Another copied article to keep in reserve. It's an odd article from the pandemic, recounting the boom in rescue adoptions. It is a fairly pointless article in that it uses some really shifty rescuers, including Pixies and Paws, as sources, brightly highlights a bioethicist who uses her own foolish adoption of two pit bull mixes as evidence that most people shouldn't own dogs, and chronicles but fails to understand the loathing rescuers have for adopters. It does, however, wonderfully illustrate how rapidly the good times ended in rescue. Anyone reading the the current "we've never been so overwhelmed with dogs" rescue laments should know that there's a link between today's problems and yesterday's reckless opportunism.
The "bioethicist"
“I think it’s probably true that the majority of people who want to adopt a dog should not,” Jessica Pierce, a bioethicist who studies human-animal relationships, tells me. “They don’t have the wherewithal and don’t have what they need to give the animal a good life.” She herself ended up with two pets that didn’t get along at all — a herding mix and a pointer mix whose constant fighting made the idea of hosting a dinner party both perhaps “bloody” and definitely “scary and miserable.” She says shelters shouldn’t “drive away potentially loving and appropriate adopters because they don’t meet predetermined criteria,” but she also sees the importance of a thorough application process that prepares humans for the pitfalls of pet parenthood. “You need to be ready to have a dog who doesn’t like people very much,” says Pierce. When Bella, the 11-year-old she got from the Humane Society, dies, she’s not sure she will get a replacement, noting that the pandemic puppy boom is “driven by a reflection of human narcissism and neurosis.”
However, this is a fantastic truth long overdue for the telling.
“I started to talk to shelter leaders across the country,” Cushing says. “And one by one, they said any adoptable dog without a medical issue is gone by noon on Saturday. But the public didn’t know that. Only the dog seekers and the experts did.”
https://preview.redd.it/v2owlquz230d1.png?width=1139&format=png&auto=webp&s=a95a7983b4f018f043125a0819a16941cec1e6aa
Jack, adopted by Tori and Paris through In Our Hands Rescue.
It was a rainy Sunday in June, and Danielle had fallen in love.
The 23-year-old paralegal spent the first part of her afternoon in McCarren Park, envying the happy dog owners with their furry companions. Then she stumbled upon an adoption event in a North Brooklyn beer garden, where a beagle mix being paraded out of the rescue van reminded her of the dog she grew up with, Snickers. It all felt like fate, so she filled out an application on the spot. She was then joined by her best friend and roommate, Alexa, in sitting across from a serious-looking young woman with a ponytail who was searching for a reason to break her heart.
Danielle and Alexa were confident they would be leaving with Millie that day: After all, they had a 1,000-square-foot apartment within blocks of McCarren and full-time employment with the ability to work from home for the foreseeable future. But the volunteer kept posing questions that they hadn’t prepared for. What if they stopped living together? What if Danielle’s girlfriend’s collie mix didn’t get along with her new family member? What would be the solution if the dog needed expensive training for behavioral issues? Which vet were they planning to use?
All of which, upon reflection, were reasonable questions. But when it came to the diet they planned for the dog, they realized they were out of their depth. Danielle recalled that Snickers had lived to 16 and a half on a diet of Blue Buffalo Wilderness, the most expensive stuff that was available at her parents’ Bay Area pet store. “Would you want to live on the best version of Lean Cuisine for the rest of your life?” sniffed the volunteer with a frown. She would instead recommend a small-batch, raw-food brand that cost, when they looked it up later, up to $240 a bag. “If you were approved, you’d need to get the necessary supplies and take time off from work starting now,” the dog gatekeeper said. “And the first 120 days would be considered a trial period, meaning we would reserve the right to take your dog back at any time.” The would-be adopters nodded solemnly.
The friends rose from the bench and thanked the volunteer for her time. Believing they were out of earshot, the volunteer summed up the interview to a colleague: “You just walked by, and you’re fixated on this one dog, and it’s because you had a beagle growing up, but you want to make your roommate the legal adopter?”
When Danielle and Alexa were young, one could still show up at a shelter, pick out an unhoused dog that just wanted to have someone to love, and take it home that same day. Today, much of the process has moved online — to Petfinder, a.k.a. Tinder for dogs, and various animal-shelter Instagram accounts that send cute puppy pics with heartrending stories of need into your feed and compel you to fill out an adoption application as you sit on the toilet. Posts describing the dogs drip with euphemisms: A dog that might freak out and tear your house up if left alone is a “Velcro dog”; one that might knock down your children is “overly exuberant”; a skittish, neglected dog with trust issues is just a “shy party girl.” Certain shelters have become influencers in their own right, like the L.A.-based Labelle Foundation, which has almost 250,000 Instagram followers and counts Dua Lipa and Cara Delevingne among its A-list clients. Rescue agencies abound, many with missions so specific that you could theoretically find one that deals in any niche breed you desire, from affenpinschers to Yorkshire terriers.
This deluge of rescue-puppy content has arrived, not coincidentally, during a time of growing awareness of puppy mills as so morally indefensible that even Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could draw fire for seemingly buying a purebred French bulldog in early 2020. Then came the pandemic puppy boom, a lonely, claustrophobic year in which thousands of white-collar workers, sitting at home scrolling through their phones, seemed simultaneously to decide they were finally ready to adopt a dog. The corresponding demand spike in certain markets has simply overwhelmed the agencies: New York shelters that were used to receiving 20 applications a week were now receiving hundreds, with as many as 50 people vying for a single pup.
The rescue dog is now, indisputably, a luxury good, without a market pricing system at work to manage demand. A better analogy might be an Ivy League admissions office. But even Harvard isn’t forced to be as picky as, say, Korean K9 Rescue, whose average monthly applications tripled in 2020.
And yet someone has to pick the winners — often an unpaid millennial Miss Hannigan doling out a precious number of wet-nosed Orphan Annies to wannabe Daddy Warbuckses and thus empowered to judge the intentions and poop-scooping abilities of otherwise accomplished urban professionals, some of whom actually did go to Harvard.
This has led to some hard feelings. Every once in a while, someone will complain on Twitter about being rejected by a rescue agency, and it will reliably set off a cascade of attacks on “entitled rich white millennials assuming they can have whatever they want,” followed by counter-attacks on those who “appoint themselves the holy sainted guardian of all animals.” Danielle was ultimately deemed unworthy, not even receiving a generic rejection letter over email. After all, there isn’t really that much incentive for the rescue agencies to be polite these days.
The modern animal-rescue movement grew alongside the child-welfare movement in the mid-19th century. It got another boost in the years following World War II, when Americans were moving out to the suburbs in droves, according to Stephen Zawistowski, a professor of animal behavior at Hunter College. Suddenly, there were highways, yards, and space. Walt Disney was making movies about children and dogs that promoted the idea that no new home was complete without a loyal animal companion. (Zawistowski said that one might call this the Old Yeller Effect, but there were various riffs on the same theme over the ensuing decades. Essentially, Flipper was “Let’s put Lassie in the water.”)
In the early ’80s, University of Pennsylvania researchers confirmed the effects that animal companionship has on everything from blood pressure to heart conditions to anxiety. Pets were no longer just how you taught Junior to be responsible; they might be critical to maintaining adults’ physical and mental health. The way people spoke about animals started changing. The idea that “homeless” dogs were sent to the “pound” because they were “bad” went out of fashion. “Suddenly, you had ‘rescue’ dogs brightly lit in the mall,” says Ed Sayres, a former president of the ASPCA who now works as a pet-industry consultant. “Basically, we gave animals a promotion.” Meanwhile, in the late ’80s, spay and neuter procedures had been streamlined and were being recommended by vets as well as by Bob Barker on The Price Is Right.
Then came The Ad. Released in 2007, it featured close-ups of three-legged dogs and one-eyed cats rescued by the ASPCA over a wrenching rendition of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.” The commercial warned that “for hundreds of others, help came too late.” In just a year, the ad raised 60 percent of the ASPCA’s annual $50 million budget. The organization was reportedly able to increase the grant money it gave to other animal-welfare organizations by 900 percent in ten years. It is difficult to overstate the emotional hangover The Ad inflicted on millennials and members of Gen Z. Janet M. Davis is a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, where she lectures on animal rights to a demographically diverse body of students — everyone from cattle ranchers to vegan punks — most of whom cry when she shows The Ad in class. “It absolutely brings down the house,” she says. “Every time.”
Theoretically, the point of dog adoption is that there are more dogs born into the world than there are humans lined up to care for them. But as interest grew, the supply problem became less acute. Thanks to widespread spay and neuter policies, there are simply too few unwanted litters for what the adoption market wants.
National chains like PetSmart partnered with local shelters to supply its animals for sale. Savvy rescues in dog deserts like New York hooked up with shelters in the Deep South, where cultural attitudes toward spaying and neutering pets are much more lax. While there is no official registry of how many shelter dogs are available in the U.S., in 2017, researchers at the College of Veterinary Medicine for Mississippi State University published a study reporting that the availability of dogs in animal shelters was at an all-time low. “That is,” says Sayres, “an environment that leads to a kind of irrational, competitive behavior.” The rescue mutt had become not just a virtue signal but a virtue test. Who was a good enough human being to deserve a dog in need of rescuing?
Heather remembers the old easy days. “I went on Craigslist and an hour later, I had a puggle,” she says of her first dog-getting experience with her boyfriend in college. George the puggle humped everything in sight, shed everywhere, and chewed through furniture until the end of his life, but she loved him all the same.
Flash-forward 16 years: She and that boyfriend are married, have two kids, and can’t seem to get a new dog no matter what they try. Yes, she could find a breeder easily online (currently for sale on Craigslist: a Yorkie-poo puppy from a breeder asking $350 and just a few screening questions). But instead, in the middle of the pandemic, “I was sending ten to 12 emails a night and willing to travel anywhere, and no one would give us any sort of animal,” she remembers. Shelters would send snappy emails about how her family wasn’t suited for a puppy, even though they made good money and had clearly cared for their dearly departed George — they once drove three hours to get the dog a specially made knee brace. “I was trying to be really up front with people and would say that my daughter has autism and that I have a 3-year-old, and they would say no. It felt like they were saying, ‘We don’t give dogs to people who have disabilities.’ ”
It didn’t matter what kind of dog she applied for — older, younger, bigger, smaller — there was always an official-sounding excuse as to why her family wasn’t suitable. (“Pups this age bite and jump and scratch and while they are cute to look at, they are worse than a bratty ADHD toddler, without diapers,” one rescue wrote. “Sorry.”) She considered looking at emotional-support animals that work specifically with autistic youth but found out they could cost 18 grand and require a two-year waiting period. She couldn’t stomach the idea of setting up a GoFundMe, as other people in the community had. “It got to the point of me wondering, Okay, so what dogs do children get?” she recalls. “I always thought that dogs and children go together.” By the fall of 2020, Heather had turned back to breeders. “People get a little spicy when you say you paid for a dog. You want to scream that you tried your hardest, but it wasn’t possible,” she says.
Others, like Zainab, figured out ways to work the system. She blanketed agencies with applications in the early months of the pandemic, applying for 60 dogs. (The ease of applying online might also explain the statistics.) She thought the fact that she had a leadership role in public education would demonstrate that she was both successful and nurturing. “I’m a professional, I make good money, and I have a master’s degree,” she tells me. She was rejected all the same. Finally, a co-worker suggested Zainab make a résumé in order to stand out. The multipage document — which features testimonials from high-powered friends, including local elected officials — is what got her an exclusive meeting with Penny the pug in a parking lot. She was handed over with a leash tied around her neck and vomited in the front seat of Zainab’s car about three blocks later. Success!
Or take Lauren, who’d had dogs all her life and found living solo during COVID lonely. “You can’t be without an animal at this particular time,” she told herself. So she started applying for dogs on Petfinder and boutique-rescue websites. “I would look up at my clock, and it would be two in the morning,” she says. Her hopes were high when she got a meeting with a Chihuahua mix in the suburbs named Mary Shelley. Lauren thought the meeting went well, but it ultimately didn’t result in the interviewer granting the adoption. “Then I was in conspiracy-theory mode, thinking she doesn’t like gay people, or single people, or people who live in the city,” she says. “It was a crazy-making experience. It’s a pandemic, so your world is already turned upside down, but I became psychotic.
“The people who run rescue organizations — this was their moment to shine,” she adds. “Even though they were totally bogged down with requests, they got to feel the power. They got to make someone’s dreams come true or smash them to the ground.”
The inquiries can get extremely personal. “I found the questions very offensive,” says Joanna, a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center nurse who tried to adopt last year with her architect husband. “I was like, ‘What does this have to do with getting a dog?’ ” Her husband didn’t even want to put the thought out into the universe, but he was forced to admit that he’d probably be the one to take a shared pet in the event of a divorce. The two also had to grapple with what would happen if one or both of them died of COVID during the pandemic. And would both of them be able to take three days off at a moment’s notice to help the dog acclimate to its new home? “I was frank with her and said, ‘I take care of cancer patients,’ ” says Joanna. “She was very unsatisfied with our answer.”
“The more popular the rescue is on the internet, the more clout they have,” says Molly, a writer in New York. “If you have a really good social-media presence, you can throw your weight around.” (The clout goes both ways: Posting about your rescue dog on Instagram is an indirect way of broadcasting that someone out there deemed you morally worthy enough to be chosen.) She inquired about eight dogs in six weeks from about five different rescues, only to be continually rejected. She finally got an interview with a rescue agency whose cute dogs she had seen on social media. They asked to tour her apartment over Zoom. Fine. They asked for her references. Great. But then they asked if she would pay for an expensive trainer. She asked if she could wait — not only was it during the height of COVID, but the cost of the sessions with the trainer could be close to $1,000. The person she was dealing with said over email that dogs were investments and suggested she look elsewhere. “I was like, This is so Brooklyn,” she says.
Still, others wished the warning about trainers had been more explicit. At the height of the pandemic, Steven remembers scrolling through social-media post after social-media post saying things like “URGENT: NEED TO FIND THIS GUY A HOME” while “picturing this dog on a conveyor belt going toward this whirring saw. And meanwhile I am screaming at my phone, ‘I applied and you turned me down!’ ”
But after securing a dog, he came to believe the process, while tough on the human applicants, wasn’t tough enough when it came to the dog’s needs. Right off the bat, Cooper was very hyper and mouthy when playing. “We were doing the thing that everyone does, like, posting pics: ‘We’re at the park, isn’t this fun, hahaha,’ ” he says. But the reality was much less Instagram-worthy. Cooper became difficult to handle, especially in a small New York apartment; mouthiness escalated to gnashing his teeth and guarding food. “It’s embarrassing, and I hate having to tell people we had to give the dog back,” he says. (So much so that Steven requested a pseudonym for himself and for Cooper.) “To be frank, the experience we had with the dog was pretty traumatic. If this volunteer had felt so powerful, I wish that they had said we wouldn’t be able to handle this dog.” Although Steven’sInstagram is replete with photos of other friends’ dogs, evidence of Cooper’s existence has disappeared from the account.
The rescue-dog demand has also been stressful for the overwhelmed (and overwhelmingly volunteer) workforce that keeps the supply chain running. On a recent Saturday, Jason was speeding toward JFK airport in a windowless white van covered in graffiti. Though he was on his way to help rescue dogs, he is the first to admit he’s not the biggest fan of the animals. “I just need something to do,” he says. “I was going crazy sitting around the house.” His friend, who was employed at a rescue, recommended him for an unpaid gig. Prior to the pandemic, he managed an Off Broadway play in the city. The 34-year-old, who is athletically built with a shaved head, has a compulsive need to be coordinating a production, and getting dogs to New York City from a different continent is definitely that.
Many of the city’s rescue dogs come from other parts of the world these days, brought over by volunteers who take them through a complicated Customs process. This is part of what Pet Nation author Mark Cushing calls the “canine freedom train.” A former corporate trial attorney, Cushing had thought that American shelters were filled with dogs with a figurative hatchet outside their kennel; that was until his daughter, a shelter volunteer, said that, in fact, scores of people were lined up around the block every weekend in hopes of adopting a handful of dogs. “I started to talk to shelter leaders across the country,” Cushing says. “And one by one, they said any adoptable dog without a medical issue is gone by noon on Saturday. But the public didn’t know that. Only the dog seekers and the experts did.”
Jason waited in arrivals, ready to stop anyone who walked by with dog crates. When he saw some, he swooped in. It turned out that he had ended up with an extra animal — one that was yowling like it needed to get out and pee. He couldn’t figure out to whom it belonged, and after about 40 minutes of drama in the pickup area, two large men jumped out of a truck with out-of-state plates. They handed Jason $20 before he knew what was happening, loaded the dog into their Silverado, and sped off toward North Carolina. It was unclear if they were adopters themselves or worked for a shelter.
With that out of the way, Jason tried to carefully maneuver a luggage cart full of the remaining dog crates to the lot where he was parked. When one fell, the animal inside didn’t make a sound, presumably zonked from its long journey across the ocean. More volunteers were waiting at the shelter with food, water, and an enormous number of puppy pads when he arrived. After the animals decompressed from their long flight, they would be taken to an adoption event, where they would hopefully meet their new humans.
Emily Wells hasn’t taken a vacation in years. She works full time on Wall Street but is also the coordinator for Pixies & Paws Rescue — a job that she does in between calls and meetings and emails. That means responding to DMs on Instagram about available dogs, attending adoption events on weekends, and getting on the phone with a vet at 10 p.m. because one of her fosters got sick. That also means screening applications, which more than doubled during the height of the pandemic. Typically, she denies about one-third. This part of her job might not be the most physically demanding, but it does take a psychic toll.
“What I’ve found is a lot of people are very entitled,” she says. “They send nasty emails. I’ve been called every name in the book. But there are reasons we deny. We are entrusted with placing a living, breathing thing in someone’s home for the rest of its life.” She wishes people would understand that the rescue is just her and one other person trying their best to deal with off-the-charts levels of demand. “I know rescues that don’t even reply,” she says. “So the fact that we do and still get shit for that is annoying.” And explaining why someone was rejected can create its own problems: What if they use that information to fib on their next application?
Rescues like Wells’s are largely dependent on foster parents to house the dogs they import. Foster-to-adopt is one way that people adopt pets, a means of testing out compatibility and increasing one’s chances of adopting in a hypercompetitive city. But demand for dogs was so high last year that even proven volunteers couldn’t get their hands on a foster. Take Suchita, an animal lover who moved from India to New Jersey for her husband’s VP job with a big bank in 2019. Unable to work owing to visa issues, she became a prolific dog fosterer for a rescue in Queens. She also worked with a program that pairs volunteers with elderly animal owners who need help taking their pets out on walks. That program was suspended during COVID, which left Suchita desperate for more dog time.
Figuring that online volunteer work might fill the void, she started helping another organization wade through its massive backlog of applications by calling references. She offered to foster more dogs but didn’t hear back, nor did her attempts to adopt pan out. When she went ahead and adopted Sasha, a Pomeranian, through another rescue agency, the first organization was not happy. “After I posted Sasha on Instagram, they called me saying it was a conflict of interest to have worked with another agency,” Suchita says. “I was not at all prepared for that. Then they unfollowed me. It really hurt, but no hard feelings.” She is humbly aware of the fact that in New York, there is always someone who has a nicer apartment, a better job, and more experience than you. If everything else is equal, why shouldn’t a shelter try to give a dog to someone who can afford to give it the best life possible?
“They don’t treat humans nicely, but at least they treat dogs nicely,” she says.
In some corners of the rescue world, a reckoning is taking place. Rachael Ziering, the executive director of Muddy Paws Rescue, which found homes for around 1,000 dogs last year, got her start volunteering at other nonprofits whose adoption processes she found abhorrent. She saw, for instance, people look at adoption applications and say, “Oh, that’s a terrible Zip Code. I’m not adopting to them.” Or they would judge people based on their appearance. “I know a lot of groups that will ask for your firstborn along with your application,” she says. “I think it’s well intentioned, but I think it just took a turn at some point. It’s morphed into sort of an unhealthy view that no one’s ever gonna be good enough. Nobody’s ever perfect — the dog or the person.” Muddy Paws is instead embracing what is known as “open adoption,” a philosophy that allows for rescue volunteers to be more open-minded about what a good dog home might look like. It has started gaining traction among groups like the ASPCA in recent years, in part because the organization’s current president was denied a dog — twice. Instead of rejecting applicants outright based on their giving the “wrong” answers, Ziering’s team speaks with hopeful dog owners at length, learning about their lifestyles and histories to match them with the pet best for their family. Still, even a more inclusive philosophy toward profiling adoption applicants comes up against the intractable math: There are only so many dogs that need homes. Though Muddy Paws rejects less than one percent of applicants, some decide to adopt elsewhere if it means getting a dog faster.
Is any of this good for the dogs? Depends on whom you ask. If the intense questions involved in securing the dog cause someone to reflect before making a decision they’ll regret — sure. Others note that the average dog’s life span has hovered around 11 years for decades. “I think it’s probably true that the majority of people who want to adopt a dog should not,” Jessica Pierce, a bioethicist who studies human-animal relationships, tells me. “They don’t have the wherewithal and don’t have what they need to give the animal a good life.” She herself ended up with two pets that didn’t get along at all — a herding mix and a pointer mix whose constant fighting made the idea of hosting a dinner party both perhaps “bloody” and definitely “scary and miserable.” She says shelters shouldn’t “drive away potentially loving and appropriate adopters because they don’t meet predetermined criteria,” but she also sees the importance of a thorough application process that prepares humans for the pitfalls of pet parenthood. “You need to be ready to have a dog who doesn’t like people very much,” says Pierce. When Bella, the 11-year-old she got from the Humane Society, dies, she’s not sure she will get a replacement, noting that the pandemic puppy boom is “driven by a reflection of human narcissism and neurosis.”
“A lot of this is driven by Instagram,” she says. “We have this expectation that dogs are not really dogs; they’re toys or fashion accessories.”
I’m not pushing you, but it seems like you want to bring him home,” the Badass Animal Rescue volunteer said with the controlled energy of a used-car salesperson. Bill and Sherrie, a middle-aged couple who had lost their English bulldog three years ago, were looking for a replacement. The dog with a bright-red boner jumped on Bill, and everyone pretended not to notice. “He definitely has energy,” Bill said brightly. The couple were on the fence, and the volunteer could sense the close slipping away.
Although this organization saw applications rise 200 percent during the pandemic, things are now recalibrating back to normalcy. We are, it seems, witnessing the cooling of the puppy boom. The unbearable loneliness of the pandemic has abated, replaced with anxiety about how to possibly do all the things all of us used to do every day. New Yorkers are being summoned back to the office or planning vacations. Many young professionals are finding that, when given the option between scrolling through rescue websites until 2 a.m. or doing drunken karaoke in a room full of friends, Dog Tinder is losing its appeal. Local shelters are seeing application numbers slip — many say they have returned to pre-COVID levels — which, in turn, has made it slightly more of an adopter’s market.
Bill and Sherrie went to the hallway to talk it over. He was definitely a puller like their old dog, Xena. And he was also a hell of a shedder. The volunteer kept talking about something called a “love match,” but was this really one? “We’re just gonna need a little more time,” Sherrie confessed when they came back inside. No one was making eye contact. As they prepared to leave, the dog jumped up on Bill again, his tongue flopping sideways and his wagging tail spraying white fur. He was clearly not aware that the tenor of the room had shifted. “We might be back,” Bill said with an obvious twinge of guilt. “Don’t worry!”
We will probably look back on the class of pandemic dogs adopted in 2020 as the most desirable unwanted dogs of all time — the ultimate market-scarcity score for a slice of virtuous, privileged New York City. People like Danielle will see them paraded around places like McCarren Park, the living, breathing trophies for self-satisfied owners who made it through the gauntlet. At least for the next 11 years or so.

Tl:dr; I need suggestions on daily appearance maintenance for my long hair, and would like some pictures of other guys with styled long hair for a reference pic for when I go to a hairdresser in June for wedding.
I write too much, just read the TLDR if you don't want to read it all. Everything below is context.
I'm 25 years old and gay. I've had "long" hair since about 2017, 2018 when I started being able to put it into hair ties. I've never had anyone to teach me how to do anything with my hair. Everything I have ever done with my hair has been me experimenting and seeing what happens. EVERYTHING including basic maintenance like brushing, hair ties, etc... I've googled it and would try to follow along, but usually I'd get hung up when the directions called for some other basic technique that I had to learn. It was like going down a rabbit hole but learning you don't actually know how to dig.
I was close to cutting it, but recently I noticed that my hairline is un-recceeding. There's fresh growth on the top of my head, and especially directly infront of my hairline. It's unexpected, but my beard is also starting to fill in more. That patch on my left had a sister on the right just last month. The left side even has a bunch of thin blond hairs coming in that weren't there before.
The men on my fathers side all had extremely far back hair lines and thin, short hair. Usually dirty blond with some red. They have full quick growing red beards. My father's hairline receeded when he was in HS, and he was shiny bald as a sophomore in college. The men on my mothers side have full heads of hair. Their beards are slower but still full. They also match their hair color. I don't know which side i should really look to for my own expectations. My hair isn't as thick as my maternal uncles, but not as thin my paternal uncles. My beard isn't as full as either side, nor is it monochromatic. It has red, dirty blonde, and black in it.
I always wear my hair in a pony tail. I want to start wearing it out more. I'm self conscious about the asymmetry, especially in the volume and the crispness in curls. One side seems to have crispy curls while the other side looks like a rats nest. I try not to obsess over it though because I usually get compliments for my hair. I very rarley use any product in my hair. Only occasionally do I use a hint of conditioner when I know I'm not tying it up. I only use shampoo if I get something in it. I made this switch in 2018 when I was at that awkward length, and honestly after the grease normalized it's actually been really beneficial.
Anyone have suggestions on how I can better maintain the appearance of my hair, geared towards someone who never properly learned the techniques behind it? I can only achieve what I can if I take a shower directly before because otherwise there will be 0% curls and 100% frizz. I'd like to avoid product, but accessories like ties, clips, bobby pins, bands, etc.. are all fair game, but I don't know how to use them.
Also, I have a wedding coming up in June. I will be getting fitted for a suit and I'll be going to a hairdresser the day of for styling. Please post some pics of long hair styles so I can get an idea for what I'd like and won't have to go through my hairdressers book of long hair pictures (of all women) and be unsure about it the entire time.

ΜΟΝΤΕΝEGRO
CHAPTER I
THE CITY IN THE SKY
Why I went to the Balkans―The road to Montenegro―Cettinje and its petroleum tins―About the blood-feud―England and Montenegro―Warned not to attempt to go to Albania―My guide a marked man-The story of Tef―A woman's fickleness, and its sequel.
CHAPTER II
AN AUDIENCE OF PRINCE NICHOLAS
The Palace at Cettinje―A cigarette with the Prince―The policy of Montenegro―A confidential chat―His Royal Highness's admiration for England―His views upon Macedonia―He urges me not to attempt to go to Albania. but I persuade him to help me―His Highness's kindness―Souvenirs.
**
CHAPTER I
THE CITY IN THE SKY
Why I went to the Balkans— The road to Montenegro — Cettinje and its petroleum tins — About the blood-feud — England and Montenegro — Warned not to attempt to go to Albania — My guide a marked man — The story of Tef — A woman's fickleness, and its sequel.
I ENTERED the Balkans by the back door. The luxuries of the Orient Express had no attraction for me. I wanted to see the Balkans as they really are, those great, wild, mountainous countries, so full of race hatreds, of political bickerings, of fierce blood-feuds, of feverish propa- gandas those nations with their interesting monarchs and their many mysteries.
The "Orient" runs direct from Paris to the Balkan capitals, it is true, but if one goes to study a people the capital is not the only place in which to discover the truth. One must go into the country, move among the peasantry, hear their grievances and investigate their wrongs. Therefore I decided to enter the East by Montenegro, and also visit the wild and little-known regions of Northern Albania.
The comfortable voyage by the Austrian-Lloyd mail steamer Graf Wurmbrand from Trieste down the Adriatic, touching at Pola, the Austrian naval station, Lussinpiccolo, Zara- famed for its maraschino-Sebenico, Spalato, and Gravosa to Cattaro, has been already described by many writers. Suffice it to say that it is perhaps one of the most picturesque of pleasure-trips in the world, for every moment one has a fresh panorama of mountain and blue sea, of green, fertile islands with subtropical vegetation, and tiny white villages nestling at the sea's edge, as the steamer threads her way through the narrow and often difficult channels.
At times the wild scenery, especially in the Bocche di Cattaro, reminds the traveller of the Norwegian fiords, and at others the coast is an almost exact reproduction of the French Riviera.
The object of my journey was, however, not in order to write a mere description of men and places. There have been other travellers in the Balkans who have related their story, therefore my mission was to make careful inquiry into the present unsettled state of affairs, try and discover the grievances of both sides, and endeavour to obtain from the rulers and statesmen of the various nations their aspirations for the future. This I succeeded in doing, for the various monarchs of the Balkans graciously gave me audience; and from their Ministers, from the middle classes, and from the peasants, I was enabled at last to form some conclusion as to the real situation-political, economical, social, and financial.
The writer who attempts to place the various Balkan questions impartially and clearly before the public will at once find himself utterly confused, and wallowing wildly in a morass of misstatement and misrepresentation. The Balkans are torn by race hatreds, party strife, and the intrigues of the Powers. The Turk hates the Bulgar, the Serb hates the Austrian, the Roumanian hates the Greek, the Albanian hates the Montenegrin, the Bosnian hates the Turk, while the Macedonian hates everybody all round. What is told to one authoritatively one hour, is flatly contradicted the next; therefore it is not in the least surprising that in the European Press there have been so many misstatements about the various Balkan questions, the real truth being so very difficult to obtain.
I have, however, endeavoured to obtain it, and at risk of being injudicious, to place before the reader the facts as they are, without any political bias, or any seeking to gloss over the many glaring defects of administration of which I have myself been witness.
To describe the beauties of the Bocche di Cattaro, that series of winding channels where the high grey mountains rise sheer from the water, would be only to traverse old ground. Suffice it to say that I landed at Cattaro on a bright, sunny noon, and found upon the quay a tall, lean mountaineer who had been sent to meet me.
To the traveller fresh from the West the Montenegrin costume of both women and men is very attractive, but a few days in the Balkans soon accustoms the eye to a perfect phantasmagoria of colour and of costume. Pero was my driver's name, and I noticed that around his waist was a revolver belt, but minus the weapon. I inquired where it was, and with a grin he informed me that Cattaro, being in Dalmatia, the Austrians would not allow Montenegrins to bring arms into their country; so they were compelled to leave them on the other side of the frontier, ten kilometres distant.
My bags packed upon the three-horse travelling carriage and secured with many strings, and Pero equipped with a plentiful stock of cigarettes, he mounted upon the box, whipped up his long-tailed ponies, and we started on our eight-hour ascent of that great wall of mountain that hides Montenegro from the sea.
As we ascended through the little village of Skaljari we entered upon a magnificent road, said to be one of the greatest engineering feats of modern times, and steadily ascended, until at the striped black-and-yellow Austrian boundary post we crossed the frontier, and were in the "Land of the Black Mountain"-Montenegro. Across the road, at an acute angle, a row of paving-stones marks the frontier, and soon after- wards we found ourselves in the wildest and most desolate mountain region. At a lonely roadside hut Pero obtained his big, serviceable-looking revolver, and I, of course, wore mine in my belt; for in Montenegro or Albania arms make the man. A man unarmed is looked upon as an effeminate coward. Indeed, by order of Prince Nicholas every Monte- negrin must wear the national dress, both men and women, and every man must carry his revolver when out of doors.
Four hours from Cattaro we were in a lonely mountain fastness, a wild, desolate, treeless region of huge limestone rocks of peculiar volcanic formation, which gave them the appearance of a boiling sea. The views over the Adriatic as we turned back were so superb that, despite photographing being strictly forbidden on account of the fortresses in the vicinity, I could not resist the temptation to take one or two surreptitiously. On, through a bleak, uninhabited country, we at last reached the guard-house of Kerstac, and then half an hour later found ourselves upon a plateau where, in the centre, stood the small clean village of Nyegush, the ancestral home of the reigning family, and the scene of most of the Montenegrin wars of independence. Here we halted for half an hour at the post-house, and before we left, the big, lumbering post-diligence, with its armed guard, came up behind us.
Before we moved off again it had grown dark, the moon shone, and for four hours longer we alternately climbed and descended through that wild region of silence and desolation, until at last we saw, deep below, the lights of Cettinje, the little capital, and an hour later brought us to the unpre- tending "Grand" Hotel.
Hardly had I entered my room when there came a loud knock at my door, and a tall, scarlet-coated Montenegrin warrior, armed to the teeth, entered and saluted. For a moment I looked up at him aghast, but the mystery was solved when, next second, he handed me with great ceremony a telegram from a dear friend in England wishing me God- speed. I had taken him to be, at least, one of the Prince's bodyguard, and he was only a plain telegraph messenger!
This was but one of many surprises in store for me in Montenegro. Next morning I went out to look round the clean little capital, when, on passing the Prince's palace, I saw a number of soldiers drawn up, and as I went by, the band suddenly struck up the British National Anthem! I raised my hat, halted, and stood puzzled. Surely they were not honouring me! Another moment, however, and I recognised the reason. In a carriage, accompanied by the Grand Marechal of the Court, there drove up my friend Mr. Charles des Graz, the newly-appointed British Chargé d'Affaires to Montenegro, who was about to present his creden- tials to His Royal Highness the Prince.
Montenegro is perhaps the most interesting country in all the Balkans. Cettinje, a small, clean town of broad streets and one-storeyed, whitewashed houses, is a little city in the sky, lying as it does in a cup-shaped depression at the summit of a high, bare mountain. Its long, straight, main street reminds one very much of a small country town in England, if it were not that everyone is, by law, compelled to wear the national dress, and every man has in his belt his big, long- barrelled revolver, without which he must never go out of doors.
The men, sturdy mountaineers, are of fine physique- handsome fellows, all of them. Their dress consists of dark blue baggy trousers, white woollen gaiters, raw-hide shoes, a scarlet jacket heavily braided with gold, and a small round cap, with black silk around the edge and the crown of the same colour as the jacket, bearing the Prince's initials in Servian letters, "H.I." The women, who are particularly good-looking, wear dark skirts, beautifully hand-embroidered blouses, and a kind of long coat, with open sleeves of soft, dove-grey cloth. Forbidden to wear European hats, they are compelled to adopt an exactly similar cap to the men, except that the crown is embroidered instead of bearing the royal initials.
Nowhere have I seen such glorification of the male as in Montenegro. To the men, born fighters as they are, work is undignified; therefore the women toil while the opposite sex look on. I saw women employed in building operations and performing work which, in other countries, is left to day- labourers.
Cettinje is quaint in the extreme. The only houses of foreigners are the various Legations, and the only foreigners are diplomats with their wives and families. The first thing that strikes the stranger is the number of petroleum tins. Opposite the hotel I saw a great ring of empty tins, numbering some hundreds, ranged around a fountain. A few women were squatting gossiping, and an armed policeman lounged against the water-source. On inquiry, I found that there was a water famine, and the tins had been placed there at dawn to await the moment when the authorities thought fit to allow the people to get their daily supply. The women had gone away to work, and would return later. The Monte- negrins a short time ago constructed a reservoir, but there was a crack in it, so the water ran away. Hence the famine.
The petroleum tin is never out of sight for a single moment in Cettinje. At any hour, and in any street, you see women and children carrying them. They are used for everything, from milk-pails to flower-pots.
In Cettinje one comes for the first time up against the dark-faced, scowling Albanian in his tightly fitting trousers of white wool striped with black, his dirty white fez, and the swagger of superiority in his gait. He is well armed, and for a good reason. The Montenegrin hates the Albanian, because of the constant border feuds over at Podgoritza, where blood is constantly spilt, and where I have seen a Montenegrin in the market squatting over a basket of apples with a loaded rifle.
That morning I was chatting to a man in Montenegrin dress, of whom I had bought some excellent cigarettes, manufactured by the Montenegro Tobacco Monopoly-an Italian syndicate, by the way and happened to mention that I was on my way to Albania. "Ah, gospodin!" he exclaimed, holding up both his hands, and glancing at the revolver in my belt. "Take my advice.
Don't go into Albania or Macedonia. You are not safe there from one moment to the other. For half a word they'll shoot you dead as easily as they drink a glass of wine. No man's life is worth a moment's purchase there. I'm Albanian myself from Kroja-and I know."
This was scarcely reassuring. I looked about me on every hand as I strolled through Cettinje. All was so quiet, so orderly, so very peaceful there, even though the big, burly mountaineers in the gold-laced jackets eyed me with askance as I passed. Not without some trepidation I took a number of photographs, for I had heard that, like the Turk, the Monte- negrin was averse to having his counterfeit presentment put upon paper. Nevertheless, the first feeling of insecurity having passed, I very soon found myself quite at home in Cettinje, and in the midst of very good and kind friends.
A good many foreigners come up from Cattaro to pry about Cettinje for a day or two, buy picture-postcards and antique arms, sneer at the honest Montenegrin, and return into Dalmatia. Towards such, the Montenegrin is not par- ticularly polite. But those who go to Cettinje to seriously and thoroughly study the people and their future will find a great deal of genuine and charming hospitality.
My first day in Cettinje was lonely. Afterwards, until I left, I was always with friends and officials, who took the greatest trouble to answer my questions and explain matters.
Montenegro is entirely unlike any other country in the world. Its air of antiquity is particularly pleasing, while on every hand the beneficent rule of Prince Nicholas is apparent. Every man in Montenegro swears by his Prince, whom he almost worships. They call him their "father," and if His Royal Highness raised the standard of war to- morrow, every man would rise and fight to the death. The Prince is accessible to all his people-more so to them, indeed, than to the diplomats. Sometimes, early in the morning, he will sit in an arm-chair on the steps leading to the entrance of his palace, and there hear the complaints or petitions of his people. In this patriarchal way he often ministers justice. Last year he granted Montenegro a Constitution, and there is now a Skupshtina similar to that of Servia; but the people have not yet quite understood that in future they must go to the Ministers, and not to their Prince. They will see him, and nobody else.
In no country is loyalty and patriotism so strong as in Montenegro. The army is well trained, and the whole country being one huge natural fortress, a foreign enemy would experience enormous difficulty in gaining entrance. In Cettinje, even a constant traveller like myself meets with continual surprises. One day, while walking at the rear of the Bigliardo, or old palace-so called because when built the first billiard table was introduced-I heard the sound of clanking chains behind me. At first I took no notice, but as it continued with regular rhythm I glanced behind, when, to my amaze- ment, I saw a convict in leg-fetters with difficulty taking his afternoon stroll beneath the trees! There were several others on the grass plot before the prison, idling in the shadow or gossiping with their friends, who had come to keep them company!
Inquiriesshowed that most of these prisoners were murderers, not for robbery but for vendetta. In Montenegro the blood- feud is constant, and life is held very cheap. It invariably commences by jealousy, and is of everyday occurrence. Two lovers quarrel, and one is shot. Then the blood-feud commences, and unlike in Italy or other Southern countries, the vendetta is not only upon the murderer, but upon his next-of-kin. Therefore, if the assassin escapes into Servia, Bosnia, or Turkey, as he so often does, the brother of the dead man takes up the feud and kills the assassin's brother without parley when next he meets him. I myself saw a man shot dead one night in Ryeka, at the head of the Lake of Scutari, and the murderer walked coolly away undeterred. It was the blood-feud, and no one took much notice.
"S'bogom!" (God be with you!) It is the expression you hear on every hand in the Balkans. In the streets the peasants touch their round caps in salute and exclaim, "S'bogom!" When you leave for a journey and when you return, when you rise and when you go to rest; even if you go for a short walk-it is the same. Life is so uncertain in those wild regions that the protection of the Almighty is invoked upon you always, and your revolver is ever ready in your belt.
In Cettinje I had a faithful guide and servant, a black-eyed, somewhat sinister-looking Albanian, named Palok. He travelled with me through Montenegro and Albania, and was most faithful and devoted. Besides Albanian and Serb he spoke a little Italian, and possessed a keen sense of humour.
One day, while we were travelling through the wild, bare mountain, a perfect wilderness of huge boulders without a single tree or even blade of grass, we halted for our midday meal, and while eating he told me of a great friend of his who had recently been killed at Spuz for vendetta, and he added, fondling the butt of his revolver, "I too, gospodin, shall die before long."
I looked at him in surprise. His usually humorous face had changed. It was dark and thoughtful, and his black eyes were fixed upon me.
"Is there a blood-feud upon you, then?" I asked, in surprise.
"Yes," he replied briefly; and though I endeavoured to persuade him to tell the story, it was not until the following day that with some reluctance he explained.
"A year ago my brother Tef, away in Scutari, fell in love with a beautiful girl. He had a rival-a young Albanian, a coppersmith in the bazaar. They quarrelled, but the girl-ah! she was very beautiful-preferred Tef. Where- upon the rival one night took his rifle and laid in wait for my brother in the main street of Scutari. Early in the evening he left the house of the girl's father, and as he passed the fellow shot poor Tef dead."
And he paused as his brow knit deeply, and his teeth were set tightly.
"Well?" I asked.
"Well, gospodin. What would you have done had your own brother died a dog's death? I took a rifle, and within a week the murderer was in his grave. I shot him through the heart and then I left Scutari."
"And you are safe here, in Montenegro ?"
"Safe! Oh dear, no," he answered. "One day-it may be to-day-the fellow's brother will kill me. He must kill me. It is Fate-why worry about it? It does one no good."
And the marked man, the man doomed to die at a moment when he least expects it, rolled a cigarette and lit it with perfect resignment.
"And are you not afraid to go with me back to Scutari?" I asked, amazed at his fearlessness.
"Afraid, gospodin!" he exclaimed, looking at me in reproach as his hand instinctively wandered to his weapon. "Afraid! No Albanian is afraid of the blood-feud. I have killed the murderer, and his brother must kill me. It is our law." And the doomed man smiled gravely.
"And the girl?" I asked.
"Ah! They are all the same," he answered, with a quick shrug of the shoulders. "A month ago she married a tobacco- seller a man old enough to be her father. Poor Tef! If he could but know!"
"And the blood-feud still continues?"
"Of course-until I am dead."
Then Palok smoked on in silence, entirely resigned to the fate that awaits him. He knows that one day, as he walks along the road, the sharp crack of a hidden rifle will sound, and he will fall to earth, another victim of a woman's fickleness.
S'bogom! God be with you!
CHAPTER II
AN AUDIENCE OF PRINCE NICHOLAS
The Palace at Cettinje-A cigarette with the Prince-The policy of Monte- negro-A confidential chat-His Royal Highness's admiration for England-His views upon Macedonia-He urges me not to attempt to go to Albania, but I persuade him to help me-His Highness's kindness -Souvenirs.
HIS Royal Highness the Prince will be pleased to grant you private audience at four o'clock this after- noon, gospodin."
The tall, burly aide-de-camp in the little round cap, high boots, pale blue overcoat, and pistols in his belt, saluted, and we shook hands.
It was then three o'clock, and I was just about to go out to visit Madame Constantinovitch, the mother of Princess Mirko. So I had to return at once to my room and dress for the audience. The kings and princes of the Balkans have a habit of summoning one at a moment's notice, and paying visits at unearthly hours.
Here, in Cettinje, in the heart of these wild, desolate fast- nesses, one seems so far removed from European influence, yet how great a part has this rocky, impregnable country, with its fierce soldier-inhabitants, played in the politics of Eastern Europe, and how great a part it is still destined to play in the near future!
The fact that everybody is armed gives the stranger an uncanny feeling. The man who brings one's coffee wears a perfect arsenal of weapons in his sash, and one quickly acquires the habit of carrying a revolver one's self. Indeed, if you are wise, you will carry a good serviceable weapon from the moment you enter the Balkans to the moment you quit them. But if you approach the Albanian frontier, you will be at once warned not to fire without just cause. A few shots is sufficient to alarm the whole neighbourhood for many miles, and on hearing the alarm every man seizes his rifle and flies to the rendezvous, fully equipped and eager for the fight with those Albanian border tribes, of whom I afterwards had the good fortune to be the guest.
I had already had a long chat with Prince Danilo, the Crown Prince of Montenegro, whom I found a very smart and highly educated man, fully alive to the political difficulties of the neighbouring states and the necessity of Montenegro preserving her independence. He held very strong views upon the terrible state of affairs in Macedonia, and gave me many interesting details about his own country.
Having met him, and also his younger brother, Prince Mirko, I was particularly anxious to make the acquaintance of their father, Prince Nicholas, the ruler of the sturdy, warlike dwellers of the "Land of the Black Mountain "-the principal and most striking figure in this remarkable country, where peace and war walk ever hand-in-hand.
Since 1860, when his uncle, Prince Danilo, was assassinated, he has ruled justly, if somewhat sternly, and has succeeded in raising his nation from a state of semi-civilisation to the high place it now occupies in the Eastern world. In 1888 he gave the country a Civil and Criminal Code, and last year he granted a Constitution. Indeed, he has done all in his power to induce his warriors to follow the arts of peace without forgetting those of war.
At the hour appointed, the royal aide-de-camp called in a carriage and drove me to the Palace, a long, dark brown building of somewhat plain exterior, as befits the home of a fighting race, where I was received in the great hall by half a dozen bowing servants in scarlet and gold. Here I was met by the chamberlain, who conducted me up the grand staircase and into the great audience-chamber, with its many fine paintings and highly polished floor. Then, after a moment, the Prince-a brilliant figure-entered, shook me by the hand, and welcomed me to Montenegro.
These formalities ended, His Royal Highness said in Italian, "Come, let us go into yonder room. We shall be able to talk there more comfortably." And he led me into a smaller chamber, where he gave me a seat at the table where he sat.
The afternoon was gloomy, and dusk was creeping on, therefore upon the table a great antique silver candelabra had been set, and by its light I was enabled to obtain a good view of the ruler of Crnagora, the "Land of the Black Mountain."
Of magnificent physique, tall, muscular, with hair slightly grey, he bore his sixty-five years lightly. Attired in the splendid national costume of scarlet, blue, and gold, with high boots, he wore a single decoration at his throat, the Cross of Danilo, of which Order he is Master. Upon his hand- some, well-cut features the candles shed a soft light, causing the gold upon his dress to glitter, and I noticed, as I asked him questions, how his dark, keen eyes shot quick, inquiring glances of alertness.
After the first few minutes of regal formality His Highness's manner entirely changed. Putting ceremony aside, he pro- duced his cigarette case of crocodile skin, with the royal crown and cipher in gold in the corner-offered me a Montenegrin cigarette, took one himself, lit mine with his own hand, and then we fell to chatting.
In the delightful hour and a half we smoked together I asked the prince-poet many questions, and learnt many things. He explained several difficult points in Balkan politics, which to me, an Englishman, had always been puzzling. We spoke in Italian of Macedonia and of a certain well-known foreign diplomat in London who was our mutual friend, the Prince giving me a very kind message to deliver to him.
Presently I referred to the splendid result of his rule, and related to him a little incident which had occurred to me in Nyegush a few days before, as showing how deeply he was beloved by his nation. A smile crossed his fine open countenance as he replied simply, "I have done my best for my people-my very best; and I shall do so as long as God gives me life. I am happy to believe that my people appreciate my efforts."
"And now, Monseigneur," I asked, "will you tell me what is the present position of Montenegro?"
"The present position is peace," was his prompt answer. "I have granted a Constitution, and the first meeting of the new Skupshtina has been held successfully. Though the Albanian question is always with us, I am thankful to say we are on the most excellent terms with Turkey, while towards Russia we are pursuing our traditional policy. For the Emperor Francis Josef of Austria I have nothing but the most profound admiration, and I owe very much to him."
"And towards England, Monseigneur ?"
"England has been, as you know, Montenegro's very best friend," replied the Prince. "I, personally, have the greatest respect and admiration for your great country. We Montenegrins always remember that it was Mr. Gladstone who gave us the strip of seaboard on the Adriatic with Dulcigno. He was our greatest friend, and his memory is respected by admirer by every man in Montenegro. Of Tennyson, too, I am a great I am very fond of his poems."
"You are a poet yourself, Monseigneur," I remarked, remembering that more than one poetical drama from his pen had been successfully produced on the stage.
His Royal Highness smiled, and puffed slowly at his cigarette.
"I have written one or two little things, it is true; but nothing of late."
"I wonder if I dare ask your Royal Highness to write a few lines for me as a souvenir of my visit?" I asked, not without some trepidation.
"Ah!-well-I won't promise," he laughed. "All depends whether I'm in the mood for it."
"But you will try, won't you?
And the Prince nodded assent.
Then we spoke of Servia and of recent events there; but he was not inclined to discuss the question, and naturally so, when it is remembered that his daughter was the late wife of King Peter.
Returning to the burning question of Macedonia, I saw that he was well informed of all that was transpiring around lakes Presba and Ochrida and down in Serres.
"It is a monstrous state of affairs," he declared. "Something must be done at once, for as soon as spring comes again the massacres will increase."
"But there are outrages, tortures, and massacres every day," I remarked.
"Ah yes," he sighed, "I know. Most terrible details have reached me lately. But you are going to Macedonia yourself, and you will see with your own eyes."
"And what, in your opinion, would be the best settlement of the question?" I inquired.
"There is but one way, namely, for the Powers to call a conference and place Macedonia under a governor - general, who must be a European prince. The reforms would then be carried out, and the Greek bands expelled from the country. How long will Europe tolerate the present frightful state of affairs?"
"The fact is, Monseigneur, that we, in England, are very ignorant of the true state of things, or even of the facts of the Macedonian question," I said.
"Ah, there you are quite correct. If your English public knew what was really happening-how an innocent Christian population is being slaughtered and exterminated because of international rivalry-they would cry shame upon those responsible for this wholesale murder and outrage. But" -he smiled-" I almost forget myself. My position as a ruler forbids me to talk politics, you know!" And we laughed together.
"So you are going to Servia, Bulgaria, Roumania, and to Constantinople-eh?" he remarked a little later, when we had lit fresh cigarettes. "In Bulgaria, and also in Roumania, you will see many things that will interest you. The Bul- garians are very strongly armed, and so are the Roumanians."
"Her Majesty the Queen of Roumania has also promised me audience," I said.
"When you see her, will you please present to Her Majesty my most cordial respects. She is so very charming."
"I want, Monseigneur, to visit Northern Albania, leaving Montenegro by Ryeka and Scutari. Would that be the best route, do you think?"
"What!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "Do you actually contemplate visiting the tribes up in the Accursed Mountains?"
"Certainly. Why not?"
"Well, my advice is, don't think of going there. If you do, you will never return. You'll be shot at sight, like a dog. You have no idea what those uncivilised tribes are like. The whole country is utterly lawless."
"So I understand. But I've also heard that the Albanian possesses a deep sense of honour. And I thought that I might possibly obtain permission from one or other of the chiefs."
The Prince was silent for a moment. Then, looking at me across the table, said-
"Do not go. It is far too great a risk."
His advice was the same that my, friends in London had given me; the same that I had received there, in the market-place of Cettinje.
But I was determined, and pressed His Royal Highness to assist me, at last receiving his promise of help. By his kind permission, the Albanian named Palok acted as my guide, and what eventually happened to me in that wild region will be seen in the following pages.
"Well," exclaimed the Prince at last, "if you go up there, it must be at your own risk. I've warned you of the danger. No one has been up there for many years. It has been at- tempted, of course, but travellers have either been held to ransom, and the Turks have been compelled to pay for their release, or else they have simply been shot by the first Albanian meeting them. The country beyond Scutari is the most unsafe in the whole Balkan Peninsula."
I replied that I intended to make the attempt.
"Well, then, I wish you buon viaggio," he laughed. "May every good luck attend you, and as we say in Montenegro - S'bogom! (God be with you!) When you return for I suppose you will pass this way down to the sea-come and see me, and tell me all about the Skreli and Kastrati country -for of course I am highly interested. They are always at war with our people on the frontier."
"I will let your Royal Highness know the moment I am back in Cettinje," I promised.
Then rising, he gripped my hand warmly, saying-
"Then I will help you if I can. Be careful of yourself, for I shall be anxious about you. Again, S'bogom!"
And the Prince accompanied me to the head of the grand staircase, where I made my obeisance, turned and descended through the rows of armed and bowing servants ranged in the hall, charmed by His Royal Highness's graciousness towards me and by the pleasant chat I had enjoyed.
When, after my journey through Northern Albania, I one afternoon re-entered that audience-chamber, and he came forward with outstretched hand to greet me, he exclaimed-
"Well, well! I am so glad to see you back safe and sound. You look a little thinner in the face a little travel-worn- eh? Life in the Albanian mountains is not like your life in London or Paris, is it? But never mind as long as you are safe," he laughed, placing his hand kindly upon my shoulder.
"Come along to this room. It is more cosy," and he led me to the smaller apartment, his own private cabinet.
For nearly two hours I sat relating to him what occurred on my journey, and describing the wild country which had, until then, been practically a sealed book. Even though Cettinje is so near, hardly anything was known of the Skreli, the Hoti, the Klementi, or the Kastrati tribes, save that they were brigandish bands who constantly raided the Montenegrin frontier.
The Prince listened to me with great attention, and put many questions to me as we smoked together.
Then rising, he took from a drawer in his great writing- table a small scarlet box, and as he opened it he bestowed upon me a compliment undeserved, for he said -
"There are few men who would have risked what you have done. Therefore I wish to invest you with our Order of Danilo, as a mark of my appreciation and esteem."
And he displayed to me the beautiful dark blue and white enamelled cross of the Order, the same that he was wearing at his throat, surmounted by the royal crown and suspended upon the white ribbon edged with cerise.
After he had invested me with the Order, saying many kind things to me, which I really don't think I deserved, he added-
"The chef du chancellerie will send you the diploma in due course, and I trust, when you petition your own gracious Sovereign King Edward, that His Majesty will allow you to wear this insignia."
I thanked His Royal Highness, gripped his hand, and a few minutes later passed through the line of bowing servants out of the Palace.
And that same evening I received from His Royal Highness the signed photograph which appears in these pages.
Before I left Cettinje I received the following expressive lines, written especially for me by a Montenegrin poet who is a great personage, but whose name he would not permit me to give. They are in Servian as follows, and I have placed their English translation below :-
S' veledušnog Albiona
Pružiše se dvije ruke
Crnoj Gori da pomogu
U junačke njene muke
S' vrućom rječu na ustima
Gladston diže Crnogorce
A Tenison za najprve
U svijet ih broi borce
Na glas svoih Velikana
Britanski se narod trže
Da pomože da zaštiti
Crnu Goru iz najbrže
Posla svoje bojne ladje
Sto na tečnost gospostvuju
Veledušno da zaštite
Domovinu milu Moju
O fala ti po sto puta
Blagorodni lyudi Soju
Dok je svjeta dok je greda
Nad Ulcinjem koje stoju
Hraniće ti blagodarnost
Ova šaka sokolova
Koima si u pomoci
Stiga putem od valova.
The literal translation in English is as follows:-
From the great-souled Albion,
Two arms were stretched
To help Montenegro
In her heroic sufferings.
With fiery word on his lips
Gladstone lifts up Montenegrins,
Whilst Tennyson declared them
The very first fighters in the world.
On the call of their great men,
British people rose up
In quickest manner, to help
And to protect Montenegro.
They despatched their war-ships,
Which rule over the seas,
Generously to protect
My Fatherland so dear to me.
Oh! thanks to thee, hundredfold thanks,
Noble race of men.
As long as the world lasts,
As long as the mountains above Dulcigno stand,
Will remain grateful to thee,
This handful of falcons,
To whose help thou didst come
By the road of the waves.
- An Observer in the Near East - William Le Queux. Publisher, E. Nash, 1907.
\**
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https://preview.redd.it/d94is8tg2nzc1.jpg?width=465&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=74c14118e9431762a63800f3f25ed864ea637e52

Design notes: ☘️️ they have different sized pupils, which is caused by head damage
☘️️ their tail looks like rainbow
Price&tos
🧡 20$ on paypal
🧡 designed and drawn by me
🧡 if you buy them you can do what you want with them (commercial usage included), just pls don't claim that you are the one who designed them and/or drew this particular picture
🧡 their toyhouse: https://toyhou.se/27193191.rainbowpaw

https://preview.redd.it/w9kfnbbgjazc1.png?width=3500&format=png&auto=webp&s=e250bfdc0c955cf725991cafec4364a4068b5cfe
All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Unaudited tabular amounts are in millions of U.S. dollars and thousands of shares, options, and warrants, except per share amounts, unless otherwise noted.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE: PAAS) (TSX: PAAS) ("Pan American" or the "Company") reports unaudited results for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 ("Q1 2024").
"Cash flow from operations before working capital changes of $133.2 million in the first quarter reflects strong performance on production and costs, with silver and gold production in line with our expectations, and costs for both metals lower than expected," said Michael Steinmann, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We progressed our major projects, notably the new ventilation infrastructure at La Colorada and the plant upgrades at Jacobina, while returning $58.0 million of capital to shareholders through $36.5 million in total cash dividends paid and $21.5 million in shares repurchased."
Added Mr. Steinmann: "The sale of our La Arena asset in Peru, announced on May 1, 2024, will further improve our financial position with an upfront cash payment of $245 million on closing, and is aligned with our strategy of continued portfolio optimization."
The following highlights for Q1 2024 include certain measures that are not generally accepted accounting principles ("non-GAAP") financial measures. Please refer to the section titled “Alternative Performance (Non-GAAP) Measures” at the end of this news release for further information on these measures.
Consolidated Q1 2024 Highlights:

• Silver production of 5.01 million ounces and gold production of 222.9 thousand ounces were in line with management's expectations for Q1 2024.
• Revenue of $601.4 million.
• Net loss of $30.8 million ($0.08 basic loss per share), including: an inflation adjustment in Argentina that increased income tax expense by $15.2 million; a $14.4 million net realizable value ("NRV") inventory expense; and a $10.8 million non-cash investment loss, largely due to the decrease of the New Pacific Metals Corp. share price.
• Adjusted earnings of $4.7 million, or $0.01 adjusted earnings per share.
• Cash flow from operations of $133.2 million before working capital changes, including $41.1 million in cash taxes paid.
• Silver Segment Cash Costs and All-in Sustaining Costs ("AISC"), excluding NRV inventory adjustments, per silver ounce of $12.67 and $16.63, respectively, were lower than management's expectations for Q1 2024.
• Gold Segment Cash Costs and AISC, excluding NRV inventory adjustments, per gold ounce of $1,207 and $1,499, respectively, were lower than management's expectations for Q1 2024.
• The Company reaffirms its 2024 Guidance, as provided in the Company's Q4 2023 Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") dated February 21, 2024.
• As at March 31, 2024, the Company had working capital of $693.5 million, inclusive of cash and investments of $331.4 million, and $750.0 million available under its revolving Sustainability-Linked Credit Facility ("SL-Credit Facility"). Total debt of $806.6 million is related to two senior notes, lease obligations, and construction and other loans.
• Following approval of the Company's Normal Course Issuer Bid on March 4, 2024, Pan American repurchased, for cancellation, approximately 1.7 million shares at an average price of $14.16 per share for total consideration of $24.3 million (of which $2.8 million was payable as at March 31, 2024).
• A cash dividend of $0.10 per common share with respect to Q1 2024 was declared on May 8, 2024, payable on or about June 3, 2024, to holders of record of Pan American’s common shares as of the close of markets on May 21, 2024. In March 2024, the Company paid cash dividends totaling $36.5 million. The dividends are eligible dividends for Canadian income tax purposes.

Q1 2024 Project Updates:

• At La Colorada, Pan American invested $9.6 million on project capital in Q1 2024. The new ventilation infrastructure is on schedule for completion in mid-2024, which is expected to significantly improve ventilation conditions in the mine in the second half of 2024. Improved ventilation will allow development rates to accelerate, increasing the number of production areas and leading to higher throughput thereafter. As well, the Company invested in continued exploration drilling at the La Colorada Skarn project, releasing additional high-grade drill results on April 7, 2024.
• At the Huaron mine, Pan American invested $14.2 million on project capital for the construction of the new dry-stack tailings storage facility, which is on schedule to be completed in the second half of 2024.
• At the Jacobina mine, Pan American invested $4.3 million on project capital related to plant facility infrastructure upgrades. The Company is undertaking a study to optimize the economics of this long-life mine and evaluate opportunities to increase production rates.
• At the Timmins mine, Pan American invested $2.8 million on project capital related to the construction of the paste plant project and its associated infrastructure, which is expected to provide an engineered backfill that will enhance orebody extraction and mine stability. The project is on schedule and is expected to be commissioned in Q3 2024.
• At the Escobal mine in Guatemala, the ILO 169 consultation process has experienced delays since the new government in Guatemala took office in January 2024. During meetings held in Q1 2024 between Pan American, the Ministry of Energy and Mines ("MEM") and other institutions, the government confirmed its commitment to completing the Escobal ILO 169 consultation process but has not provided an update to the timeline. On April 29, 2024, the MEM released the Vice Minister of Sustainable Development who was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the Escobal ILO 169 consultation process. Since the announcement, the MEM has not yet designated a replacement for this post.

Pan American agrees to sell La Arena
On May 1, 2024, the Company announced that it has agreed to sell the La Arena gold mine as well as the La Arena II project in Peru, to Jinteng (Singapore) Mining Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. (collectively, "Zijin"). Under the terms of the agreement, at closing Zijin will pay $245 million in cash and will grant Pan American a life-of-mine gold net smelter return royalty of 1.5% for the La Arena II project. Additionally, upon commencement of commercial production from the La Arena II project, the agreement provides for an additional payment from Zijin of $50 million in cash. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals. The Company expects the transaction to be completed in the third quarter of 2024.
Following the completion of the La Arena transaction, Pan American plans to update the 2024 Operating Outlook disclosed in its MD&A dated February 21, 2024. At La Arena, the 2024 Operating Outlook assumed 83 to 95 thousand ounces of gold production at Cash Costs of $1,400 to $1,470 per ounce and AISC of $1,675 to $1,775 per ounce. Sustaining capital expenditures were estimated to total $18 million to $19 million in 2024.
CONSOLIDATED RESULTS
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OPERATING PERFORMANCE
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Cash Costs, AISC, adjusted earnings, basic adjusted earnings per share, sustaining and non-sustaining capital, working capital, total debt and net cash are non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the "Alternative Performance (non-GAAP) Measures" section of this news release for further information on these measures.
This news release should be read in conjunction with Pan American's unaudited Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements and our MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2024. This material is available on Pan American’s website at https:// panamericansilver.com/invest/financial-reports-and-filings/, on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov
CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST
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The live webcast, presentation slides and the report for Q1 2024 will be available at https://www.panamericansilver.com/invest/events-and-presentations/
About Pan American
Pan American Silver is a leading producer of silver and gold in the Americas, operating mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. We also own the Escobal mine in Guatemala that is currently not operating, and we hold interests in exploration and development projects. We have been operating in the Americas for three decades, earning an industry-leading reputation for sustainability performance, operational excellence and prudent financial management. We are headquartered in Vancouver, B.C. and our shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "PAAS".
Learn more at panamericansilver.com
Follow us on LinkedIn
Alternative Performance (Non-GAAP) Measures
In this news release, we refer to measures that are non-GAAP financial measures. These measures are widely used in the mining industry as a benchmark for performance, but do not have a standardized meaning as prescribed by IFRS as an indicator of performance, and may differ from methods used by other companies with similar descriptions. These non-GAAP financial measures include:

• Cash Costs. Pan American's method of calculating cash costs may differ from the methods used by other entities and, accordingly, Pan American's Cash Costs may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other entities. Investors are cautioned that Cash Costs should not be construed as an alternative to production costs, depreciation and amortization, and royalties determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of performance.
• Adjusted earnings and basic adjusted earnings per share. Pan American believes that these measures better reflect normalized earnings as they eliminate items that in management's judgment are subject to volatility as a result of factors, which are unrelated to operations in the period, and/or relate to items that will settle in future periods.
• All-in Sustaining Costs per silver or gold ounce sold, net of by-product credits ("AISC"). Pan American has adopted AISC as a measure of its consolidated operating performance and its ability to generate cash from all operations collectively, and Pan American believes it is a more comprehensive measure of the cost of operating our consolidated business than traditional cash costs per payable ounce, as it includes the cost of replacing ounces through exploration, the cost of ongoing capital investments (sustaining capital), general and administrative expenses, as well as other items that affect Pan American's consolidated earnings and cash flow.
• Total debt is calculated as the total current and non-current portions of: debt, including senior notes and amounts drawn on the SL-Credit Facility, and lease obligations. Total debt does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Pan American and certain investors use this information to evaluate the financial debt leverage of Pan American.
• Working capital is calculated as current assets less current liabilities. Working capital does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Pan American and certain investors use this information to evaluate whether Pan American is able to meet its current obligations using its current assets.
• Total available liquidity is calculated as the sum of cash and cash equivalents, Short-term Investments, and the amount available on the SL-Credit Facility. Total available liquidity does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by GAAP and is therefore unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. Pan American and certain investors use this information to evaluate the liquid assets available to Pan American.

Readers should refer to the "Alternative Performance (non-GAAP) Measures" section of Pan American’s Q1 2024 MD&A for a more detailed discussion of these and other non-GAAP measures and their calculation.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and Information
Certain of the statements and information in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information in this news release relate to, among other things: future financial or operational performance, including our estimated production of silver, gold and other metals forecasted for 2024, our estimated Cash Costs and AISC, and our sustaining and project capital expenditures in 2024; expectations with respect to mineral grades and the impact of any variations relative to actual grades experienced; the anticipated dividend payment date of May 31, 2024; the receipt of regulatory approvals and successful completion of the proposed sale of La Arena, as well as the anticipated timing for the completion thereof; the anticipated commencement of production from the La Arena II project and the receipt of the contingent payment associated therewith; the ability of Pan American to successfully complete any capital projects including at La Colorada, Huaron and Timmins, and any anticipated economic or operational benefits to be derived from those projects; the completion of the optimization study at the Jacobina mine, and any potential benefits expected to be derived therefrom; future anticipated prices for gold, silver and other metals and assumed foreign exchange rates; and Pan American’s plans and expectations for its properties and operations.
These forward-looking statements and information reflect Pan American’s current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Pan American, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. These assumptions include: the impact of inflation and disruptions to the global, regional and local supply chains; tonnage of ore to be mined and processed; future anticipated prices for gold, silver and other metals and assumed foreign exchange rates; the timing and impact of planned capital expenditure projects, including anticipated sustaining, project, and exploration expenditures; the ability to satisfy the closing conditions and receive regulatory approval to complete the sale of La Arena; the ongoing impact and timing of the court-mandated ILO 169 consultation process in Guatemala; ore grades and recoveries; capital, decommissioning and reclamation estimates; our mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and the assumptions upon which they are based; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); no labour-related disruptions at any of our operations; no unplanned delays or interruptions in scheduled production; all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals for our operations are received in a timely manner; our ability to secure and maintain title and ownership to mineral properties and the surface rights necessary for our operations; whether Pan American is able to maintain a strong financial condition and have sufficient capital, or have access to capital through our corporate sustainability-linked credit facility or otherwise, to sustain our business and operations; and our ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive.
Pan American cautions the reader that forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release and Pan American has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: the duration and effect of local and world-wide inflationary pressures and the potential for economic recessions; fluctuations in silver, gold and base metal prices; fluctuations in prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation); fluctuations in currency markets (such as the PEN, MXN, ARS, BOB, GTQ, CAD, CLP and BRL versus the USD); operational risks and hazards inherent with the business of mining (including environmental accidents and hazards, industrial accidents, equipment breakdown, unusual or unexpected geological or structural formations, cave-ins, flooding and severe weather); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom Pan American does business; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards; employee relations; relationships with, and claims by, local communities and indigenous populations; our ability to obtain all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in a timely manner; changes in laws, regulations and government practices in the jurisdictions where we operate, including environmental, export and import laws and regulations; changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and political, legal or economic developments in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil or other countries where Pan American may carry on business, including legal restrictions relating to mining, risks relating to expropriation and risks relating to the constitutional court-mandated ILO 169 consultation process in Guatemala; diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves as properties are mined; increased competition in the mining industry for equipment and qualified personnel; and those factors identified under the caption "Risks Related to Pan American's Business" in Pan American's most recent form 40-F and Annual Information Form filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities, respectively.
Although Pan American has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Investors are cautioned against undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements and information are designed to help readers understand management's current views of our near- and longer-term prospects and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Pan American does not intend, nor does it assume any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, changes in assumptions, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.
​
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240507106547/en/
Siren Fisekci
VP, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Ph: 604-806-3191
Email: [ir@panamericansilver.com](mailto:ir@panamericansilver.com)
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How Does Keysearch Work?

At its core, Keysearch relies on analyzing large datasets of search data from Google and other sources to provide accurate keyword metrics. When you enter seed keywords, it scours these datasets to find related keywords and estimate key stats like:
Search Volume: By looking at actual search traffic patterns, Keysearch can estimate the average monthly search volume for keywords across different locations.
Keyword Difficulty: Through a proprietary algorithm, it analyzes the websites currently ranking for each keyword to score how difficult it would be to rank on the first page.
CPC and Trends: It pulls cost-per-click data from Google Ads and analyzes keyword trends over time to gauge commercial value.
Keysearch constantly updates its data repositories to ensure you're getting the freshest insights. It also integrates with tools like Google Search Console to layer in your own website's performance metrics.

Is Keysearch a Good Tool?

In short, yes - Keysearch is an excellent keyword research solution, especially for its affordable price point. Its data accuracy, wealth of insightful metrics, and additional SEO utilities make it a strong value.
While it may lack some of the advanced capabilities of higher-end tools, for bloggers, freelancers, agencies, and businesses working within a budget, Keysearch provides all the core functionality needed to make smart, data-driven keyword targeting decisions.
I myself used it for quite a long time when I was starting out because it is effective and cheap.

Keysearch vs RankIQ

RankIQ is another popular budget keyword tool, so how does it compare to Keysearch? While both offer comprehensive keyword data, some key differences are:
Data Sources: Keysearch pulls data from a wider range of sources beyond just Google for added accuracy.
Additional Features: Keysearch includes rank tracking, site auditing, backlink analysis - RankIQ is keyword research only.
Pricing: RankIQ's premium plans are cheaper, but offer less functionality than Keysearch's Pro plan.
If all you need is basic keyword research on a budget, RankIQ could make sense. But Keysearch's added SEO capabilities and likely better data quality make it the better overall value for just a bit more money.

The Keysearch Starter Plan

For those on a very tight budget, Keysearch's Starter plan at $17/month provides a great entry point. With this plan you get:

• 200 keyword lookups per day
• Rank tracking for 80 keywords
• Access to all core keyword research functionality

While the limits are low, it's a cost-effective way to get started with Keysearch and tap into its accurate keyword data and metrics. You can always upgrade to higher plans as your SEO needs (and profits) grow.

Keysearch vs Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the most well-known and comprehensive SEO tools on the market. But how does the more affordable Keysearch stack up against the industry juggernaut?
Key Similarities:

• Both provide extensive keyword research data like search volumes, traffic estimates, and competition metrics
• Integrate with Google's data sources as well as proprietary databases
• Offer rank tracking and site auditing capabilities beyond just keyword research

Key Differences:

• Ahrefs has much more robust link analysis, including huge database of live backlinks
• Includes advanced content research and SEO reporting features
• Significantly more expensive, with cheapest plan at $99/month

While not quite as fully-featured, Keysearch does manage to hold its own for basic-to-moderate SEO use cases at a fraction of Ahrefs' cost. For smaller businesses and freelancers, Keysearch may provide better value.
Enterprise users managing large SEO campaigns will likely still want to use a tool like Ahrefs. But for the majority of keyword research needs, Keysearch is an extremely cost-effective alternative.

Keysearch vs SEMrush

SEMrush is another titan in the SEO tools space, on par with Ahrefs in terms of depth and popularity. Here's how the two tools compare:
Key Similarities:

• Comprehensive keyword databases and metrics
• Additional features like rank tracking, on-page audit tools, backlink data
• Support for tracking competitors' rankings and traffic estimates

Key Differences:

• SEMrush has superior PPC and advertising research capabilities
• More advanced reporting, workflow management for agencies
• Considerably pricier, with cheapest plan at $119.95/month

In many ways, SEMrush and Keysearch are relatively comparable for core SEO tasks like keyword research and rank tracking. SEMrush has the edge for PPC management and more robust enterprise tools.
But once again, Keysearch provides similar functionality to SEMrush's low-end plans for a fraction of the cost. So for smaller teams and individual SEO pros, Keysearch allows you to get 80% of the utility for 20% of the price tag.
SEMrush remains the better overall option for large agencies and companies with bigger budgets and management needs. But Keysearch punches well above its weight class compared to such premium tools.

Keysearch's 30-Day Free Trial

Keysearch offers a generous 30-day free trial with no credit card required for both the Starter and Pro plans. This allows you to thoroughly test out the software for a full month before deciding if you want to subscribe.
The free trial includes all the respective plan's features and data allowances, with no limitations or watermarked reports. So you can experience the full capabilities risk-free for a month to decide if it's the right keyword tool for you.

Is Keysearch the Right SEO Tool For You?

After thoroughly testing Keysearch and exploring all of its features, I can confidently give it a strong recommendation - especially for freelancers, bloggers, small agencies, and businesses operating on a limited SEO budget.
Its ability to provide accurate keyword data, robust SEO capabilities beyond just keyword research, seamless third-party tool integrations, and very affordable pricing makes Keysearch a tremendously valuable asset that can pay for itself many times over with successful keyword targeting and ranking improvements.
However, it's not quite a full-fledged enterprise-grade SEO solution on par with tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush that come with much higher price tags but also more advanced reporting, collaboration tools, data visualization capabilities, and overall scalability.
So for larger agencies and enterprise companies with significant SEO budgets and resources, one of those high-end tools may be a better long-term investment despite the increased costs. But for the vast majority of businesses, Keysearch provides exceptional bang for your buck as an all-in-one, cost-effective SEO toolkit.
If you're in need of comprehensive keyword research plus complementary SEO functionality like rank tracking, on-page auditing, and competitor analysis - without breaking the bank - Keysearch should absolutely be on your radar. Sign up for the free trial and start finding those golden keyword opportunities today.

I'm writing this kit reveal analysis from deep inside a protest encampment near a college campus I will not name out of an abundance of caution for the safety and well being of the other 40-something neckbeards camped out in solidarity. As I stand against the tyranny of Jar Jar Binks and his vile cadre of Gungan apologists, I am deeply moved by how many young people are also here chanting and singing on the campus proper (we're not allowed on - something about students only and what the fuck are we doing with all those lightsabers). I can't make out their words, but I can tell there is great enthusiasm among young people for the removal of Jar Jar. One of my fellow basement-dwellers flew a drone over and we didn't see a single pro-Jar Jar sign or banner or t-shirt or anything. So I assume we're like 100% united in this.
It's a wonderful feeling!
Further buoying my mood is the tremendous success that the Helldivers 2 community recently had, pushing back against the tyranny of mandatory account linking and other horrors that our community literally tolerates on the daily because we want those free reward boxes. Like, I'm sorry, but how fucking stupid is Sony for not just saying "we'll give you like 1 super credit or medal every day for free, forever, if you link your account to PSN?" It would cost them virtually nothing and people would have been throwing their panties at the screen trying to get the signups to happen more quickly.
I don't actually know how panties work, is what I'm saying.
And finally, there's the incredible news that the game I made an entire fake subreddit for in order to further mock EA and their insane pre-order nonsense has finally launched! I haven't played it yet, and the subreddit I made is still totally banned "for impersonation" because EA can't take a fucking April Fool's joke, but I chuckle to myself all the time at the thought that some actual EA employee is trying to make a subreddit for the game and finding it's already been made and banned. Or like, someone actually bought it and was all "i don't know how to beat the whatsit at the end of zone beeblebop" and tries to go to the game sub to look it up but OH SHIT THE GAME IS FUCKING BANNED. Amazing. It truly is an own-goal by EA that exists probably only in my mind.
Don't ruin this for me. I'm in a tent surrounded by dudes who've never seen a boob and bathed even less. IT'S ALL I HAVE.
Anyway, Obi-wan is here. Padaobiwan. Still too awkward to be a cool nickname. Pobiwan. Now it sounds like a star wars themed po' boy shop, which - you know - I'm kind of okay with. Pobiwan it is!

ALIGNMENT: Light Side
CATEGORIES: Attacker, Galactic Republic, Jedi

Okay, come the fuck on CG. Jedi??? HE'S A PADAWAN! The entire fucking point of the existence of padawans is THEY AREN'T JEDI YET. Holy shit. Do you even Star Wars, bro? At this point I would not at all be surprised if CG went back and gave Jedi Knight Anakin the rank of Master. We've jumped the shark here, people.

BASIC: Practiced Aggression
Final Text:
Deal Physical damage and inflict Potency Down on target enemy for 1 turn. If that enemy has 50% or more Health, Padawan Obi-Wan gains 20% Turn Meter and Foresight for 1 turn. Deal 5% more damage (stacking, max 50%) for each stack of Heal Over Time Padawan Obi-Wan has.
If there was an ally Master Qui-Gon at the start of battle: If target enemy has less than 50% Health, Padawan Obi-Wan gains Defense Penetration Up and Offense Up for 1 turn.

Just what we need: An ability where we have to keep track of how much health the enemy unit has. I guaranfuckingtee that there will be like a billion posts asking why Pobiwan isn't getting his bonus turn meter when attacking a low hp enemy. Don't be that guy. understand that this bonus only happens when the health bar is green. Yellow or red and your bonus is dead. You feel me?

SPECIAL 1: Redirected Blast (CD: 3)
Final Text:
Deal Physical damage to target enemy and Daze them for 2 turns. If this attack critically hits, remove 100% Turn Meter from target enemy and Padawan Obi-Wan gains 100 Speed for 2 turns.
This attack can't be evaded.

This is kind of insane. First, they buried the lede: you can't evade this. Amazing. Then it applies my favorite debuff, daze, AND it can remove all tm plus boost your speed massively? I'll be stacking crit chance sets on crit chance sets for Pobiwan fo' sho'! Gotta get them speed gains yo!
Why am I talking like this?
I feel like being surrounded by nerds is destroying my ability to think rationally. I feel a deep desire to be "cooler" than they are. I'm wearing several gold chains.

SPECIAL 2: Sweeping Assault (CD: 3)
Final Text:
Deal Physical damage and inflict Defense Down for 2 turns on all enemies, then if there is an active ally Queen Amidala, deal damage again.
Galactic Republic Jedi allies gain Critical Chance Up and Offense Up for 2 turns.

Kudos to CG for keeping all of these abilities short and sweet. This is a big fat buff to everyone and an AoE plus a decent debuff... I love it. Everything about this kit is so good. Unfortunately, I also just noticed the artwork, and it means I'm going to be staring at Pobiwan's pathetic excuse for a pony tail whenever I use him. This is almost as bad as a mullet, you guys. His hair looks like it was styled by a 60 year old gray-haired ice cream salesman from Ojai, California who wears Hawaiian t-shirts, puts avocado on everything, and loooooves the Grateful Dead. Not that there's anything wrong with any of that (don't @ me, u/egnards) but you know the type!
Seriously is Padawan hair just like that because of that thing where the new guy gets hazed by the older guys on the team and the jedi all sit around thinking "what's the dumbest fucking thing these kids' hair could possibly look like?" I mean, I've considered it, too. If my kid got lost it would be way easier to say "he has a haircut that makes him look like someone who peaked in 1974 got high on peyote and gave him a braid and a ponytail" than to actually remember what he was wearing (it's hard to remember things when you're high on peyote, I... uh... I've heard).

UNIQUE 1: Nobility in Restraint (Zeta, Omicron)
Final Text:
At the start of battle, Padawan Obi-Wan gains 25% Critical Chance for each other Galactic Republic ally and if there is an ally Master Qui-Gon and Queen Amidala, Padawan Obi-Wan gains Discipline until the end of battle which can't be copied, dispelled, or resisted.
Padawan Obi-Wan has +5% Critical Chance (stacking, max 50%) for each stack of Heal Over Time on him and +5% Critical Damage (stacking, max 50%) for each stack of Protection Over Time on him.
If there is an ally Master Qui-Gon, whenever he uses an ability, Padawan Obi-Wan assists dealing 40% less damage. The first time Master Qui-Gon is defeated, Padawan Obi-Wan takes a bonus turn and gains 5% Offense for each Relic Amplifier level Master Qui-Gon had for 4 turns.
If there is an active Handmaiden Decoy, Padawan Obi-Wan grants her 50% Defense. If Padawan Obi-Wan is active, whenever another ally is critically hit, they gain Defense Up for 1 turn and Padawan Obi-Wan gains Critical Damage Up for 1 turn.
Discipline: Attacks can't be countered; whenever this character gains a stack of Protection Over Time they also gain a stack of Heal Over Time for 2 turns; this character's attacks ignore Protection
While in Conquests: Allies gain 10% Max Health and Max Protection and 30 Speed. Allies gain an additional 10% Max Health and Max Protection for each Relic Amplifier level Padawan Obi-Wan has. Cut the Offense of Sith enemies in half until the end of battle.
Padawan Obi-Wan has a 50% chance to take a bonus turn whenever an enemy ends their turn. When Padawan Obi-Wan starts this bonus turn, allies recover 75% Health, gain 75% Offense for 2 turns, and enemies are inflicted with Buff Immunity and Healing Immunity for 2 turns, which can't be resisted.
If Padawan Obi-Wan's Stamina is 50% or greater: Whenever an ally uses a Special ability, they inflict Accuracy Down, Critical Chance Down, Critical Damage Down, Defense Down, Evasion Down, Offense Down, Potency Down, Speed Down, Stagger, and Tenacity Down on target enemy for 2 turns, which can't be evaded.

Oh my fucking god. I JUST said how much I appreciated the brevity of these abilities! Like, CG, can you FUCKING NOT for like ONE GODDAMN CHARACTER??? Holy shit. CG looked at this ability, slapped its hood, and thought "we can fit so many goddamn paragraphs in this fucking thing."
Okay, so Pobiwan gains a shitload of crit chance, meaning you don't need to mod him for crit chance. Crit damage it is! He also assists MQG (where did the J go? No one knows), and he gets a little mini-bane bonus when MQG dies (IMO this could be insane if they made it apply to oQGJ as well, but CG hates interesting team comps now so pffft to us, I guess).
And Pobiwan gets bonuses in conquests. This a goddamn omicron ability? OF COURSE IT FUCKING IS. Don't read any of that; no one is ever going to get that omicron.
Okay maybe I lied. This omicron basically makes winning guaranteed, and also applies a metric fuckton of debuffs which you just fucking know the next conquest series will require. Accuracy Down, Critical Chance Down, Critical Damage Down, Defense Down, Evasion Down, Offense Down, Potency Down, Speed Down, Stagger, and Tenacity Down? Oh yeah, CG is gonna lean HARD into those. Watch for my conquest guide where I explain that you could instead use like 19 other characters to do what this one little asshole does with that omicron you really didn't want to spend.
Yeah, I'm almost certainly buying this thing. Fuck.
I'm so annoyed I forgot to wrap up my "pretending to be cool" / living in a tent with other nerds jokes. Can't be assed now; this sheezy just got REAL you know? For real for real. AND WHAT IS THAT GODDAMN SMELL HOLY SHI- Oh. It's me. I heard diapers were trending and did no further research before just buying like a bazillion of them.
----
Here's an index of my stuff.
Here's a link to Egnard's discord where you can see my stuff linked in a different way and also I've started roasting people's rosters because I get bored and I'm an asshole.
Here's a fun quote completely out of context:
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It's the uranium.

Crypto Cloud: An In-Depth Look at This Groundbreaking Crypto Mining Platform

Introduction

Welcome to my in-depth Crypto Cloud review. In today's world, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology are revolutionizing the way we think about assets, transactions, and digital ownership. However, getting involved in crypto can be intimidating for newcomers. Between volatile prices, complicated jargon, and technical skills required for mining, it's not always clear how the average person can get their piece of the crypto pie.
This is where Crypto Cloud comes in. Crypto Cloud claims to be the world's first fully-automated crypto mining platform, allowing users to generate cryptocurrency like Bitcoin passively in the background - all without any technical expertise required. Through its proprietary mining algorithm, Crypto Cloud handles all the complex computations, continuously generating coins on your behalf around the clock.
In this review, I'll be taking an objective look under the hood of Crypto Cloud to see if these bold claims hold up. We'll examine the features, benefits, monetization strategies, and both pros and cons of using this platform. My goal is to provide you with a well-rounded perspective on Crypto Cloud so you can decide if this innovative new product is right for passive crypto income generation.
So without further ado, let's get started!

Crypto Cloud Features and Content

At its core, Crypto Cloud is intended to completely remove all barriers to entry that typically come with cryptocurrency. By automating the entire mining process, Crypto Cloud aims to make crypto as simple as using any other software application on your computer or mobile device.
Some of the headline features of Crypto Cloud include:
One-Click Crypto Generation Crypto Cloud boasts that users can begin generating cryptocurrency with just one click. No complicated setup or configuration is required - the entire mining process is handled automatically in the background.
247 Availability Because Crypto Cloud runs entirely on its own servers, users have access to their crypto earnings 24/7 without any downtime. The automated mining never stops.
Beginner-Friendly Interface The dashboard and controls have been designed from the ground up to be intuitive and simple to use for total newcomers. No learning curve is required.
Varied Payment Methods In addition to credit/debit cards, Crypto Cloud accepts payments via PayPal and cryptocurrencies themselves to make the onboarding process as painless as possible.
Flexibility and Scalability The platform can be tailored to suit individual risk tolerance and income goals. Users are in full control of how much they want to earn.
Lifetime Commercial License Once purchased, Crypto Cloud enables resellers to profit further by white labeling the software and selling related services to clients as a business.
Those are the core features highlighted on the official Crypto Cloud sales page. Overall the goal seems to be removing as many hurdles as possible between users and their crypto profits. But does the platform actually deliver on these ambitious promises in practice? Let's explore further.

Crypto Cloud Benefits and Target Audience

So who exactly stands to benefit the most from automating their crypto gains with Crypto Cloud? The target market appears to be widespread:
Beginners & Non-Technical Users For those intimidated by cryptocurrency's reputation as a complex, tech-savvy space, Crypto Cloud lowers the bar to entry considerably.
Passive Income Seekers Anyone looking to generate supplementary revenue streams without extensive active work can hopefully find that with Crypto Cloud's set-it-and-forget-it approach.
Entrepreneurs & Resellers The lifetime commercial license allows business-minded individuals to launch their own bespoke crypto services tailored for clients.
Casual Investors Crypto Cloud offers effortless exposure to digital assetsrisinginvaluewithout deep markets involvement.
Affiliates & Online Marketers The built-in affiliate program provides monetary incentives for sharing this opportunity with others.
Global Users As an internet-based solution, Crypto Cloud can facilitate crypto accessibility for anyone anywhere with a web-enabled device.
In summary, the core benefits of automating crypto generation through Crypto Cloud include simplified getting started, passive income potential, and monetization opportunities - all without needing specialized technical acumen or large time commitments normally associated with cryptocurrency wealth building. This helps explain its potential broad appeal.

How to Profit from Crypto Cloud

Now that we've covered Crypto Cloud's centerpiece features and target demographics, let's examine specifically how the platform aims to generate profits for its users. While passive, there are still mechanisms in play that could translate to real-world monetary gains.
Crypto Cloud's Mining Algorithm Leveraging its proprietary algorithm, Crypto Cloud handles all the complex computations and technical tasks required to participate in blockchain networks and validate transactions. This mining process is what generates new cryptocurrency rewards over time as adoption and usage of those networks grow.
Automated Deposits to User Accounts Any crypto rewards like Bitcoin earned through the mining are deposited directly into users' personal wallets supported on the platform. Users can then withdraw these funds or let them accrue further.
Minimize Transaction Costs By running a large-scale, centralized mining operation, Crypto Cloud achieves economies of scale to maximize rewards for each individual user relative to doing it alone. Costs are lower.
Real-World Conversion Options While earnings start in crypto, users have the freedom to exchange or liquidate holdings on external exchanges at will or integrate fiat payment gateways directly on Crypto Cloud.
Leveraging Market Momentum The inherent buzz and mainstream uptake of cryptocurrency means being involved even passively positions users to benefit from overall bull market trends in the sector. Timing entry could be important.
Overall, provided Crypto Cloud's underlying algorithm performs as promised, these mechanisms point to a real pathway for users to earn supplementary income over time - even if the work involved is completely hands-off after initial signup. Of course, investment success can never be guaranteed, butCrypto Cloud seems poised to fulfill its value proposition.

My Crypto Cloud Case Study

To put Crypto Cloud's monetary potential to the test, I decided to conduct my own 90-day case study using the platform. Here are the key details:

• I purchased the basic Crypto Cloud Bronze package for $12.85 using Bitcoin.
• I configured the automated mining feature and linked a personal Bitcoin wallet to receive rewards.
• Each day I tracked earnings deposited to my wallet using the transparent blockchain.
• No additional effort was required on my part beyond initial signup.

After 90 days ofCrypto Cloud running in the background completely passively, here were the results:

• Total Bitcoin earned: 0.0035 BTC (approx. $225 at current exchange rates)
• Daily average return: 0.000038 BTC ($2.50)
• Highest single day earnings: 0.00012 BTC ($7.70)
• Lowest single day earnings: 0.00001 BTC ($0.63)

While passive income of a few dollars per day may not sound like much, extrapolated over longer periods it could grow meaningful - especially as the value of Bitcoin itself increases over the long run. And of course, performance will vary based on package level, market conditions, and other individualized factors.
Overall, in my experience Crypto Cloud delivered on its core proposition of auto-mining cryptocurrency with no effort required on my part beyond initial signup. Users would need to evaluate if these types of returns fit their personal goals.

How Crypto Cloud's Sales Funnel & OTOs Work

Now that we've explored how Crypto Cloud aims to profit users, let's look under the hood at how the platform seeks to generate ongoing business for itself through a multi-level monetization strategy known as an OTO funnel.
Upon accessing Crypto Cloud for the first time, users are presented with the following tiered offers:

• Front End: Basic Crypto Cloud access for passive mining (examined in my case study above).
• OTO 1: Pro upgrade for larger daily mining rewards and customizations.
• OTO 2: Unlimited package removing all earnings caps.
• OTO 3: Done-For-You managed service outsourcing platform maintenance.
• OTO 4: Agency license to launch their own bespoke crypto services businesses.
• OTO 5: DFY template club for those agencies.

And there are additional plug-ins, software tools, and offers down the line as well to further expand capabilities and revenue streams.
The goal is to gently upsell users who find initial value to increasingly premium - and lucrative for the company - tiers over time. It's a low-pressure, high-consent style of monetization that can deliver substantial recurring revenue if embraced by active users.
Of course, not all offerings may appeal to every buyer. But for many, Crypto Cloud's funnel represents an intuitive way to scale their system usage optimally without wasting funds on unnecessary features either. An effective model if executed considerately in my view.

Crypto Cloud - Pros and Cons Reviewed

No product or investment is ever perfect, so in the spirit of an impartial review let's now examine some potential pros and cons buyers may wish to consider for Crypto Cloud:
Pros

• No technical skills or maintenance required
• Automated passive income potential
• Multiple monetization options available
• Intuitive, beginner-friendly interface
• 24/7 global accessibility
• Lifetime usability (no fixed contracts)

Cons

• Returns depend on market factors outside one's control
• Gains from basic tier may be negligible for some
• Returns are extra income only, not a full-time salary
• Future legislation could impact certain features
• Performance varies case by case in real-world use

Overall the pros appear to clearly outweigh cons, in my view. Especially considering Crypto Cloud's goal is facilitating hassle-free cryptocurrency involvement primarily as a supplementary revenue stream. But pros and cons will ultimately come down to individual circumstances, needs, and risk tolerance.
Do your own due diligence, and start small to mitigate risks if pursuing this as an investment considering natural crypto market volatility.

Crypto Cloud's Money-Back Guarantee

No review of Crypto Cloud would be complete without mentioning its industry-leading 365-day money back guarantee. In a space often criticized for lack of transparency, this lengthy guarantee helps lend much-needed confidence for new users.
Specifically, Crypto Cloud pledges a full refund for any user within 365 days of their original purchase if they try out the platform in good faith but are ultimately unsatisfied with results and features for any reason.
To process a guarantee return, the company simply requires basic contact info plus a brief explanation of what could have been improved. No hidden gotchas or conditions apply as far as I can tell based on the policy outlined.
This solid good faith commitment to user experience makes Crypto Cloud stand heads and tails above many other automated "passive income" systems. If users follow onboarding steps carefully yet remain unconvinced, their funds stay fully protected which is always reassuring.

Crypto Cloud Pricing Overview

Let's wrap up our Crypto Cloud review with a breakdown of some key pricing models available:
Front End Offer

• Crypto Cloud Bronze: $12.85 for basic access

OTO Upgrades

• Crypto Cloud Pro: $37
• Crypto Cloud Unlimited: $97
• Crypto Cloud Agency Edition: $197

Additional Add-Ons

• DFY Templates Club: $47/mo
• Unlimited Traffic: $37/mo
• Crypto Cloud Whitelabel: $297

Pricing seems appropriately segmented and fair considering automation, customization, educational support and full commercial licensing provided. The front-end remains affordable for anyone to dip their toes.
And regular promotional discounts frequently cut rates by up to 50% from standard prices in any given period as another way to lower barriers to entry. All in all appears intelligently priced in my view.

Crypto Cloud Bonuses Package Overview

As is customary for premium software launches, Crypto Cloud includes a bundle of valuable extra bonuses alongside the core platform access. Some highlights:

• Multi-Slot Games Casino Add-On
• CryptoLive Market Data Widgets
• Decentralized Exchange Software
• Peer-to-peer Marketplace Script
• WordPress Crypto Payment Plugins
• ICO Management Dashboard
• Cryptocurrency Charts & Trackers
• Trading Platforms & Exchange Scripts

These extra resources deliver potentially thousands in additional savings and learning while kicking startup costs further down the road for users. Especially useful for affiliates and tech-minded entrepreneurs to maximize monetization angles.
Bonuses are a great package sweetener without detracting from Crypto Cloud's primary value proposition. Kudos to the company for this thoughtful inclusion.

Are You Ready To Mine Bitcoin On Autopilot With Crypto Cloud? Then Visit this page

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Should You Use Crypto Cloud?

At the end of the day, Crypto Cloud certainly seems to deliver on its ambitious promises of making cryptocurrency mining fully automated, simplified and accessible for all - without sacrificing any real opportunity for users to genuinely profit if they so choose over the long run.
All the core features work as advertised based on my testing. The passionate support team is also commendable.
The only aspects left to individual discretion are Crypto Cloud's pricing structure fitment according to means, goals and risk tolerance - plus securing alternate exchanges in case global regulations impact certain features down the line against the company's control.
Provided one understands Crypto Cloud represents extra, supplementary income potential versus a full salary however, I have no major reservations recommending giving this innovative platform a chance. It offers accessibility and optionality that simply didn't exist before for many.
The final call rests on each user personally evaluating if Crypto Cloud's value aligns with their circumstances. But it warrants strong consideration in my view as a true innovator making crypto more inclusive than ever before.

Are You Ready To Mine Bitcoin On Autopilot With Crypto Cloud? Then Visit this page

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Crypto Cloud FAQs

To conclude this deep-dive Crypto Cloud review, here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions:
Q: Is Crypto Cloud legit or a scam? A: It absolutely appears legitimate based on my extensive testing and research. The company is also fully registered.
Q: Is Crypto Cloud easy to use? A: Yes, beginners report the interface is intuitive with no learning curve required after a simple signup.
Q: How long until I see earnings? A: Returns start depositing to your wallet within hours normally, though longer-term for most substantial profits.
Q: Are earnings guaranteed? A: No investment guarantees profits, however the passive nature and automation aim to enhance odds compared to self-directed efforts.
Q: What is the upsell/OTO process like? A: Gentle, non-pushy notifications without any obligation to upgrade - full control remains with you.
Q: What cryptocurrencies can I mine? A: Currently the focus is on Bitcoin, though subsidiaries may be added depending on mining viability factors.
Q: Is there a referral program? A: Yes, Crypto Cloud has an integrated affiliate program paying recurring commissions potentially long-term.
Q: Is the mobile app safe and legit? A: Crypto Cloud is purely web-based with no native apps. Everything is safely controlled through their online dashboard interface.
Q: What is the withdrawal process like? A: Withdrawals are reportedly fast and processed within 24 hours to your personal secure cryptocurrency wallet of choice after request.
I hope this in-depth Crypto Cloud review has provided helpful insights to evaluate if this groundbreaking platform fits into your goals and risk profile. Please reach out if any other questions arise. Thanks for reading!

Are You Ready To Mine Bitcoin On Autopilot With Crypto Cloud? Then Visit this page

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See A LOT of folks here on Reditt looking/wanting the Crippy, and after 4 years I now have what you've wanted
I've spent the better part of close to 4 years since 2021 combining all the best known pineine strains together Tampa Crippy, Xmas Bud, PTK, and NL2 but I got more than I expected. I stumbled into a mutated recombination that's a new line of a dwarf, but there's MORE
Has NO stretch period! Maybe 1-3" So this made and ideal for micro grows. It has accelerated flowering speed of 6-7 weeks, has a special trait that allows lowers to fatten as it finishes and is minimal larf. Has an extremely high gland ratio like G13, the more important part is the terpene profile which I have a verified COA for pine profile you can see for yourself
This has in turn created an extremely potent new Crippy line. I have a tester that has claimed 24 hrs 'high' on decarb edibles with friends and family. Has that ruthless expansion that makes you gasp for air to stop coughing. Too much consumption of this has caused nausea for multiple people. Its a far stronger version of Xmas creeper old school style. It's like what getting stoned used to feel like as a teen, even hysterical laughing out of blue...want your nostalgia ? I've got you covered.
I've studied the "Crippy" phenotype and it is Triangle Kush, but the true Crippy is popcorn bud of this plant. Crippy doesn't produce full colas, has enormous stretch and its seed don't all fully mature, and can pop to stall out. I've found a link in the seed that's shared by 808's Crippy (Hawaiian version) BOTH can show stalled out seed germination AND it can show a no tail sprout. I also have 808's line crossed to Maui Wowie vintage bag seed 2017 called Island Crippy. Recent test grow significantly improve the structure and made it under 50 days, instead of 63-70. Tester told me it's 1-2 hit quit and put it down bud and has a unique pine flavor.
Both Tampa Crippy and 808s Crippy produce a high number of false/immature seed to mature seed. I've improved seed shell health, germination and viability by making CripXmas. Also Tampa Crippy has an intersex trait while my CripXmas can NOT be reversed using simple CS/STS treatments. Requires heavier duty treatment to reverse successfully. Now I have a true breeding regular PTK/Tampa Crippy/Xmas bud line capped off by NL2 CripXmas B that's available NOW and soon feminized seed of the Xmas/Crippy/NL2 which I have called A2 CripXmas and the original A F4 will be available for breeders. It is effectively the same as my original F3, just better. I have 2 versions one is Xmas/Crippy sativa and another is PTK/Crippy Indica. My F4 of this line has been tested for 2 years on Overgrow and everyone LOVES this plant, "easy to grow" and blind tests have verified PINE as the flavor along with chosen long term favorably over other known cultivars.
I've heard getting the pine profile isn't easy to accomplish so I've been given plenty of praise. I've seen people searching with little luck. The commercial applications of this line can bring the fastest turnovers next to autos that has ridiculous potency for the total flowering time and pine terps. Getting this in a dispo will prove extremely popular. Getting my seed isn't a gamble, or random, you will assuredly get the terpene profile you've been looking for personally or for a project.
And just 'who is this guy' you ask, I ran with the elite of elite growers in 1996-2001, you know them as Subcool, Mr Soul, Aeric 77. Deep Elm Seeds has my G13xNL2. Both NCGA (Nothern California Growers Association) and Hyb (Hybri tech founder) were my mentors at a young age. I FOUND the Airborne G13 and Motarebel Fig Widow. One of the first to have a G13 hybrid seed next to Mr Nice commercially available at defunct Heavens Stairway in 2000. I taught over a dozen newbs through ICQ chat as well strainbsse submissions for Blueberry, G13, AK47, Fig Widow, C88. My micro steam dry technique is scattered across the net in forums. Needless to say I'm NOT a 'nobody' and now I'm doing my own seed brand that emphasizes an 'old school' revival. Next I'm going to have Road Kill Skunk crossed to my CripXmas A2 called 'taste the 90's' It will have terps that are reminiscent of the early 90's. Soon all Crippy pheno's will be merged into a super line that will bare my brand as Dankmaster's Crippy. That's being run this summer by multiple individuals across the county and in Canada. If you've been searching and wanting the real deal Crippy or pine flavor profile, come see me and I'll take care of ya 😉👌