Really bothered me too, because mother knew I was not the kind of child to make things up.  However, she would never admit that I saw a ghost, always claiming that I had to have seen something that was a strange reflection or else some kind of hallucination. That was my mother for you. Till the day she died, she would not entertain the notion of anything possible in the afterlife. Hecht says that this was the case even after she came up with a plausible explanation for the haunting on the porch. We ended up moving out of there several years after I saw the ghost, but from that point on, I was obsessed with finding out who the ghost was. My mother, being the rational being that she was, I figured I needed proof of some sort, so I started talking to people and tracking down different reports of ghostly sightings on the porch. I was sure if I could prove that someone fitting that description lived there, my mother would be more prone to accept it. I talked to two other people who had seen the ghost, and they described the exact same thing I had seen. So that wasn't really of any help, other than in the sense that it turned out to be something that corroborated my initial sighting. When I asked them if they knew anything about who or what the ghost was, none of them had an answer. That's when I decided to start talking to the old timers in the neighborhood and see what people knew about the house and all the different families who'd lived there. At first, it was slow going, and it didn't seem that I'd find anyone who knew anything. I talked to several elderly people who had spent their entire lives in the area. One of them said he knew of two older women who'd lived in the house at one time, but he said he didn't remember either of them wearing their hair up in a bun like that. From what he said, it seems they were both pretty big women and had darker hair, not thin like the specter I'd seen and not having gray or white hair. That's what I sort of gave up and stopped asking people so many questions. But then one day, out of the blue, I met someone who had an interesting story to tell. It was in October. The cold weather was just around the corner and my parents had hired a painter to come up and touch up the wood trim on the porch and the windows. I guess I've always been a talker because I spent most of the day outside watching the painter and chewing his ear off. Looking back, I'm sure he must have been extremely annoyed by all my questions, but if he was, he never showed it. He was a nice old guy and patiently answered all my questions, never giving the impression that he was bored. In any case, I ended up asking him a ton of questions about painting and the kind of paint and tools he was using and the conversation eventually took a turn to talking about the house and the kind of architecture it had. It seems that back then people didn't appreciate the old Victorian homes as much as they do now and a lot of people thought the house as an old Louisville were old fashioned, dark and gloomy. Nothing special, but you could tell that this old guy really loved the old homes. He started telling me how hard it was to find nice homes with that quality of construction and then he started talking about the front porches on the place. He told me that ours and the neighboring porch were wonderful examples of Victorian craftsmanship. He started using different terms for the patterns and told me the different names of the various pieces and they were of course words I'd never heard before and of course I don't remember any of them today but that's when a question came to me. Since he knew so much I asked him why the porches on the house were the way they were, why one was offset and set further back from the other. That's when he gave me an answer that took my breath away. He stopped what he was doing for a moment and he turned to me, oh haven't you heard that story? There used to be two old sisters who lived here, one on this side and the other one on the other side and they didn't get along well. They supposedly refused to live next to each other, that's how much they disliked each other, so the old guy goes on to say that their father built them each a separate porch so they'd be able to sit outside in their rocking chairs and not have to look at each other. At this point in the interview Madeline Hecht started laughing and didn't stop for a good 30 seconds. Then he just turned around and went back to painting, not understanding the shock he had just delivered. The hair just stood up on my arms and the back of my neck. I didn't know what to say, so I just went back inside and sat on my bed, thinking about it all for a while, but that was the connection I needed to explain the haunting. But when I eventually told my mother she didn't pay me no never mind, although I did notice the strange look she got on her face when I told her what I had learned. To this day I think deep down she must have wondered a bit if my story couldn't have been true after all. The many individuals who have had personal encounters with the specter known as the old lady in the rocking chair no doubt believe the story to be true, but as is often the case with these kinds of tales no concrete proof exists that two feuding elderly sisters inhabited the Red Brick Duplex at 1324 and 1326 South 3rd Street. I had my friend John Shuler pull up the deeds to the property and he was able to confirm that a family by the name of Bowen owned the property early on. Bell Booker Bowen, the wife of E. H. Bowen, can be found on one of the early deeds, but other than that no mention is made of other Bowen family members. When she died, her widower husband inherited the residence, so if there were any children it's very plausible that they could have lived on in the property while it was still in their father's name. After my second book came out I was contacted by two readers, Dr. Deborah Yaro and Rita, who graciously shared findings of the 1910 and 1920 census with me via email. The records clearly show that Mr. Bowen had a daughter named Bertha, but no mention is made of another daughter. So until some proof emerges that substantiates the existence of a second Bowen sister, aficionados of old Louisville ghost stories will have to wonder if the story of the old lady in the rocking chair draws more heavily on fact or fiction. In all likelihood the tale has evolved as a combination of both, making it a colorful legend with a basis in history. In the research I have done, I did find one mention of this story in an old walking tour brochure of the neighborhood, but other than that no written evidence exists. One day as I was walking the dogs past the old Bowen place I couldn't resist, so I tied up the dogs and snuck up to the front porch at 1326. I stood where I imagined an old rocker most likely would have been placed and looked out toward the street. I glanced to the side and then ran over to the porch at 1324 and did the same thing. Staring out at the traffic, making its way south on 3rd street, I glanced back over at the porch where I had just been and sure enough I could see it was true. When you were on one porch you had no view of what was happening on the other porch. If two quarrelsome siblings had indeed lived at this address, it would have been very possible to sit out at night and have no contact with the other. One night my friend and I were walking in Des Moines. We were walking halfway to his house when suddenly I was standing outside of a huge skyscraper building in what I now believe to be Detroit. I then entered that building and there was a lady with kind of platinum blonde hair. Her clothes didn't look odd or anything. She told me that I was on time for my appointment so I followed her to an elevator. We stepped inside and she pushed at the button for the 53rd floor. When we got out of the elevator I followed her to some office. The walls and the floor were done in a decorative business-like way. We got to the door and she told me to go in and sit down. When I went into the office it was a huge office. I don't think I have ever seen of you so panoramic and beautiful as that one. He told me to sit. I don't remember him telling me any name. He then started to tell me that they were happy that I had joined and I would be a perfect fit. All of a sudden I am in a pretty good sized hallway with about 50 other people standing in a military-type line. We all had the same blue and black uniforms on and were marching through a big open garage style door. Then I was back in Des Moines kneeling on the ground by some bushes and my friend asked me what was wrong. I asked how long I had been kneeling and he said just for a couple of seconds.  But other than that time nothing like this has happened. It was the weirdest thing. Even writing this it sounds crazy to me. But I do think I walked through a time warp. In a town named Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic there is a very famous asuary that is said to contain the bones of between 40,000 and 70,000 people. The site which is beneath the cemetery of the Church of All Saints just outside of Kutna Hora is a very creepy visit. Four huge bell-shaped mounds of bones in each corner of the chapel are accentuated by delightful human skeletal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. There is even a coat of arms all made from human skeletal remains on the wall. The story behind how this came to be is fascinating. Back in 1278 a monk returned from the Holy Land with soil from Golgotha. This was spread in the cemetery making it a much wanted final destination of many people in the region. The results of a 14th century black death outbreak and 15th century wars in the region also ensure that there were many thousands buried there during that period as well. The asuary was created when rebuilding work meant digging up many of the bodies in the 1400s and this practice continued to make room for new tenants in the cemetery for several hundred years. The macabre decorations in the place were the brainchild of a woodcarver given responsibility for the place in 1870. The place has a very strange atmosphere. It is probably just the imagination as you are surrounded by skeletons, but who knows, with some 50,000 remains there surely must be one or two spirits haunting the place. This happened some time in the 90s. I was engineering manager at the time. In my position I dealt with quite a lot of sales reps. One in particular was a gentleman whose name was Jack Heaps. This particular morning as I drove to work I can remember thinking that it was a horrible, very rainy and windy day. Later that day I was informed that Jack had been killed in a collision with an articulated lorry that had jackknifed across the road. Some weeks later another manager from another company had decided to go into work earlier just to check on the heating as it was winter. When he arrived at work he found Jack there sat in his car. He asked Jack why he was there so early but got no answer, which was quite unusual for Jack as he was normally a very bubbly, jokey type of person. He asked Jack to stay where he was until he checked on the heating, then he would return and they would go out for a cup of tea. When he returned Jack had gone. Later that day he phoned the company that Jack worked for to ask why Jack was there so early. They inquired what time he was there and when the manager told them he was told it could not have been Jack as that was the time that he had been killed.  I never told anyone until now, nearly 20 years later. My girlfriend and I were staying at a hotel in Portland. We had saved up all through our first semester in college for the trip and were very excited. It was Friday night and we were spending time with another couple who had made the trip with us. At around 3 in the morning the party was in full swing but we had run out of beer. I decided to go and get some from a little store we had seen a few blocks away from the hotel. I took my girlfriend's keys and headed out of the hotel to her car. As I turned down the street to where the car was parked, a misty rain filled the air. Not really raindrops but a kind of misty directionless rain. The street lights lit my path and reflected their dim glow in the wet pavement. As I reached the car and slid my keys into the trunk latch I heard this voice call out, hey there. Thinking I was alone and not having seen anyone as I was walking down the street, I was very startled and I whirled around to be greeted by the face of an adolescent who gazed at me intently from just a few feet away.  The kid just kept looking at me, undaunted. He appeared to be between the ages of 10 and 13 and wore old jeans and a hooded sweatshirt.  He had a Mediterranean look about him. It was then that I noticed that his eyes were all black. My first thought was that he was on drugs because I know that that can dilate your pupils and give that type of appearance, but this kid didn't seem to be on any kind of drug. He seemed very calm and confident. He was kind of unnerving to have a kid act like that. He said, without looking away, I'm lost and scared. Do you think you could give me a ride to my mom's house? But this kid didn't look scared at all. Masked behind those youthful features was the expression of a wolf leering at me. I'm a fit 25 year old man and what I felt was real fear. He kept moving closer and closer to me. With a lot of effort I broke eye contact. It was difficult though because those eyes were compelling, deep pools of black. They looked ageless in contrast with that young face. They stared at me reflecting the street lights. It was seriously creepy. I backed off up onto the curb and stammered, I can't. I have to go. I kept looking at the ground because I had the feeling that if I kept looking at his black eyes I would become trapped like a fly in a spider's web. It was then that I looked up and saw down the road another young boy and a girl about a block further down in the middle of the street. I didn't have my glasses on and I have trouble seeing clearly off that far but I'll be damned if it didn't look like they were floating towards us a couple of inches off the ground. I turned around to run and I heard a guttural growling behind me. I ran faster than I ever ran in my life, straight towards the hotel. I kept feeling like they were right there behind me. When the hotel was in sight I finally looked back and I found myself alone. I kept running though. I didn't stop until I was again with my friends. I believe they took the trip with me in spirit and I truly believe I was lucky that night. It was a terrifying experience. I've been listening to all the accounts you've posted about Black Eyed Kids. I believe I met one several years ago. This took place about six years ago when I was in my senior year of high school. It was a cold night in the middle of winter. I had decided to stop and get something to eat on the way home. As I left the school building I saw a girl standing by my car. I walked towards her. She was wearing a hoodie and jeans and seemed to be just standing still staring in my general direction.  They were completely black. I want to travel with you, she said. I said nothing. I was rooted to the spot. Give me a ride, she said. I literally broke into a run, ran around the side of the car and unlocked it, jumped inside and she was now bent over, peering at me through the window. Let me in, she said, wrapping her knuckles against the car window. I turned to the ignition key, put my foot on the pedal and got away from her. Thankfully the school gates were open and I could just fly through them and head for the freeway. I haven't seen her since, but several friends of mine claimed to have seen the same girl wanting a lift after school. I hope nobody decides to take her in. I lived with my father and two nights ago I dropped him off at the airport as he was spending a month in Florida. I fell asleep at 3.30 in the morning, very exhausted, but was jarred awake at exactly 5 a.m. I could not understand why I was awake since I knew I was exhausted, but then I heard it, footsteps coming up my stairs. The sound was clear as a bell. The logical part of my mind was trying to make sense of it. I wondered if perhaps my father had returned from Florida, but I knew he would have called. The footsteps moved into the hallway and crept closer to my bedroom. As the steps drew closer and closer, I watched the handle on my bedroom door just waiting to see it turn. I then heard whatever it was take two steps into my father's bedroom, then nothing. I waited five minutes and then went out to investigate. In the back of my mind, I knew I wasn't going to find a person. Still, I opened my door and peeked into dad's room. I didn't see anyone. Frightened, I returned to my room, switched on the lights, and left them on for the remainder of the morning. Since that night, I have been awakened a few times, but I have not heard the footsteps again. I must say, nothing is more frightening than hearing footsteps coming right up to your door. When I was in my twenties, my sister rescued a tiny little tabby kitten from a freeway underpass. The kitten would have surely been hit by a car had soon not stopped traffic to save her. I fell in love with this soft bundle of sweetness and knew that I would have to keep her. I named her Tabitha and she was a loyal and treasured pet for eight wonderful years. After many happy years together, Tabitha developed diabetes and it ravaged her body in a very short amount of time. Nothing seemed to slow the progress of this terrible disease. We couldn't get her blood sugar regulated and she died of cardiac arrest. I was devastated. We buried her in a pet cemetery and I visited her grave site and placed flowers on her stone marker for many years after she passed. She had been a very special cat indeed and I missed her terribly. Tabitha had always slept with me. I would settle in under the covers and she would jump up on the bed and nestle in the crook of my legs. This was our nightly ritual for many years. It was a few weeks after she had died when I first noticed the telltale signs that my sweet kitty might still be with me in spirit. I would find toys that I had bought for Tabitha lying in the middle of the floor even though I had no cats at the time. She was always losing her toys. They would end up under the sofa or the bed or they would just disappear never to be seen again. Some of the toys that were turning up were ones that I hadn't seen in years. I wanted to believe that this was a sign from Tabitha but I didn't want to read too much into it. That was until she started jumping on the bed. I would climb in bed as I always did, settle in under the covers, turn on my side and then I would feel the bed move as something jumped onto the bed and curled up in the crook of my legs. I would immediately reach down and feel for Tabitha but she wasn't there. Nothing was there. This happened night after night for months. I never saw a cat or anything else jump onto the bed but I felt the phantom cat's presence and it became a great comfort to me and then it stopped. I imagine now that maybe this was my much loved cat's way of telling me that she was okay now. Everything was fine. She missed her life but it was time for her to move on. It was time for me to move on as well. I'm still glad that she gave me that reassurance that love never dies. It just turns into something else, a warm place in your heart where lost love can rest for eternity. A few centuries ago, Europe experienced a strange suicide wave. A large number of young men were found dead without any obvious reason. It was soon established that the men had nothing in common with each other. However, they were all dressed in the same clothes and every one of them committed suicide by shooting themselves. A closer investigation revealed a shocking discovery. All of the men had read a specific best-selling book. The book is still very popular today.  What happened? In 1774, Johann Wolfgang von Geff, one of the greatest German writers, published his novel The Sufferings of Young Werther. It only took him four weeks to complete the work but the repercussions of his book were long-lasting and catastrophic. Geff's influence spread quickly across Europe and for the next century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry, and philosophy. Unfortunately, one of his works was also associated with a large number of deaths. His book The Sufferings of Young Werther was about Werther, a young middle-class artist who fell in love with a woman he cannot have. Lothar, who Werther loved deeply, was already engaged to another man. Although Lothar loved Werther, she decided to remain faithful to Albert, her fiance. Werther cannot control his emotions and accept the situation.  Geff's book became quickly a best-seller. European youth appreciated the sad story as it reflected so much of what many young people felt. Werther's strong feelings captured many hearts. Even Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French military leader, always carried a copy of the book whenever he went to war. Unfortunately, what Geff had not anticipated was that so many young men would follow in Werther's footsteps. Suddenly, several suicide reports came in from different European countries. Young men dressed in a blue coat and yellow pants, the same clothes Werther wore, were found dead on the streets, at home, and elsewhere. All had committed suicide with a pistol shot to the head. All of them had read Geff's book, The Sufferings of Young Werther. The influence Geff's book had on young people became a major social problem. The church was far from enthusiastic and condemned the book. Leaders of the church to not appreciate that suicide, which was considered as one of the greatest Christian sins, was presented as a solution to common problems we all face in life. Fearing a possible mass suicide wave, several European countries like Norway, Austria, Denmark, and some states in Germany banned the book. Even Geff had to admit something had gone terribly wrong. When the second edition was printed, Geff was forced to include a warning to all the readers. On the cover, he wrote, Be a man, do not follow in my footsteps. It took a couple of years before the end of the Werther fever. In time, the number of suicides decreased. Norway was the last European country to remove the ban on the book as late as 1820. Today, Geff's book is considered one of the most popular literary works of all time. Historians estimate that about 2,000 people committed suicide after reading The Sufferings of Young Werther, but the exact number of suicides is unknown. What is worth contemplating on is whether our society has really changed. Are we stronger individuals today? Do we have better control of our feelings? Is it really possible we could face a similar situation in modern times, or has our society different views and values? Naturally, the book didn't kill all these people, but its content reminded these individuals of their own current sad situation. Most of us have experienced an unhappy love relationship, but few of us consider it to be a reason worth dying for. On the other hand, over the years we have heard of dangerous cults, like for example the Heaven's Gate, whose leader convinced 38 of his members to commit suicide. An action which he claimed would allow their souls to board a spaceship that they believed was hiding behind the comet. Some years ago, there were also certain doomsday prophets who sparked fear among the public when they announced the world was definitely going to end. Several people were prepared to commit suicide immediately. Is also the power of written or spoken words still so strong it can control our actions? That sat alone on her couch, shoveling popcorn into her mouth. She stared at her TV, tied to the suspense of the movie. The sky darkened as the sun approached the horizon, hidden behind the ocean of trees or house lay among. One lone tree stood in the center of her yard, visible through the living room window. A menacing presence filled the area, yet to make itself known. Cat was glued to her movie, but still able to catch a glimpse of the black object aimed at her door. Thud! Cat jumped, startled by the unexpected disturbance spilling the popcorn.  She whimpered, approaching the door. The door knob was cold in her hand. Her heart pounded in her chest. The hinges squeaked as the door creaked open. A rush of cold air washed Cat's face as her eyes scanned the dim yard. Nothing could be seen. Nothing made a sound.  She had just sat down when another black object hit her door with a louder thud than before. She looked at the tree in the yard, almost certain she saw what threw it. Cat sat there watching the tree, waiting for something to happen. It's just some kids, she thought, nothing to worry about. She quickly made herself comfortable and began to turn on another movie. Minutes passed, and another thud shattered the silence, shaking the door. Cat raced for the lock and quickly shut the blinds. They'll go away, she said, but grabbed a knife to calm her nerves and give her a sense of security. She heard light pecking on the living room window. The pecking grew louder, faster. She froze there in place, staring at the windows, as the tapping became more profound. Tap! She was afraid to investigate, but brave enough to stand her ground. Her home was small, and every hiding place would be too predictable. Tap! Tap! Tap! Besides, she didn't want to hide. She wanted to see it coming instead of cowering in fear. The tapping suddenly stopped. Cat slowly made her way to the door and put her back to it. A shadow eclipsed the light from the window atop the door. She stood just out of sight, holding her breath. With her back pressed against the wood, she could feel it knocking. Three times softly, Cat could hear the galloping beat of her heart in her head, her anxiety raised to the peak. Three more knocks hit the door, harder this time. Let me in! A hoarse whisper slipped through the door and into Cat's ears. She bit her lip, tears filling her eyes. Another three knocks erupted. Furious now, let me in! A now angry voice ordered. The knocking didn't cease. It grew harder as the voice grew louder. Let me in! Let me in! Let me in! The knocking grew so fierce it could have shattered the door. Tears leaked from her eyes. What do I do, she thought? Shall I open the door? The knocking was more than she could bear. I know you're in there, Cat! It said.  Go away! She shouted finally. Let me in! It screamed in response.  She cried. The voice and the knocking echoed in her head, making her more nauseous than before. Reaching for the lock hesitantly, she sucked up her tears and held her breath, unlocking the door and throwing it open. Nothing was there. The tree stood in the yard, unmoving, no wind. Nothing.  With the click of the lock, the room grew cold. Goosebumps covered her skin. A voice whispered behind her. Thank you for letting me in. A remarkable and unexplained phenomenon took place in a small village in Sweden over 200 years ago. As you are about to find out, not all unidentified flying objects are potential alien spacecraft. Some are much stranger. On May 16, 1808, people living in the small village of Biskopsberga, Sweden, witnessed something that cannot be easily explained. The village does no longer exist, but at the time of the event, it had 300 inhabitants. It was a hot and cloudless afternoon. The wind was blowing from the west. People were still busy working on some of the farms when they noticed that the sun over the village suddenly grew dim. The sun became so dark that you could stare right into it without feeling any pain in your eyes. At the same time, the great number of spherical objects appeared from the western horizon. The objects were small and measured just a few inches in diameter. They were dark brown and it appeared as if they were heading toward the sun. The objects changed from dark brown to black as they got closer to the sun. Then they changed their course slightly. They moved in a straight procession across the sky to the eastern horizon. When they approached the sun, they lost speed and after passing in front of the sun, the object's speed increased again. All the time, new spheres appeared from the west and then disappeared in the east. It was impossible to estimate how many spheres were flying across the sky. It seemed as if millions of small balls were suddenly filling the heavens. According to transactions of the Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1808, the phenomenon lasted uninterruptedly upwards of two hours, during which time millions of similar bodies continually rose in the west one after the other irregularly and continued their career in exactly the same manner. Among the witnesses to this event was K. G. Wettermark, a respectable citizen and secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. Not far from where Wettermark was standing, one of the spheres fell down and he could observe the ball's behavior when it touched the ground. Wettermark noticed that just before the spheres hit the ground, they resembled those air bubbles which children used to produce from soap suds by means of a reed. When the spot where such a ball had fallen was immediately after examined, nothing was to be seen but a scarcely perceptible film or a pellicle as thin and fine as a cobweb which was still changing colors but soon entirely dried up and vanished. What were these bubbles? Why were there so many? Why were they all changing their course? Was the strong wind the reason why the spheres were all heading in one direction? Most likely it was a natural phenomenon that has yet to be explained by science. A case like this one can be very difficult to study as it occurs rarely. A similar although not identical incident occurred on August 7, 1566 in Basel, Switzerland. Citizens of the city could observe how a large number of black spheres invaded the skies. The objects were appeared to be involved in an aerial battle and were flying towards the sun. At the time when the sun rose, one saw many large black balls which moved at high speeds in the air towards the sun, then made half turns banging one against the others as if they were fighting a battle out of combat a great number of them became red and igneous. Thereafter they were consumed and died out, wrote Samuel Koscius the student in crowned writings and liberal arts who consigned the strange events in the city's Gazette. The sighting lasted several hours. The difference between these two sightings is that the black spheres witnessed in Switzerland were unable to survive the heat from the sun. The bubbles ensued and changed direction when they approached the sun. Without doubt the inhabitants of Biskopp's Berga were puzzled by what they had seen. Today, 200 years later no one has been able to solve the mystery of what appeared in the sky over Biskopp's Berga on May 16, 1808. Perhaps you have an idea. Maybe you have heard of a similar incident that could shed some light on what happened in the small village in Sweden. For now, this case remains unsolved. Key West has always been home to some of America's great eccentrics. It is a place that, far removed from the mainland of America, serves as sort of the last outpost for writers, dreamers, musicians and weirdos. I consider it one of the greatest places on earth, if that tells you anything. But in 1940, news spread around the island that something very strange was taking place in Dr. von Kossel's local laboratory, and when details were revealed about what it was, we finally discovered just what was too much, even for Key West folks to handle. July 31, 1909, marks the birth date of Maria Elena Milagro de Hoyos, the daughter of a Key West cigar maker named Francisco Pancho Hoyos and his wife Aurora. Maria Elena had a bit of a tragic life. She had a sister who died from tuberculosis, and a brother-in-law who was electrocuted on a construction site. Soon after she was married, she miscarried, and her husband abandoned her and moved to Miami. To make matters worse, Maria Elena also contracted tuberculosis, a typically fatal disease at the time. She sought treatment at the United States Marine Hospital in Key West, and that's when her story takes a very strange turn. While at the hospital, she met a German-born radiologic technologist named Karl Tansler, or as he liked to refer to himself, Karl von Kossel. Tansler actually had many names. He was born Karl Tansler or George Karl Tansler on February 8, 1877 in Dresden, Germany. Little is known about his true background because his invented one was so confusing and changed often. He grew up in Germany but claimed to have traveled to India and Australia, where he did electrical work, bought boats, purchased a South Seas Island, and began building a trans-ocean flying plane around the time of World War I. When the war broke out, he alleged that he was jailed by British authorities for safekeeping and was released at war's end. We do know that he emigrated to the United States in 1926 via Cuba. From Cuba, he settled in Zephyr Hills, Florida, where his sister lived. In 1927, he took a job at the U.S. Marine Hospital using the name Karl von Kossel. It was at the hospital that he met Elena Hoyos and he immediately fell in love with her. He later claimed that as a child, he was visited by visions of a dead ancestor, Countess Anna Constantia von Kossel, who revealed to him the face of his true love, an exotic, dark-haired woman. He was convinced the vision had been of Elena. Tansler, with his self-professed medical knowledge, attempted to treat and cure her with a variety of medicines, as well as x-ray and electrical equipment that were brought to Maria's home. He showered her with gifts of jewelry and clothing and professed his love to her. There's nothing to say that Elena ever reciprocated his affections. It's likely that she was baffled by the attention given to her by a strange little man. Despite Tansler's best efforts, Elena died from tuberculosis at her parents' home on October 25, 1931. Tansler paid for her funeral and with the permission of her family, he then commissioned the construction of an above-ground mausoleum in the Key West Cemetery, which he visited almost every night.  He later stated that Elena's spirit appeared to him when he sat next to her tomb and serenaded her with her favorite song. So one night, in April 1933, Tansler crept into the cemetery and removed Elena's body from the mausoleum, carting it out of the graveyard in a toy wagon. He took her home with him, and that is when things got even stranger.  As her skin began to decompose, he replaced it with silk cloth that had been soaked in wax and plaster. When her hair fell out, he fashioned a wig from hair that had been given to him by Elena's mother soon after her funeral in 1931. He filled her cadaver with rags so that she could keep her original form, and he dressed Elena in her own clothing, stockings, jewelry, and gloves. Tansler also used copious amounts of perfume, disinfectants, and preserving agents to mask the odor and slow the decomposition of the body. He had to do so because he kept Elena's body in his bed. In October 1940, Elena's sister, Florenda, heard rumors of Tansler sleeping with the disinterred body of her sister, and confronted Tansler in his home where Elena's body was discovered. Tansler was arrested and detained for desecrating Elena's tomb. Stealing her corpse was not illegal at the time. Tansler was examined by psychiatrists, but they found him mentally competent to stand trial. After a preliminary hearing, though, the charges had to be dismissed. The statute of limitations for the crime had expired. The case drew the attention of South Florida newspapers, and it created a sensation among the public, both regionally and across the country. Believe it or not, the public mood toward Tansler was generally sympathetic. Many viewed the eccentric German as romantic. There was no conclusive evidence at the time that Carl had sexual relations with Elena's corpse, but later examinations suggested that it was possible. During the furor over the story, Elena's body was examined by pathologists and then put on public display at the Dean Lopez funeral home in Key West, where it was seen by nearly 7,000 people. Elena's corpse was eventually returned to the Key West Cemetery and was reburied in an unmarked grave in a secret location to prevent any further tampering. In the aftermath of the discovery, Tansler left Key West, but he didn't do so in shame. He returned to Zebra Hills, Florida and wrote an autobiography that appeared in the Pulp Magazine Fantastic Adventures in 1947. He became a U.S. citizen in Tampa in 1950. He never got over his obsession with Elena Hoyos. Still longing for his lost love, he created a death mask of her as the basis for a life-sized dummy which he kept in his bed until his death on July 3, 1952. Some accounts of Tansler's death claim his body was actually found in the arms of the dummy, but this is merely wishful thinking by those of morbid sensibilities. According to his obituary, he died on the floor of his home. It was noted though that overlooking his corpse was a waxen image wrapped in silken cloth and robe. It seems that his replacement Elena was with him to the very end. Click that subscribe button and click that little bell next to the subscribe button to be part of the notification squad. While you're at it, click that like button to let the world know that you are an official weirdo.


Hi, I'm Dr. Olyth Selvan, Consulant Heptologist and Chairman Division of Liver Transplantation, Manipal Hospitals, Bangalore. The only treatment for fat liver disease as of now, which has been medically proven, is losing weight. Now losing weight, you can either do by having a healthy diet over a long period or by reducing weight with exercise. There are no medicines which have been proven to help fat liver over a period of time as of now.


Good morning, Mr. Prime Minister Sanchez, so great to have you back in Davos, a warm welcome. It's like welcoming back an old friend and we know a lot has happened since two and a half years since we last met in Davos and your role in handling the pandemic in Spain and also transforming Spain's economy has been key. I think we all have studied with great interest your labor markets and pension reforms. They could be an inspiration also for other countries and also that you are able to reinforce social rights and socioeconomic protection while improving the business environment and overall Spain's competitiveness. You've shown it's possible to do both, to work for inclusiveness but still have growth in your economy. So Europe is a major focus at this annual meeting and you're also being an advocate for Europe playing a stronger role in global affairs and Spain has taken on an active role in the region under your leadership and also in the new geopolitical context and also related to Russia's totally unacceptable invasion of Ukraine where you have been a leading voice and Mr. Prime Minister you will also be hosting probably the most consequential NATO summit in decades in Madrid at least in Spain at the end of June. We are so much looking forward to hearing your speech and having a dialogue with you. So thank you and welcome back. Muchas gracias. The floor is yours. Mr. Prime Minister. Thank you. Thank you, Borgo and many thanks to the World Economic Forum for this opportunity to address you today. It is both an honor and a pleasure to be back in Davos after the COVID related hiatus. My dear friends I was still a teenager when the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. The decade that followed was defined by Fukuyama thesis on the end of history liberal democracy and the market economy had prevailed and there was no way back. That's how my generation grew up thinking that economic growth, interconnectedness, freedom of thought and speech and human progress were just as predictable as they were inevitable. Now in 2022 we know well that liberal democracy does not come naturally. It requires considerable effort and nurturing and the end of history is nowhere in sight. As I speak here to you today Ukrainians are fighting for freedom and democracy not just theirs but also ours. We never thought that we would see again such horrifying image of bombing and massacres on European soil. Names like Butcha or Mariupol have become synonymous of barbarity and war crimes that cannot go unpunished. I can only reaffirm the admiration that I and I dare say all of those present here today feel for the courage and the dignity of the Ukrainian men and women in the face of Putin's brutal aggression. Today they embody the true defense of our common European values. This illegal, irrational and unjust war is causing suffering and despair in Ukraine and beyond. We are witnessing the largest human exodus since the World War II with over six million people fleeing the country and father eight million internally displaced people. But this is not just a local or even European conflict. This is a major international crisis with consequences for all of us regardless of where we come from. And we must be fully aware of what is ahead of us. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered and unprecedented global food crisis with dramatic consequences for the most vulnerable countries, individuals and families. According to the UN, 1.7 billion people are at risk of poverty and hunger. The country is most dependent on food imports, face and president's shortfalls while their populations are suffering the effects of record food prices. At the same time, some countries are adopting unilateral trade measures, making it more difficult to meet global demand. Food insecurity is a catalyst we know all of us for social instability and often armed conflicts. Therefore, it is I would say imperative that we make every effort to restore food production and trade system and achieve food security for the most vulnerable. And Spain will do its part. I want to take my dear friends this opportunity to reaffirm my country's support for Ukraine and our resolve in helping ensure that Putin does not achieve his goals. Spain has, as you said before, again set an example of solidarity. Ukraine can rest assured that we will welcome Ukrainian refugees in our country, now totaling well over 100,000 for as long as needed. We will also continue to back, as we have done so far, the thought of sanctions against the Putin regime and providing humanitarian aid and assistance to Ukraine. Our support is firm and worrying because we know what is at stake, the territorial integrity of a sovereign country that lives, dreams and well-being of its citizens and the cause of international law of liberal democracy and of course of the European Union. Make no mistake, Putin's brutal aggression against Ukraine is also a direct attack on the European Union and all it represents. By responding with unity, as we did, and determination, the European Union is not only defending the basic principles of international order, it is preserving the very values that underpin its foundation. Clearly, the last couple of years have been not easy for the European project. First, Brexit, second, COVID, it has hit us hard and now we have to deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine. However, the bigger challenge, the more resolute our reaction. Throughout these trying times, we always went for further integration, to unite and therefore not to divide, to make our common project, the European Union, stronger. We did it with the joint purchase of vaccines, with the sure instrument for protecting jobs during the pandemic and with the next generation phones. Now we are doing it again in our response to the war. With unprecedented sanctions designed to maximize long-term cause to the aggression and ensuring that Putin's vision for Russia and the world does not win from this war. Beyond helping our Ukrainian friends in their fight for freedom and democracy, we are collectively moving in the direction of a great strategic autonomy. By deepening the single market, diversifying our supply chains, reducing our dependencies on energy, critical technologies, raw materials, semiconductors, or health products, we are both becoming more resilient and accelerating our transition to a new economic and geopolitical reality that of the post-fossilful era. The same logic, my dear friends, guides the initiatives to strengthen European defense. We want to reduce our strategic dependencies and invest not just more but better in increasing our security and defense capabilities, and we certainly must show the highest degree of ambition in promoting a renewed social agenda for the European Union. Because combating inequality and fostering social cohesion is the only way to achieve our goals of progress, prosperity, and welfare in the most efficient manner. In short, this is a road that we must travel together, and the war in Ukraine is yet another reminder that we should do it without delay. My dear friends, of course, Russia's aggression is altering the global economic outlook. We are coming out strong from the COVID crisis, but our economies have been severely impacted from high energy prices, fueling inflation, to worsening consumer sentiment, and supply chain bottlenecks. Spain is obviously not immune to this shock. After devoting nearly 80 billion euros of public resources in 2020 and 2021 to combat the impact of COVID-19 on our economy, we have recently approved a package of 16 billion euros to mitigate the effects of the Ukraine conflict on Spain's households as a miss and specific sectors. Since well before the start of the war, my government, the Spanish government, has been at the forefront of efforts to weather rising electricity prices across the European Union through temporary tax cuts and subsidize. More recently, the European Council approved a 12-month price cap for the Abrinian Peninsula on gas used to produce electricity, which will soon be implemented. This will allow us to bring down prices, sending households and their businesses from the extreme volatility and potential price spikes in energy markets. Once again, we have to fight against adversity, overcoming extreme external and predictable factors that have a major impact on our lives. Yet there are hindering strength in the Spanish economy, which gives us reasons to be optimistic. The Spanish economy grew by 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, and we estimate the growth will reach 4.3 percent for the year for 2022, one of the highest rates among advanced economies. Employment is up, the fiscal deficit is down, and two central sectors of our economy, the expo sector and the tourist sector, are recovering the pre-COVID levels and are acting as the engines of this growth. In other words, we are containing the damage much better than other economies. Looking at the medium and long-term outlook, we believe the fundamentals of the Spanish economy are even stronger. More importantly, the Spanish government has a clear roadmap for the monetization of the country. Let me highlight three key pillars of our vision. The first one is the implementation of the next generation European recovery plan. Last year, we launched an ambitious six-year, 70 billion-year recovery transformation and resilience plan that is already transforming our economy based on four fundamental drivers, the green transition, the digital transformation, social and territorial cohesion and gender equality. Now, I can proudly say that Spain is by far, by far the country most advanced in everything related to the development or deployment, sorry, of the next generation European funds. We were the first country, along with Portugal, to have our recovery plan approved by the European Commission, the first to receive a disbursement linked to the achievement of milestones and targets, and again, the first to request a second disbursement. We are accelerating its implementation since the start of the war in Ukraine, because the answer to ending our dependence on Russian gas and oil lies precisely in the decarbonization of our economy. But speed alone is not enough. We also have to put the money where it is most needed. With this in mind, we have created an innovative instrument to enhance public-private collaboration, the strategic projects, or Pertes, as we call them. Pertes are born to become a driving force for economic growth, employment and the competitiveness of the Spanish economy. They are instruments for promoting and coordinating high-priority complex investments in strategic sectors where state intervention is needed to supplement private initiative. They will channel more than 30 billion euros in public funds, 30 billion euros in public funds, and should mobilize around four times as much as private funding. We have already approved, sorry, 10 strategic projects in areas such as electric and connected vehicles. Our industry is very important for the Spanish economy, renewable energy and green hydrogen, water management, circular economy, health, aerospace sectors, among others. And precisely today, my government is approving a new landmark strategic project on microelectronics and semiconductors. With over 12 billion euros of public investments, we want to become the best partner for the industry in its efforts to expand and diversify microchip production to address growing demand and supply chains disruption. Spain will not lose the race for the most advanced technologies. Our country wants to put at the forefront of industrial and technological projects and the strategic projects on semiconductors' profits. The second pillar is the ambitious reform agenda that my government has put in motion to address the structural problems of our economy. It consists of over 100 structural reforms based on the European Commission's specific recommendations for Spain and linked to our recovery plan. Let me highlight three areas where we are concentrating our efforts. First, green transition and the fight against climate change. We are challenging 30 billion euros, 40 percent of Spain's next generation for the decarbonization of our economy. These investments are coupled with ambitious reforms to fight against climate change and boost circular economy, health consumption, and sustainable mobility. By making the best possible use of our natural resources and investing heavily in the technologies of the future from green hydrogen to energy, storage, and clean vehicles, I think Spain wants to position ourselves as a global sustainable leader or sustainability leader. Second, the digital transformation. Our digital agenda has an all-encompassing vision from digital skills to cybersecurity, from the digitalization of SMEs to a sound cloud policy, from 5G connectivity to artificial intelligence. And third, education and talent attraction because we know the human capital is the engine that drives economic growth. We are reforming our education system from top to bottom, from boosting preschool education to a major expansion, a modernization of our vocational training system, from university reform to a new science law that will provide adequate incentives and double the amount of funding to research, development, and innovation. And finally, as an overarching pillar of our reform agenda, we set our sights on the provision of quality, stable employment. Thanks to a labor market reform negotiated and agreed by employers and trade unions, Spain is well on track to correct the endemic defects of its labor market, which are precariousness and temporality. With the previous law, only one in 10 new contracts were permanent. Today, there is one new permanent contract for every new temporary contract. The job creation rate is at 5% year on year. Both youth and women's unemployment rates are decreasing at a steady pace. And for the first time in history, there are over 20 million employed people in Spain. More public investments on better education, more jobs and better jobs, in short, more opportunities for everyone to free. Because the best political or social policy is one that combines quality employment opportunities for society as a whole with a strong welfare state that protects those in need. And these are not just receipts for a country like Spain. We truly want to preserve a way of life that has been an aspiration for hundreds of millions of people. This means quality jobs for everyone. This means economic opportunity for everyone. But it also means fighting against tax avoidance and unfair tax practices, both at home and abroad. It means being brave enough to truly provide the opportunities that emerging economies desperately look for. We should not be afraid to truly invest in the human development of these communities. Go beyond the financing of infrastructure projects crucial as they are. Long-term engagement and inclusivity are the best possible medicine against authoritarianism and nativism, both at home, among our citizens and elsewhere. My dear friends, what we are witnessing is not just a reminder that history did not end three decades ago. We are witnessing the end of the age of navity. We are now seeing how our values, those our societies are built upon, need to be defended. Putin's frontal attack remind us that the future is a land to be conquered. There is nothing inevitable about the rise of extremism and tyranny on the contrary. There is a clear chance for the values of democracy, freedom, and international law to continue to free. It is time to feel confident in ourselves. Let us not fear the forces that threaten to derail the future with the terror and hate. We have the most powerful weapons if we use them wisely. Because democracy, multilateralism, may get messy, noisy, imperfect on occasion, but we know they are the only road to peace and freedom in the long-term. George Orwell once famously wrote, and I quote, who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past. My final message for you today is that we must be brave about the present, not to control the past, but to earn the future. The time for complacency is over. If we stay determined, reason, freedom, and democracy shall prevail. Thank you. Gracias. Thank you so much, Prime Minister Sanchez, for this very important speech. I really liked how much you also focused on values, saying that the values our societies are built on have to be defended and make no mistake. You also said to Mr. Putin in Russia, what we are seeing unfolding now in Ukraine is a direct attack on the liberal democracies. I am so glad that we have leaders like you in Europe standing up for these values, and you also addressed the strategic autonomy concept in Europe. That has been about supply change. It has been about the single market. But I guess that this is also more about security and defence. And how do you see the European Union developing on those topics, on the strategic autonomy on defence and security? Does Europe need to step up and take more responsibility for its own defence and security, and not relying also so much on external partners? Thanks for your words. Just a quick comment. I think that it is also very important to share with our partners abroad, I mean abroad in the European Union and the western, I would say, community, that this challenge that Putin is tabling affects all the world. And this is a global crisis, and it is important to isolate Putin's in the international community. And this is something that we are doing with conversations that we have, in my case with many leaders in Latin America. Because I think it is very important to keep in mind that this is a global challenge. Just to remind that Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and what is now at its stake is the international order that he is not fulfilling or respecting. But going to your question on strategic autonomy, I think that Spain was, together with Holland, the first country to launch a non-paper to define what are the characteristics of this new, let's say, expression, strategic autonomy. And just give some quick ideas. The first one is open strategic autonomy. This is not for closing European Union, to implement a new protectionism economic policy. It is the contrary. I think it's very important to open European Union to create new ties on trade with other regions. For instance, why not with Latin America? I think this is also very important, and this is a huge opportunity for the European Union. So open strategic autonomy. Second, I think that not only because of the world, but also because of the pandemic, the Europeans will realize that we need to reduce many vulnerabilities that we have. For instance, on health products, and that is why I think it's important to reduce our vulnerabilities and to increase our resilience. Health products, of course, energy, role materials, semiconductors, microelectronics, and, as you mentioned before, defense. And I would just like to add regarding defense in this reflection on strategic autonomy. I think it's important the complementary vision between the European Union and NATO. I think that one of the biggest mistake that Putin has made is to underestimate the reaction of NATO and the European Union. And before the war, before the invasion, there were very important actors reflecting on what to do with NATO. And I think that we realize how important it is to keep these strong alliance between our partners in the U.S., Canada, and other parts of the world. So, you know, we're very excited to host this very important meeting in Madrid next June, and I think it's going to be a very important message for the international community, especially for Putin, that NATO and the European Union reinforce our alliance. Thank you for so strongly underlining also the importance of the transatlantic relationship. And you will be hosting the NATO summit, as I also said at the introduction. Probably the most important NATO summit in decades. So, what do you expect as outcomes of the summit? Well, I think that the first and the main outcome of the summit would be the unity, unity among allies, unity between NATO and the European Union. For instance, we are working and preparing an informal dinner between member states of the European Union and the NATO allies, which some of them are not included in NATO, as you know. Second, I think it's important to define our strategic concept, which is, you know, the strategy for NATO over the next years. I think it's until 2030, sorry. And from us, from Spain, it will be very important to have a strong message on the southern flank. It's important, of course, to face the challenge on the eastern flank that Putin is, you know, tabling. But I think it's also very important to keep in mind this 360 degrees strategy of NATO and to develop this idea with a strong message of the southern flank security concerns that we are also facing in some sub-Saharan countries. And finally, of course, we are going to welcome two new countries in NATO. And of course, I think this is also very important for the European Union stability and for the NATO future. So Finland and Sweden will be there in Madrid? Yes, of course, of course. And you see, as President Biden, you see a clear track for them, for membership? Well, I mean, I can only speak as Prime Minister of Spain, but so far I think that the ambience and the environment and, of course, the political will of the Allies is to welcome these two countries. And of course, in Spain, we are going to accelerate all the parliamentary process in order to fulfill with our commitment with these two countries that are, of course, very important, not only for NATO, but also for the European Union's ability. There are big democracies, very well established and consolidated democracies. And of course, I think it's also very important for NATO and the European Union to have them on board as NATO Allies. Well, thank you. And I wanted to come back to also the reforms that you are undertaking in Spain. You're not complacent when it comes to climate change and the green transformation, also the new technologies, and also the labor reforms. So what is the success recipe behind the rebooting of the Spanish economy? Because an employment is going down. You also see more investments, growth is back. And you have also been able to do this with launching new reforms. Many economists say it's not possible to start with those labor reforms and pension reforms and then create growth. First, you have to do the growth, but do you have combined this? Can other countries learn from your example? Well, we are happy to share our experience with the rest of the countries, but I would say that first of all, the economic response from the European Union during the pandemic was outstanding because there was actually an alignment between the monetary policy and the fiscal policy. And this is something that we have to keep in mind when we regard and we face these terrible consequences of the war for Europe. Second, I think that it is important the political message that we send with the mutualization of the debt at the European scale, because that provides countries like Spain and others the means, the instruments, to transform and modernize our economy. For instance, on green transition as you mentioned before, and of course, digital transformation of our economy, our enterprises, and of course, citizens. And this is something that we are profiting. We are profiting on investment, but also on reforming our educational system, as I mentioned before, our energy system, or of course, I would say the public administration reform. And of course, labor reform and venture reform. Labor reform, I think that the outcome and the figures that we are now witnessing on the Spanish economy are very impressive and very positive. And it also gives reasons to those of us that really defend that there's not a trade-off between job creation and quality of jobs. At the end of the day, one of the major challenges that my economy, my country, Spain has is to increase productivity. And productivity is related, of course, to precariousness and temporality. And this is something that we are facing with this new labor reform, which, by the way, was agreed with the employers and trade unions. And I'm always thankful for the commitment with their country in very difficult moments as the ones that we faced with the pandemic and now with the war. I think it's also a question of the legitimacy of a social market economy that also well trickles down, because we have seen growth, but the legitimacy is also based on inclusion. But coming back to... Absolutely. And I think it's also very important to keep in mind that sometimes politics is overestimated. It's very important to have the private sector on board. I think one of the major relations that we learned from the pandemic and nowadays with war is the need to create this public and private partnership. This is what we are doing when we are creating this strategic project, the purchase, because indeed, at the end of the day, the private sectors also need the commitment from the public administration. And this is something that I'm very thankful to the private sector. Many of the companies that are here in Davos. And I think that we have good fundamentals, very strong fundamentals, sorry. And this is also thanks to the participation of our employers and the big companies of our economy. Thank you for that, Mr Prime Minister. I think you're preaching to the choir, but you're also walking the talk because we have seen the power of public-private cooperation on climate change. We're seeing companies know pledging to go net zero. Companies also taking the ESGs very central. I think more and more companies also see if you want to attract talent, you have to be in the forefront of these very important values. And I think it's also very important to reaffirm this commitment today. Because perhaps for some leaders, this war could be used as an excuse not to fulfill with their commitments on climate. And this is also something that we have to keep in mind. And the definition in Spain is committed with these climate goals with the agenda 2030. And of course, with the mitigation and adaptation to this global threat, which is climate change. We shall not forget that for climate change, we don't have a vaccine. And for that, we need to strengthen multilateralism. And of course, not to forget the biggest threat that we have ahead of us. Thank you so much for underlining that, you know, no vaccine against climate change. That's going to be hard work and decoupling. And also, introducing the freedom fuels. Absolutely. And I think you're doing well on the freedom fuels. Yes, actually, well, I think that since, I mean, we started four years ago together with the enterprises, with the private sector to draw and to imagine an energy transition in Spain. I think that we are, you know, we have the fundamentals. We have the means. And the only thing that we didn't have four years ago was the political, the so political commitment to face this transition. But nowadays, last year, 57 percent of our installed capacity is renewed. So I think it's, you know, it also shows the commitment of Spain, its society, and, of course, the Spanish government. Well, thank you so much, Prime Minister, for your commitment to the values for liberal democracies, also for your reforms. Thank you for coming back. Thank you for also being a leader in the green field. It's always a pleasure to have you. Muchas gracias. Muchas gracias. Thank you. Welcome back.


Hi everybody, it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft. Thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm going to be showing you how to make this really fun card. I have made this card before. It's the floating pop card. I think I called it box pop card, something like that. And basically it has this piece of acetate through the middle here. So whatever you stick it looks like it's floating but it also pops up and it's really really fun to do and very easy. Folds completely flat and it will be a six by six size but you can make this any size that you want. But the real fun factor about this card is that it is showing off the brand new Dovecraft collection Secret Garden. Now this isn't even in the shop yet so this is a sneaky peek of what's to come what you can expect. And I just wanted to start sharing tutorials with you so you can start to see the kind of things you can make with this and just how versatile it is because it is beautiful. I was speaking to the guys at Head Office at Trimcraft and I said to them I think that this is my favourite collection ever. So it just has loads of bits to it and I think that's why it's so good. So I'm not going to show you all those pieces now. That would have been in my little what's in the box video that I shared yesterday and I will link that up here. So you can have a look in more detail exactly what is in this collection and there's also the new collection Happy You as well. So check out those two collections because they're beautiful. So we're going to make this one today. I'm going to pop that there. I will share the link to the one I made at Christmas which is up here somewhere now as well because that one has a different way of decorating it so obviously that might be something that you would rather do but I've already gone as normal, gone ahead and done lots and lots of bits and pieces but for anybody that didn't see the what's in the box video yesterday this is Secret Garden. So this is the 8x8 paper pack. I have the 12x12 as well but for this tutorial I'm just using the 8x8 but you can just see a little overview. If you pause the video now you'll be able to see you know what to expect really with this but it is gorgeous. The Dovecraft collections are always wonderful and always have all those kind of matching embellishments. So if you like crafting with a matching collection Dovecraft, yep nail it always lovely. So I'm going to pop all of this to one side because it is heavily decorated. I have all these pieces that I have gone ahead and I fussy cut. You can use the dies that come in the collection, you can use the stamps that come in the collection which I will be doing.  The little fork, the spade, there's a little watering can and I'm going to show you other bits to it as well. I've done the bunting which is one of the packs here so I just don't want to lose all these pieces because even these bits here believe it or not they are these little triangle pieces which make the hinge. So the idea is that this is like a shed or the side of a shed it's just got a garden you know kind of obviously themed to it so I wanted to bring that into the card in some way. I also found this little brad in my own stash but it's of a key so I thought on this one I'm going to have it as if it's the key for the the shed. These are little bits here and then that's the card stock. So I've used the bunting so this is one of the things that you can buy to go with the papers so it's a 60 mini bunting and twine then I'm using these I love these you get two sentiments you get happy birthday which is the one there this lovely big tag. I fussy cut the bird and stuck him on top I thought that was a really nice touch and he just seems to the colors of him compliment it really well but for today's card I'm going to use the with love. Okay so that's them there and then you could obviously have a little bit of white card here if you want and write a little message on the back but they're a really nice size they're made really well they've got a coating on them there so they've got a little bit of a shine to them but love them so that's that one then I've used these here these are the 12 paper flowers with the little kind of little diamondy in the middle but I'm going to use the yellow ones on this one no I was meant to use the pink so I need to get the pink out actually and I've used the yellow there these were from my own stash these leaves I just wanted to kind of add a bit more greenery in which I will use with these leaves now then that's come from this die set here I have done a really nice project which you'll see probably next week and I've used the Wellington boot I've used the fork and the trowel you've got this beautiful bird so that's another lovely little die set there okay so to make the card you need two pieces that are six and a quarter by six okay so the six height the six is the height of the card the six and a quarter this is going to be the the width of the card and you want to score at three and at six okay now one one of them you can fold and burnish okay like so so that's now going to be the back of the card this piece here is where you want to cut your window now you can have any shape I think the one I'd done at Christmas was a circle but I'm using a square today so I'm going to get rid of my scoreboard so you basically it doesn't matter if the tab is on your left and your right really but mine's on the right hand side here but this square I want to have it so that it's nice and centered within the two equal parts so ignore the tab pretend that's not there you want to make sure that it is centered within the two three by six pieces which is this one here and this one here ignore that tab okay so I'm just going to grab some of my purple tape and just off I just want to hold that in place and then I'm just going to run that through my die machine and it will go through the smaller one if that's what you've got I've got the six inch one here so okay so now you've got your window I'm going to get rid of this piece here then you can now fold and burnish because if you fold before and then run it through the die machine it would just flatten what you've already you know folded over so you do it now you get a nice crisp fold and again those ones there like so okay next what you want to do is you know we need a piece of acetate now this is one and a half by five and three quarters again the size is entirely up to you but that is going to stick in here now you can either stick it before or after so I'm going to stick it down now just because I find that it's easier to do that way but you may want to do it once you put everything together so yeah it's just down to preference really there is no right or wrong but you just want to run some red tape along each side I'm just going to make sure that's all stuck down okay and then you want to stick this in the middle just up to the score line of where you're going to have your little tab there and then this one here you just want to bring it just slightly shy basically yeah actually you want to lie it down flat because it needs to go in an envelope so lie it down flat and then stick that down okay and now when it opens you'll see it bows out and we're going to be sticking or whatever it is you're going to be sticking right on the top there where it curves over because then whatever it is will kind of pop about okay so next now this is optional because I want mine to look like a shed or that kind of you know a barn something within the garden this is the inside here so what I've gone and done is I've cut a load of these strips now I've already distressed them and I'll show you what I did when I stick it all down because I'm going to distress the fronts but these are half an inch by six and you will need 10 and then you'll need two pieces that are six by slightly shorter than half an inch okay just to kind of stick right in these two ends here so all I've done is just stick them down so I'm going to run some glue and start by sticking them either side of that score line in the middle there so if you look inside you can see the score line don't butt them right up to each other because it would just make this not want to sit in that position very well because there'd be too much bulk there so I'm just going to grab some glue here and just to get them all stuck down so that's all stuck down but also don't stick that last one down on the edge where you don't have the tab because what you want to do first is stick this on and then stick it over it just conceals it all and just makes it a little bit more um neater so I'm going to just grab some of my red tape and just run that along here then you don't have to use the tape it's just my preference I'm going to take a little wedge off of each of those ends as well just so that none of it kind of pokes out the top again make sure it's all nice and secure and then this one you just want to make sure you line up your score line with the end fold it over like so and then open it up and now I can just stick this one but this is only if you're doing these pieces but I would even say do it that way um stick this one down partly so don't obviously stick it all together and then put your whatever it is you're going to mat inside there because you might have some decorative paper on there instead but again look at my tutorial last year because the size is the same but obviously I have decorated it slightly differently okay so now I have this really fun background I think it looks quite authentic I really like how it's turned out now to get that effect I have used the just the Tim Holtz distressed ink and this is the frayed burlap I usually use vintage photo but I've really liked this one um and I've used it a lot lately um but now I've stuck it all down obviously I want to distress the ends even more and you can start to see there you get this real nice aged look you can see how that looks and I think you know when you think about you know your shed or something the bottom is always you know darker than the rest and you know especially when you've had maybe like a storm and lots of rain and stuff you always get it quite dirty on the bottoms so I'm going to do it then I'm also going to do it on the top there okay and then once I put this all together I'm going to just stress all in here as well because it does look really good um with that on there so next you want to make sure before you stick this down you want to do any of the decoration that you're going to be doing in the middle so I have these little pieces here which again completely optional but I just thought they looked quite good as little hinges um and then I've got these tiny little brads I think I'm going to use the green ones because the only ones I seem to have three of or did I have another one I've lost it anyway but I'm just going to cut the tops of them off and then I stick them on top and that's what I done to get that effect there then I have this piece here which is so it's one and three quarters high it can be as high as you want this is to make the grass oh it is six but I think I will end up bringing that in but all I'm going to do is I've got these vegetable scissors here and I just cut down like so so that gives me all of the grass so you can leave it if you want just like that but now I just go in and just cut each one a different height just kind of go off at an angle it doesn't take long to do but again I just think it gives you quite a nice grass effect if you look in there you can just about see it's probably too dark you'll see it better in the photos but you can see already there um do that one a little bit sharper there you get just a nice effect so I'm just going to do that okay so I've done my grass so now that is going to sit along there and I might be able to just keep it the length it is no I'm going to trim the reason I just trim everything a little bit shorter than the full six inch width is just to kind of take away some of the bulk that you would get when you fold it flat so now that one there yeah we'll sit in there nicely I think that looks really good so I'm going to stick my grass down stick that down and then I have all these little flowers that I fussy cut from one of the papers in the paper pack and they are just going to pop up from the grass there just a few randomly and again I just think that adds um not only a nice bit of color but it just brightens up the inside um like so um I've already gone ahead and made a little plant pot I just cut a piece of the paper again from that paper pack just cut it some wedges out to give it that plant pot shape popped a little lip along the top and then popped a couple of those flowers there and that's like I done this that's going to stick on the front so I'm going to get this middle stuck down get those brides stuck down and then I'll be back okay so that's the inside all stuck down so now I'm going to run some red tape along this other tab again I've just taken some little wedges off of the two ends okay and then with this one I like to stick it all together when it's open so I can make sure I get a really nice join like so and then lie it all down flat just again make sure that's all stuck down and now you've got your card ready to just decorate however you want so obviously if you're not doing too much inside then you would have already probably put yours together but now it's for me it's just down to decorating so I've got this gorgeous bunting and this I think really starts to bring the card together so I've done mine so it sticks completely straight along the very top like so then like I said I've got these that are going to go either side there this one is going to stick so I'm going to pop because you're sticking to acetate as I always say use the red tape if you've got it or a very strong double-sided if you use a wet glue more than likely it will end up just peeling off so whereas this here does have a real real strong bond so I'll stick this one down now because then you can see so I'll put the other one on a slight angle just because I thought if it's hanging it tends to hang down but you also want to make sure you stick your um your tape so that it's vertical okay because you want there to be just a little bit of stuck you don't want to stick it a horizontal otherwise too much of that would be stuck flat like so and it won't pop up it just wouldn't look as as fun I don't think whereas if you have it like that you can see it really does pop out which is kind of the effect that well that's what I went for when I first made this card and then that's going to stick with some hot glue with one of these little metal brads so it looks like it's kind of hanging off of a nail those two either side the bunting along the top and then all of these bits and pieces so I can recreate this scene here stick the little bird on and then yeah we're pretty much done so there are both the finished cards I think they look really really good I just love all the different parts to it there's just so much to look at the little key hanging there I've done the backs as well so this is two and three quarters by five and three quarters and I've popped them on both sides it's entirely up to you and on that one there I've just fussy cut little parts of the collection just to kind of tie it all together um but yeah they look great the collection is out soon so you haven't got long to wait I will pop a little thing on my Facebook group to say that it's available um I'll update the links below this video as well so um yeah so you'll be able to know um you know where you can get it but um yeah I think a lot of you are going to want this one because it is just a beautiful collection so I hope you've enjoyed the card today hope I've inspired you it won't be too long and then you can get your hands on it thanks for watching bye


It was a tough loss at home and that's the best team in our conference and they're ranked in the top 10 in the country and they showed it. I mean we weren't able to stop their middles and their opposite played great and it was nice that we took a set but none of the guys were satisfied with that so we're going to have to go back to practice and work on a few things. It wasn't a blowout per se but we had leads I think in every set so we were competitive. Yeah we're not afraid of them by any means. I mean we won five with them at home and this was a competitive game and it was also one in which we didn't hit very well and it was still close. I think if we ironed some things out with our hitting we'll be right in there. Well the loss makes that next win really important because we want to finish with wins. We had three wins coming into this game and I was hoping that the guys would be in a good groove. It was nice to see Nick Gross come in and play really well and Nate Bosse also came in and raised the level of the play of the team. So that's really nice to have subs coming in but you're right there's not a big turnaround tomorrow. We have practice try to correct some errors and then Friday we have Juniata who just clobbered the second place team in three in our league. So these next few matches Juniata is going to be tough so we just have to learn from this one and put it behind us. And then start with a fresh energized outlook for the Friday match. Yeah Landon I think that's the first time Landon's come out all year. It's kind of a long season he's a little nicked up.  So it was just a shame it was against a top team that Landon couldn't show what he's really capable of.  But we definitely have to work on the whole team on our attack to make sure we're aiming for the court and we do some tactical things better.


Hello and welcome to my little mini-series What Happens When. So today's video, What Happens When You Let Self-Doubt Creep In. So as we know, confidence is so powerful. It attracts others, it inspires others and it allows you to really achieve what you want. But the second that self-doubt comes knocking and we let it in, things can start to go a little bit pear shaped. It could hinder that creative process that could have transformative results. It could maybe just stop you trying or exploring something new all together. It could cause you to undervalue and underprice your work. So it could of course blind you to the value of that work, which you need to see in order to be able to tell your customers. It might stop you approaching a gallery or shop or even applying for an art fair or art market. But ultimately self-doubt could stop you from making a living from your art. And we don't want any of that, do we? Which is why working on your mindset is an absolutely vital for your life, for your creative process and of course for you to be able to build that successful profitable art business. Seek out that support system. Surround yourself with other creatives. Read inspiring material. Watch amazing inspirational videos and really make sure that it's something that you do on an ongoing consistent basis so that you positively glow with that inner confidence as you move forwards. I hope you've enjoyed today's little short video. Keep watching for more just like it in this series.


Well, the published Course in Miracles, the published version, which has several editions, doesn't really make any direct reference to sex. It has references to the mind, it has references to miracle impulses and distorted miracle impulses, and it has references to consciousness and so forth. But it doesn't take sexuality or sex as a category, and there are no topics throughout the course that actually deal directly with sex. Sexuality being a system of behaviors that are classified by the world. So I would say that sex and eating, thirst, body temperature, you know, all in all there's a lot of things that we would say are very much part of the human condition, and those are the effects or the behaviors of the human being, and this course is actually a course in changing your thinking. So we learn from the course you are not responsible for what you do but for what you think, and we're also told what you do comes from what you think. So you see the emphasis is on thoughts. And in terms of sexuality and sexual impulses, the Holy Spirit will meet the mind where it believes it's at. So guidance can definitely involve things that involve sexuality, and as well as many other aspects of human behavior and human condition. But as far as the course per se, it doesn't take a stand on sexuality. It doesn't have any kind of behavioral boxes that it labels as good or bad, and it really talks about changing your mind and shifting your perception. So the focus is in on sex with the course that's more, if you notice there are shifts and changes in behaviors, they're coming from a shift in consciousness.


So you got a lot of questions. You got a lot of questions and just not enough answers. Man, do I know what you're talking about? Questions. Questions are worries. The what ifs. What if that happens? What's the meaning of this? What's the point of all of this? What if I say yes to that? What if I say no to that? What if the company goes under? What if this happens to my son, my daughter, my friends? What if I move? What if they move? Lots of questions. And the questions, the scales of questions and answers in life, damn it, it's never balanced. So how do we keep going though when all these questions are conscious? They're right in front of us, you know, and they need answering before we can step forward. Let me invite you to try something and think about questions differently. And this really helps me, okay? And welcome to Victoria, British Columbia, by the way, on the 23rd floor of this beautiful condo. At the ocean here, I'm going to be doing some swimming. The ocean's about three degrees Celsius, so it's like cold plunging. It's going to be amazing. And as I'm out here, I've had definite worries about what am I going to do with my Masters of Neuroscience degree? What is going to come of that? What if nobody watches these YouTube videos anymore? So few do already. Do I still make them? Why am I even making them?  I'm getting into, more into Christ and following Christ, but is this a good thing to do? Is it embarrassing? Because I see other people doing that and they're like kind of messed up. What?  Like they want an answer right now in order for you to be at peace. And what I do now is I take those questions and I live them out. Live out your questions, meaning you don't stop and research and listen to all the podcasts and journal about it and really try to figure something out. Sure, sometimes, depending on the question. But eventually, you're going to have to make a decision and you're going to have to live out that question. You're going to have to keep living and experience will determine your answers. Experience as you live them out, as you walk beside your questions. Let your questions follow you. Let your questions follow you. Like they're right behind you. They're not threatening. Why do we think these questions are threatening us? It's not threatening. They're just going to follow with us and say, you know what? I can't answer you right now. I don't have the intelligence. I don't have the experience. I just don't know. And the don't knows can follow you along the journey. Like if a child asks you at age four, you know, why is this guy really blue, dad? Why is this guy really blue, mom? They're not ready for the actual answer yet. They're not ready. You're going to talk to them about organic chemistry and refraction and reflection and that's not going to make sense. At some points in your life, it's okay to put the questions aside and keep living. Live them out. You will get answers. They will be checked along the way, but it's not going to happen when you just sit. This isn't, this isn't sometimes an intellectual battle. It's a battle of living. And when I look at podcasts and see people interviewed and they're so smart because they've read so much and I'm like, I don't want to be that. I want to gain my answers through living. That's the way I'm satisfied with an answer too. You can read everything about the latest Metallica concert and how many people were there and the set list that they played and you know everything and then you can go to a show. That's living it out. I wonder what the Metallica concert will be like. Okay, I'm going to read about it. I'm going to see the set list. I'm going to count how many people, you know, see the attendance, where it was. What kind of beer were they serving there?  Okay, live out your questions. Write that one down. I am going to live out those big questions I can't answer right now. I'm going to live out my questions and the next thing about meaninglessness. This is a big one and sensitive souls are sensitive to this world and sensitive to this word. Billions of people right now are in your same position. Billions before us and billions will be after. The mystery of the universe, the mystery of existence, the mystery of purpose, the mystery of faith. What's this all about? Meaninglessness and of those of you who have dealt with depression as I have too, the utter pointlessness of every interaction, of everything we see, of everything we do, of everything we see other people do, of the tasks we have to do, of the chores. What's the point? What's the point of cutting grass? It's long, you made it short.   Depression is very real. It plays tricks on you. But even if you're not fully depressed, the existential comes to us all. It does. In times of hardship, in times of loss, traumatic experiences. And what is this meaninglessness all about and what can we do about it? And this will help about 10 of you. This will help about 10 of you. And for the rest, I'm sorry, it might, but this really helped me. I'm at home, totally depressed. I won't tell you the year.  It's so pointless.  Everything. It's everything. It's freaking meaninglessness. Oh my god.  There's no meaning. It's pure meaninglessness. There's no meaning to anything. Seeing them in the kitchen, cooking, what's the point? Seeing them sweeping the floors, mopping the floors. How do you have energy to do that? What's the point of keeping something clean if it's just going to get dirty again? Why are we even living here? Why even talk? What's there to talk about? And my dad simply said, Scott, then let it be meaningless. Let it be meaningless. Everyone, that just freed me. Those words freed me. To always search for meaning, that's what we're told to do, right? Even when we're feeling terrible, this is the time to do the big search. You have to search for meaning, search for purpose, get a mission, follow it. I've said this to you all before too. You've got to get a mission because even though when you're feeling low, you're going to have that North Star to keep you going. There's got to be nuance. You don't get a lot of nuance online. It's either this or it's that. That's what gets clicks. That's what gets views. That's what gets controversy and comments there for more views. There's nuance to this. If you're in a dark place of meaninglessness, for the time being, let it be meaningless. Does that relieve a bit of pressure? Does that relieve a bit of pressure? Let it be meaningless. Go about your day, find humor in it. I'm just pissing in a toilet and it doesn't mean anything. Whatever. I'm doing my homework because I got to do my homework. It's meaninglessness, but here's the thing. When you're in that state, unless it lasts a really long time, my friends, just like living out your questions, meaning will find you and you will find meaning you're going to meet in the middle.  It shouldn't be. I got to find it. Everyone else can cut grass and find meaning in that. Everyone does this and they find meaning in that. The questions add up. Living out your questions means I'm going to let it be meaningless for a little while and let's just go A to B, baby. Let's just keep going. No pressure. No pressure. Oh man, is that fun or what? Let it be meaningless. So with that being said, free yourself from the search, free yourself from the pressure. Be in this for a while and let it be. Thanks for watching everyone. Thanks for listening on the Being Human podcast. You know all of the links in the description, if you want to get in touch, if you want to support the channel and all these things. And the big news is I had this just epiphany and this idea that I want to have guests back on the podcast. I'm ready. I'm ready to interview again. And to be conceded a little bit, I think I'm a great interviewer. I listen to other podcasts and I'm like, ooh, I'm a little critical because I would have asked that question. And why didn't they ask that question? And they were answering, why did they interrupt there? I can't wait to have guests on and I'd love your input of who you want to see me interview. Who would you love to listen to and what questions would you like to ask them? And this is going to be a great thing on Patreon. They can vote for things and people they want on and questions they want answered. So thank you so much. Comment about whatever and let it be, baby. I'll see you. And while you're gone, I'll be playing.


Welcome to JSA TV and JSA podcast where we're covering the latest stories trends and innovations from leaders across the Digital infrastructure world and we're coming to you from PTC and beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii And I'm joined now by Juan font. He's the CEO and president of course. I thank you so much for stopping by my pleasure Not to be here. And I hope that you've had a wonderful time here at PTC so far Yeah, it's been it's been great the weather's obviously wonderful the location is great but the quality of people that come in and the amount of High-level conversations you can have is fairly unique. So it's been a great event so far. Absolutely I've been hearing that across the board and couldn't agree more Well, let's talk about core site. You guys have a lot of things going on No lack of topics here for us to talk about today But first could you just give our viewers an update on the latest since american towers acquisition? Back in 2021 Yeah, so the the biggest change for us really have been a massive influx in capital And that has allowed us to accelerate our development. For example We are about to finish sd9. It's our largest build yet in silicon valley 34 megawatts We recently announced the acquisition of a site in Denver that allow it will allow us to develop 60 megawatts And and the same thing we're developing in new york as well. So We have had tremendous growth in our demand, but at the same time have been able to find find our expansion through american tower Yes, a lot of success and a lot of growth. So congratulations. Thank you. Mahalo Absolutely, and then is there anything that you can point to that That you can attribute all of this success and this growth to um, I think generally Demand has been very robust. There seems to be You know, we're in the right markets and there seems to be a supply demand imbalance um, aside from, you know supply being constrained by supply chain issues We've had a new driver of demand, which is AI. I'm sure you've heard of that a lot in this in this conference Yeah, and uh, but that that has impacted us as well.  So we we don't foresee that slowing anytime soon Absolutely speaking of not slowing down We've also heard that you've had considerable growth with your open cloud exchange multi cloud network platform Can you tell us a little bit about that platform and then just also What's driving that demand for the growth there? Yeah, so the open cloud exchange was actually the first of its kind in the world it's an internet-based Peering platform to interconnect with the clouds and we have growing it steadily We were the first to launch with direct connect but most recently with the advent of AI and ml and other use cases We're seeing a lot more a lot more throughput required For enterprises to connect to clouds. Yeah, so we we've recently launched Ultra high bandwidth speeds with the likes of amazon google and oracle Very good. Well, congratulations to all of the success and before we let you go Is there anything else that you want our viewers to know about? Anything coming down the pike for 2024 that you want to give us a sneak peek of? Um, yes a lot more a lot more growth. Um, we're delighted to have these many customers But it's a great time for this space And I hope to see you guys in one of our data centers Absolutely Well, we look forward to having you back on another JSA tv again soon so that we can get a few more updates Excellent. Thank you very much for your time. Yeah, thank you so much for stopping by and I know you're about to be on a panel So good luck on the panel and we'll see you again soon. Thank you And thanks to our viewers for tuning in stay connected everyone


Moral here at Fisher and Political is GM of facilities and environmental management. Basically I look after $400 million worth of infrastructure and I also look after our sustainability and environmental systems. Last year I did three short courses. The Science and Art of Influencing, Powerful Coaching Conversations and I also did Building a Compelling Business Case. I was aiming to increase my leadership ability and to gain more insight into how to influence situations and help people through change management. I found the quality of the courses excellent. They were pitched at the right level and got quite a lot of benefit out of it.