So let's start off by talking about your neighborhood. Do you like the neighborhood that you live in? Yes I love it. It's really beautiful and quaint and it's by the river so whenever I feel like you know I need to unplug from life I just walk along the river and it's like really restorative and calming. Let me tell you why this student is bad nine so that you can improve your score and also give you an idea of what the examiner is thinking about when they are listening and judging a student during the speaking test because that's really the key to you improving your score. So there are four marking criteria that the examiner is thinking about when they're listening to you. Grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and fluency. The first thing that the examiner will notice here will be the pronunciation. This is because your pronunciation doesn't just affect your pronunciation score it also affects the other three scores because if you think about it you could have perfect grammar, perfect vocabulary, perfect fluency but if the examiner cannot understand what you're saying none of that really matters. So it's kind of like taking a paintbrush and brushing over all of your good work if your pronunciation is poor. For this student it is bad nine because the first thing that the examiner will notice with this student is that they understand exactly what they are saying for every single word, every single syllable. They're not a native English speaker but their pronunciation is extremely clear and that's really what you should be focusing on. Not really higher level fancy pronunciation features what you should be focusing on is does the examiner understand every single word I'm saying. So far it is excellent. Is there anything you think needs added to your neighborhood? Well I suppose I do have a sense of community but more kind of events that we can get people together you know on a regular basis we get together doing like say the jubilee week you know the celebration and anything that's more national celebration but it would be nice to have something more regular sense of community I suppose. If you could move to another neighborhood where would it be? I would like to move to the beach somewhere about a sea you know because it would be it would be really nice to be in nature because the neighborhood that I live in it's great but it does feel a little bit like a concrete jungle I know the river is nearby but it does feel like it takes some time for me to get straight into nature so it would be nice to you know be say on the beachfront you know. Another thing that the examiner will be thinking about is your tense or grammatical structure that you choose to answer the question specifically are you using the appropriate structure to answer that particular question so I ask her a conditional question if you could move to another neighborhood where would it be and her response is I would like to move to the beach she uses the modal verb would to express a polite desire or wish something hypothetical normally in the future that she wishes could happen now what the examiner will do is they will ask you a range of different questions that require a range of different grammatical structures and tenses to answer appropriately and the examiner will be listening out for your answer to test your grammatical range and accuracy and let's see how that changes and how she copes with that when the examiner changes the type of question he asks her let's talk about tv what's your favorite tv show actually I don't watch tv but I um watch a lot of youtube videos you know and I tend to go into more personal development videos you know stories of transformation do you prefer to stream or watch normal tv I prefer to stream I really struggle with just mindlessly watching something without intention so before I watch something it's gotta be something that would hold my interest I actually know what it's about so yeah much prefer streaming so in this question I ask her do you prefer to stream or watch tv now this is slightly different from the question the conditional question that I asked her before what I'm asking her now is not a conditional not a desire an unlikely event that might happen I'm asking for her current preference and she states I prefer to stream this is perfect for stating her preference because we use the present symbol to state our current preference or something that is generally true it would sound very unusual if she said something like I would like to stream in the future because that's not really what I asked her I didn't ask her a conditional hypothetical type question so she's doing extremely well than choosing the exact correct tense or grammatical structure to use not only is she choosing it that is appropriate that is what I mean when I'm saying it is appropriate choosing the correct one she's using it accurately and you need to do both things if you're hoping to get about seven eight or nine I hope you're enjoying the video so far to thank you for watching this video I want to give you a free course that has helped thousands of students improve their IELTS speaking score it's called the IELTS speaking challenge and what it's going to do is take you through every single part of the test and give you strategies for part one part two and part three and also allow you to practice at home for free and get feedback it is a hundred percent free all you have to do is just look in the description below this video click on it enter your email and we'll sign you up and send you all the information thanks very much and let's get back to the video are there any shows or youtube channels that you dislike not really because if I did dislike then I wouldn't pay attention to them you know I just kind of like browse over I tend to not put much attention to things that I don't like or you know don't contribute to you know the betterment of me what were your favorite TV shows as a child I watch a lot of cartoons they definitely have a good dose of Fairfair retail's imagination superhero cartoons and the ones that I loved that left an impression about girl empowerment you know powerful women who look good and do their thing you know and like just yeah there is a cartoon called Jam and the Holocaust and I always found really really cool because jam is a journalist I think her alter ego is a journalist and she could just transform and look amazing at the same time you know that kind of shaped my early kind of thought of how maybe my future job could be and now I ask her about the past what were your favorite TV shows as a child and her responses I watched a lot of cartoons so she decides to use past simple here because she's talking about a specific event in the past at a specific time and it's a completed action so that's one of the occasions when it's appropriate to use the past simple so again you see that the examiner is asking a range of different questions just to test your grammatical range so you should be aware of this when the examiner is asking you a question you should be thinking about what is the appropriate tense to answer this question or the appropriate grammatical structure and they also do this with topics so a lot of students complain about like why are they asking me about birthday cakes and hats and my free time why so many weird topics that is very very intentional because it is to stop cheating because many many students memorize lists of high-level words and what the examiner will do is they will throw in an unusual topic to test your vocabulary range for that unusual topic let's see how they do that now let's talk about using your phone which apps do you use most on your phone um I suppose it is the social media app because I need to post um daily for my business I think I also love you know calm like kind of headspace kind of apps that really um enable us to just disconnect from our day-to-day you know stresses and then recenter because I think that's really important how much time do you spend on your phone per day way too much I have a little counter now that tells me whether my you know screen time has gone up or gone down and I try to reduce that but probably about three four hours a day a bit too much have you ever deleted an app on your phone I don't think I have mainly because if I don't use the app they just stop updating and then I don't do a good job at tidying them up but that gives me a reminder to do so do you have notifications turned off or on on your phone it's all off yeah I don't like any kind of like buzzing you know on my phone even my phone is on silent all the time um yeah I very ready have no notifications on at all so as you see we've switched topics now to talking about mobile phones and one of the reasons they do that is to stop cheating but the other thing that they do is they are thinking about your use of topic specific vocabulary that is vocabulary that helps you speak about this specific topic so for example she uses words like disconnect screen time updating buzzing on silent so these are very topic specific words that we use to talk about mobile phones for example we wouldn't use these words to talk about the weather or food so notice that I didn't say that she's using lots of high-level vocabulary she's using topic specific vocabulary topic specific vocabulary is far more impressive than you using the word plethora 17 times it is not about going on to youtube and memorizing a bunch of high-level words it is about being able to discuss any topic that they throw at you and this is basically cheat proof because it is impossible for you to predict what topics are going to come up and let me tell you a little secret examiner is not basing your vocabulary score on all of these memorized answers that you have or the topics that you preferred the examiner is basing their score on these answers these questions that you were not expecting because that is your real vocabulary level it is not a memorization test it is a speaking test and also the examiner is thinking about whether you're using these words and phrases accurately not just throwing in a bunch of high-level fancy words but choosing the appropriate topic specific words to help you fluently discuss that topic and she's doing that perfectly and what a lot of students will say when they look at a band nine student they'll say I don't think that she's band nine because what they believe band nine is is using lots of lots of words that they don't really understand it's actually the opposite it is using pretty simple words that are topic specific because that is a far more accurate and reliable assessment of your real language ability now let's talk about your future what job would you like to do in the future i suppose the job that i want to do in the future is kind of like the next level from what i'm doing now in the future i would like to be a speaker that talks on a wider bigger stage reaching more people within the audience about the human condition and things that we struggle with the things we need to know in order to grow as people so this is a really really interesting answer because you've probably noticed that she's not as fluent as in the previous answers so what we're going to do now is listen to her next answer and i want you to compare the answer that she wasn't as fluent with the next answer and i want you to think about why that is and will it actually affect her score will you study for any qualifications in the future well because i did actually spend a really long time in my life studying and only finished at the age of 30 i felt like i had had enough of structured education i believe the best education that you give yourself is experiential and i learned a lot of what i know now through doing because it is in being in something and really practicing the skills that you learned more effectively so this is a really really important insight into what the examiner is thinking because the reason why she wasn't as fluent for answer 12 is i think that she was just really overthinking it she had to really think about the answer whereas with the answers where she was a lot more fluent she didn't really have to think about the content the things that she was going to say because if you think about it your brain is like a computer what happens to a computer when you have too many programs open at the same time it slows down and it can crash and this is one of the main reasons why students get a lower score for fluency they are overthinking the content they are overthinking the ideas and let me give you some really really good advice this is probably the number one most common advice that we give our vip students for helping them improving their fluency you are not being judged on the quality of your ideas you're not being judged on the content in the speaking test remember you're only being judged on fluency grammar vocabulary and pronunciation there's nothing in there that says there are more scores for high level ideas you must answer the question that's part of fluency and coherence but as long as you're answering the question it can be very very simple easy ideas so does that mean that she doesn't deserve a bad nine no the examiner is not judging you on one bad answer and it wasn't even a bad answer it was a very very good answer the examiner is judging you on the totality of your performance every single answer that you give they are judging you on your overall performance for fluency a lot of students think that if you make one tiny little mistake that that automatically brings your score down that is not how the speaking test works at all so in the test if you get a question that you're not comfortable answering just pick something that is easy to talk about because that's going to help your fluency and also don't panic if you give one bad answer don't panic and destroy the rest of your test just keep going and know that you're being judged on all your answers not just one answer this video is sponsored by us isle advantage and the isle VIP course the isle VIP course is the most successful isle course in the world that is a fact because we have more than seven eight and nine success stories than any other isle course in the entire world we do that by simplifying the whole isles process supporting you with some of the best isles teachers in the world and being with you every step of the way until you get the score that you need to thank you for making it this far in the video i want to give you 10% off our VIP course all you have to do is just look down in the description you will see our special link that you need to get 10% off just click that and you can sign up if you have any questions about the VIP course always feel free to get in touch with us chris at islesabantage.com is my email address we answer 100% of the questions that we get hope that you become a VIP if not enjoy the rest of this free video that's the end of part one so now we're going to move on to part two i'm going to show you a cue card yeah you'll have one minute to prepare you can make notes during that one minute i'll let you know when the one minute is over and then i would like you to speak for up to two minutes about the topic on the cue card is that clear yeah okay there's the cue card and i will time you part two gives the examiner the freedom the space to really listen to your performance because they're not constantly thinking about asking the next question what you're saying it gives them kind of two minutes just to sit back and really focus on different aspects of your performance and the challenge for students is speaking fluently for up to two minutes that's really the biggest challenge when it comes to part two so let's have a listen and see how she does okay please begin when you're ready sure so a website that i really enjoy visiting is youtube and the reason for that is because i believe that i'm more of a visual and experiential learner so for me if you were to give me an instruction to do something i might only catch like a very small snippet of it because my mind might not retain everything that you have said and so in order for me to then you know tackle the task i would need to see you know what that topic is about and see and learn in a more kind of condensed way and i find youtube really interesting and very captivating for that reason it engages my attention and what i like to learn on it is interviews with experts you know things that people could break down into chunks you know more kind of conversational style and i find interviews and explanation about human behavior especially from neuroscience experts you know really captivating and it's something that i find you know helps me with my work too so it is a very quick way to learn about something and that's why i spend so much time on it way more than i even spend on books because if you ask me to read a book it's not exactly the same you know and you ask me to read a video then i could retain a lot of the information because it's not just what is said i'm also seeing the person's expression you know and also the emphasis of something that they say through the tone of the voice so it helps me really digest and you know and enhance my learning and i visit the website every other day you know or actually whenever i need to understand more about something that goes straight to youtube um why like it thank you that's the end of part two so as you can hear and see she had no problem talking about that topic for the whole two minutes so what i'm going to do now is break down the structure that she used so that you can practice using this structure because she did a very very good job of taking the topic and then structuring it out in a way that made it very easy for her to speak fluently for up to two minutes so the first thing she did was she answered the question directly so she said a website that i really enjoy visiting is youtube so this tells the examiner that you've understood the question and you are coherent you're answering the question it is also helpful for you because what you're going to do is make sure that you're answering the question by stating the answer right away you don't have to do it this way there are many many different ways that you could fluently answer the question for two minutes but this is one way second thing that she did was she then briefly explained why why she thinks that so she says the reason for that is because i'm more of a visual and experiential learner so she's not going into a lot of detail but she is explaining the main points of her answer then what she does is she goes into a lot more detail so for me if you were to give me an instruction to do something i might only catch like a very small snippet of it because my mind might not retain everything that you've said so she's going into a lot more detail so the fourth thing she does is she gives real examples so she talks about interviews with neuroscience experts so this structure is kind of like a pyramid all right at the top answers the question then says why and then goes into a lot more detail and then she gives more examples this is an excellent way to answer speaking questions because it is a very natural way and it is a very fluent and coherent way to answer that and it helps students and then what you can do is you can add on a couple more bullet points so if you get to the end of your examples you can throw in a few more bullet points related to that main topic so practice that at home it's really going to help you another thing that she does extremely well here is that she relates everything to her real life and her real experience this helps her fluency because it is much much easier to talk about things from your own experience from your own life it is much more difficult to speak fluently about something outside of your own experience outside of your own life and make it up then to relate it back to something from your own life and many of these part two questions will be about quite vague topics such as you talk about a book talk about a website talk about a holiday that you went on so it's about a book or a website pick something that is a hobby of yours or a passion of yours that you know a lot about or it could be related to your actual profession your job if they're asking you about a holiday talk about a real holiday that you went on or it might be somewhere that you know very very well you know for example you could be living in London but you are from Ghana you could be talking about I like to go back to Ghana on holiday because you know all of those places and you can talk about them freely and easily and that's also going to help you with your vocabulary because it is much much easier to talk about topic specific vocabulary use that appropriately use that accurately if you're talking about your job where you're from a passion a hobby something you know a lot about and now we're going to move on to part three okay so you've talked about a website that you enjoy let's continue to talk about websites so let me tell you a little secret about part three that not many students know the examiner has a range of different questions and if they think that you are band seven eight or nine they're going to ask you more difficult questions than compared to students that are a band five or six for example because what they're doing in part three is they're really stretching your ability so if you get really difficult questions you should be happy about that and we do ask her some very very difficult questions in part three let's see how she copes with this what are the most popular websites in your country um in my country I suppose the most popular websites are more around um debates and you know questioning of of things I suppose the podcast is also you know making a big headway you know because people are really developing an appetite to listen to conversations life I liken it to being a bit of a warrior you know like just kind of being a fly on the wall when like this conversation is taking place that you would have otherwise no access to but now it's freely available on anyone's you know fingertips she starts off by saying um in my country I suppose the most popular websites are around debates and you know questioning of things and many of you are commenting right now she does not deserve a bad nine because she said um or ah or you know too many times well there's um's and as or what we call audible pauses so you're pausing to think but there's sound coming out of your mouth um and these are totally normal and if you think that that makes you a bad speaker then you probably think these people are terrible speakers um um I think for me um I uh it's also very natural to use fillers like like and you know so it's in my mother you know I think I think you know too you know so if we look at the official marketing criteria here what it says for band nine fluency is any hesitation that occurs is used only to prepare the content of the next utterance and not to find words or grammar so what does that mean in plain English so what this means is that band nine students when they aren't thinking about what to say next there are utterances I don't know why they use very complex language here but the hesitation hesitation means that you pause like you know it's only to think about the content the idea not to be searching for is this the correct grammar structure to use is this a correct vocabulary to use band six and seven students tend to use these audible pauses to think about the correct word or the correct grammar because their language level is not very high native English speakers and band nine students they use these audible pauses and hesitations to try and find the correct answer the correct content the correct idea we all do this even in your native language and the examiners have been trained to understand the difference between a student that is struggling to find the correct word or grammatical structure and the student that is just thinking about the next thing to say it is very very easy to spot for examiners what will happen to society if AI or robots take over from humans in the workplace gosh um can you say that again yeah yeah I might it might I need to simplify the question of it um I get what you're saying yeah I just need to hear it again if AI and robots take over from humans in the workplace what will happen to society so she did very very well here to ask me to repeat the question this allows her to clarify exactly what the question is in her mind it also gives her a little bit of time to think about it because this is a very very difficult question um native English speakers who are AI experts would find it difficult to just come up immediately with a very very fluent answer so it is totally normal to say to the examiner in part three can you repeat the question or what does that word within the question mean the examiner will do what I did which was reformulate the question make it easier to understand gosh I mean I watch a podcast snippet of an ex-google executive and he said that that is likely going to happen and the way he said it didn't sound it didn't sound good at all you know it sounded like it was going to be a catastrophe because the way AI is being created at the moment is so unethical and it's not regulated and it's also very biased and so if we create anything from that bias point of view then people who AI is not created for might struggle you know to get the answers that they need that will truly support them you know in their lives I think we have to take a step back you know before we let this fully roll out you know into every corner of our lives I don't think we're ready yet to have AI impact or support or areas of our lives yet so this answer probably contains her highest level vocabulary she uses words like catastrophe unethical regulated biased take a step back and roll out but the really important thing and the difference between band nine and everyone else is she uses this high level vocabulary not to show off but to help her answer the question these words are not just memorized from a list of band nine words and thrown in they are part of her normal vocabulary and they are used appropriately and accurately and you've probably heard me use those two words again and again and again and you might also be thinking this is the end of the test or getting towards the end of the test and oh my god she hasn't used any idioms yet give her a band five this is a complete misinterpretation of the official marking criteria what it says for band nine for vocabulary is sustained use of accurate and idiomatic language so you'll find a lot of videos online a lot of advice from IELTS teachers saying the more idioms you use the higher your score this is a misinterpretation of the word idiomatic idiomatic does not mean idioms it includes idioms but it also includes things like informal language colloquialisms slang phrasal verbs in other words idiomatic language is language that native English speakers just normally use so let's analyze one of her sentences to show you in a little bit more detail what idiomatic means she says I think we have to take a step back before we let this fully roll out into every corner of our lives now there's no idioms in there but it is full of idiomatic language step back is a more idiomatic a more natural a more native English speaker way of saying to stop and assess the impact roll out is a more idiomatic way of saying introduce something introduce something new every corner of our lives is a more idiomatic way of saying all parts of our lives hunt 100% of our lives so you put all of these together and you get an extremely idiomatic sentence that only a band nine student or a native English speaker could accurately put together now that is very very very different from you saying something like I'm over the moon that you asked me that question because it's been raining cats and dogs today like that includes two idioms but it is nonsense and doesn't make any sense and doesn't help anyone answer the question some people believe that if ai takes over human jobs that the government should pay a minimum basic income to everyone do you agree with that that is almost like a dystopian future isn't it if our society is run by robots what's gonna what's gonna happen to people so what are the use of people you know could they then go and enjoy their lives you know whilst being on this basic income um and the question if then what are we doing here you know if we're yeah given a small wage to enjoy our lives but not really because our lives are run by robots so yes I don't really know the answer really but it makes me think about this dystopian future and that's the end of the speaking test although so I hope that analysis will help you with your practice will help you improve your score to a band seven eight or nine and if you want to hear her give another band nine performance I'd recommend this video


At Audiology Associates at Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. On Monday, September 26th, a school bus collided with a little Debbie truck in Elkhorn City. The accident was reported to Kentucky State Police around 8 a.m. and there were no children on the bus at the time. Mountaintop News spoke with KSP Public Affairs Officer Michael Coleman to learn more as this story develops. Post 9 received a call right at 8 o'clock this morning reporting the collision. So we're currently on scene investigating the collision there on the Kentucky Route 197 or Elkhorn Creek. It's just before the old high school there at Elkhorn City. The bus may still be obstructing the road at this time. It is unknown when the road will be clear from the wreckage. It is also unknown if any injuries were reported. I don't know if they moved it yet. I know that we have KSP Accident Reconstructionists on scene. So it will take several hours for them to be able to reconstruct this scene and investigate this collision. So we're asking right now if the public just kind of avoid the area if you can just to give them time and space to work. It does look like it's here's collision but as far as injuries or anything like that. I don't have the information to be able to release yet as far as names or anything like that. I can confirm there were no children on the bus at the time of the collision. I know they always try to ensure everyone's safety. They do a really good job at it. For Mountaintop News, I'm Nick Colum.


Titans fans, it's finally here. We are playing on Monday night football and we've got everything you need to know right here on Titans Takes. For starters, the Titans are coming off of a five-sack game. That's right, Jeffrey Simmons, it's still a piece. Holy moly! The Titans will be hosting a watch party at Brooklyn Bowl. Gates open at 5.30 and kickoff is at 6.15. Jim White's Bridges report the Tennessee Titans are going to be wearing their icy white. That's right, our owner Amy Adams shrunk with these adorable puppies that are up for adoption at Nashville's Humane Association. What is the best emoji of all of them? And there's always new ones. But which one's the best one? Let's head to the Titans locker room to find out. Smile one. The smiling emoji. The crying one, like the laughing. Laughing emoji. This one.  You don't want to miss Titans Takes. We'll have a new episode next week. So check it out.


Gang, I am here in Orlando in a washroom. Change room idea. The room is not ready at the resort yet. So just did a Superman and the phone booth idea changing in here, but we are off to what I think is the coolest dining experience in all of Disney. It's 2.30 p.m., so we're having kind of a late lunch. If you want to make reservations at a place like this or anywhere in Disney for that matter, please try 90 days in advance, 90. Not kidding, it might take that long. Anyhow, I can't wait to show you that. This is day one. We are here for five days in the park and then one day at the Kennedy Space Center, which is gonna be super cool. So let's go eat. This restaurant is located inside Disney's Hollywood Studios. So this park is the third Disney park in Orlando that was opened in 1989 and it spans 135 acres, drawing inspiration from the golden age of Hollywood. Hollywood Studios is home to the rock and roller coaster by Aerosmith and the Tower of Terror, which are the two most popular rides in Hollywood Studios. Also Toy Story Land here, where everything is built to be as if you were a tiny toy. I didn't do much of anything in Toy Story Land, but I think the most popular ride there would definitely be this Linky Dog roller coaster. So if you're planning on visiting Toy Story Land, grab a fast pass for that as soon as possible. And because it's me, I am always looking for healthy food options and in Hollywood Studios, there is this little Anaheim produce kiosk where you can get giant refrigerated dill pickles, which it's not really my snack of choice or these little clementines were there and also some fresh pineapple, fresh melon, bottles of water or things that, you know, that can hydrate you and keep you a little bit more full on something healthier. This is the Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster, hugely, hugely popular. I 100% recommend getting a fast pass for this ride. It was incredibly fun and not to worry, I have not forgotten about you, perhaps wondering what the heck fast passes at Disney are like and how do you get them? How do you use them? So if you would like to see that info and about Star Wars Land, watch to the end and I will share all of that. And now for the absolute coolest dining experience in all of Disney, according to myself who does not have children. This is not one of those character dining experiences. That's not for me.  Kids love this place and it's pretty cool to show them something like this. So this restaurant is actually inside a gigantic soundstage at the NGM Studios, now called Hollywood Studios and it is modeled after a 1950s drive-in theater. They do not let you see any of the inside of the restaurant as it is a completed soundstage until you are seated at your table. And here you've got popcorn as an appetizer that is served for free to everyone waiting. If you get a reservation, please check in here when you arrive. And in the meantime, you can just eat popcorn and check out things like this phone and accompanying phone book. What do you remember those? The menu is really easy to get along with here. It's, you know, it's the classic American fare. So you have sandwiches, burgers, salads, awesome appetizers, classic milkshakes. They do serve alcohol here.  I have never been disappointed. I've never been here with anyone that was disappointed. So as I said, this restaurant is designed to look like a 1950s drive-in theater and the screen plays clips from movies such as Frankenstein meets the space monster, plan nine from outer space, attack of the 50 foot woman and the classic snack bar ads that we all know and love from the old school drive-in theaters when we were actually there in real life. If you have been to one, if not, I recommend going to this instead of even going to a real one because it is more authentic. You will need reservations for this restaurant. I tried to book a couple of weeks out and I landed one at 2.30 PM on a random weekday. You really wanna be booking at least three months, 90 days in advance to get a reservation time that will appeal to you. Each car sits six people in seats of two each, not facing each other. You are all facing the screen. So yeah, I highly recommend this. I had the croissant. It was a turkey sandwich croissant. All of the food is incredibly fresh, very, very delicious. The fries are out of this world with the way they season them, the way they cook them. Really, there is no trip to Hollywood Studios theme park at Disney World without a chance to eat at this awesome restaurant. They've got some really fun drinks as well in the menu that you won't find anywhere else, more specialty style things. And here's the ad I was talking about for the snack bar that we all remember. And I think I'm pretty sure they still actually play this exact ad at the drive-in theater in real life these days. Here comes my dinner. So this was the roast turkey sandwich. The turkey was freshly roasted and cut. The vegetables were absolutely fresh. Tomato, lettuce, bacon was awesome. It wasn't like the ready-cooked, microwaved kind. It was actually proper. This had so much flavor. I cannot even describe. As promised, here is Star Wars Galaxy's Edge. This is a themed area inspired obviously by the Star Wars franchise. This is located at both the Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, as well as the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida in the Disney's Hollywood Studios Park. So the same park we've been in today in this video. This area encompasses 14 acres at each park. Galaxy's Edge is set within the village of Black Spire Outposts from the movies on the wild frontier planet of Batu and features attractions, shops, restaurants and entertainment offerings. The lands were announced in August 15th of 2015. Construction at both parks began on April 14th, 2016. The Disneyland version opened in May of 2019 and this one here at Hollywood Studios opened on August 29th, 2019. Your admission to Star Wars Galaxy's Edge is included in your admission to the Hollywood Studios Park at Disney. And if you noticed the rise in cost for the tickets to Disney, this would be contributing to that price increase. However, it is absolutely so beyond worth it, especially if you are a Star Wars fan. Personally, never was a Star Wars fan. However, this place absolutely blew my mind for the accuracy, the attention to detail. It is next level. So they do serve alcohol in this park. Alcohol is extremely difficult to come by at Disney because Disney did. Ixnate alcohol and smoking from the parks. However, you can find beer here and they do not have regular beer that you and I would recognize. They serve their own craft beer. I personally am not a fan of craft beer so I cannot even tell you if it was very good or not. This is docking base seven where the beer is located and this is also an awesome place to go eat, especially if you have little ones. There is a lot of variety on this menu and there was a lot of seating available. Inside seating, there's patio seating outside. It's just really an awesome place to get some nosh. As you look around the patio for this docking base seven restaurant, I wanted to get into the fast pass thing. Okay, so fast passes in all of the Disney parks are 100% free. You need to download the My Disney Experience app. This is what the app looks like. You download this app and then you are allowed three fast passes booked per day at a time though. So that means that you can book more than three in a day but you're only allowed three at a time. So as soon as you've used one on any ride, go right back on your app and look for another ride with another available spot. You should be booking fast passes up to three months in advance. I didn't book any until we got there and I was pleasantly surprised with being able to score fast passes for some of the rides. If you're gonna go for the more popular rides though, get on that ASAP and one more thing. This is the new Gondola Transportation System at Disney World Orlando. This goes between some of the major parks and some of the major resorts. And it is super awesome, but please make sure you check out beforehand which parks and which resorts have this and where the get on and get off points are. And there you have it. That was our trip to Disney's Hollywood Studios. One time that was my least favorite park out of all of the Disney parks in Orlando. You know, it still is my least favorite. However, it's an awesome place to go for food. Now there's Star Wars land, now there's Toy Story land. So it has definitely improved over the years. Anyhow, if you thought this video was helpful, informative or entertaining at all, please hit the thumbs up down there as that lets me know what kind of content to keep producing for you. If you would like notifications of each time I post a new video, it's the little bell notification icon down there and you will be notified each time I upload. Please, please subscribe to this channel. Subscribing really is where all of the support comes from and share the channel because aside from videos like this, there are a whole bunch of videos on this channel that can help anyone overcome more than 90% of any health, wellness or body image challenge. So until next time, have super amounts of fun in your life, have super amounts of fun, exploring new places while you travel and I'll see you next time, bye.


I'm Christian Taylor, joined with head coach Jackie Boswell after an 81-58 win. Coach, thoughts on your team's performance tonight? I couldn't be happier right now. I thought we played hard from start to finish. I know we missed a few shots early in the first half, but I thought our defense was really, really good and kept us in it. And then being able to come out with that kind of effort in the second half defensively is just phenomenal. And that really sparked our offense a little bit and gave us a little confidence. It had seemed that hood were keeping it close early on. What was it that your team did to kind of push ahead and really close out the win? Well, we called the time out. We just said we can't trade baskets with them for the next 20 minutes. We got to put them away and we got to shoot the ball with confidence. We shoot these shots every day. Just shoot it, don't think. And I think they took that to heart. I thought we shared the ball a little bit. I thought they made some really nice passes and got some really nice assist. And when they do that, the confidence starts rolling. They start feeling a little bit better. And then the shots go in easily. Finally, it was senior night tonight. What does this particular senior class mean to you? Well, I mean, both Chance and Janier.  And we just wanted to give them the best experience they could possibly have. I hope we did that. I know that they taught us a lot. And I'm really going to miss them. I remember sitting in their gyms when they were in high school. So it's really hard to believe that it's now five years later when I was sitting in their gyms. And it's tough. Every year we go through this, though. But they're a special group. And they're going to do some great things in the future. And we're just really glad they chose Stevenson to spend their last four years. Coach, thank you very much. Congrats on the win. Thank you. Coach Basel, I'm Christian Taylor on GoMustangSports.com.


darkness of the far future. There is only war. A hive planet of the Imperium has fallen victim to a disease that rots the flesh and the mind. There lies one bastion of hope. They make their final stand before the Horde. It is imperative that this planet does not fall and because of this the Imperium has sent forth their angels. And from here the eradication and cleansing of this world can begin. And here it is the last bastion of humanity on this planet guarded by its most fearless warriors.  But behind them, behind them they're calling it Krieg Soldiers. That's the one. Look at them. Gorgeous. For the Emperor.  So they are going to be running probably straight towards the zombie horde that is over there. Inside the castle we have more Imperium soldiers.  Inside I think we've got a bunch of conscripts. Yep more of them. I think there's probably about two of them. And there he is up here in the center of the fortification. Some high important value to the inquisition. Something like that. Who knows. And some more over there are the space marines ready to you know cleanse this world of all of the chaos vermin. So without further ado let's start the battle and the cannons ring out. Glorious. Oh yes look at them. The Krieg already sort of like just pushing their way through. Move. Move I want to see fire. Even the tanks are going to be going as well. Look at them. Look at them running with the tanks. The zombies are flying. Fearless tanks. Even though they can shoot at them they're not getting accurate shots. Actually I don't think they're even shooting at all. It's that. Oh it's the stationery cannons which are just laying down some sort of fire over there. You can see the bodies just going nuts. And here they come running straight towards them. The tanks have now stopped but there is millions and millions of zombies floating straight towards them. Up the Krieg have decided maybe maybe running towards them isn't the best idea. And you know what I can't blame them. They're slowly running in their tumbling diving and they've reached the tanks. Tanks could have waited for them but there they go. Oh there's just so many of them. How long will it take for them to clog up the artillery is the question. There we go. You know they're doing good. They're doing good so far. How many have been killed? Four thousand zombies have been killed so far and not a single human life has been lost. However there is absolutely millions of zombies. Millions. A whole planet's worth of population from all of the other high cities are now flooding upon this last stand on Mardin. Look at them. Look at them all shooting doing their bests. Brilliant.  We'll just wait. We'll wait. Oh there's a tank. He's decided to go around. Oh I think I see them. There we go. What has the Emperor brought with them? Oh classic. A black Templar. Yeah that's not worrying at all. We chainsawed. Oh yeah there's only one reason that they're making towards the city. And that's to lay waste to the chaos of demon vermin. Here we go. Oh they're kind of coming through. Whoa he just did a backflip. Okay okay that's good but they've sort of got around the tanks and they are really closing it. Is the one do they chase? They're chasing one dude. Look at him go. Laying down his life for the Emperor. Oh he got some support there from a tank that's really. Look at him go. He's got the tactic down. Just running backwards while shooting and it seems to be working for him. This is exactly where he belongs. He wants to be here. He wants to be in the death and the gore of that blood even though it's tomato sauce remember guys. Tomato sauce, strawberry jam. Now blood we want to be monetized here. Oh no he's going into the trench. The strawberry jam zombies are uh it's kind of oh god he's going to have his back up against the wall before he knows it. Oh they just can't seem to get him but he's gonna get stuck on the rocks. No! Not the best of tactics. Oh god well what a view he had there. Oh now that they got round though they're gonna flank. No they're gonna take out the artillery. It's not going well. Oh finally the normal Cadians are having to help out. Oh there we go there we go. Go the conscript sorry not Cadians. Rest in peace there. Where are the tanks? Oh the tanks are that they're stuck. They are very well and truly stuck and now zombies are free. Are they even in the place? Have we got suppressive fire being laid down? I think we do yes. They are shooting. Anyone's made in the doorway. Are they in the doorway? No they are not. Though they are coming. They are coming around the doorway but as soon as they pass that corner they've got another corpse creak person. Yes instantly. Instantly mould as soon as they come down. Mould by bullets. Looking like Swiss cheese here. This is brilliant. Oh look at him. Look at him. He's moving around. Both of them. Wait how many have we lost so far? We've lost 129 people. 135 for 58,000 of the fallen. This is not bad numbers. Very good numbers indeed. However the tanks can only hold out so long and the zombie horde is coming into contact with the humans. This is not so good. No. Uh oh. Where's the cannons? Okay we have three cannons left. The line has been destroyed. Two cannons left now. Oh no. Oh no the suppressive fire is not looking too well. Well how how space marines we need the help? Where are they? Oh they're making their way inside. This is brilliant finally. They're going to lay some support and f- Okay guys. It would appear that the space marines have chosen to just cleanse everything.  Kill the demon and well they're seeing these humans is possibly other infected that they're gonna have to later fight and you know take that into account. Well they're not gonna take any chances. Oh dear. Oh no. Oh this is not good.  Uh oh. Yeah they're all coming around like oh god. They are now fighting a battle on two fronts. These guys are coming through. Have the zombies made it? Oh they have what they haven't actually. Whoa. Oh wait these are zombies. Oh god there's a couple of band of lost brothers. No. There's one creek dude they're leading. There's a couple left and they're all gone. They're gone. Oh dear. Yeah they're gone. If you could have the game said you know if a zombie killed a human it turned into another zombie. That'd be brilliant. But anyway. Anyway onto the actual law. Here we go. There is still tanks laying down fire. There is one. Dude. Sorry one of these. Never mind there was not one kind of left. This is it. Oh no. Oh no. They have no idea. Their battle was for nothing. Look at the kreek men in there with his gas mask and everything. He's loving it this is the best day of his entire life. Covered in well it doesn't matter what it is. Strawberry jam. Everybody's strawberry jam. Four allies.  Uh oh. Uh oh. It looked so promising. The choke point is actually kind of working and the few heroics that came out. You know the heroes who thought you know what was take the battle to them are probably now regretting their decision but you know they're laying down their lives for being pure in the man and we can't ask for any more than that.  Oh yes. Oh no. Oh they are just coming through. Brothers. Oh they're all dead. What about the dude? What about the dude up here? Oh. Oh a few have run away. That's good. Oh they're chasing him down. Instant death. Oh no. Obviously he wasn't a high priority target. That's all I can say.  Oh god knows whatever uh you know but personal bodyguards. Well they have it. Okay. How about this. Oh god look at the zombies. There are so many of them. Maybe it was best not to do that just yet. Maybe wait a little bit. I don't know maybe that's just me. Oh they've decided that was it. Oh there was one dude up here. They could not leave a single one. Oh god. Oh they're running backwards. They're running backwards and I don't blame them. How many space marines have we lost so far? Um nine? Nine space marines if that. I don't even know that they're very tough. We've killed 117,000 zombies. Um that's probably you know when we've got millions of them. Not the best. All the tanks have now disappeared completely and the undead horde is absolutely massive. Look at so much so. They've actually managed to go around the castle and they're flooding in from a different way. What's going on in this way? Are they going unchallenged?  Oh no never mind. The space marines are protecting. That is brilliant. They're actually kind of helping them out a little bit as long as this. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. It only takes like 10 or so space marines. Maybe even less for them to uh oh god. Oh god no. Samus between zombies and space marines.  They've been given their directives and uh well they fought valiantly. Whether it's zombies or their own genetically modified humans. Um well well it looks like this place has well and truly fallen. I can only say look at that. He's like yeah we're doing good. We're shooting them and they're from behind and killed and that is it. That is it. The space marines now have taken control of this position. There may be some some dudes up here. Oh no no they have been well and truly cleansed up here. What about the other side? Uh yeah they've been cleansed as well. Okay so the humans who have lived and died for this world have now all gone. There is there is nobody left. Can I check the numbers? Zero. But they made 119,000 kills and now it is up to the space marines to take care of the rest of this. Up to the emperor's finest and uh yeah they are doing this way better than tanks or artillery could have foretold. They want to try and recapture this place. That's what they're trying to do by keeping the zombies out. They are well they're kind of fighting them back here which is good. They have taken this bit but I think are they going to come around? Not just yet. Not just yet. They're avoiding the water. It could have been the best place to have had a turret actually in that water apparently. What about the north? Or they come around the northern side? No they can't because there's water everywhere. Oh that's brilliant. There is of course 252, 51 now space marines and they're racking the kills up rather slowly. Oh god there was only 300 space marines to start with. I don't know man. I don't know if they're going to be able to do this. If they die we're going to have to go with plan B which of course will be orbitable bombardment. But look how the body is flying down. What is going on here? The bodies are actually deleted underneath. I think that's probably to save space on RAM with the computer. I'm assuming that's what it's done. Oh no another two space marines have fallen. But what's good is they look like blood angels at this point. Never mind Black Templars. Right the majority of the space marines seem to be there but of course there is still the battle over here where these zombies are slowly trickling in. However the space marines I'm wondering if this is actually better for them to have this little tunnel way. They're not making any headway. That's the problem but maybe this is better for them. You know a little choke point rather than numbers getting to them. It's a bit like 300. They're doing good. There's only a couple of them there though. However these guys are just warring out and maybe it works. I don't know we still haven't lost a single space marine yet. I'm assuming the few space marines that we did lose to start with were the ones that already you know were absolutely blitzed to bits by what remained of the humans that you know tried to take this place or hold the place. But they are coming out slowly but surely once they take out this horde that's it. This planet ruled along to them. They're you know all the zombies have came here from all over the world sniffing out the last human flesh. Nurgle had his way with them but look at them. It's glorious. Look at that. Look at that. Look how many they have to kill. There is so many. What's going on in the back? The zombies at the back. Oh oh they're dead. Oh they have died. These were probably zombies that were shot by tanks. You know the black temblors had not just decided to absolutely massacre their own kind. Wait are they? Are they falling in?  They are dying. They're falling into the water. They're slowly being pushed in. Okay okay we seem to have split off. We've got the main entrance band and then you've got I don't know these sort of little trenches.  You know just cut them down as they slowly walk towards you with your massive long chain sword. The amount of kills that they're doing as well. What about the ones in here? How are they doing? Have they gotten through yet? Yes they have. Oh this could be good. Now they're making good progress. More of the Space Marines are doing more and more attacks because as long as they just kill more than that are coming in here then they could probably get to the outer wall and hold this more so. Yeah yeah I'm pretty sure they're killing more than they were filtering in here. It's a good choke point. The other Space Marines didn't decide to do that and decided to just you know meet them head on. I don't know if it's a good tactic though. I really don't. I think this is a better tactic than just fanning out and taking more hits more often. You've got a dude at the back here who I don't even know if he's killed a single one. He's so clean. There are still 247 Space Marines. I'm glad to report that in the last 10 minutes not a single Space Marine has fallen to the demon. Now if the Salamanders had came to their aid they would not have hurt the humans. The Black Templars if you don't know uh yeah well they have a habit of doing this. Their mission is to secure the victory to kill the heretic and well they're gonna do it. Whether human lives were saved or lost it does not mean anything to them. They're actually just throwing them down. Just tumbling. Oh oh they did it. They did it. They cut through and they must have ran straight to it. Oh well done well done.  They just ran. They built up again about here and built up again there and now they brought it to the final wall. They secured this area. The stronghold has not been taken by a single zombie now. Kept on going this way. He laid waste to everybody in here. Ran through. Laid more waste to everybody and has now came and met the alien, the zombie, the chaos out here and have formed their own third perimeter wall. But there is still so many zombies. The other squad came in through here, killed all them, met the zombie here and is now are they outside? No almost. They're getting there though. One more space marine has now fallen. Just one mind you. Only one. The scary thing is they will reach a point where the zombies may like flank them because they're getting wider and wider the further they go in and there's only like this many spare space marines to keep the wall. Look at this. Look at this. This is not good. This is not good at all. You get probably like multiple zombies are doing hits at once. Look at them even kind of walking past. I don't even know how these two dudes got up here but they're here. They decided you know what these guys have got that. We're gonna start up here. I think they're hitting them and they're not being hurt. They're not being killed and they're just getting hit after hit after hit on. This is not very good. Oh there you go. You finally told a few off but as soon as one of the zombies gets killed they're instantly replaced by another one. Oh there we go. There we go. We're finally outside the wall and the space marines can over this side for the first time just see what they're up against and actually it doesn't look too bad but there are just more and more zombies just running around from this area. They're like oh hold on. We may be able to get in from there. Waiting ages and ages you finally get to the front like yes finally. It's to me eradicated. Oh that dude doesn't even have a chainsaw. Maybe it broke. He's literally just punching them. Oh there we go. There's the southern gate making progress into them slowly but surely getting more and more space marines into the action. There may even be some space marines there that have not seen any action whatsoever. Oh oh oh it's not looking good. Hold on. Hold on. The zombies are getting round the back. Did the two space marines fell here? No. No they're getting round the back. They're closing in on them. These space marines overextended their ranks and now are getting attacked from behind. It's like they had planned it. Did Papa Nergal do it? Oh oh oh because those space marines fell now that this guy on the right flank is having to take double. Maybe even triple the amount of hits and not getting any more kills for it. This is not good. These may be the first space marines to go. This company here one two three four five six seven eight nine ten of them now against the odds completely separated from their brothers. All they need to do is retreat back into the castle. That's literally it. Just run back into the castle and hold but their bloodlust is far too strong. Their glory their pride and it looks like we may even see a similar thing happen over here. The hordes and hordes of zombies coming but there's a gap. There's a break in the line if they don't see it. Oh there we go. We've got some strategy. We're now holding the back line with some other space marines realizing the error that they've made in their bloodlust. There we go. They could call them bloodletters. There we go. We've got a defensive perimeter now.  These three have got their backs to each other. They're protecting each other now. No zombie. Oh I was going to say no zombie could get him but he kind of just ran in. They're getting pushed closer and closer together. You know what? It's actually not too bad I suppose. They're still doing it. They're still holding the line and this guy is- wait did we lose one? Oh we might have lost one. I don't even know. I don't think so though. No no he's still just standing there tanking their hates. All right. How is the rest of the line holding? Oh this zombie is just- Hello? If I just keep wiggling like this they'll never see me. I don't even know if they're doing damage but there we go. Almost every space marine now is into the fray. How is the line going over here? I was a bit worried about this but looks like they're actually going to join up. There's still some extra ones here doing nothing. Oh he's running over. He could go over here to be fair though. I think and he could help that dude out but we'll just have to wait and see how this one goes. Okay how about this line? I'm very curious. Oh yes. Well I didn't realize there was that many space marines here. They've almost got the perfect ring going on. Almost every space marine in combat that's perfect and you know at least they can see the end I suppose. They've always broken off in half. Look at this. Oh wait hold on. Where are these guys coming from? They've decided to- Oh oh oh my god there's so many dead bodies over here. They've legit made a bridge. No way. This is so deep but so many of them have died trying to cross it that they can now walk in their own dead bodies. No way. I mean I still think occasionally one will die when it just accidentally you know splashes too deep but whoa. Whoa it's like dawn of the dead style this.  The brothers over here they fell and because they've fallen now so many are flooding around the back of this.  I mean this flag is looking so strong over here. Oh no! He did so well. Brother who fought violently. I'm a bit worried guys. I'm a bit worried. 215 now. Almost 214. Almost 100 space marines have lost their lives. In fact 86 of them have died since landing. That's a heavy loss for the gene seed. That's a heavy loss for the Black Templars. He falls and then they all turn their- Oh no. Oh no. The line's falling. The line is falling. No! These space marines have been at it since the beginning. They must be showing some sort of exhaustion. Look at them. Look at them running. Just getting them all from the back now.  Oh they're just they're just being swamped. They're coming around the back. What was once held ground is now just falling. Falling to the zombies. If the zombies get inside the fortification they can actually attack the other ones as well. Oh here we go. Here we go. The ones that were not in combat. Here these guys may turn around. I think they will. I think- Yep yep. There he goes. This guy's probably also going to turn around as well. There yes! Yes! Oh no. They're completely separated. All of these zombies coming through now. Thank god there were still some of them that weren't doing anything and just hanging around. Now they can actually start to get some kills but also protecting the other ones. But how about the rest of the flank? There still seems to be one or two zombies. I don't know. There still seems to be one or two space marines that aren't doing anything that can afford to turn around but it's not looking too good. They've actually they've actually gained ground. They've gained this ground the dead man's zone in here which was already ground. They're trying to retake the middle now. That whole side dude. This. All here. They had. They had this all under control. And because two guys. These two guys died here.   They got swamped and now this is it. This bit here. This is their last stronghold. Or any going inside here? Oh no. No. They're deciding not to. That's interesting. But how about the southern entrance? Oh very good progress here. Every last space marine is vital here. They are so vital. A single one falls and that's detrimental to like the one that was next to him. The brother that was next to him because now he's having to go left and right instead of just straight ahead. They're having to turn around and kill the ones that have managed to get around. Now apparently it's around about 100 space marines to take a planet. So that just shows how tough these guys are.  Saying that though. Two million isn't really that much of a big population. Oh no. We're still actually holding out here. We're slowly pushing forward and really we should be hunkering together making a tight knit circle. You're trying to save these brothers that have been isolated. Oh this flank. This flank. Another little pocket there. It's not looking good. They slowly turn around. These guys have yet to see the rest. Oh it's coming round. Oh no it's going to be these three. I think maybe maybe these four might come together. Oh we've got a separation here as well at the southern gate. Those space marines and these space marines and the problem is if this guy goes which they probably will not too long from now then it's going to free up these zombies then completely encircled these guys. To be fair though these ones may stand more of a chance because they've actually got their back against the wall there whereas as soon as this guy falls here they're going to be you know these zombies are going to come around and they're just going to hit their backs.  One must have fallen. This side fell and all the zombies now are free to hit them from the back. This is not looking good. Only 87 space marines left. The city is going to be lost soon. Another one falls over here. Oh wait no he hasn't fallen. This guy is just on a pedestal apparently. What can man do? What can man go and do against the reckless hate? And yet here they come again. Another one broken through. It just takes one of these guys to fall and then boom they all come running through. Another one falls over there. Oh no what what how did you get here?  If they could get up there this is going to spell disaster. Oh no if he goes yep it's going to spell disaster. They come running up straight into these space marines who can't afford to turn their back on what they're already facing up top. Uh oh uh oh. I thought these guys would do well and yeah they're definitely doing well but then these ones are not. Oh god they're still flooding in. Just over 900,000 left with less than 50 space marines and this cohort is about to go down. Finally the two brothers there. Their names will be etched into the annals of history. Brother Jaeger. Brother Hephaestus. Brother Dave. All doing the gods work. No he fell. They're not the greatest strategists. These aren't ultramarines. That's it. The ring is collapsing in. There is only 12 space marines left. They have almost killed half a million zombies and less than 900,000 zombies left. To put it bluntly it took 300 space marines to kill 406,000. There's still double that left. The writing's on the wall I think. The appearing is going to have to take these matters into their own hands. Oh oh there they go. There they go. The optimal bombardment laying down suppressive fire. Oh god jeez. Anyone survive that? Did any of the space marines survive? It's just oh no. No. But at least this way all the zombies will be cleansed but this world's resources won't be wasted. 2 million was too much for 300 space marines. Those space marines fought bravely and because of their courageous sacrifice they cut down enough of the horde to wear exterminatus. No longer needed to be an option. Instead the appearing chose to execute a much weaker orbital bombardment. Wiping out every last living soul. This is just another bloody chapter in the history of 40k. If you'd like to see more, subscribe.


someone said to me the other day when I try to set a boundary people tell me it sounds more like an ultimatum to them and more of a threat than a boundary but the difference between an ultimatum and a boundary is intent an ultimatums intent is to control and dominate and gain power over someone with the ultimatum a boundary is about safety and relationship protection and preservation so don't be put off setting boundaries because someone says to you sounds like a threat to me the difference is in the intent and if your intent is to look after yourself and preserve relationships not destroy them preserve them keep them intact that's what boundaries do then don't be justifying over explaining or apologizing because you know the difference between the intent to dominate and control and the intent to protect and preserve relationships that you value what that helps cheers


First one's up. My whole organization system just collapsed. I need to figure out how to end sentences. Oh my gosh Hi so I'm around these parts and I thought I'd make a kind of get to know you video so I made a list of all of my All-time favorite books books. I read again and again books that shaped me as a person books that gave me so many feels and I wanted to share that with you. So let's get crackleacking. After college I had to clear out my childhood room, liquidate that down to what I could fit into a shared apartment, and then liquidate that down to what I could fit in my car because I was road-tripping it to California which meant that I ended up getting rid of about 80% of all of the things that I owned in the world and about 50% of my book collection. Now that I'm more settled, I'm starting to regrow my book collection. Thank God, but some of my favorites still didn't make it. For example, my first edition hardback Harry Potter collection that is very well-loved still at my parents house because it weighs like 80 pounds. Another example, I donated most of my Tamer Pierce novels because some little girl out there needs Alana and Kel and Dane as much as I did as a kid. I've been slowly replacing the books that I've lost, but it means that I'm missing certain volumes in a series or worse in my opinion. I have different publications of different books in the series, so that's annoying. Hopefully that will start rebutting itself. So here's a list of my all-time favorites, and please don't be surprised at how many I do not own. Drumroll, please. That was really loud. Daughter of the Forest by Juliette Morillier, which is I think how you pronounce her name. It is a lush, mythic retelling of an Irish folktale in which a sorceress comes to the isolated thief of Seven Waters as the chief's new wife, and she proceeds to turn his six sons into swans. And it's up to Sorka, the young, faïd, seventh child. So she's the first daughter of the seventh child of this family to undertake a harrowing quest in order to bring her brother's home. When I first started getting into this book, actually, I was about 12 or 13, and this is not YA by any means. Like, there is some not-fun stuff that, so definitely be aware of that going into it, is that it is not a young adult novel. But I was about 12 or 13 when I first read it, and I had this new album that now, whenever I start to read this book, I have to go listen to that album. Or if I start to hear that album, I have to go read this book. They're absolutely connected in my brain. It's almost peplavian. Next up is The Queen's Thief series by Megan Wayland Turner. None of these books are called The Queen's Thief. They're The Thief, The Queen of Atolia, The King of Atolia, Conspiracy of Kings in order. These books are so good, okay? The only description I really have for these books is Jen's a little shit, and he probably deserves everything that's coming to him. I'm such a troll, oh my god. This is its first rule. It's comedic and still high fantasy, which I think is a really amazing feat. Essentially, a young woods guide is drawn into a world where the rules are not something he understands and the stakes are higher than he could ever imagine.  Our protagonist has got a lot to learn and he's got to learn it fast. This book is also very long. These are the very, the thinnest pages you can come across and it's still 836 of them. Next on my list of all-time favorites is Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. I cannot separate these two. They are fantastic and they have to be read together, in my opinion. Brief pause to talk about politics because art is politics. Orson Scott Card is not a good person. Orson Scott Card holds a lot of beliefs that are not my beliefs. I have never once bought a book that he has written new. I buy them used and I did- I don't even think I went to see the movie in theaters. This book has a movie. It's a trash fire, let's be honest. Despite all of that, Ender's Game helped me get through adolescence with some shred of sanity left. So I'm really passionate about the books. That's what I have to say about that. Onwards! Next one is Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Seeread. Princess Simmerine despises all things proper. She cajoles and tricks the court magician into teaching her magic, the court fencing master into teaching her fencing, the court chef into teaching her how to make cherries jubilee, all this until her parents find out what she's doing and kibosh those activities as being improper for princess. So Simmerine runs away and volunteers to be the princess of the dragon Kazool. They are ridiculous, they are amazing, and they are lovely, and I'm going to read these to my children one day. Next in the series is one that I do not own. It is called Howl's Moving Castle. I'm gonna try and put it in somewhere over here. This one is harder to describe. Sophie has some innate talents that offend the witch of the waist and so which curses her and essentially forces her to go off and seek her fortune, despite her protestations that she is the eldest of three and therefore probably won't amount to much anyway. This book is very different from the movie but they're both amazing. So the next things on the list is pretty much everything by Tamra Pierce. You've got the Elana series, you've got the Kel series, you've got, I guess I should call them by their proper title. So you've got Song of the Lioness, you've got Protector of the Small, you've got Wild Magic. No, that's the first one of the series. What's what's Dane's series called? I don't have the books with me so I can't check, though I mean the internet is a thing. But I'm making a video. Anyway, so I've never read the Becca Cooper series. Circle of Magic and the Circle Opens are so good also, but the one series I was never able to let go of, I was never able to get rid of it, was Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen, the duology, which are the stories of Elana's daughter Ali as she deals with the consequences of being the Trickster God's chosen one. All right, next up is, what was next up? Hey, next up is Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, which I'm going to put a image of right here because I also don't own it. Well, I do. It's just in a different state. I have, to my chagrin, I have one and two in the much later publications and then my roommates copy the seventh one in the original hardback and you have no idea how much this bugs me. Like it bugs me so much, but one day I will remedy this. But I love the third one because it's the introduction of Remus and Sirius and it's, I mean Hermione Granger has the time turner, like that girl is invincible for nine months out of a year. It's so good. I'm just, I'm not even going to summarize it because I'm operating on the belief that everyone on booktube has read Harry Potter, which might be biased, but it should be true. And next is one I also don't own. I don't know how they all ended up in the middle of this video, but it's Stardust by Neil Gaiman. A boy goes off to seek a fallen star for his beloved and literally nothing goes as planned. I really love this book. It is a coming of age story in the best way possible. Read this book and then talk to me about it. It's so good. It is an adult fairy tale. It is definitely not a YA book. It is an adult fairy tale despite the fact that it's coming of age story. It's got some iffy bits. So yeah, take it with great assault, but it's so good. Okay, next up is The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis also known as the book that ruined me. I feel like the best way to describe this book is the first line written on the inside dust cover which says Alex Kraft knows how to kill someone. Next up is The Raven Boys by Maggie Steve Otter. Yes, I looked up how to pronounce her name. Okay, here's how we're going to do this.  Gansy, Ronan, Adam, and Noah are on a quest to find a dead Welsh king. The five of them together make a pretty interesting team. Speaking of interesting teams, though, Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Okay, Kaz Brecker, a.k.a. Dirty Hands, Ainege, a.k.a. The Wraith, Nina Matthaeus, I'm going to go with Matthaeus, Wylan and Jesper. In summary, a ragtag crew of highly specialized criminals and highly specialized non-criminals with a big score on the horizon. They're just, they're just so precious. I just, I just love them. There was a moment while I was reading this book when I wanted to be Kaz Brecker and that moment very quickly passed, but I just love him like he is a national treasure and should be protected at all costs. And last but certainly not least, The Night Circus by Aaron Morkinstern. I guess really all you can say before you go into this book is the circus arrives without warning and brings with it a bevy of miracles and secrets that will boggle the mind and ensnare the senses. And yes, I stole that from Severus Snape. So that is my list of all-time favorite books that I will carry in my heart forever and ever, and I will reread over and over again. Let me know if any of these babies also made your list. Tell me about the books that you loved as as a child. Tell me the books that helped you like grow as a person and like figure out who you were and what you valued in life. Let me know if you have recommendations for me based on what you know that I love. Basically just talk to me about books. Just just talk to me about books.


Ordway Swisher Biological Station is located in north-central Florida and encompasses a research area of just under 37 square kilometers. This neon site is dominated by longleaf pines, turkey oak, grasses, and herbaceous flowers. The site is managed using prescribed burns to maintain natural fire regiments on the land, which help maintain the structure and function of the natural longleaf pine forest, as well as minimizing damaging effects of high-intensity wildfires. A 115-foot-tall flux tower collects physical and chemical properties of atmosphere-related processes. Field observations of plants, animals, soils, and microbes are also collected within the tower air shed.


Welcome to another International Relations capsule for the Shankar AAS Academy. Today, our topic is India-Pakistan back-channel diplomacy. There have been some signs in the last few weeks, in fact months, that some kind of discussions were taking place between India and Pakistan, or with the objective of resolving the present ombuds. The first sign came when Mr. Mohit Yusuf, the special assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on national security and policy planning, said in October 2020 that Pakistan had received a message from India that India had decided to have a dialogue with Pakistan. He did not say where the message came from. He did not say what the response was, but a simple statement that India had sent a message nor level was indicated. Then, though unconnected, when the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, visited Sri Lanka, he sought permission for him to fly over India after several occasions when Prime Minister of India was not allowed to fly over Pakistan. But India very quickly gave permission and this looked like an unreciprocated goodwill. Then, we heard a little more formal news that the Director General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan had issued a formal statement saying that India and Pakistan will now observe the ceasefire established in 2003. Of course, 2003 was a long time ago and all these years, there have been very many violations of the ceasefire and in fact, we came to the point of conflict on different occasions. But out of the blue, the Director General of Military Operations announced that from now on, ceasefire will be observed strictly. It was meant to be a decision of the local commanders, but the way it was worded dealing about fundamental issues between India and Pakistan gave the hint that this was something more than meets the eye. But still, many people believe that this was a routine announcement and there was nothing more to it. Then, but unexpectedly, the Pakistan Army Chief, General Kamar Bajwa made a statement regarding India-Pakistan relations as the head of the Pakistan Army. He suggested that the long-standing issue of Jammu and Kashmir should be resolved in a dignified and peaceful manner in accordance with the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. This is nothing unusual, even though he did not mention the UN resolutions, he did mention the wishes of the people of Kashmir as a factor in resolving the Kashmir issue. But the fact that it came from the Chief of the Army appeared significant. He also said that Pakistan would not interfere in the internal affairs of states and urge India to forget the past and create a conducive atmosphere for peace. So, he still put the honours on India to create that conducive situation, atmosphere for peace. But at the same time, he suggested that the past differences should be resolved in some way. He even mentioned that there are enormous benefits for India and Pakistan to cooperate and this will bring about a lot of benefits to both India and Pakistan in terms of the general economic situation, the pandemic situation analysis. This made everybody stand up, sit up and say that something fundamental is happening, some kind of dialogue is taking place and this dialogue is leading to some of these straws in the wind. Then the Indus Water Treaty talks which were postponed again and again in the last few years was held. Then sports visas were given to Pakistan, Pakistani athletes and also Indian athletes and also a lack of any strong words used by the Prime Minister or the opposition during the election campaign. You remember that the last general elections, the India-Pakistan issue became at most in the minds of the people and many people believe that the success of Prime Minister Modi in the general elections depended much on the way he handled the situation on the border, Pulwama and Balakot and so on. But surprisingly though it was a very heated campaign that was happening in several parts of India, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, no mention was made of foreign policy and certainly nothing about India-Pakistan. This may be because the internal issues were so important, but this also seemed a little bit strange in the present situation and we must also remember that this was the time when India and China were engaged in very difficult negotiations for the disengagement of the troops in Ladakh because as you know we have completed the first part and the second part is actively being considered. So considering all this many commentators felt that something new is happening, something is brewing and some good may come out of this. But there are others who said that there was nothing much in this, these are just housekeeping or accidental or incidental developments and this is because neither Pakistan nor India confirmed any consultations leading to these developments and therefore whispers began that some back channel diplomacy was taking place somewhere to normalize relations. We should remember here that this is not the first time we hear about back channel diplomacy between India and Pakistan. Many occasions in the past when official discussions were not possible and dialogue was not possible, both India and Pakistan had used individuals, experts to hold consultations behind the curtain and try to see whether there were some solutions which could be produced out of the box because once the talks begin officially between the two dedications there is a tendency to go back to the old positions or at least we have to start with that. On the Pakistani side of course it is the four issues Kashmir, they are only supporting the freedom struggle in German Kashmir and everything depends on the future of German Kashmir and till then peace is not possible and the Indian side would have to start by saying that German Kashmir is an integral part of India and there is no question of any concession on that and also the Indian position which has been reiterated after the second term of Prime Minister Modi that peace and war cannot take place at the same time. In other words we consider terrorist activities as war and how can there be peace talks or dialogue when this is going on. So Mr. Modi said very clearly even though this was a policy even Dr. Mahan said that but whenever an opportunity arose India was willing to go more than halfway to start a dialogue and also many many situations arose when the private people were used for the few formal diplomats some politicians etc. So the advantage of doing this is that they don't have to repeat the official position. Both sides know what the situation is and the effort is to break out of it and see whether we can find solutions to these without involving the governments themselves this is often referred to as track to diplomacy. So with all these little events it became almost clear that there was there were consultations taking place at some level at some place. But now the foreign minister of Russia Mr. Sergey Lavrov was in India and he met our foreign minister and others and he went to Islamabad but he spent a longer time in Islamabad than in India. And at a press conference he almost let the cat out of the diplomatic bag as it were when he said that Russia appreciated much the recent efforts of India and Pakistan to normalize the relations. So this is a very concrete indication that this is taking place but even then India has not confirmed it. When Indian spokesmen were asked whether there were any such communications or dialogue he simply said that we have missions in both countries. There is an Indian high commission in Islamabad and there is a Pakistani high commission in New Delhi and the communications channels are open and there is no reason why any other method should be used to deal with it. And this India has remained steadfast in this public position but after Mr. Lavrov's statement nobody believes that this is true. The reason for it is naturally is India's reluctance to accept that there is a dialogue unless we have concrete evidence that Pakistan is willing to cut down and eliminate terrorism. Then came more reports. It was suggested that these back channel negotiations are being held on the Indian side by our national security advisor Ajit Doval and the Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa. And the reports were that they have been meeting off and on in third countries maybe neighboring countries and United Arab Emirates was mentioned as one of the countries involved. And there again no confirmation, in fact basically denial from the two countries. The former ambassador of India Mr. Satin Barlamba who was engaged in back channel diplomacy during the time of Dr. Manmohan Singh not only suggested in an interview, he not only suggested that back channel diplomacy was desirable but also said that Mr. Doval and General Bajwa would be rights people to engage. It would be idea. Reports were also heard that the high commissioners who were withdrawn some time ago because of the crisis would be back in their places but new exchange of high commissioners would take place and therefore the level of representation in each country will be enhanced. There were other indications also one day suddenly out of the blue Pakistan proposed presumption of trade relations with India in certain goods India made no comment on it and within 24 hours Pakistan reversed that decision saying that this proposal was good to the cabinet but the cabinet was not agreeable to that. This was like a flash in the pan just an issue that is by these things and they say the next day that is not by these things. And India took it very calmly we did not criticize them for even for proposing it or changing the position later. Another interesting thing that happened was in a second SARC based meeting on the pandemic there was one earlier March last year which was a failure because Pakistan did not participate at the head of government level and the minister who came to that meeting as usual raised the Kashmir issue. The second but in the second meeting of SARC which was specifically on measures to be undertaken in view of the variants of the coronavirus as well as a second or a third wave which was expected which were expected in the subcontinent strong action should be taken. And here for the first time probably in a SARC meeting the Pakistani representative did not erase the Kashmir issue and moreover proposed Prime Minister's suggestion yet made some five suggestions for collaboration among SAR countries to combat COVID-19. Another good sign but none of these developments were acknowledged as significant by the ministry of external affairs which maintained as I said earlier that the best avenue for communication between the two countries is the channel between the high commissions and no other channel was necessary but most people did not believe this and the Indian position that no back channel communication had taken place sounded unreal but it was true since there were no regular consultation it was believed that it is not yet formal and as I said still Mr the foreign minister of Russia made a formal announcement because he didn't talk about back channel communications but he said the efforts of Indian party that normalize relations. Of course the first suspicion that most people had was that President Biden must be behind this because you had to find a point of a trigger and President Biden had made his policy position on the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan, India etc made very clear and it was possible that in the context of Afghanistan where the United States is particularly interested in Pakistan was a key to the solution of the Afghan situation may have perhaps advised both India and Pakistan to make some peace moves so this again is pure speculation and of course some welcome was expressed in different quarters that you know something seems to be happening between India and Pakistan so nobody now believes that there is no action between India and Pakistan and that all these small signage signs which we are seeing the blossoms which we see on the India-Paris that border are somehow real and we can expect something more to come in the in the future but some interesting feature of the present situation is that the conversation is supposed to be not by non-official uncommitted individuals but by Mr. Doher and Mr. Bajwa who can hardly be considered back channel diplomacy because back channel diplomacy the advantage is they don't have fixed positions but even if it is a secret conversation between two representatives the government who are at very high positions with access to the heads of government then it can hardly be called back channel diplomacy it is more than that if they are actually involved so there is no such indication of that so the whole point of back channel diplomacy is to try out ideas without any commitment by the government of the two countries and if the discussions consultations lead to something concrete which could be acceptable to either side then it could be turned taken over by the government as it has happened in the past so the secrecy of the back channel discussions can permit few individuals whose activities will not be public without scrutiny by the press and the strategy community with unaccountable aims because whether they succeed or fail or no credit or no blame is placed on them in other words they are often unsung heroes because they can be very easily disowned by the government consent so therefore the interlocutors unless they come to an understanding the official negotiations cannot take place there is no reason why the two sides should pretend that such things have not happened or will not happen because back channel diplomacy which is often referred to as track 2 diplomacy has taken place many times before Mr. Satyapar Lamba himself was doing this for a long time there was Mr. R. K. Mishra there were several Indian public people who were engaged in this many of them we don't even know what conclusions they reached because they are not in the public domain but there are books about that those who are engaged in black back channel diplomacy sometimes writes books explaining what happened so these things do come out so I could even say that you know back channel diplomacy or track 2 diplomacy is some kind of a cottage industry in Islamabad and in Delhi so since we have this long history of back channel contacts even during wars terrorist attacks military action whose work came to be known only later much has been accomplished by them but the details are normally not released the thing to remember is that in spite of all the difficulties that we have any progress made in terms of India-Pakistan relations would be very welcome at this time because there has always been a fear after the Chinese action in Ladakh that there could be a two fronts war facing India so since we are engaged so much on the China border it would give India much relief that the Garnes are fallen silent on the LOC so while we are dealing with LAC we want to make sure that the LOC is quiet that is one reason the other reason is that any prime minister India or Pakistan who can find a solution to this problem is sure to win a Nobel Prize and which prime minister would not like a Nobel Prize and the more courageous the prime minister is the more imaginative the prime minister is the desire to settle this and get a ultimate trophy is something which is in the minds of prime ministers of both sides we have seen this before so when India or Pakistan says that we will go the extra mile there is this consideration that it is not a victory in a war which would be appreciated or abandoned by the world around us particularly because we are both nuclear weapon states any kind of peace moves or normalization of relations will help and new elements have been introduced into the situation because Article 370 and the open claim that we have made on the Pakistani-occupied Kashmir are some new elements in the whole situation because these two were not there in the original situation because India was quite willing to accept the LOC as the international border and it was Pakistan who insisted that it should be LOC plus but into that mix of issues and the intentions of both sides some new elements have been introduced so that opens up a little bit of new space because they could speak about Article 370 and the Pakistan accepts that it will be some progress similarly if you could speak about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and what our real intentions are and that might clarify things so unlike in the past there are opportunities there are possibilities for some new issues to be talked and resolved so on the one hand there is a desire for peace particularly in the context of international public opinion the China situation which could move to a two front wars that India had to fight and these new elements which have been introduced to the mix make it believable that in fact some discussions are taking place India's difficulty is that we are bound by our position that no bilateral discussion should be possible unless Pakistan stops terrorism some Pakistan spokesman said well if you are willing to talk about Kashmir we are willing to talk about terrorism but that is just a statement but if there is sincere effort to resolve that and some basic understanding is reached between the interlocutors in the back channels perhaps there is some hope that there could be peace between India and Pakistan so though the two countries have not confirmed that discussions are taking place in the light of all these signals that I pointed out earlier and particularly Mr Lavrov's announcement in Islamabad that welcome changes are taking place in India-Palestinians I think we can safely presume that some back channel consultations are taking place and let us hope that it will come to some kind of understanding and we will have a new situation a better situation between India and Pakistan there is no guarantee that any of these things will happen at the moment because there are so many hazards and dangers and by India and Pakistan sit down to talk whether secretly or publicly so let us hope that something comes out of it but at the point at this point we are unsure of what exactly is happening thank you very much