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griffinsanddragons · 7 years

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Unexpected Developments [Part Two]

Hawke recruits Isabela to help her tie a few ‘loose ends.’

Read: Part One on Tumblr!

Also on AO3!

I finally came through and wrote the thing. We’re following Isabela and we love her so happy readings!

Something was different; Isabela knew the moment Hawke entered the room. She hadn’t seen much of her since the expedition. Aveline delivered the bad news about Bethany and Hawke needed space to grieve. Merrill, Varric, Anders, and everyone else who’d seen her, spoke about Hawke anxiously. She’d been quiet, they said, distant, angry–though she wouldn’t admit it–and there was a sad, faraway look in her eye that made her seem small. But today, her presence resounded off the Hanged Man’s drafty walls, amassing the attention of every crook, con, bandit, low-life, mercenary and thief she passed by. Hawke–who made a name for herself working for Athenril in the criminal underground, survived the Deep Roads, and got rich–was back. And it would have been normal, Isabela thought, had she had something to come back for.

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“Isabela!” Hawke greeted her with a wide, excited grin and ordered a drink, the Hanged Man’s finest–though it really wasn’t much. She seemed to be in good spirits today–or rather good enough–nodding and listening to her prattle on about the Rivani Merchant Council Ship she saw at the harbor that morning, (“I’d bet my ass the poor thing’s heading back to Dairsmuid to escort some Merchant Prince selling tea or something–what a waste,”) listening with varying degrees of interest, her eye’s a little wider than they needed to be. “You’re looking perky today. What’s got you better? Have you found someone who’ll…curl your toes in Hightown?” Isabela leaned forward, her movements slow and languid as she slouched into a comfortable position in her seat, “Is it someone I know?” “No!” Hawke asserted, now stiff as well as upright in her chair, “I’m not–I’m not looking for a partner, Isabela!” “Who said anything about a partner?” A large, mischievous grin pulled at the tops of her sparsely freckled cheeks, “I’m talking about a good old-fashioned rub down. That’s what you need. I know a girl, and a fellow if you’d prefer-” “I do not.” She cut her off. Hawke spoke in a stern, affronted voice reminiscent of a Noble in a crooked wig; Between the smuggling, fighting, sarcasm, killing and mercenary work they’ve done together, Isabela nearly forgot that she’d been raised by a parent of righteous, noble birth–the type of Mother who’d encouraged the children to shy away from such ‘improper matters in polite company,’ use the right forks and never threaten the houseguests (unless it was necessary.) Her reaction reminded her of Bethany.

Though that was a topic Isabela couldn’t breach. Even now, as she watched Hawke swirl and nurse her drink, she could see the toll of her grief; The days have not been kind.

She should probably say something. Everyone had said something, everyone but her.

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. She did, on more than one occasion, try to find a way to tell Hawke she was sorry for what happened to her sister, but her efforts only got as far as the door. She considered climbing in through the window and shouting ‘surprise!’ but whatever ill-conceived speech she came up with could never compare to the real support Hawke already received. She couldn’t be that type of friend–but that didn’t seem to matter, not to Hawke; they picked right up where they left off: giggling over drinks at the Hanged Man as the drunkards sang and tried to play a broken lute. “Alright, alright, no need to twist your knickers. What’s really got you so excited?” “Aveline–” Hawke spoke as though she suddenly remembered what had been on her mind, “I saw her today and she reminded me of something I have to do.” Isabela rolled her eyes and took the last of her drink, desperately hoping she wouldn’t regret the end of the story. “What’s our ‘Captain’ got you doing for her now? Let me guess, disrupting more fine business practices?” “Not exactly. She told me I needed to find a way to take my mind off…well, you know.” she took a letter from the pocket of her leggings and slid it Isabela’s way.

It didn’t say much, there wasn’t even a sender, but there was a list of names–of Templars who were responsible for taking Bethany away.

She recognized one of them–Cullen–but the others were a mystery. “After she accused me of murder, I figured I’d do some investigating of my own.” “What’re the slashes for?” Those were recent additions–fat black lines unevenly smudged as though a left-handed person dragged their hand across the page as they made them. There were only so many left-handed people in the world and there was ink smudged against the knuckle of Hawke’s little finger. “Oh that mean’s they’re dead,” she shrugged. “The guards found them at the docks.” “Well, there are worse places to go.” Isabela peered into her empty cup, watching the last of the droplets race like rain against the window. “They could have been found in Hightown–now that would cause a stir.” “My thoughts exactly.” Hawke smiled at Isabela, her eyes growing larger and even more disquieting. “And as much as I appreciate it, I don’t know who sent me this–or why. But if they’re murdering people to get my attention, I should see what they want.” “It could be a trap.” Or any number of things. Hawke was a well-known woman with both friends and enemies–and this ‘friend’ could be either one with ease. “It could be. I asked Varric to investigate but the trail went cold, he’s been pouring all he has into searching for Bartrand.” She passed Isabela her unfinished drink. “But he was able to tell me one thing: one of these men, the dead one, was a patron at the Blooming Rose. And if I’m lucky, my ‘friend’ might have paid them a visit as well.” “And if he has?” Isabela leaned forward with her elbows on the table, her interest piquing at the meat of the story. “I can tie up a few…loose ends.” Hawke had a way of masking her intent with words that were only slightly threatening and Isabela liked that type of honesty. “Will you help me?” “Well, “ She pretended to think, “you did promise to keep that last relic mishap to yourself, so…” She agreed.

They followed the infamous maze of twisting streets to the long turning stairs that lead to Hightown. By the time they reached their destination, her muscles were wound and taut from exertion. She cursed. “Damn.” Isabela never cared much for Hightown; The buildings there were different than anywhere else in Kirkwall: bigger, cleaner, more pristine–each clamoring for the attention of wealthy nobles and foreign merchants; and utterly lacking in character. Girls dressed in fine silk and patterned lace greeted them outside. It was the sweet smells and the lulling song of a Harp, however, that drew the crowds inside. “Ah, the blooming rose.” Isabela sighed, perking at the sight of half naked courtesans lounging on the couches and chairs. The air inside was sticky with the scent of sweat, sex, and contrasting perfumes, but no one seemed to care or even notice the overbearing menagerie. “Where people come…and then go.” Hawke chuckled at her innuendo. “Make yourself scarce,” she whispered as she approached the counter to Distract Madam Lusine who, judging by the look of recognition in her eye, was torn between the knowledge of Hawke’s rise to nobility (and the coin she undoubtedly had,) and sour thoughts of their last meeting. “Ah, Serah Hawke.” Lusine greeted, brushing her graying curls behind her back. “Lovely to see you again.” While her back was turned, Isabela leaped behind the counter with little more than a low thud to mark her presence and slid the hefty book into her arms. The dark skin of her thighs flushed red against the cold, grainy stone as she sat and skimmed the book for names, dates, payments and appointments. “Have you come to buy, or are you merely wasting time?” She could hear the conversation going south ( as Hawke’s charms could only take her so far.) Quickly, Isabela flipped the next two pages and finally the found the man listed in the letter. He’d been seeing a woman called ‘Sunny’–and quite frequently, it seemed. Isabela slid the book back in its place and popped to Hawke’s side in an instant, slipping her arm around her friend with a wink. “We’re here to see Sunny,” Isabela purred, the woman’s name rolling off her tongue like a wave on the open sea. “Oh. Mistress Isabela. I wasn’t aware the two of you were…together.” Lusine threw the pair a sideways glance. “Either way, Sunny isn’t here–haven’t seen the girl in days.” “And you wouldnt happen to know where she is, would you?” Hawke asked. “I don’t make a habit of telling a client’s my worker’s personal lives, for obvious reasons. So if you need to see Sunny, I suggest you come back another day.” She spoke with the hard conviction of a woman determined to take the final word. “Now I do have other customers, so will that be all?” “That’ll be all.” Isabela nodded, cutting in before Hawke could speak and pulled her toward the exit. “I can make her talk,” Hawke affirmed, glaring back at Lusine with narrowed eyes. “Everyone has a price.” “I know you can, Sweetness, but I like this place. We’ll find Sunny…somehow.” She knew for a fact that Lusine didn’t respond well to bribery, and Hawke’s insistence would only get her banned. But as the two approached the door to leave, a young woman called out. “Wait!” She was tall, carved like the figurehead of a merchant ship, and smelt like a field of Lavender. “Hello,” Isabela greeted, her voice low and sultry. “I heard you asking about Sunny. Do you know her?” “We’re investigating something,” Hawke began, “–for the guard.” “You don’t look like guardsmen.” “That’s because we’re not. We do the real work.” Isabela boasted, turning toward Hawke who returned the look with a simple nod. “Really?” She seemed impressed, “But you do work for the guard? I’ve seen you with the Captain before.” “She’s the reason we’re here.” Hawke didn’t lie, or at least not usually, but she did have a habit of stretching the truth to suit her fancies. Despite that, the Lavender Woman’s face brightened. “Good.” “So what’s this about Sunny? Do you know her?” “She’s my friend.” The Lavender Woman began, “I’ve been worried about her. Ever since she learned one of her clients was…murdered.” She whispered the word like a dirty phrase in the middle of the night. “The…Templar?” Hawke shifted her weight to the side. “That’s the one. She hasn’t been the same.” “Why?” Isabela cut in, “He’s just a client–or did she know him well?” “I don’t know about that–but…someone else came around asking questions about him. Someone they call ‘Dirty Fingers,’ and she gave him his name and then a few weeks later…he was dead. I told her not to blame herself, but she thinks it’s her fault.” “They call him ‘Dirty Fingers?’” Isabela stifled a tittering laugh. “And this man this…um, ’Dirty Fingers,’ do you know who he is? Where he might be?” “…If I tell you, will you try to find something that proves Sunny is innocent?” The Lavender Woman spoke quietly, taking a step forward as though to solidify their deal. “I’m sure we can make that arrangement.” “I hear he operates out of Lowtown, in the big foundry at night. Sunny’s client was found nearby.” And that’s where they found the other one too. They were on the right track.

Isabela took off to visit Fenris but agreed to meet Hawke in Lowtown that night, and when she did, she was greeted by a familiar sight. “Do you really need all that?” She asked, taking in the sight of Hawke in her shiny metal armor–just like old times. When they met, Hawke’s hair had been shorter, and straighter in a way that suggested the pulling of curls but little else about her changed; Isabela thought she’d be too busy, too wealthy, too different to get her hands dirty or join the thick of a fight. But despite her social standing, Hawke remained the same. “Only if Dirty Fingers wants to fight.” She spoke with easy amusement, carefree as though this was little more than a game and lead the way to the dock, her eyes trained forward, focused on her their target. The silhouette of the Lowtown Foundry stood high above the other buildings, it’s burnt, pungent, nauseating smell striking all who dared to wander nearby. No one but the desperate or workers ‘too good’ for the mines were bold enough to venture there. And if the smell wasn’t enough to deter curiosity, the rats surely were: large, feral creatures with sharp curling claws and yellow teeth–the worst kind, in Isabela’s seafaring opinion. She sighed and tilted her head back to gaze at the high stone tower of what used to be a mighty fortress in the Tevinter days. “So this is where your ‘secret admirer’ lives?” She squinted. “No worse than Darktown I suppose. At least there’s a view of the sky.” The wind picked up, hoisting the waves and lavishing her cheeks with salt spray. She should have grabbed a warmer tunic. The Foundry was mostly empty and surprisingly clean. Four cheaply dressed henchmen staggered around inside, laughing and drinking. It wasn’t until Hawke cleared her throat that they noticed them and hastily scrambled to take arms but Isabela was prepared. Her daggers found her palms as easy as the bones in her fingers and she passed through the world like a ghost, the presence of her blades more felt than seen as she sunk back into the shadows and struck the Henchman down. Hawke had a more direct approach when dealing with hostile enemies–hack, slash, shield bash–but both proved to be sufficient. The henchmen fell to the ground, grunting and groaning in what could easily pass as an old Orlesian symphony. “Well, that was lovely.” Hawke flung the blood from her blade as she stepped around a writhing body. “I didn’t expect there to be guards. Where do you think they get these guys?” “I haven’t a clue.” They followed a path that twisted between four large vats, leading to a propped open door. The room was small and smelt like rum and unwashed bodies. Four henchmen, each less sober than the last, fell over themselves to defend their station but to no avail. Isabela merely shut the door in front of them. “Kill the intruders!” Someone yelled from the stairwell and more henchman appeared, some stumbling but other coherent as they fought. Victory came easy but Isabela was injured in the fight, grazed by a dagger on her arm and across the leg–but the other guy had it worse. Still, she hissed at the hot sting of pain and scowled at the blood flowing like streams across her skin. That wouldn’t look pretty in the morning. “Catch,” Hawke tossed her a potion to drink, the last one in her pouch. “Save it. It’s just a few scratches–nothing a trip to Darktown can’t fix.” If she even needed that. She’d been in far worse duels with far fewer resources in the past, she’d survive. “I’m wearing armor,” Hawke gestured at herself and the heavy metal plates that covered her tall frame. “And you know there are more of them up there…somewhere.” She almost sighed at the thought of more drunken henchmen hiding in the dark but headed toward the stairs regardless, calling back to Isabela to follow or risk being left behind. Still, she hesitated. Gazing up at Hawke before looking at the potion she tossed her way. She sighed, exhaling a warm, tired breath that showed her exhaustion. She took a quick sip of the potion and dried her mouth against her glove before following, the pain from her injuries began to numb so she’d save the rest for something important. A few more henchman straggled behind and others pretended to be dead. Isabela picked the lock of the room they should have been guarding and a man stood in the center to greet them. He jumped but managed to steel himself quickly, even as Hawke lined the tip of her sword to his neck. “You might want to consider hiring new help. That whole ‘kill the intruders’ thing didn’t exactly work out. I mean…we’re here,” she said in a sweet sounding voice, though the danger behind her lighthearted words was clear. “You’re ‘Dirty Fingers,’ I presume?” He didn’t look like a hardened criminal, though the best never did; he was paler than he should be, shaking, and his arms were just a bit too long for his body. “You seem unwell.” “What do you want?” He hissed. “We aren’t here for the ambiance if that’s what you think.” She let out a humorless laugh. “We’re only here for Information. That’s what you do right? You trade in information?”

“I do many things–none of them for free.” “Clever man.” Isabela could appreciate that business model though Hawke didn’t seem to agree. “I’m not paying you.” She said starkly. “Then I’m not talking!” “Oh, I think you’ll want to make an exception for us.” “And why is that?” “Because you seem like a smart man, and smart men usually understand what it means when someone holds a sword to their throat–or maybe I misjudged you,” Hawke spoke to him in the tone of a disappointed mother. “It wouldn’t be the first time I made a mistake; sometimes I need to take off an ear, or a few fingers before they really get the message.” Isabela didn’t need to look to see the deceitful smile spread across Hawke’s face to know what she wanted to do. “You threatening me? You don’t got it in y-” He was caught off guard by an unexpected stabbing. Blood dribbled out from the front of his shirt in a perfectly cut line. Hawke’s actions were smooth and precise, like dealing hands in a card game or–considering Hawke was a somewhat clumsy dealer–carving a Wintersend Turkey.

Dirty Fingers heaved and yelled and shouted, failing to bite back the pain. “Well, what do you know? It looks like I did have it in me! Though I’m more interested in seeing what you’ve got inside you.” Dirty Fingers looked up at Hawke as though he was seeing her for the first time. “Do you want to find out too?” “There’s something not right with you.” He accused, his voice rough and angry as he crouched down to his knees. “And you’re a rude, pathetic man determined to die for a secret that isn’t really his to keep–but keep talking, I’m sure insulting me is the way to get out of this.” “To the void with you!” “Well that wasn’t nice,” Isabela put in, and Hawke agreed. “Would you mind guarding the door while I talk to our friend? I’d hate to be interrupted.” “You get to have all the fun.” She crossed her arms but ultimately agreed, turning around to guard the door in case the henchmen sobered up or stopped playing dead. “Don’t worry, It’ll only take a moment.” Isabela shook her head, looking up in amusement at Hawke’s antics. That poor man. She heard him yelling, but preferred not to get in the way of Hawke’s interrogation. It wasn’t until his blood ran down the cracks in the stone flooring that Hawke called her back inside. “He said he’ll talk to us!” When she returned, DirtyFingers was laying on the ground on his side, reaching out his hand in a plead for mercy. Isabela couldn’t see his face, but she knew she didn’t want to. “He really isn’t well, but ‘Dirty Fingers’ finally has something to say. Isn’t that right?” “What do you want to know?” His words were a groan that slurred together, but it was easy to infer what it was he was saying. “You received information from a girl named ‘Sunny.’ A name. What did you do with it?” “Sold it.” “To?” A long silence drew between them, and Hawke glared down at the man bleeding out on the floor before aiming her sword and yelling. “To who!?” “Don’t know” Dirty Fingers confessed, heaving heavily as he breathed. “I don’t like being trifled with.” Her voice lowered, darkening as she spoke. “I thought you’d learned that by now– You sent someone to my home and I don’t like that. So if you don’t tell me who, I’ll make it so you’ll never speak again–Do you understand me?” Isabela’s eye’s widened in surprise at her tone, one she wasn’t sure she’d ever heard her take.

Something in the room had shifted, a subtle feeling Isabela learned while sailing the stormy seas: Fear, despair, and the abandonment of hope–the dreaded realization her crew, or in this case Dirty Fingers, felt when they knew they wouldn’t survive until morning. “Don’t know his name! But I know his face.” “What does he look like?” “He was tall, good-looking, reclusive…he had, uh, the look of a mage. Ferelden …I’d guess.” “ ‘The look of a mage?’ ” “The robes.” She seemed conflicted, as though she needed a moment to think. A tall, handsome, reclusive mage–she let the thought marinate. “….what color was his hair?” “What?” “His hair!” She grabbed him by the back of his shirt and flipped him to his back, exposing every bruise and cut for Isabela to see. “I won’t ask you again.” He bit his lip, tears ran down his narrow face and he might have even wet himself so the words came out rough and shaky. “It was dark! Black as night. Eye’s too! He had a mark, like a, like a birthmark on his cheek!” Hawke took a moment to breathe, shutting her eyes and exhaling as she stood upright. “And what did he need it for? What’s his plan?” “Don’t know. Don’t ask. Please.” He sputtered. Hawke glared at him once more. “I really don’t think he knows.” Isabela folded her arms. Hawke had beaten every last piece of information from him and more. Dirty Fingers had no reason to lie. Hawke looked at Isabela, then back to the man laying on the ground and seemed to resign to something. ‘Alright,’ she thought she heard Hawke whisper as she looked down at her sword. “…well,” she wiped the long blade clean with a handkerchief she kept in her potions pouch and dropped it on his face. “It was a pleasure doing business, Dirty Fingers. Let’s not cross paths again.” If he were lucky, he’d pick up whatever pride he had, drag himself to the docks and make his way to a city far from Kirkwall to make a living serving drinks at a tavern if he didn’t bleed out his injuries before the end of the night–but Isabela doubted he’d be lucky. Dirty Fingers was a loose end, and Hawke liked those tied.

Outside was cold and dark, the stench of the Foundry still permeated through the air but the scent of the salt in the sea felt fresh and clean near the harbor. “So…where are we going now? How do we find our Elusive Mage?” “…Anders told me he’s been working with- well, that he knows a lot of mages here. It’s a stretch, but maybe he knows our mystery man.” She spoke in a low, pensive tone, her luminous brown skin glowing in the silver moonlight. Whatever happened to her back there, she seemed to be calm and over it already. “Hawke?” She should say something. What would Aveline say? Something… something… responsibility? “Hmm?” “I…nevermind. And then what?” “We find out what business he has with me.” And tie up those loose ends. As they walked, a man staggered toward them. Large, stauch and seemingly down on his luck, he turned into an alley and stayed there, his presence ignored by those around him. “Right. So, to Darktown then?” “To Darktown.”

#filia hawke #filia art #isabela #dragon age 2 #things i write #this ended up much longer than i thought #but i had so much fun editing #next time anders joins the fun #long post #long post for ts

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spookyenemyperson-blog · 6 years

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I was wondering if anyone that would have both a cheap car and cheap insurance, I know a girl that has a car worth 100 and her insurance is only 500, which i could afford. But i was hoping for a more recent example as EU laws of equality have set in. So if you are a young 17 to 19 driver and have cheap enough insurance Classic car insurance? I am looking at buying a classic car but i don t know where is best for classic car insurance. Why are my car insurance rates so high? All of this helps a lot. I should add too that I own my home. I guess the biggest factors are the fact that I m a male under 25 with no credit because I never financed anything. I can t afford school, so I m not getting any student discounts. I just thought it was crazy she could get liability on her 03 Mazda for $60/mo after wrecking her Stratus and the SAME company told me I would have to pay $130+/mo for liability on my Corolla. I do appreciate all of the answers and all of the suggested sites from everyone though. I m still shocked that someone would have to pay $600/mo... Then again, it doesn t surprise me much since some companies quoted me around $300 with several factors in favor of me. Thanks for the answers though. Whats the cheapest car insurance for full coverage? Whats the cheapest car insurance for full coverage? Would having 2 cars be the same insurance as 1 car? I have a 09 dodge charger, which you will probably figure the insurance is higher than average. So I was thinking, If I buy another lower level car, for example, a dodge neon. keep in mind that I am the owner of both cars, and only I will be driving the cars. would the insurance be the same or even lower? Good/cheap car insurance? I currently have Farmers Insurance. I m thinking about switching and trying to find a lower rate. Does anyone have positive or negative feedback about companies like Geico and Progressive? Is there much of a difference between their rates and complanies like State Farm or Farmers? Any suggestions would be helpful! Best pregnancy insurance for my sistuation ? I am 29, and plan to have a baby. right now I use blue cross Individual HMO. Blue cross keeps higher the monthly payment, so I want to change to other insurance. My friend said Kaiser is a not bad company. Please give me some suggestion. Thanks~~ How much would insurance cost on average for Nissan Skyline? How much would insurance cost on average for Nissan Skyline? Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 What does backtracking car insurance mean? It makes sense, but what I want to know is what will happen? Do we have to pay for the time I wasn t on the insurance? Or will something else happen? For my 1st car should i get a 2008 honda accord or a 2008 maserati? My dad told me that i can get any car that i wanted and i want either a 08 honda accord or a 08 maserati????help plzz Looking for a cool car but cheap on the insurance? kieran im going to barcelona this summer with mates so i already got my holiday! What do I do after a car accident where no insurance information was exchanged but a police report and charge was issued? Two days ago I was involved in a semi-serious car accident, nobody was hurt but my car was a write off and both cars needed to be towed. The accident was not my fault and i m uninsured but the other car owner is. It was my first time in such an accident and was shaking uncontrollably. The police came to the scene and we gave our stories and the other guy was charged with an infringement notice. During the confusion though I never received his insurance information. Would the police have done that? I have a COPS event number but now i m scared about receiving compensation. Can anyone shed a light, i m new to all this.. .. The other cars owner was very apologetic and king throughout, he was aware it was his fault and said his insurance would cover it .. What kind of insurance? What kind of (liability) insurance would i get for a restaurant i m thinking about opening? I don t know how to find out so if someone could suggest some to me :) Thanks! How expensive are lumineers for teeth? with no insurance how expensive are lumineers for teeth .... Whats the average car insurance costs for a 16 year old male in Florida? Whats the average car insurance costs for a 16 year old male in Florida? Number of people in insured by the ACA? Number of people in insured by the ACA? Where to get the cheapest car insurance for new driver, and which combinations of options, to get it lower? I am 17 and lice in Hartlepool in England and I have got a 1.2 mk2 3 door Fiat Punto. And i need insurance, apparently Adrian Flux is cheep for young drivers, but just over a month ago i was quoted 1800, and now that i need it i am being quoted 2600, y? I was also surprised when i found out that my car is a group 4 insurance, with it being a little 60bhp 1.2 compared to my mates 130bhp car being a group 5. I cannot go on my mams insurance either as she can only drive an automatic. So I considered selling my Punto and try getting an automatic to go on my mams insurance as she has over 10 year no claims, but her 200 insurance went up to 2500. I guss alot of the price being because of where we live, there was multistory flats, in a big estate, and was a bad area, but now they have been knocked down and is now a new modern housing area. Is there anywhere I can contact, to come prove it is a nice area now? Thanks Which car insurance has the cheapest car insurance for new teen drivers? i just got my license and i am trying to find out which insurance company has the lowest price for car insurance for girls? What s the cheapest car insurance in Houston, Texas? I just bought a 350z 2003 and I m 19.. So I would like to know how much I will pay... Which is the best Mediclaim/ Health insurance in India, Genuine, Quick & Transparent? Hi, I want a health insurance or mediclaim for my parents, can anyone recommend the Best Insurance for my parents (Father - 65 Senior Citizen, Mother - 59). Also the one that gives the best services and are economical and covers pre-existing problems. Plz help urgently with the best names which are reliable, transparent, quick and have a goodwill. Which is cheapest car insurance in new york? i want to buy a car but i know the insurance of the car is very expensive. I will like to know if there is a car insurance that i can afford. I m building a new home. There is no tax credit available? Should I get insurance with my loan or use my co.? should I get home insurance included in my loan or use my current insurance carrier that has my vehicles and other things and why? Is there a higher liability on home insurance when you own a pit bull? Me and my fiance are getting a home soon and there is the most adorable little pit bull puppy that I want to get. My fiance says that there is an increase in liability for having a pit bull, but I m not sure about it. We are moving into a nice house in Middleburg, FL and I want to know if anyone knows. ***I DO NOT WANT PIT BULL BASHING!!*** Is minimum coverage car insurance the same as an SR22? In Tennessee, is minimum coverage car insurance the same as an SR22? I already have minimum coverage but am now required to get an SR22. Is this something that needs to be added on or will minimum coverage suffice? Thanks. Federal tax exemption for health insurance? What does it mean when there is federal tax exemption for health insurance .. in simple words so i can understand clearly.. thank you. How do you find another person s insurance carrier for an auto accident? Recently my car was parked on the side of a street. A car pulled up behind it, and caught fire. There was extensive damage to the rear of my car. The person who owned the car was nowhere to be found, and there was no insurance information in the car. The officers on the scene provided me with the registered owners name, address and license plate number. The officer suspected the car may have been stolen, but wasn t certain (The RO of the car lived a few towns over). I do not believe I am liable for this accident. Is there any way to track down this person s insurance company for me to get covered in this incident? I don t have comprehensive coverage, so my company isn t going to cover the damage. Is the fact that the car was possibly stolen an issue? Thanks very much! Health insurance for 1099? I am forming a corporation that will bring on several 1099 contractors as consultants, almost like a consortium of consultants. I d like to offer them group health insurance. is this possible given that they are all 1099 contractors? Best rate auto insurance? i have tried web searching, calling research but i can t tell which is reliable company in case if there is an accident Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 Who has best affordable health insurance? Looking for health and dental insurance for 1 + spouse in Texas. Whats a good first car for a 16 yr old that dosnet cost much? im almost 16 and my parents are going to buy me my 1st car. do u know what a good car would be. i would like a monte carlo or a grand prix. do u think those are ok cars for a 16yr old? What cellphone insurance should I use? What cellphone insurance should I use? Is your health insurance card a form of ID even if it doesn t have your photo on it? Is your health insurance card a form of ID even if it doesn t have your photo on it? What are my 2014 tax fine or fee going to be for not having insurance for 5 months of the year? I am having issues with paying for health coverage due to the fact they only cover my medical bills after they go over one thousand dollars recently I hurt my foot and had to have some X-rays taken and had to have a minor support provided (was a serious sprain with some torn ligaments in one of my toes. The bill was 650 dollars so I paid that off and I have other bills to pay. If I pay my monthly premium of 180.00 I will not have enough to cover my other bills and get my car fixed for work. But now because I am unable to pay the bill my insurance is about to be cancelled I have had insurance through my employer for the first seven months of this year and then the last five months I had to find other insurance due to our group being disbanded. What I am wondering is what will my fine or fee be on my taxes for not having insurance for 5 months?? How much is car insurance usually? thinking about buying my first car soon and im just trying to figure out my financial situation. i know the price can vary but an estimate on how much car insurance is would be nice. thanks Expensive Car Insurance at age 19 wtf? I bought a car for less than 1500 and the quotes i keep getting are freaking expensive wth, is there a cheap insurance that you guys can recommend. I have a vw golf 2001 How much is car insurance for a 2009 Benz C300? I m 27 years old. I live in the Bronx, New York. I have good credit. TransUnion: 765 Experian: 764 Equifax: 734 I want to financial or lease (I m not exactly sure what the difference is. Do I still have to get full coverage regardless of which I choose?) a 2009 Benz C300. It s valued at about $30,000. I live in an apartment with my father who has a 2001 Pontiac Montana. He pays about $150-$200 per month in insurance. I tried to find out how much it would cost on Geico and they called me and told me it was gonna be $150 for the first month and $140 for the next seven months. I thought there must have been some mistake because how could it cost the same for a new car and raggedy car? The guy was like, Well Teen car insurance,HELP!!!!!? im going to get my license in december, and i want a 2008 honda civic hybrid, im going to be 16 by then, my gpa is 4.0, and im a female, live in california, and how much will be my insurance approximately if the car is under my parent s? and what do i have to bring on the day of my road test other than my permit and my drivers training completion certificate? thx Car insurance claim Question? Okay, so here is the story. i was in a private McDonald s car park when the was car meet event, nothing official boy racers if your wish, the car parks were full to the brim with cars parked all over the place, with hardly any lighting at 10 o clock as night, visibility wasn t at its best. i was stuck in a Que of traffic trying to get out of the car park, when the car in front started reversing for what ever reason, so i put my car into reverse, had a glance in the rear view mirror which really was no help because of the poor lighting. I let my foot of the brake as the car in front stated reversing an with in milliseconds i herd people shouting, so i stopped and got out, there was a car right behind me must have on been cm away, with a massive dent in the drivers door. although i didn t even feel a thing i quickly apologised and began to sort the problem. i have no clue whether the driver had his lights on or not. i suspected that i couldn t have done it because i had barely moved and there was no damage to my car what so ever. Although this being my first accident i was nerves so took responsibility. We both decided to sort it out between our selves, i didn t want my insurance to go up as it is high enough already as a young driver, he said he would need a new door and i agreed due to the size of the dent, so he found one on eBay for 150 and would take nothing but that as i only had 100 in the bank at the time we drove to the cash machine he took the 100 and we agreed that i would pay him the other 50 in two weeks when i got paid, i writ a receipt to say that i had paid him this money and there was a following 50 to come, with his signature and address phone number ext... two weeks later herd nothing although i kept the money aside for a couple more weeks just in case, but still herd nothing after over a month he texts me asking for the 50 which i no longer have, i explain to him that he has left if for over month and now expects it instantly. Now he says he is going to put in an insurance claim, which i cant no see happening due to 2 reasons 1. he has already tried to sort it him self and failed to because of a fault of his own 2. because he was on a private car park at an illegal car meet Am i right? or is there anything i should do or know about this situation. Thank you. Responsibility of owner, registrant and insurance holder for auto liability? I am wondering who holds the most responsibility for an auto - the owner, the person on the registration or the person with the insurance policy. Assuming that these people are all different. More specifically, if I have a car on my insurance policy which is owned by someone else and registered to that person am I legally responsible as the policy holder? Prepaid insurance accounting problem please help.? the premium on a $75,000 fire insurance policy from January 1, 2010 to January 1, 2013 is $900. On December 30, 2010, there was a fire loss of $50,000, which was subsequently paid by the insurance company. What is the balance sheet value of the prepaid insurance on December 31, 2011? Can a former inmate who has his life together now get term life insurance with no medical exam? Professional Opinions Please. And if so, do you know of any companies? Will insurance pay for a cracked windshield if it happened before I was insured? I just purchased a used car, and there s a crack in the windshield, nothing serious, but whatever. How much would it cost me to get it replaced, and would by insurance company pay for it? lol (btw - its a 1998 Ford Explorer) Is paying around $300.00 a month total for driving my truck to much? I pay about $50 for insurance and about $250 in gas. I have NO truck payment! So my total cost every month is around $300 total for EVERYTHING for me to drive! Is that a lot? or to much? Thanks! Cheapest car insurance company? im switching car insurance companies. where will i get the cheapest price? Cheap, reliable first car? whats the cheapest, most reliable first car 2 get, i start driving next year, and i wanna save money, i wanna get a rough idea on how much money il need, and what car to search for... thanks Car ownership and insurance? If car is on my wife s name, she got pervisnel licence and i have fully com insurance and i m driving without her. Is that any offence in UK? Can someone who smokes marijuana get affordable life insurance? Can someone who smokes marijuana get affordable life insurance? Health care insurance? Where do you get long term health care insurance quotes? Where do people get long term care health insurance quotes? I ve come across many websites but was wondering if anyone has had any particularly good experiences. Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 Sutter California Cheap car insurance quotes zip 95982 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/should-i-take-health-insurance-james-benson/

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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Claims by Joy Reids Cybersecurity Expert Fall Apart

MSNBC host Joy Reid claims that recently unearthed homophobic articles attributed to her are fakes. And she says a cybersecurity consultant has proof that her old blog has been hacked.

But that consultant, Jonathan Nichols, had trouble producing the promised evidence. And what he did produce failed to withstand scrutiny, according to a Daily Beast analysis. Blog posts that Nichols claimed do not appear on the Internet Archive are, in fact, there. The indicators of hacked posts dont bear out.

Last year, the AM Joy host apologized for a 2007 blog post in which she had mocked Floridas then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist by referring to him as Miss Charlie and suggested that while on honeymoon with his wife, he secretly wanted to sleep with men.

Reid apologized on-air, suggesting she had evolved over a decade from those insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb remarks.

But Monday, media-news site Mediaite publishedusing screenshots taken from The Wayback Machines cached versions of Reids blogmore homophobic blog posts from the late aughts. In them, Reid appeared to crassly mock gay celebrities like Anderson Cooper and Clay Aiken, defend homophobia as intrinsic to straight people, declare that she wouldnt see Brokeback Mountain because of the gay sex scenes, and imply that gay advocacy groups prey upon impressionable teens. On Thursday, the Washington Free Beacon followed up by revealing another set of homophobic posts not previously reported by Mediaite.

Reida Daily Beast columnistdid not apologize this time around. Instead, she released a statement saying that In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology.

On Wednesday evening, Reids attorney announced that the FBI had opened an investigation into potential criminal activities surrounding several online accounts, including personal email and blog accounts, belonging to Joy-Ann Reid.

Reid said she hired Nichols, the cybersecurity consultant, to investigate the alleged hacking of her compromised old blog. In a letter distributed by MSNBC, Nichols claimed he found significant evidence that a hacker breached Reids blog and planted the offensive posts. Some of the posts in question were made while Ms. Reid was on the radio hosting her show, Nichols wrote. Text and visual styling was inconsistent with her original entries. Additionally, he claimed that at least some of the screenshots distributed by the @Jamie_Maz Twitter account, where the posts were first surfaced this week, had been faked and never appeared on the blog at allsuggesting a two-pronged attack on Reids reputation.

We have both evidence of fraudulent posts and evidence of screenshot manipulation, Nichols told The Daily Beast on Wednesday.

Except, that wasnt quite so.

To support the screenshot forgery allegation, Nichols pointed to six images in the @Jamie_Maz Twitter timeline that he said were definitely not written by Reid nor posted by a hacker, but instead were outright fabricated images of posts that never appeared on the site. The most obvious one was an instance whereits an easy one, itll stick in your head [@Jamie_Maz] says Joy made statements about Eddie Murphy. Its obviously false, she never made that claim.

Nichols said those six posts are nowhere to be found in the Internet Archive. But that is not true.

Further searching on the Internet Archive turned up the posts for all six of the screenshots Nichols described as fakes, including the one about Eddie Murphy. The Internet Archives records indicate they were retrieved and stored between 2006 and 2009. And all six are exactly as they appear in the screenshots. A random check of other screenshots attributed to the blog produced the same result: None of the images are faked or doctored.

A closer look at the archived blog by The Daily Beast revealed an error in Nichols methodology. Nichols examined the content tags visible in the screenshots and compared them to an archived list of all the labels that were actually used on the blog. He found that the tags Gallup, gay and lesbian, and Dan Abrams in three of the six screenshots did not appear in the catalog of labels.

Based on that evidence, Nichols had concluded that the screenshots could not be genuine. But in fact the tags in question were not Blogger.com labels, but rather tags linking to Technorati.com, a long-defunct blog-tracking site completely external to Reids blog publishing host site. Reid made an apples-to-oranges comparison and concluded that because the apples were not oranges, they must be fake.

Presented with that information on Thursday, Nichols acknowledged his error. Yeah Ive become aware of some methodology issues, he wrote in an online chat. We are looking to resolve the discrepancy.

If, as it appears, the approximately 50 newly surfaced posts indeed appeared on Reids blog, that leaves Reids claim that they were posted by an imposter. To that point, Nichols said passwords used by Reid had been found in the wild on the dark web, where a hacker with a grudge against the MSNBC host might have found them.

A search on the breach-notification site Have I Been Pwned confirmed this: Reids email address, like millions of others, has turned up in batches of hacked and phished accounts over the yearseight batches in all, some of which contain user passwords. While six of the leaks postdate the disputed blog posts, the remaining two are of uncertain origin and timing. If Reid used the same password on Blogger and one of the websites that suffered a password leak, its conceivable that someone found it and used it to log into her blog back in 2005.

But Nichols could not provide any evidence suggesting this had occurred.

As described by Nichols, the conclusion that a hacker was posting on Reids blog rests primarily on two types of forensic clues within the disputed posts. First, he said, some of the allegedly planted posts contain punctuation choices and markup sharply different from Reids other posts. The Daily Beast compared scores of disputed and undisputed posts and could not discern any such anomalies. Pressed for specificswhich posts, which artifactsNichols said Wednesday that he did not have ready access to that information, but would provide it. Reached again on Thursday, he said he did not have any details to offer. I thought I did, he said Were kind of reevaluating as of yesterday.

The second giveaway, Nichols said, was in the date and time stamps of some of the posts. They indicated that the entries were posted in the middle of Reids live radio show. No one writes long soliloquies while theyre on the radio, he said . It just doesnt happen. Reids lawyer made the same claim in a letter written last December that was made public this week. It would have been physically impossible for Ms. Reid to have made many of the posts. Some have dates and times when Ms. Reid was doing her radio show and could not have been blogging.

The Daily Beast asked Nichols to provide those posts on Wednesday, and the cybersecurity consultant replied: I dont have that on hand. On Thursday Nichols passed on what he now says is the only example he has available. Dated Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007, the posttitled Is you is, or is you aint gonna impeach?reads in its entirety: John Conyers talks a good game in front of a hometown crowd, but is he serious about keeping impeachment on the table?

The timestamp indicates the entry was posted at 7:14 a.m. Eastern Time. The Daily Beast confirmed that the radio show Reid co-hosted in 2006 and 2007, Wake Up South Florida, aired weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. No archive of the shows broadcasts from that era could be found online.

The contested post was followed by a longer blog post that went up at 8:10 a.m., also during the shows normal airing time. That posttitled The next war?contains 330 words of original writing discussing the prospect of war with Iran. Neither Reid, Nichols, nor Reids attorney have so far contested its authenticity.

The presence of the second post seems to admit only two possibilities: the blog washacked by someone with a well-considered view on U.S. conflict with Iran, or Reid, whether on the air or not, was able to blog that morning.

Reid declined to comment for this story.

The only other specific evidence offered by Reids team came from her attorney, John Reichmann. In letters sent to Google and the Internet Archive last December, which MSNBC distributed to journalists this week, Reichmann claimed that the timestamps on many of the posts on Reids blog are too close together to be the work of a single blogger. The letters provide as the only example Reids 2006 live-blogging of Samuel Alitos Supreme Court confirmation hearing, noting that Reid pushed short updates to the post at 10:18 a.m., 11:34 a.m., and 11:41 a.m.

The Blog, however, also shows a lengthy, fraudulent entry, Things people say when theyre on the Fox News Channel, supposedly posted right in the midst of this, at 11:28 a.m., wrote Reichmann. Ms. Reid did not have the superhuman blogging skills needed to do all of these posts simultaneously.

But the lengthy, fraudulent entry about Fox News Reichmann is referring to consisted of just two lines of original text, plus a copy-pasted quote. A check of CSPANs archive also shows that the post was made shortly after a 15-minute break in the hearing.

If there was a hack, it would have taken place years ago. The Internet Archives records show the disputed posts were mirrored by the Wayback Machine no later than 2009, and many of them were archived much earlier, some within hours of appearing on Reids blog. Reichmann explored the possibility last year that the posts were crafted more recently, and that someone inserted them into the Internet Archive with false dates. Reichmann contacted the nonprofit in December to demand that you provide us with the information needed to determine how the fraudulent posts came to be included in the archived posts.

But at least one of the entries was contemporaneously referenced on a completely different website. A Feb. 6, 2007 post containing the line most straight guys (and women) do react with winces at the sight of two men kissing on the lips drew a comment on the Democratic Underground forum the same day: Oh, Reidblog… why, why why

Today Nichols says Reid and her team no longer believe the archive was hacked, and the Internet Archive has denied any such manipulation could have occurred. We found nothing to indicate tampering or hacking of the Wayback Machine versions, an archiver for the site said in a statement.

That means the supposed hacker was posting alongside Reid for years. According to Reichmann, that even included inserting updates in Reids live blog of the Alito hearing in January 2006. Reichmann claimed that the hacker was responsible for two consecutive updates sandwiched between Reids legitimate ones. The updates report that Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch was using his questioning time to metaphorically fellate the judge. Oh, look, Orrin Hatch is putting on his Supreme Court knee pads to save Alito, one line read. The posts title, which Reichmann says the hacker changed, was Brokeback Committee Room, another reference to the film about gay lovers. All the contested material in the post is present in the earliest archived copy, which was captured the day after the hearing.

All of this alleged hacking apparently went unnoticed at the time by Reid.

Thats an extraordinary claim, and so far the bits and pieces of evidence offered for it have not stood up to scrutiny when theyve been specific enough to test. If she wasnt hacked, it doesnt necessarily follow that Reid is lying. Her decision to hire a security consultant to investigate the posts, and a lawyer to demand the access logs for her blog account, suggests she genuinely believes at least some of the posts were planted. After 12 years and tens of thousands of written words, Reid simply may not remember.

Its possible that in the end Reid will discover her adversary isnt a determined hacker, but a far more dogged foe: The Joy-Ann Reid of years past, writing in a voice she can no longer recognize as her own.

with additional reporting by Andrew Kirell and Maxwell Tani

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/claims-by-joy-reids-cybersecurity-expert-fall-apart

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sizzlingcrusadebouquetfan-blog · 6 years

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"I wanna buy a car but don't have insurance?

I'm about to turn 16 so I don't even have my permit. But I saw a car today for close to what I have. I'm gonna borrow the extra from my dad but how soon do I need to buy insurance? It's probably jut gonna sit in my driveway til I can drive. I just wanna get it before someone else does because its a good deal. But do I need insurance for a car that no one is driving? I brought it up to my mom and **** I got bitched out. I have to pay my own expenses by the way. I just wanna know if anyone has something different to say. Thanks

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I am writing a report on insurance coverage and sport injuries. I know that most medical insurance will not cover an injury that occurred while playing on an athletic team. I want to know which specific companies and their policies

Cheap car insurance for 18 year old female in uk?

Please suggest companies that you have used or know off that are cheap for this age group. The cheapest quote I've found so far was approx. 1780 but I need it to be cheaper. You help will honestly be appreciated

Got in accident. not my fault. will my insurance rates go up?

this is in reference to my other question but basically i got in a minor accident and it was the other drivers fault. i just called my insurance and reported but i have to wait until tuesday to talk to an agent. just to alleviate my nerves i need to know now, is it likely my rates will go up? it's not my fault. also all the damage costs will be taken care of by my insurance company right? or the other drivers..?? thank you.""

Need help with Car Insurance?

I am a 17 year old in california, who just bought a 92 Buick Skylark and I need to no what would be my best bet when it comes to getting insurance, I would like cheap insurance, as ...show more""

Cheapest car insurance female driver full no claims?

low milage

Dodge Charger Insurance?

I am 16 years old and I am about to get my license and I was wondering how much the cheapest insurance for a dodge charger would be a month! Please no comments saying that I shouldnt start of with the charger, but its just my aunt said she would give me hers that way my parents wouldnt have to buy me a car (shes giving it to me for free) We would just have to be responsible for insurance and any problems the car would have in the future. Im in the L.A area""

How much money would Insurance cost annually for a 150cc Scooter?

Right now i am 15. I want to buy a 150cc Scooter when i turn 16. I need to know how much money on average would insurance cost annually for a 150cc Scooter.

What is the cheapest car insurance company?

I am test driving a few used cars tomorrow afternoon and i am a first time buyer. What is the cheapest car insurance company in Louisiana area? keep in mind that the cars i am looking for are: pontiac g5 and g6 (used) chrysler crossfire (used) and the chrysler seebring. (used)

What color cars are cheaper to insure?

its bugging me lol. i would like to know what colors are considered aggressive like red,black ect. and what colors they wont rape you over. so a list of aggressive colors and a list of calm colors. thank you for your help!""

If men have to pay more for car insurance then why aren't women paying more for health insurance?

You can use the same exact argument they use against men to increase their car insurance. http://www.jfponline.com/purls/Pages.asp?AID=2450 From the departments of Family and Community Medicine (K.D.B., E.J.C.) and Internal Medicine (J.A.R.) University of California, Davis, School of Medicine, Sacramento; and the Division of Statistics (R.A.) and the Department of Economics (L.J.H.), University of California, Davis, Davis. Reprint requests should be addressed to Klea D. Bertakis, MD, MPH, Department of Family and Community Medicine, 4860 Y Street, Suite 2300, Sacramento, CA 95817. E-mail: [email protected]. BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that women use more health care services than men. We used important independent variables, such as patient sociodemographics and health status, to investigate gender differences in the use and costs of these services. METHODS: New adult patients (N = 509) were randomly assigned to primary care physicians at a university medical center. Their use of health care services and associated charges were monitored for 1 year of care. Self-reported health status was measured using the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). We controlled for health status, sociodemographic information, and primary care physician specialty in the statistical analyses. RESULTS: Women had significantly lower self-reported health status and lower mean education and income than men. Women had a significantly higher mean number of visits to their primary care clinic and diagnostic services than men. Mean charges for primary care, specialty care, emergency treatment, diagnostic services, and annual total charges were all significantly higher for women than men; however, there were no differences for mean hospitalizations or hospital charges. After controlling for health status, sociodemographics, and clinic assignment, women still had higher medical charges for all categories of charges except hospitalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Women have higher medical care service utilization and higher associated charges than men. Although the appropriateness of these differences was not determined, these findings have implications for health care.""

Do I qualify for unemployment insurance in California?

I worked a full time temp job that only lasted 4 months. From May to September. I m wondering if that is enough to qualify for unemployment insurance in California?

Luxury cars with low insurance rates?

I was wondering what types of luxury cars would have the lowest insurance rates? I would prefer either a sedan or coupe. So in the category of luxury sedan/coupe, what would be the lowest insurance rate? I don't care about the price of the car itself, I just want one that doesn't have me paying a bunch every month, non-stop. My definition of low is around the neighborhood of $60, preferably lower obviously. If there is no such thing, then please tell me the closest to it. Thank you in advance.""

Whats the price of insurance for a mercedes benz c class?

Im planing to buy a c class in the next couple of months but i want to be really inform before i buy

How can I prevent a speeding ticket from making my insurance go up?

I got pulled over and as of right now the insurance is already high. I am 18 living in KY. First time offense. Any way I can prevent insurance going up?

Is this too high for heath insurance or is this how they all are?

I pay 130/month for health insurance through Humana for 1 adult and 2 children, full coverage. I usually have to pay a $20 copay for minor doctor visits. Recently I found out Humana is going to start charging an extra $20/week so it will be $150/week, so about $500-600/month, which is a little more than our mortgage payment. We pay less in groceries every week than the amount it costs us to pay for this insurance and we rarely visit the doctor, maybe twice a year, and the amount that is charged hardly adds up to the amount paid throughout the whole year. It's really ridiculous, in my opinion. I get this insurance through my work. I only have the option to cancel or change things about the insurance twice a year and the time has come up. So I am considering canceling and looking elsewhere for health insurance, or just paying out of pocket because if I cancel that's an extra 150 bucks in the bank. I will still keep my vision and dental. Is this a good idea to cancel? Pros. vs. Cons.? Are there any better health insurance companies I could go with that would charge less in the state of Ohio? Honestly I am considering applying for medicaid because we are struggling. We are behind in several medical bills that the insurance wouldn't cover and they are less than what the insurance company charges us monthly, yet because all our money is spent on the insurance, we can't pay for the actual bills - what's the point in the insurance? Enlighten me someone? I was told once that the two biggest crooks are lawyers and insurance companies and I'm starting to see why.""

Do i need insurance to buy a car?

I have been put in a crisis and am being forced to buy my first car tommorrow. My dad has bought cars for me, but I've never owned one. I am buying my friends truck, which is past due on registration. Basically, I pay the late fees and the truck is mine. I however do not have insurance right now. I will get it ASAP but don't as of right now. I've been reading online and they all say, No dealer will let you drive off the lot without insurance. But none of them say if you're buying the car from a person, not a dealer. What do i do??""

Car insurance in New York?

where can i find something affordable

Does AAA have good auto insurance?

Is it true that ObamaCare forces people to buy health insurance?

If not, risk going to jail and face a fine.""

Motorcycle insurance for a teenager?

I will be 19 in November and I want to get a Ninja 250R. I guess around a 2002, a starter bike. I was wondering (guess) how much it would cost.""

I wanna buy a car but don't have insurance?

How do i get health insurance?

How do I get health insurance for myself? My work doesn't offer health insurance. My husband and all his younger siblings (over 18) are now covered under my mother-in-law's insurance from her work.

Will I considered to drive a car without insurance?

Hi. I been driving without insurance for months because my mom told me to wait until her insurance expired and will add me to her policy in june. My mom add me to her policy a few days ago and my car insurance will only start valid on june 2, 2013. Yesterday, I was pulled over and got a ticket. Will I considered to drive a car without insurance? My mom was very mad at me because I didn't get any ticket for months and not involve in any accidents and now only 10 days until my car insurance valid, I got a ticket. Please help, I don't want to have 2 violation case especially drive without car insurance""

About how much car insurance does a first time 26 year old driver have to pay?

I need to know I lived in the city for many years and got by with public transportation so I never needed a car no that I have moved I need to buy a car, I hear folks says new drivers pay more..is this true of so how much more I plan to buy a used car for around 5-8 k directly no car loans""

Car Insurance?

The car is in my name and I have insurance on the car, but I want to add my 16 year old brother as a driver. He will be driving the car most of the time. He is covered under my moms but i am wondering if I can add him as a driver for mine also?""

Motorcycle insurance rate estimation?

I want basic liability insurance for a lower cc Honda Phantom, 700 cc tops. I am a 21 year old male who committed a DUI 2.5 years ago and is now alcohol-free. For that reason, I feel ...show more""

Good Insurance Policy for Newly Married Couple?

Me and my wife just for married. We are both 21 years of age and are in college. We know what having a good health insurance policy should be our highest priority. Is there any affordable and good insurance policy someone can recommend? Thank you.

I dont get what to do about car insurance?

Im 16, and ive had my permit since last august, and im gonna go for my license. I lived with my dad, but i have been living with my mom for a while. Im probably going to go on my dads insurance. But, can i drive my moms cars. So my questions are 1. Can I drive my moms cars when if i am on my dads insurance, is there a policy where I can drive other peoples cars? 2. Can I go on my dads insurance if I dont live with him? 3. Im not on any insurance now, I drive with my parents. They are on the insurance and their cars are covered, so do I already have to be covered with just a permit. 4. Im going to use my moms car for the driving test, do I have to be on insurance by then? I know they check for proof of insurance but i dont know if im supposed to be on it. My parents are divorced and I live in illinois and they have different insurance companies.""

What is best landlord insurance policy or company?

what is best landlord insurance policy or company?

Can you buy multiple life insurance policies?

If one had a whole life insurance policy valued at $1M, and through a life settlement company sold it for $455K; could you essentially use those same funds to purchase another life insurance such as a universal life insurance policy for $1M?""

What are some car insurance companys?

would love to know ones that are cheap???

Cheap auto insurance in maryland ?

i bough a 1993 honda civic and i need insurance before i can go pick it up which is gonna be on sat wats the lowest rate im 19 with a full dl never been stopped or gotten a ticket im looking only for liability not full covered

Life Insurance - Can I insure my mom?

I am 34 years old. My mom is in her late 60's and in good health. Can I get a life insurance policy on her and collect on it when she passes? I can't imagine this being so - how could insurance companies stay in business if it were this easy? The monthly rates that I'm seeing seem to good to be true - I'd be stupid to not do it. I'm thinking I must be missing something. Is life insurance only for accidental death? Thank you.

Do you have health insurance?

what kind of deducatable do you have?? how much per month? how old are you?

How much would it cost to insure a 17 year old driver with a 2003 corvette?

i should say how much more? right noq i drive a 2005 chevy avalanche LT and i have always wanted a corvette. i found one from a dealer that i might be able to afford if insurance isnt too much. i have usaa insurance and ive never had an accident or ticket, im not an honor role student but i pass with c's ans b's(I've herd honors affects insurance), i live in ct ( ive herd the state affects insurance), and i've done the minimal drivers ed (only the drug and alcohol courses which are required atleast in Connecticut). my insurance allows me to drive all the cars i want that are connected to that insurance plan. thank you!!!""

Is the Nissan 300zx (1991) a good first car for a teenager?

I just want to know, I'm shopping for my first car. I have about $3500 and I want a car that is sporty. I like the nissan 300zx, and I need to know if its a reliable enough car and a good buy for my first car. I f anyone has any advice or knows about the car, let me know. Thank you!""

How Much Do You Pay For Car Insurance?

And Whats On Your Driving Record?

Which Insurance company is better to take Mediclaim cover?

Which Insurance company is good to take health policy in India? India there are 24 non life insurance companies are there. Which one is better response at the time of claim. Give some suggestion to take medi claim insurance cover...

""It's mandatory in California to have auto insurance at ALL times, am I right?""

If yes, to whom can I go to, in order to check the validity of the car's insurance policy? A car hit me last Tuesday (I was a pedestrian). I am gonna be reporting the incident to a DMV office tomorrow. Will they give me the insurance information of the car? The other party didn't give me insurance information on the vehicle.""

Is there a cheap car insurance place in New Jersey for a 17 year old girl to get insurance?

Im 17 and I turn 18 in July and I bought my own car, its a 1992 toyota and I want my own insurance, I know it's going to be pricey a lot but I don't want to be under my parents insurance. I don't mind only getting liability but I need some help finding a cheaper insurance place in New Jersey on the upper east coast. Thanks!!""

""What's the cost of insurance on Porsche's, BMW's Ferrari's, etc?""

What's the cost of insurance on Porsche's, BMW's Ferrari's, etc?""

Will a suspended license affect my insurance?

I just found out my license is suspended in another state from a ticket I don't remember getting from 2003. They just put in on my record because I've been to the DMV several times after 2003 and no one ever said anything about a suspension. I have an opportunity to get a new job, but they have to check with their insurance as I will be driving a company vehicle. Will the suspension affect the insurance? My personal insurance rate has not been affected nor has my current company's insurance said anything about it.""

If i dont have insurance and i drive a friends car in which he has insurance on it.?

What would happen? would my friend be liable, and would he have to pay everything? or would his insurance cover his car?""

""I'm 19, have a permit, but do I need insurance to drive with my mom?""

Ok I got a permit, I got it last year..it expires on April 30th. So I was wondering..if i go out and drive with my mom who has a license, do I need to get my own insurance as well? My moms car is insured. I live in California. I haven't driven a whole year because i can't afford my own insurance right now. Lol so do I need to get my own insurance even though my mom and her car are insured? If I get stopped by the cops will I get in trouble? Thnx in advance""

Car insurance INCREASE every 6 months with no accidents/tickets? wtf!?

Last year I had Unitrin Direct....they were charging me $85 a month...this is with NO tickets or accidents for the last 5 years of my driving record....this is also with the BASIC ...show more

What would the premiums cost for government health insurance?

How much will people have to pay to be covered by Obama care? Are there estimates? Do many people believe it will be free? It's good to know the price of things before you buy them.

I wanna buy a car but don't have insurance?

What is the best auto insurance?

What would be the cheapest auto insurance for someone who is an eighteen year old female with a clean record looking to get insurance for the first time?

16 year old boy need insurance in CA?

I just got my license and I am planning to buy a toyota or a honda type of car. I want to know how much would car insurence would cost if i do get one and which company would give me a great coverage and a great deal. I need numbers and name people!!!

Car insurance?

I just bought a brand new car and recently changed my car insurance company. Today after leaving a meeting I hit a fire hydrin while backing up leaving a nice hole in my back bumper. I called my insurance company and submitted a claim but am more concered with the my insurance premium going up. Does anybody know if it will go up or not. I have not submitted a claim in more then 5 years and only pay 86.00 a month for full coverage including collision and renters insurance for my house. Does anybody know about this kind of stuff??

Delaware Auto Insurance (Uninsured / Under-insured) What does this Mean?

4) An insured who executes a release of a single tortfeasor owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle in exchange for payment of the entire limits of liability insurance afforded by the tortfeasor's liability insurer shall continue to be legally entitled to recover against that tortfeasor for the purposes of recovery against the insured's underinsurance carrier. An insured who executes a release of 1 of multiple tortfeasors shall have rights against that tortfeasor and the insured's underinsurance carrier determined in accordance with the Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasors Act and paragraph (3) of this subsection.

Health Insurance Deductible Q?

Does doctor visits count towards insurance deductible? My deductible is 2500 and doctors usually charge 100s of dollars per visit to the company even though i pay small co payments, do those count towards the deductible amount? I may need a mri soon which cost a lot and my insurance charges %80 after the deductible has been met""

How much insurance cost for 350z?

how much does it cost for insurance on a 350z for a 19yr old guy clean driving record in Texas?

""If a deer hits me, how fast can insurance get me a rental car?""

I have a 97 Ram 4x4, full coverage at geico (I'm on my parents insurance), $500 deductible. How fast can insurance get me a rental if one hits me, will it raise my rates, (I work 3-11:30 PM, and travel mainly back roads since there aren't many other ways to get home if it helps). I've been driving for 6 months.""

Is there affordable insurace for me?

I am currently employed at a wonderful job with great insurance, but my baby is due in January and my husband and I would really love for me to be able to stay home. The only problem with that is, my husband is self-employed and we would not have insurance if I quit my job. We live in Missouri, is there affordable insurance out there for us. I have looked into Medicaid, but I believe that my husband makes just a little too much too qualify. Any help would be greatly appreciated""

I am Looking for a Best site for Comparing HEALTH INSURANCE Quotes Online?

Are there reasonable car insurance quotes comparison sites online that someone can link me?

How do I find out if my insurance covers Mirena?

I have Blue Advantage/MN Care for my health insurance and have been looking into getting the Mirena IUD.. I am on daily birth control pills now, but would like to switch to something more effective/semi permanent.""

Do i need insurance to drive with my license with my parents?

so i have had my permit for a little over 6 months and my dad doesnt want me to get my license yet (he wants me to wait an extra 6 months). I want to get my license now, but treat it the same as a permit so that I will not have all those extra rules that your supposed to have for the first year of driving with a license. So my question is... Do I need to have insurance if I am driving my parents car with my parents in the car when I have my license? I know it is not required when I have my permit but is it required when I have my license? I live in california by the way.""

Should Keep or Look into term Life Insurance Quotes?

I have a whole life policy which I have been paying 45.00 per month for 16 yrs. I have to pay this amount until age 99 so they say. The amount it was for when I bought it was 50,000. It builds cash value. I am now 62. Should I keep this policy or look into term insurance?""

""Buying a car with rebuild, or salvage title?""

I live in Texas, what is the policies/laws for buying a Salvage title or rebuild title car? What exactly is a Salvage title, and am i allow to have it insure by insurance company? ...show more""

Where can i get low cost motorcycle insurance ?

i live in ontario canada ,, i want to buy a honda cbr 250 , and would like to find a low cost insurance for my bike , so far i got some way off price quote with a difference of $280.00 ,so i suspect they are over charging ,even at the low end , they say i'm covered for 12 months months but a motorcycle is not meant to ride in cold and snow and salty streets as the salt would ruin the chain and other parts of the motorcycle .""

Is a scraped car door handle worth the rise in insurance rates?

If someone scraped against your car door and the only thing damaged was the handle on the passenger side door, would you file an insurance claim and risk a rise in insurance? The scrape is only about 1-2 inches long.""

""Motorcycle trip in california, suggestions?""

hello fellow rider, I was going to do a trip to mainland mexico (im in cabo, baja), but mainland is kind of dangerous right now, so plan b is california, so I ran into this web site and was thinking of copying one of their tours, could you tell me which one is the best to do, or if you have any suggestions, please let me know, I appreciate your help. ramon bmw r1150gs adv http://www.best-motorcycle-gear.com/guided-motorcycle-tours.html By the way, besides: motorcycle drivers license, registration, visa, insurance, what other thing do I need to drive there?""

Can somebody explain to me what LP means in home insurance?

For example, I know that there is a classification in homes that's called LP3 . What does that mean??""

Would you say my insurance is going to right my car off......?

i had a crash the other day where i got hit in the passanger side door and the car then bounced up an fell down on a high curb aon the drivers side. so after everything was sorted out i drove it home. the insurance have said it was my fault anyway. so i have got a fiat punto evo 60 plate, 4500 miles on clock 3 door. it cost me in april 10,995 to buy. So its been in a body shop got an estimate of 5300 to fix it and i have an excess of 1150. The body shop thinks its going to be a right off?? i am just wondering what your veiws are? thanks""

How much does on average do people pay for health insurance?

I'm doing a debate on weather or not obese people should pay more for health premium or not but thats not the important part, the important part is how much does the average person pay for health insurance?""

What is the cheapest health insurance for low income people?

my kids father had a stroke two days ago and i am trying to help him find health insurance. he is having a hard time getting any insurance because he is unemployed and receives unemployment payments but they won't see him at the clinic because he has too many assets. He owns a trailer and has two cars. If any one can help i really would appreciate it. He also has high blood pressure, high colesterol, and diabetes. He had a stroke because he couldn't afford to buy his medications for his high blood pressure and colesterol.please help . i dont want anything bad to happen to him.""

Auto insurance settlement offer too low?

We were in an accident in September, my 4 y/o son and i went to see a chiropractor and i also seen a physical therapist a few times, (i actually still have pain from time to time in ...show more""

Which is better car insurance?

$500 per year with an excess of $1150 or $560 per year with an excess of $900 These are the 2 best insurance quotes i can find. Both are big reliable companies.

Car insurance question?

I'm 17 and still living with my parents. I just got a car and now I need to find insurance. My dad doesn't want me on his because then, if I got in an accident, his rates would go up. My question is, if I were to cause his rates to go up and then got kicked off his plan, would his rates go back down? I'm curious because I really would rather not get my own insurance, being on my dad's would be much much much more affordable.""

Cheap car with cheap insurance?

Im 18 and Ive just passed my driving test and im looking for a good car for around 2500. The cars with cheap insurance are more expensive and the cheap cars have a relatively high insurance cost. The budget for the insurance is not set but I don't want to pay a ridiculous price. Any suggestions on a perfect car which is in my budget but with a low insurance cost? P.S. I understand because im young the insurance will be expensive but if anyone has any advice on how to get cheaper insurance please let me know.

Would a 1.4 honda civic be an ideal car for a new driver?

17 year old. Male. Would it be wise getting a 1.4 civic say 1999 plate for a first car?

I wanna buy a car but don't have insurance?

Can anyone tell me how much insurance would be for a 16yr old driving a black 1997 toyota supra?

Is there affordable private health coverage available?

My husband lost his job and my autistic son takes strattera($640) and abilify($220) a month. Is there any programs that help with cost or a good private insurance plan out there?

How old do you have to be to start driving lessons?

Does anyone know a good affordable health insurace that offers maternity coverage? if so please help?

Why is my insurance quote 10 times higher than last year?

So, i got my motorcycle license last summer and bought a 2003 Kawasaki ZX6R for $5000. My insurance from Progressive was $1700 for the year (full coverage). I rode it for two months before it got stolen. In those two months i got one ticket for straddling lanes. Once the bike got stolen i got all my money back. Now, I'm looking to get the same bike again. I just called Progressive and they want $6056 per year for full coverage!!!! And if i were to buy a brand new 2007 model it would be $10000!! So, $6056 for a $5000 bike? And $10000 for a $9000 bike? What gives? One ticket and the theft did this? I don't get it. What are my options?""

Does having a motorcycle license effect your car insurance rates?

I've been looking at taking the course, wondering if theres any other implications I havent considered. Anyone have some experience with this? Assume I'll have my motorcycle endorsement on my license, but not own a motorcycle. I live in RI, by the way.""

I need car insurance in broomfield co?

I have one speeding ticket and i'm 19 years old where can i go to get car insurance cheap i get min wage. and i need full coverage and if you know what full coverage consists of please let me know i have a 2003 dogde neon se

Will auto insurance be cheaper If i'm on my parent's plan?

I'm 17. I graduated college early, so i'm now a sophomore in college. I have a job, where I make generally $600 a month. Not much but i'll be graduating soon so I can deal ...show more""

What is cheap car insurance for a new driver?

I am a new driver and I need insurance for a Jeep Grand Cherokee 2000. I am a student and I need cheap insurance

What is the cheapest and most affordable auto insurance?

i live in illinois

Insurance Cost?

I'm 18 and I have a 3.0+ GPA and I'm a male. I'm looking to get a new 2007 Honda Accord two door manual transmission. I live in California in the L.A. area. Does anyone know the price range of my insurance?

""What is the definition of a total loss car by the insurance company?, Is it possible to get my car back?""

Florida-A couple of months ago I was involved in an car accident that my insurance said they would not fix, due to certain circumstances. The insurance company told me the car was a total loss. The buy here Pay here who financed the vehicle told me to bring in the police report info and that was it. you have to get a new car is simply what I was told, I asked about payments and he told me to call him in a few days- few days turn into weeks and he is never available to discuss with me payments. Almost 2 months and there is still noone willing to talk to me?, looking through some car ads yesterday I saw the car listed at a different location owned by the same Buy Here Pay Here it was all like new, Fixed and being sold? If my car was fixable couldnt I have just paid out of pocket to fix it? what is the definition of a total loss from the insurance's view? Is it possible to get my car back? BTW I have no issues with paying the finance company- I just cant get anyoone to talk to me. Please try and answer all of the questions here, so I dont have to repost separately Thanks in advance for the advice.""

Does anyone know in detail what no fault car insurance is?

I am having a problem understanding no fault car insurance. Can somebody explain how it works?

My husband and I have 3 kids and we're in our early 50's. Do we need life insurance at this point?

We own our home and have approximately $75 000 invested.

Does MY CAR INSURANCE cover!?!?

I crashed my friends car. She has liability on her car so now she is screwed with a beat up car. I have full coverage on my car, now would I be able to use my insurance to cover her vehicle that I crashed?""

Can I rent a Car if I don't have Insurance?

I am wanting to go to Vegas for the weekend and I currently don't have a car. Which means I don't have car insurance. I am getting a bunch of mixed messages telling me that I am unable to rent a car because I currently don't have car insurance. Is this true?

Are BMW more expensive to insure?

Specifically a White 2006 BMW 325i. I'm 21, never had any traffic violations, had my license since I was 17. I'm looking to get rid of my old 1994 Crappy Mustang, and getting a White 06 3 Series BMW. Will my insurance be expensive? Additional Details: I plan on financing, which means it will require me to get full coverage.""

Cheap or free help with medical insurance?

I need health insurance for myself my children are covered under medicade and I need health insurance that is free or cheap

Which of these is the correct Republican opposition to universal healthcare?

A. The government can't run anything right B. Government-run healthcare will be too successful, and private insurance companies won't be able to compete As with the Obama is simultaneously a Muslim, a Radical Black Christian, and Godless Communist argument, sooner or later you are going to have to pick one and go with it...at least in this place some of us like to call reality ...""

Which car insurance companies insure electric cars?

My insurance company will not insure electric cars. Which will?

Which would have cheaper insurance a 06 charger or 06 bmw 330i?

Cheapest saturn sky insurance for a 16 year old?

I am about to turn sixteen and i was wndering how much insurance would cost for a Saturn sky?

Where is a company that offeres life insurance to felons?

My husband commited a felony nine years ago when he was nineteen years old and has not been in trouble since. He is now a foreman, owns his own home and is just a regualr citizen, but he has been denied life insurance through 3 companies. Any suggestions?""

Teen insurance cost on a leased c300?

i just got my license, and i am 16 going to be 17 in 2 months :) i wanted to know how much insurance is for a new leased c300 mercedes.""

What the youngest age someone can get auto insurance?

I wanna buy a car but don't have insurance?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-do-cant-afford-automobile-insurance-17-year-old-male-varnado"

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vitalmindandbody · 7 years

Text

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The sperm bankwas a place that didnt merely examine fondly on masturbation, butit and would compensate you for it.

As far as loopholes croak, the sperm bank, just by prevailing, felt like a long overdue affirmation to my 12 -year-old self, who, I swear to God, would have ejected on his eggs every morning if he could.

Because no matter who he grows to be, every adult male comes from a squirming, semen-crazed cretin conducted around for years by the incorrect psyche. Its embarrassing on some stage, but real and inevitable and completely normal on another.

Its important to remember who you are and where you come from.

I hate my 12 -year-old self, but hes certainly good-for-nothing to be scared of, and he deserves some enjoy because it was all he required. So I channeled him as I skipped off the metro and into the shambolic normality of Lexington Avenue atnoon.

Walking against congestion, I weaved and swerved through the 401( k) combat: dejected investment categories, the wind blowing their ties up their cervixes; preppy, young go-getters, wearing purple on purpose; measured women around pantsuits onhands-free labels; bald managers indicating off every possible face spaces, windshields, the wind itself.

Everything steel, everything imposing, everything sculpted. Yet, somehow, everything also severely edgeless.

I often feel like an infiltrator in this field, whichfeelslike one large-scale savings account is built around Yes Men and 40 th-floor favors. Like me, all of them had1 2-year-old versions of themselves, but theyd all been thumped out of them, like boners tucked up in the waistbands of their own lives.

After split second of investigating their faces, their headaches were plain to read: These parties seemed entirely unaware of their close proximity to a biology lab that mostly doubled as a modern succor terminal. They involved a release.

I smiled at them from under sunglasses as I approached the labs build: a grey-haired monstrosity branded as country offices spa. Glass doorways discriminated the street from a lily-white, modern lobby.

A concierge buzzed me through without judgment.Instead, he grinned, too. That corroborated mine and redoubled as a tap on my 12 -year-old selfs shoulder, almost as if to allege: See buddy, you werent so bad after all.

For those who dont know, sperm banks( or cryobanks) accumulate and distribute donated bodily fluids and tissues to people who need such things. The broth is disproportionatelysemen, but also includes embryos, oocytes, ovarian tissue, testicular materials, and more.

Sperm tests are analyzed for effectivenes, condition, vitality and health and, if accepted, are frozen until a later date. Women interested in in vitro fertilization then re-examine stored tests, hand selecting characteristics theyd prefer in their child.

This establishes cryobanksthe ultimate Darwinian battlefield.

In vitro fertilization isnt uncommon, but its still comparatively uncommon, and given the size of the potential donor base, requirements are strict. Most banks wont accept a donor shorter than five foot seven, and overweight donors are generally repudiated. Some clinics admit only 1 percent of donor applicants.

Certain qualities are in higher request statistically. Mothers miss their children are derived from physicians more often than from taxi operators, for example. Theyd rather their babies not havecertain genetic fragilities, like a familial record of diabetes.

They likewise disproportionally crave semen of Italian genealogy, for whatever reason.

In vitro fertilization is commonly an upper class alternative, so it simply constitutes sense that such fathers would prefer donors with more white collar professions, backgrounds and appearances.

Basically, what that mean for dudes is: If you want to be a donor, you need to be towering, strong, fit for rearing and an admirable representation of traditional success.

Blue-eyed, spaghetti-loving intelligence surgeons who are somehow six-foot-four and free atnoonon aThursday thats the archetype. The world is, most donors are young men with flexible hours who could use the money. Like me.

I pressed the elevator button and squirmed anxiously as the doors closed, agitated to be acknowledged that my swimmers stacked up.

If you want to be a donor, “youve got to be” towering, strong, is suitable for raising and an admirable of traditional success. Blue-eyed, spaghetti-loving brain surgeons who are somehow six-foot-four and free at noon on a Thursday thats the archetype. The actuality is, most donors are young men with flexible hours who could use the currency. Like me.

The fourth floor opened to a tiled hallway lining two disconnected place infinites. The kind of fluorescent dawns youd see in a dentist officebathed the corridor, committing it a infertile look, like somehow this is only the test tube and you were already in it. A really strange meta/ horny combo ethos crowded the room.

And that was when I went past all the jizz decorations.

Thats right, jizz emblems. At the conclusion of its hallway, two glass entrances signaled the entryway to the donor part of the cryobank. Through the glass, it ogled not unlike your usual physicians bureau waiting room: portable chairs rowing a direction to a receptionist window, a non-functioning television hanging above apprehensive patients, publications, snacks.

But if you zoomedOUT and focused on the doors themselves, it suddenly became apparent this wasnt a typical clinic.

You know how a kindergarten teacher will print out unthreatening cartoons of swine, like a lion, and staple them to abulletin board? Its for medal, but its too supposed to help the minors informed about vowels, and lion has two vowels in it.

But they dont magazine out an image of a lion destroying a zebra carcass. They print out an image of him smiling, returning a thumbs up whatever.

Well, the glass openings of this clinic are decorated with similar epitomes of sperm. Earnestly. Animated blue swimmers glued to the doors accepted donors in what purposes as a disarmingly transparent salute and super-effective confirmation that, yes, theyre in the right place.

A printout speaking DONOR ENTRANCE sits scotched-taped between the imitation swimmers. The clinic literally shapes you walk through the sea to come in.

So, thats what I did.

They construct you fill out species. Lots of forms.

The booklet sat eight pages late in the clipboard. A heated, post-grad liberal character with a Lena Dunham haircut handed it to me at the receptionists desk, right before informing me I wouldnt be paid for this visit.

I accepted her as the woman whod answered my email inquiry and scheduled the visit. Donors are only paid after theyve been accepted, she spoke. Today was my trial run.

All right, I mentioned. I understand.

I sat down with my brand-new publication. The extend sheet was filled with foreground verse and capital letters.

PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.

WRITE CLEARLY AND LEGIBLYON ALL PAPERWORK.

WRITE TODAYS DATE ON EVERY PAGE WHERE DESIGNATED.

PRINT YOUR FULL LEGAL NAME AT THE BOTTOM OF EVERY PAGE.

PLEASE INITIAL AND DATE ANY CORRECTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE.

Very ominous, all these directions. Exceedingly clinicalNot exactly an aphrodisiacal environment.

I flip-flop the page.

First, they want to know all your medical record, then all your genetic history, then all the medical record of your family.

Do you have any history of epilepsy, of hepatitis, of Zika, of this, of that? How many maternal uncles do you have? How many paternal aunts? Where did they come from? Where are they now?

Have “youve been” traveled out of the country? Where? Have you ever traveled in different countries? When? Where? Have you ever been incarcerated? Do you have sounds? Pages and pages of this.

Finally, you turn to a page that asks you to detail your sexual record. The questionnaire asks you how many sexual partners youve had in the past 12 months, then asks you to list them and gives youspaces to do so. Five.

Not merely do they expect me to recollect my sex partners, but they are leave room for five? Hilarious.

I literally burst into laughter.Good happen I was the only one waiting.

The questionnaire asks you how many sexual partners youve had in the past 12 months, then asks you to itemize them and gives you five spaces to do so. Five. Not exclusively do they expect me to remember my sexual marriages, but they are leave room for five? Hilarious. I literally burst into laughter.

Youre likewise asked to itemize what shield you used, every time, with each partner. It was an depleting exercise in reminiscence and defy that I ultimately succumbed to.

I couldnt help but lie on that portion. I only didnt know.

Shortly after, a man penetrated mid-3 0s, blue sweater, classy jeans, bald manager and whisker. He looked as if he could be coming from anywhere in New York.

Walking up to the receptionist, he removed a card from his pocket and swiped it against a card reader while in stride. The readers initiated a light-headed a opening guiding within the agency, unlocking it.

I mustered he was an active donor, a person who had already well underway screened. Active donors are frequently allowed to donate several times per week. Each season, they received about as much money as I do for these columns.

The man didnt look up or clear attention contact with anyone. He just marched in.

Because Im a dick, I made a document of the time.

Over the next fewminutes, I fucked up the forms multiple times while my blood sugar descended considerably and while, I reckon, Bald Man experienced himself.

I sided my completed application form to the Lena Dunham woman, was told to wait and then was handed them back by a cheery, unionized type who emerged from the back of the agency and put me more in the mood.

She had complicated brown seeings that bristled with this concoction of compassion and permission and you want to fuck me matter-of-factness. They almost became me guilty for being there, selling the future infants I could legitimately suppose establishing her.

This entire slouse needs to be filled in, she told me calmly.

I missed an entire division?

She smiled like I wasnt the first idiot, and wouldnt be the last.

I missed lunch, was my lame excuse.

Thats why we have snacks, she answered. Help yourself.

I hadnt discovered just how stunning a collecting of treats this waiting room offered popcorn, corn microchips, protein barrooms, granola rails, trail concoction, cheese scrabbles (!!).

Being the only one there, I decided to load up before Bald Man reemerged. I went to town, spraying crumbs all over the questionnaire, which was now asking me which street medications, if any, Id assimilated in the past two weeks. You mean besides cheese scrabbles?

I reverted the forms. Boss Lady approved them, eyeing the popcorn scraps on my upper cheek. She asked me a few more wonders, squinted suspiciously and asked me to sit again.

On the practice back to my chair, I find a portable refrigerator in the reces of the room. It was labeled DONOR REFRIGERATOR.

, I belief,

Boss Lady receded out of display, and “its just” me again. I had half a sentiment to openup the refrigerator and picture for myself when Bald Man rose again from the glass openings, his head down, never bursting his speed as he departed in a hurry.

I look back my watch. 11.5 hours. I thought.

Lena Dunham instructed me to walk through the glass openings to a back area where I would situate my test. She handed me an empty plastic beaker with a off-color name, a sticker with my figure on it.

After youve deposited your test, youll realise labelled go-carts in the hallway, she said. Youll leave your test there to be analyzed, and well advise you in a few days.

I nodded and saw my road down the passageway where four tiny quiz rooms waited, all exhaust. I chose the most significant one and looked at my watch.

The room was coated blood-red and nondescript. A single portable chair sat in the middle, next to an intent counter. A subside remained on the back wall below a clue, imploring patients to cleanse their hands.

Another sign informed that lubrication was available upon request. Another non-functioning video hung from the wall.( I acquire it was non-functioning; I didnt want to touch anything more than I had to .) A stack of Hustler Magazines weresprawled and weathered on the table.

I closed the door. I anticipated.

I grew up with Internet porn, never even considering magazine porn. Its kind of like the path millennials consider newspapers: pointless, burdensome remnants. But here it was, my only option.

I wondered if it would even work.

It did. I started to climbing. Unexpectedly, my original believe, the one that stumbled me as I moved out the door earlier in the day, came again.

I was going to uncovered myself in public, and by that, I represent outside of the privacy rights of my own home.

There wouldnt be repercussions. There would not be police. There was nothing indecent about this revelation, and thats a very strange notion to wrap your heading around, specially when so much blood is hastening from it.

Young guys are studied from such a young age to obscure their boners. Its a proficiency in survival education that evolves as they age, and as the stakes rise. We know instinctively they are important, “they il be” fragile, “they il be” cherished and used.

Not long after we start sprouting, we are told our erections are rude, they are wrong, they are even felon, and we spend the next 50 years or so stuffing them up into our waistbands in suspicion of being ostracized.

Much of a young mans adolescence is an education in abridging his erectings, harnessing them in an attempt to protect himself. So to sit there without dismay genuinely was a trip.

I giggled aloud and wondered if anyone could sound. While Im here, I guessed, I might as well enjoy it, so I clanged off some puns in my head.

I thought.

I snickered.

It all became too much. I looked at my watch. Six minutes killed. Thats more than enough time wasted.

I sat down, breath and unzipped.

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Sickening, gruelling or frightful: how doctors measure pain | John Walsh

The Long Read: Suffering is difficult to describe and impossible to see. So how can doctors tell how much it hurts?

One night in May, my wife sat up in bed and said, Ive got this awful pain just here. She prodded her abdomen and made a face. It feels like somethings really wrong. Woozily noting that it was 2am, I asked what kind of pain it was. Like somethings biting into me and wont stop, she said.

Hold on, I said blearily, help is at hand. I brought her a couple of ibuprofen with some water, which she downed, clutching my hand and waiting for the ache to subside.

An hour later, she was sitting up in bed again, in real distress. Its worse now, she said, really nasty. Can you phone the doctor? Miraculously, the family doctor answered the phone at 3am, listened to her recital of symptoms and concluded, It might be your appendix. Have you had yours taken out? No, she hadnt. It could be appendicitis, he surmised, but if it was dangerous youd be in much worse pain than youre in. Go to the hospital in the morning, but for now, take some paracetamol and try to sleep.

Barely half an hour later, the balloon went up. She was awakened for the third time, but now with a pain so savage and uncontainable it made her howl. The time for murmured assurances and spousal procrastination was over. I rang a local minicab, struggled into my clothes, bundled her into a dressing gown, and we sped to St Marys Paddington at just before 4am.

The flurry of action made the pain subside, if only through distraction, and we sat for hours while doctors brought forms to be filled, took her blood pressure and ran tests. A registrar poked a needle into my wifes wrist and said, Does that hurt? Does that? How about that? before concluding: Impressive. You have a very high pain threshold.

The pain was from pancreatitis, brought on by rogue gallstones that had escaped from her gall bladder and made their way, like fleeing convicts, to a refuge in her pancreas, causing agony. She was given a course of antibiotics and, a month later, had an operation to remove her gall bladder.

Its keyhole surgery, said the surgeon breezily, so youll be back to normal very soon. Some people feel well enough to take the bus home after the operation. His optimism was misplaced. My wife came home the following day filled with painkillers. When they wore off, she writhed with suffering. After three days she rang the specialist, only to be told: Its not the operation thats causing discomfort its the air that was pumped inside you to separate the organs before surgery. Once the operation had proved a success, the surgeons had apparently lost interest in the fallout.

During that period of convalescence, as I watched her grimace and clench her teeth and let slip little cries of anguish until a long regimen of combined ibuprofen and codeine finally conquered the pain, several questions came into my head. Chief among them was: Can anyone in the medical profession talk about pain with any authority? From the family doctor to the surgeon, their remarks and suggestions seemed tentative, generalised, unknowing and potentially dangerous: Was it right for the doctor to tell my wife that her level of pain didnt sound like appendicitis when the doctor didnt know whether she had a high or low pain threshold? Should he have advised her to stay in bed and risk her appendix exploding into peritonitis? How could surgeons predict that patients would feel only discomfort after such an operation when she felt agony an agony that was aggravated by fear that the operation had been a failure?

I also wondered if there were any agreed words that would help a doctor understand the pain felt by a patient. I thought of my father, a GP in the 1960s with an NHS practice in south London, who used to marvel at the colourful pain symptoms he heard: Its like Ive been attacked with a stapler; Like having rabbits running up and down my spine; Its like someones opened a cocktail umbrella in my penis Few of them, he told me, corresponded to the symptoms listed in a medical textbook. So how should he proceed? By guesswork and aspirin?

There seemed to be a chasm of understanding in human discussions of pain. I wanted to find out how the medical profession apprehends pain the language it uses for something thats invisible to the naked eye, that cant be measured except by asking for the sufferers subjective description, and that can be treated only by the use of opium derivatives that go back to the middle ages.

When investigating pain, the basic procedure for clinics everywhere is to give a patient the McGill pain questionnaire. Developed in the 1970s by two scientists, Dr Ronald Melzack and Dr Warren Torgerson, both of McGill University in Montreal, it is still the main tool for measuring pain in clinics worldwide.

Melzack and his colleague Dr Patrick Wall of St Thomas Hospital in London had already galvanised the field of pain research in 1965 with their seminal gate control theory, a ground-breaking explanation of how psychology can affect the bodys perception of pain. In 1984, the pair went on to write Wall and Melzacks Textbook of Pain, the most comprehensive reference work in pain medicine. It has gone through five editions and is currently more than 1,000 pages long.

In the early 1970s, Melzack began to list the words patients used to describe their pain and classified them into three categories: sensory (which included heat, pressure, throbbing or pounding sensations), affective (which related to emotional effects, such as tiring, sickening, gruelling or frightful) and lastly evaluative (evocative of an experience from annoying and troublesome to horrible, unbearable and excruciating).

You dont have to be a linguistic genius to see there are shortcomings in this range of terms. For one thing, some words in the affective and evaluative categories seem interchangeable theres no difference between frightful in the former and horrible in the latter, or between tiring and annoying and all the words share an unfortunate quality of sounding like a duchess complaining about a ball that didnt meet her standards.

But Melzacks grid of suffering formed the basis of what became the McGill pain questionnaire. The patient listens as a list of pain descriptors is read out and has to say whether each word describes their pain and, if so, to rate the intensity of the feeling. The clinicians then look at the questionnaire and put check marks in the appropriate places. This gives the clinician a number, or a percentage figure, to work with in assessing, later, whether a treatment has brought the patients pain down (or up).

A more recent variant is the National Initiative on Pain Controls pain quality assessment scale (PQAS), in which patients are asked to indicate, on a scale of 1 to 10, how intense or sharp, hot, dull, cold, sensitive, tender, itchy, etc their pain has been over the past week.

The trouble with this approach is the imprecision of that scale of 1 to 10, where a 10 would be the most intense pain sensation imaginable. How does a patient imagine the worst pain ever and give their own pain a number? Some men may find it hard to imagine anything more agonising than toothache or a tennis injury. Women who have experienced childbirth may, after that experience, rate everything else as a 3 or 4.

I asked some friends what they thought the worst physical pain might be. Inevitably, they just described nasty things that had happened to them. One man nominated gout. He recalled lying on a sofa, with his gouty foot resting on a pillow, when a visiting aunt passed by; the chiffon scarf she was wearing slipped from her neck and lightly touched his foot. It was unbearable agony.

A brother-in-law nominated post-root-canal toothache unlike muscular or back pain, he said, it couldnt be alleviated by shifting your posture. It was relentless. A male friend confided that a haemorrhoidectomy had left him with irritable bowel syndrome, in which a daily spasm made him feel as if somebody had shoved a stirrup pump up my arse and was pumping furiously. The pain was, he said, boundless, as if it wouldnt stop until I exploded. A woman friend recalled the moment the hem of her husbands trouser leg snagged on her big toe, ripping the nail clean off. She used a musical analogy to explain the effect: Id been through childbirth, Id broken my leg and I recalled them both as low moaning noises, like cellos; the ripped-off nail was excruciating, a great, high, deafening shriek of psychopathic violins, like nothing Id heard or felt before.

It seems a shame that these eloquent descriptions are reduced by the McGill questionnaire to words like throbbing or sharp, but its function is simply to give pain a number a number that will, with luck, be decreased after treatment, when the patient is reassessed.

This procedure doesnt impress Professor Stephen McMahon of the London Pain Consortium, an organisation formed in 2002 to promote internationally competitive research into pain. There are lots of problems that come with trying to measure pain, he says. I think the obsession with numbers is an oversimplification. Pain is not unidimensional. It doesnt just come with scale a lot or a little it comes with other baggage: how threatening it is, how emotionally disturbing, how it affects your ability to concentrate. The measuring obsession probably comes from the regulators who think that, to understand drugs, you have to show efficacy. And the American Food and Drug Administration dont like quality-of-life assessments; they like hard numbers. So were thrown back on giving it a number and scoring it. Its a bit of a wasted exercise because its only one dimension of pain that were capturing.

Illustration: Matthew Richardson

Pain can be either acute or chronic, and the words do not (as some people think) mean bad and very bad. Acute pain means a temporary or one-off feeling of discomfort, which is usually treated with drugs; chronic pain persists over time and has to be lived with as a malevolent everyday companion. But because patients build up a resistance to drugs, other forms of treatment must be found for it.

The Pain Management and Neuromodulation Centre at Guys and St Thomas Hospital in central London is the biggest pain centre in Europe. Heading the team there is Dr Adnan Al-Kaisy, who studied medicine at the University of Basrah, Iraq, and later worked in anaesthetics at specialist centres in England, the US and Canada.

Id say that 55 to 60% of our patients suffer from lower back pain, he says. The reason is, simply, that we dont pay attention to the demands life makes on us, the way we sit, stand, walk and so on. We sit for hours in front of a computer, with the body putting heavy pressure on small joints in the back. Al-Kaisy reckons that in the UK the incidence of chronic lower back pain has increased substantially in the last 15 to 20 years, and that the cost in lost working days is about 6 to 7 billion.

Elsewhere the clinic treats those suffering from severe chronic headaches and injuries from accidents that affect the nervous system.

Do they still use the McGill questionnaire? Unfortunately yes, says Al-Kaisy. Its a subjective measurement. But pain can be magnified by a domestic argument or trouble at work, so we try to find out about the patients life their sleeping patterns, their ability to walk and stand, their appetite. Its not just the patients condition, its also their environment.

The challenge is to transform this information into scientific data. Were working with Professor Raymond Lee, chair of Biomechanics at the South Bank University, to see if there can be objective measurement of a patients disability due to pain, he says. Theyre trying to develop a tool, rather like an accelerometer, which will give an accurate impression of how active or disabled they are, and tell us the cause of their pain from the way they sit or stand. Were really keen to get away from just asking the patient how bad their pain is.

Some patients arrive with pains that are far worse than backache and require special treatment. Al-Kaisy describes one patient let us call him Carter who suffered from a terrible condition called ilioinguinal neuralgia, a disorder that produces a severe burning and stabbing pain in the groin. Hed had an operation in the testicular area, and the inguinal nerve had been cut. The pain was excruciating: when he came to us, he was on four or five different medications, opiates with very high dosages, anticonvulsive medication, opioid patches, paracetamol and ibuprofen on top of that. His life was turned upside down, his job was on the line. The utterly stricken Carter was to become one of Al-Kaisys big successes.

Since 2010, Guys and St Thomas has offered a residential programme for adults whose chronic pain hasnt responded to treatment at other clinics. The patients come in for four weeks, away from their normal environment, and are seen by a motley crew of psychologists, physiotherapists, occupational health specialists and nursing physicians who between them devise a programme to teach them strategies for managing their pain.

Many of these strategies come under the heading of neuromodulation, a term you hear a lot in pain management circles. In simple terms, it means distracting the brain from constantly brooding on the pain signals it is getting from the bodys periphery. Sometimes the distraction is a cunningly deployed electric shock.

We were the first centre in the world to pioneer spinal cord stimulation, says Al-Kaisy. In pain occasions, overactive nerves send impulses from the periphery to the spinal cord and from there to the brain, which starts to register pain. We try to send small bolts of electricity to the spinal cord by inserting a wire in the epidural area. Its only one or two volts, so the patient feels just a tingling sensation over where the pain is, instead of feeling the actual pain. After two weeks, we give the patient an internal power battery with a remote control, so he can switch it on whenever he feels pain and carry on with his life. Its essentially a pacemaker that suppresses the hyperexcitability of nerves by delivering subthreshold stimulation. The patient feels nothing except his pain going down. Its not invasive we usually send patients home the same day.

When Carter, suffering from agonising pain in the groin, had failed to respond to any other treatments, Al-Kaisy tried his new combination of therapies. We gave him something called a dorsal root ganglion stimulation. Its like a small junction-box, placed just underneath one of the bones of the spine. It makes the spine hyperexcited, and sends impulses to the spinal cord and the brain. I pioneered a new technique to put a small wire into the ganglion, connected to an external power battery. Over 10 days the intensity of pain went down by 70% by the patients own assessment. He wrote me a very nice email saying I had changed his life, that the pain had just stopped completely, and that he was coming back to normality. He said his job was saved, as was his marriage, and he wanted to go back to playing sport. I told him, Take it easy. You mustnt start climbing the Himalayas just yet. Al-Kaisy beams. This is a remarkable outcome. You cannot get it from any other therapies.

The greatest recent breakthrough in assessing pain, according to Professor Irene Tracey, head of the University of Oxfords Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, has been the understanding that chronic pain is a thing in its own right. She explains: We always thought of it as acute pain that just goes on and on and if chronic pain is just a continuation of acute pain, lets fix the thing that caused the acute and the chronic should go away. That has spectacularly failed. Now we think of chronic pain as a shift to another place, with different mechanisms, such as changes in genetic expression, chemical release, neurophysiology and wiring. Weve got all these completely new ways of thinking about chronic pain. Thats the paradigm shift in the pain field.

Tracey has been called the Queen of Pain by some media commentators. She was, until recently, the Nuffield Professor of anaesthetic science and is an expert in neuroimaging techniques that explore the brains responses to pain. Despite her nickname, in person she is far from alarming: a bright-eyed, enthusiastic, welcoming and hectically fluent woman of 50, she talks about pain at a personal level. She has no problem defining the ultimate pain that scores 10 on the McGill questionnaire: Ive been through childbirth three times, and my 10 is a very different 10 from before I had kids. Ive got a whole new calibration on that scale. But how does she explain the ultimate pain to people who havent experienced childbirth? I say, Imagine youve slammed your hand in a car door thats 10.

She uses a personal example to explain the way perception and circumstance can alter the way we experience pain, as well as the phenomenon of hedonic flipping, which can convert pain from an unpleasant sensation into something you dont mind. I did the London Marathon this year. It needs a lot of training and running and your muscles ache, and next day youre really in pain, but its a nice pain. Im no masochist, but I associate the muscle pain with thoughts like, I did something healthy with my body, Im training, and Its all going well.

I ask her why there seems to be a gap between doctors and patients apprehension of pain. Its very hard to understand, because the system goes wrong from the point of injury, along the nerve thats taken the signal into the spinal cord, which sends signals to the brain, which sends signals back, and it all unravels with terrible consequential changes. So my patient may be saying, Ive got this excruciating pain here, and Im trying to see where its coming from, and theres a mismatch here because you cant see any damage or any oozing blood. So we say, Oh come now, youre obviously exaggerating, it cant be as bad as that. Thats wrong its a cultural bias we grew up with, without realising.

Recently, she says, there has been a breakthrough in understanding about how the brain is involved in pain. Neuroimaging, she explains, helps to connect the subjective pain with the objective perception of it. It fills that space between what you can see and whats being reported. We can plug that gap and explain why the patient is in pain even though you cant see it on your x-ray or whatever. Youre helping to bring truth and validity to these poor people who are in pain but not believed.

But you cant simply see pain glowing and throbbing on the screen in front of you. Brain imaging has taught us about the networks of the brain and how they work, she says. Its not a pain-measuring device. Its a tool that gives you fantastic insight into the anatomy, the physiology and the neurochemistry of your body and can tell us why you have pain, and where we should go in and try to fix it.

Some of the ways in, she says, are remarkably direct and mechanical like Al-Kaisys spinal cord stimulation wire. There are now devices you can attach to your head and allow you to manipulate bits of the brain. You can wear them like bathing caps. Theyre portable, ethically allowed brain-simulation devices. Theyre easy for patients to use and evidence is coming, in clinical trials, that they are good for strokes and rehabilitation. Theres a parallel with the games industry, where theyre making devices you can put on your head so kids can use thought to move balls around. The games industry is, for fun, driving this idea that when you use your brain, you generate electrical activities. Theyre developing the technology really fast, and we can use it in medical applications.

Illustration: Matthew Richardson

Pain has become a huge area of medical research in the US, for a simple reason. Chronic pain affects over 100 million Americans and costs the country more than half a trillion dollars a year in lost working hours, which is why it has become a magnet for funding by big business and government.

Researchers at the Human Pain Research Laboratory at Stanford University, California, are working to gain a better understanding of individual responses to pain so that treatments can be more targeted. The laboratory has several study initiatives on the go into migraine, fibromyalgia, facial pain and other conditions but its largest is into back pain. It has been endowed with a $10m grant from the National Institutes of Health to study non-drug alternative treatments for lower back pain. The specific treatments are mindfulness, acupuncture, cognitive behavioural therapy and real-time neural feedback.

They plan to inspect the pain tolerance of 400 people over five years of study, ranging from pain-free volunteers to the most wretched chronic sufferers who have been to other specialists but found no relief. The idea is to find peoples mid-range tolerance (theyre asked to rate their pain while they are experiencing it), to establish a usable baseline. They then are given the non-invasive treatments such as mindfulness and acupuncture and are subjected afterwards to the same pain stimuli, to see how their pain tolerance has changed from their baseline reading. MRI scanning is used on the patients in both laboratory sessions, so that clinicians can see and draw inferences from the visible differences in blood flow to different parts of the brain.

A remarkable feature of the assessment process is that patients are also given scores for psychological states: a scale measures their level of depression, anxiety, anger, physical functioning, pain behaviour and how much pain interferes with their lives. This should allow physicians to use the information to target specific treatments. All these findings are stored in an informatics platform called Choir, which stands for the Collaborative Health Outcomes Information Registry. It has files on 15,000 patients, 54,000 unique clinic visits and 40,000 follow-up meetings.

The big chief at the Human Pain Research Laboratory is Dr Sean Mackey, Redlich professor of anaesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine, neurosciences and neurology at Stanford. His background is in bioengineering, and under his governance the Stanford Pain Management Center has twice been designated a centre of excellence by the American Pain Society. A tall, genial, easy-going man, he is sometimes approached by legal firms who want him to appear in court to state definitively whether their client is or is not in chronic pain (and therefore justified in claiming absentee benefit). His response is surprising.

In 2008, I was asked by a law firm to speak in an industrial injury case in Arizona. This poor guy got hot burning asphalt sprayed on his arm at work; he had a claim of burning neuropathic pain. The plaintiffs side brought in a cognitive scientist, who scanned his brain and said there was conclusive evidence that he had chronic pain. The defence asked me to comment, and I said, Thats hogwash, we cannot use this technology for that purpose.

Shortly afterwards, I gave a talk on pain, neuroimaging and the law, explaining why you cant do this because theres too much individual variability in pain, and the technology isnt sensor-specific enough. But I concluded by saying, If you were to do this, youd use modern machine-learning approaches, like those used for satellite reconnaissance to determine whether a satellite is seeing a tank or a civilian truck. Some of my students said, Can you give us some money to try this? I said, Yes, but it cant be done. But they designed the experiment and discovered that, using brain imagery, they could predict with 80% accuracy whether someone was feeling heat pain or not.

Mackey finally published a paper about the experiment. So did his findings influence any court decisions? No. I get asked by attorneys, and I always say, There is no place for this in the courtroom in 2016 and there wont be in 2020. People want to push us into saying this is an objective biomarker for detecting that someones in pain. But the research is in carefully controlled laboratory conditions. You cannot generalise about the population as a whole. I told the attorneys, This is too much of a leap. I dont think theres a lot of clinical utility in having a pain-o-meter in a court or in most clinical situations.

Mackey explains the latest thinking about what pain actually is. Now we understand that pain is a balance between ascending information coming from our bodies and descending inhibitory systems from our brains. We call the ascending information nociception from the Latin nocere, to harm or hurt meaning the response of the sensory nervous system to potentially harmful stimuli coming from our periphery, sending signals to the spinal cord and hitting the brain with the perception of pain. The descending systems are inhibitory, or filtering, neurons, which exist to filter out information thats not important, to turn down the ascending signals of hurt. The main purpose of pain is to be the great motivator, to tell you to pay attention, to focus. When the pain lab was started, we had no way of addressing these two dynamic systems, and now we can.

Mackey is immensely proud of his massive CHOIR database which records peoples pain tolerance levels and how they are affected by treatment and has made it freely available to other pain clinics as a community source platform, collaborating with academic medical centres nationwide so that a rising tide elevates all boats. But he is also humble enough to admit that science cannot tell us which are the sites of the bodys worst pains.

Back pain is the most reported pain at 28%, but I know theres a higher density of nerve fibres in the hands, face, genitals and feet than in other areas, Mackey says, and there are conditions where the sufferer has committed suicide to get away from the pain. Things like post-herpetic neuralgia, that burning nerve pain that occurs after an outbreak of shingles and is horrific; another is cluster headaches some patients have thought about taking a drill to their heads to make it stop.

Like Irene Tracey, Mackey is enthusiastic about the rise of transcranial magnetic stimulation (Imagine hooking a nine-volt battery across your scalp) but, when asked about his particular successes, he talks about simple solutions. Early on in my career, I used to be very focused on the peripheral, the apparent site of the pain. I was doing interventions, and some people would get better but a lot wouldnt. So I started listening to their fears and anxieties and working on those, and became very brain-focused. I noticed that if you have a nerve trapped in your knee, your whole leg could be on fire, but if you apply a local anaesthetic there, it could abolish it.

This young woman came to me with a terrible burning sensation in her hand. It was always swollen; she couldnt stand anyone touching it because it felt like a blowtorch. Mackey noticed that she had a post-operative scar from prior surgery for carpal-tunnel syndrome. Speculating that this was at the root of her problem, he injected botulinum toxin, a muscle relaxant, at the site of the scar. A week later, she came up and gave me this huge hug and said, I was able to pick up my child for the first time in two years. I havent been able to since she was born. All the swelling was gone. It taught me that its not all about the body part, and not all about the brain. Its about both.

Main illustration by Matthew Richardson

This is an edited version of an article that appears on Mosaic. It is republished here under a Creative Commons licence.

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