Arsenal 4 Leeds United 1

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Gabriel Jesus scored his first Arsenal goals since October as the Gunners restored their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a comfortable win over Leeds. Second-placed Manchester City’s victory at home to Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime had cut the gap to five points, but Jesus’ first-half penalty – awarded for Luke Ayling’s mistimed challenge on the Brazilian – put Mikel Arteta’s side in front just after the half-hour mark. Leeds had created the better opportunities in the opening stages of the contest, with Rasmus Kristensen, Crysencio Summerville and Jack Harrison all testing home keeper Aaron Ramsdale.

But they fell further behind two minutes into the second half when Ben White converted Gabriel Martinelli’s low cross via the underside of the crossbar. Arsenal dominated from that moment and Jesus – recalled to the side in place of Bukayo Saka – made it 3-0 with a clinical first-time finish from Leandro Trossard’s drilled cross. Kristensen pulled a goal back for Leeds via a heavy deflection off Oleksandr Zinchenko, but Granit Xhaka’s late header from Martin Odegaard’s delivery completed the scoring with six minutes remaining. The defeat leaves Javi Gracia’s team hovering a point above the relegation zone with 10 games left to play. For large parts of the opening half hour, it looked like proving a frustrating afternoon for the Gunners as they toiled against the visitors’ disciplined and organised rearguard.

In a frantic opening minute to the contest, Kristensen’s fierce effort from the corner of the area was parried by Aaron Ramsdale before Martinelli had a goal-bound strike blocked at the other end. But the Premier League leaders lacked tempo and rhythm in the early stages and were indebted to Ramsdale yet again in the minutes leading up to Jesus’s opener. Crysencio Summerville sent a low shot into the arms of the Arsenal goalkeeper after a slaloming run, before Harrison’s powerful close-range effort was palmed away by the 24-year-old. However, Jesus’ confident penalty appeared to settle the nerves of the home side, who saw the game out with consummate ease to earn manager Arteta his 100th win as Arsenal boss in all competitions.

Before kick-off, both teams paid tribute to former Arsenal and Leeds player David Rocastle, who passed away just over 22 years ago. Mascots from both clubs carried shirts bearing the late midfielder’s name onto the pitch as the teams emerged from the Emirates Stadium tunnel.

Write About Being Loved – The Affairs Of This Man’s Heart!

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I remember having my crushes but I guess the first time I had an inkling of someone having a crush on me was when I was in the 9th grade and almost at the end of the school year. This girl in the 7th who I thought was really cute was rumoured to have a crush on me and I kinda knew it to be true when she wrote in my year book but then said that she could write out what she actually wanted to say.  And on the last day of the year, her friends were teasing her with me, much to my happiness. I never saw her again as her family moved cities.

The next year, with me resigned to not seeing her again, I finally had a girlfriend – but it only lasted 2 weeks or so. For some reason she suddenly decided that I, a non-Anglo Indian, as not good enough for her. It felt so good when she said she liked me but I have no idea what happened in the few days we had holidays during Onam that made her change her mind. Anyways, I had to let go even though it hurt. And then I met the one that hurts the most. The others pale in comparison.

When I was 16 I met, among all my new classmates for the 11th & 12th grade of my studies, a girl who would soon capture my heart. It would take me 1.5 years to make her mine and I was in cloud 9 when she finally say those amazing 3 words to me. We were a item for 5 years. I was devastated when after several arguments and other issues, we finally broke up. And it was a long time coming. It was something that was boiling for 3 years of that 5 but I desperately clung on, wanting to be with her and make it work. My world collapsed when I finally put the last nail in that coffin but hindsight being 20/20 it was all for the best.

There will be a part 2!

Prompt from 52 Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Next Blog Post at Medium.com

Something I Will Never Get Back

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Write about something you lost that you’ll never get back.

What like my virginity? Hey, it’s been so long since I’ve – you know – that I think it’s grown back.

On a serious level I won’t get back a lot of things. I am 46 and I haven’t had the experiences that I wanted to have. I haven’t been in a relationship after I turned 23. I have had my crushes, my attractions and even fallen in love a couple of times since then but never been in a relationship since then.

As the years pass by I know I will never know the feeling of getting married and living with a woman who loves me. I will never know what it is to share a home with her, planning grocery shopping, movie nights, date nights, fighting over the remote, waking up together, going out together, having sex and then falling asleep in each others arms. These are simple things but a long time bachelor like me hasn’t experienced them. The years I have lost without these things always makes me feel like I have missed out on a huge part of life.

Nothing much I can do about it. So I’ve resigned to my fate of being alone and dying alone and continue on with my life.

Prompt from 52 Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Next Blog Post at Medium.com

If Money Suddenly Wasn’t A Problem

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Write about what you’d do if money suddenly wasn’t a problem.

Well if money isn’t a problem anymore, I assume that rather it becoming like a 24th century Utopia like they show in Star Trek, instead I actually get a lot of cash that I never have to worry about money again. If there are alternate sources of working and bettering yourself by gaining knowledge I would rather go for that. Or indulge in an activity that gives me and others pleasure and satisfaction. If the two can be combined that would be really awesome.

Nah, I would probably just retire and relax. Get a nice new home, place my parents in there as well and get a dog or two. Maybe a couple of cats as well.  And then we will live in luxury and travel the world in style and never have to work another day of your life and/or worry about money again. Go do all the things that I have wanted to do and never worry or feel guilty about spending so much of your time on your hobbies.

But basically I will be enjoying the rest of my life and hope that I can make my parents life’s a lot happier for the rest of theirs. That’s what we all want.

Prompt from 52 Writing Prompts to Inspire Your Next Blog Post at Medium.com

The Most Romantic Season Of The Year?

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What is the most romantic season of the year and why?
I don’t know. I mean is there such a thing? I guess it depends on one’s outlook but to me it feels like any time of the year can be the most romantic if you have someone who loves you back. It can be at any time as long as you have that feeling in you.

Does the rainfall makes things more romantic? Does the early snowfall of December? What about spring? But then where I live other than a heavy rainy monsoon and the rest of the year we don’t really have much difference in the weather. So what difference does the time of year make? It doesn’t make any to me.

I think we should stop letting stories and movies convince us that this or that season is more romantic than the others. It just doesn’t mean anything unless you can ofcourse back it up with convincing data. I think any day of the year and any season can be romantic, if you try hard enough.

Prompt from 72 Clever Creative Writing Prompts (+ 6 Brainy Bonus Tips) at SmartBlogger

Some Facts About The McMuffin

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McDonald’s McMuffin is a family of breakfast sandwiches sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s. The Egg McMuffin is the signature sandwich, which was invented in 1972 by Herb Peterson to resemble eggs benedict, a traditional American breakfast dish with English muffins, ham, eggs and hollandaise sauce.

It used to be available only for breakfast

On a Tuesday in October 2015, McDonald’s made a move that would change the course of culinary history forever. Before that fateful day, the hangry and hungover would have to scramble out of bed and speed to their nearest McDonald’s. For you see, there was once a time when McDonald’s stopped selling their prized Egg McMuffins at exactly 10:30 a.m. every day. It took years of loyal customer pleading, petitioning, and Tweeting to convince McDonald’s to start offering extended breakfast hours. Nowadays, you can roll up to most McDonald’s any time of day or night to order an Egg McMuffin.

The Egg McMuffin’s inventor had to pull a few tricks to get it on the menu

Like personal computers, bicycles, and other world-changing inventions, the Egg McMuffin wasn’t initially appreciated for the genius idea it was. “… it was a crazy idea — a breakfast sandwich,” McDonald’s President Ray Kroc wrote in his memoir. The aforementioned “crazy idea” was dreamed up by one Herb Peterson, a McDonald’s franchise owner with three locations in Santa Barbara, California. The aforementioned “crazy idea” was dreamed up by one Herb Peterson, a McDonald’s franchise owner with three locations in Santa Barbara, California. It took six years to get the Egg McMuffin on menus of McDonald’s nationwide. By 1976, however, Americans were hooked.

The Egg McMuffin single-handedly spearheaded the fast-food breakfast industry

The Egg McMuffin entered the world when most fast food establishments didn’t open until 11 a.m. and when eating fast food for breakfast was kind of weird. Before the Egg McMuffin, “breakfast tended to be a sit-down occasion,” Bob Goldin, food industry consultant at Technomic, explained on All Things Considered. Families gathered around the breakfast table for pancakes, eggs, and bacon. Running late? You might be out of luck and forced to head to work hungry. The breakfast sandwich fulfilled a need the busy American worker had been craving for too long: a quick, cheap, convenient breakfast that could be eaten on-the-go. Nowadays, most Americans wouldn’t have it any other way: consumers expect that breakfast be one of the most convenient meals of the day.

Here’s why the eggs are perfectly round, every time

Speaking of perfectly round eggs, let’s go back to 1971, when Herb Peterson was playing around in his kitchen, experimenting with hundreds of different prototypes of the breakfast sandwich. Herb knew that his beloved Eggs Benedict was far too messy to be scarfed down with one hand on your way to work. He solved the issue of gooey hollandaise sauce by replacing it with cheese and butter. But making the eggs portable was trickier. Herb commissioned a local blacksmith to create a stainless-steel, teflon-coated, six-ring tool to cook the egg into a neat, perfect circle that fit onto the muffin perfectly. To this day, McDonald’s use a similar contraption to create perfectly round eggs for their Egg McMuffins.

It’s not as unhealthy as you think

McDonald’s gets a bad rap as being the quintessential purveyor of unhealthy American cuisine. To the company’s credit — they’re making major strides to provide healthier options these days. But long before ditching the artificial preservatives in McNuggets and soft serve and taking soda off the Happy Meal menu, McDonald’s offered at least one kinda healthy food: the Egg McMuffin. The Egg McMuffin is made with a real egg that is poached and not fried. Your classic sandwich has a small circle of Canadian bacon, a single slice of American cheese, and real butter. Together, this totals to 290 calories, 12 grams of fat with about six of those grams coming from saturated fat, 17 grams of protein (34 percent), and 29 grams of carbs (10 percent). In terms of unhealthy breakfast options, you could definitely do a lot worse.

Write About Your First Memory Of Going To The Doctor.

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When I was a kid growing up back in Kuwait my parents took me to this pediatrician who was really popular in the city we lived in. His name was Dr. Kamaar and he was originally from Egypt. A lot of kids’ parents took their sons & daughters to see him because he was not just a good doctor but he was very good with kids.

I know it is quite common in kid’s doctor’s offices in the Western world to have lollipops in their drawers and after they consult with a patient, they then ask them to pick a lollipop. It’s not common in India and I do not know how common it was the Kuwait or in other countries but it was a fact in this doctor’s practise. Every kid that I knew who went to him would get excited at the end of the consultation because they knew what was coming.

So even if I was unwell and even if the medicine was bitter, I would have a smile on my face as I was going home because, I would have a nice red lollipop (I think those were the only ones he had) in my hand as my dad took me home. It felt special and it felt nice. From family friends, I came to know that he passed away quite a few years ago. He was middle ages when I used to go and see him. So thanks Doctor Kamaar on behalf of all the kids.

Prompt from Writing & Journaling Prompts Lists at Journal Buddies

Explain Everything That Goes Into You Creating A Blog Post

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Well it’s not that complicated. Look at my categories – I don’t limit my blog to a niche, instead I try about anything that fancies me. I have several interests and I blog about them. I write about personal things, food & drink, things that happen in sports, music, movies, tv and sometimes on the internet.

I write about famous people who pass away, I write about facts about certain things and places. I write about the world and about special places and as well as from the universe – well I collect facts and information from here & there and I put them together for a blog post.

I dunno what to tell you. I just post about what I like. I hear about something and if it tickles my fancy, I will write about it. I sometimes get inspired or atleast a topic that I have most of the points about and the idea flows. Other times I have to use prompts or look at other things that I can write about and see if that inspires me. Anything as long as I get a post from it.

Prompt from The Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas and Prompts at The Life Of A Glasgow Girl

Reasons Why I Love Being Single

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Why you love being single

  • I am the ultimate boss of what I want to do and what I don’t want to do. I don’t have to check with anyone.
  • I don’t have to be dragged to people’s houses, weddings or parties that I have no interest in going. I can pick and choose.
  • Meal time alone means I don’t have to ask which restaurant or cuisine she fancies tonight. It’s my choice alone. Same for when I ant to cook at home.
  • Tv watching time – no bargaining or fighting over the tv series or movie to binge. No one gets hurt when the lose out on the choice of show. I can watch my Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate or any other science fiction show any time I want. Also no comments at the number of horror movies or action movies that I watch.
  • Don’t want to go out this weekend? Sure let’s stay in. Want to go out? Sure let’s. The choice is mine and mine alone.
  • Enjoying life as a single means doing whatever makes you happy. Go ahead and call up some friends and fire up the Nintendo Switch, if that floats your boat.
  • Cohabiting with someone takes work. Accepting your significant other’s decorating style is the first hurdle. Having your own bachelor/bachelorette pad means it’s all your aesthetic.

Prompt from The Ultimate List of Blog Post Ideas and Prompts at The Life Of A Glasgow Girl

SCARIEST PLACES IN THE WORLD : TAYLOR GLACIER/BLOOD FALLS

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One of the world’s most extreme deserts might be the last place one would expect to find a waterfall, but in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valley, a five-story fall pours slowly out of the Taylor Glacier into Lake Bonney. And it’s not just the idea of a waterfall in the frozen world of Antarctica that is strange: the waterfall is bright red, like blood running from a cut in the glacier. Known as the Blood Falls, this unique phenomenon was first discovered by scientists as a frozen waterfall in 1911. Scientists had noticed that a part of the cliff had been stained dark red and the reason was unknown. They then believed that the discolouring of water was due to the presence of algae. However, there was no proof to verify the same.

The Blood Falls are not only unusual in terms of their colour but also grab attention because it is the coldest glacier on earth and supports constantly flowing water filled with iron. The falls remained a mystery for the longest time since one can see spot the glacier melting at the surface of the cliff, despite the average temperatures being -17 degrees celsius. After much research, the reason behind the blood-red colour of the falls was discovered.

About two million years ago, the Taylor Glacier had managed to seal beneath it a small body of water, which is also home to an ancient community of microbes. These microbes remain trapped under a thick layer of ice to date, isolated from their surroundings. Existing and evolving under conditions that have no contact with the outside world, these microbes barely see any light or oxygen and almost no heat.

The trapped lake is highly saline and rich in iron, and when it reacts with the oxygen outside, the waterfall gets its unique red colour. Essentially, it is the same phenomenon that lends iron its dark colour when it rusts. Underneath the glacier lies a complex network of subglacial rivers as well as a subglacial lake, which are all rich in iron. The lake under the glacier is also unusually salty, and since salt water has a lower freezing point, and releases heat while freezing it melts the ice and hence the river on it flows. As one moves closer to the falls, the content of salt also increases.

This subglacial lake flows out by means of a fissure in the glacier and thereby forming the falls without disrupting or contaminating the ecosystem within. According to researchers this salty water also takes nearly 1.5 million years to finally reach Blood Falls owing to its path being fissures and channels in the glacier.

How Do You Spend Sunday?

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Well I am boring and do not do much on my days off so I don’t think this will be very exciting. And I am also going to just post about what I did last Sunday, which was yesterday. I was very tired from Thursday and Friday – extended hours at work and I also had to battle a very nasty cold.

So I had spent most of Saturday resting and trying to catch up on my sleep, I did enjoy a nice grilled chicken dinner with chapati and some garlic sauce. I went to sleep earlier than usual as I wanted to get as much sleep as possible. Sunday morning I was feeling much better and woke up by 8 am. I caught up on the many, many Youtube videos & channels that I could catch up on until lunch time and then I watched a movie – Angel Heart. By 5 pm I made some tea and had that with some biscuits.

Later on in the evening my parents told me that they were joining my sister & niece for dinner at the Grand Hotel. I thought about joining them but declined and instead I ordered me some steamed momos (Tibetean style dumplings) and waited for them to be delivered. The elevator in my building stalled and I had to guide one of the persons in the 1st floor to restart it and make it work again. I went down and got my momos and ate it with the dips provided and then relaxed with Youtube until I got sleepy. I had to wake up at 6am hence I tried to sleep early.

Prompt from 31 Social Media Prompts for March at Sophie Callahan Blog

Actor Innocent Passes Away

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Veteran Malayalam actor and former MP Innocent Vareed Thekkethala passed away at VPS Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi on Sunday. He was 75. He was under the care and treatment of Lakeshore Hospital since March 3, 2023 and Covid related respiratory issues along with multiple organ failure and a cardiac arrest led to his death. Innocent, a cancer survivor, was admitted to VPS Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi on March 3 after he complained of breathing issues and uneasiness. The 75-year-old actor had reportedly not been well for some time.

He predominantly worked in Malayalam films in addition to few Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English films, mostly in comedic roles. In a career spanning more than five decades, he has acted in more than 750 films and is considered one of the best comedians in Malayalam cinema. Innocent has won several awards, including three Kerala State Film Awards. He served as the Member of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha of India representing Chalakudy constituency. In a career spanning five decades, he featured in over 750 films, including Akkare Ninnoru Maran, Gandhinagar 2nd Street, Unnikale Oru Kadha Parayam, Nadodikkattu, Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu, Vadakkunokkiyantram, Ramji Rao Speaking, Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal and Mazhavil Kavadi, Thoovalsparsham, Gajakesariyogam, Dr Pasupathy, No.20 Madras Mail, Kottayam Kunjachan, Kilukkam, Sandesham, Keli, Adhwaytham, Kabooliwala, Vietnam Colony and Devaasuram.

A few years ago, Innocent had been diagnosed with cancer. However, in 2015, the actor announced that he was cancer-free. He chronicled his battle with the illness in the book titled Laughter in the Cancer Ward. Innocent married Alice on 26 September 1976, and had a son, Sonnet. Sonnet was married, with two children, Innocent Jr. and Anna. Innocent Jr. acted in a documentary as Innocent in childhood.

Biggest Regret When It Comes To Music & Living In India

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Either a concert you went to and loved or never went to and regret missing

One of my biggest regrets is that I have not been able to go and see any of my favourite musical artists live in concerts. One of the main reasons is ofcourse that I live in Cochin, India and international bands have not ever come here at all. They have had a few great rock acts come and perform in India but it;s usually one of the big 6 metro cities or somewhere up in the North East that has a huge rock music fanbase.

Money is another challenge as I could have gone for some in recent years but the cost of going to say Bangalore and booking a hotel plus travel costs have all put me off trying to go and see the bands live. Bangalore was the first city in India where internationally popular rock groups Opeth, Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Scorpions, Sting, Aerosmith, Elton John, Deep Purple,  Metallica,  Slayer,  Megadeth, among various other heavy metal groups performed live for the first time in India. out of these I wouldn’t have gone to see the Rolling Stones (maybe) and I have no interest in Opeth but the others – hell ya!

Bon Jovi, Mr. Big, Firehouse, Guns N Roses, Carlos Santana, Simple Plan, Dream Theatre, Mark Knopfler & Joe Satriani have all also been here and it irks me that I haven’t been able to see these artists. For all that rock & metal music means to me, not being able to have seen even a few of these artists live it saddens me.

Prompt from MARCH BLOGGING PROMPTS at Food Fun Family