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Alice's Anxieties
~ a romanticist with a miswired brain ~ a blog about mental health
Kathy Burke, All Woman
Hello! Any Brits reading this may have seen the Channel 4 programme, Kathy Burke, All Woman over the last few weeks. For those of you that haven't, Burke has been around British TV for years as an actress, comedian, writer, producer and director and is well known for her no-nonsense take on the world. This series follows her looking into the social expectations of a woman in today's society.
Episode 1: Beauty
In episode 1, Burke looks into the sometimes, unattainable beauty standards us women feel we have to live up to. We're living in an Instagram-fuelled world where we have to look perfect every day because that's how we show ourselves online but how are we meant to look like our filtered selfies away from Snapchat? Burke explains it very simply as "it's people fancying each other that makes the world go round" but cannot understand where the pressure to be perfect has come from, going on to say "babies don't come out looking like Beyonce" (well, unless you're Blue Ivy, then maybe). And it's true, we are all born covered in blood and gunk, so at what point do we suddenly feel pressured to be perfect?
Burke's first interview is with Love Island's Megan who admits she has had a number of cosmetic surgeries, all of which started with getting her ears pinned back because other children at school bullied her for the way her ears stuck out and called her a rat. People are quick to blame social media for the increased pressure on us to look perfect nowadays, but at 25, she would have been experiencing the bullying 10+ years ago when Instagram didn't even exist, so it's not all down to the dog filter and likes which put pressure on us, it's each other. Even now, Megan still receives death threats from online trolls for the way she looks. I know from personal experience, my eating disorders stem from the comments I used to get at school when I was 11, again, before likes and filters. However, Megan does speak candidly and makes it clear that she struggles on the inside despite the £40,000 she's spent on cosmetic procedures. She also argues that it's a Catch 22 of (generally) women being bombarded with different adverts about making yourself look more attractive, including adverts for MYA (Make Yourself Amazing) where Burke visits later in the episode, which promotes going under the knife, but when women choose to do so, they are berated by others for doing so.
Burke goes to meet a cosmetic surgeon who explains that the idea of beauty has been discussed by Ancient Greek philosophers for many years and she is quick to correct him saying "male philosophers". So have the expectations of women been controlled by the opposite sex all this time? There's a comment made in the programme that women wear makeup to impress men and I know for a fact, yes there is some part of me that wears it in preparation for the day Zac Efron walks into my life, and he would never give me a second look without my eyebrows done, but for the most part, I wear makeup because I want to, not to please anyone else. Burke also meets a young girl who is going under the knife for a breast enlargement and although she is happy post-procedure, she admits that it's not the be-all-and-end-all to being happy.
Although I mentioned earlier that women have felt the pressure to be perfect for many years before social media came around, I will acknowledge the fact that it definitely increases that pressure. I mean, just look at the 12-year-olds of today compared to 10 years ago! My make up was all Dream Matte Mousse, blue eyeshadow and lipgloss that tasted nice, but now those girls (and boys) are slaying the game and that's definitely a result of social media.
In all honesty, I don't see us moving away from these expectations: more and more boys and men are feeling the pressure, numbers of people being diagnosed with eating disorders are rising and we see how the media fuel the pressure to be perfect on celebs and influencers more and more. So the answer to not being affected by the pressure? I have no idea.
Episode 2: Motherhood
The second episode follows the journey of how women go through motherhood and fertility whilst having a career at the same time, madness I know! Burke is very clear on the fact she doesn't and never did want children and she "ignored [her] biological clock and opted out of motherhood all together". She makes it clear from the start that women have this constant ticking time bomb from the moment they go through puberty and are fertile and other people feel like they have the right to comment on women's choices about their own bodies.
Burke visits Joanna who knows she wants to be a mother but has recently come out of a long term relationship and is in a high-powered job which she has worked hard for. She wants to have a career before becoming a parent, so she's freezing her eggs. This is an expensive process and it does not result in a 100% chance of becoming pregnant in the future, however, it is what Joanna wants to do. For many years it was unheard of that women could have a career and a child, I was even told a couple of years ago by a guy my own age that I couldn't have both (it's safe to say I did not strike up a friendship with him), but women are having children later and later. My own mum was 20 when she moved in with my dad and his son, and she was 24 when she had me, and the thought of me becoming a mother in a year's time is terrifying! The average age of women having their first child last year is 26, but many women wait until they're in their 30s, and that's okay. People seem to feel they have the right to ask newly-weds when the baby will be arriving at the bloody reception, but a woman's sole purpose is not to just produce children. Don't get me wrong, I definitely want to have a baby but just not any time soon.
Burke meets a young woman who is desperately trying to find someone to sterilise her but doctors won't because she's seen as being too young and simply "not wanting children" isn't a good enough reason. Women are so often judged if they say they don't want children but a man doesn't get bombarded with comments like "you're not a real man if you don't want children", they are respected for their choice and nothing more is said. She also meets Sam Morton (from The Walking Dead among other things) who said that her husband chose to be a stay-at-home dad so she could continue the work she loved. It's becoming more and more common for the dad to put their career on hold to look after the children but ultimately, it should be an open conversation between both parents as they're both responsible for the offspring!
Burke also meets a woman who is about to give birth, and as she watches her in labour, she comments that if men were the ones who gave birth, money would be pumped into research to make it painless and look after them postpartum. It's only recently that people have taken any notice of postpartum depression and psychosis. She uses the lovely description of "I mean, gee whizz, you'd be depressed with an eight-pound beast coming out of your vagina, your body is completely fucked for a few months and you might have to put up with piles for the rest of your life. I really think this wouldn't be the case is men were having babies." Now I'm not saying that men have it easy, but like episode 1, there's definitely more pressure and expectation on women to fulfil their 'duty as a woman'.
Episode 3: Relationships
The final episode in the series looks at different views of love and relationships and asks if we really need them. Burke starts with a classic line that all it takes is "vodka and fags" to woo her, and explains that she'd rather go to a funeral than a wedding because it's more honest. She says that she won't go to a wedding if it's between people of under 30 because it won't last and she doesn't want to waste her money on a card or a present, at least with a funeral that's it.
Burke goes to visit a soon-to-be bride trying wedding dresses on and she gives the fact that although marriage extends a man's life, it actually shortens a woman's. Now I don't know why this is the case, but maybe it's something to with the expectation (in heterosexual marriages) that the woman takes care of the man, so maybe we exhaust ourselves to care for them, who knows?
Next, we visit our beloved Caroline Flack, queen of Love Island whose love life is a favourite topic for the Daily Mail and other gossip columns. She tells Burke about her different relationships but how they never pass the three-year mark: maybe this is because, after the "fun bit" of falling in love, relationships aren't all that exciting, or maybe it's because she puts her career before her relationships (thank god, because Love Island wouldn't be the same without her dramatic walk-ins when there's a dumping). Whatever the reason is, she believes you're more powerful when you're happy and single because you don't need to rely on anyone else to do anything for you.
Burke then visits an anthropologist from Oxford University about the science behind love. She explains that love is an evolutionary bribe in order for us to survive - it's like a drug that makes us feel great in order to mate and for the human race to continue. The drug that lies behind love is an opiate like morphine, which is why love can genuinely hurt when it's broken, we don't get that pain killer anymore. She also explains that the need for friendships is much greater than for romantic relationships because ultimately, we can reproduce without a committed relationship, but without the emotional support and love we get from friendships, it can drastically affect our health and wellbeing. Burke finishes this part with what I think, is the greatest quote of the whole series: when discussing whether it's harder for men to compliment women, she mentions the MeToo movement, but puts it very simply, "giving a compliment is fine, just don't put your hand on her fanny unless she wants you to".
We then take a trip to a nunnery and I agree with the Sister who thinks people are obsessed with finding love so much so that they end up with the wrong people, in relationships that don't work or with people who aren't good for you, and admittedly, I'm definitely one of those people. She reminded me of the quote from Moulin Rouge: "the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return", because I think that's what a lot of people are striving for.
Finally, Burke ends the series by visiting the Profanity Embroidery Group where one of the members, Jackie, talks about how after she lost her husband, she didn't know how to be on her own, or who she was now she's on her own. This hit me hard because for those of you who don't know, I've recently come out of a 3-and-a-half-year relationship that I put my all into, and although I see myself as 'strong independent woman' (my headteacher would love to read that line), I don't know who I am out of that relationship, but that doesn't mean I should stay in it. I guess it's true how Burke finished the episode saying how people are scared to be on their own and being trapped with their own thoughts, but eventually, you'll realise that you're actually a pretty good person.
I bloody loved this series, I thought it captured some of the aspects of what it's like to be a woman in 2019 so so well, and I've loved seeing some of the comments from men saying "are we going to get a series made about men", and to be honest, that would be something I'd love to see, fronted by Piers Morgan or Jeremy Clarkson. In no way am I saying that being a man is easy, but I definitely think the social expectations of women are much more complex.
Congrats on a great series, Kathy.
xo//
p.s I'd love it if you could subscribe to any future blogs by clicking the subscribe button at the top of the page!
2019 all woman beauty caroline flack feminist kathy burke love love island megan motherhood relationship tv woman women
Labels: 2019 all woman beauty caroline flack feminist kathy burke love love island megan motherhood relationship tv woman women
Panic! at the lockdown
Helloooo! (read that in Mrs Doubtfire's voice please) It's me, if anyone remembers me, I'm here! It's been nearly 3 months since I last posted on here, and there's no excuse really other than the fact I've just been too lazy. I will say I've been lacking ideas a little bit recently, maybe because I've been happy, I haven't had anything to moan about (and that's the tea ☕👀), but there's been something pretty big going on the last few weeks hasn't there. I'm being a bit hypocritical with this post, because I'm sick of hearing about Coronavirus/Covid-19 and not being able to escape from it, but because of it, that's what has inspired this post. If you're also sick of hearing about it, please don't close the tab, the post is more about me (if you're new here, it's a common topic), rather than the ' thing ' itself. So the last couple of months while it's all been kicking off, I've been rela
Anxiety & Me: having the BBC pay for therapy is nice, but is it real?
Oh hey, me again. I watched the BBC programme last month called Anxiety and Me featuring Nadiya Hussain and I thought I would write a blog post about it, because I know my opinion is so important and people live based on what I say (I'm joking, just in case you can't sense the sarcasm there)! Just for anyone who is new here (hi!), I have been diagnosed with Anxiety since 2015 but I think I've actually had it for a lot longer than four years. Overall, I thought it was great. I thought it gave a really good understanding of how Anxiety can feel for someone, and even my boyfriend of nearly 4 years said he learned more about the illness and how it can make me feel. So clearly, it was very informative and clear. I loved how raw and real it was: I started crying after the first five minutes because it hit me so hard. ( Disclaimer: I'm going to openly talk about things that happen in the programme so if you wanted to watch it first go and do that now!) At the start wh
"Sometimes in life, you aren't enough for someone"
Hello! Long time no see - apologies about that. I've been pretty busy actually, I've been on holiday, moved house and got a new job, so my little blog has kind of suffered because of it, but I'm still here! Now call me a basic white girl, a basic bitch, or however you describe people who are obsessed with crappy reality TV, Starbucks and shops at In The Style, but this post is actually inspired by the recent break up between Zara and Adam from Love Island (please keep reading, this isn't a post about Love Island!). Some of you may have read Zara's official statement, I'm sure a lot of you couldn't care less, but it was something in this statement that has given me an idea for this post. She wrote about the breakup, 'sometimes in life, you aren't enough for someone', and reading this broke my heart. I'm sure a lot of people reading this, will know exactly how this feels: whether it's a friend, a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner, a famil
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We hear a great deal these days about how the right's hostility to "identity politics" . . . enabled the rise of Donald Trump. In this framing, the election of 2016 was a populist backlash of ordinary voters against an increasingly aberrant left that has allowed itself to be distracted by narrow questions about groups whose niche concerns do not rightly pertain to the proper functioning of democracy. Their identity-based complaints are marginalizing the left, leaving it out of touch with the troubles of Middle Americans, who primarily worry about how to pay the bills….
The good news for anyone feeling perturbed is that it simply isn't true that identity politics represents the end of America or of liberal democracy. Nor is it true that identity politics began on the left … The United States was founded on identity politics, per The Economist's description: political positions based on ethnicity, race, sexuality, and religion. There are no pre-identity politics, just as there are no pre-identity economics, in a country in which political, economic, and legal rights were only ever granted to some identity groups and not to others. The only thing new about "the omnipresent rhetoric of identity" is the voices that have been added to it, reshaping it in ways that alarm and affront those who used to be its sole authors. But it was always omnipresent.
That The Economist did not even notice that its checklist of identity politics skipped gender altogether is both ironic and typical. In 1776, Abigail Adams famously pleaded with her husband to "Remember the Ladies" in drafting the nation's new code of laws. [She warned him] against putting "unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands" because "all Men would be tyrants if they could"…. John Adams replied by telling her thanks, but he preferred male privilege: "We know better than to repeal our masculine systems." The masculine systems established by the framers meant that women didn't get the vote until 1920, still earn a fraction of what men earn, and remain subject to a state asserting control over their bodies that it doesn't assert over male bodies. That is identity politics.
By the twenty-first century, . . . [two Republican] candidates in a row were elected in part because they successfully deployed the populist stylings and demeanor of the "common man," despite their inherited wealth and elite education.
Difference is a fact of life, to which divisiveness is only one response. Inclusiveness is another: not just tolerating but celebrating difference, fighting for the rights of all, not just the few. To be a truly representative democracy, America will need to stop thinking in terms of the representative common man.
She recommends thinking in terms of common decency instead.


This contemporary flat wedding band is 10mm wide. The timeless design of this comfort-fit wedding band is still one of the most requested styles we offer. The durability and hardness of cobalt chrome combined with the natural white color make this ring a great choice for brides and grooms looking for an alternative metal wedding band.
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This very wide band looks like an expensive ring. I love it. The sizing was perfect, and the engraving inside was lovely. While most women might find this band too wide and plain, I have a very noticeable scar on my ring finger, and this band covers it nicely.


Leonard P. Wonderlick, age 61 of Shenandoah, passed away Sunday at Schuylkill Medical Center-East, Pottsville.
Born in the former Ashland State Hospital on August 2, 1952, he was a son of the late Leonard J. and Kathryn (Kurchock) Wonderlick.
Lenny was raised in Frackville and later moved to Shenandoah, where he graduated from Shenandoah Valley High School in the Class of 1970.
He was an auto mechanic and welder, having last been employed at Bob's Auto, Shenandoah.
Lenny was a member of St. Stanislaus Church, Shenandoah. He was a former football coach for the Shenandoah Valley Jr. Blue Devils and a former baseball coach for the Shenandoah Little League.
Preceding him in death in addition to his parents was his wife, the former Louise M. Lapata, who died on June 28, 2004.
Surviving are one son, David B. Wonderlick and his wife Stephanie and their son, Lenny's grandson, Henry Wonderlick, all of Vienna, VA; one sister, Donna Kulpowicz and her husband Robert "Bob" of Shenandoah; one brother, Robert Wonderlick and his wife Darlene of Charleston, SC; his companion, Karen Patrick; aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at 10:30 am from Walukiewicz-Oravitz Fell Funeral Home, 132 S. Jardin St., Shenandoah. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Wednesday at 11:00 am in St. Stanislaus Church, Shenandoah. Rev. Msgr. Ronald C. Bocian, Pastor, will officiate. Interment will follow in St. Stanislaus Cemetery, Shenandoah Heights.
Relatives and friends may call Wednesday at the funeral home from 9:00 am to 10:30 am.
in general and the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association in particular of our State Lodge Trustee Colette M. Smith are hereby respectfully forwarded to both her and her family upon the recent passing and loss of Mr. Leonard P. Wonderlick of Shenandoah.
So sorry for your loss. I will miss his friendly smiles. He will be in our hearts forever.


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Photographing the Red-Sox
JC Ruiz
When I received the email for my upcoming Spring Training assigment and saw that I was going to JetBlue Park in Ft. Myers, I was excited. Photographing the Red-Sox, my favorite team since childhood, was a dream come true. Shooting any sports photographer's favorite team is a dream come true. Granted it was a Spring Training game and not all the starters would be playing, but that didn't bother me at all.
I used the opportunity of the clocks moving ahead to get to JetBlue Park early and catch the sunrise over the stadium. Lucky for me one of my plans actually worked. The sun was just rising and the ballpark empty except for me and some workers setting up in the walkways behind the stands.
I was hoping for batting practice shots and other pregame warmup photos, but the teams were having a coronavirus meeting that lasted the majority of the morning. The players game out shortly before the game and while the fans were dangling balls and photos to be signed, the players had to politely refuse. Customary handshakes were now head bobs and elbow daps. MLB was taking the coronavirus seriously and it was good to see that the players were as well.
I had a couple of players I wanted to shoot when I found out I was photographing the Red-Sox. Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and JD Martinez were on top of my list. I was happy when I saw they would be playing and that I had an opportunity to shoot a few at-bats.
The photo wells I was shooting out of were before the dugouts and close to home plate and I had amazing angles of the players including the Minnesota Twins players as a I was mostly by their bench. With JetBlue Park mimicking the dimensions and the look and feel of Fenway Park it almost felt like I was shooting in that historic stadium. One day I'll get there; one day.
As for the game itself, the majority of the starters had two at-bats and had the rest of the afternoon off. After that it was a little hard to keep up with all the other players. Most were non-roster invites and the teams had no photos for their names so it was hard when all they had were numbers on their jerseys. Hell, even some players had the same numbered jersey and I was like which one are you?
All in all I hope I get another opportunity to photograph my favorite team. With the way the coronavirus is spreading and shutting down sports, I think this might be my only time photographing the Red-Sox this Spring Training.
Below are some of my favorite photos from my time photographing the Red-Sox and Twins game. More can also be found on my Instagram page.
Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020 | JetBlue Park
Minnesota Twins outfielder Max Kepler #26 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts #2 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers #11 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Boston Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. #19 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Boston Red Sox left fielder J.D. Martinez #28 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Boston Red Sox catcher Christian Vasquez #7 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson #24 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Minnesota Twins right fielder Jake Cave #60 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Minnesota Twins catcher Mitch Garver #8 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
Minnesota Twins infielder Royce Lewis #75 | Minnesota Twins vs. Boston Red-Sox (Spring Training) | March 8, 2020
JC Ruiz is a Miami based photographer that specializes in portrait, fashion, engagement, and sports photography with a love for landscape and black and white photography.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I've combined my weeks 18 &19 updates, because there wasn't a lot new to say for each separate week.
Touch wood I've still been healthy so far, apart from a couple of evenings of mild physical discomfort due to aches and growing pains, but nothing bad.
My extreme tiredness has let up and other than still feeling a bit more emotional than usual, and getting used to a visible bump, I could almost forget that I'm pregnant most of the time!
I've started to feel movement at certain times, which is amazing. The first thing I felt were some dull kicks. But the second thing I felt really emotionally affected me….
As mentioned, Seb went away to Berlin over Easter Weekend, for our brother-in-law-to-be's stag do.
He was really dreading going to begin with and kept saying he wouldn't have gone if he'd known I was going to be pregnant.
I was quite relaxed about it as I normally really enjoy a bit of time to myself, and kept telling him to relax and enjoy it (especially as I don't think he'll be going out for quite a while once the baby arrives!).
When the itinerary for the trip came through and it was something like 'Drinking, drinking, Berlin wall, drinking, Reichstag, drinking, dinner, drinking, drinking, drinking', he went pale, bless him.
My Mr is not a massive drinker at the best of times, and the thought of drinking three days in a row turned him cold.
So much for good behaviour! He also managed to leave his phone in a taxi on the first night, so I didn't hear from him all weekend, which felt very odd.
Never mind. I was looking forward to my 'me time' weekend.
On Friday night, two of my oldest friends from school, Holly and Claire, came for a visit.
Claire lives in Basingstoke and Holly in Manchester now,so we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like, but its one of those brilliant friendships where you can pick up exactly where you left off, even after a long time.
It was just so good to see them both – I never laugh so much as when I'm with those two.
Claire recently got engaged to her long-term boyfriend, so there was lots of celebrating to be done.
Its funny because she's always said she didn't want to get married, but she said when he asked her it came from the heart to say yes, which is so lovely.
I think her wedding will be far from traditional and amazing – her initial ideas are for a secret garden party type of wedding, which would be beautiful.
She asked Holly and I to be her bridesmaids, which is so lovely (and made this hormonal pregnant lady shed a tear). The wedding will probably be next summer so it gives me a goal to shed my baby weight for as well!
The original plan had been for us to go out for dinner and drinks, but by the time we stopped nattering and looked at the clock, it was almost 9 oclock.
I could have driven us into town, but do you know what we decided to do instead?
Make a junk food raid on the all night supermarket, get into our PJs and have a sleepover, just like when we were little! We even watched 'Clueless', which was a complete throwback to our youths (and also much funnier than I remembered!).
We had an absolute blast, even if our nibbles are now more 'cheeseboard and prosecco' than what we used to have!
In the morning, I made us all waffles and there was more gossip and fun. But after they both left, to my own surprise, I started to feel really lonely.
Seb's mum had invited me over for dinner, but the girls had only just left, so I didn't go.
Like I said, I normally love some me time and am great at entertaining myself, but I got all blue that evening and ended up just lying on the dining room floor with the cat feeling despondent!
In the end, I decided to run myself a bubble bath and take the iPad in to watch movies. Then bed!
Not wanting to be by myself on Sunday, I drove up the A1 to visit my dad and his partner the next day.
We had a lovely day out in their local park walking the dog and having lunch.
They've just done the classic retirement thing and bought a motorhome, but I was surprised how modern and sleek it was. I think they're already planning to take their future grandkids away in it! They go away a lot so it's a really good choice for them.
In the afternoon, I went to my elder sister-in-laws to see everyone.
Everyone was asking my little niece Annabel "What's in Auntie Sarah's tummy?", but when I suggested it was lots of food, she happily nodded along! They've all been telling her she'll have a little cousin soon.
I then went to pick Seb and our brother in law Nick up from the stag's house, they looked very tired and a little worse for wear, although they both said they didn't drink much at all the final night.
I didn't realise how much I'd miss Seb! It really doesn't feel right being away from him at the moment.
Aaaanyway, back to the kicks and movement… so the baby is meant to be able to hear things from about now.
Seb was resting his head on my tummy that night in bed and calling 'Hello Olive, can you hear me? Are you in there? Let me know if you can hear me!' and suddenly he jumped and said "It jabbed me!".
Of course I thought he was messing about (timing a little convenient!), but when I rested my hand on there I felt it too!
It was very different to the dull kicks before – this was a short, sharp, jabbing motion – must have been a little hand or a little elbow, and it was so definite!
I can still feel my fingertip tingling where I felt the contact. It was incredible. A little freaky because I've never felt anything so purposeful before, so I jumped and screamed too.
But then I began to cry happy tears!
I genuinely felt like I'd 'touched' my baby for the first time, and that was overwhelming. So the stone heart is finally melting!
It gave me an idea of what the joy will be like holding the baby for the first time, and blew me away.
Now, I'm so excited for my next scan, on Tuesday. I literally cannot wait to see the baby again and to find out if it's a girl or a boy. Its like waiting for Christmas to come.
And its only 3 weeks until our babymoon holiday to Italy.
I need to work out which of my holiday clothes will fit and what I can take!
I still only have one proper maternity dress, everything else is just stretchy stuff I already own. I think I'll be packing very light for this break!


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Nakkeran
மனிதவுரிமை
பண்பாடு
JVP நியூஸ்
கனடா மிரர்
புதினம்
BBC தமிழ்
ஏ சிறிலங்கா
லங்கா ரோடு
புதினப்பலகை
President Rajapaksa and his 13A dilemmas
January 9, 2021 editor அரசியல், மனிதவுரிமை, வரலாறு 0
by Rajan Philips
It was said of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike that "it was a grim irony that he should be called upon, at the moment of his greatest political triumph, to articulate the strong opposition of the Sinhalese to any attempt to establish a federal constitution." Sixty-five years later, it could be said in reverse that it is a grimmer irony for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to be unfairly put on the spot by his most ardent supporters and their insistent calls for abolishing the Provincial Council system, in total disregard of the realities of political and geopolitical consequences of such abolishing, not to mention the extraordinary Covid-19 challenges that he has to deal with now. The irony is to be noted because Mr. Rajapaksa was among the first to raise the call for abolishing the PCs as far back as 10 years ago, when even the mere thought of becoming Sri Lanka's president may not have crossed his mind as an American citizen.
The PCs are not the only dilemma that President Rajapaksa has to wrestle with. He is grappling with quite a few of them. While almost all other presidential dilemmas are connected to Covid-19, the dilemma over 13A and the Provincial Councils is antecedent to Covid-19, but like everything else in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, is complicated by it. Hence the lingering question, why bother with a new constitution now? And especially for this President, whose credentials are totally those of a practical doer, and not at all the characteristics of a constitutional visionary? The answer might be that it is the 'constitutional cabal' that is running the constitutional show, like every other cabal running every other government show.
'Sapatha' and Overreach
The immediate cause for the abolishment calls is the apparent decision of the government, or the Prime Minister, to go ahead with the long-postponed (by the Wickremesinghe-TNA-JVP threesome) elections to the currently defunct Provincial Councils, which were established under the 13th Amendment. The sources of these calls are also a classic case of multiple political tails trying to wag the country's presidential executive and his brother prime minister. A government minister, indeed, the Minister for Public Security and the State Minister for Provincial Councils, has, in ancient Mahabharata "sapatha kara kiyanawa" style, made a solemn pledge to the members of the Civil Defence Force that he would put an end to the system of Provincial Councils. The Experts Committee tasked with preparing a draft for the new Rajapaksa constitution, is also reported to have expressed concern over holding PC elections before their draft is done and a new constitution is in place.
It is not clear if there is unanimity in the committee over this concern, or if some committee members are speaking publicly for the whole committee. There was an earlier news report that the Experts Committee took an internal vote and decided by majority on a matter that is apparently fundamental to preparing the draft constitution. That an expert committee on the constitution would take an internal vote to decide on a fundamental question without referring it to its political masters in the government (with the parliament helplessly sidelined in the whole exercise) is an extraordinary overreach. If this is any indication, even the draft constitution that the committee would likely produce (presumably by a majority vote) may turn out to be extraordinary and tendentious.
Does the matter that the committee had to vote on have anything to do with the 13th Amendment? We do not know. But we know that the more powerful members of the committee are not amused by the government's apparent decision to go ahead with PC elections. And that is some gall for a committee appointed by the country's Head of State to publicly tell the government if or when it should conduct elections to any elected body. For now, there is more than Expert Committee amusement or gall that has been put on display. Real midweek fury against the Provincial Councils has been unleashed by Prof. GH Peiris, who is also a prominent member of the Experts Committee.
Facts and Fabrications
Anyone looking to get refreshed on the materially relevant historical background to the constitutional voids that were unnecessarily created in 1972 and in 1978 – and their partial filling by the 13th Amendment (in 1987) and the Provincial Councils it created, could re-read Chapter 36 in KM de Silva's (1981) "A History of Sri Lanka." Even its first few pages will do. My opening quote on SWRD Bandaranaike in today's article is from page 513 of de Silva's book, in Chapter 36: "The Triumph of Linguistic Nationalism". The quote might suggest that the historian was having his academic tongue in his political cheek, but it reads far superior to anything that a geographer seems to be able to politically offer 40 years later. And this is not because Sri Lanka has too much history and too little geography.
Yet, no one can do worse than CA Chandraprema's attempt to rewrite history, as he did in his hagiographic monograph, "Gota's War." We can anticipate versions of it to be undiplomatically broadcast from Geneva from March onward. The one thing about the history of Sri Lanka's national question or conflict is that it is a well studied (even "over-studied", as AJ Wilson used to say) subject, and almost everyone who is of consequence either in Sri Lanka or abroad is well versed, in it and knows to discern between facts and fabrications. More than historical writings, Sri Lanka's stubborn facts always give the fabricator's, if not the government's, game away. Just as it is impossible to hide a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice. Peremptorily abolishing the Provincial Council system will be one more stubborn fact that will fetch no credit for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans who have lived through and politically experienced the tumults and wars after 1977 need no lesson from old history, colonial, or pre-colonial. Some of us–Burghers, Muslims, Sinhalese, and Tamils rising above our ethnic strictures, happened to be involved in efforts to respond to these events within the framework of the Movement for Inter-Racial Justice and Equality (MIRJE).1983 is now considered a watershed moment in Sri Lanka's modern history, one that is totally negative and even calamitous, and quite different from 1956 which bore both positive and negative fruits. However, 1983 had its annual forerunners. Riots broke out in 1977, after a twenty-year hiatus and within months of the UNP's bigger than landslide election victory. For the first time, plantation Tamils were targeted in communal rioting. In 1978, the UNP used its massive majority in parliament to elevate one of its MPs, Prime Minister JR Jayewardene, as the country's first executive president. 1979 was the year of the Emergency in Jaffna when President Jayewardene ordered Brigadier (Bull) Weeratunga (not DIG/IGP Rudra Rajasingham) to "eliminate the menace of terrorism in all its forms from the island and more especially from the Jaffna District." Two years later, in 1981, tea plantation districts were targeted again in the south, while off-duty policemen burnt down the Public Library in Jaffna. In 1982, President Jayewardene upended parliamentary democracy in Sri Lanka through the chicanery of a referendum. One year later, what was catastrophic became calamitous, as the Palestinians are known to say.
1983 implicated Sri Lanka not only geopolitically with India, but also internationally with practically every western country where Tamils leaving Sri Lanka found a foothold. The Sixth Amendment that was passed during the dark and difficult days of August 1983, erased the elected TULF off the political map and handed over the keys to Tamil politics to armed militants. Sarath Silva said as much in his 2005 ruling as Chief Justice, in the course of denying President Kumaratunga's plea to stay in office a year longer.
The commonplace argument is that 13A and the Provincial Councils were foisted on Sri Lanka by India's machinations taking advantage of an old, weak, and beleaguered President Jayewardene. While this argument might be politically potent, it is bereft of any analytical insight or credibility, and it flies in the face of events and the alignments of political forces within Sri Lanka before and after 1983. The notion that India's role in Sri Lanka was triggered by the fury of Indira Gandhi after she was apparently scorned by JR Jayewardene is cheap table talk and should not be a serious political consideration. And in 2020 it is utterly inappropriate to speak of any woman, let alone a woman political leader and Prime Minister, being scorned, leaving aside the not uncommon misattribution to Shakespeare of the line ("Heav'n has no rage, like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned") that was satirically written by William Congreve (1670-1729) in his play, The Mourning Bride.
Indian Involvement and Sri Lanka's Failure
I make no suggestion that India's involvement, or interference, in Sri Lanka was entirely, or even primarily, motivated by neighbourly altruism. There were of course machinations, but they were mostly of the raw bureaucratic kind, thanks to the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's wannabe CIA. And whether it was Indian involvement or interference, it did not arise out of anything and would not have transpired the way it did and to the extent, it did, without compelling circumstances in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan political circumstances after 1977, and more so after 1983, provided both the pretext and the context for India to get involved in Sri Lanka's internal affairs. And no one, not even India, could have anticipated that things would get ugly and totally out of control as they did over several years. It is still the sorest point among many Sinhalese that India peremptorily prevented the Sri Lankan military onslaught on the LTTE in June 1987 with its controversial airdrop of food supplies in Jaffna. The contention is that were it not for this highhanded intervention, the war would have been over by and large in 1987 itself. This is debatable because the LTTE was then primarily a guerrilla organization and may have survived the onslaught to live and fight another day. It was only years later that the LTTE would build up its so-called conventional fighting force and convert itself from being a fighting-fit guerrilla force to a flabby national army, and getting drunk in the process with its own myth of invincibility. And in this saga of ironies, India that initially aided and armed Tamil militant groups on the beaches of Tamil Nadu, would later preside over the disarming of every militant group bar the LTTE, engage its army in an unfinished and unsuccessful fight against the LTTE, and finally – 22 years after the infamous 'parippu drop' – end up aiding and assisting the government of Sri Lanka to vanquish the LTTE once and for all. It was not only the Central Government in Delhi that went through these about-turns but also the state and government leaders in Tamil Nadu who were complicit at every step along the way. And there is no shortage among Sri Lankan Tamils who believe that the Tamils were shortchanged in the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the 13th Amendment, and especially by the provisions of the Provincial Councils Act that the two gave rise to.
As for JR Jayewardene, although his detractors among the Sinhalese may never concede this, he must have felt entitled to a little last laugh in getting India to clean up the militant mess which in his mind was mostly of India's making. To his justifiable credit, however, he conceded in the end that India was the only external agency, and not any western country or international agency, that would help him put his Sri Lankan house in order after national politics has unravelled beyond restoration by any domestic initiative alone. This very point was well articulated in a public statement, at the time of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, by more than a score of left and liberal Sinhalese intellectuals, activists, and academics. I do not have the statement at hand, but suffice it to say that the anti-13A lobby is not entitled to claim exclusive monopoly over Sinhalese political thinking, then or now.
As well, the 13th Amendment is not the only controversial initiative, constitutionally or otherwise, that JR Jayewardene implemented and presided over aided by his tyrannical majority in parliament. His entire 1978 constitutional project has been controversial from the time of its inauguration. In fact, the 13th Amendment has had greater support among non-UNP Sinhalese, than the 1978 Constitution ever did. Abolishing the executive presidency has been the winning battle cry in every election from 1994, until 2019. At none of these elections, including, I believe, the 2019 and 2020 elections, did any of the main contenders for power promised to abolish the Provincial Council system.
On the contrary, Chandrika Kumaratunga and her People's Alliance movement used Provincial Council elections to launch their campaign against and eventually oust the UNP from power after its seventeen-year rule. Mahinda Rajapaksa cleverly and consistently used PC elections to consolidate his electoral fiefdom. Again, as political indicators go, the 2014 PC election in Uva signalled the people's regime fatigue after 10 years of Rajapaksa rule and 20 years of SLFP-dominated governments. Lacking Chandrika Kumaratunga's charisma and Mahinda Rajapaksa's cleverness, the beleaguered yahapalanaya folk shuttered up the Provincial Councils and postponed their elections indefinitely. Their dillydallying has created the current dilemma for President Rajapaksa.
There is no dispute that the implementation of the Provincial Councils system has not turned out to be an appealing success. But this is not due to any systemic or structural shortcomings, but entirely due to the failure of political leadership. The blame for the worst leadership failure should fall squarely on the shoulders of Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe in general, and particularly on the TNA and CV Wigneswaran for what they have done and what they failed to do with the Northern Provincial Council after its first and only election in 2013.
There is no question that the PC system needs changes and reforms, regardless of when the next elections are held. And unlike any other institution in Sri Lanka, the PC system has a handbook of reform recommendations in the comprehensive symposium complied, in 2010, by the late Ranjith Amarasinghe, Asoka Gunawardena, Jayampathy Wickramaratne, and AM Navaratna-Bandara. There have been plenty of other suggestions, most recently by Austin Fernando and Nirmala Chandrahasan.
In his December 25 article in The Island, Fernando recounts that the current government includes many past champions of the PC system, including former Provincial Chief Ministers and Governors. Will they speak out now, or stay silent as the current abolishment clamour grows? The current voices of abolition have been around from the time the PCs were introduced in 1987-88. But for over 30 years they have not gotten anywhere close to influencing, or dictating to, the policy of any Sri Lankan government on the 13th Amendment and the Provincial Councils. Until now. And that is President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's main dilemma.
About editor	2093 Articles
Writer and Journalist living in Canada since 1987. Tamil activist.
தமிழ்மக்களுக்கு முன்னர் கொடுத்த வாக்குறுதிகளையே மீண்டும் கொடுத்த இந்திய வெளியுறவு அமைச்சர் கலாநிதி ஜெயசங்கர்!
முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் நினைவுத் தூபியை இடிப்பதால் தமிழ்மக்களின் தேசிய உணர்வை அடக்கலாம் என அரசாங்கம் நினைத்தால் அது தவறாகும்
The story behind the 60 hours that shook Jaffna
நாடோடி மன்னனின் கதை… எம்ஜிஆர் பிறந்த நாள் சிறப்புக்கட்டுரை
சூரிய மண்டலக் கோள்கள் சுற்று நகர்ச்சி விதிகளைக் கணித்த விஞ்ஞானி ஜொஹானஸ் கெப்ளர்
The Glorious Flourish of Buddhism in India and its Ignominious Disappearance
வெடுக்குநாறி மலையும் அண்மைய சர்ச்சைகளும்
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editor on கந்தபுராணம் இராமாயணம் ஒரு ஒப்பீடு
BBC Tamil
ஜல்லிக்கட்டு போலவே பன்றி தழுவும் போட்டி: இப்படியும் ஒரு பொங்கல் விழா January 18, 2021
திஸர பெரேரா மீது ஷெஹான் ஜயசூரிய புகார்: இலங்கை கிரிக்கெட் அணியில் இருந்து விலக என்ன காரணம்? January 18, 2021
IND vs AUS: 20 விக்கெட்டுகளை வீழ்த்திய இந்தியாவின் இளம்படை January 18, 2021
ரோமப் பேரரசு வரலாற்று காலம்: இங்கிலாந்தில் கிடைத்த இரும்புக் கால எலும்புக் கூடுகள் January 18, 2021
நடராஜன் 4 மெய்டன் ஓவர் வீசிய Ind Vs Aus 4-வது டெஸ்ட் கிரிக்கெட்: தொடரை கைப்பற்றுமா இந்திய அணி? January 18, 2021
குடியரசு தினம் ஜனவரி 26: டெல்லியில் போராடும் விவசாயிகளின் ட்ராக்டர் பேரணி - தடை விதிக்க உச்ச நீதிமன்றம் மறுப்பு January 18, 2021
சோனம் மாலிக்: ஒலிம்பிக்கில் சாதிக்க காத்திருக்கு இந்தியாவின் இளம் மல்யுத்த வீராங்கனை January 18, 2021
"ரஜினி ரசிகர்கள் எந்தக் கட்சியிலும் சேர்ந்துகொள்ளலாம்" January 18, 2021
பிபிசி சிறந்த இந்திய விளையாட்டு வீராங்கனை விருது: 2-வது ஆண்டாக வருகிறது January 18, 2021
"மேடையில் சரஸ்வதி படமா? எனக்கு விருது வேண்டாம்" என மறுத்த எழுத்தாளர் January 18, 2021
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Abstract : Myocardial fiber orientation determines the propagation of electrical waves in the heart and the contraction of cardiac tissue. One common approach for assigning fiber orientation to cardiac anatomical models are Rule-Based Methods (RBM). However, RBM have been developed to assimilate data mostly from the Left Ventricle. In consequence, fiber information from RBM does not match with histological data in other areas of the heart, having a negative impact in cardiac simulations beyond the LV. In this work, we present a RBM where fiber orientation is separately modeled in each ventricle following observations from histology. This allows to create detailed fiber orientation in specific regions such as the right ventricle endocardium, the interventricular septum and the outflow tracts. Electrophysiological simulations including these anatomical structures were then performed, with patient-specific data of outflow tract ventricular arrhythmias (OTVA) cases. A comparison between the obtained simulations and electro-anatomical data of these patients confirm the potential for in silico identification of the site of origin in OTVAs before the intervention.


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Posted March 31, 2020 by Thanos in Fun, New
Dead or Alive 6 Last DLC Launching in April
Publisher Koei Tecmo and developer Team Ninja have announced the release of version 1.22 update for Dead or Alive 6, which is scheduled to be available next month.
In addition to the update, the final downloadable content will launch along with bug fixes and 1 premium ticket will be available this coming April 16. Dead or Alive 6 is fast-paced 3D fighting game, produced by Koei Tecmo Games, featuring stunning graphics and multi-tiered stages that create a truly entertaining competitive experience.
Dead or Alive 6 Last DLC Launching in April was last modified: March 31st, 2020 by Thanos
Tags: Dead or Alive 6, Koei Tecmo Games Co., Playstation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One
God of War Ragnarok is a visual masterpiece, but it's difficult – very difficult. You need to be a weapon's master to beat the game, and you need to upgrade all of your weapons to inflict damage against the gods, including Odin. We got you covered. In the guide below, we will...
High on Life came out in December 2022, and it's a blast. The game is a first-person shooter that is called the "Rick and Morty game" because it is from Mark Justin Roiland, the co-creator of the animated series. If you're interested in the game, we recommend grabbing an Xbox Live Gift...
A Beginner's Guide for the Support Role in Overwatch 2
Are you looking for a beginner's guide to the Support role in Overwatch 2? We have you covered! Our comprehensive guide breaks everything down into bite-sized pieces, making it easy to follow and understand. If you're playing on the Nintendo Switch, don't forget to grab a Nintendo eShop Gift...


Anya joined the Franklin Chamber of Commerce staff in January 2019.
She is a 2006 graduate of Franklin Community High School and earned her bachelor's degree in Political Science in 2011 from the University of Tennessee (Go Vols!).


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BE Play Live
By Gigantic Tickets
Posted on Tuesday 19th September 2017 at 12:00
Unique in its nature and grand in design, BE is an event like no other. Amalgamating the sound of real working bees with the work of internationally renowned artists, musicians and scientists, BE creates an immersive soundscape which bridges the gap between the human world of high technology with the harmonious industry of nature.
The band BE is comprised of Tony Foster, cellist Deirdre Bencsik, vocalist Camille Buttress and Kev Bales who has spent the last thirty years drumming for other equally experimental acts such as Spiritualized and Julian Cope. Not forgetting the bees of course!
The transcendental live audio feed of the hives hum is joined by strings, piano, lap steel, Mellotron and vocals. It is made possible through the exciting work of Dr Martin Bencsik whose cutting-edge research into how bees communicate enables the group to capture all the subtleties of their hum and buzz.
They released their album entitled One in February of 2016 through the label Rivertones which has recently been followed by the brand new single Blue Lullaby. The new song incorporates the previously unheard vibrational signals captured as part of Dr Martin Bencsik's ground breaking research believed to be the sound of female European worker bees 'talking' to the unborn larvae to guide them in the future roles.
Following a string of highly successive previous events in Nottingham, BE will now be held at the magnificent Coventry Cathedral on Saturday 7th of October 2017. A perfect setting to host the wondrous multisensory performance to be enjoyed by live audiences. Tickets are available through Gigantic right now.
"Absolutely wonderful" - Mary Anne Hobbs, BBC 6 music
"ONE- not just a great record, but a statement on modern life itself" - Tim Jonze, The Guardian
The project first started out as the work of artist Wolfgang Buttress who specialises in radical re-interpretation of space. When invited to contribute on behalf of the UK to the Expo 2015 exhibition in Milan, the Nottingham based artist selected to erect a pavilion under which he constructed a 17-metre-high and 50 tonne lattice structure through which people could freely wander that he titled The Hive to remind the world of the vital importance of the bee. Responsible for at least 30% of all the food we eat yet endangered by pesticides and a lack of biodiversity, the plight of the bee as it faces extinction is a stark reminder of our relationship with nature and the dire consequences should we chose to ignore our responsibility.
"Have you ever been to a hive? The first time you lift them out there's this incredible, visceral hum. I thought it might just be an irritating bzzzzzz sound, but it's so low it just kind of gets you." - Wolfgang Buttress
The live multisensory performance offers an immersive experience like no other. Hosted by Coventry Cathedral, the incredible musical performers will be accompanied by the sounds of vibrations of a local working bee hive located nearby on site and will be streamed live into the exquisite venue via state of the art technology and a 3D surround sound system to create an awe-inspiring effect. Wolfgang Buttress has also worked with perfumers and the candle makers Haeckels to fill the space with scent and light.
Also in attendance, a bespoke community choir engineered by the Pod's Collective//Pod which is a collective comprised of artistic members who have experience of living with mental illness. The Pod is the award winning mental health resource and creative hub provided by Coventry City Council.
Click HERE for your BE tickets.
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I think what I like most about Valentine's Day is the puns. REally, it is hard to choose what with all the chocolate, flowers, and candy floating around in the middle of February, but I think the puns are what really make it for me. I combined my love of puns with my son's love of rubber stamp to make these valentines that he'll bring to preschool this year.
This post is part of Craft Lightning Valentine's week. All week long I'm sharing Valentine's Day crafts you can make in 15 minutes or less. So are my co-hosts Jen from 100 Directions and Angie from The Country Chic Cottage. AND, we've invited crafty friends to create fast Valentine's Day crafts as well. Scroll to the bottom of this post to check out today's offerings, and go check out yesterday's Crystal Heart, and my Valentine's Doilies from earlier this week.
Cardstock with this stamp printable printed on it.
Cut out the tags and punch a hole in each.
Put the stamps and an ink pad in each bag. Tie on the tag.
Check out these other fast Valentine crafts… some even include a pun or two!
Jessica from Mad in Crafts made this fast-food Valentine's Card.
You can make heart canvasses like these from Albion Gould.
Paula at Frog Prince Paperie made these Birdhouse treat boxes – and is offering up the printable for you to make your own.
You can learn how Kimbo from A Girl and a Glue Gun makes these adorable heart envelopes.
These Love Rocks at Artistic Endeavors 101 are adorable, and quick to make!
Carla Schauer has this fun Valentine's Bookmark for you to color.
You'll fall in love with your skin again with this Milk Bath Recipe from Mom off Track.
The Hot Chocolate lover in your life will love this Hot Chocolate card from Scrappy Chick.
Jen from 100 Directions created this awesome ombre nail art.
Angie from the Country Chic Cottage whipped up these cute EOS Lip Balm Valentines (yay for more puns)!
Tomorrow I'll have even more fast Valentine's Day crafts from around the web to share… be sure to stop by!
Those stamps are the cutest thing ever!


That certain point being that you finally realize that what you are experiencing is the result of your beliefs, thoughts and emotions solidified into earth objects and events that you then experience. You are initiated into earthly life by your entity/soul for the important reason, to learn the creation and manipulation of matter into objects and events, and to learn how to do it in a responsible way, to the benefit of yourself and your contemporaries.
Here is the good news, after you have evolved out of the three dimensional physical Earth system, you will have grown up, so to speak, and many other choices will be available to you for future lives. The use of the word "lives" here can be misleading, since as you move away from physical systems into non-physical systems, you will not experience death, since death is only inherent in matter based worlds.
You could choose to be born again into a more advanced physical system, in which case will still be involved with reincarnation and probabilities" but death will be understood for what it really is, an opportunity for change of form. As a rule of thumb, but not exclusively, death must come to all matter and someday even the Pyramids will be gone, but you will not, since primarily you are not a physical being, but a psychological identity temporarily in human garb and you will someday assume and change forms, with some discrimination and forethought, as today you put on a suit or a dress. Translation; you will choose what you look like in the after death dimension.
When physical matter is dispensed with on death, you will enter a new non physical environment where what was your physical body will seem the same to you, but will be different in one great respect, that is will be far less limited but possessing abilities that now you can only compare with your abilities in your dreams. Your dream form is close to what you will have most of the time in the dimension you will find yourself in immediately after death. You will be able to fly, moving from place to place instantly as you imagine yourself there. By then you will then realize the one great difference is that there really is NO PLACE TO GO, in earth terms, since all places are illusions hallucinated by you and your compatriots psychically and then you go there, but don't let the dismay you since they are as real, or even more so than the earth reality that you just left since it too was illusion, albeit a pretty elaborate one at that.
This will take some practice even though it is a trait that you have already learned in your dream self's nightly excursions, but you will have to get used to the immense power of your thoughts that become real instantly. And this my friends, is why I have been so insistent about talking about "creating matter responsibly" because the new kind of matter you will be working with, materializes instantly and this can be problematic as you can imagine. When you think of something now, it takes time to materialize, but in your new after death environment, this materialization will be instantaneous.
Most of you are familiar with the McDonald's phrase, "Have it your way" and that will especially be true and require some discrimination on your part becoming familiar with a new power you have discovered. You will truly have it your way, creating not only your form, but your environment, as you do now, but then you will know you are doing it where now you do not, mostly because of the time lag between thought inception and materialization in the physical system.
After death you will find yourself going through a process that you know very well since you will be creating and following your own close held beliefs about what happens when you die. In a sense everyone dies their own concept of death. You create your reality whether you are in a body or not, so when you are out of your body, if you believe in a religious scenario with saints and angels, sin, punishments and devils, then that is what you will experience.
If you believe in the long tunnel myth with a white light at the end signifying Christ, the you will have a Christ experience, a Christ of your own making, a self hallucinated Christ. If you believe in meeting Mohammed or Buddha, then you will likewise experience that, not realizing that you are creating what you are experiencing. For those religious believers among you, Christ is real and so are the other religious icons of your historical past, but Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and the others will be unavailable to welcome you, as they will be so otherwise occupied in distant dimensions beyond your comprehension, that you will have to make do with an illusion to enhance your death experience.
There is then no difference whether you are in a body or not in a body, living or dead, you still create what you experience, you get what you believe and expect, and that is a universal rule in all worlds and universes. This means that someone who is less indoctrinated and stigmatized by religious dogma will have an easier and less confusing transition than someone with a more restricted belief system. Conversely, what this means is that if you believe that satan is waiting to carry you away to the lake of fire for your past indiscretions, then that is what you will experience, at least until you have been told what I am telling you here, that you are experiencing the results of your beliefs and not a reality.
You will reconnect with family and friends long since deceased, unless of course, they have already gone on their way to other realities. You may recognize old friends from previous lives that you have a more enduring relationship with than your immediate past family. If the time period is not overly long between the death of partners in marriage, then, assuming there was love between them, you will meet again, but bear in mind that you may also be reconnecting with many such past loves that you have had relationships with in various lifetimes centuries ago, and since you attract to you that which you have strong emotions about, you will also revisit situations with those who you consider enemies, as long as the misunderstandings have not been worked out previously. Whatever or whoever you retain strong feelings about will follow you to the corners of the earth until the misunderstandings have been settled.
Finally, there is something here that is not very well understood even by those who believe in reincarnation, and even though this may sound strange, it may have little practical value to you at this time other than as a point of clarification. Most think that the present personality reincarnates, one lifetime into the next, over and over again, but that is not the case at all. You should understand that what you consider "the personality", the egotistical you that you know so well, is not your total true "Identity", which is a composite of many such "personality aspects", some made physical and some which are not.
Your present physically oriented ego personality that you call yourself, (Bob, Jane, Brad or Barbara) is simply the present physically expressed portion of your Soul, but a minor part to be sure. When you die, your present personality does NOT reincarnate, but steps aside before the birth of the new fetus, to go on its own way in other realities which need not be discussed here.
Brains die, minds don't. Upon death, the mind assumes and holds all information upon the physical death of the previous brain. The brain is the mind in physical clothing while you are in human form. When you are not in human form, the brain is not needed.
Another thing that is interesting, not really that relevant to this article, but interesting indeed, and that is that there is sometimes a certain reluctance for the new personality, containing trace memories of past lives where development may have been quite advanced, to realize that it will be "forgetting" that advancement and entering this new life in complete innocence of past intellectual accomplishments, and will have to begin the journey all over again. As a note; in the next life the advancement and maturity growth of the child will be much accelerated because of these trace memories imbedded within the cellular structure of the fetus.


Automotive Chassis Part is one of the important parts for the auto cars, it is made of cast iron from sand casting process way.
Automotive Chassis Part is one of the important parts for the auto cars, it is made of cast iron from sand casting process way. For Automotive Chassis Part, my foundry adopt line production, from melting, shaping, sand blasting till final grinding or machining, with advanced production equipment, we have gained high efficiency, good surface quality and so on.
We have clients all over the world, welcome any inquiry or request from you esteemed team!


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WSU Women's Basketball Program Lends a Hand to Family Affected by Katrina
PULLMAN, Wash. - For Washington State Women's Basketball Head Coach Sherri Murrell, the Hurricane Katrina tragedy has hit especially close to home.
Murrell is a native of the Pacific Northwest region, but at one time she was a resident of Louisiana. From 1986-88, Murrell played two seasons for Southwestern Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana-Lafayette).
In that time, Murrell adopted Louisiana as her home state. Now, in that state's time of need, Murrell and the WSU women's basketball staff and team are adopting a family affected by the tragedy and spearheading an effort to get them back on their feet.
'The team and staff have felt helpless as we've watched the events and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina unfold,' Murrell said. 'We wanted to help, and not just by sending money to charities, but to adopt a specific family in need.
'I wanted to have the team see first-hand that they are making a positive impact on people's lives,' Murrell added. 'The team is excited to roll up its sleeves and help this family.'
That family is the Petry's: Randy and Danel, son Jeremy (30) and daughter Jennifer (23) of Slidell, La., a town roughly 30 miles northeast of New Orleans on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.
Murrell and Debi Sterk, wife of WSU Director of Athletics Jim Sterk, still have many close friends in the area from their time living in Louisiana (Jim Sterk once worked at Tulane University). Two of those friends own a bakery, where Randy is an employee, in Kenner, La., a city just west of New Orleans. Murrell and Sterk became aware of the family's plight from the owners of the bakery.
'The Petry family is only one family among thousands who have lost everything,' Murrell said. 'We feel blessed for the opportunity to help the Petry's rebuild their lives.'
In what Murrell stresses what will be a season-long effort to help the family and others affected by the hurricane, the team will be at Safeway grocery store (430 SE Bishop Blvd, Pullman, Wash.), Friday, Sept. 23, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., accepting donations that will go directly to the Petry family.
Beginning this week, coaches and players will be going throughout the local business community to accept cash donations, clothing, and personal items for the family from a list that Murrell and Sterk has compiled.
Murrell is also gathering WSU clothing and each member of the team will provide handwritten notes to give to the family.
Murrell asks that the general public donate gift cards from retail outlets such as Macy's, Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Sears and Home Depot, which will be used for household items and clothing. In addition, the public can donate money, which will be used for shipping packages to the family, food and personal items (personal hygiene, etc.).
Individuals who would like to contribute can also drop off donations at the women's basketball office at 220 Bohler Athletic Complex or by calling Linda Rubenthaler in the women's basketball office at 509-335-0276.
--www.wsucougars.com--
WSU Men's Basketball Program Offers Help to Family from Louisiana Affected by Hurricane Katrina
WSU Women's Basketball Raises $2,200 for Family Affected by Katrina
Huskies Lend A Hand At Seattle Elementary School
The 12 Best: 2019 Football Games of the Year


I love discovering new ingredients and flavours that I haven't tried before. We know all about the wonders of argan oil but I had no idea until recently that it was edible too (do bear in mind food grade argan oil is different from cosmetic grade). In my last post about argan oil, I mentioned that Wild Wood Groves also produce edible argan products. Or should I say incredible edible……which is what you'll say when you taste amlou. Think the most delicious nut butter you've ever tasted.
Amlou is a Berber spread that is eaten for breakfast on bread or in pastries after a meal. Wild Wood Groves amlou is made using organic almonds and organic honey combined with wild crafted argan oil. Three ingredients, no preservatives or additives.
Argan oil's nutritional benefits are off the charts with extremely high levels of essential fatty acids, Vitamins C and E and antioxidants so it's exceptional for the skin and the body overall. We're talking amazing moisture retention, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Almonds are one of the healthiest nuts. Research shows they help reduce cholesterol, the risk of heart disease, and diabetes by lowering blood sugar. The double whammy of argan oil and almond's nutritional profiles makes amlou a perfect bite of healthy meets delicious.
I've also read that amlou was traditionally given to newlyweds as a wedding gift and kept in the bedroom to be used as an aphrodisiac. I haven't put those properties to the test but I can confirm having multiple foodgasms!
Apart from inhaling out of the jar, I like to eat amlou for breakfast or a snack with goat's yoghurt and figs, or on banana pancakes. The label states that it's best eaten within four months of opening which makes me laugh – this barely lasted four days let alone four months!
Amlou – delicious and healthy made with just three ingredients.
My thoughts about buying argan oil products remain the same. I prefer to buy from an ethical company where you know your money is going to those that have done the work and received a fair price for their resources. Wild Wood Groves is committed to full traceability and quality control throughout the whole process of argan oil production. It also ensures the Berber women are receiving a fair wage, working under decent conditions, as well as helping to sustainably conserve their way of life. Sounds pretty fair to me for one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.
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Mitac Mio 8390
By Sandra Vogel | June 18, 2004 -- 10:45 GMT (03:45 PDT) | Topic: Mobility
✓Available SIM-free
✓small and compact
✕Expensive compared to carrier-subsidised alternatives
✕lacks Bluetooth support
The Mio 8390 from Mitac is a clamshell-style SIM-free smartphone powered by Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones. Mitac must be hoping to take some custom from similar phones that are subsidised by network operators, but it faces an uphill struggle against, for example, Motorola's MPx200, which can be obtained at varying prices -- including for free -- on contract from Orange.
In fact, comparing this phone to the MPx200 is a valid exercise in terms of more than just price. The Mio 8390 is slightly larger and heavier than Motorola's phone, measuring 9.9cm tall by 5cm wide by 2.4cm high as compared to 8.9cm by 4.8cm by 2.7cm, and weighing 125g against the MPx200's 118g. These are small differences, but they make the Mio 8390 feel slightly less comfortable in smaller hands when the two phones are compared side by side. The Mio 8390 loses out further because its antenna protrudes some 2cm from the upper edge of the device, while the MPx200 has no protruding antenna. The clamshell design protects the main screen effectively, and also provides plenty of room for generously spaced keys. The number pad is particularly successful, with big rectangular keys that are very clearly marked. Immediately above them lie the Call and End buttons, and above these, to left and right respectively, are Home and Back keys. At the top are the two keys that activate the left and right soft menus, which are two of your main controls within Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones. Further control is provided by a circular navigation tool with a select button at its centre. The Mio 8390 has two screens. The main one is a 2.2in., 176-by-220-pixel colour display that's your interface to data and applications. With the clamshell closed this is not visible, so a secondary screen provides some basic information including battery level, signal strength and the current time (in old-fashioned analogue mode). There is an icon for missed calls, and incoming calls are indicted by caller number, but there's no sophistication to this system -- numbers can't be linked to the name of an individual in Contacts, for example. The front of the phone features a camera lens and a speaker that allows whichever of the 40 polyphonic ringtones you have chosen to blast out pretty loudly.
Powered by Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones, the tri-band GSM/GPRS Mio 8390 is almost out of date as soon as it's launched: the newly announced Orange SPV C500, due later this summer, is expected to run the second edition of this operating system. Nevertheless, the Mio 8390 has some attractive features. The built-in camera puts it a step ahead of Motorola's MPx200, which lacks this feature. The camera can capture stills at up to 640 by 480 resolution as well as movies. You can grab four continuous stills at intervals of 0.5 seconds, 0.75 seconds and 1 second. Software provided to view images on-screen also allows you to add frames to shots and use a slide-show mode, as well as send images as MMS messages or locally via infrared. As soon as the camera is selected, the main screen turns into a viewfinder, and you can then capture images with a single button press. To frame yourself in a picture, you use the small mirror that sits above the camera's lens. The processor is Intel's PXA262 running at 200MHz, and there is 16MB of Flash storage available plus 20MB of user memory. An SD card can be used to augment this, providing access to data such as photos or music. Mio 8390 has no Bluetooth support, which will disappoint business users who like to use their mobile phone as a modem to connect a notebook to the Internet. Mitac augments the applications that come with Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones, although our review unit did not have all these available. Extras will include: Phone Explorer, a file manager that allows you to see what's stored on the internal memory and SD cards; SIM Cleaner, which tidies up the SMS messages stored on your SIM; SMS Sync for Outlook, which allows you to create SMS messages on a PC and send them to the Mio 8390, and to synchronise SMS messages with Outlook; SD Backup Utility, which will back up to an SD card; you also get a Scientific Calculator, and a tool for monitoring GPRS data usage. The phone comes with Java, which provides access to a range of software, including games. As well as the Mio 8390 itself, the box contains a docking cradle and separate cable, earphones, a belt-clip style case and a mains power charger.
The Mio 8390 performs on a par with other Windows Powered Smartphones we have used. The lack of a touch-screen and some of the ergonomics of operation are annoying, but it feels pretty responsive. That said, the Microsoft hourglass still makes the occasional appearance. Battery life is reasonable: Mitac quotes three hours of talk time and 70-100 hours on standby, although we would not like to be away from mains power for more than 24 hours at a stretch. The Mio 8390 is something of an all rounder as far as smartphones go. The camera and ability to add frames to images cry out 'consumer', but the data sharing with Outlook offered by Windows Powered Smartphones is equally useful as a business tool. Business users will appreciate the inclusion of a docking cradle and a separate cable, which makes it easy to sync with one computer at work and another at home. However, the lack of Bluetooth will disappoint those wanting to use the Mio 8390 with a notebook for mobile Internet access.
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As a lifelong sportsman who grew up hunting and fishing in North Carolina, one of the greatest achievements of my life has been to pass on my love for hunting, fishing and the outdoors to my children and grandchildren. Whether it was time on a bass boat, in a duck blind or on a dove field, the experiences I've shared with family and friends while hunting and fishing are invaluable to me.
It's these experiences, and the passion that fuels them, that enforces my full support of the Right of the People to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Wildlife and a 'For' vote on the amendment.
The Right of the People to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Wildlife constitutional amendment is about ensuring our ability to pass on outdoor traditions, protecting conservation funding, and instilling a deep appreciation for our state's wildlife and natural resources in the minds of North Carolina's next generation.
Additionally, as North Carolina continues to become a more urbanized, it's increasingly important to protect our right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife.
The numbers don't lie: According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are 11.5 million hunters in our country today. This is only a fraction of U.S. citizens, and hunter participation is steadily on the decline.
Through the purchase of hunting and fishing licenses and sporting-related equipment through the "user-pays, public-benefits" structure known as the American System of Conservation Funding, sportsmen and women are primary funders of conservation, supporting public land acquisitions, clean water, wildlife habitat improvements and management for game as well as nongame species.
Through this system, North Carolina's sportsmen and women have contributed more than $1.23 billion, including $56.39 million in 2017 alone, to state conservation efforts. With a decline in hunter participation, however, this vital source of conservation funding is at risk. Fortunately, there's light at the end of the tunnel for North Carolinians this year.
Vermont was the first state to protect hunting and fishing in their constitution in 1777, and 20 other states, including every state that borders North Carolina, have followed suit.
While hunters and anglers pay for the bulk of conservation efforts in our state, that funding system is at risk without support from the larger public. Conservation dollars generated from sportsmen and women help manage for species that are not hunted or fished and help acquire and make improvements to public land enjoyed by all North Carolinians.
So even if you're not a hunter or angler, think about the future of conservation and support hunting and fishing by voting "For" for the Right of the People to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Wildlife constitutional amendment on Nov. 6.
Richard Childress is chairman & CEO of Richard Childress Racing, a motorsports, marketing and manufacturing organization in Welcome, N.C.


text:
[![Circle CI](https://circleci.com/gh/RushPlay/active_campaign.png?circle-token=908def2d4311fcbe28d2caabccaa703e2835cf37)](https://circleci.com/gh/RushPlay/active_campaign/tree/master)[![Coverage Status](https://coveralls.io/repos/mhenrixon/active_campaign/badge.svg)](https://coveralls.io/r/mhenrixon/active_campaign) [![Code Climate](https://codeclimate.com/repos/525d012ec7f3a335f101a3d6/badges/74d14b105bf9f769f10f/gpa.png)](https://codeclimate.com/repos/525d012ec7f3a335f101a3d6/feed)
# Active::Campaign::Ruby

A simple wrapper for the ActiveCampaign API. Since their API seems to be
basically just form posts to their server don't complain here about the way it
works. The only thing we really changed was how results are wrapped and
returned and you can read more about that here.

## Installation

Add this line to your application's Gemfile:

    gem 'active_campaign'

And then execute:

    $ bundle

Or install it yourself as:

    $ gem install active_campaign

## Usage

Read their [API documentation](http://www.activecampaign.com/api/overview.php)for how to use this gem.

```ruby
# To setup the client
client = ::ActiveCampaign::Client.new(
        api_endpoint: 'YOUR-ENDPOINT', # e.g. 'https://yourendpoint.api-us1.com'
        api_key: 'YOUR-API-KEY') # e.g. 'a4e60a1ba200595d5cc37ede5732545184165e'

# or configure globally for all clients
::ActiveCampaign.configure do |config|
  config.api_endpoint = 'YOUR-ENDPOINT', # e.g. 'https://yourendpoint.api-us1.com'
  config.api_key = 'YOUR-API-KEY') # e.g. 'a4e60a1ba200595d5cc37ede5732545184165e'
end

```

```ruby
# To fetch all lists
ActiveCampaign.list_list ids: 'all'
```

```ruby
# To sync a contact (create if doesn't exist or update if matching email)
# you have to resort to some really ugly hacks. Due to the form serialization
# type of API (read not a object oriented REST API) you need to translate
# something pretty into something horrific when it comes to the parameters.
ActiveCampaign.contact_sync({
                                     "id" => user.active_campaign_contact_id,
                                  "email" => user.email,
                             "first_name" => user.first,
                              "last_name" => user.last,
     "p[#{user.active_campaign_list_id}]" => user.active_campaign_list_id,
"status[#{user.active_campaign_list_id}]" => user.receive_emails ? 1 : 2
})

# Another example of syncing a contact:

list_params = {
  "#{user.active_campaign_list_id}" => user.active_campaign_list_id,
             "#{user.other_list_id}" => user.other_list_id,
}

status_params = {
  "#{user.active_campaign_list_id}" => user.receive_emails ? 1 : 2,
             "#{user.other_list_id}" => true ? 1 : 2,
}

ActiveCampaign.contact_sync({
        "id" => user.active_campaign_contact_id,
     "email" => user.email,
"first_name" => user.first,
 "last_name" => user.last,
         "p" => list_params
    "status" => status_params
})
```

## Response

All responses are wrapped under `results` so
`ActiveCampaign.list_list ids: 'all'` returns

```ruby
{
     "result_code" => 1,
  "result_message" => "Success: Something is returned",
   "result_output" => "json",
         "results" => [
    {
                    "id" => "1",
                  "name" => "One list",
                 "cdate" => "2013-05-22 10:07:36",
               "private" => "0",
                "userid" => "1",
      "subscriber_count" => 2
    },
    {
                    "id" => "2",
                  "name" => "Another List",
                 "cdate" => "2013-05-22 10:09:15",
               "private" => "0",
                "userid" => "1",
      "subscriber_count" => 0
    }
  ]
}
```

## Contributing

1. Fork it
2. Create your feature branch (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`)
3. Commit your changes (`git commit -am 'Add some feature'`)
4. Rebase against master we want 1 commit per feature please
5. Push to the branch (`git push origin my-new-feature`)
6. Create new Pull Request

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Speeches & Transcripts March 24, 2021
As Ukraine Works Toward a Healthy and Prosperous Future, the World Bank Supports You
Arup Banerji, World Bank Country Director for Eastern Europe
Remarks by Arup Banerji, World Bank Country Director for Eastern Europe, delivered at the roundtable "Joining efforts to strengthen tobacco control legislation in Ukraine," to celebrate 15 years of Ukraine joining the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – March 24, 2021
Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to this important event.
Today, it is important to note that Ukraine is reeling under the terrible impact of COVID-19. Tragically, over 30,000 Ukrainians have lost their lives to the epidemic. But it is also important to recognize that tobacco smoking by itself kills between 84,000 and 115,000 Ukrainians every year[i]—three times the number of people lost to COVID-19.
And why this alarming fatality level? Because today, every second man and every sixth woman in Ukraine is a smoker.[ii] Smoking rates among Ukrainian men are two and a half times the levels in the United States or United Kingdom, and even one and a half times those in neighboring Poland.[iii]
Ukraine has made good progress in the 15 years since ratifying the FCTC. Just in the eight years since 2013, the number of daily smokers in Ukraine has fallen by about 40 percent. And this is because of Ukraine's adherence to FCTC commitments, including by systematically increasing tobacco taxation, banning smoking in restaurants, workplaces, and other public locations, and curbing cigarette advertising.
One of the major achievements during this period is the progress on FCTC Article 6 on price and tax measures to curb tobacco consumption. Ukraine increased the ad valorem component of its tobacco tax several times between 2008 and 2012, and in 2008, introduced a specific minimum excise tax that has also increased over the years. A key moment was the 2017 decision to adopt a seven-year plan to harmonize tobacco taxation rates with those of the EU—for which the World Bank was proud to provide technical advice.
A very important benchmark in this plan was, in January 2021, an increase in the excise tax on heated tobacco products to equal the minimum excise duty on cigarettes. This is an extremely important measure, and one that we strongly believe should be maintained.
Why do I say this? Because tobacco taxation, including taxation of heated tobacco products, is both good science and good economics.
It is good science. There is extensive scientific literature to show that tobacco taxation, by reducing tobacco use, reduces both illness and death. And this is not just for cigarettes. The U.S. CDC says that heated tobacco products have not been shown to be any less harmful than conventional tobacco products,[iv] and according to the WHO, they contain a greater number of harmful and potentially harmful chemicals than a regular cigarette.[v]
And it is good economics. Tobacco taxation raises a stream of resources that are critical to financing important public benefits. In 2020, for example, the Government collected about 54.7 billion hryvnas from tobacco excise taxes (equivalent to 1.3 percent of GDP, or almost half of the financing of the Program of Medical Guarantees). More importantly, by reducing tobacco-related disease, Ukraine saves future health-related expenses—and most importantly, saves lives.
Tobacco taxation is thus important to preserving Ukraine's future. Like Dr. Perebyinis and Dr. Berdzulin, I am particularly concerned about younger smokers. Every fifth child in the 13–15-year age group smokes cigarettes or heated tobacco products, and the number has been increasing.[vi] An effective tobacco control program needs to focus on curbing consumption among the youth, including by making heated tobacco products that are very popular among teenagers expensive enough that children do not take up the habit of smoking.
Ladies and gentlemen, today we celebrate Ukraine's progress since ratifying the FCTC, but there is still a long way to go. In conclusion, I would like to underscore the importance of continuing to implement the seven-year tobacco tax plan. As Ukraine works toward a healthy and prosperous future, the World Bank looks forward to supporting you.
[i] https://gas.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/tobacco/C4303.pdf, and also cited in World Bank reports on the tobacco tax in Ukraine.
[ii] According to the 2020 STEPS survey conducted by the WHO and co-financed by the World Bank. Data were collected in 2019.
[iii] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country.
[iv] https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/heated-tobacco-products/index.html.
[v] https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/443663/Heated-tobacco-products-brief-eng.pdf.
[vi] https://center-life.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Results-of-omnibus-surveys-2020-KIIS-Life.pdf.


Retirement and death are inevitable. Or is it taxes? Anyway, at some point, you're going to at least want to stop working before you die, right? How do you want that period of life to look? Well, we definitely don't want government grants to be involved. We're leaning more towards cruises, spoiling the grandkids with extravagant gifts, and retiring to the coast.
The mistake a lot of people make with their finances, is that they settle for what's comfortable. Not what they want, not what they truly desire. Just what doesn't cause too much pain or discomfort.
You live like that long enough and you start to equate all pain and discomfort, however temporary, with something negative. As opposed to being a necessary sacrifice for your own good and the good of your future. No pain, no gain.
When it comes to your retirement, the way that pans out comes down, decisively, to whether you made sacrifices, or excuses. Whether your comfort, or the life you envision for yourself, influences the choices you make today.
Take a look at your bank statement. A close look. Scrutinise your expenses. Where does it hurt to see your money go? Paying a high interest loan? Your credit card? Take-outs? Traffic fines? Raiding the temptation isle at the supermarket? Buying too many rounds at the bar?
Generally, it will probably be spur-of-the-moment decisions or expenses you're paying for now, but not really seeing the value of in your life. When you look at spending in terms of how it's adding value to your life, it will be easy to make some of the following cutbacks.
Before you gasp in shock and horror, let's look at the logic. You spend at least R700 for all the channels. How many do you watch? If you're like most South Africans with a healthy exposure to popular culture, you're probably subscribed to a streaming service. Netflix, Showmax, Prime, Pureflix… Even two of these subscriptions do not make up half of what you're paying for DStv.
So, cut it. And put the money you save towards your provident fund. "But the sports!" you cry. You have friends, family, the mall, Spur. You'll survive.
Don't kid yourself. If you haven't gone to gym for more than a month, you're robbing yourself and your bikini body. Some people make the argument that, if you're paying a whole lot per month, it will motivate you to go to the gym. But, unless you fundamentally change your behaviour, and your habits, no amount of money is going to hit the treadmill for you.
If you haven't signed away your soul to a 12 month lock-in (is that even legal anymore?), cut your losses. There are loads of free opportunities to work out for those who are serious. Register for a parkrun, or hit the public outdoor gyms in your city. Youtube some seven-minute workouts and go to town. And, while you're sweating, your pension will be growing.
Now, we know a bus strike may not be the right time to suggest you start using public transport. But, since a lot of people are starting to work remotely anyway, it may not even be necessary, There are also a number of two-income households that have two cars. We get it, it's convenient. But, how much is that convenience really costing you?
It's not just the monthly instalment to honour your car finance agreement. It's the insurance, your motor plan, fuel, regular services, general wear and tear, even valet services. It can really add up. Make a list of how much your car actually costs you and sit down with your financial adviser and see how much of your retirement shortfall you could cover, should you decide to carpool with your significant other / colleague / neighbour.