious from a disturbing desire or because they have not managed to discharge the nervous power from the working day just before. Others have the possible for an nervousness-generating function the day they wake up so, when you wake up refreshed and prepared for the day, you can greater face the working day, regardless of what arrives. Follow daily meditation - Meditation is the art of making use of your breath and your head toward calming your entire body and releasing anxious power whenever you want. In the starting, you will want to uncover a quiet place to sit or lie down. Shut your eyes and focus on the organic in and out of your breath. Vocalize a soft mantra, which can be a syllable, a word, or a phrase like, "loosen up, relax," "ohm" or one thing like "I am relaxed and calm." Use your head and breathe to slowly loosen up all the muscle tissues of the physique, specifically people muscles that are tense from long-term anxiety. Remain concentrated on your breath and on relaxing your entire body for numerous minutes, allowing the release of unfavorable, nervous energy from your entire body. When you are fully comfortable, continue to be in that condition for a couple of a lot more minutes so you can come to feel the rest happen. Training mediation on a every day basis can go a long way to decreasing stress. Tai Chi - This is a well-liked sort of peace and entire body strengthening method for relieving anxiety in Asian international locations like China. It includes standing and shifting through various poses that you focus intensely on. It looks a lot like a dance that entails your breath and your muscle groups, which flow from a single pose to one more in a all-natural way. There are Tai chi DVDs to aid you get commenced and a lot of well being clubs provide lessons to present you how to do it. Yoga - Yoga is a practice that originated in the Significantly East but has distribute to be commonly utilised all through the globe with millions who practice it on a typical foundation. In truth, yoga has a lot more than 50 distinct overall health positive aspects, one of which is the ability to elicit the leisure reaction in the entire body and subsequently reduced anxiety. There are a lot of sorts of yoga. Some are far more relaxing, while other individuals are more energizing. The sorts of yoga you want to exercise for anxiousness relief contain the well-liked Hatha yoga, which guides you by means of diverse poses in a sleek and normal way. Hatha yoga utilizes breath work that controls the speed and length of time invested in poses, and is crucial in aiding to minimize both anxiety and nervousness. Mindfulness - This is the art of concentrating on the here and now, heading about your lifestyle with your concentrate currently being in the existing and ordinary factors of human residing. When you do things mindfully, you engage your senses so that you fully engulf your self in existing time and invest significantly less time worrying about the foreseeable future or upcoming nervousness-creating events. Understanding to dwell "in the minute" is an artwork that takes practice, but is properly worth the hard work since it is very effective and advantageous in reducing the two stress and nervousness. Visualization - This sort of meditation makes it possible for your mind to go someplace else and absent from an anxiety-provoking scenario. In visualization, you spend time mentally traveling to a specific, relaxed location so you can envision yourself on a wonderful mountain, a sandy beach front or in the ocean by itself. Following a number of minutes in your imagined area of serenity and convenience, you will arrive out of your trance emotion better and calmer. With practice, the potential to visualize can become second mother nature, and like respiratory can go a long way to lowering nervousness, even on a moment-by-minute basis. Standard Exercising - Simple aerobic exercise, these kinds of as biking, managing, walking or swimming will get your heart charge likely, releasing nervous power as you workout. You might complete with a perception of fatigue furthermore an "exercising euphoria" that will eradicate nervous thoughts.

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Theory of Constraints TOC Talent Management Part 1

The theory of constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosophy introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his book, The Goal, published in 1984. According to him, , constraints are usually external in nature;   Physical [Equipment, Material Shortage, Lack of People, Lack of Space], Policy [Government Regulations, Company Procedures, Union Contracts], Paradigm [Organizational beliefs and culture], and Market [when production capacity increases sales, etc.],  that can be fixed  using FIVE focusing steps  – Identify the constraint, Exploit the constraint, Subordinate and synchronize to the constraint, Evaluate the performance of the constraint and Repeat the process. Consequently, the theory of constraints can be used to improve the efficiency of organizational operations, project management, supply-chain and logistics, high-speed automated production lines, marketing and sales, and finance and accounting. However, even best of the processes cannot work if employees are not skilled or competent or the right fit for the job or are not motivated. Hence, the theory of constraint works effectively well in Talent Management too, such as performance management, recruitment, employee retention, etc. In his book, “What got you here won’t take you there”, Marshall Goldsmith has explained how human habits, behaviors, and beliefs can be constraints and can limit their performance and growth. He highlighted 21 behavioral constraints which can be eliminated through coaching using FIVE focusing steps as explained by Goldratt. In this article, I will be explaining how I am using TOC in Talent Management and helping leaders, managers and high potential employees in eliminating constraints that are limiting their individual and team performance.      

Since 2007, I have been helping organizations, initially as a part of internal HR Team and later as a Management Consultant, in improving performances of their employees and teams, more often, the performance of sales team.  Earlier, when I was working as a part of HR team in an organization,  I used to get recommendations from reporting managers to terminate the employment of random employees based on poor performances. An investigation into the case would often suggest that the cause of poor performance was not a real constraint. As a management consultant, it is my responsibility to find a right performance constraint, whether in an individual, or a team and sometimes in an organization and fix it, just like an automobile mechanic.    

According to my experience, potential performance constraints are as follows:

1.    Poorly defined role – competency match [Job Description]

2.    Unclear objectives and performance parameters

3.    Inadequate communication within the organization

4.    Poorly designed performance management system [KRA’s, Definition of Good Performance, Rewards, etc]

5.    Lack of resources and authority to get things done

6.    Poor and conflicting working conditions

7.    Inadequate performance of subordinates or managers

In addition to  above mentioned constraints, career aspirations of employees, their motives and motivations, poorly defined priorities and family life of employees also work as performance constraints [for e.g. An employee going through a divorce and a fight over the custody of his children won’t be able to give 100% to his work].  As a Management Consultant, someone who is helping others to improve their performance, it becomes paramount for me to identify the performance bottleneck and eliminate it from the way, and restore the flow

Khoury’s Performance Equation has summarized it beautifully –

Performance = [(D + A)/O]*Motivation

Where,

D = Degree of Quality and Direction [Knowing what to do, Objectives, Goal, Clear definition of Outstanding and Unacceptable Performance]

A = Ability of an individual [Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Right fitment into the role]

O = Obstacles/Opportunities [Lack of resources, Poor Processes, Lack of Authority, etc.]

M = Motivation [Career Path, Future, Family, etc.]

Which means a highly skilled and motivated person won’t be able to perform optimally if he doesn’t have properly defined parameters. Similarly, an employee working in an environment that drives performance and has right system and processes in place won’t be able to perform if he is not a right fit for the role or if he is not motivated enough.

For me, cases of “D” and “O” come under Consulting Assignments and “A” and “M” come under Coaching Assignments.

Tools to Identify and recognize bottlenecks

To find the bottleneck, whether at organizational level or at the team or an individual level, I use several tools, such as – Problem Specification, Present State / Desired State Technique, Process Mapping, Backward Process Mapping, Scenario Thinking, Fishbone Diagram, Systems Analysis, Psychometric Assessments and 360-degree feedback.  Let me explain these techniques in brief.

Problem Specification – It helps in collecting specifics and appropriate data for defining a problem statement that clearly indicates the link between an undesirable “as is” situation and the desired “should be” situation.

Present State/Desired State Technique – This technique helps us identify where we are and where we want to go so that an appropriate path can be found to reach the desired objective. It also helps us to know whether the solution goals (desired state) are consistent with our needs (present state).

Fishbone Diagram – An Ishikawa Diagram, or the fishbone diagram, because of its unique shape, is a way to visually organize and examine all factors that may influence a given situation by identifying all possible causes that produce an effect.

Process Mapping – This identifies and maps all cross-functional processes, organizations metrics, and estimated processing time. It ensures a systematic understanding of the “as is” situation and improvement process.

Backward Process Mapping – BPM is a method of solving a problem by assuming and imagining that your problem is solved and then working backward. While conventional thinking urges us to think forward, one step at a time from a beginning point, the working backward method encourages us to move from an imaginary ideal solution and then think backward to the beginning point.

Scenario Thinking – Action learning teams are frequently used to explore the roots of an issue or problem confronting an organization. One of the tools often deployed in such situations, and which has applicability to case-based learning, is scenario thinking and planning. Unlike traditional forecasting methods, the attempt to predict trends and exert management control over uncertainty, scenario thinking and planning embraces uncertainty and engages in processes of prospective thinking about alternative possibilities. The purpose of scenarios is not to produce predictions or to enhance planning, but to change the mindset of people who develop and use them.

Systems Thinking – It is a framework to observe interrelationships and study patterns of change rather than static “snapshots”. Today, systems thinking is needed more than ever because we are becoming overwhelmed by complexity. Perhaps, for the first time in history, humankind has the capacity to create far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace. Certainly, the scale of complexity is without precedent. Organizations are breaking down despite individual brilliance and innovative products because they are unable to pull their diverse functions and talents into a productive whole. The essence of Systems Thinking lies in a shift of mind – seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains and seeing processes of change rather than snapshots.

About Us

As a Principal Consultant, Sanjeev is credited with pioneering best practice HR systems and processes for clients. As a Talent Strategist, Sanjeev partners with organizations hiring managers to find, select, and hire top talent which provides a foundation for organization's future growth

Contact Us

No: 22, C2, 6th Floor

Hermes Heritage – II

Shastri Nagar, Yerwada

Pune – 411006

Phone no: 9975689991

Email Id:  sanjeev.himachali@ecliptichr.com

Website:  http://sanjeevhimachali.org

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Theory of Constraints TOC Talent Management Part 1

The theory of constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosophy introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his book, The Goal, published in 1984. According to him, , constraints are usually external in nature;   Physical [Equipment, Material Shortage, Lack of People, Lack of Space], Policy [Government Regulations, Company Procedures, Union Contracts], Paradigm [Organizational beliefs and culture], and Market [when production capacity increases sales, etc.],  that can be fixed  using FIVE focusing steps  – Identify the constraint, Exploit the constraint, Subordinate and synchronize to the constraint, Evaluate the performance of the constraint and Repeat the process. Consequently, the theory of constraints can be used to improve the efficiency of organizational operations, project management, supply-chain and logistics, high-speed automated production lines, marketing and sales, and finance and accounting. However, even best of the processes cannot work if employees are not skilled or competent or the right fit for the job or are not motivated. Hence, the theory of constraint works effectively well in Talent Management too, such as performance management, recruitment, employee retention, etc. In his book, “What got you here won’t take you there”, Marshall Goldsmith has explained how human habits, behaviors, and beliefs can be constraints and can limit their performance and growth. He highlighted 21 behavioral constraints which can be eliminated through coaching using FIVE focusing steps as explained by Goldratt. In this article, I will be explaining how I am using TOC in Talent Management and helping leaders, managers and high potential employees in eliminating constraints that are limiting their individual and team performance.      

Since 2007, I have been helping organizations, initially as a part of internal HR Team and later as a Management Consultant, in improving performances of their employees and teams, more often, the performance of sales team. Earlier, when I was working as a part of HR team in an organization,  I used to get recommendations from reporting managers to terminate the employment of random employees based on poor performances. An investigation into the case would often suggest that the cause of poor performance was not a real constraint. As a management consultant, it is my responsibility to find a right performance constraint, whether in an individual, or a team and sometimes in an organization and fix it, just like an automobile mechanic.    

According to my experience, potential performance constraints are as follows:

1.    Poorly defined role – competency match [Job Description]

2.    Unclear objectives and performance parameters

3.    Inadequate communication within the organization

4.    Poorly designed performance management system [KRA’s, Definition of Good Performance, Rewards, etc]

5.    Lack of resources and authority to get things done

6.    Poor and conflicting working conditions

7.    Inadequate performance of subordinates or managers

In addition to  above mentioned constraints, career aspirations of employees, their motives and motivations, poorly defined priorities and family life of employees also work as performance constraints [for e.g. An employee going through a divorce and a fight over the custody of his children won’t be able to give 100% to his work].  As a Management Consultant, someone who is helping others to improve their performance, it becomes paramount for me to identify the performance bottleneck and eliminate it from the way, and restore the flow

Khoury’s Performance Equation has summarized it beautifully –

Performance = [(D + A)/O]*Motivation

Where,

D = Degree of Quality and Direction [Knowing what to do, Objectives, Goal, Clear definition of Outstanding and Unacceptable Performance]

A = Ability of an individual [Knowledge, Skills, Competencies, and Right fitment into the role]

O = Obstacles/Opportunities [Lack of resources, Poor Processes, Lack of Authority, etc.]

M = Motivation [Career Path, Future, Family, etc.]

Which means a highly skilled and motivated person won’t be able to perform optimally if he doesn’t have properly defined parameters. Similarly, an employee working in an environment that drives performance and has right system and processes in place won’t be able to perform if he is not a right fit for the role or if he is not motivated enough.  

For me, cases of “D” and “O” come under Consulting Assignments and “A” and “M” come under Coaching Assignments.

Tools to Identify and recognize bottlenecks

To find the bottleneck, whether at organizational level or at the team or an individual level, I use several tools, such as – Problem Specification, Present State / Desired State Technique, Process Mapping, Backward Process Mapping, Scenario Thinking, Fishbone Diagram, Systems Analysis, Psychometric Assessments and 360-degree feedback.  Let me explain these techniques in brief.

Problem Specification – It helps in collecting specifics and appropriate data for defining a problem statement that clearly indicates the link between an undesirable “as is” situation and the desired “should be” situation.

Present State/Desired State Technique – This technique helps us identify where we are and where we want to go so that an appropriate path can be found to reach the desired objective. It also helps us to know whether the solution goals (desired state) are consistent with our needs (present state).

Fishbone Diagram – An Ishikawa Diagram, or the fishbone diagram, because of its unique shape, is a way to visually organize and examine all factors that may influence a given situation by identifying all possible causes that produce an effect.

Process Mapping – This identifies and maps all cross-functional processes, organizations metrics, and estimated processing time. It ensures a systematic understanding of the “as is” situation and improvement process.

Backward Process Mapping – BPM is a method of solving a problem by assuming and imagining that your problem is solved and then working backward. While conventional thinking urges us to think forward, one step at a time from a beginning point, the working backward method encourages us to move from an imaginary ideal solution and then think backward to the beginning point.

Scenario Thinking – Action learning teams are frequently used to explore the roots of an issue or problem confronting an organization. One of the tools often deployed in such situations, and which has applicability to case-based learning, is scenario thinking and planning. Unlike traditional forecasting methods, the attempt to predict trends and exert management control over uncertainty, scenario thinking and planning embraces uncertainty and engages in processes of prospective thinking about alternative possibilities. The purpose of scenarios is not to produce predictions or to enhance planning, but to change the mindset of people who develop and use them.

Systems Thinking – It is a framework to observe interrelationships and study patterns of change rather than static “snapshots”. Today, systems thinking is needed more than ever because we are becoming overwhelmed by complexity. Perhaps, for the first time in history, humankind has the capacity to create far more information than anyone can absorb, to foster far greater interdependency than anyone can manage, and to accelerate change faster than anyone’s ability to keep pace. Certainly, the scale of complexity is without precedent. Organizations are breaking down despite individual brilliance and innovative products because they are unable to pull their diverse functions and talents into a productive whole. The essence of Systems Thinking lies in a shift of mind – seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains and seeing processes of change rather than snapshots.

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As a Principal Consultant, Sanjeev is credited with pioneering best practice HR systems and processes for clients. As a Talent Strategist, Sanjeev partners with organizations hiring managers to find, select, and hire top talent which provides a foundation for organization's future growth

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Well-Intended Gamification

Gamification for marketing has been utilized on social media internet sites including FourSquare (achievement badges), 500PX (a images website in which a particular'score'increases based on the reputation of one's photographs), and Reddit (points are awarded for presented posts that receive'upvotes'from different users). Using this type of process gamification examples  drastically raise visitor interaction with a web site as the user could be offered benefits, objectives and a standing system. The main reason that approach proves therefore successful is due to people's unconscious disposition to get part in games. A buddy of quarry performs for an organization that's a weekly opposition on Facebook regarding word association. That operates particularly properly in scattering awareness of the business model as friends of the workers also be involved in the game. By definitely stimulating customers to interact with each other to be able to get returns or improvement, many websites and purposes have now been in a position to very rapidly construct their following. FarmVille, a Facebook application, is an example of how gamification may be used to construct a consumer bottom at an astonishing rate. By letting current participants to send virtual'presents'to other FarmVille customers to encouraged the reciprocation of the gesture, this intended that the more Facebook friends which were asked to perform the overall game, the more presents that received and obtained to be able to improve through the game. Zynga, the business behind FarmVille, was noted to be value $7 thousand in 2011 and reached over 50 million regular users. eBay - bidders compete with one another to gain the item on sale. Being the'success'or'dropping'an item enhances the competitiveness of the site and is, in an expression, a game. LinkedIn - each consumer features a progress bar of their page'completeness '. Achieving 100% with this development club feels such as an achievement and which means you take more time (and more visits) on the webpage to get at 100% How many of us have got part in an on the web competition work by way of a particular company? One particular strategy would be to merely'like'a particular brand's Facebook site to be able to enter. From this aspect on you start for their changes on your Facebook give and that model features a possible new client who has actively involved with it. In an article from Gartner, it was projected that by 2015 "More Than 50 % of Companies That Manage Innovation Processes May Gamify These Techniques" and "By 2014, a gamified support for customer things advertising and client retention can become as important as Facebook, eBay or Amazon, and a lot more than 70 per cent of International 2000 companies could have one or more gamified application." Indeed several corporate training programs employ gamification methods to encourage involvement, monitor and analyse the progress of the delegates. Role play or group exercises wherever you'contend with other clubs or individuals to be crowned'the most effective'are a common practise and they're all based on gaming principles. Gartner determined four principal means of driving wedding using gamification: Accelerated feedback cycles. In actuality, feedback loops are slow (e.g., annual performance appraisals) with extended times between milestones. Gamification advances the speed of feedback rings to steadfastly keep up engagement. Obvious goals and principles of play. In real life, where targets are fuzzy and rules uniquely used, gamification provides obvious targets and well-defined principles of play to make sure players feel empowered to attain goals. A engaging narrative. While real-world actions are seldom compelling, gamification develops a plot that engages people to participate and achieve the goals of the activity. Tasks that are demanding but achievable. While there is number lack of problems in the real world, they tend to be large and long-term. Gamification gives several short-term, feasible targets to keep engagement.