my drafts are a terrifying and lawless place. all this because I don't know how to manage my queue and I'm trying so hard to (almost) never have two text posts in a row and to space out certain things instead of reblogging the same subject/fandom all in a row

Capstone Project Progress

-------------------------------------------------

Week 4: The "Formal Interview"

"In a successful endeavor, we recently conducted a formal interview with our esteemed client from the Regional Health Unit (RHU). Our objective was to gather essential insights and information for the completion of Chapter 1 in our project documentation. Following this productive interaction, we diligently crafted the initial draft. Subsequently, during a review session held on Tuesday, our supervisor provided valuable feedback. This feedback primarily focused on enhancing the overall structure, refining specific sections, and ensuring the precision of our terminology. As we embraced these constructive suggestions, the process unfolded smoothly and efficiently. With Chapter 1 now in its advanced stages, we are eagerly anticipating the commencement of our work on Chapter 2, confident that the culmination of our efforts will lead to a comprehensive and impactful capstone project." -------------------Extracted data from the interview------------------

Delays in relaying disease trends due to tests

Previous system uses cloud. They revert to paper usage. Everything Anonymous and secured.

They use surveillance officers.

No protocols in managing outbreaks. They relay outbreak information in a heirarchy to deal with it.

Surviellance officers are trained. Doctors commands them to survey areas and nurses help by giving them information on what disease to look out for.

------------------------------Business Flow------------------------------

Goes to lab ward and check if the person has a record. If there's no record, then the assigned staff will make one. They will take your vital signs such as weight, BMI, BP, heartrate, etc. After the initial record checking, the person will be directed to the Doctor with respect to the queue. The doctor will then perform a checkup on the person to see if there are any notable diseases. After that, the doctor will then write a receipt on what medicines to get and how to drink them. If the hospital's pharmacy has the mentioned medicine in the Doctor's receipt, then it's possible to get them for free. If not, then the person will have to go to a generic pharmacy that sells these.

Business flow in its entirety is exclusive only on Initao people. Other people from different places recieve different treatments (not mentioned).

NO POLICIES IN MANAGING HEALTH DATA. (same answer response to Q4)

They engage with patients by meeting them in a interview/checkup one by one on their respective houses. They will gather some information to help them assess further such as "How are you feeling?", "where did this sickness start?", "Why are you diagnosed by this disease?" etc.

There is collaborative efforts in gathering disease information and trends. The RHU (the one were interviewing/preventive measures) are the ones who actually work on the field such as surveillance tasks. The Hospital is where the patients are admitted from the RHU if it's neccessary. The Hospital would then also report to the BHU or Region, but they also need to "CC" the RHU so that they could keep updated on the situation.

They were using a system before but was immediately stopped because of a bug in the database. They are currently using Spreadsheet/Excel in getting reports. No sort off ranking analytics on which diseases are trending without efforts.

Data quality and accuracy is good since they refer to the Hospital's database and the doctor themselves.

By statistics analysis, they use data from 5 years gap. They keep the old data on shelves since most of it are on paper.

They provide weekly reports as compliance. Even if there are zero reports. Then all of those reports will be analyzed. There are also reports on how many patients were checked up in a month, and quarterly.

Existing problems (we weren't supposed to ask this, but fortunately our interviewee gave us some few insights)

Lack of manpower in the IT district.

System must be user-friendly, and not complex.

They had bugs and they sent some feedback on the higher ups IT.

How they track and monitor people with diseases: Their Masterlist (Narrative listing)

They currently have a log book. Every log book is assigned on a specific barangay. The contents are the people who checked up with information on Name, Age, Gender, Diagnosis BP, and all the essentials.

Hacker:

Niño Tacbobo

Lord Rynkar Tracy Dwight Arcamo

Luigie Cyril Francis Posod

Hipster:

Niño Tacbobo

Lord Rynkar Tracy Dwight Arcamo

Luigie Cyril Francis Posod

Hustler:

Niño Tacbobo

Lord Rynkar Tracy Dwight Arcamo

Luigie Cyril Francis Posod

Pillowfort Is Coming!!

hey yall PF is opening up to the public soon (was gonna be the 15th, they just announced theyre pushing it to the 25th) and I REALLY want people to follow me away to there instead of everyone exhausted by twitter just coming back to this.... place

I have 3 weekly invite links if anyone wants to get in pre-open to get their blog set up to be ready for the incoming noobs to follow!

WHAT IS IT THO?

oh, right, so pillowfort.social is a blogging platform much like tumblr. while its not yet at the slick polished stage of tumblr (tumblr has a several year advantage), it is already offering its users several things tumblr does not, such as:

NSFW/18+ content OK (within law, so no fuckin CP allowed ya creeps)

Blogs toggleable as NSFW, as well as INDIVIDUAL POST NSFW toggling

edits to the original post changes all reblogs of the post across the site--so no “fuck they reblogged my drawing already but i just noticed i fucked up and need to fix smth”

toggle reblog-ability and comment-ability per post

if u make smth unrebloggable after its already been reblogged, u can either let the old reblogs stay but be unreblogable any further, or delete all reblogs!)

choose who can view each post if u dont want it just public (only me, only mutuals, only followers, only logged in users)

toggle whether non-logged-in folks can see ur NSFW content (bless)

if multiple people/communities you follow reblog the same thing it compiles it into one post on ur dash so u dont scroll past the same thing 6 times

“communities”, which are basically like, uh, a group? so it has its own little discussion area and its own feed (that also shows up on ur dash ofc) but any group member can contribute, theyre themed on certain things...

for example, i made one for WoW Goblins specifically! :^)

there’s art communities for showing off your stuff to people who arent even following you, great way for artists to attract attention, theres LGBT+ communities, fandom communities, all sorts of stuff so u can find a nice user-made compilation of the kind of content you wanna see

tells u how many mutuals u have, and u can click to see a list of only ur mutual followers

replies on posts can be replied back to, encouraging conversations instead of just random comments (and letting artists thank ppl for saying nice things <3)

replies can also be “like”d!

filter the posts on a blog ur viewing to show only original posts or only reblogs

can put more than 10 images in a post (idk the limit, I have a post w 12 at least tho)

easy access toggle to if u wanna see nsfw on ur dash or not, so u can Safe It while ppl can see ur screen and switch back real quick later

u can put images in ur blog sidebar lol

only show notifs for replies, if u want that i guess

AND SO MUCH MORE I CANT REMEMBER OR MAYBE EVEN DONT KNOW ABOUT!

It also has stuff we like from tumblr, such as:

searchable tagging system

direct messaging (via inbox, not like the chatboxy tumblr IMs) that you can disallow based on follower/mutual status or disable entirely

blessed validating notes

images in text posts

Things they’re working on adding in the near future:

Sideblogs

More blog customization (atm it’s pretty minimal)

Queues & drafts

Whatever people ask for, pmuch*

*They listen to community feedback & recommendations for features, etc, adding things people WANT instead of random bullshit, and are much more responsive to users concerns than the cold corpo feel of tumblo

Community Update: November 2019

Hey everyone! It’s time for your monthly community update where we let you know what Staff have been doing behind the scenes, happenings within the community, and a preview of what’s in store for the platform.

Since October 2019 we have…

Added the Invitation System. Check out the Invitation System FAQ for more details.

Added the Donation System. More information can be found here.

Updated our Log-in Page.

Made Changes to User Accounts. Information can be found here.

Updated our FAQ & Business Plan. Full change log is available here.

Fixed various bugs throughout the month.

Community Stats:

As of December 2019, Pillowfort currently has over 55400 registered users and 6900 communities.

We have placed the rest of the community update under the cut!

Welcome New Users!

Welcome to Pillowfort. We are so glad you are part of our community. If you haven’t yet, check out Pillowfort101 Getting Started Guide. 

The Invitation System is Here! 

We are excited to announce the next phase of our open beta arrived at the end of November! All Pillowfort users have the ability to generate free registration codes to give out to your friends! The introduction of the invitation system allows our community to grow at a steady pace and to help us test our server capacity in a controlled manner. 

Click Here to Invite Your Friends!

(Note: You must be logged in to Pillowfort for access.)

If you have friends who do not want to wait for an invite code they can still purchase a registration key with a one-time $5 payment here.

Existing Pillowfort users are granted a maximum of three (3) invitations a week.  The number of codes a user can generate might fluctuate depending on our server capacity. In the event we need to put the invitation system on pause or change the amount of keys users can generate, we will make an announcement on the Pillowfort Staff Blog. For more information regarding the Invitation System check out the Invitation System FAQ.

August Community Survey Results

In August 2019 we conducted our quarterly survey with users on their experience with Pillowfort. If you missed out on the last survey we will be releasing another quarterly survey next week. Here are some of the key takeaways from the last survey:

Users rate their experience on Pillowfort as positive.

Users love the ability to control both adult and safe content.

Our tag & search function is one of the areas that needs the most improvement.

Communities continue to be one of Pillowfort’s most liked features.

Now Hiring Web Developers!

We’re looking for well-rounded Web Developers to help Pillowfort become a first-class platform. If you are interested in helping Pillowfort grow and improve and you have some professional experience in front-end and back-end web development, we’d love to speak with you. You must be familiar with Ruby on Rails and Javascript. AngularJS experience is a plus but not a must.

This position is remote and part time, hourly contractor work. 

Send your resume and portfolio to [email protected] with the subject line ‘Web Developer.’

Tasks include, but are not limited to: 

Fixing bugs and developing new site features.

Testing new release builds/QA.

Both front-end/UI and back-end development. 

We are accepting applications for web developers until Wednesday, Dec. 18.  Our team will review all applications and will contact candidates we are interested in to schedule an interview by Friday, Dec. 20th.

User Account Changes Update Post-Mortem

Before the release of our invitation system, we introduced a change to our user accounts requiring users to input their birthdate. Details on the changes that were made are available in this announcement. In previous updates of this nature we usually provided ample time before a change was implemented, but unfortunately our team pushed this update with little notice in our effort to get the invitation system out quickly. The staff at Pillowfort are still passionate about continuing to build a bridge of communication and retaining transparency with our users. We sincerely apologize for not announcing the user account changes sooner and we will strive for better communication and keeping transparency with our users in the future.

We will be creating a separate discussion post soon where users can leave feedback and suggestions on the new user account changes. Stay tuned for when the discussion goes live.

Terms of Service Update: Coming Soon

Our team is currently reviewing our Terms of Service. We are not planning to add or significantly change any of the terms, but rather make clarifications to how the Terms of Service is applied to user content, including NSFW content, in the upcoming months. The clarifications are being made to help users with questions and concerns about our current verbiage regarding some of our policies. Before any clarifications are made, we will make an announcement with the updated terms and when they take effect.

As a reminder, any questions regarding Pillowfort’s Terms of Service and Moderation Policies should be sent to [email protected]. 

Proposed Changes to Communities:  Coming Soon

Our team is exploring changes to Communities to improve user experience in 2020. We will be announcing proposed changes and taking feedback from the community in the coming weeks.

Developer Update

Now that the invitation system is released, our team is re-prioritizing what features & improvements we need to make before Pillowfort can exit beta. We are also beginning to lay the groundwork for our site-wide UI Redesign. December will be quieter in terms of updates than previous months while our developers plan and prepare for our upcoming development projects.

We have had an increase in inquiries as of late regarding the status of our mobile app. While we do plan to create a mobile app, we are currently prioritizing the stability & development of the browser site. Our team does plan on creating a mobile app in the future when funding allows. We will be updating our donation page in the near future to include milestones we need to reach for certain goals such as adding more developers to the team, creating a mobile app, and more.

Help Us Keep the Lights On!

At Pillowfort, we do not receive any funding from venture capital or other outside investors because we are committed to keeping our user experience a priority, and not being beholden to outside interests. Pillowfort has been entirely user funded since the beginning. Because users are no longer required to pay for a registration link, we will be largely dependent on donations to help us pay the bills until the release of our Premium Features Suite which is currently in development.  We need your help. If you would like to support us, you can make a one-time or monthly payment to Pillowfort to help keep the lights on here. Any money donated to us now will be applied as a credit to your account when we release Pillowfort’s Premium Features Suite.

Follow Us on Social Media

Interact with Pillowfort Staff, ask questions, plus learn about upcoming features and more on social media.

Pillowfort: Staff

Facebook: Pillowfortsocial

Twitter: @pillowfort_soc

Tumblr: pillowfort-social

Coming Soon

Here’s a look at some of the exciting features, in no particular order, that our team is planning to make available during the first half of 2020: 

Community Privacy Options & Moderation Tools for Community Mods.

Side Blogs/Multiple Account Management (TBA).

Search & Tagging Improvements.

Editing Comments.Premium Features Suite.

Volunteer Moderation System.

Coming in 2020:

Here’s a look at some of the larger scale improvements for the second half of 2020:

Complete Site-Wide UI Redesign.

Queue & Drafts.

Improved general functionality & usability of the website.

Improved Mobile Browsing.

Official Public Release!

A Special Thanks

Thank you all so much for your understanding and patience as we rolled out the invitation system at the end of November. It was important to our team, based on user feedback, to make joining Pillowfort more accessible so the community can grow at a steady pace. 

Pillowfort is committed to creating a safe, user-friendly community for creators & fans alike. We do take all feedback to heart. Our team is constantly watching for feedback & suggestions within the BetaUsers community and on other social media channels in addition to the feedback we receive in e-mail.  Thank you for continuing to share your feedback to help make Pillowfort even better. 

Our team is eternally grateful for all of our users, both old and new, who have made Pillowfort their home. We’re blown away at the response we’ve received over the last several months.  Thank you all for your continued encouragement, well wishes, and support. We wouldn’t be in this stage of our development if it wasn’t for you. 

Best, Pillowfort Staff

no.1 fan; csb

txt -> choi soobin x reader

info -> fluff, idol!soobin, fan!reader

Masterlist

You couldn’t believe you were here, waiting in the queue to meet the one and only TXT. To say that you were excited was an understatement; when your best friend had surprised you with the tickets you had nearly cried from happiness but now that you were here, that excitement had mixed with a unnerving amount of anxiety to create a dangerous concoction which filled your stomach like butterflies.

“You ready?” Your friend grinned at you from above you as she went to greet the first member.

“I guess so.” You replied, overwhelmed by the mix of emotions you were feeling.

You watched as your friend confidently shook hands with Beomgyu and began speaking to him as if she had known him her entire life.

You can do this Y/N, they are just normal human beings.

Cautiously you approached the first seat, slowly setting yourself in front of Beomgyu, your nervous eyes gradually looking up to meet his bright ones.

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“I- I’m Y/N.”

“Hi, Y/N, how are you?”

“Nervous?”

“Aha I can tell, but don’t worry, there’s nothing to be scared of ok?” As Beomgyu began to speak, it felt as if all your worries began to disappear and as you gave him a final high five, you felt almost sad to say goodbye.

The next meetings with Huening Kai, Yeonjun and Taehyun all went just as smoothly, with you even managing to make Taehyun blush as you told him he was your bias. You were finally feeling truly comfortable – well that was until you realised that Soobin was next, something about him always made you flustered, and meeting him? No way! You knew it was only because he was your bias wrecker but that still didn’t make you feel any less calm.

Soobin had noticed you when he first walked in the room with the rest of his members, he was mesmerised by you every action and couldn’t keep his eyes off you. The way you laughed and smiled, the way you nervously twisted the rings on your fingers, the way your hair softly fell from behind your ears when you looked down. Every single thing about you made him want you to be his. He was just as nervous as you, and when you sat down in front of him? That’s when his heart really began to race.

“Hey,” He shyly smiled, a faint blush spreading across both your cheeks.

“Hi, I’m Y/N.” You responded, trying to be as confident as possible despite the fact that you could already feel your palms sweating.

“Hi Y/N, I’m Soobin.”

“Yeah, I know…” You giggled causing a bright shade of ruby red to stain the apples of Soobin’s cheeks.

The two of you continued to share awkward but sweet glances until the staff eventually asked you to move on. As one last move to savour the moment, you bravely reached out your hand to give Soobin a high five, one which was met speedily. However, this time it wasn’t just a high five, Soobin instead interlocked his fingers in yours, giving you’re a hand a quick squeeze before hastily pulling away out of realisation from what he just did.

You couldn’t help but smile at the clearly nervous boy in front of you as you rose from your seat. Exiting the stage area, you smiled at your friend who raised a cheeky eyebrow at what had happened just a few a moments ago. Just as you lifted your hand to jokingly hit her on her arm, you heard a voice from behind you whisper-shout your name. You quickly dismissed it, assuming that it was someone else, until your now worryingly excited best friend pinched your arm and pointed behind you, causing you to respond with a confused expression before eventually turning around to be met by a nervous Soobin, tapping his foot anxiously.

“Y/N! I’m sorry, I don’t normal do this but I would really like to get to know you and well, I was wondering if I could get your number?” He stuttered out his words, wrapping his hand around his neck and rubbing it roughly as he cautiously pulled out his phone. You stood there for a while, frozen out of shock and disbelief.

Soobin, like me? No, definitely not, I must have misheard.

Your doubt however soon vanished as you watched your friend pushed past you to grab the mobile device in front of you.

“She would love to, right Y/N?” She stated, twisting her body to face you.

“Um- yes, yes, I would love to.” You responded Letting out a shy giggle as you watched Soobin’s face turn from one of anxiety to one of happy relief. You couldn’t believe what had just happened so all you could do was smile like a giddy schoolgirl as Soobin excitedly waved to you, walking back to his seat whilst assuring you that he would text later.

“You better get Yeonjun’s number for me otherwise we are no longer friends!” Your friend laughed as she linked her arm into yours.

-

A/N -> this was originally posted as part of a birthday celebration for @mingiholic, i need to proof read it again because usually proof read my fics when they are in the tumblr drafts so the word docs aren’t proof read yet.

The Longest Day

Monday and we had to be on the ferry to Milos island by 9.30. The guys at the apartments were dropping us off to the ferry terminal at the Port about 4kms away and they were pretty relaxed about timing. We left just after 9.00 for the short trip. They were right, ferry was nowhere to be seen and took another 20 mins or so to roll up. The port was small but quite busy with people waiting for the ferry. The local fishermen on one boat displaying their catch and selling it to any interested parties ie individual fish. Liz noticed a large eel which unfortunately for it must have got caught in the nets. We hadn't noticed eel on the menu so not sure what they do with that. Also there were the ubiquitous cats hovering around looking for a feed. They seem to like and look after the cats in Greece (seen far more than dogs) though they need to do some serious doctoring of the male ones as skinny mother cats fending for several offspring are everywhere. The island ferry boarding routine is much more structured than at Piraeus. There was a place to queue and a policeman in attendance to make sure you were standing in the right area. Also time is money so when the ferry did roll up they hurry you off and hurry you on. Total turnaround time less than 15 mins. Anyway an uneventful trip of an hour ensued fairly calm and some good views of islands along the way. We were met at the dock by the delightful and friendly Panos from our new digs the Hotel Rigas which is a 10 minute walk from the centre of Milos town. We jumped in his old Volvo cramming the bags in for the short drive. Our room spacious with a very large balcony. There are sea (more Port) views but only from one end of the balcony at the side of the building. We essentially face backwards onto a vacant block of land with a few houses behind it. No prob though, we are lucky to have this large room and balcony. Panos in particular but also brother Christos could not be more different to our hosts at the apartment in Folegandros. Let's charitably say they were a bit diffident in Folegandros. Here, nothing seems too much trouble. All tinged with some good humour and, from both, though Panos in particular, superb and subtle English. He has passed the ESL teacher's stringent evaluation with flying colours. Panos is a football fan (nut) and of all teams supports Newcastle United in the UK (how many Greeks do that?). We swopped a few soccer stories. Rooms were not ready so by 11.30 we were on our way to the local beach just a few hundred metres up the road on a very warm day. Planning to return mid to late afternoon. This beach is essentially the town beach so not one of those delightful coves but not particularly crowded. A few people in the cheap seats sheltering under the sporadic trees along the foreshore and the same number sitting under umbrellas on beach beds. We did the latter for the princely some of 8 euros for the two beds. The pretty cheap seats. Compared to Sicily this was a saving of 20 euros. We settled in, swam of course, read books, blogged and snoozed on and off from around mid-day to gone 6.00pm. We were pretty much the last to leave our little area of beach beds. Two tavernas nearby for refreshments though we just went for the toasted sarnie. Very relaxing intro. Panos got quite a shock when we rolled back to the hotel around 6.30 given he had last seen us at 11.30 heading off. It was a good and enjoyable stint. Showers and some more downtime (as if we needed it) and it was off to dinner. Panos had recommended two restaurants - one for fish and one for meat. We fancied the fish restaurant which he also said was his favourite. As we we heading off so was he from the hotel his shift presumably over. He pulled over to ask if we wanted a lift which was not necessary as the restaurant was just a couple of hundred metres away but he did offer to pull over there and ask them to find us a good place in the line and a good table. We arrived a few minutes later and dropped his name but either we asked the wrong person or it didn't work as 4/5 ahead of us. We decided to wait and repared to the bar for a drink. Didn't take long, about 25 mins later we were in, partly because couple before us were no shows. Seats weren't ideal so the Panos connection had definitely not worked. The restaurant is by the sea but the early arrivals nab the seafront seats and we were 3 back. That wasn't so much of a prob except that was close to the road and also a bit drafty. We were feeling a bit cool, though had brought something to slip on. Cool on a Greek island in July - not what we expected. Anyway, Liz did her fish inspection and came up with a couple of corkers - common Bream and Common Pandora. They were out of the box. Absolutely delightful. Cooked closed on the charcoal grill and we filleted them ourselves (keeps them warmer for a start). They did offer to do that at the table but Liz declined and the maitre de agreed that if he was us he would do it himself as well. The fish came with vegetables and of course bread and we soon knew why the place was Panos' favourite. Rose wine, as ever, deplorable though. We strolled around town for a bit after that and found a place selling craft beers. First one we've seen in Greece though weren't looking hard. A couple of acquisitions for consumption on the balcony in the next few days. It had been a good day. Tuesday a measured start. Not too early as usual. Breakfast at hotel was a casual and enjoyable one. Fruit, yoghourt, pastries, cheese, ham, tomatoes. Again putting the Folegandros place to shame where breakfast was not part of the tariff though similar priced rooms. We caught a bus just after midday to a beach around 7/8kms away. Paliochori. Liked the place straight away in a nice largeish cove with beach chairs for 15 euros a set and a taverna right behind. We settled in for what turned out to be a 4 hour stay lazing basically. Liz did have a swim and we hauled ourselves the 15 metres or so up to the taverna for lunch. Taramoslata and fries. Odd mix but both were good. Crusty bread of course. Sitting beside us on the beach was a lady of Greek origin from Sydney who ran her own business selling handbags and luggage wholesale. She was here catching up with family in various places and then heading to New York to buy more bags. She was fun and interesting to chat to. Every now and then you get a real reminder that we just don't all do the same things. I thought everyone was in risk and compliance. Well of course in one way we are. Bussed it home. The bus entry was not a particularly dignified affair. Finite number of seats. Smallish bus and fair bit of manoeuvring if not quite jostling. We got a couple of the last two seats though only one guy had to stand as it turned out. We had a couple of drinks on the balcony before heading out. We now have the travelling vodka and a fresh lime and of course my draft beers. Dinner was a simple affair of grilled sardines and Greek salad. Both excellent. Post dinner on the recommendation of the lady from Sydney we wandered up to the top of town via some steps and found a pretty church. Closed and quiet at around 10.00pm. We kept walking and found a pretty chic but relaxed cocktail bar at the top of a small hill/cliff overlooking the docks including the fancy motor boats. A caipiroska x2 later and we were feeling pretty mellow enjoying the view and just chilling. Post drinks we did go for a stroll around the dock area looking at the multi million dollar boats and a few beautiful (and not so beautiful) people adorning them. The next stage of our trip partly unbooked at this stage had needed resolving. We had to decide where we wanted to spend the next 2.5 weeks (Istria in Croatia has been the plan). Liz had also been sussing car hire costs and they seemed cheaper from Trieste in Italy than Croatia though all sorts of permutations were considered including flying to Split and a range of other places. Of course also had to be sure if there was a loading to get the car out of Italy and use in Croatia which might make it prohibitive. Liz rang thrifty in Trieste to confirm the policy. Extra 40 euros - not too bad. That morning we had therefore booked the ferry off the island and a flight to Trieste from Athens. We could have caught a flight off the island which would have been tempting given only 45 mins to Athens compared to 4 hours on ferry plus taxi ride but it didn't quite line up with the flight to Trieste. Aggravatingly we had to catch the 11.25 ferry rather than one an hour earlier which would have made the journey to the airport more flexible (train or cab) as only 1 seat available on the earlier ferry. It's pretty busy over here. Again last minute booking caught us out slightly but that's the trade off for flexibility. Our leeway to the connecting flight now reduced and let's hope ferry on time unlike when arriving. After drinkies at the cocktail bar we arrived back at the hotel around 12.30-1.00am and got back into planning in earnest. We need to book a couple of nights in Trieste, a car for the 2.5 weeks pre-Riga and also book a flight from somewhere to Riga on 5/8 where we are meeting friends the Boxes. Various considerations eg needed a 24 hour front desk location ideally close to the centre in Trieste given late flight arrival and didn't want to have to trek into Trieste from suburbs on our 1 day there. Cost is also a consideration with a variety of options possible. The biggest conundrum really was the flight to Riga which was proving expensive and Liz investigated all ports of disembarkation in Europe it seemed trying to find a good deal eg. fly to Istanbul and then fly to Riga, fly back to London then to Riga. Catching various trains across the old Eastern Europe. Swings and roundabouts with all options and she was getting frustrated. Also car hire costs seemed to swing dramatically and the great deal of 1 day ago in Trieste seemed to have evaporated. Also car availability was diminishing the with some options no longer available (thrifty). ahhhhhhhh!!! We did book the hotel for 2 nights in Trieste but gave up on flight and car hire just before 4.00am, knackered. The next morning we vowed to complete this. Well not much choice really. Post breakfast the car was booked through Budget (via car rental.com) not as good a deal as the Thrifty one but not too bad and we drop it off at Rome airport where we also found a reasonable flight to Riga. It gets in late at night but seemed to be the only option from that destination timewise. Yeh! pretty sorted. The only decision left which we will make over the next few days is where we head to next. We are now thinking of heading down into Italy - Puglia which was always a possibility or perhaps a bit of Croatia and Italy. We will see but we both like the idea of drifting down the Italian coast and seeing what we can find. Weight off the mind to sort this out. It's no doubt easier travelling between more major cities where the flight options are more extensive. Pretty sorted for the next 3 weeks or so other than seeing where the road leads from Trieste which will be exciting.

Tokyo Trip/Kurenai Enishi October 19-21, 2018

Wow look who procrastinated writing a blog post for this for 2 months (me). I made a mini-post when I got back but I didn’t really explain everything I saw and did in my 48hrs there so I’ll do that here. More pictures and me rambling about Tsukista below~

I only went on this little weekend trip because my friend and I had gotten tickets to see Tsukista’s 6th Stage Kurenai Enishi. I would’ve stayed longer but I wanted to save my vacation days for next year :P Luckily, my friend was able to meet me in Tokyo from the area of Japan she currently lives in and stayed with me for the weekend to watch the show.

I arrived Friday evening and checked into the hostel. It had the best prices for the area and was super clean and easy to check in and out - I would definitely stay there again! After that I met @lavendermintrose at Animate since I wanted to buy a penlight and shop around for a bit. We then made a spontaneous visit to the karaoke place with the Tsukista drink collab~

My other friend arrived at the hostel later that night, and we ate a late-night meal and were up until like 2am drafting fan letters on our phones to write onto stationary the next day.

On Saturday we went to Harajuku for breakfast (see first pic at the top) and scoped out the Tsukipro Harajuku Shop. We had timeslots to enter on Sunday, but we passed by it to take a look at how it was set up. After that we tried to get to the train station as fast as possible in order to get to the theater in time for the merch queue to start but Takeshita Dori was looking like this:

which is sooo much worse than Times Square so we were crawling at a snail’s pace back to the station. After the trainride, we got off in Shinjuku where the theater was and it was a bit complicated to find since Google Maps had us cross through and mall and back outside to find the theater (that’s also connected to a movie theater). The line had only opened up 5mins before we got there but there were already so many people ahead of us:

(the entrance is a little past that white sign board with colored rectangles). The wait didn’t feel too long ince they opened sales a bit earlier than the scheduled time and it moved pretty quickly.

My and my friend’s matching tsukiusas (+ my Sing Together Forever usa). I don’t do itabags so I at least brought these little guys.

The merch form~ They got stricter with the purchase limit for this stage (like one copy of each CD per person). (+ check out that girl's Aoi and Yoru itabag in the background)

The hallway to the merch sale tables/entrance to the theater was lined with Kurenai Enishi posters with art of the nenchuu by Jiku-sensei. They matched the red walls nicely lol.

(My face looks really weird in this pic so I covered it lmao) but I was super excited in line 😂 After buying all of out stuff there was a little over an hour until the show started so we got some food and the food court next door and started writing our letters:

My friend wrote one for Yuusaku and gifted local omiyage from her region. I wrote one for Yuusaku and one for Yuusuke. Technically my friend wrote it for me since my handwriting absolutely sucks and we were pressed for time (I would’ve taken forever to write the kana) but I wrote the whole message and she just copied the Japanese onto paper. I handwrote the English I included at the end and also signed it. I included some gifts I brought with me from NY to give to them as well.

We got to the theater as doors opened and placed our letters and gifts in the boxes then picked up the premium seat bonuses (2 group bromides and a shrine charm in the 3rd pic from the top). The charm was one of six color combos depending on which day it was and luckily for me that day was the Rui/Iku colors! Ours were in the 6th or 7th row off to the right. The stage was very wide and we were right in front of the little side-stage area where the actors come out from.

I won’t spoil the plot but I will say that people cried during one of the more dramatic scenes. I wouldn’t say it’s as sad as Yunemigusa though lol (I saw ver. Red btw). It was really cool seeing the new cast for the first time, and I think they all did a fantastic job!

The Mutsuki-kun higawari had Gaku (Haru’s actor) as some evil guy trying to defeat Kakeru who is trying to become a stronger ninja. At first it was just a pair of sunglasses talking while Gaku did the voiceover from backstage but then he appeared on stage in a white lab coat. It was really funny, but I can’t put my finger on what exactly his character was supposed to be referencing lol. Also random note: there was a reoccurring mushroom joke that I also found really funny lol.

The songs in Kurenai Enishi weren’t my favorite per se (I’m not a huge fan of slow songs) but they matched the mood and tone of the show very well. However, I do love the theme song since it’s catchy and makes me want to chant along with it lol.

Since I watched the Red version with Procellarum as the focus, the dance live was their group songs and solo character songs from the 2nd season of CDs. The background dancers were the Six Gravity counterparts from the same age group. Rui is my fave and Yuusaku was soooo cute performing “Oh… Yes!” Ryoki did a great job as Iku, and his dancing looked so pro I was amazed. I was really bopping to You’s “Manatsu no Summer” and he went into the crowd for fanservice as usual lol. For the entirety of Yoru’s song, I was just staring at Yuusaku’s face cuz he’s so bright and sparkly~ He had a big smile on just like Tani’s Yoru and looked like he was having fun. During Kai’s “Beast Master,” I was on the side Haru was mostly dancing on, and let me just say Gaku went IN on the hip movements and overall risqué dance moves lmao. Can’t wait to see that again on the DVD 😂 Taka had big shoes to fill as Shun, but he was great throughout the play and dance live (sasuga idols) and his Shun voice was even super similar to Tomoyuu’s.

At the end they performed “Tsuki no Uta” with both groups which was a lot of fun. I was debating whether or not to change penlight colors at each verse but it would’ve been too difficult lol. I had them on Rui and Iku for the whole duration of the song, but did all the name-yelling fanchants which was fun to be a part of (this was my first time at a jp live event). At the end when everyone runs back and forth on the stage waving goodbye, I was sitting close enough to the stage to tell who in the crowd they were looking at, and I got waves from Iku (who probably saw me frantic waving my green and brown penlights) and Kai! Kai also did a finger gun shoot to the girl 2 seats away from me (sitting next to my friend) since she had a Kai uchiwa and she was crying tears of joy all after that lol.

The closing message for that performance was from Yuusuke, and I could tell he was a bit nervous trying to get words out but he looked genuinely happy to be up there on stage. (Honestly, stan Akiba Yuusuke, he’s adorable).

After it was over, I wanted to watch it again, it felt so short! But we met up with Lavender for some more Tsukista collab karaoke and talked about the show and fangirled over stuff. I kept getting Shun coasters when buying the collab drinks, but in the end I ended up with a Rui at least so all was well. I need some more Growth fans to karaoke with so we can all harmonize on the songs 😂

On Sunday, we went to the Tsukipro Harajuku Shop, but I’ll include that in a separate posts since I hit picture limit in this one already. Overall, I had a fun time and I’m super glad I was able to fulfill one of my goals which was to watch a Tsukista show live! I landed back home at 8pm on Sunday and thankfully I was able to wake up in time for work the next day (due in part to me sleeping most of the plane ride back). 10/10 would do a weekend trip (or longer) again for a stage play or concert 👍

STAFF SEARCH!

Hello Idols! As you may have noticed, things this month have been quite overwhelming for your admin team, in a real life perspective. We’ve taken a step back over this month, after freeing ourselves from our usual weekly updates, and have been working on increasing the organization of our team and, as a result of that, are moving into a formal staff search. If interested, please read below!

Around the time of our revamp, we contacted a number of people to seek out ideas and brainstorming information. It was a really informal “moderator” situation that we then tried to strengthen a little bit, but, having brought on help without being specifically clear on tasks, retroactively adding proper “duties” felt like an unfair thing to do.

As a result, we’re now looking to formally and precisely add to the team, with specific tasks outlined for each of the potential recruits, in a way that we hope will be clear to everyone involved. The specific positions we’re looking to fill, what those tasks will be, and how to apply will be enumerated below the cut.

Please note that the bulk of your tasks would begin in May, with April as an adjustment period since some of the content for next month has been generated already.

Firstly, here is a rundown on how we work and some things that might be helpful to know.

As you’re all likely aware, there are three admins. One admin deals predominantly with coding, the shop, purchases, most wanted questions, and comments (pann, etc). One admin works with all the graphics, preparing Sunday queues, updating lists, reservations, hiatuses, activity, comments, etc. The last admin works mostly on the content in various ways- page updates, events, narratives, world building asks, biographies and revisions, weekly posts.  There’s a lot of overlap in various ways when some pick up slack for others, but that gives the basic breakdown.

Two of the admins are located in KST and one in PST, which means that we’re often left leaving messages for each other on Discord. We need clear and comprehensive communication on who’s been answered, what needs answering, and so on. Any questions sent to the main (excluding most wanted types or those easily referenced in the rules/site information) generally require confirmation from at least one other admin before posting. We tend to save posts after a certain point to ensure that the main stays updated on a regular cycle, since otherwise the KST update schedule could be confusing for members/applicants coming from other timezones. Discord is the main method by which we track reservation passwords, out of character names, questions sent to the main, application status in the review stages, and so on, so it’s imperative that you’re accessible reliably and frequently on the platform.

Secondarily, we use a google drive account to plan long term for things, so we need you to both check that regularly and have a long term eye for development as well. Spreadsheets for comeback/debut schedules through the next year (though tentative it’s currently updated to March 2019), event arcs, scandals (and how they should work into comments) and developing narratives (and how they should play into comments on music releases) are included. To keep things as interconnected as they are, we need moderators that are going to think long term and realistically, about their own characters and others.

When it comes to the Google Drive, we also have important information regarding company branding practices, angles of marketing for the groups, and so on. Because we need help writing the schedules and so on, we definitely need big assistance from people who are really willing to read this extra material and take to heart the brand identities of each group as we’ve laid them out.

The biggest concern we have is impartiality and understanding of the scope of the site. Because we may request help with comments alongside other elements, we need to be sure that you’re internalizing the way the site works in terms of blind items, realistic marketing and branding of groups, the (netizen) reactions to scandals-  while it doesn’t damage their career as much anymore it certainly will still have viable impact on netizen perception of them in the moment, and so on.

We’ve given ourselves a lot of work with Idolize. To be realistic, we message about 8 out of 10 biographies about something. In asking applicants to keep in mind the images of other characters in their group and trajectories of those characters, that means we have to do the same as we review applications and approve purchases. There isn’t often a moment in which we can be lazy and simply accept someone because it was “close enough” or let something slip through, because that could be more unfair to those who might not have been extended that courtesy in the past. Each schedule post needs to take into account upcoming comebacks, what other groups in the company and in their generational tier are doing, relative popularity and progression. We won’t lie to you- it can be a lot to deal with, in a way that it doesn’t seem to be externally. If you’re still interested in trying to help us out, we’ll outline the positions we’d love to see filled below, from easiest to most difficult in terms of responsibility. 

First Role: Trainee Moderator - filled.

With none of the current admin team playing a trainee character, we often feel like we inadvertently allow their content to fall by the wayside- though in fairness we dropped the ball on everyone this past month. We’d love to bring on a dedicated moderator to work specifically with the trainee contingent of the site. This would involve: writing trainee opportunities (Mickey’s Clubhouse), writing the trainee schedules (lottery, task, workshop), and tracking lottery submissions/winners.  Examples of the final products expected can be found on the Trainee Hub page. We’d also work with them during times of trainee debuts to generate potential extra content.  To apply, please submit with the form below:

Name: Timezone: Character: All, past and present included. Discord ID: Example Opportunity: Example Lottery:

Second Role: Content Mod

We’re looking for content help! This is an area where we’ll likely be pretty picky and also desperately need someone who is more regularly on the dash reading the posts of other members. Your main solo job would be to generate the blind items posts (done on the second week of each month) based on whatever you’ve observed on the dash since the month before. Further, you’d work in close conjunction with the content admin to write the schedule posts and opportunity posts. This is a total of 3 monthly based prompts that would at least partially fall to this moderator, so we’re open to taking more than one if there’s interest. We would need these mods to provide at least partial drafted ideas for prompts by the Wednesday before posting. Blind items would need to be provided in full by midday on Saturday KST. It’s likely to be highly collaborative and to require a lot of back and forth, as well as understanding of company narratives and brand identities of each group. To apply, please submit with the form below:

Name: Timezone: Character: All, past and present included. Discord ID: Example Schedules: ONE for a group other than that of your character (also different agency) Blind Item: 2-3 blind items based on the current dash, since the time of the Gayo Daejun gossip posts.

A Transatlantic Crossing With the Queen Mary 2 - Part 1

Driving up to the Port of Southampton's Mayflower Terminal and getting first look at the white-and-dark hulled Queen Mary 2, the biggest, longest, tallest, heaviest, and most costly boat at any point assembled, evoked impressive energy and wonderment. Docked to port at a 50-degree, 54.25' north scope and 001-degree, 25.70' west longitude and confronting a 116.4-degree compass heading, the 17-decked leviathan, with a 1,132-foot length and 148-foot width, included a gross load of 151,400 tons and overshadowed the structures with its overhang lined façade, obscuring it with its 236.2-foot stature. Its draft expanded 33.10 feet underneath the water line. The drifting city, complete with its staterooms, eateries, shopping arcades, libraries, theaters, and planetariums, would connect, in six days, the European and North American landmasses, the comparable in hours to the term of the ethereal intersection by 747-400, itself then the world's biggest business aircraft. However, the maritime intersection would yield mutual respect, refinement, restoration, enthusiastic fix, and return to the more slow, yet more rich period of steam transport travel-an excursion, I would before long discover, would prompt a quest for the oceanic history of the past which had made the innovation of the present.

Not at all like the multiplication of present day voyage ships with their nearly lower speeds and more prominent volume, square-calculation bodies, the Queen Mary 2 had been planned as a cutting edge replacement to the 35-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2 and, in that capacity, would have to bring to the table that very all year, traveler conveying abilities, predominately in the harsh North Atlantic, with a plan which forfeited income creating volume and lower development expenses of the customary journey transport for the necessary wellbeing, speed, and solidness of the sea liner. Resultantly, it highlighted a similar angular body setup normal for the long queue of its Cunard archetypes, built of thicker steel which conveyed a 40-percent more prominent expense than those of regular journey ships. Planned by Stephen Payne, whose motivations for the bow had come from the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the brake divider from the Normandie, it was the principal fourfold screw North Atlantic sea liner since the France of 1962. Payne himself, a maritime designer brought up in London, had been associated with the Carnival Holiday, Carnival Fantasy, and Rotterdam VI activities. The last mentioned, joining a changed Staten dam frame, had highlighted a less "square shaped" body shape than the customary journey transport, however had still been extensively eliminated a full liner plan.

Planned for the essential Southampton-New York course, it consolidated dimensional limitations directed by the United States port, including a pipe tallness which cleared the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge by just ten feet and a general length which surpassed the 1,100-foot dock of the Port of New York by 34 feet.

Built by Alstom Chanters de l'Atlantique in St. Nazaire, France, which had additionally assembled the Normandie, and assigned structure G32 by the shipyard, it had been the main Cunard liner at any point built outside of the United Kingdom and, as Concorde, the world's quickest and up until recently just supersonic aircraft, turned into the subsequent British-French cooperative transportation project expected for overseas assistance, in spite of the fact that through boundlessly unique, if not inverse, modes.

Its inside offered unrivaled space and solace. Of the 17 decks, the initial four were intended for hardware, stockpiling, and the 1,254-in number group; 13 were for the 2,620 travelers; and eight contained overhang staterooms. Eminent components incorporated a Grand Lobby, the Royal Court Theater, the Illuminations Theater and Planetarium, the Connections Internet Center, the Queen's Ballroom, a Winter Garden, nine significant cafés, 11 bars and parlors, a 8,000-volume library and book shop, an Oxford University address program, exhibitions by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, five pools, sports settings, a Canyon Ranch Spa, a structure of shops, and a discotheque. These arrangements would comprise my "home" for the following six days.

Emblematically reflected by its more modest QE2 archetype berthed an extensive separation from its bow at the Queen Elizabeth 2 Terminal, the Queen Mary 2 addressed a two-overlay net weight increment over its prior age partner and, without a doubt, followed its ancestry back to a long way of Cunard vessels which had crossed a 165-year time frame. I by one way or another detected that the unavoidable intersection would not exclusively be an excursion of distance, however a return on schedule.

Tenderly vibrating at its spine, the behemoth along the side isolated itself underneath from its billet beneath the metallic cloudy at 1810, nearby time.

Not at all like the traditional motor propeller shaft innovation of more established age sends, the Queen Mary 2 was fueled rather by four rearward, frame underside-mounted Rolls Royce Mermaid electric-engine cases, each weighing 260 tons and containing four fixed-pitch, 9,900-pound, hardened steel sharp edges, and all things considered delivering 115,328 torque. The forward, detachable pair was fixed and given forward and toward the back impetus, while the rearward, inboard pair included 360-degree azimuth capacity and gave both drive and controlling, hindering the requirement for the rudder. The trend setting innovation framework diminished both intricacy and weight and expanded inner body volume by wiping out the customary motor design's related gear.

Three Rolls Royce variable-pitch, cross over propeller bow engines, altogether creating 15,000 strength, given port and starboard bow House Moving Services From Ireland To UK ability at velocities of up to five bunches. At eight bunches, when their adequacy had been surpassed, they were covered by 90-degree pivoting, liquid powerful entryways.

Driven by double water-sprout shooting towing boats, the behemoth ocean liner started its blundering development down the bowl. Keeping a 11.5-tie forward speed in the Solvent, it initiated its starboard abandon 140 degrees at Cal shots Reach at 1907, ready for the comparable move at Brambles.

Packed into dim, the sun projected its shining orange streaks outward through the slender, unhampered strip on the western skyline. Expecting a 220-degree heading through the Thorn Channel, the Queen Mary 2 started its starboard go to adjust the Isle of Wight.

The main supper on board the exquisite, oceanic designing victory had been served in the 1,351-seat, three-story-high, double level Britannia Restaurant which had included a terrific, clearing flight of stairs, section upholds, and a vaulted, illuminated, stained discriminatory constraint and was suggestive of and motivated by the fantastic lounge area salons of the twentieth century French liners, for example, the Ile-de-France, the L'Atlantique, and the Normandie. The actual supper, served on Wedgwood bone china and in Waterford precious stone, had included white zinfandel wine; cream of blended mushroom soup with parmesan bread garnishes; dry rolls and margarine; oak leaf and Boston salad with shaved carrots and sherry vinaigrette dressing; rack of pork with wild mushroom ragout, truffle pureed potatoes, morel sauce, and sauerkraut; warm apple strudel with cognac sauce; and espresso.

The slim line of orange lights illustrating the coast followed itself behind the harsh. Keeping a 27-tie speed and a 250-degree heading, the stone consistent, 151,000-ton designing mass utilized the dark channel and started its extraordinary circle course, from Bishop's Rock in the Scilly Isles. Ahead lay the limitless Atlantic-and the way manufactured by all of Cunard's past transoceanic liners. Tomorrow, I would start following the recorded one.

Day Two:

First light welcomed the extended liner as a passage of indistinct, damp dim. Encased between the bleak cloud arch above and the naval force ocean record beneath, which spat intermittent white covers, the dark and-red piped vessel infiltrated the dampness immersed morning, the downpour discharging sky and the twirling, eddying ocean converging into consistent, wind-stormy, transport besieged douse.

Any undesired development, notwithstanding, was rapidly, and undetectably, hosed by the two sets of 15.63-square-meter Brown Bros/Rolls Royce balance stabilizers which were constrained by gyroscopic vertical reference instruments and stretched out the extent that 15 feet from the frame to check transport roll.

Diving into 348-meter-profound waters 98 nautical miles off of Ireland around early afternoon, the Queen Mary 2 had navigated 418 miles since its takeoff from Southampton yesterday.

Current climate involved discontinuous, light downpour with a clockwise development toward the west, anticipated to drop to drive 4. The current power 5, new breeze out of the south, combined with a 11.2-degree Celsius air temperature, conveyed a 994-millibar pressure. The ocean, with a moderate 4 state, kept a 10-degree Celsius temperature.

Evening tea, held in the Queen's Room, had been a British custom and a wonderful irregularity among lunch and supper served on each Cunard crossing, the last close to home one of which had been the 2002 eastward excursion on the Queen Elizabeth 2. The Queen's Room itself, the biggest assembly hall adrift, highlighted a curved roof, twin gem crystal fixtures, a velvet blue and gold drape over the symphony stage, a 1,225-square-foot dance floor, a live harpist, and little, round tables seating up to 562. The present show included egg, ham and cheddar, cucumber, tomato, hamburger, and fish finger-sandwiches, scones with thickened cream and jam, and strawberry cream tarts.

Evening tea adrift could follow its ancestry back about 165 years. Einstein's hypothesis of relativity by one way or another appeared to apply. Suspended between mainland, landmass, and populace, the boat appeared to be gotten inside a void, a captured twist in which history appeared to be caught and in which the vessel reconnected with its past, as it by and by replayed it, a partition from the present ashore and a way to deal with its past on the ocean. For more information visit our website http://ireland-direct.com/

The music of the virus: disappointment, relief and communal consolation – The Guardian

One high-quality untroubled morning in 2019 I used to be out strolling in Potts Point, on my approach to see my eldest brother. He lived in a room right here once I was 21 and he was 26. In these days, Potts Point was unconventional and impoverished, dwelling to individuals who minded their very own enterprise, which was largely carried out at night time.

His room was slender, with a mattress and a wardrobe housing a number of shirts on wire hangers. A window opened on to a wall. There was a toilet on the similar ground. I may keep there when he was away; I may borrow a shirt. When he wasn’t away I stayed in a pal’s condominium on New South Head Road and walked to Potts Point to go to him. At the time, I used to be writing a thesis on the fiction of Samuel Beckett. As I wrote I grew extra and extra uneasy about the loss of this thesis, and I started to hold my work with me in a small suitcase for safekeeping. With my suitcase and my plain man’s shirt I wasn’t of a lot curiosity to the individuals on the avenue. I saved writing. The suitcase grew to become heavier and heavier, for it now contained books and all my drafts. I carried it to my brother’s concert events. We started to share this burden, as we walked about the metropolis. Once he stopped and put it down, flexing his fingers. “You do realise I make my living with my hands,” he stated, earlier than he picked it up once more.

Sometimes I met him at the recording studio, a room with an odd synthetic quietness. The grasp tape we listened to was extra distinct, clearer than the mass-produced sound it created. I’ve typically thought of a household on this method: an area the place the wider world is evenly muted. What occurs there can have a specific irreplicable readability.

Potts Point is affluent now. In 2019 I walked previous tubs of flannel flowers and crimson waratah on my approach to my morning reunion with my eldest brother. But that afternoon I flew over a desiccated panorama to achieve the city the place we as soon as lived. I had examine the drought, however I hadn’t anticipated to see this: naked earth, bushes white as bone, sheep, their coats weighted with mud, gathering at dams to drink from milky, unhealthy water. The partitions of the dams had been ridged at factors the place the water stage had held for a time. Later, a lot of the land I had seen was overwhelmed by fireplace. Millions of hectares of treasured forests, some historical and irreplaceable, had been destroyed, earlier than immense human effort and unexpected rain extinguished the fires.

Livestock on a dry paddock in the drought-hit space of Quirindi in New South Wales. Photograph: Glenn Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

The nation was nonetheless uncooked once we heard about the virus. By that point, I used to be again in Western Australia. Reports of sickness and struggling in China had been regarding, however distant. Then the virus appeared in different places: France and Italy, London and New York. It was spreading in Australia. We had been informed to remain at dwelling. With photos on our screens of susceptible our bodies in the rigging of intensive care items, of unemployment queues, of the pragmatic interiors of open graves, it was laborious to do not forget that there had been such a factor as an untroubled morning in a high-quality metropolis.

Most years, in the early hours of 25 April, I wake to the sound of a low murmuring from the streets beneath. Our condominium constructing acts as a sea wall, and on this specific morning the sea that flows beside it’s made of individuals strolling, measured and purposeful, up the hill to the warfare memorial that sits at the crest of Kings Park. They take up place early, in darkness.

2020 was completely different. The Anzac Day commemoration was cancelled as a result of of the risk of the virus; there have been no pre-daybreak voices. Later that morning, when my husband and I walked by way of the park the place the warfare memorial stands we noticed giant indicators telling us to remain at dwelling. The park has been an Indigenous dreaming place for tens of hundreds of years. The warfare memorial lies above the assembly of vast rivers: a spot of sky and water. There is a memorial to the Boer War, however no memorial to the Frontier Wars. In 2020, regardless of being informed to remain away, individuals had left behind twists of rosemary and backyard flowers. I believed of my husband’s mom, a skinny youngster in darkish images, born in Novgorod throughout the Russian Civil War. We paused beneath a well-recognized tree. The espresso kiosk was open.

The indicators stated keep at dwelling. Our house is a shelf of concrete walled in glass. It sits above the tree line, beneath the regular flight path of herons. Pairs of magpies and parrots relaxation briefly on streetlights. Below them, one other understory of swift insect eaters rushes nearer to the harmful human exercise of dashing our bodies and machines. I discover a sort of courtesy amongst the birds, a sharing of area, however there are additionally disputes. Some birds land on our balcony and look in on us; others menace them. Small birds observe bigger egg and nestling eaters, attacking their flight feathers. Ravens, specifically, are hated and pursued. The air beneath the herons is full of goal, of hazard and avoidance. The virus brings us nearer to this: we’re shut in, attentive. Stay at dwelling, with the wild birds and the TV display screen exhibiting hospitals and queues and graves, with reflexive cooking that nobody has the urge for food to eat, with no matter music may carry the gravity of what is occurring and nonetheless rise by way of the air.

A girl walks previous an indication urging individuals to remain dwelling in Melbourne. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

In the opening scene of a BBC report from a hardworking hospital in East London a person in blue scrubs performed a black piano. This crowd-funded piano sits in the hospital lobby. The shot was fantastically composed: we heard such calm proficiency as notes rippled forth from conspicuously medical arms. The physicians, the nurses, the cleaners may all be gifted with arms as dexterous, if not as musical, as these. Then there have been interviews about the virus. A advisor surgeon stated of the sufferers and workers, “There is kindness everywhere.” In my thoughts, the kindness and the piano are linked. Pianos are paradoxes: devices of solitary absorption and memorised sequences of sound, but in addition mighty sources of communal consolation. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a piano appeared at the scene of his loss of life and individuals started to play.

When Beckett was a scholar in Dublin, the man who shared his rooms overheard him improvising on a rented piano: unhappy chords, solitary and nocturnal. Beckett performed the piano for many of his life, however he didn’t personal one till he was 61. It was characteristically modest, a German Schimmel, put in in the equally inconspicuous nation retreat the place he wrote, drank whiskey and remoted himself by alternative. He was a bodily participant; described as ‘pounding’ the keyboard of a piano at the École Normale in Paris. His eyesight was so dangerous that he needed to contort himself for sight-studying; “My nose so close to the score that the keyboard feels behind my back.” We see him leaning in to the piano, tipping forwards like an outdated acrobat, joking about it later.

When an early manuscript of his novel Murphy was bought by Sotheby’s in 2013, some pages had been displayed on-line, and amongst his incidental doodles – a portrait of James Joyce and one other of Charlie Chaplin – he repeatedly drew the treble clef: a twirl on the web page, a spiral of impulsive gorgeousness. This can also be the factor the piano can do: tip us into a spot of delight, take us someplace the place we go away the weight of our anatomy behind. Moneyed refugees fleeing the Russian Civil War valued their pianos a lot that they strapped them on prime of the trains that carried them by way of Manchuria and out of their nation. But even when pianos should be left behind, the notes nonetheless journey, contained in the thoughts. My husband’s mom, twice a refugee, having put apart her musicianship and most of her languages after arriving in Australia, stunned her household with a single flawless piano efficiency in her seventies.

Lately I’ve been dreaming of a piano of my very own, an instrument for disappointment and relief. I’ve been dreaming of a piano that I can’t see. The keys are seen, and so are my arms, however the relaxation of the instrument is vague. In desires earlier than my son was born I used to be given a swaddled child that I may maintain, supplied I didn’t uncover his face. Perhaps this piano dream has drifted throughout from my outdated dream of my unborn youngster.

On our screens we see hospitals, queues for meals and work, the interiors of houses in New York and Italy, glimpsed as cameras movie the elimination of stricken our bodies. We see the bedding, the shrines and decorations of strangers: their home consolations. We see rows of graves and look away. My pal in the condominium above texts me, asking if I can go to the far nook of our balcony and search for at her and wave. She’s standing at her window, framed like a portrait. She hasn’t been out, nor seen one other dwelling individual, for per week. We chuckle and shake our heads at this peculiar assembly. I see my grown son in a carpark, we catch our breath and hug, our masks safe.

People are discovering methods to cross the time. Virtual museum excursions, concert events from musicians’ dwelling rooms, podcasts, Netflix. Everyone, it appears, is ordering meals deliveries. I uncover that removalists are nonetheless at work. Soon I’ll discover a small piano on the web and males will manoeuvre it into our bleach-smelling carry and wheel it by way of our door and into place. Curious birds will watch them, briefly, from the railing of our balcony. When I start to play a lot reminiscence might be launched. My personal first chords, I do know, might be unhappy.

‘Lately I have been dreaming of a piano of my own, an instrument for sadness and relief.’ Photograph: Peter Cheng

In the meantime, I’m listening to the sonic model of the virus, created by Markus Buehler at MIT. It sounds elegant, pizzicato, like the Koto music I typically hearken to once I’m writing or cooking: background music that settles the thoughts. Perhaps American scientists are recurring listeners to Koto music as effectively, standing at their desks or kitchen benches, arms busy with a keyboard or a knife, minds adrift. Perhaps when Buehler was contemplating the patterns in the topography of the virus, when he was assigning devices to components of these patterns, he selected flute and strings however gave primacy to the Koto, that calm companion of the thoughts. This sound brings the virus into my dwelling in an unconvincingly impartial, summary kind. I hear, I watch the birds; I cook dinner for our fading appetites. I take into consideration the previous.

The pal whose condominium I used to remain in on New South Head Road when my brother’s room was occupied had twelve Siamese cats. These cats saved vigil over me in the night time; if I woke, I’d see them perched on my Beckett suitcase and the armrests of the sofa the place I slept. They had been pale and clear-limbed, observing me with light puzzlement. Sometimes I spent the whole day in the musty outdated Art Deco condominium, writing, my suitcase open and the contents strewn round me. That suitcase, which should have fallen aside in time, is inside me in ghostly kind, full of all method of notes and reminiscences now, proof against the pathologies of the world outdoors.

We dwell in altered locations. We have a way of what it means to dwell in disturbing instances, to dwell beneath risk. We shouldn’t neglect the many individuals who’ve identified this all their lives. When I used to be 21 I typically made my method as much as Potts Point the place outdated males, relics of orphanages and prisons and hostels, rested towards partitions or sat on ledges in the solar, asking just for this: heat on the pores and skin, nicotine between their ruined enamel and of their ruined lungs. Who is aware of what outdated loves and conversations, what music sounded of their minds.

• This essay might be half of the anthology Fire, Flood and Plague, edited by Sophie Cunningham and revealed by Penguin Random House in December

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I'm a brand new sky to hang the stars upon tonight

"You're always here," the boy behind the counter said. Always, as if they weren't at a festival that only begun two days before. Always, he said, like it had been years. It had been only two days and Even didn't expect that the boy would recognize him. True, after seeing him the first day he went around the festival trying to look for him at every drink booth and never ordered beer from anyone else. But Even figured that there were about 40 thousand people there, and the workers behind the counter saw at least a quarter of them daily, so how could someone remember his face? The boy apparently did. "Yes," Even said then. "Beer?" "Yes."  The boy smiled, turned around to take a plastic cup from the counter behind him. It made Even laugh, the way the boy turned back to face him acting all cool, so cool that he dropped the cup on the ground. Even could hear the boy mutter "oh, fuck", as he turned back to take another cup. The boy made it this time, tapped the beer into it. "Are you here on your own?" The boy asked. Cup almost full. "Nah, with some friends. They're - well, somewhere around," Even answered.  Cup full. No time for more conversation. The boy nodded and gave Even his beer. "So. Guess you'll be back later." "Sure. I'll find you, wherever you are." He stopped, played the words back in his head. "Oh fuck, that's creepy.  Sorry." The boy laughed, shook his head. "'s not," he said, looking down. Even left then, relieved. There was a concert he was interested in starting soon, and he hurried to catch up with his friends.

Even didn't manage to see the boy until the next evening, the final one of the festival. He was working in a different part of the area altogether, and at first, the boy didn't see Even as he was standing in the queue. There were more people than the previous days that night, and he was busy, tapping beer after beer, not even looking up from the draft. "Hi," Even said as he reached the counter, and the boy looked up. "You're here again," the boy said. "Beer?" He asked when Even didn't say anything. "Sure." There were a lot of things Even could say, like, ask him for his name. Add him on Facebook, that could be a start. Instead, he didn't say anything, maybe the tiredness from the four days of the festival was starting to kick in because all he could do was stare at the boy's hands as he tapped the beer into the plastic cup. "Tired?" The boy asked, cup almost full. Those seconds never lasted long enough. "I think so, yeah. Can't wait to sleep in my bed again, tomorrow night." "Me too," the boy said. The cup was full. "Do your friends, like, drink too?" Even, confused, looked at the boy with a puzzled look. "I mean if you want to bring a beer to one of them." "Oh. Sure. Yeah. Go ahead." A smile. Even liked the way the boy's eyes crinkled when he smiled. He took another cup, started to fill it. Even took a sip of his beer. "I'm Even," he said finally, as if that sip of alcohol suddenly woke him up. "Isak," the boy said. The second cup was full. Even was starting to say something else when he heard a shout coming from the crowd.- "Even Bech Næsheim!" Even turned right and saw two friends of his he hadn't seen for a while now, who he wasn't expecting to see there. 40 fucking thousand people and he managed to meet someone he knew in the worst fucking moment it could have happened.  He could pretend he didn't hear or see them, but they were waving frantically at him. "Hey, guys!" He shouted back. They were waiting expectantly on the side. "Sorry. Need to go." He gave the money to the boy, Isak, that was his name, Isak. "Thanks, Even," Isak said and Even left with the two beers, almost bumping into the guy behind him in line.

He didn't manage to go back to the stand where Isak was working at that night, far as it was from the main stages.  How could he find him now, when all he had was his name? He was starting to think of a stupid message to write on the Festival's Facebook Page, like "I'm looking for the blonde barman named Isak! I kind of fell in love with him so help me find him please!". He didn't even care if he sounded too desperate, at that point.  

But when he got back to the hostel later that night, as soon as he lied down, a notification appeared on his phone screen. Isak Valtersen added you as a friend, a message: "You thought you were the creepy one, but I'm the one who found you on Facebook first."

Y3/S1/ Week 1: Internet Research: Understanding our topic areas

Drinking culture, Drugs and Health and Safety:

Drug use and Drinking Culture:

https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/policy-and-advocacy/drugs-in-nz/

“Alcohol and other drugs have been used by human beings throughout history, and New Zealanders are no different. 44% of adult New Zealanders will try an illicit drug at some point, and 93% will try alcohol.”

“$1.8 Billion: Estimated annual social cost of illicit drug-related harm”

Drugs are used in society for many different aspects in life they range from “pleasure and recreation, spiritual discovery, physical or mental performance enhancement, experimentation, peer pressure, or to medicate physical problems or emotional pain”. An unexpected discovery I have found is that Alcohol and cannabis are the largest drug use in New Zealand. Research conducted over 2007 and 2008 stated that Party pills and other related drugs were not very widespread “between 0.6-3.2% of the population had used these drugs in the past year”.

Drugs not only harm individuals, they harm society, with $350 Million spent on direct drug relations in 2016.

Drug use in our local community:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11948664

A study conducted by NZ Herald in 2017 showed a rapid increase in MDMA (Ecstasy) use in Auckland from “265g of the drug showed up in Auckland's wastewater testing in November” which had risen “from 85g back in June”. Cocaine also had another large finding with “the total grams detected per week having jumped from 36g in June, to 95g in November”.

Alcohol as a drug:

https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/alcohol.html

Alcohol is classed as a drug, the reason for this is because alcohol slows down the vital functions of a human body, this can result in physical and mental distortment.

Alcohol is created using a natural process called fermentation. This is where grains and fruits are fermented causing yeast to act upon ingredients in the food to then produce ethanol (alcohol).

Alcohol at events:

http://drinktank.org.au/2014/07/alcohol-and-the-festival-culture/

Pre drinking before an event has become a cultural norm, as many who do not want to wait in bar lines and pay large expenses for drinks do so before entering the event grounds.

This cultural norm created a fast paced drinking session where people need to “pre-Load” before attending an event, this event usually consists of peer pressure.

Festival goers often try to sneak alcohol in past the security checks, in very dramatic ways such as filling little plastic pockets and hiding them in their bra or shoes ect.. This desperate attempt to bring alcohol into festivals shows the desperation this generation has around being part of the culture. “The way in which people drink for festivals can lead to high rates of alcohol harm”.

Drug Use at festivals / Nightlife:

https://www.drugfoundation.org.nz/info/drugs-in-bars/festivals/

Drug checking is now the topic of debate in New Zealand. Substances have and will always occur so being able to prevent harm with these free services has the potential to save lives, it’s better to be educated rather than not.

A study from Otago University noted that the largest drug use was alcohol with 94 percent of the sample having used it at some stage. The second largest drug used was tobacco, with 51 percent of the study having used it.

World Drug use:

“Zealand differs from some countries in "hard" drug use such as heroin, morphine and cocaine. Only 2.9 per cent of those surveyed in New Zealand say they have ever used opioids, and only 4.2 per cent cocaine. European countries have a lower use of cocaine (1.0-1.9 per cent) except for Spain (4.1 per cent). The US is the country with by far the highest percentage of people who have used cocaine (16.2 per cent), much higher than Colombia or Mexico (4.0 per cent for both).”

Date Rape drug:

https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/date-rape-drugs

“Date rape drugs are illegal and are sometimes used to assist a sexual assault. Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity that a person does not agree to. Date rape drugs often have no colour, smell, or taste, so you can't tell if you are being drugged. The drugs can make you weak and confused — or even cause you to pass out — so that you cannot consent to sex. Both men and women can be drugged with date rape drugs.”

The main date rape drugs are Ketamine, GHB and Rohypnol. These drugs often come in small pills which are easily dissolvable in drinks. Many of the drugs have no smell, colour or taste so you will never know if you are being drugged. These drugs often have an effects very quickly between 15-30 minutes. These drugs cause a person to lose control of their senses and body causing them to often look drunk. Alcohol makes the effects of these drugs lot stronger meaning the person doesn’t need a large amount to be drugged.

Health and safety at events:

http://www.majorevents.govt.nz/resource-bank/health-safety

When it comes to events and large gatherings there are many risks which need to be considered, taken control of and resolved. As an event manager they must work under the New Zealand Health and Safety Act in order to regulate harm. All people attending the event such as organisers, staff and attendees all must be considered.

“As an event organiser you have obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and associated regulations. The Act and regulations provide for the management of health and safety in relation to both paid staff working at your event, to event-goers and to those in the vicinity of your event.”

“It is important that you fully understand your obligations and have systems and plans in place to meet them at all stages of event planning and delivery.”

“There is a wide range of resources available to you to help with health and safety planning for your event. Consider employing the services of a health and safety expert and/or taking legal advice to make sure you meet all your obligations.”

http://www.majorevents.govt.nz/resource-bank/health-safety/crowd-management-planning

“Venues are large, complicated spaces.  The management of crowds within them requires:

Excellent teamwork

Clear communication

Coordination between those responsible for the overall organisation and those dealing with the crowds face to face.”

Developing the crowd management plan:

“A key responsibility of the Event Safety Management Team is to gather core data to inform the development of the crowd safety management plan. The team must:  

Research the types of visitor that are expected and anticipate likely crowd behaviour

Collate and assess information (if available) about the health and safety records of previous events at the same venue

Liaise with outside organisations such as the Police and emergency services, which have extensive knowledge and experience

Conduct a risk assessment to determine the adequacy of arrangements for controlling crowds, and change them if necessary

Inspect the venue and review crowd safety arrangements at regular intervals

Set targets for crowd management (for example, if queues extend past a particular point, specify that another service point should be opened).”

In order to prevent harm, risk management plans should be put in place throughout extensive planning before the event.

“Conducting a risk assessment might seem like a daunting prospect, but it doesn’t have to be a big, bureaucratic process – it’s ultimately about being conscientious and applying common sense”.

Health and Safety:

https://worksmart.org.uk/health-advice/health-and-safety/employer-duties/what-health-and-safety-work-act

The health and safety work act had reports that it was failing in 2013, as a result the act was reconsidered and changed and came into effect on the 4th of April 2016.  

What the work act aims to do:

In order to gain well functioning health and safety, great teamwork, leadership and participation is a must. The HSWA explains the duties workers and workplaces must take.

“The health and safety work act holds everyone accountable and states that everyone has a role to play.”

“If you create the risk, you manage the risk”

Events health and safety guide: Things that all need to be considered at events:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/guide-health-and-safety-for-events-ds00/

When starting to plan an event, organisers must start off by focusing on the venue, they must take into consideration the size and demographic of the people attending i.e. family friendly event or an R18 event. The reason for this is because different demographics will have different needs. They then must focus on the venue with Capacity, Access, Hazards and Facilities in mind. They should then draft a site plan for all the staff working on this event.  

Risk assessment:

A risk evaluation assessment is a large aspect to be put in place to prevent risk. The hazards should be noted down and what will create these hazards. Hazards are things such as equipment, crowd, crew, first aid, weather, environmental, fire, catering and children. Each event will have different hazards and all must be taken into account.  

Create an emergency plan:

To be prepared for an emergency requires a lot of attention. Staff must be briefed on the procedures that will need to be carried out in order for the best possibility. Aspects which need to be considered are raising the alarm and how you will do this, informing the public, emergency response both onsite and offsite, crowd management, traffic management, first aid and how to handle casualties.

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual Harassment at Festivals

https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/how-common-is-sexual-violence-at-music-festivals/10425454  

What is sexual assault/harassment? 

Sexual violence “includes everything from sexual behaviour that makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated (sexual harassment), to inappropriate touching and rape (sexual assault).”

500 festival goers were surveyed and it was discovered that:

90.5% felt safe either usually or always at festivals

Men more consistently said they felt safe compared to women and LGBT people

61.3 %  of people believed sexual harassment happened often or very often

Most people said sexual assault happened only sometimes or not very often

People tended to feel safer when they were around friends

Drugs and alcohol use and overcrowding often made people feel unsafe

Mosh pits were the most common places people believed sexual violence could happen

So even though people generally feel safe with friends in a festival environment, it is still well known and people are aware that sexual harassment occurs, which leads me to wonder if sexual harassment has become more socially accepted and overlooked by the majority of people, with people not looking out for others around them that maybe in bad situation?

"Most of the time people are going there having a good time with mates and generally feeling pretty safe," Dr Bianca Fileborn, a lecturer in criminology at UNSW and a co-author of the study, told Hack.

"This is important to say, especially in the current climate where there's a lot of concern and moral panic (feeling of fear) around drug use at festivals.”

She said the statistics from the survey were backed up by the types of experiences spoken about by the interview participants.

"The most common experiences were things we might classify as harassment - groping in the mosh pit, unwanted verbal comments, unwanted touching.”

"The most common perpetrators were men in the audience, in really crowded spaces.

"We know that sexual violence or harassment in general is often perpetrated by someone known to you - either a partner, a friend or an acquaintance.”

Most of the time people feel safe with their friends at a festival even though they are large events, with multitudes of people from all kinds of backgrounds and drug and alcohol use present.

Festivals can be a very vulnerable environment for people however, friends can get separated, lost, young people can can drink way too much and loose control or have a altered sense of safety amongst a large amount of people or new found festival friends.

People push their limits, with young people embracing an invisible mindset, trying new things and ending up in situations where they are vulnerable and not in control.

Most of the time people hold a certain sense of respect with other festival goers and feel like they are safe environments however it is still well known that sexual harassment is present with a lack of consent and little action done when such harassment occur mainly in mosh pits, with men being the main predators.

So what is being done to prevent this?:

“At Falls Festival last year, there were more reports of sexual assault, and police charged a man with grabbing a woman's breast in the mosh pit.”

“The festival took action - announcing plain clothes police would be in the most pit, and they put up posters and stickers about consent and sexual assault.”

“‘The triple j What's Up In Your World survey’ of thousands of young people almost one in five women felt unsafe at festivals. In the UK, a survey found two in five young women had experienced sexual harassment at festivals in that country.”

“Dr Fileborn told Hack a lot of the Australians surveyed said they had been blamed or dismissed when they reported sexual violence to staff, police or security.”

"It needs to be really clear to patrons where they can go to get assistance,” she said.

“Some [of the people we interviewed] did want a dedicated space where you know you could go, and other people wanted to be able to go up to any member of staff and tell them what had happened.”

That suggests we need a variety of responses. This type of police involvement is great, however it only works to detect some incidents and another common issue is people who are assaulted not knowing what to do and where to go/ who to ask for help.

Jim Beam Homegrown:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/103079736/allegations-of-sexual-misconduct-at-homegrown-music-festival

Sexual Abuse Prevention Network general manager Fiona McNamara said they had been in touch with the event organisers this week.

"I think it's concerning that there's been a number of complaints," she said.

"Certainly if there are multiple complaints from the same event, that absolutely has to be addressed."

However, there could be more incidents unreported, she said. Next year, the event organisers could take advantage of the Sexual Abuse Prevention Network's training programmes and support, she said.

After Homegrown 2018 a number of sexual harassment complaints had been made and this is concerning.

“Crowds of people drinking alcohol and attendees aged 15-24 – the age group most likely to report sexual assault – made the event susceptible to sexual abuse, she said.”

“There are about 186,000 sexual offences committed in New Zealand annually.”

https://www.georgefm.co.nz/home/shows/george-breakfast/2018/08/a-shocking-7-out-of-10-women-feel-unsafe-at-festivals--so-here-s.html

University in the UK - 30% of women saying they have been assaulted at a festival.

https://www.helpauckland.org.nz/sexual-abuse-statistics.html

“1 out of 3 girls may be sexually abused before she turns 16 years old. Most of this abuse (90%) will be done by someone she knows and 70% will involve genital contact”

“1 in 7 boys may be sexually abused by adulthood”

“Young people are statistically at the highest risk of being sexually assaulted; the 16 – 24 year old age group is four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other age group”

“People who are vulnerable in some way are also a more common target for sexual abuse, especially those with physical disabilities”

“Only about 10 out of 100 sexual abuse crimes are reported and 3 of those get to court. Sadly, only 1 of those is likely to get a conviction.”

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/ywmmeg/theres-a-rape-epidemic-at-music-festivals-and-nobody-seems-to-care

In 2013, a UK Festival Census asked more than 3,000 people what they loved most about festivals. 'Music' and 'escaping normal life' topped the list; the report explained that the mix of escapism and the 'sense of community' built around events was what made them compelling for visitors. But it also might be the same sense of suspended reality that makes sexual assaults and rape seem unexpected. "I think there definitely is an idyllic view of festivals, Sarah says. "But in reality, they're just like society downsized--there are going to be the same pockets of people who are okay with doing harm to others."

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-- Acquire extended knowledge and skills in SAP BW Operations

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Describing Data Warehouse Systems

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The Fastpass Scam

What? My first fic posted in almost 3 months, what? It’s a miracle honestly! Anyway, it’s a small one and it’s another Disney au where all of the 7 work at Disney. And this was also inspired/taken from an experience I had with all my friends having a fastpass for Space Mountain, and I did not, so we scammed my way into the fastpass queue...and many other rides after that. It’s short, it’s simple, and it’s not beta’d or edited. So take it in all it’s first draft glory. 

Everyone had their phones out in front of them. They were standing in the middle of Tomorrowland, trying to figure out who was connected with whom on the Disney parks app they had all downloaded at the beginning of their program.

The sun was blazing down in the middle of the park, making it difficult for them all to see their screens properly, without having to sacrifice taking off their sunglasses even just for a minute.

Percy looked up from his phone and ran a hand through his hair. It was coated with sweat, making it stay combed back while his head was tilted up. He looked up towards the blue sky, where there were no clouds for protection from the rays of the sun. It made him regret coming to parks, just a little. They should’ve gone to Animal Kingdom instead, at least there was the protection of the trees for shade.

“Fuck it’s hot out, can we like not stand out in the middle of the sun and find shade instead,” he suggested with a hint of complaining.

Annabeth looked up and nodded in agreement. She pointed towards the little area right under the People Mover track that provided some shade. Together their friend group shuffled along to stop the burning on their skin and continue their search.

“Okay, I have everyone linked up to the 12:20 timeslot for Space Mountain, except Hazel,” Annabeth announced her fingers sliding across her touch screen.

Hazel let out a huff, tilting her body weight to her right leg, and placing her hand on her hip. She was wearing a sundress that glittered a golden color when reflecting the light, and it matched her cinnamon colored hair that was tightly braided into a bun on top of her head. Her green magicband standing starkly out on her skin.

“I haven’t a clue on how to work this damn thing I swear to god.”

Her southern drawl elongated all her vowels and made even her complaining seem cute. Leo wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned his head against hers. Hazel was the only person shorter than Leo, something he took advantage of greatly.

“Aw, it’s okay. Not everyone can be as technologically advanced as Moi,” Leo bragged with a big grin on his face.

He was in a t-shirt that was colored off white, with a pair of suspenders and khaki shorts, creating a horrible combination that could be considered some weird way of dressing up for Dapper Day.

Hazel huffed again and shrugged his arm off her shoulder looking down at her old iPhone 4 screen. She pressed some buttons and kept scrolling trying to figure it out.

“I can help if you want,” Annabeth offered with a smile, but Hazel waved her off.

“Let me see if I can figure it out.”

After a few minutes of her being not successful, Percy glanced at his phone time to see it was 12:17. They technically had an hour time slot to get on the ride, but they preferred to do it fast otherwise they’d forget and a fastpass would be wasted. And no one wanted to waste a fastpass on a ride that was difficult to get them anyway.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to work,” Frank meekly said breaking the silence of the group.

His cheeks were flushed red, but whether that was from blushing or the beginnings of sunburn was up to interpretation. Hazel put her phone away in defeat. She shrugged her shoulders.

“Well, y’all should just go on without me. I’ll wait in the gift shop.”

Immediate protests started. They wouldn’t leave someone behind just because of something so trivial like not having a fastpass. Percy turned to see that Annabeth had her thinking face on. Even from behind her sunglasses, he could tell. Her eyebrows were scrunched together and her lips pursed.

“I have an idea.”

“What is it?” Jason asked.

“Okay, this works when we’re in big packs like this one. So, me, Jason, and Piper will walk up and scan our bands first. And Hazel will be put in the middle and she’ll scan hers and keep going even though the mickey will turn blue. But you have to move quickly, and Percy, Leo, and Frank will have to scan right afterward so she doesn’t get caught.”

“Are you crazy?” Percy asked in shock, “you can’t just scam the system like that! If there’s one thing to know, it’s that Disney knows everything.”

Piper scoffed and linked her arm through Annabeth’s. Through her Ray Bans, you could see her looking at everyone.

“Take a chill pill, it works every time Annabeth and I have done it. Not a big deal. It’ll work for Hazel too. The hardest part is getting through the first checkpoint.”

Jason and Frank shared a skeptical look. Percy always though the two of them together were always up to no good. They always dragged them into schemes.

“And we won’t get termed for doing something like this? Seems risky,” Jason pointed out, ever the voice of reason. Their own Jiminy Cricket.

“Bro, it’ll be fine. Worst they do is they turn Hazel away and then we don’t ride and the day sucks that much more,” Leo joined in teaming with the girls.

“Just take your park pass out, let’s go,” Annabeth said pointing to the giant white mountain of a ride.

Both she and Piper skipped on ahead still linking arms. Leo quickly joined up with them, leaving Jason, Frank, Percy and Hazel to take up the rear.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Percy muttered.

“Not even two months into the program, and we’ll be kicked out for something as stupid as trying to scam our way into a fastpass line for Space Mountain,” Frank added.

“Those three will be the death of me. Smartest people I’ve ever met but they lack common sense sometimes,” Jason concluded.

The fastpass queue was a little backed up, so it didn’t matter how long it took the four of them to meet up with the other three. Piper turned around, her pink band raised up ready to be scanned.

“Stick to the plan Grumpy’s,” she stage whispered.

The cast member at the podium looked bored out of her mind. Percy empathized, it would get monotonous just watching people scan their bands all shift. He’s never been more thankful for being in entertainment where he can move around.

Annabeth and Piper scanned theirs first, the mickey glowing a bright green in approval. Leo went next, and then Hazel did hers. It went bright blue and brought attention to the cast member who raised an eyebrow. Her amber eyes glanced down at her main gate pass.

“Cast member? Go ahead,” she said jerking her head towards the entrance of the ride and then touched a few buttons on the screen in front of her.

Hazel let out a sigh of relief and met up with the other three who had already passed. Once Percy, Jason, and Frank scanned theirs in they walked into the dark corridor of Space Mountain.

The breeze of air conditioning that greeted them, made Percy sigh and elicit a loud groan, which was chorused by all his friends. It was the most beautiful feeling in the entire world.

As they made their way deeper into the line queue, Piper and Annabeth turned around to walk backward and face their friends. Their sunglasses were raised on their heads, showing their eyes. Both had shit-eating grins on their faces.

“Told you it would work,” Annabeth bragged.

“Hakuna matata, what a wonderful phrase, hakuna matata, ain’t no passing craze,” Piper began to sing.

“IT MEANS NO WORRIES, FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAYS,” Annabeth joined in, their voices at a yelling tone.

Percy glanced over at the regular queue and saw that people were looking at his friends like they were crazy. Percy stifled a laugh, and he saw the rest of them were too. Piper and Annabeth had broken into hysterical laughter at their own expense and were skipping along.

Leo turned around, “Stick with me, and you’ll never go hungry, or have to wait in regular lines, again!” he shouted. He tried to do his best Scar impression, but his voice wasn’t nearly deep enough for it to do any justice.

“What’s with all the Lion King today?” Frank wondered.

Hazel shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, but these three might as well be the hyenas.”

“We heard that! See if we get you into fastpass lines again!” Piper threatened.

Percy just shook his head laughing at the shenanigans of his friends whom he loved.  

US Postal Service row: What is it about?

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Mail containers had been gathered away for storage or locked up in contemporary days

Slower mail provide times in the US salvage raised issues about how one in all the oldest and most depended on establishments in the US – the Postal Carrier – can tackle an unprecedented influx of mail-in ballots in November’s election.

This twelve months fewer voters are anticipated to vote in-particular person amid the coronavirus pandemic, in which the US has seen the very most lively collection of deaths and infections on this planet.

That fall-off is anticipated to outcome in an unprecedented influx of voters submitting their pollby mail.

It’s as much as states to resolve how they arrange postal balloting and there are mounting fears that some must now not ready.

What are Democrats’ issues?

A political appointee recently employed by President Donald Trump to toddle the US Postal Carrier (USPS) has been accused by top Democrats of imposing adjustments to how mail is processed in a deliberate effort to “sabotage the election”.

Republicans and Mr Trump counter that the brand new measures are wanted to contend with the agency’s multi-million buck funds shortfall. Mr Trump has acknowledged the cost price for emergency funds requested by Congress to shore up mail-in balloting is too dear and could well outcome in voter fraud.

Closing week, he told Fox Data he became once blocking off $25bn in the most fresh draft coronavirus relief bill in dispute to prevent the growth of balloting by mail.

Meanwhile, provide times on all the things from postcards to medicines salvage already slowed and Congress has recalled lawmakers to Washington to contend with the rising crisis.

Is there evidence of an intentional slowdown?

Jake Horton, BBC Actuality Test

In Could maybe, Republican megadonor Louis DeJoy became once tapped by the White Home to be the first postmaster overall in extra than 20 years to now not come from at some level of the agency’s comprise ranks.

Looking out out to contend with the $160bn (£122bn) funds shortfall at the USPS, in July Mr Dejoy implemented a whole lot of new measures which salvage come below scrutiny.

US media file that more than 600 mail sorting machines are being decommissioned head of the presidential election this November.

This is in a position to characterize spherical 10% of the provider’s machines, however the Postal Carrier has acknowledged it “robotically moves equipment spherical its network as obligatory to check altering mail and equipment volumes”.

The amount of mail has been down to this level this twelve months, but there are issues the reduction in machines – which direction of hundreds and hundreds of gadgets of mail per hour – could well limit the dealing with skill of postal ballots in the plot-as much as the election.

Postal unions salvage confirmed some machines salvage already been eliminated, but President Trump’s chief of workers Impress Meadows says no more might be extracted from provider earlier than the election.

The likelihood of time beyond regulation for workers is additionally being restricted, and further journeys to ensure mail is delivered on time had been axed.

The Postal Carrier says that is to save costs and enhance efficiency, but workers remark the straggle has resulted in delays.

What are states doing?

Many polling stations in the US are usually staffed by aged volunteers who this twelve months are anticipated to discontinue dwelling as a outcome of their likelihood of falling unwell from Covid-19.

Other elections held for the length of the pandemic, equivalent to a noteworthy-criticised foremost toddle in Georgia, salvage seen a majority of polling areas closed as a outcome of an absence of workers and long queues extinguish at those that remain originate.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption On the least 60 postal workers salvage died from coronavirus, in step with their union

Some states salvage chosen to acknowledge by posting a pollto every single registered voter in the instruct – a observe identified as in vogue mail-in balloting. Nevada and Novel Jersey salvage in the previous month change into the most fresh states to implement in vogue mail-in balloting.

Other states require voters to position a query to a pollbe sent to them, while some Republican-managed states equivalent to Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi – but additionally Democrat-managed Novel York – salvage acknowledged that a alarm of catching coronavirus is now not a correct sufficient justification to vote by mail.

Behind last month, the USPS wrote to states to expose them that their election laws could well mean that some ballots are returned too behind to be counted. Some states, equivalent to Pennsylvania, strive to alternate laws so that ballots that attain days after election day can calm qualify.

Is mail balloting more inclined to fraud?

Mr Trump has claimed that expanded mail-in balloting would outcome in the “essentially the most terrifying election” in US historical previous and even suggested delaying the election, which he does now not salvage the power to total, to live postal ballots leading to “improper and pretend” outcomes.

Critics remark folks could well vote more than once through absentee ballots and nonetheless in particular person.

Nonetheless there might be now not any evidence of contemporary fraud, in step with a whole lot of nationwide and instruct-level reports over time, other than about a cases.

Nonetheless these are rare incidents, and the toddle of balloting fraud overall in the US is between 0.00004% and nil.0009%, in step with a 2017 watch by the Brennan Middle for Justice.

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Mail containers piled in storage in Connecticut

Why is the put up save of job in debt?

Unlike plenty of executive agencies, the USPS does now not toddle on taxpayer money and as a substitute relies on earnings from mail and functions, as effectively as plenty of companies.

Alternatively, mail quantity has dropped by 30% since 2006, in step with NBC Data. It comes amid the upward thrust of electronic mail and various computer-essentially based mostly messaging instruments.

A Could maybe diagnosis by the US Authorities Accountability Set of enterprise (GAO) stumbled on that $78bn had been lost in contemporary years as a outcome of the decline as effectively, as increased provide costs.

A law passed in 2006 required the USPS to pre-fund the pensions for all workers going 75 years into the long toddle, a straggle that experts remark worth spherical $72bn and is now not required by any plenty of federal agency or non-public firm.

Can they tackle an influx?

Specialists remark the put up save of job could well with out problems take in the anticipated influx of mail, although every single eligible American were to vote by mail in November.

In the week earlier than Christmas, the USPS usually delivers spherical 2.5bn letters, or about 500 million cards per day. And that’s the reason now not including functions.

Image copyright Authorities handout

Image caption Louis DeJoy is a top Republican donor

Basically based entirely on a Novel York Times diagnosis, about 80m ballots is seemingly to be sent during the mail this twelve months – more than double than were sent in the 2016 election.

What terminate People salvage?

The Postal Carrier is one in all the oldest and most depended on establishments in the US, with its historical previous usually given a major save in college textbooks. The first postmaster overall became once chosen by the 2nd Continental Congress to be US Founding Father Benjamin Franklin in 1775. Franklin’s comprise postal career had started in 1737 when Tall Britain selected him to be the postmaster of Philadelphia.

Absentee balloting, which President Trump himself on a conventional foundation makes exercise of, became once born on the battlefields of the Civil Warfare, in step with National Geographic, with hundreds of deployed troopers sending their performed ballots in the mail lend a hand to their dwelling states.

A peek in April by the Pew Compare Middle stumbled on that 91% of People salvage a in truth useful survey of it, making it the country’s well-liked executive agency. For comparability, People give Congress about an 18% approval ranking, in step with a Gallup ballot from July.

What’s next?

Loads of Democratic lawmakers salvage known as for an investigation into the brand new adjustments that salvage precipitated provide delays, and salvage asked Mr DeJoy to testify to Congress next Monday in an emergency listening to.

The grilling he’s anticipated to got might be held on the first day of the Republican National Convention, setting the stage for a bitter partisan battle.

“The American folks desire their mail, medicines, and mail-in ballots delivered in a timely procedure, and additionally they surely terminate now not desire drastic adjustments and delays in the center of a world pandemic dazzling months earlier than the election,” acknowledged Home Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, as she supplied Mr DeJoy’s resolution to voluntarily testify.

The committee’s top Republican welcomed the guidelines by attacking Democrats for pushing a “wild and baseless conspiracy theory about the US Postal Carrier”.

Meanwhile, a whole lot of instruct attorneys overall salvage acknowledged they are taking into consideration suing the Trump administration to dam the adjustments to the Postal Carrier.

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Coronavirus Outbreak Live Updates: Delhi malls, shopping centres to reopen; devotees queue up near places of worship as Unlock 1.0 begins

08:54 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in China Latest Update

China reports six new imported COVID-19 cases

China has reported six new imported coronavirus infections, including two asymptomatic cases, health officials said on Monday.

Out of the four confirmed imported coronavirus cases reported on Sunday, three are from Sichuan Province and one from Shanghai, the National Health Commission (NHC) said. Two new asymptomatic cases from overseas were also reported on Sunday, it said.

08:49 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Update

BEST to operate 250 additional buses in Mumbai from today

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) will start operating 250 more buses in Mumbai in addition to 1,800 from today. Now, employees of government, private sectors and those who are self-employed can also travel in these buses, PTI has reported.

08:42 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Update

Yogi Adityanath offers prayers at Gorakhnath Temple

Gorakhpur: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offers prayers at Gorakhnath Temple. Government has allowed re-opening of places of worship from today. pic.twitter.com/tugUioZ59h

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 8, 2020

08:32 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Update

Delhi malls, shopping centres to reopen from today

As malls and shopping centres in the national capital re-open on Monday after more than two months, they will be focussing on hourly disinfection of the common areas, contactless shopping and physical distancing to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The managements of the malls and shopping complexes have issued detailed guidelines to shops, offices and restaurants to keep the infection at bay. Several malls have set up UV sterilisation chambers for people to disinfect their belongings.

08:25 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Update

Devotees offer prayers at Lucknow Mosque

Devotees offer prayers at Eidgah Mosque in Lucknow on Monday. People are being screened before they enter the mosque, social distancing norms being followed as govt has allowed opening of places of worship from today with certain precautionary measures amid COVID19 outbreak, reports ANI.

#WATCH Lucknow: Devotees offer prayers at Eidgah Mosque. People are being screened before they enter the mosque, social distancing norms being followed as govt has allowed opening of places of worship from today with certain precautionary measures amid #COVID19 outbreak. pic.twitter.com/aug8tR7oWA

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 8, 2020

08:20 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Update

Delhi's COVID-19 total crosses 28,000-mark, toll mounts to 812

The number of coronavirus cases in the national capital crossed the 28,000-mark with 1,282 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 812 on Sunday, a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government said on Sunday said.

In an order issued to all private hospitals identified for the purpose of treating COVID-19 patients, the Delhi government has asked them to provide their schedule of charges for treatment of the virus to the Directorate General of Health services, Delhi and the same is also to be displayed at conspicuous places in their hospitals.

According to the health bulletin, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose to 28,936 with 1,282 fresh cases.

08:04 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Update

Places of worship set to reopen from today

Having sanitised their premises and equipped with measures to implement social distancing norms, places of worship in Delhi are ready to throw their doors open to the faithful from Monday after remaining closed for nearly two and a half months due to the lockdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the surge here in cases of coronavirus infection, various steps have been taken by the heads and management bodies of prominent shrines in the city that draw huge numbers of devotees, such as setting up sanitisation tunnels, prohibiting prasad distribution and floral offerings, using thermal guns to measure body temperatures, removing carpets and promoting the use of the Aarogya Setu app.

07:54 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Telangana Latest Update

Telangana CMO sealed after personal secretary tests positive for COVID-19

One of the offices of Telangana Chief Minister Office (CMO) have been sealed after a member tested positive for coronavirus, reports News18. The person was a Personal Secretary of a senior bureaucrat. However, this will not have any impact on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao as he works out of his residence. Staff members have been quarantined. 

07:48 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Update

Health ministry publishes New Drugs and Clinical Trials (Amendment) Rules

The Union Health Ministry has come up with draft New Drugs and Clinical Trials (Amendment) Rules, inserting provisions for "compassionate use" of any unapproved drug that is in the phase-III clinical trial, either in India or abroad, by importing or indigenous manufacturing.

The move is aimed at facilitating availability of new drugs which are in Phase-III clinical trials (human trials) for severely-ill COVID-19 patients in the country.

07:42 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in US Latest Update

US adds almost 700 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours

The coronavirus pandemic killed 691 people in the United States over the past 24 hours, the lowest number in a week, figures from Johns Hopkins University showed on Sunday. There have been a total of 110,482 deaths in the country and 1,938,842 cases, the Baltimore-based institutions' real-time tracker reported at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Sunday). Both the number of cases and the toll are, by far, the highest in the world.

07:36 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Update

PIB Principal Director General tests positive for COVID-19, admitted to AIIMS

Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau, KS Dhatwalia has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been admitted to AIIMS, sources said on Sunday. Dhatwalia, who by virtue of heading the PIB, is also principal spokesperson to the central government.

He had on Monday and Wednesday shared the stage with Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Singh Tomar and Prakash Javadekar when they had briefed media on the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet.

07:30 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Update

India registers almost 20,000 new cases over the weekend

Over the past weekend, India registers a total of 19,858 new COVID-19 cases and 581 deaths over the last two days. 

India registered its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, with 9,971 new infections taking the country's tally to 2,46,628, while the death toll rose to 6,929 with 287 fatalities. 

Meanwhile, on Saturday, India registered a total of 9,887 new COVID-19 cases and 294 new deaths. This took the total confirmed cases to 2,36,657 nationwide.

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: As malls and shopping centres in the national capital re-open on Monday after more than two months, they will be focussing on hourly disinfection of the common areas, contactless shopping and physical distancing to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Over the past weekend, India registers a total of 19,858 new COVID-19 cases and 581 deaths over the last two days. India registered its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, with 9,971 new infections taking the country's tally to 2,46,628, while the death toll rose to 6,929 with 287 fatalities.  Meanwhile, on Saturday, India registered a total of 9,887 new COVID-19 cases and 294 new deaths.

India had raced past Spain on Saturday to become the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, only the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK are ahead of it.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 1,20,406, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, some states announced guidelines on resuming some economic activities as part of the Unlock 1.0 phase.

States announce lockdown relaxations

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that malls, restaurants and religious places in Delhi would open from Monday after more than two months since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed, but banquets and hotels would remain closed.

At an online briefing on Sunday, Kejriwal said hotels and banquets might be converted into hospitals in the coming days to treat the novel coronavirus patients and, therefore, they would remain shut.

"Malls, restaurants and religious places will be opening from tomorrow in Delhi in accordance with Centre's guidelines," he said.

The Uttarakhand government, too, issued orders allowing malls, restaurants, hotels and religious places outside containment zones and municipal area of Dehradun in the state to open from 7 am to 7 pm. According to the guidelines, pilgrims from other states will not be permitted till further orders.

In Jammu and Kashmir, religious places/places of worship will remain closed for public till further orders. No inter-province or inter-State/UT movement of individuals is allowed without obtaining permission.

Nagaland, which has witnessed a recent spurt in COVID-19 cases, has also decided to keep places of worship and hotels closed till further orders, a senior official said. Lockdown measures issued by the chief secretary of Nagaland on 4 May will remain in place till further orders, Principal Secretary (Home) Abhijit Sinha told reporters.

"All places of worship shall be closed for public. Religious congregations are strictly prohibited," the notification issued by the chief secretary on 4 May said. The notification was issued to extend lockdown in the state. As per the notification, all hospitality services, barring those dealing with police personnel, government officials, healthcare workers and stranded persons, shall remain closed.

Maharashtra continues to report most cases, deaths

Of the 287 deaths reported since Saturday morning, 120 were from Maharashtra, 53 from Delhi, 29 from Gujarat, 19 from Tamil Nadu, 17 from West Bengal, 15 from Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Rajasthan, 10 from Telangana, three from Jammu and Kashmir, two each from Karnataka, Punjab and Chhattisgarh and one each from Kerala and Bihar.

Of the total 6,929 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 2,969 deaths, followed by Gujarat with 1,219 deaths, Delhi with 761, Madhya Pradesh with 399, West Bengal with 383, Uttar Pradesh with 257, Tamil Nadu with 251, Rajasthan with 231, Telangana with 123 and Andhra Pradesh with 73 deaths.

The death toll reached 59 in Karnataka and 50 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 39 fatalities due to the disease, Bihar has 30, Haryana has 24 deaths, Kerala has 15, Uttarakhand has 11, Odisha has eight and Jharkhand has reported seven deaths so far.

Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered five COVID-19 fatalities each. Assam and Chhattisgarh have recorded four deaths each.

Meghalaya and Ladakh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to the Health Ministry data.

According to the Ministry''s website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 82,968, followed by Tamil Nadu at 30,152, Delhi at 27,654, Gujarat at 19,592, Rajasthan at 10,331, Uttar Pradesh at 9,733 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,228, according to the Health Ministry data updated in the morning.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 7,738 in West Bengal, 5,213 in Karnataka, 4,915 in Bihar and 4,510 in Andhra Pradesh.

It has risen to 3,952 in Haryana, 3,496 in Telangana, 3,467 in Jammu and Kashmir and 2,781 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 2,515 coronavirus infections so far, while Assam has 2,397 cases. A total of 1,807 people have been infected with the virus in Kerala and 1,303 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 1,000 cases, Chhattisgarh has 923, Tripura has 747, Himachal Pradesh has 400, Chandigarh has 309 cases, Goa has 267, Manipur has 157, Nagaland has 107, and Puducherry and Ladakh have 99 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh has 47 COVID-19 cases, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Meghalaya have registered 33 infections each.

Mizoram has reported 24 cases and Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 19 cases, while Sikkim has reported seven cases till now.

The Union health ministry cited a WHO situation report which said that deaths in India per lakh population (0.49) are much lower than the world average of 5.17 and are the lowest among countries that have eased lockdown such as Germany (10.35), Italy (55.78), the UK (59.62) and Spain (58.06).

Cases in India per lakh population (17.32) are much lower than the world average of 87.74 and are the lowest among countries that have eased lockdown such as Germany (219.93), Italy (387.33), the UK (419.54) and Spain (515.61).

The Indian Council of Medical Research has further ramped up the testing capacity for detecting the novel coronavirus in infected persons.

The number of government labs has been increased to 531 and private labs to 228, taking the total number of labs to 759.

As many as 1,42,069 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of samples tested till now to 46,66,386.

Govt says it is 'fine-tuning' strategy against COVID-19

Asserting that coronavirus is a "new agent" about which not everything is known, the governerment on Sunday defended the timing of imposition of the lockdown and rejected as "baseless" media reports expressing concerns that it did not take inputs from technical experts while drawing up its COVID-19 strategy.

The government also said it is "fine-tuning" its strategy based on emerging knowledge and experience on the ground.

In a statement, the Health Ministry said a section of the media is reporting on the decisions regarding India''s approach to the pandemic and asserted that the decision on the lockdown was taken in the background of rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases.

"The doubling rate of cases had dropped to a low level, pointing toward a dangerous trajectory of high case load and high mortality, as experienced by many western countries. The possibility that our health systems could soon be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients seemed to be real," the ministry said.

There was all round consensus on the lockdown among all state governments, it said.

Meanwhile, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India will take a decision on resumption of international passenger flights as soon as countries ease restrictions on entry of foreign nationals.

Countries like Japan and Singapore have put significant restrictions on entry of foreigners amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"A decision to resume regular international operations will be taken as soon as countries ease restrictions on entry of foreign nationals. Destination countries have to be ready to allow incoming flights," Puri said on Twitter.

India resumed its domestic passenger flights on May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.

"Most countries have less than 10 per cent international operations because they are allowing entry only to their own citizens & have placed restrictions on foreign nationals," the minister stated.

Many countries are allowing inbound flights from a few nations, but have placed restrictions like quarantine or isolation, he said.

With inputs from PTI

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