Arizona biltmore pool day pass
Class Pass Trial Issue
2023.03.22 17:38 Revolutionary_Ad5291 Class Pass Trial Issue
This is my first time signing up for class pass and 2 days in my account deactivated. This is 100% my first time doing the trial and the app store showed I have never downloaded the app before. I am so upset because I really wanted to do the trial. I reached out to customer service but apparently there was nothing they could do, and my account was flagged for "fraudulent" activity, but they could not disclose to me what that was.
submitted by Revolutionary_Ad5291 to ClassPass [link] [comments]
2023.03.22 17:37 Southern-Turnip-5754 Looking for 2x 2-day GA passes with proof of purchase. Need overnight shipping or can meet up near the fest!
Sadly can only do up to $300-$330 for both total. Will pay for over night shipping. My friend and I really want to go for her birthday so trying to get some tickets last minute!!
submitted by Southern-Turnip-5754 to BeyondWonderland [link] [comments]
2023.03.22 17:37 No-Distribution-261 Opinions about this bedtime stories generated by AI
Hi everyone! I've let AI write for me two original bedtime stories for my children that i believe are really good. Each story also comes with a lesson.
So I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you could read one them to your children!!
If you liked the stories, at the bottom of the post there is a google form where you can send me your email and i will send you some other stories
Toby the Elephant and Wido the Spider's Adventure
Once upon a time, in the dense forests of Africa, there lived a gentle elephant named Toby. Toby had big floppy ears, a long trunk, and a pair of sharp tusks. He loved to spend his days munching on juicy leaves, taking refreshing dips in the nearby river, and playing with his elephant friends.
One day, while Toby was enjoying a lazy afternoon by the river, he noticed a tiny spider named Wido trying to climb up his trunk. "Hey, what are you doing up there?" asked Toby, surprised.
"I'm trying to get to the top of your head to see the view from up there," replied Wido, determinedly.
Toby chuckled. "Well, I can give you a lift if you want."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," said Wido, with a big smile.
Toby carefully lifted Wido with his trunk and placed him on his head. Wido was delighted to see the world from a different perspective, and Toby enjoyed having a new friend to talk to.
As they were admiring the view, they noticed a group of animals in the distance, running frantically. "What's going on over there?" asked Toby, concerned.
Wido squinted her eight tiny eyes. "It looks like they're running away from something."
Without wasting a moment, Toby and Wido rushed to see what was happening. As they got closer, they saw that the animals were being chased by a fierce lion.
"We have to help them," said Toby, bravely.
Wido nodded in agreement. "But how? We're just an elephant and a spider."
Toby looked around and saw a nearby tree with a beehive hanging from its branch. He got an idea. "Wido, do you know how to weave a web?"
"Yes, I do," replied Wido, intrigued.
"Good. We'll use the honey from that beehive to lure the lion away from the other animals, and then you'll weave a web to trap him," explained Toby.
Wido was impressed. "That's a brilliant plan!"
Toby and Wido quickly put their plan into action. Toby broke the beehive with his trunk, and the sweet smell of honey attracted the lion's attention. The lion chased after Toby, while Wido quickly weaved a web in front of him. The lion got trapped in the web, and the other animals were safe.
Toby and Wido looked at each other, proud of what they had accomplished. "We did it!" said Toby, grinning.
Wido smiled. "We make a great team."
As they walked back home, they realized that even though they were different, they had worked together to solve a big problem. "We never have to lose faith in ourselves or each other," said Toby, wise words that he had learned from his wise old grandmother.
Wido nodded. "That's right. With faith, we can accomplish anything."
And so, Toby the Elephant and Wido the Spider's adventure ended, but their friendship continued to grow stronger with each passing day. From that day on, they knew that they could always count on each other, no matter what.
Kyle and Katie's Big Adventure
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Kyle. He was a shy and quiet boy who didn't have many friends. Kyle was always nervous about talking to new people and making friends. He attended a school called Bright Minds Academy. It was a big school with a lot of students, but Kyle always felt like he was alone.
One day, while Kyle was exploring the school's library, he stumbled upon a book about outer space. He was fascinated by the book and started reading it. As he was reading, he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey, that's a cool book!" said the voice.
Kyle turned around and saw a girl named Katie. She had bright blue eyes and curly brown hair.
"Y-yeah," stammered Kyle. "I-I like space."
"Me too!" said Katie. "I'm Katie, by the way. What's your name?"
"I'm Kyle," replied Kyle, feeling a bit more comfortable now that he had met someone who shared his interests.
From that day on, Kyle and Katie became friends. They spent their free time exploring the school and learning new things together. One day, while they were exploring the school's basement, they found a secret door. Curious, they opened the door and found a dark room with a mysterious machine in the center.
"Wow, this is so cool!" exclaimed Katie.
"I don't know," said Kyle nervously. "This looks dangerous."
But before Kyle could say anything else, Katie pressed a button on the machine. Suddenly, the room started to shake, and Kyle and Katie were transported to outer space!
"Woah, this is amazing!" said Katie, looking out of the window at the stars.
But then, they saw a giant asteroid heading towards their spaceship.
"Oh no, what do we do?" cried Kyle.
"I don't know," said Katie, looking scared.
But then, Kyle remembered what he had learned from his space book. He told Katie to help him steer the ship towards the asteroid and to press a button at the right moment.
Together, Kyle and Katie worked to steer the ship towards the asteroid and press the button. They succeeded, and the asteroid was destroyed!
"Wow, we did it!" exclaimed Katie.
"Yeah, we make a great team!" said Kyle, smiling.
As they flew back to earth, Kyle realized that he had made a new friend and that he didn't have to be afraid of making friends anymore. He was grateful for Katie and the adventure they had shared.
The End.
If these stories interested you, follow the link bellow, give us your email and fill out the Google form. I'll send you additional stories!!!
Click this to acces the google Form
submitted by No-Distribution-261 to AskParents [link] [comments]
So I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you could read one them to your children!!
If you liked the stories, at the bottom of the post there is a google form where you can send me your email and i will send you some other stories
Toby the Elephant and Wido the Spider's Adventure
Once upon a time, in the dense forests of Africa, there lived a gentle elephant named Toby. Toby had big floppy ears, a long trunk, and a pair of sharp tusks. He loved to spend his days munching on juicy leaves, taking refreshing dips in the nearby river, and playing with his elephant friends.
One day, while Toby was enjoying a lazy afternoon by the river, he noticed a tiny spider named Wido trying to climb up his trunk. "Hey, what are you doing up there?" asked Toby, surprised.
"I'm trying to get to the top of your head to see the view from up there," replied Wido, determinedly.
Toby chuckled. "Well, I can give you a lift if you want."
"Oh, that would be wonderful," said Wido, with a big smile.
Toby carefully lifted Wido with his trunk and placed him on his head. Wido was delighted to see the world from a different perspective, and Toby enjoyed having a new friend to talk to.
As they were admiring the view, they noticed a group of animals in the distance, running frantically. "What's going on over there?" asked Toby, concerned.
Wido squinted her eight tiny eyes. "It looks like they're running away from something."
Without wasting a moment, Toby and Wido rushed to see what was happening. As they got closer, they saw that the animals were being chased by a fierce lion.
"We have to help them," said Toby, bravely.
Wido nodded in agreement. "But how? We're just an elephant and a spider."
Toby looked around and saw a nearby tree with a beehive hanging from its branch. He got an idea. "Wido, do you know how to weave a web?"
"Yes, I do," replied Wido, intrigued.
"Good. We'll use the honey from that beehive to lure the lion away from the other animals, and then you'll weave a web to trap him," explained Toby.
Wido was impressed. "That's a brilliant plan!"
Toby and Wido quickly put their plan into action. Toby broke the beehive with his trunk, and the sweet smell of honey attracted the lion's attention. The lion chased after Toby, while Wido quickly weaved a web in front of him. The lion got trapped in the web, and the other animals were safe.
Toby and Wido looked at each other, proud of what they had accomplished. "We did it!" said Toby, grinning.
Wido smiled. "We make a great team."
As they walked back home, they realized that even though they were different, they had worked together to solve a big problem. "We never have to lose faith in ourselves or each other," said Toby, wise words that he had learned from his wise old grandmother.
Wido nodded. "That's right. With faith, we can accomplish anything."
And so, Toby the Elephant and Wido the Spider's adventure ended, but their friendship continued to grow stronger with each passing day. From that day on, they knew that they could always count on each other, no matter what.
Kyle and Katie's Big Adventure
Once upon a time, there was a boy named Kyle. He was a shy and quiet boy who didn't have many friends. Kyle was always nervous about talking to new people and making friends. He attended a school called Bright Minds Academy. It was a big school with a lot of students, but Kyle always felt like he was alone.
One day, while Kyle was exploring the school's library, he stumbled upon a book about outer space. He was fascinated by the book and started reading it. As he was reading, he heard a voice behind him.
"Hey, that's a cool book!" said the voice.
Kyle turned around and saw a girl named Katie. She had bright blue eyes and curly brown hair.
"Y-yeah," stammered Kyle. "I-I like space."
"Me too!" said Katie. "I'm Katie, by the way. What's your name?"
"I'm Kyle," replied Kyle, feeling a bit more comfortable now that he had met someone who shared his interests.
From that day on, Kyle and Katie became friends. They spent their free time exploring the school and learning new things together. One day, while they were exploring the school's basement, they found a secret door. Curious, they opened the door and found a dark room with a mysterious machine in the center.
"Wow, this is so cool!" exclaimed Katie.
"I don't know," said Kyle nervously. "This looks dangerous."
But before Kyle could say anything else, Katie pressed a button on the machine. Suddenly, the room started to shake, and Kyle and Katie were transported to outer space!
"Woah, this is amazing!" said Katie, looking out of the window at the stars.
But then, they saw a giant asteroid heading towards their spaceship.
"Oh no, what do we do?" cried Kyle.
"I don't know," said Katie, looking scared.
But then, Kyle remembered what he had learned from his space book. He told Katie to help him steer the ship towards the asteroid and to press a button at the right moment.
Together, Kyle and Katie worked to steer the ship towards the asteroid and press the button. They succeeded, and the asteroid was destroyed!
"Wow, we did it!" exclaimed Katie.
"Yeah, we make a great team!" said Kyle, smiling.
As they flew back to earth, Kyle realized that he had made a new friend and that he didn't have to be afraid of making friends anymore. He was grateful for Katie and the adventure they had shared.
The End.
If these stories interested you, follow the link bellow, give us your email and fill out the Google form. I'll send you additional stories!!!
Click this to acces the google Form
2023.03.22 17:36 dreamfox56 Unfortunate outcome...
Hey everyone I posted a few weeks ago, about my 30yr old Fiancee who had end stage heart failure...so I got to spend the last 3 weeks with him every day, and he was so close to getting but on the list...a week after he got the impella pump... He suffered a catastrophic brain bleed... And since he did LVAD/Transplant were off the table... The doctors were very concerned he wouldnt make a full recovery with the amount of bleeding that occured...and wouldn't really gain any real consciousness and have major brain damage...he loved music and languages and being most likely unable to do them woul have been such a huge blow to him .. but even if he did recover he needed a transplant to live so the HF would have gotten him before he could recover from the brain bleed...also he wasn't breathing on his own very well...
So we made the unimaginable and hard choice to let him pass last Saturday...thank you all for your answes to my questions and I hope all of you are able to get what you need and live you best life.
submitted by dreamfox56 to Heartfailure [link] [comments]
So we made the unimaginable and hard choice to let him pass last Saturday...thank you all for your answes to my questions and I hope all of you are able to get what you need and live you best life.
2023.03.22 17:36 Justplainsimple99 RideBHM Makes Birmingham A Downhill Mountain Biking Destination
RideBHM Makes Birmingham A Downhill Mountain Biking Destination About Town
"The impressive flow-focused wonderland came with the help of Red Mountain Park and opened in November to over 400 people from 11 states. The park is currently hosting free beginner classes, offers bike rentals, and will be hosting youth camps - including scholarships for Birmingham-area students who wouldn’t typically have this experience - in the spring/summer. Day and ride pass specials can also often be found on the park’s social media pages"
"A mountain bike park of this caliber is not a common site, and people have been consistently traveling from Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and beyond to take in the enthralling jumps and berms found on these new trails. The park’s masterminds see it as their role in showcasing the beauty that is the Magic City. “I think Birmingham’s an awesome city and people just need to give us a chance,” King explains,"
submitted by Justplainsimple99 to Birmingham [link] [comments]
"The impressive flow-focused wonderland came with the help of Red Mountain Park and opened in November to over 400 people from 11 states. The park is currently hosting free beginner classes, offers bike rentals, and will be hosting youth camps - including scholarships for Birmingham-area students who wouldn’t typically have this experience - in the spring/summer. Day and ride pass specials can also often be found on the park’s social media pages"
"A mountain bike park of this caliber is not a common site, and people have been consistently traveling from Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and beyond to take in the enthralling jumps and berms found on these new trails. The park’s masterminds see it as their role in showcasing the beauty that is the Magic City. “I think Birmingham’s an awesome city and people just need to give us a chance,” King explains,"
2023.03.22 17:35 ohheysarahjay Dad.
I’m sitting in the room you used to walk through to go out and smoke. This was also the door I walked through when I saw you lying there, screaming, dying. And I’m so angry at you for that.
I can never let that moment go. The garden felt so big, you felt miles away when you were only steps in front of me, but I couldn’t get to you. I was terrified. I have never been so scared in my entire life, from the one person who always protected me. You were supposed to be here. You were supposed to become a chef. You were supposed to leave your past behind and really live, and I wish you could see the amount of potential you had through my eyes. You wasted it forever, and I’m mad.
I am so proud of you. Being a father isn’t easy when you never had one to teach you, and you did a fucking good job, despite what we went through. Again, I was, and am, so proud of you. I hope you made peace with him, wherever you may be, and I hope he knows you kicked his ass at being a dad, and he will never live it down, even if he’s not alive today.
I’m really struggling without you, daily. I have all this love and nowhere to put it, and it just turns into sadness instead. I wish you knew for certain how much I love you, I wish you believed me when you asked if I did. I wish you sat on my bed and cried more, that we cried together more, because life is so hard and you deserved so much better.
I wish I wasn’t so bitter, and I tried my best to hide it, but you really hurt me. I understand addiction, I watched you take so many pills, I watched you drink too many drinks, I watched you gamble everything that we had, and I still knew you were sick, you were trying to heal wounds the wrong way, and I learnt from that. I thank you for these mistakes so I don’t repeat them. I try so hard not to repeat them, but it’s in my blood, and I’ll fight it forever.
I’ll never forget the goodness you left in this world, and I learnt the most from that. I’m a better person because of you and the example you set with how you treated others. You have the most beautiful heart, both you and mom, and I’m so angry that yours has stopped beating.
I was never supposed to fix this, but I wish every day that I could’ve. I’ve over analysed every possible way I could’ve saved you, even knowing that I never could, because I know nothing was going to save me when I was in your shoes.
I hope granny holds you tight every day, I hope she still sings, I hope that you have your grampa back, and I hope that you’re at peace.
Thank you for still leaving me signs that you’re around, I look for them everywhere. My heart will always be broken. A daughters first love is her father, and you broke my heart forever. I’m angry that this pain will never go away, but I also don’t want it to, because you deserve to be with me in every way.
I can’t look at old photos, because it just feels like lost innocence. I am not the same person I was before I lost you. I have lost friends, I have concerned family, I have said and done so much that I would never have thought to do if you were still here, and I still can’t figure out if that’s a good or a bad thing. I can’t figure out where my puzzle piece fits because you threw the entire thing off of the table. Where do you go when the worst thing that could happen actually happens? What am I supposed to do? Why can’t you come back and tell me it was a mistake and that you’re sorry and you make us burgers and we watch gameshows. Why can’t we just work together to build our house back because we already had a home with you. Now I don’t know where my home is anymore.
You made me aware that pain is tangible, because I feel it all over my body. My chest hurts when I think of the past. My body hurts when that wave of grief hits. The only thing that saves me is sleep, and sometimes I wish I won’t wake up. I wish that more than I’d like to admit, even to this day. I know you want me to wake up though.
People have hurt me, badly. And I’m angry that you’re not there to break the legs of the men who have caused me pain with that anger you struggled to control. An anger that terrified me and made life a living hell sometimes, but an anger that kept me safe. You said and did a lot of dumb shit, and I’m sure you hold yourself accountable now, and I know you did when the apologies did come. I hope you hold yourself accountable for the amount of pain and destruction the last stupid thing you did caused all of us. I still love you. And I hope you’d still love me through my own dumb shit. I think you would’ve, we’re very much the same.
I don’t feel like I can write enough to match how I feel about everything that’s happened since you passed, and the years that lead up to that. It’s all a haze, to be honest. It’s like a war zone in my mind and the only thing that sticks out through the ground is your gravestone. Everything else left with you. You are the biggest blessing, and the strongest tornado. I will never stop telling your story.
I’m now sitting in the garden where I last saw you alive. It’s a quiet evening. Courage is calm, for once. Mom is having church in the lounge surrounded by people who love her, and that brings me so much peace. I know they love you too. I miss you. I love you. I’ll write again soon.
submitted by ohheysarahjay to UnsentLetters [link] [comments]
I can never let that moment go. The garden felt so big, you felt miles away when you were only steps in front of me, but I couldn’t get to you. I was terrified. I have never been so scared in my entire life, from the one person who always protected me. You were supposed to be here. You were supposed to become a chef. You were supposed to leave your past behind and really live, and I wish you could see the amount of potential you had through my eyes. You wasted it forever, and I’m mad.
I am so proud of you. Being a father isn’t easy when you never had one to teach you, and you did a fucking good job, despite what we went through. Again, I was, and am, so proud of you. I hope you made peace with him, wherever you may be, and I hope he knows you kicked his ass at being a dad, and he will never live it down, even if he’s not alive today.
I’m really struggling without you, daily. I have all this love and nowhere to put it, and it just turns into sadness instead. I wish you knew for certain how much I love you, I wish you believed me when you asked if I did. I wish you sat on my bed and cried more, that we cried together more, because life is so hard and you deserved so much better.
I wish I wasn’t so bitter, and I tried my best to hide it, but you really hurt me. I understand addiction, I watched you take so many pills, I watched you drink too many drinks, I watched you gamble everything that we had, and I still knew you were sick, you were trying to heal wounds the wrong way, and I learnt from that. I thank you for these mistakes so I don’t repeat them. I try so hard not to repeat them, but it’s in my blood, and I’ll fight it forever.
I’ll never forget the goodness you left in this world, and I learnt the most from that. I’m a better person because of you and the example you set with how you treated others. You have the most beautiful heart, both you and mom, and I’m so angry that yours has stopped beating.
I was never supposed to fix this, but I wish every day that I could’ve. I’ve over analysed every possible way I could’ve saved you, even knowing that I never could, because I know nothing was going to save me when I was in your shoes.
I hope granny holds you tight every day, I hope she still sings, I hope that you have your grampa back, and I hope that you’re at peace.
Thank you for still leaving me signs that you’re around, I look for them everywhere. My heart will always be broken. A daughters first love is her father, and you broke my heart forever. I’m angry that this pain will never go away, but I also don’t want it to, because you deserve to be with me in every way.
I can’t look at old photos, because it just feels like lost innocence. I am not the same person I was before I lost you. I have lost friends, I have concerned family, I have said and done so much that I would never have thought to do if you were still here, and I still can’t figure out if that’s a good or a bad thing. I can’t figure out where my puzzle piece fits because you threw the entire thing off of the table. Where do you go when the worst thing that could happen actually happens? What am I supposed to do? Why can’t you come back and tell me it was a mistake and that you’re sorry and you make us burgers and we watch gameshows. Why can’t we just work together to build our house back because we already had a home with you. Now I don’t know where my home is anymore.
You made me aware that pain is tangible, because I feel it all over my body. My chest hurts when I think of the past. My body hurts when that wave of grief hits. The only thing that saves me is sleep, and sometimes I wish I won’t wake up. I wish that more than I’d like to admit, even to this day. I know you want me to wake up though.
People have hurt me, badly. And I’m angry that you’re not there to break the legs of the men who have caused me pain with that anger you struggled to control. An anger that terrified me and made life a living hell sometimes, but an anger that kept me safe. You said and did a lot of dumb shit, and I’m sure you hold yourself accountable now, and I know you did when the apologies did come. I hope you hold yourself accountable for the amount of pain and destruction the last stupid thing you did caused all of us. I still love you. And I hope you’d still love me through my own dumb shit. I think you would’ve, we’re very much the same.
I don’t feel like I can write enough to match how I feel about everything that’s happened since you passed, and the years that lead up to that. It’s all a haze, to be honest. It’s like a war zone in my mind and the only thing that sticks out through the ground is your gravestone. Everything else left with you. You are the biggest blessing, and the strongest tornado. I will never stop telling your story.
I’m now sitting in the garden where I last saw you alive. It’s a quiet evening. Courage is calm, for once. Mom is having church in the lounge surrounded by people who love her, and that brings me so much peace. I know they love you too. I miss you. I love you. I’ll write again soon.
2023.03.22 17:35 lazymentors Is Tiktok US ban possible in April?
Top 5 Updates of the Week:
- Tiktok launched “Feed Refresh” feature for all users to start a new content feed .
- ChatGPT 4 was launched this week & the trend around it is growing.
- The case of Tiktok getting Banned In US will get more strong, if Bytedance don’t sell their share in Tiktok .
- Google March 2023 Broad Core Update is Live.
- Google Bard (AI clone of ChatGPT) is available on waitlist.
- Meta launches Paid Subscriptions on Instagram and Facebook in the US.
Google:
- Google announces new “Prohibited Use Policy” for AI Products & content.
- New Google Analytics item-scoped custom dimensions.
- Google enhances Healthcare Info access for US searchers.
- 5 new updates to Google Adsense Auto Ads.
- Google announces use of AI in Google Drive, Docs & Gmail.
- Google product listing ads to allow faster Electric Bikes.
Tiktok:
- Tiktok and MLS enter multiyear partnership to preview more MLS content on the platform.
- Tiktok launched new policies against use of AI content on platform.
- Tiktok’s Ex-Head of Product said The platform didn’t launch $2B fund for creators, it was for their own business.
- Tiktok now banned on governmental devices in New Zealand.
- Tiktok introduced a new STEM feed on PiDay for teenagers.
Instagram:
- Instagram’s Co-founder did a new Podcast Interview and said IG is losing its touch.
- Instagram and Facebook are giving up focus & support for NFTs to focus on other elements of business.
- Instagram is testing a new “Top 3” story sticker.
- Upcoming: A new Instagram feature to go live for only followers you follow back.
Meta :
- Meta cuts off 10,000 employees & shared the vision of being more efficient this year.
- Meta is getting rid of Mentorships in Facebook Groups from March 27.
- Meta is working on a new verification feature to verify your account with missed call.
- Meta is all set to remove Audio channels from Facebook Groups.
- A new Safety center for journalists to learn about content publishing on Platforms.
- Facebook is shutting down online paid events feature from 8 May.
- Meta to end news Access for Canadians if new act passes.
- WhatsApp working on ability to allow group admins approve new participants to control the group.
Twitter:
- Twitter now shows everyone “Bookmark count” for your tweets.
- Elon musk said Usage of AI will happen on twitter to stop manipulation of users in Twitter.
- Twitter to open source its feed algorithm on 31st march.
- Twitter users will soon have ability to opt out of Ads for specific Ad Types.
- Twitter working on a feature to get reminders for a tweet, a similar feature to reddit’s “Subscribe to this Post”.
- Twitter working on “Why You’re seeing this tweet” feature to inform users about their interests.
- This week: Twitter will charge 2FA verification fee to verify your account from Monday. (20th March)
YouTube:
- Youtube will allow you to add Youtube Shorts thumbnails on iOS.
- Youtube adds new metrics for multi-language audio & feature for Shorts Audio page sharing.
- Youtube launches Multi-view for Youtube TV Users.
Snapchat:
- Snapchat adds new content controls to its parental control feature.
LinkedIn:
- LinkedIn launched new AI features like profile summary feature, Job description & more.
- LinkedIn launched “Podcast Academy” to help podcasters to do better at it.
Reddit:
- Reddit was down for more than 5 hours this week across all formats.
Pinterest:
- Pinterest adds new safety features for users after NBC news investigation.
- Pinterest & Northwestern Mutual partner to do a content partnership for financial content on platform.
- A Interview with Pinterest Country manager you need to read.
- Pinterest partners with Dotdash Meredith on exclusive video content deal.
Microsoft:
- Microsoft Bing AI is available for everyone, waitlist is gone.
- Microsoft shares 5-started prompts for Bing AI.
- Microsoft Doctor and Clinic Ads are now available in Open beta.
- Microsoft adds AI tools to Outlook, Word & other apps.
Marketing:
- Discord adds 16 new themes for Nitro subscribers.
- Semrush ended 2022 with 95k customers & 35% increase in revenue.
- Netflix is Reviewing its Ad strategy considering ‘build or buy’.
- Initiative named Adweek Global media agency of the year.
- Roku, Bestbuy promises greater CTV precision through retail media pact.
- Discord reverses policy changes after AI backlash.
- FTC is asking social media platforms & streaming services info on misleading Ads.
2023.03.22 17:33 Messy_Ness Free points. Tdm.
My defense is naked right now for you all. Psn: Primalfearunga, team: Ishikawa, rank: Daimond 1. I have a day pass active rn so get raiding
submitted by Messy_Ness to LetItDie [link] [comments]
2023.03.22 17:32 lazymentors What Happened In Marketing Last Week: Adsense Updates, Facebook Removal & Twitter Algorithm Reveals
Top 5 Updates of the Week:
- Tiktok launched “Feed Refresh” feature for all users to start a new content feed .
- ChatGPT 4 was launched this week & the trend around it is growing.
- The case of Tiktok getting Banned In US will get more strong, if Bytedance don’t sell their share in Tiktok .
- Google March 2023 Broad Core Update is Live.
- Google Bard (AI clone of ChatGPT) is available on waitlist.
- Meta launches Paid Subscriptions on Instagram and Facebook in the US.
Google:
- Google announces new “Prohibited Use Policy” for AI Products & content.
- New Google Analytics item-scoped custom dimensions.
- Google enhances Healthcare Info access for US searchers.
- 5 new updates to Google Adsense Auto Ads.
- Google announces use of AI in Google Drive, Docs & Gmail.
- Google product listing ads to allow faster Electric Bikes.
Tiktok:
- Tiktok and MLS enter multiyear partnership to preview more MLS content on the platform.
- Tiktok launched new policies against use of AI content on platform.
- Tiktok’s Ex-Head of Product said The platform didn’t launch $2B fund for creators, it was for their own business.
- Tiktok now banned on governmental devices in New Zealand.
- Tiktok introduced a new STEM feed on PiDay for teenagers.
Instagram:
- Instagram’s Co-founder did a new Podcast Interview and said IG is losing its touch.
- Instagram and Facebook are giving up focus & support for NFTs to focus on other elements of business.
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Meta :
- Meta cuts off 10,000 employees & shared the vision of being more efficient this year.
- Meta is getting rid of Mentorships in Facebook Groups from March 27.
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Twitter:
- Twitter now shows everyone “Bookmark count” for your tweets.
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YouTube:
- Youtube will allow you to add Youtube Shorts thumbnails on iOS.
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Snapchat:
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LinkedIn:
- LinkedIn launched new AI features like profile summary feature, Job description & more.
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Reddit:
- Reddit was down for more than 5 hours this week across all formats.
Pinterest:
- Pinterest adds new safety features for users after NBC news investigation.
- Pinterest & Northwestern Mutual partner to do a content partnership for financial content on platform.
- A Interview with Pinterest Country manager you need to read.
- Pinterest partners with Dotdash Meredith on exclusive video content deal.
Microsoft:
- Microsoft Bing AI is available for everyone, waitlist is gone.
- Microsoft shares 5-started prompts for Bing AI.
- Microsoft Doctor and Clinic Ads are now available in Open beta.
- Microsoft adds AI tools to Outlook, Word & other apps.
Marketing:
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- Semrush ended 2022 with 95k customers & 35% increase in revenue.
- Netflix is Reviewing its Ad strategy considering ‘build or buy’.
- Initiative named Adweek Global media agency of the year.
- Roku, Bestbuy promises greater CTV precision through retail media pact.
- Discord reverses policy changes after AI backlash.
- FTC is asking social media platforms & streaming services info on misleading Ads.
2023.03.22 17:31 Verrgasm Clubbing
"Why won't you come with me?" Andrea's voice whined down the phone in the tone she always adopted when she wasn't getting her way. "C'mon… please? Everyone else is busy..."
"I already told you, I'm not going back to another one of your shitty dive clubs. Remember last time when I nearly got my eye gouged out in the moshpit? I had to take a week off work."
"So what if you got your bell rung for the first time, you really want to die without any scars? Besides, do you have any idea how hard it was to get these tickets? I had to pay some random street guy double just to get us in the door."
"Well, what's the big deal about this place, then? Why's it so exclusive?"
"Suck Shaft."
"What?"
"Suck Shaft, they're opening. Headliner's some local hick but everyone's going to see Suck Shaft, it's their first gig in like ten years or something. How in the fuck have you never heard of Suck Shaft?"
"Andrea, can you please stop saying 'Suck Shaft' for a minute… let me think…"
"Look, are you coming or not? We'll be in and out in two hours, Tom, I promise. You'll be no worse off for work tomorrow, might even have something interesting to say around the water cooler, ay?"
"Fine... As long as we're only staying for the opener."
"Great! Pick me up at six."
beep
I pulled up outside Andrea's house to find her sitting impatiently on the doorstep and she eagerly bounded over and hopped inside.
"Are you as excited as I am?!" She asked giddily, looking at me with her make-up-caked face. She presented two little white tickets and passed one over. "This is gonna be a night to remember!"
"Yeah, whatever… Two hours, then I'm going home, so don't fuck around, okay?" I put the car in gear and departed from the pavement. "I mean it, Andrea. I can't mess up with this job right now."
"Jeeeez, you're such a stick in the mud…" She groaned dramatically as her eyes rolled back into her head.
As we drove slowly down the decrepit street which was home to the run-down venue I was immediately shocked at just how busy it really was. A swarm of patrons all waiting to get inside mobbed the sidewalk and spilled over into the street. After a tedious fifteen minutes of creeping around, I eventually managed to squeeze the car into a tiny space two streets over.
It was freezing but I gave Andrea my jacket anyway after catching a few passive aggressive 'brrrrr's' as we walked side-by-side to the club.
"Why didn't you just bring your own coat?"
"Well, I didn't know we'd have to park like a hundred fucking miles away, did I?"
"What if it's cold inside? You consider that one, genius?"
"We won't be cold for very long," She shot me a sly wink as she dug into her back pocket and held up a baggie containing two tiny pills stamped with a smiling alien. "Roll with me?"
I looked into her big green pleading puppy dog eyes and found myself unable to say no. That and it had been a while since I'd gotten my hands on some decent ecstasy. Andrea always got good X.
"I'll take half. Remember I still have to get us both home in one piece after this." I said in a defeated voice, but secretly I was excited for the first time that day.
"Yay!" Andrea hopped up and clicked the heels of her Nikes at me. "This is gonna be great!"
She pulled the bag open and bit half a pill, handing me the other half. Then, without any hesitation, she slammed the other full one down too before flashing her tongue at me the way I imagine they make the patients do at mental hospitals after med time.
"For fuck's sake, Andrea. Really? You said two hours. In two hours' time you're gonna be completely gone, I'll probably have to carry you through the dance floor, prise your fingers off the stage just to get you out the door with me."
"A promise is a promise." She booped my nose condescendingly the way you might a small child. I always hated when she did that, endearing as it was. "When it's over, it's over. I won't hold you back."
"I hope not." I'd gotten the pill down quickly, but that bitter taste still permeated the surface of my tongue and a little at the back of my throat. "I really hope not..."
We rounded the corner and joined the back of the line and found ourselves relieved that it was moving relatively quickly. I stood on my toes and got a decent look at the action up front. The bouncer wasn't even really checking the tickets, just a nod in acknowledgement at whatever random white paper was being presented. This prompted me to check the one in my pocket.
It was riddled with typos. I held it up to Andrea and she looked at me as if I was from Mars.
"What?"
"You paid double for fake tickets?"
"Yeah, so what? They'll get us in, won't they?"
"Jesus, Andrea. I swear, two hours and then we're leaving. Okay? This is gonna be a nightmare to get away from, look how busy this fucking street is, it's all because of these fake ticket scalping fucks..."
The ecstasy had begun to take effect and I couldn't help but feel a little shame for just how hard my half a pill was already kicking my ass. I looked over at Andrea for the first time since we'd joined the queue, of which was quickly packed behind us as we gradually approached the front, boxing us in. She was chewing voraciously at her bottom lip. I put my arm around her shoulder reassuringly and she turned to me with her big wobbly pupils. The vibrant green of her irises almost obscured by them.
"We will get in, right? Won't we?" She asked with a sort of desperation that I understood. I'd had a 'bad' X trip before when my plans got cancelled and I'd taken too much, ended up milling around my apartment hugging pillows and gnawing at my toothbrush. I pictured Andrea disappointedly sitting on her couch while she ferociously stroked her cat with hardstyle blasting through her TV speakers.
"Yeah, I think we'll get in. Don't worry." She pulled me closer to her and we embraced. Usually that took an hour or two but the clear overdose had ramped up the process. "Are you sure you're okay to go in here? You shouldn't have done all that at once."
"Oh, y-yeah" She chattered at me through her clenched teeth. She broke away for a second and yelled into the crowd behind us.
"SUCK SHAFT! WOOO!"
She was met with a rallying cry of about two dozen other people who were also prematurely wasted. With a pleased giggle she took my arm again and snuggled in, which was a relief because it was so damn cold on that sidewalk. We got close to the front and I whispered into Andrea's ear.
"Look, just keep your head down and don't look at the bouncer. If he sees how fucked up you are he won't let us in, okay?"
"Okey-doke…"
"Gimme your ticket."
I took her ticket and approached the big man by the door as Andrea half-hid behind me. No words were exchanged, barely even a look. He grabbed our tickets, and in we went.
"Here's your jacket back." Andrea thrust my knockoff leather jacket towards me and I put it back on, knowing that it'd eventually just become a hindrance in the heat. I followed closely behind as we descended the sickly white painted concrete stairwell, already littered with cigarette butts and empty bottles and vomit possibly from the night before. The music was getting louder as we got closer to the underground set. Thick swathes of bass resonated in the walls and in the floor and the ceiling and I felt myself come alive.
The stairs ended after a few turns and Andrea took my hand and led me into the packed crowd, all moving sinuously to the beat. I felt a jab in my ribs but I didn't care. We were somewhere close to the stage, but I couldn't tell where. My vision flickered and moved with my body as I danced with Andrea, every so often taking an accidental shove from a stranger and giving out a few of my own. That moment, I don't know how long it lasted, but it was the last time I was ever truly happy.
I brushed it off at first, something being shouted that looking back, I know must have been 'fire'. I just didn't want to believe it. Then, when the dancefloor broke its rhythm and people began to push into us towards the exit, I realized what was happening. Andrea looked into my eyes and I could see she knew it too, that rapturous joy snuffed out by terror. When the real world creeps into the fantasies we use to escape, turning them foul forever.
The music was still blaring, but the stage was empty. Smoke trickled out from behind it. Screams began to overtake the bass as people crammed in beside us, all running in the same direction. The lit single door exitway was in near darkness spare a few gaps that weren't full of people squeezing through. It was utter chaos.
All around us the ones who'd fallen over were stepped on in the scramble, I could hear their bones snapping under the weight of frantic footfalls and their pained reactions as they gasped their last breaths before giving in. Several men and women were actively shoving people back, throwing elbows and punches with others retaliating and then succumbing to the trampling themselves. We managed to reach the exit door leading to the stairs, but as I squeezed myself through Andrea's wrist got caught in the doorframe and was shattered by the incoming horde pushing through the cramped doorway three at a time. She screamed, shrieked out, and then was lost. I didn't look back, I was overcome with an unbearable rage. I stood in that doorway and I kicked out hard, knocking at least a dozen people back into the club, which was now entirely ablaze as flames engulfed the stage rendered near invisible by the thick black smoke.
I wasn't giving anything close to a fuck. I jerked my elbows into noses, I yanked back two womem ahead of me and they tumbled backwards down the stairs into the fiery oblivion below. I kicked and I punched and I shoved and I think I even bit a guy at one point, until eventually, I managed to wriggle through the open door and into the night air as sirens screeched down the street towards the scene. I looked back over my shoulder at the carnage as other escapees of the blaze rushed past me to safety. I did too, except I didn't stop running.
I got in my car and I drove home.
Fifty-three people died in that club that night. Seventy were injured, many in ways that'll surely have made their lives a living hell since. Andrea. I'm not sure if Andrea died in the crush or under some fucker's boot or if the smoke got her, or the fire. All I know is that she didn't make it. I just hope it was quick. Oh, fuck, how I hope it was quick... I look back and it's like I can see her lying there by that jammed up door with her wrist all bent backwards with the bone sticking out while she pleads, begs, the other people there to help her. Everyone ignored her. I ignored her.
I don't like to think about it. I can't. So I don't. I moved away. Nobody knows I was there, or what I did. I know I'll never forget it, though. I know that I'll never forgive myself.
submitted by Verrgasm to nosleep [link] [comments]
"I already told you, I'm not going back to another one of your shitty dive clubs. Remember last time when I nearly got my eye gouged out in the moshpit? I had to take a week off work."
"So what if you got your bell rung for the first time, you really want to die without any scars? Besides, do you have any idea how hard it was to get these tickets? I had to pay some random street guy double just to get us in the door."
"Well, what's the big deal about this place, then? Why's it so exclusive?"
"Suck Shaft."
"What?"
"Suck Shaft, they're opening. Headliner's some local hick but everyone's going to see Suck Shaft, it's their first gig in like ten years or something. How in the fuck have you never heard of Suck Shaft?"
"Andrea, can you please stop saying 'Suck Shaft' for a minute… let me think…"
"Look, are you coming or not? We'll be in and out in two hours, Tom, I promise. You'll be no worse off for work tomorrow, might even have something interesting to say around the water cooler, ay?"
"Fine... As long as we're only staying for the opener."
"Great! Pick me up at six."
beep
I pulled up outside Andrea's house to find her sitting impatiently on the doorstep and she eagerly bounded over and hopped inside.
"Are you as excited as I am?!" She asked giddily, looking at me with her make-up-caked face. She presented two little white tickets and passed one over. "This is gonna be a night to remember!"
"Yeah, whatever… Two hours, then I'm going home, so don't fuck around, okay?" I put the car in gear and departed from the pavement. "I mean it, Andrea. I can't mess up with this job right now."
"Jeeeez, you're such a stick in the mud…" She groaned dramatically as her eyes rolled back into her head.
As we drove slowly down the decrepit street which was home to the run-down venue I was immediately shocked at just how busy it really was. A swarm of patrons all waiting to get inside mobbed the sidewalk and spilled over into the street. After a tedious fifteen minutes of creeping around, I eventually managed to squeeze the car into a tiny space two streets over.
It was freezing but I gave Andrea my jacket anyway after catching a few passive aggressive 'brrrrr's' as we walked side-by-side to the club.
"Why didn't you just bring your own coat?"
"Well, I didn't know we'd have to park like a hundred fucking miles away, did I?"
"What if it's cold inside? You consider that one, genius?"
"We won't be cold for very long," She shot me a sly wink as she dug into her back pocket and held up a baggie containing two tiny pills stamped with a smiling alien. "Roll with me?"
I looked into her big green pleading puppy dog eyes and found myself unable to say no. That and it had been a while since I'd gotten my hands on some decent ecstasy. Andrea always got good X.
"I'll take half. Remember I still have to get us both home in one piece after this." I said in a defeated voice, but secretly I was excited for the first time that day.
"Yay!" Andrea hopped up and clicked the heels of her Nikes at me. "This is gonna be great!"
She pulled the bag open and bit half a pill, handing me the other half. Then, without any hesitation, she slammed the other full one down too before flashing her tongue at me the way I imagine they make the patients do at mental hospitals after med time.
"For fuck's sake, Andrea. Really? You said two hours. In two hours' time you're gonna be completely gone, I'll probably have to carry you through the dance floor, prise your fingers off the stage just to get you out the door with me."
"A promise is a promise." She booped my nose condescendingly the way you might a small child. I always hated when she did that, endearing as it was. "When it's over, it's over. I won't hold you back."
"I hope not." I'd gotten the pill down quickly, but that bitter taste still permeated the surface of my tongue and a little at the back of my throat. "I really hope not..."
We rounded the corner and joined the back of the line and found ourselves relieved that it was moving relatively quickly. I stood on my toes and got a decent look at the action up front. The bouncer wasn't even really checking the tickets, just a nod in acknowledgement at whatever random white paper was being presented. This prompted me to check the one in my pocket.
It was riddled with typos. I held it up to Andrea and she looked at me as if I was from Mars.
"What?"
"You paid double for fake tickets?"
"Yeah, so what? They'll get us in, won't they?"
"Jesus, Andrea. I swear, two hours and then we're leaving. Okay? This is gonna be a nightmare to get away from, look how busy this fucking street is, it's all because of these fake ticket scalping fucks..."
The ecstasy had begun to take effect and I couldn't help but feel a little shame for just how hard my half a pill was already kicking my ass. I looked over at Andrea for the first time since we'd joined the queue, of which was quickly packed behind us as we gradually approached the front, boxing us in. She was chewing voraciously at her bottom lip. I put my arm around her shoulder reassuringly and she turned to me with her big wobbly pupils. The vibrant green of her irises almost obscured by them.
"We will get in, right? Won't we?" She asked with a sort of desperation that I understood. I'd had a 'bad' X trip before when my plans got cancelled and I'd taken too much, ended up milling around my apartment hugging pillows and gnawing at my toothbrush. I pictured Andrea disappointedly sitting on her couch while she ferociously stroked her cat with hardstyle blasting through her TV speakers.
"Yeah, I think we'll get in. Don't worry." She pulled me closer to her and we embraced. Usually that took an hour or two but the clear overdose had ramped up the process. "Are you sure you're okay to go in here? You shouldn't have done all that at once."
"Oh, y-yeah" She chattered at me through her clenched teeth. She broke away for a second and yelled into the crowd behind us.
"SUCK SHAFT! WOOO!"
She was met with a rallying cry of about two dozen other people who were also prematurely wasted. With a pleased giggle she took my arm again and snuggled in, which was a relief because it was so damn cold on that sidewalk. We got close to the front and I whispered into Andrea's ear.
"Look, just keep your head down and don't look at the bouncer. If he sees how fucked up you are he won't let us in, okay?"
"Okey-doke…"
"Gimme your ticket."
I took her ticket and approached the big man by the door as Andrea half-hid behind me. No words were exchanged, barely even a look. He grabbed our tickets, and in we went.
"Here's your jacket back." Andrea thrust my knockoff leather jacket towards me and I put it back on, knowing that it'd eventually just become a hindrance in the heat. I followed closely behind as we descended the sickly white painted concrete stairwell, already littered with cigarette butts and empty bottles and vomit possibly from the night before. The music was getting louder as we got closer to the underground set. Thick swathes of bass resonated in the walls and in the floor and the ceiling and I felt myself come alive.
The stairs ended after a few turns and Andrea took my hand and led me into the packed crowd, all moving sinuously to the beat. I felt a jab in my ribs but I didn't care. We were somewhere close to the stage, but I couldn't tell where. My vision flickered and moved with my body as I danced with Andrea, every so often taking an accidental shove from a stranger and giving out a few of my own. That moment, I don't know how long it lasted, but it was the last time I was ever truly happy.
I brushed it off at first, something being shouted that looking back, I know must have been 'fire'. I just didn't want to believe it. Then, when the dancefloor broke its rhythm and people began to push into us towards the exit, I realized what was happening. Andrea looked into my eyes and I could see she knew it too, that rapturous joy snuffed out by terror. When the real world creeps into the fantasies we use to escape, turning them foul forever.
The music was still blaring, but the stage was empty. Smoke trickled out from behind it. Screams began to overtake the bass as people crammed in beside us, all running in the same direction. The lit single door exitway was in near darkness spare a few gaps that weren't full of people squeezing through. It was utter chaos.
All around us the ones who'd fallen over were stepped on in the scramble, I could hear their bones snapping under the weight of frantic footfalls and their pained reactions as they gasped their last breaths before giving in. Several men and women were actively shoving people back, throwing elbows and punches with others retaliating and then succumbing to the trampling themselves. We managed to reach the exit door leading to the stairs, but as I squeezed myself through Andrea's wrist got caught in the doorframe and was shattered by the incoming horde pushing through the cramped doorway three at a time. She screamed, shrieked out, and then was lost. I didn't look back, I was overcome with an unbearable rage. I stood in that doorway and I kicked out hard, knocking at least a dozen people back into the club, which was now entirely ablaze as flames engulfed the stage rendered near invisible by the thick black smoke.
I wasn't giving anything close to a fuck. I jerked my elbows into noses, I yanked back two womem ahead of me and they tumbled backwards down the stairs into the fiery oblivion below. I kicked and I punched and I shoved and I think I even bit a guy at one point, until eventually, I managed to wriggle through the open door and into the night air as sirens screeched down the street towards the scene. I looked back over my shoulder at the carnage as other escapees of the blaze rushed past me to safety. I did too, except I didn't stop running.
I got in my car and I drove home.
Fifty-three people died in that club that night. Seventy were injured, many in ways that'll surely have made their lives a living hell since. Andrea. I'm not sure if Andrea died in the crush or under some fucker's boot or if the smoke got her, or the fire. All I know is that she didn't make it. I just hope it was quick. Oh, fuck, how I hope it was quick... I look back and it's like I can see her lying there by that jammed up door with her wrist all bent backwards with the bone sticking out while she pleads, begs, the other people there to help her. Everyone ignored her. I ignored her.
I don't like to think about it. I can't. So I don't. I moved away. Nobody knows I was there, or what I did. I know I'll never forget it, though. I know that I'll never forgive myself.
2023.03.22 17:31 Nicolelex7 Navy Yard or Alexandria?
I’m about a day away from signing a lease for an apartment located near Braddock Rd Metro and I’m having second thoughts. I’m a single female in my early 30’s and am afraid I’m going to regret not living closer to DC or choosing a different area. (FWIW I ruled out Arlington because I thought it was too young). Am I being silly and overthinking, should I not sign the lease and look into Navy Yard or just stick with what I have in Alexandria? (I already applied for the appt, been approved, etc.)
Things important to me: I have a car and will be keeping it, I don’t know anyone in the area so I want to meet people, I’m a single female so safety is important, I want to be able to walk to coffee/restaurants/quick groceries but don’t need to be right in me middle of everything, I WFH and occasionally go running.
Other thing to note is that I’m not really interested in other areas of DC because I can’t afford what I want apartment wise-I want gym, pool, amenities, updated building, 700+ sq ft and it seems the prices between what I have in Alexandria and what I could get in Navy Yard are comparable where other areas in DC don’t even stand a chance.
Going to cross post to NOVA Reddit too so the answers aren’t skewed
submitted by Nicolelex7 to washingtondc [link] [comments]
Things important to me: I have a car and will be keeping it, I don’t know anyone in the area so I want to meet people, I’m a single female so safety is important, I want to be able to walk to coffee/restaurants/quick groceries but don’t need to be right in me middle of everything, I WFH and occasionally go running.
Other thing to note is that I’m not really interested in other areas of DC because I can’t afford what I want apartment wise-I want gym, pool, amenities, updated building, 700+ sq ft and it seems the prices between what I have in Alexandria and what I could get in Navy Yard are comparable where other areas in DC don’t even stand a chance.
Going to cross post to NOVA Reddit too so the answers aren’t skewed
2023.03.22 17:29 gillyboatbruff When long-time technical support clients pass away
I have moonlighted as in-home tech support for about 25 years now. I've been quite lucky with it. I do not advertise, and rely solely on word of mouth. I charge much less than I could, but I treat it almost as a hobby. Some months I make may make $500, some months I might make $50. Whatever it is, I just consider it bonus income.
One of the pleasant results of this type of setup, is I generally only work with very nice people, and I consider many of my clients to be friends. They don't refer me to people who would be nightmare clients. Having done it this long, there are some people that I have supported for up to 20 years, and we know each other quite well.
About 15 years ago I did regular support for a woman who lived alone in her 90s. I would generally come over and take care of whatever minor issue we had, she would pay me, and then I would generally stay and visit with her for another 30 minutes or so. When she was 98, she told me the end was near, and she was going to have to move to another state to live with family, and she expected to die within a few months. The last time I met her, she took a large framed picture that I had complimented several times over the years. She took it off the wall and gave it to me. I was not expecting that, but I was quite grateful. It wasn't an expensive item by any means. It is still hanging in my house today.
A few days ago, it happened again. I got a phone call telling me that a widow in her mid 80s that I had supported for about 15 years had passed away. I had a similar relationship with her, where I would come and fix her minor problems, get paid, then sit and visit for another 30 minutes or so. This week her daughter talked with me and told me how much that friendship meant to her mom. She asked me to come and take her computer, clean it off, then do whatever I like with it. It isn't a fancy computer, it's one that an 85 year old person could browse the web and do email, and that's about it. I went over yesterday afternoon to pick it up. There was no dog to bark frantically as I rang the doorbell. The house was nearly empty, as they were preparing to sell it. As I walked through the garage, I glanced around her few possessions that were left. The daughter asked me if I would like to take anything. I went over and found a framed picture that had hung in her computer room. Soon it will find a place on a wall in my house. She was a good woman. She was my friend.
submitted by gillyboatbruff to talesfromtechsupport [link] [comments]
One of the pleasant results of this type of setup, is I generally only work with very nice people, and I consider many of my clients to be friends. They don't refer me to people who would be nightmare clients. Having done it this long, there are some people that I have supported for up to 20 years, and we know each other quite well.
About 15 years ago I did regular support for a woman who lived alone in her 90s. I would generally come over and take care of whatever minor issue we had, she would pay me, and then I would generally stay and visit with her for another 30 minutes or so. When she was 98, she told me the end was near, and she was going to have to move to another state to live with family, and she expected to die within a few months. The last time I met her, she took a large framed picture that I had complimented several times over the years. She took it off the wall and gave it to me. I was not expecting that, but I was quite grateful. It wasn't an expensive item by any means. It is still hanging in my house today.
A few days ago, it happened again. I got a phone call telling me that a widow in her mid 80s that I had supported for about 15 years had passed away. I had a similar relationship with her, where I would come and fix her minor problems, get paid, then sit and visit for another 30 minutes or so. This week her daughter talked with me and told me how much that friendship meant to her mom. She asked me to come and take her computer, clean it off, then do whatever I like with it. It isn't a fancy computer, it's one that an 85 year old person could browse the web and do email, and that's about it. I went over yesterday afternoon to pick it up. There was no dog to bark frantically as I rang the doorbell. The house was nearly empty, as they were preparing to sell it. As I walked through the garage, I glanced around her few possessions that were left. The daughter asked me if I would like to take anything. I went over and found a framed picture that had hung in her computer room. Soon it will find a place on a wall in my house. She was a good woman. She was my friend.
2023.03.22 17:28 apocalypse-panda Discouraged after doctor's visit
I'm extremely annoyed because I've done standing tests at home and I very clearly have a consistently high heart rate of 30+ BPM difference but when I finally went to the cardiologist my heart was for once totally behaving. Of course. My blood pressure went down to the absolute bottom floor of what is considered healthy so there is that but she also only tested me for five minutes instead of ten. The cardiologist was nice when I explained to him my frustration and he basically said he believed me but he didn't give me an official diagnosis. He recommended I wear compression stockings and drink electrolytes. The stockings have helped, the electrolytes seem to make my symptoms worse (I mentioned in a post I made yesterday). I've had these symptoms for years, including difficulty sweating and regulating body temp, postprandial issues, and frequent need to pee at night. I finally read about POTS in passing when I was doing research around hypermobility after my rheumatologist diagnosed me with HSD because there is a lot of overlap between the two and I was like woooah, that sounds like me! Then I did the standing test and I hit the mark. I talked to my GP and showed her my numbers and she agreed this was very compelling evidence and sent me to the cardio. The older I get the more important it is to me to have a diagnosis. Not only to validate the ongoing issues I've been having but also because this shit actively interferes with my work. I'm a bartender and I don't need to tell any of you that it's no cake walk to have these issues while working this very active job on my feet all day. It's a trade off because I can't tolerate sitting in front if a desk all day because of my chronic SI joint dysfunction. I feel like having a solid confirmed health history is important because my health issues are getting worse and I need to have these things documented to be able to ask for what I need from my employers and potentially protect myself and my job if I need to. I'm just really annoyed that the health issues I'm having aren't super common and none if my Healthcare team are knowledgeable about any of them. I've been with my GP for six years and I'm just now starting to get answers after years of an uphill battle to figure what wtf all of my symptoms add up to. I'm moving in four months so there's no point in my going out and getting another Healthcare team. In the meantime I'm just trying to work with what I have. Looking for answers is exhausting. /rant
submitted by apocalypse-panda to POTS [link] [comments]
2023.03.22 17:27 trwawaya I declined to FaceTime my grandma in the hospital expecting that she would be ok and I would get to see her in person the next day. She passed away this morning.
She checked into the hospital so she could be monitored due to recent fatigue but was otherwise in good health… so I expected that she would be back home within a week, and everything I was hearing from my mom at the hospital told me she was in good spirits and comfortable. A day before she died, my mom asked if I wanted to FaceTime her, but I declined because I thought she would be home soon and I would be able to see her then anyways. But the morning after, she passed away.
According to my mom who was the last to see her, the last thing she thought about was making sure I was eating well without her being at home to eat dinner with me. And I declined the chance to see her alive one last time because I thought she would be ok… I dont even know how to begin processing that. Please take every chance you get to speak with your loved ones, because you never know when they might be gone forever.
submitted by trwawaya to GriefSupport [link] [comments]
According to my mom who was the last to see her, the last thing she thought about was making sure I was eating well without her being at home to eat dinner with me. And I declined the chance to see her alive one last time because I thought she would be ok… I dont even know how to begin processing that. Please take every chance you get to speak with your loved ones, because you never know when they might be gone forever.
2023.03.22 17:27 lazymentors Marketing Recap: 3 FB features Removed, Google’s AI & SEO Changes + Tiktok Feed Refresh
Top 5 Updates of the Week:
- Tiktok launched “Feed Refresh” feature for all users to start a new content feed .
- ChatGPT 4 was launched this week & the trend around it is growing.
- The case of Tiktok getting Banned In US will get more strong, if Bytedance don’t sell their share in Tiktok .
- Google March 2023 Broad Core Update is Live.
- Google Bard (AI clone of ChatGPT) is available on waitlist.
- Meta launches Paid Subscriptions on Instagram and Facebook in the US.
Google:
- Google announces new “Prohibited Use Policy” for AI Products & content.
- New Google Analytics item-scoped custom dimensions.
- Google enhances Healthcare Info access for US searchers.
- 5 new updates to Google Adsense Auto Ads.
- Google announces use of AI in Google Drive, Docs & Gmail.
- Google product listing ads to allow faster Electric Bikes.
Tiktok:
- Tiktok and MLS enter multiyear partnership to preview more MLS content on the platform.
- Tiktok launched new policies against use of AI content on platform.
- Tiktok’s Ex-Head of Product said The platform didn’t launch $2B fund for creators, it was for their own business.
- Tiktok now banned on governmental devices in New Zealand.
- Tiktok introduced a new STEM feed on PiDay for teenagers.
Instagram:
- Instagram’s Co-founder did a new Podcast Interview and said IG is losing its touch.
- Instagram and Facebook are giving up focus & support for NFTs to focus on other elements of business.
- Instagram is testing a new “Top 3” story sticker.
- Upcoming: A new Instagram feature to go live for only followers you follow back.
Meta :
- Meta cuts off 10,000 employees & shared the vision of being more efficient this year.
- Meta is getting rid of Mentorships in Facebook Groups from March 27.
- Meta is working on a new verification feature to verify your account with missed call.
- Meta is all set to remove Audio channels from Facebook Groups.
- A new Safety center for journalists to learn about content publishing on Platforms.
- Facebook is shutting down online paid events feature from 8 May.
- Meta to end news Access for Canadians if new act passes.
- WhatsApp working on ability to allow group admins approve new participants to control the group.
Twitter:
- Twitter now shows everyone “Bookmark count” for your tweets.
- Elon musk said Usage of AI will happen on twitter to stop manipulation of users in Twitter.
- Twitter to open source its feed algorithm on 31st march.
- Twitter users will soon have ability to opt out of Ads for specific Ad Types.
- Twitter working on a feature to get reminders for a tweet, a similar feature to reddit’s “Subscribe to this Post”.
- Twitter working on “Why You’re seeing this tweet” feature to inform users about their interests.
- This week: Twitter will charge 2FA verification fee to verify your account from Monday. (20th March)
YouTube:
- Youtube will allow you to add Youtube Shorts thumbnails on iOS.
- Youtube adds new metrics for multi-language audio & feature for Shorts Audio page sharing.
- Youtube launches Multi-view for Youtube TV Users.
Snapchat:
- Snapchat adds new content controls to its parental control feature.
LinkedIn:
- LinkedIn launched new AI features like profile summary feature, Job description & more.
- LinkedIn launched “Podcast Academy” to help podcasters to do better at it.
Reddit:
- Reddit was down for more than 5 hours this week across all formats.
Pinterest:
- Pinterest adds new safety features for users after NBC news investigation.
- Pinterest & Northwestern Mutual partner to do a content partnership for financial content on platform.
- A Interview with Pinterest Country manager you need to read.
- Pinterest partners with Dotdash Meredith on exclusive video content deal.
Microsoft:
- Microsoft Bing AI is available for everyone, waitlist is gone.
- Microsoft shares 5-started prompts for Bing AI.
- Microsoft Doctor and Clinic Ads are now available in Open beta.
- Microsoft adds AI tools to Outlook, Word & other apps.
Marketing:
- Discord adds 16 new themes for Nitro subscribers.
- Semrush ended 2022 with 95k customers & 35% increase in revenue.
- Netflix is Reviewing its Ad strategy considering ‘build or buy’.
- Initiative named Adweek Global media agency of the year.
- Roku, Bestbuy promises greater CTV precision through retail media pact.
- Discord reverses policy changes after AI backlash.
- FTC is asking social media platforms & streaming services info on misleading Ads.
2023.03.22 17:27 MaizieLifts Sunday Waitlist
Does anyone have any info on Sunday waitlist tickets? How likely is it that you'll get a ticket. Do they just hold a certain amount for 4 day passes and if those don't sell out then they open up the waitlist?
submitted by MaizieLifts to SonicTempleFestival [link] [comments]
2023.03.22 17:25 visionjm The story of Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva: how a Great Bodhisattva from Sukhavati came back to the Saha World to save sentient beings
During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there were eight Taoist practitioners who gathered together to cultivate and study the path of immortality. Once, they gathered at a ritual site and performed a ritual to invite a deity to descend and grant them the secret of immortality.
As expected, a "deity" responded to their invitation and descended. Using the method of divination, the eight people asked the "deity" many questions about the past, present, future, and fortune. The "deity" answered every question accurately, gradually gaining the trust of the eight people.
After many rounds of questioning, the "deity" suddenly advised the eight people to practice Buddha recitation. The eight people asked, "Is Buddha recitation a good practice?" The "deity" replied, "Yes, it is the best practice." They then asked, "How should we recite the Buddha's name?" The "deity" replied, "Recite 'Namo Amituofo.'"
Finally, the "deity" revealed its true identity to the eight people. It was not a "deity" at all, but rather the Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing (觉明妙行菩萨).
During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing was born into a very poor family. He made a great vow, saying, "Due to my past karma, I have suffered such painful retribution. If I cannot see Amitabha and be reborn in the Sukhavati, even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will never give up." After making this vow, he spent seven days and nights single-mindedly reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha. Finally, he saw Amitabha Buddha, received a prediction from the Buddha, and passed away peacefully at the age of 75, being reborn in Sukhavati.
After being reborn, Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing made a vow to return to the Saha World to save sentient beings. In the sixth year of the Tianjian reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, an emanation of Jue Ming Miao Xing entered the monastic life at the Jingyin Monastery in the Eastern Capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty and became a great bhikshu. He lived at the foot of the Jiming Mountain to avoid the chaos of war. At that time, he had eight disciples who practiced with him, but they were separated due to the war. Two years later, the Bodhisattva passed away in the Wu Lin Tianzhu monastery.
Later on, there was another life where Bodhisattva Jue Ming appeared in the era of Emperor Xizong of Tang. He was the eldest son of Prince Xian of Qinghe and later became a monk. At that time, there were still eight disciples following him in practice, who were the same eight disciples who had lost touch with him in their past life.
After more than eight hundred years had passed, these eight disciples were still wandering in the sea of samsara without liberation. It wasn't until the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty that these eight disciples gathered together again and began practicing Taoism and seeking enlightenment. Yes, they were the same eight practitioners mentioned at the beginning of the story. Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing and these disciples had developed an extremely deep relationship in their past lives. He protected and cared for them, and vowed to help them achieve liberation.
In this life, the karmic seeds for their liberation finally ripened. Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing carefully taught these eight individuals the method of reciting the Buddha's name, and instructed them to recite the Buddha's name to be reborn in the Pure Land. The teachings of this Bodhisattva were compiled by his disciples into a book known as the "Definite Pointers to the Western Pure Land" (西方确指), which was later greatly praised, certified and recommended by Grandmaster Yin Guang. This book includes many teachings on the practice of reciting the Buddha's name, such as the saying, "Speak less, recite more; Concentrate on recitation, attain the Dharma body."
In this book, Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva said, "Good man, in the past I attained a wondrous and profound enlightened mind, which led me to illuminate all the Buddha-lands and all beings equally. With this wondrous and perfect enlightened mind, I initiated immeasurable and marvelous actions, benefiting all sentient beings. Therefore, Amitabha Buddha has bestowed upon me the name 'Jue Ming Miao Xing', which means 'enlightenment of the wondrous actions'."
Continuing the story, the Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing instructed the eldest of the group to go find Master San Mei (Samadhi) and become a monk under his guidance. Master San Mai was a famous monk of the Vinaya School at that time. When the eldest disciple met San Mei, he asked him, "Who sent you to me?" The leader then told him about Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva's instructions. San Mei was skeptical and said to the eldest, "Whether this Bodhisattva is real or fake, we will know after a test. Go back and ask him to compose a verse on the topic of the moon."
The leader then went back and relayed the message to the Bodhisattva. Upon hearing this, the Bodhisattva immediately composed the following verse:
After seeing the verse, San Mei was convinced and said, "This is definitely a true Bodhisattva." He then immediately ordained the leader. Later, all eight of them were reborn in the Pure Land.
As it says in the Commentary on Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Pure Land by Master Tan Luan:
The story of Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva guiding and helping his disciples to be reborn in the Pure Land from life to life is the best example of this passage.
Told by Master Zong Dao
Source: the book "Definite Pointers to the Western Pure Land" (西方确指)
submitted by visionjm to PureLand [link] [comments]
As expected, a "deity" responded to their invitation and descended. Using the method of divination, the eight people asked the "deity" many questions about the past, present, future, and fortune. The "deity" answered every question accurately, gradually gaining the trust of the eight people.
After many rounds of questioning, the "deity" suddenly advised the eight people to practice Buddha recitation. The eight people asked, "Is Buddha recitation a good practice?" The "deity" replied, "Yes, it is the best practice." They then asked, "How should we recite the Buddha's name?" The "deity" replied, "Recite 'Namo Amituofo.'"
Finally, the "deity" revealed its true identity to the eight people. It was not a "deity" at all, but rather the Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing (觉明妙行菩萨).
During the reign of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing was born into a very poor family. He made a great vow, saying, "Due to my past karma, I have suffered such painful retribution. If I cannot see Amitabha and be reborn in the Sukhavati, even if I have to sacrifice my life, I will never give up." After making this vow, he spent seven days and nights single-mindedly reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha. Finally, he saw Amitabha Buddha, received a prediction from the Buddha, and passed away peacefully at the age of 75, being reborn in Sukhavati.
After being reborn, Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing made a vow to return to the Saha World to save sentient beings. In the sixth year of the Tianjian reign of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, an emanation of Jue Ming Miao Xing entered the monastic life at the Jingyin Monastery in the Eastern Capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty and became a great bhikshu. He lived at the foot of the Jiming Mountain to avoid the chaos of war. At that time, he had eight disciples who practiced with him, but they were separated due to the war. Two years later, the Bodhisattva passed away in the Wu Lin Tianzhu monastery.
Later on, there was another life where Bodhisattva Jue Ming appeared in the era of Emperor Xizong of Tang. He was the eldest son of Prince Xian of Qinghe and later became a monk. At that time, there were still eight disciples following him in practice, who were the same eight disciples who had lost touch with him in their past life.
After more than eight hundred years had passed, these eight disciples were still wandering in the sea of samsara without liberation. It wasn't until the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty that these eight disciples gathered together again and began practicing Taoism and seeking enlightenment. Yes, they were the same eight practitioners mentioned at the beginning of the story. Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing and these disciples had developed an extremely deep relationship in their past lives. He protected and cared for them, and vowed to help them achieve liberation.
In this life, the karmic seeds for their liberation finally ripened. Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing carefully taught these eight individuals the method of reciting the Buddha's name, and instructed them to recite the Buddha's name to be reborn in the Pure Land. The teachings of this Bodhisattva were compiled by his disciples into a book known as the "Definite Pointers to the Western Pure Land" (西方确指), which was later greatly praised, certified and recommended by Grandmaster Yin Guang. This book includes many teachings on the practice of reciting the Buddha's name, such as the saying, "Speak less, recite more; Concentrate on recitation, attain the Dharma body."
In this book, Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva said, "Good man, in the past I attained a wondrous and profound enlightened mind, which led me to illuminate all the Buddha-lands and all beings equally. With this wondrous and perfect enlightened mind, I initiated immeasurable and marvelous actions, benefiting all sentient beings. Therefore, Amitabha Buddha has bestowed upon me the name 'Jue Ming Miao Xing', which means 'enlightenment of the wondrous actions'."
Continuing the story, the Bodhisattva Jue Ming Miao Xing instructed the eldest of the group to go find Master San Mei (Samadhi) and become a monk under his guidance. Master San Mai was a famous monk of the Vinaya School at that time. When the eldest disciple met San Mei, he asked him, "Who sent you to me?" The leader then told him about Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva's instructions. San Mei was skeptical and said to the eldest, "Whether this Bodhisattva is real or fake, we will know after a test. Go back and ask him to compose a verse on the topic of the moon."
The leader then went back and relayed the message to the Bodhisattva. Upon hearing this, the Bodhisattva immediately composed the following verse:
"The moonlight holds a thousand worlds,
Reflecting boundless forms and dispelling confusion.
Know that the true nature is without duality, with its reward body adorned and unchanged,
but only manifest changes in accordance to sentient beings' roots."
After seeing the verse, San Mei was convinced and said, "This is definitely a true Bodhisattva." He then immediately ordained the leader. Later, all eight of them were reborn in the Pure Land.
As it says in the Commentary on Vasubandhu's Treatise on the Pure Land by Master Tan Luan:
"Therefore, one aspires: 'May there be countless great assemblies of Bodhisattvas throughout our land, who remain immovable in their original state, yet extend themselves throughout the ten directions in various emanations, practicing according to reality and constantly performing the activities of a Buddha.' It is just as the sun, while located in the sky, reflects itself in hundreds of rivers. Is the sun here on the ground, or there in the sky?"
The story of Jue Ming Miao Xing Bodhisattva guiding and helping his disciples to be reborn in the Pure Land from life to life is the best example of this passage.
Told by Master Zong Dao
Source: the book "Definite Pointers to the Western Pure Land" (西方确指)
2023.03.22 17:24 Southern-Soulshine Stephen Smith Case Files: The Report That Launched The Murder Investigation ~ FITS News
Stephen Smith Case Files: The Report That Launched The Murder Investigation
An old case file … and new leads.by FITSNews March 22, 2023
All week, my news outlet has been releasing documents and other materials tied to our ongoing investigation into the July 8, 2015 murder of Stephen Smith of Hampton, South Carolina.
Today’s document drop is perhaps the most significant as it comes at an incredibly important moment in the ongoing investigation into Smith’s murder – which was prominently featured in the hit Netflix documentary, ’Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.’
“Stephen Smith’s death has haunted a South Carolina community for years – but it was a Netflix documentary, released around the same time as the double murder trial involving a prominent family, that revived attention to the case,” reporter Andrea Cavallier noted for The (U.K.) Daily Mail.
To recap: Smith’s body was dumped in the middle of Sandy Run Road near Crocketville, S.C. in the early morning hours of July 8, 2015 – where it was discovered by a passing motorist (a tow truck driver) at approximately 4:00 a.m. EDT.
Initially misclassified as a vehicular hit-and-run, the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) opened a homicide investigation into Smith’s death shortly after the savage slayings of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021 at Moselle – the Murdaugh family’s 1,700-acre hunting property straddling the Salkehatchie River on the border of Colleton and Hampton counties.
Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh was convicted of those killings and sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
There has been a lot of discussion as to what prompted SLED to open that homicide probe. Today, the public will get to view the file that led them to do so … the original 2015 S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) “Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team” (MAIT) report into Smith’s death.
Contrary to popular perception, SLED’s investigation into Stephen Smith’s death was not based on any evidence or information obtained at Moselle – but rather the agency obtaining a copy of the MAIT report.
“Anyone who reads that file knows it was not a hit-and-run,” one law enforcement source told me this week. “But even if it was a hit-and-run, it’s still a vehicular homicide.” As you will see, the Murdaugh name is ALL OVER this case file .pdf… and Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith of Barnwell, S.C., has made it abundantly clear she believes Murdaugh’s son, 26-year-old Buster Murdaugh was somehow involved in the murder.
Buster Murdaugh issued a statement earlier this week denying any involvement in Smith’s killing, decrying any suggestion to the contrary as a “vicious rumor.”
As I mentioned, the release of these documents comes at a pivotal moment in the investigation. This week, SLED chief Mark Keel confirmed to Sandy Smith that his agency was treating her son’s death as a homicide. Keel also told Smith’s new attorney, Eric Bland, that SLED was devoting additional resources to solving his murder.
. . .
FILE 1: SANDY SMITH’S LETTER IMPLICATING BUSTER MURDAUGH
FILE 2: THE FIRST AUTOPSY
FILE 3: THE HIGHWAY PATROL REPORT
. . .Bland and his law partner, Ronnie Richter, are running their own investigation into Smith’s death. That inquiry includes the potential exhumation of Smith’s body for the purposes of conducting an independent review of the controversial autopsy performed on July 8, 2015 by Erin Presnell, a forensic pathologist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).
This news outlet published Presnell’s original autopsy report yesterday as part of our ongoing coverage of this case.
Presnell’s findings are what led to the official misclassification of Smith’s death as a hit-and-run – effectively shutting down law enforcement inquiries into other potential causes. Presnell reached her controversial conclusion even though there was zero evidence of a vehicular strike on the roadway where Smith’s body was found.
“I saw no vehicle debris, skid marks or injuries consistent with someone being struck by a vehicle,” SCHP trooper D.B. Rowell wrote in his report describing the crime scene. “We see no evidence to suggest the victim was struck by a vehicle.”
Another SCHP investigator who walked the scene found “no evidence of car parts or pieces” on the scene, and noted the location of Smith’s body in the middle of the roadway was inconsistent with a vehicular strike.
In light of this controversy, I have consistently supported the exhumation of Smith’s body and the independent autopsy review now being advocated by Bland and Richter. In fact I penned a column over a year ago on this very subject.
“It is abundantly clear an independent review of Presnell’s autopsy of Stephen Smith must be conducted … up to and including the exhumation of Smith’s body from its resting place in Gooding Cemetery in Crocketville, S.C.,” I wrote last February. “Such a drastic step may be the only way to start uncovering the truth.”
Uncovering the truth could lead us down some dark paths, though …
As I have noted in previous reports, Smith was engaged in what can charitably be described as “high-risk behavior,” including numerous illicit liaisons detailed in files extracted from at least one personal electronic device purportedly used by Smith (and in his possession) around the time of his death.
Bland and Richter have indicated they plan on investigating Smith’s communications in the weeks and days leading up to his murder. Will they be examining all of those files as well?
“Everyone assumed it was the Murdaughs,” one Hampton, S.C. source told me last fall. “But there were a lot of people in (Stephen Smith’s) little black book.”
There were, indeed …
And while SLED does not believe any Murdaugh family members were directly involved in Smith’s murder, the specter of the family’s influence still hangs over the investigation – including two individuals currently believed to be the top suspects in Smith’s killing.
Smith also spent much of the weekend before he died with an individual linked closely to Alex Murdaugh and convicted fraudster Russell Lafitte– a Hampton, S.C. convenience store owner by the name of Kash Patel.
“The only people he talked about was he was hanging around … the guy named Kash,” Sandy Smith told SCHP investigators during a July 17, 2015 interview. “That was really his only friends in Hampton.”
Smith added that Patel and her son had taken a trip to Hilton Head Island shortly before his death.
“The guy named Kash that owns the (gas station) right there in Varnville,” Smith continued. “Stephen used to talk about him, they … they were all friends. It was a group of them and they would go have parties or something.”
Patel was referenced by Laffitte in a February 24, 2022 deposition conducted by Amy Hill, a Columbia, S.C. attorney appointed to help oversee Murdaugh’s financial assets in connection with a pending civil case.
According to Laffitte, he and Murdaugh would cash checks at the gas station owned by Patel’s family.
“If I needed $1,000 to cash at 10:00 (p.m.) at night, I’d say, hey, Kash, I need you to cash a check for me for $1,000,” Laffitte said during the deposition. “He would do it.”
According to our sources, Keel called Bland on Tuesday to discuss progress made in the investigation – as well as to talk about the potential exhumation of Smith’s remains.
“SLED officials have revealed that they did not need to exhume Stephen Smith’s body to convince them that his death was a homicide,” Bland and Richter said in a statement. “However, they will be present and participate in any exhumation of Stephen’s body to gather more evidence. We are committed to finding out what really happened, and getting the peace and justice the Smith family deserves.”
This news outlet is also committed to finding out what really happened to Smith – which is more important now than ever given the factionalism that has been driving public discussion of this case.
“The job of a journalist is to follow the the truth … wherever it leads and however uncomfortable that journey may become,” I wrote earlier this month. “Anything less than that is a disservice to the truth and to the memory of all victims.”
2023.03.22 17:24 Born-Egg8352 Graduating in a couple months, but too scared to let close family know for fear of failing
I'm 26[F] and I'll be graduating college in May with a bachelor's in computer science. I've been in college since right after I graduated high school in 2015, first as an acting major for a couple of years and then a cs major after decided that I no longer loved acting.
A lot has happened during this time and I have needed to take several semesters off due to family problems, health issues, and needing to save up money to pay for college. I have struggled a lot to make it this far, but I really started to hit my stride my junior and the first part of my senior years. Things really started to click for me and I finally felt like I belonged in the program. But things started to change this semester. I've never felt so lost and under qualified to be in a class before, but I am really struggling with 2 of my 4 classes. I have been getting additional help when I can and spend hours just trying to understand the material. Thankfully, one of the classes doesn't have an midterms or finals, but the other class has the majority of the grade dependent of the midterm and final. I've already taken the midterm for the class and got a final score of 69.5%. I studied for hours and made so many notes, and the exam itself was open notes! But I've never been a very good test taker and get so anxious and fixated on certain problems that I tend to run out of time.
But anyways, the graduation ceremony is the day after finals week. I'm incredibly nervous that if I let my close family know and they attend the ceremony, I'll end up finding out later that I failed an exam, didn't pass a class and didn't technically have the requirements to graduate in the first place.
I really don't know what to do. I feel like I will be saving myself some embarrassment by not letting my family know in case something like that does happen, but I know that they would really get their feelings hurt if they find out that I did graduate without telling them about it.
Any advice?
submitted by Born-Egg8352 to Advice [link] [comments]
A lot has happened during this time and I have needed to take several semesters off due to family problems, health issues, and needing to save up money to pay for college. I have struggled a lot to make it this far, but I really started to hit my stride my junior and the first part of my senior years. Things really started to click for me and I finally felt like I belonged in the program. But things started to change this semester. I've never felt so lost and under qualified to be in a class before, but I am really struggling with 2 of my 4 classes. I have been getting additional help when I can and spend hours just trying to understand the material. Thankfully, one of the classes doesn't have an midterms or finals, but the other class has the majority of the grade dependent of the midterm and final. I've already taken the midterm for the class and got a final score of 69.5%. I studied for hours and made so many notes, and the exam itself was open notes! But I've never been a very good test taker and get so anxious and fixated on certain problems that I tend to run out of time.
But anyways, the graduation ceremony is the day after finals week. I'm incredibly nervous that if I let my close family know and they attend the ceremony, I'll end up finding out later that I failed an exam, didn't pass a class and didn't technically have the requirements to graduate in the first place.
I really don't know what to do. I feel like I will be saving myself some embarrassment by not letting my family know in case something like that does happen, but I know that they would really get their feelings hurt if they find out that I did graduate without telling them about it.
Any advice?
2023.03.22 17:21 MjolnirPants Jerry and the Apocalypse: Part 54
Part 53
TW: Intense, masochistic sexuality.
Caliope, Clever Little Shit
Caliope sat in the back of the transport, still parked in front of the fancy house somewhere in south LA. Finally, she had her hands cuffed in front of her body, and she could reach her crotch. She dug fingers in her panties and inside of herself, reaching deep, into her posterior fornix. The thrill of stimulation there barely registered, even though it was her favorite spot for a cock or dildo to hit. She was too angry.
She pushed hard, twisting at the cuffs until she fit her entire hand inside of herself, and she could finally reach the scar. It had been there for years, waiting for this exact opportunity.
She dug her fingernails in, the sensitive tissue sending howling signals of pain to her brain, where her own psychology twisted them into signals of pleasure. Blood flowed as she scratched and clawed at herself, but she eventually found what she was looking for. Flesh parted, revealing a small, artificial lump.
She seized in in slippery fingers and pulled it out. It was a tiny handcuff key, with a tiny bit of her own brand of magic stored inside of it, wrapped in layers of cling-wrap. She quickly unwrapped it as blood soaked through her panties and smeared the seat.
She finally got it unwrapped and wasted no time unlocking her handcuffs. The bleeding did not concern her, she knew she would heal rapidly once she was done. She touched the key to the collar around her throat and felt the relief as its magic failed. She quickly used the sharpened tooth on the key to saw through the strap of the collar.
Her own magic filled her, and she let some of it turn to healing. She turned some more into physical strength. Then she checked the doors.
Locked, of course. The DCM was not known for ignoring non-magical security measures. She saw the two officers moving towards her vehicle, and decided that violence was the way to go. She placed her hands in her lap and waited.
They climbed in and started the vehicle.
"Listen," the driver said. "Here's how this works. You don't give us any problems, we don't give you any problems, okay?"
She nodded. "I understand," she said. "No problems."
"Good. We're probably gonna hit a drive-thru on the way. You can get something if you're hungry," the passenger said. Caliope nodded. "Thank you," she said, demurely. A drive-thru would be the perfect time to strike.
She sat in the back quietly as they drove her north. Around Anaheim, they pulled into a Jack in the Box, stopping in front of the menu. "Figure out what you want," the passenger said, turning to face her. "It's my treat."
Caliope smiled at him. He smiled back, then turned to face forward, and that's when Caliope struck.
She felt like she'd gotten a raw deal, the last time. She had never really gotten the chance to fight, except when she faced off with that psycho lunatic who'd surprised her and beaten her to within an inch of her life before she even understood what was happening. She had been training to fight for years and years, and yet when the time came, she managed to catch the guy who was, according to everything she understood, out standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the gods themselves.
But these two, they were former soldiers or cops. Not demigods, not magical beings of immense power.
She surged forward and grabbed the driver by the head, digging fingers into his eye sockets. The man let loose a howl that brought a smile to her face as she blinded him and slammed his head against the seat rest. She brought her feet up and wedged them against the back of his seat even as the passenger spun, a can of paper spray coming up. She ignored him, even as the magical shield triggered by the can popped into place on the man's face and tried -unsuccessfully, thanks to her fingers- to form over the driver's face.
The man let loose and the liquid splattered her face, immediately causing an intense burning sensation. She shuddered as the pain made her cum and redoubled her efforts. With magically enhanced strength, it didn't take long to bend the headrest back, hyperextending the man's neck. His struggles abruptly stopped as she felt something pop in his body and he slumped against her.
The passenger had apparently realized that the pepper spray was just this side of worthless and drawn his sidearm. He thrust it towards he, and she had just enough time to duck her head and seize his wrist before it went off.
The sound was deafening in the enclosed space. Caliope's ears rang as she squeezed the man's wrist and slammed it into his own headrest. He reached back with his free hand and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking forward and slamming her face into the back of his seat. She felt her nose break and another orgasm swept through her as she grabbed the hand holding her head.
She slammed his wrist again and again, and finally he dropped the gun. She tried to catch it, but missed and it clattered to the floor. She reached down for it, but the man's grip on her hair kept her from it. She strained against him, reaching for the gun.
His right hand vanished, then she felt a heavy impact in her side. She glanced down to see the man drawing the four-inch blade of a combat knife out of her ribs. The impact began to throb and burn as she whipped her head around and warded his knife off with one hand, still straining for the gun with the other.
The knife darted and slashed, opening her arm in two places. She brushed the gun with her fingertips, shifting it. Caliope sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the burning in her side and her arm that made her want to touch herself, and yanked down hard on the hand holding her hair. Her scalp erupted into more burning as he yanked a large clump of hair out by the roots, but she could now reach the gun.
She picked it up and pressed it to the back of the seat, squeezing the trigger until the slide locked back. The cracks of the shots were loud, but her still-ringing ears muted them. The guard slumped, his hands going limp. He dropped the knife into the foot well.
Caliope leaned back and gave in to the urge that had been with her ever since the pepper spray struck her. She wiped her face, wetting her hands and then stuck them both in her panties, coming immediately as her vulva began to burn. She played with herself for several minutes, until she couldn't afford to remain here any longer. Someone in the restaurant or the buildings nearby would have heard the gunshots and the local police might be on the way already.
She grabbed the driver and hauled him into the back, then climbed up to the driver's seat. She put the vehicle, still idling, back into drive and spun it around, pulling back out of the parking lot.
She glanced at the body next to her. "You don't give me any trouble, I won't give you any trouble," she said with a grin.
----
A few miles later, she pulled into a mostly empty parking lot in front of a strip mall. She turned onto the road as she reached over and patted the pockets of the dead guard. She found his cellphone in his pants pocket and pulled it out. She used his phone to unlock it and opened the web browser, typing in a URL that she knew by heart. It took a second to load, and when it did, it immediately loaded a chat room.
U there? she typed and hit send. She waited.
Less than ten seconds passed before the indicator that someone was typing flashed on. A few seconds after that, a new message appeared.
Waiting on u, it said. Caliope grinned.
I no where theres guns an shit, Caliope typed, pausing to check the history of the vehicle's on-board GPS. in san clemente. im in anaheim rn
The typing icon appeared, cycled through its animation and vanished.
Coming there where r u? the chat read. Caliope's grin widened. She hit back on the GPS until it showed her current location, giving the intersection at the top.
Euclid st n katelia ave, in a car w dcm stickers by the arbys
A second later, the icon appeared and then vanished before it could animate.
Omw, the chat read.
Caliope turned and wrestled the other guard's body into the back, then got out and opened the rear hatch. She found raincoats, rifles, a shotgun and assorted gear, mostly tools that would be useful in a rescue situation. She grabbed a raincoat and a blanket and then closed it up.
She threw the blanket over the bodies in the back, then stripped out of her bloody clothes and threw the raincoat on. It was translucent, but she didn't care. She checked their pockets and then the center console of the vehicle, finding a few bills in their wallets and a mass of change in the center console. She took it and walked into a laundromat that was part of the strip mall.
She washed her clothes, smiling at the men who kept sneaking peeks at her body through the raincoat. After they came out of the dryer, she stripped right there and pulled them on. Two of the younger men cheered for her when she pulled the raincoat off.
She left and went to sit in the driver's seat of the DCM vehicle. She waited for another thirty minutes, until a beat-up old Toyota pulled into the spot next to her, and her sister and two men climbed out.
She rolled down the window. "Hulks or ninjas?" she asked the two men. Both sneered at her. "Hulks," one of them said, sounding offended. She smiled. "Good. There's only four guards left to watch the place until the cops come. If we hurry, this should be easy."
----
"Griselda, are you done?" Caliope asked, sticking her head into the kitchen. Griselda sat there, in front of the last survivor of their assault on Garcia's home. He was slumped over, insensate, the hand she had duct-taped to the table by the wrist flayed open to expose muscle and tendons.
Griselda pouted at her sister. "He fainted," she said.
"We're all geared up," Caliope told her. "We're ready to decide what to do."
Griselda stood. She picked up a sewing needle from the table and jammed it into the man's shoulder as she passed him by, but he didn't react. He really was out cold.
The two hulks, Johnny and Bob, stood in the living room, next to the shimmering portal.
"So where we going? We splitting up, or sticking together?" Bob asked.
"Well," Griselda said. "We don't really have any money. Just a couple hundred bucks. And we're on the run, so we need money."
"These guns are worth a pretty penny," Johnny said, hefting a shotgun. Caliope shook her head. "They're not worth enough for us to split up and vanish, the way we need to."
"Duke told us what to do," Bob pointed out.
"He goes by 'Dylan' now," Griselda told him, glancing at Caliope for confirmation. She nodded.
"He did, but the question is whether we want to work for him again," Caliope said.
"I don't give a shit who I work for, as long as I get paid," Johnny said.
"Duke was always good about making sure we got paid," Bob agreed.
Caliope was less sure. She looked at her sister, who shrugged. "Why not?" Griselda asked. "I mean, it's right there. The dead world. We don't even have to look for it, it's right in front of us."
Caliope nodded. Finding the dead world had always been the 'tricky part' of Duke-er, Dylan's emergency plan. But there it was, right through that portal. With that problem solved, the idea of teaming back up with their old boss was a bit more appealing.
"Fuck it," Caliope said. Griselda grinned at her. "Let's go."
They all walked through the portal, checking behind them to make sure the way back was still there as they emerged onto a concrete road, surrounded by concrete buildings and dried-out corpses. It was, the dark ritual room a shocking contrast to the midday sun around them.
"Okay, now which way?" Johnny asked after they'd all walked through. As if in response, a thunderous roar sounded from off in the distance.
"Towards the monster," Caliope said. Griselda took her hand, digging her nails in, making Caliope whimper. She slipped a hand down the back of her sister's pants and slipped a finger into her ass, wiggling it. They smiled at each and turned to share a deep kiss for a moment before they took off, following the two men.
They trudged through the city for over an hour, not seeing any sign of whatever had done the roaring. Caliope noted the bodies and made a game of trying to guess what they'd been doing when they died. She soon roped Griselda into it, and they began guessing out loud. Before too long, Johnny and Bob joined in.
"Those two were fucking, for sure," Johnny said, pointing to a pair of corpses, one piled on the other.
"With their pants on?" Caliope asked skeptically.
"Fine, but those two were definitely fucking," Bob said, stopping and pointing down an alley. Caliope looked, and sure enough, another pair of corpses were piled there. The one on top had pants around its ankles, and the one on the bottom had a skirt that was hiked up.
They all stopped to laugh at that pair, killed in the middle of their tryst.
Johnny walked over and began messing with the corpses before throwing his head back and laughing. Griselda crouched down next to him, then began to giggle and raised the man's hand to slap her palm against it.
"What?" Caliope asked?
"She's got a toy in her asshole, and the dude is still inside her," Johnny explained, wiping tears from his eyes. Caliope grinned. "Adventurous," she quipped.
"Jesus," Bob said, checking it out for himself. "How fucking jaded do you gotta be to have to get your rocks off by getting DPed in public?"
Griselda jabbed him in the ribs, hard. "Don't mock people's kinks," she said.
Bob turned a look on her. "Oh, you like getting DPed in public? Maybe Johnny and I could help you out a bit," he said. Caliope noted a certain gleam in his eyes and decided to speak up.
"How could you do that, Bob, after my sister cuts your dick off?"
"Heh," Bob chuffed, straightening up. "I know you two have your tricks, but I wouldn't need to get big to toss you both around like rag dolls. Trust me, if I decide to fuck you, I'm gonna fuck you."
"Jesus fuck," Johnny objected. "Shut the fuck up, Bob. If you try to rape one of them, I'll help them beat the shit out of you. We've got more important shit to worry about, right now."
Caliope nodded in agreement. She was beginning to like Johnny. He had that big, blonde gringo thing going for him, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.
"Johnny's right, Bob," she said. "And we can target our silence, you know. We could stop you from getting big, while letting him."
Bob laughed, though she detected a tinge of nerve in his tone. "You guys are way too uptight. Can't even tell when you're being fucked with."
"Well, let's stop fucking around," Caliope said. "In fact, we should stop talking, so we can hear if anything's approaching. I'd hate for whatever made that roar to catch us flat footed, talking about whose dick is going in whose asshole."
"My dick," Griselda said, "Goes in everyone's asshole." She stood and brushed sand off her pants, walking away from the fateful lovers.
Johnny joined her, leaving Bob to trail behind as they set off again.
They walked the rest of the afternoon in silence. As the sun set, they stopped to confer about what to do, deciding to stop in an intact building. They had Bob go out and gather grass and leaves and crumbling sticks to make a fire with, and then they heated up some of the camp food they'd found.
After eating, they cleared spaces on the floor and set up their sleeping bags, then went to sleep.
Caliope waited until she could hear three voices snoring before she climbed out of her bag. She stripped down to nothing and walked out of the building. The night sky looked different, she thought. The stars were different and the milky way was thicker and less bright.
She found the bench she'd spotted on their way in. It had small, sharp looking fins protruding from the arms which had caught her eye. She placed a leg on the seat and lowered herself, grinding her hips back and forth. The fins tore at the skin of her vulva, the tugging, burning pain making her body tingle. Blood dripped onto the rusty metal, and she wondered idly if she'd get tetanus from it.
The idea excited her. It was suppose to be a painful condition.
She didn't hear the footsteps approaching over her own whimpers and gasps. She didn't know anyone was behind her until she felt a pair of large hands grab her hips.
She spun, expecting to see Bob there, but it was Johnny. She smiled, seeing him.
"You want to help?" she asked.
"I'm not sure I can, now... You're all torn up," he said. She looked down to see the blood in her pubic hair and on the bench's arm.
"I heal," she said. "Like Dylan used to. It's part of the magic."
"Wish they'd given us that part," Johnny said. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. She nipped at his upper lip, making him pull back. "Don't bite," he said.
"How else do I get you to bite back?" she asked playfully. She ground herself against the bench again, feeling the slight pop as each fin caught and then came loose of her flesh.
"Ask nicely," Johnny said.
Caliope grinned, then contorted her face into a parody of pleading. "Please bite me," she whispered. Johnny eyed her skeptically for a moment, then suddenly dipped his head and sank his teeth into her neck. She gasped as he did and moaned.
"Harder," she whispered. His teeth clamped down more.
"Harder," she murmured. She felt the sudden release of tension as he broke the skin.
"Harder," she said. He let go, and she could see blood on his lips. He lifted her up and bit down on one of her nipples, and the heat of an orgasm swept her mind away for a moment. When she regained her senses, she cried "Harder!"
He flipped her around and dropped her onto the arm of the bench. It jabbed painfully into her stomach and ripped skin at the tips of each fin. She came again, shuddering as Johnny pressed one hand down on her back. She felt him roughly shove a finger into her ass, followed by a second, making her moan.
As she felt his knuckles slip inside of her, another pair of hands, smaller and softer, grabbed her head and pushed it down, smacking her cheek against the backrest. Caliope caught a glimpse of her sister between the metal bars and grinned. Nobody could hurt her quite like Griselda.
"Here," Griselda said. "Let me show you what she likes."
Caliope melted away in an ocean of delicious agony.
----
Bob seemed oblivious to what he had missed out on the next morning. Caliope moved slowly, not because any injuries lingered, but because a slight ache remained low in her stomach, and she wanted to savor it.
Johnny managed to avoid getting clingy, which Caliope appreciated. Too many men thought that fucking her meant they were now a couple of some sort, and that she needed catering to. Johnny didn't care. He packed his own bag quickly and then started the fire up again and began cooking, never so much as offering to help either of the sisters with their stuff.
They got packed up, then got some food, and then set off. Caliope was beginning to worry that they might be moving in the wrong direction, but they had no other clues to tell them where to go.
It was shortly after noon, and they had left the city, moved through a small suburb and out into the dead countryside when she heard voices. She brought a hand up, then turned and pressed a finger to her lips. Everybody crouched down, Johnny and Bob readying their guns.
The voices were getting closer, coming from the left side of the road. Caliope crept into the dead trees as quietly as she could, until she could see a break and the shine of another concrete road.
Eventually, they clarified, and Caliope could hear what they were saying.
"It's not that," one voice said, a woman's voice. "All things considered, especially with how fucking promiscuous he is, I don't really care about you two fucking. I care about him. He's been my friend for a while, and he's in a bad place."
"I did not initiate it," a second woman's voice said. "I know what he's going through. I don't want to do anything that would hurt him worse than he's already hurting."
"See, that's the thing," the first voice said. "I don't know that's true. Let me be clear, okay? I don't trust you. I know where you come from, and while I believe that you are your own person, with your own goals and whatever, I know that all of... You, comes from her. And the reason I came here is because I want her dead. I want her to die in agony, and you're a part of her."
"I am not her."
"I believe you. My concern is how much like her you are."
"Are we just going to talk about how little you trust me the whole day?"
"Nope!" the first voice said brightly. "I was just wrapping up. So if you do anything, and I mean anything, that I could possibly see as a betrayal, I'll cut your arms and legs off, stop you from healing, and feed you to Shadow."
"I understand," the second voice said coldly.
"I knew you would," said the first voice as two figured came around a bend on the other road. Both were young women, maybe in their mid twenties. One had jet-black hair with blonde roots pulled back into a ponytail, and was dressed in black tactical gear with goth makeup on. The other also had black hair, but it was longer and let free to fall down her back. She wore body armor over a t-shirt and gray cargo pants. The goth one carried a rifle, and the way her arm was casually draped over the stock suggested that she was very familiar with it.
Caliope froze, knowing that the slightest sound might draw their attention. She crossed her fingers, hoping the others wouldn't give away their presence, either. The two women walked, silent now, down the road, heading in the same direction they were moving in.
She watched them pass. When they vanished, she waited a minute or two to be sure before she returned to find the others gone.
She didn't have long to wonder where they'd gone, though. A moment after she got there, while she was still deciding which way they must have gone, the dead bushes rustled and began to shed leaves. Griselda and the two hulks appeared.
"Why'd you hide?" Caliope asked.
"There was a dude flying around," Johnny said.
"It was him," Griselda hissed, her face a mask of anger.
"The guy from the TV show," Bob added, though Caliope already knew who her sister was referring to. "The one that led the attack on the compound."
"Shit," Caliope cursed.
"What are we going to do?" Griselda demanded. Caliope held up a hand, demanding time to think.
After a moment, she gave voice to her thoughts.
"He has to be with the two I saw. At some point, he's got to land. If we follow them, we could get the jump on them."
Griselda's angry look turned into an eager grin. "I want him, after we kill the other two."
"Shit," Bob said. "If the other two are hot, I want one of them."
"So we'll kill one and capture two," Johnny said. "You recognize these fuckers, what do we have to deal with?"
"Nothing important," Caliope said. "Nothing dangerous, at least not once my sister and I take away their magic."
They all shared in Griselda's eager look, then.
submitted by MjolnirPants to JerryandtheGoddesses [link] [comments]
TW: Intense, masochistic sexuality.
Caliope, Clever Little Shit
Caliope sat in the back of the transport, still parked in front of the fancy house somewhere in south LA. Finally, she had her hands cuffed in front of her body, and she could reach her crotch. She dug fingers in her panties and inside of herself, reaching deep, into her posterior fornix. The thrill of stimulation there barely registered, even though it was her favorite spot for a cock or dildo to hit. She was too angry.
She pushed hard, twisting at the cuffs until she fit her entire hand inside of herself, and she could finally reach the scar. It had been there for years, waiting for this exact opportunity.
She dug her fingernails in, the sensitive tissue sending howling signals of pain to her brain, where her own psychology twisted them into signals of pleasure. Blood flowed as she scratched and clawed at herself, but she eventually found what she was looking for. Flesh parted, revealing a small, artificial lump.
She seized in in slippery fingers and pulled it out. It was a tiny handcuff key, with a tiny bit of her own brand of magic stored inside of it, wrapped in layers of cling-wrap. She quickly unwrapped it as blood soaked through her panties and smeared the seat.
She finally got it unwrapped and wasted no time unlocking her handcuffs. The bleeding did not concern her, she knew she would heal rapidly once she was done. She touched the key to the collar around her throat and felt the relief as its magic failed. She quickly used the sharpened tooth on the key to saw through the strap of the collar.
Her own magic filled her, and she let some of it turn to healing. She turned some more into physical strength. Then she checked the doors.
Locked, of course. The DCM was not known for ignoring non-magical security measures. She saw the two officers moving towards her vehicle, and decided that violence was the way to go. She placed her hands in her lap and waited.
They climbed in and started the vehicle.
"Listen," the driver said. "Here's how this works. You don't give us any problems, we don't give you any problems, okay?"
She nodded. "I understand," she said. "No problems."
"Good. We're probably gonna hit a drive-thru on the way. You can get something if you're hungry," the passenger said. Caliope nodded. "Thank you," she said, demurely. A drive-thru would be the perfect time to strike.
She sat in the back quietly as they drove her north. Around Anaheim, they pulled into a Jack in the Box, stopping in front of the menu. "Figure out what you want," the passenger said, turning to face her. "It's my treat."
Caliope smiled at him. He smiled back, then turned to face forward, and that's when Caliope struck.
She felt like she'd gotten a raw deal, the last time. She had never really gotten the chance to fight, except when she faced off with that psycho lunatic who'd surprised her and beaten her to within an inch of her life before she even understood what was happening. She had been training to fight for years and years, and yet when the time came, she managed to catch the guy who was, according to everything she understood, out standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the gods themselves.
But these two, they were former soldiers or cops. Not demigods, not magical beings of immense power.
She surged forward and grabbed the driver by the head, digging fingers into his eye sockets. The man let loose a howl that brought a smile to her face as she blinded him and slammed his head against the seat rest. She brought her feet up and wedged them against the back of his seat even as the passenger spun, a can of paper spray coming up. She ignored him, even as the magical shield triggered by the can popped into place on the man's face and tried -unsuccessfully, thanks to her fingers- to form over the driver's face.
The man let loose and the liquid splattered her face, immediately causing an intense burning sensation. She shuddered as the pain made her cum and redoubled her efforts. With magically enhanced strength, it didn't take long to bend the headrest back, hyperextending the man's neck. His struggles abruptly stopped as she felt something pop in his body and he slumped against her.
The passenger had apparently realized that the pepper spray was just this side of worthless and drawn his sidearm. He thrust it towards he, and she had just enough time to duck her head and seize his wrist before it went off.
The sound was deafening in the enclosed space. Caliope's ears rang as she squeezed the man's wrist and slammed it into his own headrest. He reached back with his free hand and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking forward and slamming her face into the back of his seat. She felt her nose break and another orgasm swept through her as she grabbed the hand holding her head.
She slammed his wrist again and again, and finally he dropped the gun. She tried to catch it, but missed and it clattered to the floor. She reached down for it, but the man's grip on her hair kept her from it. She strained against him, reaching for the gun.
His right hand vanished, then she felt a heavy impact in her side. She glanced down to see the man drawing the four-inch blade of a combat knife out of her ribs. The impact began to throb and burn as she whipped her head around and warded his knife off with one hand, still straining for the gun with the other.
The knife darted and slashed, opening her arm in two places. She brushed the gun with her fingertips, shifting it. Caliope sucked in a deep breath, ignoring the burning in her side and her arm that made her want to touch herself, and yanked down hard on the hand holding her hair. Her scalp erupted into more burning as he yanked a large clump of hair out by the roots, but she could now reach the gun.
She picked it up and pressed it to the back of the seat, squeezing the trigger until the slide locked back. The cracks of the shots were loud, but her still-ringing ears muted them. The guard slumped, his hands going limp. He dropped the knife into the foot well.
Caliope leaned back and gave in to the urge that had been with her ever since the pepper spray struck her. She wiped her face, wetting her hands and then stuck them both in her panties, coming immediately as her vulva began to burn. She played with herself for several minutes, until she couldn't afford to remain here any longer. Someone in the restaurant or the buildings nearby would have heard the gunshots and the local police might be on the way already.
She grabbed the driver and hauled him into the back, then climbed up to the driver's seat. She put the vehicle, still idling, back into drive and spun it around, pulling back out of the parking lot.
She glanced at the body next to her. "You don't give me any trouble, I won't give you any trouble," she said with a grin.
----
A few miles later, she pulled into a mostly empty parking lot in front of a strip mall. She turned onto the road as she reached over and patted the pockets of the dead guard. She found his cellphone in his pants pocket and pulled it out. She used his phone to unlock it and opened the web browser, typing in a URL that she knew by heart. It took a second to load, and when it did, it immediately loaded a chat room.
U there? she typed and hit send. She waited.
Less than ten seconds passed before the indicator that someone was typing flashed on. A few seconds after that, a new message appeared.
Waiting on u, it said. Caliope grinned.
I no where theres guns an shit, Caliope typed, pausing to check the history of the vehicle's on-board GPS. in san clemente. im in anaheim rn
The typing icon appeared, cycled through its animation and vanished.
Coming there where r u? the chat read. Caliope's grin widened. She hit back on the GPS until it showed her current location, giving the intersection at the top.
Euclid st n katelia ave, in a car w dcm stickers by the arbys
A second later, the icon appeared and then vanished before it could animate.
Omw, the chat read.
Caliope turned and wrestled the other guard's body into the back, then got out and opened the rear hatch. She found raincoats, rifles, a shotgun and assorted gear, mostly tools that would be useful in a rescue situation. She grabbed a raincoat and a blanket and then closed it up.
She threw the blanket over the bodies in the back, then stripped out of her bloody clothes and threw the raincoat on. It was translucent, but she didn't care. She checked their pockets and then the center console of the vehicle, finding a few bills in their wallets and a mass of change in the center console. She took it and walked into a laundromat that was part of the strip mall.
She washed her clothes, smiling at the men who kept sneaking peeks at her body through the raincoat. After they came out of the dryer, she stripped right there and pulled them on. Two of the younger men cheered for her when she pulled the raincoat off.
She left and went to sit in the driver's seat of the DCM vehicle. She waited for another thirty minutes, until a beat-up old Toyota pulled into the spot next to her, and her sister and two men climbed out.
She rolled down the window. "Hulks or ninjas?" she asked the two men. Both sneered at her. "Hulks," one of them said, sounding offended. She smiled. "Good. There's only four guards left to watch the place until the cops come. If we hurry, this should be easy."
----
"Griselda, are you done?" Caliope asked, sticking her head into the kitchen. Griselda sat there, in front of the last survivor of their assault on Garcia's home. He was slumped over, insensate, the hand she had duct-taped to the table by the wrist flayed open to expose muscle and tendons.
Griselda pouted at her sister. "He fainted," she said.
"We're all geared up," Caliope told her. "We're ready to decide what to do."
Griselda stood. She picked up a sewing needle from the table and jammed it into the man's shoulder as she passed him by, but he didn't react. He really was out cold.
The two hulks, Johnny and Bob, stood in the living room, next to the shimmering portal.
"So where we going? We splitting up, or sticking together?" Bob asked.
"Well," Griselda said. "We don't really have any money. Just a couple hundred bucks. And we're on the run, so we need money."
"These guns are worth a pretty penny," Johnny said, hefting a shotgun. Caliope shook her head. "They're not worth enough for us to split up and vanish, the way we need to."
"Duke told us what to do," Bob pointed out.
"He goes by 'Dylan' now," Griselda told him, glancing at Caliope for confirmation. She nodded.
"He did, but the question is whether we want to work for him again," Caliope said.
"I don't give a shit who I work for, as long as I get paid," Johnny said.
"Duke was always good about making sure we got paid," Bob agreed.
Caliope was less sure. She looked at her sister, who shrugged. "Why not?" Griselda asked. "I mean, it's right there. The dead world. We don't even have to look for it, it's right in front of us."
Caliope nodded. Finding the dead world had always been the 'tricky part' of Duke-er, Dylan's emergency plan. But there it was, right through that portal. With that problem solved, the idea of teaming back up with their old boss was a bit more appealing.
"Fuck it," Caliope said. Griselda grinned at her. "Let's go."
They all walked through the portal, checking behind them to make sure the way back was still there as they emerged onto a concrete road, surrounded by concrete buildings and dried-out corpses. It was, the dark ritual room a shocking contrast to the midday sun around them.
"Okay, now which way?" Johnny asked after they'd all walked through. As if in response, a thunderous roar sounded from off in the distance.
"Towards the monster," Caliope said. Griselda took her hand, digging her nails in, making Caliope whimper. She slipped a hand down the back of her sister's pants and slipped a finger into her ass, wiggling it. They smiled at each and turned to share a deep kiss for a moment before they took off, following the two men.
They trudged through the city for over an hour, not seeing any sign of whatever had done the roaring. Caliope noted the bodies and made a game of trying to guess what they'd been doing when they died. She soon roped Griselda into it, and they began guessing out loud. Before too long, Johnny and Bob joined in.
"Those two were fucking, for sure," Johnny said, pointing to a pair of corpses, one piled on the other.
"With their pants on?" Caliope asked skeptically.
"Fine, but those two were definitely fucking," Bob said, stopping and pointing down an alley. Caliope looked, and sure enough, another pair of corpses were piled there. The one on top had pants around its ankles, and the one on the bottom had a skirt that was hiked up.
They all stopped to laugh at that pair, killed in the middle of their tryst.
Johnny walked over and began messing with the corpses before throwing his head back and laughing. Griselda crouched down next to him, then began to giggle and raised the man's hand to slap her palm against it.
"What?" Caliope asked?
"She's got a toy in her asshole, and the dude is still inside her," Johnny explained, wiping tears from his eyes. Caliope grinned. "Adventurous," she quipped.
"Jesus," Bob said, checking it out for himself. "How fucking jaded do you gotta be to have to get your rocks off by getting DPed in public?"
Griselda jabbed him in the ribs, hard. "Don't mock people's kinks," she said.
Bob turned a look on her. "Oh, you like getting DPed in public? Maybe Johnny and I could help you out a bit," he said. Caliope noted a certain gleam in his eyes and decided to speak up.
"How could you do that, Bob, after my sister cuts your dick off?"
"Heh," Bob chuffed, straightening up. "I know you two have your tricks, but I wouldn't need to get big to toss you both around like rag dolls. Trust me, if I decide to fuck you, I'm gonna fuck you."
"Jesus fuck," Johnny objected. "Shut the fuck up, Bob. If you try to rape one of them, I'll help them beat the shit out of you. We've got more important shit to worry about, right now."
Caliope nodded in agreement. She was beginning to like Johnny. He had that big, blonde gringo thing going for him, and he seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.
"Johnny's right, Bob," she said. "And we can target our silence, you know. We could stop you from getting big, while letting him."
Bob laughed, though she detected a tinge of nerve in his tone. "You guys are way too uptight. Can't even tell when you're being fucked with."
"Well, let's stop fucking around," Caliope said. "In fact, we should stop talking, so we can hear if anything's approaching. I'd hate for whatever made that roar to catch us flat footed, talking about whose dick is going in whose asshole."
"My dick," Griselda said, "Goes in everyone's asshole." She stood and brushed sand off her pants, walking away from the fateful lovers.
Johnny joined her, leaving Bob to trail behind as they set off again.
They walked the rest of the afternoon in silence. As the sun set, they stopped to confer about what to do, deciding to stop in an intact building. They had Bob go out and gather grass and leaves and crumbling sticks to make a fire with, and then they heated up some of the camp food they'd found.
After eating, they cleared spaces on the floor and set up their sleeping bags, then went to sleep.
Caliope waited until she could hear three voices snoring before she climbed out of her bag. She stripped down to nothing and walked out of the building. The night sky looked different, she thought. The stars were different and the milky way was thicker and less bright.
She found the bench she'd spotted on their way in. It had small, sharp looking fins protruding from the arms which had caught her eye. She placed a leg on the seat and lowered herself, grinding her hips back and forth. The fins tore at the skin of her vulva, the tugging, burning pain making her body tingle. Blood dripped onto the rusty metal, and she wondered idly if she'd get tetanus from it.
The idea excited her. It was suppose to be a painful condition.
She didn't hear the footsteps approaching over her own whimpers and gasps. She didn't know anyone was behind her until she felt a pair of large hands grab her hips.
She spun, expecting to see Bob there, but it was Johnny. She smiled, seeing him.
"You want to help?" she asked.
"I'm not sure I can, now... You're all torn up," he said. She looked down to see the blood in her pubic hair and on the bench's arm.
"I heal," she said. "Like Dylan used to. It's part of the magic."
"Wish they'd given us that part," Johnny said. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. She nipped at his upper lip, making him pull back. "Don't bite," he said.
"How else do I get you to bite back?" she asked playfully. She ground herself against the bench again, feeling the slight pop as each fin caught and then came loose of her flesh.
"Ask nicely," Johnny said.
Caliope grinned, then contorted her face into a parody of pleading. "Please bite me," she whispered. Johnny eyed her skeptically for a moment, then suddenly dipped his head and sank his teeth into her neck. She gasped as he did and moaned.
"Harder," she whispered. His teeth clamped down more.
"Harder," she murmured. She felt the sudden release of tension as he broke the skin.
"Harder," she said. He let go, and she could see blood on his lips. He lifted her up and bit down on one of her nipples, and the heat of an orgasm swept her mind away for a moment. When she regained her senses, she cried "Harder!"
He flipped her around and dropped her onto the arm of the bench. It jabbed painfully into her stomach and ripped skin at the tips of each fin. She came again, shuddering as Johnny pressed one hand down on her back. She felt him roughly shove a finger into her ass, followed by a second, making her moan.
As she felt his knuckles slip inside of her, another pair of hands, smaller and softer, grabbed her head and pushed it down, smacking her cheek against the backrest. Caliope caught a glimpse of her sister between the metal bars and grinned. Nobody could hurt her quite like Griselda.
"Here," Griselda said. "Let me show you what she likes."
Caliope melted away in an ocean of delicious agony.
----
Bob seemed oblivious to what he had missed out on the next morning. Caliope moved slowly, not because any injuries lingered, but because a slight ache remained low in her stomach, and she wanted to savor it.
Johnny managed to avoid getting clingy, which Caliope appreciated. Too many men thought that fucking her meant they were now a couple of some sort, and that she needed catering to. Johnny didn't care. He packed his own bag quickly and then started the fire up again and began cooking, never so much as offering to help either of the sisters with their stuff.
They got packed up, then got some food, and then set off. Caliope was beginning to worry that they might be moving in the wrong direction, but they had no other clues to tell them where to go.
It was shortly after noon, and they had left the city, moved through a small suburb and out into the dead countryside when she heard voices. She brought a hand up, then turned and pressed a finger to her lips. Everybody crouched down, Johnny and Bob readying their guns.
The voices were getting closer, coming from the left side of the road. Caliope crept into the dead trees as quietly as she could, until she could see a break and the shine of another concrete road.
Eventually, they clarified, and Caliope could hear what they were saying.
"It's not that," one voice said, a woman's voice. "All things considered, especially with how fucking promiscuous he is, I don't really care about you two fucking. I care about him. He's been my friend for a while, and he's in a bad place."
"I did not initiate it," a second woman's voice said. "I know what he's going through. I don't want to do anything that would hurt him worse than he's already hurting."
"See, that's the thing," the first voice said. "I don't know that's true. Let me be clear, okay? I don't trust you. I know where you come from, and while I believe that you are your own person, with your own goals and whatever, I know that all of... You, comes from her. And the reason I came here is because I want her dead. I want her to die in agony, and you're a part of her."
"I am not her."
"I believe you. My concern is how much like her you are."
"Are we just going to talk about how little you trust me the whole day?"
"Nope!" the first voice said brightly. "I was just wrapping up. So if you do anything, and I mean anything, that I could possibly see as a betrayal, I'll cut your arms and legs off, stop you from healing, and feed you to Shadow."
"I understand," the second voice said coldly.
"I knew you would," said the first voice as two figured came around a bend on the other road. Both were young women, maybe in their mid twenties. One had jet-black hair with blonde roots pulled back into a ponytail, and was dressed in black tactical gear with goth makeup on. The other also had black hair, but it was longer and let free to fall down her back. She wore body armor over a t-shirt and gray cargo pants. The goth one carried a rifle, and the way her arm was casually draped over the stock suggested that she was very familiar with it.
Caliope froze, knowing that the slightest sound might draw their attention. She crossed her fingers, hoping the others wouldn't give away their presence, either. The two women walked, silent now, down the road, heading in the same direction they were moving in.
She watched them pass. When they vanished, she waited a minute or two to be sure before she returned to find the others gone.
She didn't have long to wonder where they'd gone, though. A moment after she got there, while she was still deciding which way they must have gone, the dead bushes rustled and began to shed leaves. Griselda and the two hulks appeared.
"Why'd you hide?" Caliope asked.
"There was a dude flying around," Johnny said.
"It was him," Griselda hissed, her face a mask of anger.
"The guy from the TV show," Bob added, though Caliope already knew who her sister was referring to. "The one that led the attack on the compound."
"Shit," Caliope cursed.
"What are we going to do?" Griselda demanded. Caliope held up a hand, demanding time to think.
After a moment, she gave voice to her thoughts.
"He has to be with the two I saw. At some point, he's got to land. If we follow them, we could get the jump on them."
Griselda's angry look turned into an eager grin. "I want him, after we kill the other two."
"Shit," Bob said. "If the other two are hot, I want one of them."
"So we'll kill one and capture two," Johnny said. "You recognize these fuckers, what do we have to deal with?"
"Nothing important," Caliope said. "Nothing dangerous, at least not once my sister and I take away their magic."
They all shared in Griselda's eager look, then.
2023.03.22 17:21 VogzTheWelder 28m associate's degree and an 85 on picat, Can i be a nuke?
So right now i've been looking into the navy, i've currently been trained and certified as a welder but i have found the job prospects to be very underwhelming and i need more experience for the better paying welding jobs in aerospace, nuclear, etc.. I don't see my growth prospects transitioning being where i need to be, to be a home owner in the next 5 years.. Before i was a welder i was an art major who got an associate's degree but ultimately gave up on that pursuit. (i'm very into design and also have knowledge of 3D as well as 2D design and drawing)
I'm looking to make big moves for a possibly new career plan. I've tried two things and i don't see them as a waste of time or that i've failed at them, just that i've focused hard on two skills that i have and expanded my knowledge.. I think the navy would help me either switch majors and go back to college, or train me in something entirely new to help me expand my possible career paths into something higher paying. I have rudimentary knowledge in both automotive and electronics from working on cars and repairing electronics. I have very basic knowledge across many subjects..
I took a picat at a local army recruiting center and i got an 85 which surprised them all cause i actually have a GED instead of a diploma (flunked highschool lol). But i was able to maintain a 3.9 GPA in college as an art major and graduate, so given the right environment and drive i can really excel acedemically. I just really am not big on going into student debt and pivoting to another career via college just yet. I want to think about being a homeowner in the next 5 years. The navy would help me do that...
My question is, although i did well on the picat, i have never set foot in a trig class, calc or physics class. I've always had to train extra hard to be good at math because i'm very ADHD (don't tell the navy that 😂) I spent hours in tutoring every day just to pass college level stats and algebra, but i passed with A's. i did not cheat and i earned that grade fair and square. I did it, but that info is not fresh in my brain. I will have to refresh on math. I'm wondering if with my current skill set, could qualify as a nuke? If not i was looking into aviation repaielectric or steelworker as a career path with the navy. But the main thing that's really calling to me is EMN or ETN.
If i join the navy the biggest thing is, i don't want to walk away from it with just a certification or a piece of paper like college. I want SKILL. I want to have a total grasp of a skill that is in demand and employable, that's a hands on job, A few welding jobs that i've tested for i showed up and simply just did not have enough skill to get hired, and that's because i lack experience. And in order to get experience i need more jobs, so i'm kinda stuck in this catch-22. I can buy a welding machine and practice but that will cost thousands. I need more years practicing that particular form of welding that i'm unfamiliar with.
I want something that requires technical skill, you can't take that away from someone, if they're good at something, they're good. That to me is more important than my degree. I want my skill to speak for itself. With that said i also don't want something too dangerous like underwater welding. I know that's among the highest paying forms of welding but I can tell you right now I'm not cut out for that.
Most importantly... i want to be a homeowner or possibly even a landowner. I'm thinking big for my future. I want to buy some land in the pacific northwest someday and move out there. That's my dream/goal.
submitted by VogzTheWelder to newtothenavy [link] [comments]
I'm looking to make big moves for a possibly new career plan. I've tried two things and i don't see them as a waste of time or that i've failed at them, just that i've focused hard on two skills that i have and expanded my knowledge.. I think the navy would help me either switch majors and go back to college, or train me in something entirely new to help me expand my possible career paths into something higher paying. I have rudimentary knowledge in both automotive and electronics from working on cars and repairing electronics. I have very basic knowledge across many subjects..
I took a picat at a local army recruiting center and i got an 85 which surprised them all cause i actually have a GED instead of a diploma (flunked highschool lol). But i was able to maintain a 3.9 GPA in college as an art major and graduate, so given the right environment and drive i can really excel acedemically. I just really am not big on going into student debt and pivoting to another career via college just yet. I want to think about being a homeowner in the next 5 years. The navy would help me do that...
My question is, although i did well on the picat, i have never set foot in a trig class, calc or physics class. I've always had to train extra hard to be good at math because i'm very ADHD (don't tell the navy that 😂) I spent hours in tutoring every day just to pass college level stats and algebra, but i passed with A's. i did not cheat and i earned that grade fair and square. I did it, but that info is not fresh in my brain. I will have to refresh on math. I'm wondering if with my current skill set, could qualify as a nuke? If not i was looking into aviation repaielectric or steelworker as a career path with the navy. But the main thing that's really calling to me is EMN or ETN.
If i join the navy the biggest thing is, i don't want to walk away from it with just a certification or a piece of paper like college. I want SKILL. I want to have a total grasp of a skill that is in demand and employable, that's a hands on job, A few welding jobs that i've tested for i showed up and simply just did not have enough skill to get hired, and that's because i lack experience. And in order to get experience i need more jobs, so i'm kinda stuck in this catch-22. I can buy a welding machine and practice but that will cost thousands. I need more years practicing that particular form of welding that i'm unfamiliar with.
I want something that requires technical skill, you can't take that away from someone, if they're good at something, they're good. That to me is more important than my degree. I want my skill to speak for itself. With that said i also don't want something too dangerous like underwater welding. I know that's among the highest paying forms of welding but I can tell you right now I'm not cut out for that.
Most importantly... i want to be a homeowner or possibly even a landowner. I'm thinking big for my future. I want to buy some land in the pacific northwest someday and move out there. That's my dream/goal.
2023.03.22 17:21 livelifereal IPL 2023 Season Preview Part 2: Chennai Super Kings
 | This 10-part series strives to be cricket's build-up to IPL 2023. The idea is to provide meticulous, team-wise previews that include every essential detail a fan needs to have. submitted by livelifereal to Cricket [link] [comments] Delhi CapitalsChennai Super KingsMumbai IndiansSunrisers HyderabadRoyal Challengers BangalorePunjab KingsRajasthan RoyalsLucknow Super GiantsKolkata Knight RidersGujarat Titans - (These links will be updated as every subsequent part is published) Chennai Super KingsOwners: Chennai Super Kings Ltd.Home Ground: M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Captain : MS Dhoni Coaching Staff: (only major names)
Recap of 2022Finishing Position: 9thPlayed: 14, Won: 4, Lost: 10 CSK's 2022 season was a hot mess. There were injuries galore. Key players like Deepak Chahar, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan and Ravindra Jadeja went missing in action. And to top it all off there was a captaincy conundrum with Jadeja starting the season as skipper and MSD returning back mid-way. When they lost, they often lost big. They managed to avoid the wooden spot only because MI had an even worse season.
Preface to 2023
CSK fans are unapologetically proud of the consistent record their team has. Only twice - 2020 and 2022 - have CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs. The last time it happened, the team bounced back and won the trophy in the season that followed. So, just like how parallels are drawn to 1992 and 2009 every time Pakistan plays in a World Cup, don't be surprised if CSK fans passionately keep bringing up 2021 this time around.
If you look closely, you'd see the subtle pattern in the base of the shirt Ambati Rayudu is wearing Ruturaj Gaikwad, MS Dhoni, Shivam Dube and Deepak Chahar sporting the new jersey during an ad-shoot CSK players Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Verma and Subhranshu Senapati. wearing th 2023 jersey
CSK's fixtures for the 2023 season
Team for IPL 2023
Likely First Choice XI: 1. Ruturaj Gaikwad 2. Devon Conway✈️ 3. Moeen Ali✈️ 4. Ben Stokes✈️ 5. Ambati Rayudu/Shivam Dube 6. Ravindra Jadeja 7. MS Dhoni (c & wk) 8. Dwaine Pretorius✈️/Maheesh Theekashana✈️/Mitchell Santner✈️ 9. Rajvardhan Hangrekar 10. Deepak Chahar 11. Mukesh Chowdhary/Simarjeet Singh IP Options: Tushar Deshpande, Subhranshu Senapati, Ajay Mandal (Note: Impact player cannot be an overseas player if there are already 4 overseas players in the playing XI)
(ii) Flexibility: While Devon Conway has impressed one and all as an opener, he has even better numbers batting at 3 and 4 in T20Is (including a famous 99\ vs Australia).* Ben Stokes, who was a designated middle order batter for the WC winning England team, has an IPL hundred as an opener. Ambati Rayudu has been an opener as well as a finisher in the IPL. Pretorius, Moeen, Dube and Santner can virtually bat at any number. Having depth is one thing and flexibility is another. CSK has envious resources in both the aspects. (iii) Leadership and Experience: By now, the importance of good captaincy in tournaments like the IPL is well appreciated. MS Dhoni's prowess in this regard is renowned enough. In fact, his performance as a skipper seem to enhance in his favourite kind of conditions: the exact kind that are expected at CSK's home ground. Moreover, even other than Dhoni, the team has wealth of experience to rely upon. Jadeja, Rayudu, Rahane and Moeen alone have a combined 1000+ T20s under their belt.
(ii) Rustiness among the bowlers: Pathirana and Theekshana will be missing the first 3 matches due to national duties. If they are picked for the T20s against Ireland and not given NOCs, they could miss three more matches. Deepak Chahar will be returning from a break due to injury, whereas Simarjeet Singh and Mukesh Chowdhary haven't played any competitive cricket since December 2022. Therefore "rustiness" could be a factor. Game Plan: Possible Punts
Share this with CSK fans and feel free to express your thoughts in the comments. Stay tuned for Part 3: Mumbai Indians. Delhi CapitalsChennai Super KingsMumbai IndiansSunrisers HyderabadRoyal Challengers BangalorePunjab KingsRajasthan RoyalsLucknow Super GiantsKolkata Knight RidersGujarat Titans - (These links will be updated as every subsequent part is published) |