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Just got back in from midnight mass.
Which I guess means all I have left to do before I turn in (having had the first slice of the Christmas cake with a slice of Wensleydale, and a decent scotch (Ardbeg 10yo)), is to wish all my readers (and I guess listeners) a very happy and peaceful Christmas in whatever way you choose to celebrate it.
I know I'm a little behind the times, but I note with sadness the passing of model-maker extra-ordinaire, Allan Downes, in August.
For both my dad and I, he was one of the main reasons to race to grab the copy of Railway Modeller when it turned up in the mid/late 70s. His scenery making talents were flat out unbelievable.
If you want a long read, here's a thread of him and almost equally gifted modeller Iain Robinson having a good-humoured 'model off' in RMWeb, that lasts right up to his passing, and is littered with utterly drool-worthy photos of their handiwork. Be warned, you will spend a fair amount of time going "is that actually a model???"
Episode 5: In which Mike talks about (among other things)... boats and trains?
Trust me. There's method in the madness.
Before anyone comments - yes, this is just over the hour, which came as quite a shock when I came to do the assemble edit. This is pretty much the upper limit on length I'm prepared to go - any longer and you'll get more and shorter podcasts!
Echoing afresh a thought from a few years ago - for all we are a hobby that seeks to recreate war, I remain profoundly glad and impressed that in general we do so to understand it, not pointlessly glorify it.
Episode 3: In which Mike gets caught out by summer holidays and Real Life.
Please note: the majority of this podcast was recorded in early August, hence some of the remarks and news items are a little out of date - they are, I hope, still as valid as when they were made.
Episode 2: In which Mike attempts to remember how this podcasting thing works!
Due to local adverse weather the police have closed access to Newark Showground. Therefore Hammerhead has been re-scheduled for 28th April 2018. Please share.
Today? Today I did my taxes! Go me! Also went out, test drove and placed the deposit on (so, pretty much, bought) Anne a new (to her) car (the old one's a write-off) with which she is absolutely delighted, and I did manage to sort out printing quotes for various size print runs of a certain 72 to 96 page colour paperback book that you're all interested in.
The good news? You'll be able to buy a printed copy. In colour.
Tomorrow I'm in London all day for an interview, so don't expect much.
[We] got together on the 20th to have another run at the scenario in which you played during your visit to the Twin Cities. It turned out very different this time.
Looks like fun, and another excellent demonstration of the Napoleonic Command rules.
Apologies for missing yesterday - three different recruiters decided they wanted to talk to me about jobs. After several go-arounds explaining what my plans were, and why they want to let me telecommute, I think I have one very good lead, and certainly another that's worth following to the next step. After that? Off to play a gig, and back home at 0030 or so. This rock and roll? Definitely a young man's game: I ache today!
Big committee meeting. Lots of action items that I'm slowly walking through.
Couldn't resist this when I saw it, either. It's an 009 (or in wargames terms, 20mm figure scale (aka 1:76/4mm to the foot), 9mm/2'3"gauge) layout representing a WW1 trench railway in 1918, built by Calum Willcox, a.k.a. SDJR7F88 on YouTube.
Really rather fabulous, I think. Lovely attention to detail, and clearly lots of thought gone into the staging of each vignette.
Would you like to see something like this on display at a wargames show?
Once again, I get to comment on where hobbies collide.
No more details on the Oxford Rail site, but it would appear from comparing photos to be this beastie, the Ordnance BL 18 inch Mk I howitzer on truck, railway (Boche, destruction for the use of :D) along with a Railways Operating Division Dean Goods.
Not entirely sure I can justify one, but I'm sure someone out there who plays CoC in 20mm could come up with a scenario... I'd also note that I don't believe the price, since a Dean Goods from them on its own is way more than that!
"You want a whole army of kick arse shieldmaidens? Well, hello. These are suitable for both Dark Ages and Fantasy wargaming, with some of the units and characters also being versatile for a whole number of uses. The core troops are historical dark age (but cool and interesting enough to be used with fantasy) with a mythological twist with some of the characters. All the crazy stuff is rooted in Norse Mythology. And following Bad Squiddo tradition - yes we have some adorable critters!"
They are really really nice sculpts, and are of fairly generic usefulness in any Dark Age or fantasy arms, and I want them!
Pledged. Go thou and do likewise.
Compendium: research. Ho. Hum. Tomorrow, a BIG table edit.
Club: swearing a LOT at various WordPress plugins that don't do what I want despite advertising that they do.
"Setting the Scene" book - act now if you haven't bought it!
If you haven't bought a copy of Pat (Silver Whistle)'s stunning scenery book, Setting the Scene, I have good and bad news.
The good news is that they're planning a reprint if there is enough interest. If you go to the link from the book title, you can register an interest, but don't hang around as they're only letting this run for a week or so.
I'm going to have to take a day out sometime to do my taxes before the end of the month.
Also, please remember you have until Feb 1 to enter my 750K page view draw for a £20 TFL voucher.
Miniatures-based boardgames, or board-based miniatures games?
It was noted on the podcast (that's Meeples and Miniatures to you) a while back that we did seem to be moving into an era where there are a lot more RPG lite/skirmish/call them what you will games - see also a recent topic brought up by Peter from Baccus, which you can probably catch on the next Meeples episode.
And the followup to those: is this trend going to be a gateway to 'proper' wargames, in the same way that people seem (certainly in our club) to gravitate from fantasy towards historical?
You know, I have to admit when I started this I wasn't expecting quite that many, even if there's been the odd hiatus to posting here and there. A huge thank you to everyone who's posted comments and encouragement, be it here, Twitter or FB. It's certainly helped me grow as a writer in all styles. But wow. 750,000! In just over 7 1/2 years. Not too shabby.
So, with that in mind, it's giveaway time!
Comment here for one entry to win a £20 Too Fat Lardies gift voucher.
Share, and link to your share in the comment, for a second entry.
And what the heck, I'm shameless - link to my Mill House Studios (again with proof) site for a third entry.
The winning entry will be picked randomly on Feb 1 at 12 noon.
What would you like to see more of on the blog, if anything?
What would you like to see less of on the blog, if anything?
Anything I'm not blogging about you'd like to challenge me to?
Jolted rather rudely out of bed by a very large bang under the window.
So Anne has my car for the day, and I've spent the entire day playing phone tag with insurers, repair shops and car hire. To add insult to injury (or perhaps more accurately the other way round) I pulled a calf muscle chasing after the car hire bloke to get him to park in the right place. Ow.
Managed to get some club admin done while waiting for phone calls and people to ring the doorbell, and added a couple of Firefly pieces to the Mill House Studios site. It's something, I guess.
Phew. I have a phone again with a working touch screen. Definitely among the more serious of First World Problems, that :D (and another two hours of driving around Peterborough and moaning at Halfords about my non-working hands-free kit (now I have a phone to prove it's not working!)).
Just to whet your appetite, here's the draft cover.
Much head scratching over trying to tidy up the campaign flow section, and figuring out how to reduce it to an 'every campaign month' section without it starting to look like a 'pick your path to adventure' book ("If the British have won, turn to paragraph 4.1") :D Copious notes and a rough outline.
Decided how to deal with Rich's "Meaty Dux" article from the 2012 Summer Special, which is really just about adding a level of detail to the defences for each province. And means I have to completely re-format and probably re-title the blasted Terrain table again, adding two more columns - made a start on this. Swore a lot.
Re-formatted the record sheets section to be on white backgrounds for ease of printing or photocopying.
Did the necessary Wordpress magic to hook the site up to FB and Twitter.
Dug out some of my bits of game-related fiction and added them to the site. If after reading them, you would like to consider commissioning me to write game-related fluff for your rulebook or supplement, get in touch!
My wargames writer for hire site is now up, and I'll be registering with HMRC as a sole trader (alongside any future full-time developer work) sometime before October.
How's it going to work? Well, the blog will stay here: it's where its always been and I see no reason to move it. The Mill House Studio site exists to gather together and showcase published stuff I've done for magazines etc, and will also include the 3D printing services, web and design work, audio, etc.
Which pretty much sums up today's accountability post, after quite a bit of pondering things through yesterday: I designed a logo and built a website.
Compendium progress: largely note-taking and thinking today. Had a long think (and talk with Tom at the club) about battles again. While I think we have a kind of solution that improves on what's in the rulebook, it doesn't quite have the right feel. Need to think some more.
Also, club scenery audit, so I came home with a box of stuff needing repair.
I'm allowed a day mostly off, right? It is Sunday, after all!
A bit of restructuring and reformatting (Mac OS X Pages is brilliant for that) of the Compendium, and for those who missed it, I gave my writing chops a workout and wrote the next piece for the Linnius Campaign, at least partly inspired by Bad Squiddo's figure range.
Oh, and I built Warbases's sightscreen from their Cricket Pavilion kit. Need it for Dead's Army :D I'd upload a photo, but the touchscreen on my iPhone seems to have literally just packed up.
At last. A morning where it isn't just miserably wet and grey. I was starting to hate these British winters.
This past one, particularly. Strange, as old Theobald used to say about Leofric the Drunkard, how you don't miss something till it's not there any more. No Ecgwine, blue eyes aflame, brashly questioning the Young Wolf's decisions. No Lavinia, with her head of raven-dark hair leaning next to his unruly straw-pale mop, slim hand on his arm and the quiet word that tempers his rashness. Truth, we'd seen less of that this last year, as he'd started to learn wisdom from all of us, and she'd thus had to do it more infrequently.
The ring of metal on metal has been the music of the Hall most days, with none questioning our Cyning's resolve to make us harder, better. Which is why I'm here in one of the Hall's outbuildings, sorting through a batch of new-made spear points. That and it gives me something to do.
We're missing Beornwulf too this winter, sent on a thankless task to bear news of his son's passing to Ecgfrith across the great sea - Ecgfrith the Cyning, Aelfric's father's brother, who charged us - me and Aelfric especially - to take care of his son and make him a man. "You can't argue we managed one of those...."
"Mmm?" Aelfric, damn him, still has a habit of sneaking up on me.
"I... uh. Just musing aloud." He eyes me for a moment, with that maddeningly prompting look of his. I sigh. "Ecgwine." Again the regard. "Your uncle. 'Keep him safe. Make him a man.'"
Aelfric nods, "We tried." A pause, then, ruefully. "And we were..."
"Ho there!!!!!" It's a yell from the gate, young Hedric. "Someone's coming up the round. A band of men..."
The Young Wolf treats me to a sudden grin. "I'll bet you it's Beornwulf."
I grin back. "Not taking that bet. I'll catch you up when I've tidied this lot away."
I head for the gate, slipping through between a couple of the buildings to join the throng: there's much backslapping of Beornwulf, and the group of warriors he's brought across the sea with him. Hel's teeth, he's even managed to persuade the tall, rangy Deorwine, one of Ecgfrith's Gedriht that I actually don't have any grievance with, to join him. He's a skilled horseman, and a fine warrior, quiet yet intelligent: never a score of words when two will do. I'm just about to clasp him by the hand when a slap on my back nearly knocks the breath out of me.
"Not dead yet, then, Godric?"
I really should have spotted that distinctive hair amid the small crowd, but she isn't tall, certainly not among men. The voice, though, is unmistakably hers, a low alto rasp. I allow myself a second or two, as Deorwine gives me a knowing wink, lips quirking in an amused grin, before I turn. "Gytha."
There might be even more grey in her locks, but other than that she hasn't changed in the time since we left. Hair the colour of iron down to her shoulders; the same well-worn mail; axe and sword at her belt; the white line of a scar the length of her cheek from a blade; eyes the grey of a winter sky.
A smile, rendered slightly crooked by that scar, quirks her lips. "Miss me?"
She always did start with the difficult questions.
Now if I could actually find the box that has Bad Squiddo's shieldmaiden warriors blister in it (which I'd link to, but I can't find it on Annie's site either!), I'd have Gytha painted up by now. Unfortunately, I suspect it's somewhere in the stuff we cleared out of the workshop so the builders could do their stuff, which means I have almost no space to move stuff into to search for it. That and it's cold out.
Well, that didn't go as planned!
Responded to a post on the Facebook Dux Britanniarum page for Dux stuff in the TFL Specials, to find there were two articles I had omitted from consideration due to not being aware they were Rich's.
Today, then, I spent tidying, condensing and editing the weather rules from the Christmas 2012 Special: there's a lot of additional descriptive text which has a place in a Special article that really doesn't need to be in a rules compendium, and of course cutting and pasting text and tables from a PDF always leads to entertaining issues.
Tomorrow, back to consolidating the campaign advancement tables, including Rich's other article, into Appendix 1.
Battle Report - 30 Dec 2017 - Napoleonic Command "The Battle Of San José"
My second game in the Twin Cities, again courtesy of Jeff Knusden and the guys at the delightfully named ATF group (yes, that does stand for what it usually does: Scotch, fine cigars for those who will, and wargames!), hosted at expat Brit Elliot's house.
The rules were Warartisan's Napoleonic Command... very very different to anything I'm used to, and very thought-provoking. Essentially, units have areas of influence that extend out in front of them, into which they assert Threat points. These get matched against a target unit's Cohesion modified by a dice roll, and that determines what happens to the unit.
Also? You start out in column of march, and part of the tactical headache is how to deploy for the battle.
The dice mechanic is interesting - every roll is d6 minus d6 (largest minus smallest) - makes for an interesting probability table.
The rules are 42 pages, including diagrams and photos (the actual rules take up 12), and the QRS is one side (not double sided) of paper. If you want to learn more, check out Jeff's brief intro on his site.
British Foot in column of... erm... yomp.
A Peninsular scrap, in which the British and the French are converging on the Spanish held town of San José. I got to command the British, and... well... It could have gone better.
The plan was the lead British division (red arrows) yomp for the town, while the cavalry cut across to distract the French. All very well, except that there's a hill on the road, which (perhaps with hindsight) we might have been better skirting round rather than letting it slow us up.
By the time the first division had crested the rise, a unit of French cavalry were most of the way round the back of San José and heading towards us, the valley between the roads was turning into a massive cavalry scrap, and the first French foot were almost in the town.
Those cavalry proved to be a right pain - obviously I couldn't ignore them, and they could get between me and the town. Cue a lot of cautious manoeuvring, until I finally got enough units to bear to drive them off.
By then, of course, the French had taken the town, and were on their way up the blasted hill as well... It's all a bit of a horrid logjam, since half my infantry have been blocking the road sufficiently that I've only just got my artillery to bear on the cavalry melée, and poor David commanding the rear division hasn't broken out of column of march yet!
Not an auspicious début as British CO.
For more pictures, and Jeff's description of events, see his Flickr album. Again, a huge thank you to Elliott, for hosting us and running the game, and everyone else for excellent company.
Oddly quiet day, apart from showing Reuben round the building works and feeding the builders tea.
I have been mostly doing something I should have done a while ago, namely re-reading the two Dux Britanniarum books and making notes: had an awful moment of wondering whether I'd screwed something up in our campaign to my detriment, but sadly not :D I aim to spend a chunk of tomorrow making sure I have the rules from all three books for a Lord's advancement properly amalgamated.
Other than that, seems to have been a day for life-related admin (oh the joys of being technically unemployed).
Silver Whistle (Pat Smith)'s rather fabulous "Setting The Scene" book, on terrain building, specifically a winter table.
Gorgeous pictures, and I've always found his scenery work an inspiration - check out his SP/War of The Roses table. Recommended buy, definitely, with just one teensy criticism: given the amount of white space available on all the 103 pages, it might perhaps have been a kindness to those of us with failing or recovering eyesight to up the font size on the text a bit. But that's my only gripe on an otherwise absolutely beautiful book.
Probably a sign that I've been busy that all you're getting is an accountability post today.
Completed first draft of one of the remaining Raid scenarios.
Placed an order with PE2 Collectables for some Warlord Home Front bits (one each Operation Sea Lion - Defenders of the Realm, Smith Gun, Northover Projector and Blacker Bombard). Some of these may or may not put in an appearance in Dead's Army.
Unpacked the Mythic Battles: Pantheon KS box to check contents. Unlike Neil's and Mike's, it all arrived in one 75 x 55 x 50 cm box. Now I just have to decide what the heck to do with it.
I'm making a policy of keeping this as a separate post when the regular day's post is a battle report or part of a series.
Back to the Compendium tomorrow.
Right. Go to your blog's management page (click on the B in a square, top left if you're not there already), and click Layout.
Lets go through some of these. All you need to do to make changes is click the little Edit link in the bottom right corner of the gadget's box.
The Favicon gadget just sets the icon that appears in your browser toolbar when you visit the site. All you need is a small logo, 100px square, and you just upload it.
The Header->Navbar gadget controls the Blogger navber across the top of your page - you can turn it off, or change its colours to match your blog.
The Header->Page Header gadget allows you to set a banner image, fix the title and change the description of your blog.
Ignore the boxes with 'Add a gadget' in for now - we'll cover useful other gadgets next time.
In the Main section, you have the Blog Posts gadget - this allows you to configure things like the date format, how many posts or how many days of posts to display, what data you want to display about the post, etc. Again, it's all pretty self-explanatory and like everything else here, the beauty of it is it's really hard to break things!
Featured Post allows you to tag a post as being exactly that, if the theme supports it. You can make it the most recent or if, say, you have a welcome/about post you want to be always visible, you can make it that instead.
Popular Posts gadget - does what it says on the tin - one thing to be aware of is that you can define the time range over which 'popular' is measured, depending on whether you want a bias towards recent material. I have a very odd post that has an insane amount of hits (well over 20,000 and twice as much as the next nearest...) for no reason I can see, and I've tweaked that setting so it gets ignored as being too old.
The About Me gadget takes your 'about me' entry from your Google profile as your author bio. You may want to consider if you actually want to do this, especially if you use your Google account for multiple things and thus have a non-subject-specific bio! If you don't, but still want a bio in the sidebar, I'll show you how in the next post.
Blog Archive shows a list of posts by month, or week, or day - very handy for letting your users navigate through your posting history once you have one.
Labels: as you probably noticed last time, you can label a post with keywords, This just allows viewers to click on a keyword and find the posts that use it. Both this and the Blog Archive you might want to remove until you have enough posts for it not to be embarrassing.
Report Abuse: link so viewers can do exactly that. Not configurable beyond having it there or not.
Pages gadget - you can create static pages in your blog - such as the Linnius Campaign one here. They're a useful way of keeping more permanent content handy, and this gadget lets you display a list.
Search this Blog, and Follow By Email. Do what they say on the tin.
Attribution gadget. If you do nothing else, go read this article and then edit this gadget so your blog has a copyright/attribution notice, and consider creating a copyright page. And remember to change the year every Jan 1 (like I forgot last year)!
And there you go. Pretty sure some of this was obvious, but I hope there was some useful insight here. Next time, adding new gadgets.
It's a matter of some scholarly debate as to the role of women in the society of Dux Britanniarum. Whether you choose to allow certain game roles to be filled by women is really up to you, but it seems to me that given the availability of a number of very nice sculpts for Saxon shield-maidens, for example, it would be a crying shame to pass up on them. Equally, the British can trace a legacy back to the likes of Cartimandua and Boudicca, for which there are also figures to be had (even in Roman armour).
As such, I've made a conscious decision, after a fair amount of consideration, not to provide any actual rules differentiating the abilities and characteristics of the sexes in the Compendium. If you're treating Dux Britanniarum purely as a wargame, it's not going to matter at the level of abstraction the game models a warrior at, and if you're immersed deeper in the game as a vehicle for telling a story? It's your story, and the narrative and your perception of the setting is going to drive events far more than any rules I can come up with.
My story has heroes and heroines.
Fed the builders lots of tea.
Definitely something to check out. Henry Hyde has started a Patreon campaign, in order that he can continue to spend time providing hobby-related content alongside other career options.
I've pledged, as I think Henry is a fabulous voice in and contributor to our hobby, and deserves our support.
As for me, on a semi-related tack, today's the first day of officially working at various hobby projects full time, which means today's the first accountability update.
I had a question from a reader (and actually, not for the first time) the other day, on the general "how" of getting a blog like this set up. It's not hard, but it can seem a bit daunting at first, so, in the interests of having the answer somewhere that can be saved for posterity, I thought I'd do it as a blog post - in fact, inevitably, this is going to be a series!
First up, why Blogger? The simple answer is, because most of the blogging wargamers are using it, and it gives you the chance to join the community.
With that said... go to https://www.blogger.com/ and click on the 'Create Your Blog' button. It will prompt you to log in with a Google account - I'm assuming you have one, since most folks do: if not, you'll need to create one before you can use Blogger.
You'll then be prompted for a title for your blog and a domain name. The former can be whatever you choose, the latter will be <something>.blogspot.com. As far as the <something> goes, it can be whatever you like as long as it's a) memorable, b) unique and c) only contains letters, numbers and dashes.
At this point you also get to pick a theme. This you can change later, so pick one that looks OK, and then click on 'Create Blog!'. Ignore the Google Domains prompt (they're after your money!) that follows.
There. You have a blog. That wasn't so hard!
You'll now be faced with the management screen - see right. The first thing you'll probably want to do is create a post, which is all in all pretty easy: hit New Post, give it a subject, start typing - c'mon, this is the easy bit, you wanted to create a blog so you must have something to say!
When you're done, hit Publish, and there you go. Your blog has content!
Next up, I'll cover adding fixed content such as sidebars etc, to your blog.
...and quite an interesting one. We had the 400th member in the FB IABSM group late yesterday. One lucky member won a £10 TFL voucher (I'll probably do a £25 for the 500th).
Quite an achievement for a group that's only been going for a year and a bit!
This blog (given my shocking lack of posts lately) is under 10K views short of 3/4 million, which is not bad, I suppose. Apologies for yesterdays missed post - I was engrossed redrawing the club logo, doing prep work for Monday's AGM and starting to plan what I'm doing over the next few weeks.
Hang on - milestone. (Even if not for this blog.). That means Kate!
Battle Report - 29 Dec 2017 - IABSM "Beginning the Bulge"
A big thank you to Roy for organising this year's gamers Secret Santa. Due to haring out of the country like a mad thing on Boxing Day morning, I've only just got round to catching up with things Christmas-related (there's still cake left! yay!), so I'm delighted to note that my recipient seems to have liked his gift, and also thank you to my Secret Santa for the Napoleon At War French cavalry blister.
..,and napped, and fed, and catching up with stuff before a proper night's sleep - my brain is very confused as to what TZ I'm in! It's also warmer here - about 75ºF warmer if you allow for the wind chill!
A huge thank you to Jeffrey Knudsen (of The War Artisan), Elliot James, and the rest of the guys from the Centurions Wargaming Group and ATF for hosting a couple of excellent games: photos and AARs to follow later in the week. I seem to have come away with some interesting sets of Grand Tactical Napoleonic rules for review, too.
More later when I'm properly awake.
...from the Hyatt Place in downtown Minneapolis, where I am killing time till I can head for the airport and home.
Battle reports on a couple of games that happened while I was out here to follow, when I get back and fully awake, but for now.... a quick review of 2017 and plans for 2018.
Operation Get S**t Done progressed... well, a bit. I did make a reasonable attempt at not buying loads more stuff (barring a couple of big KS pledges): major purchases were SP2 forces for the Peninsula and needed buildings and scenery for the club IABSM campaign, and a Nights Watch force for the club Game of Thrones campaign.
I'm essentially a full time wargamer and writer till, probably, Easter. Top of the list, obviously is to finish the Dux Britanniarum Compendium, followed by several other things. Also, to get back into the habit of blogging regularly, which will, I hope, include being publicly accountable for my time over Q1 of 2018. Given the number of people who very kindly describe this blog as inspiration, I clearly need to get off my duff and live up to that.


text:
Stop the persecution, refugees tell junta
Myanmar refugees and local civil society groups held a demo outside the Myanmar embassy to protest against the military oppression against ethnic minorities in Myanmar.
VIDEO INSIDE
KUALA LUMPUR: Over 200 Myanmar refugees, including women and children, gathered today near the Myanmar Embassy here to protest against the ongoing military oppression against ethnic minorities back in their country.
Backed by several local civil society groups, they handed over a letter of protest, addressed to their president U Thein Sein, to a representative from the embassy.
The refugees, mainly from Kachin, Shan and Karen ethnic groups, held up banners saying "Stop killing civilians", "Stop war crimes" and "Stop all offensives against all ethnic civilians"and one group of children help up banners stating "Why are you killing my parents?"
They chanted:"We want peace! Stop the killing! Civil war… stop… stop!", while light strike force police were present to control the crowd.
"Dear Mr President, We, the Burma ethnic refugees in Malaysia together with the undersigned Malaysian civil society organisations wish to express our strong condemnation against the on-going arm conflicts,assaults, systematic persecution, torture and intimidation launched by the Burmese army against ethnic minority's freedom fighters, armed groups and civilians in several states," stated their letter to the president.
They urged their government to:
Stop military offensive and persecution against ethnic minorities
Sign a cease-fire agreements and to hold political dialogue in order to achieve a nationwide cease-fire with all ethnic minority groups
Release all political prisoners across the country unconditionally
Entirely halt the Myitsone dam project
"Now in our country, the Burmese army controls the state. They use a lot of soldiers and they kill our parents, our children… just last Saturday, they burned the schools and killed the teachers," said protester Paul Naw Naw.
"Now many have fled to other countries but many also flee into the forests, they die there without food."
Another protester, Sai Kham Noom, said that now in Myanmar, there's a policy where ethnic minorities cannot practice their own culture, religion or even speak or learn their own language.
"The government doesn't want us, they want to kill all ethnic minorities… it's ethnic cleansing," he said.
"We don't want to be refugees here in Malaysia, we also want to go home to our country, we are human beings too. We are suffering here in Malaysia, our children can't go to school," said one of the leaders of the protest, Dominique Thetsaw.
Women raped, children killed
Explaining the situation in Myanmar, Suaram coordinator Andika Ab Wahab said the civil war in the territories in Kachin, Shan and Karen are forcing the people there to flee by the thousands to the forests, and to other countries, making Myanmar the "largest refugee producing country in the region"
"Women are raped, children are killed and their villages and houses are burnt and food are taken from them.
"Because of all this, they all have to run in fear. After the new government took over, they have said that things will improve, but the military is not even pretending to say they would change things," said Andika, who heads the refugee desk in Suaram.
Andika said any country in the South East Asia wants to stop human trafficking and smuggling and refugees, the problem should be stopped at the roots.
"The only way to tackle the problem is to push the Myanmar government to stop the military oppression," said Andika.
Suaram was part of over 20 other NGOs supporting the letter of protest, including Tenaganita, Lawyers for Liberty, Amnesty International.
Myanmar has been under the thumb of a military junta for nearly 50 years, since 1962. Decried by many around the world as an oppressive and "brutal" regime, the junta has kept an iron grip over nearly all facets of Burmese life.
Many have been forced to flee their country due to the rampant human rights violations, especially discriminatory to those of the ethnic minorities. There are more than 100,000 Burmese refugees residing in Malaysia, including those registered under the UNHCR and non-registered, including more than 10,000 children.
However, as refugees, they are not recognised and Malaysia classifies them as illegal immigrants under the Immigration Act.
As such, many have been mistreated and rounded up into detention centres. Some have been trafficked, never to be seen again.
The junta has also estimated to have detained more than 2,000 political opponents in the country.
By Teoh El Sen | October 11, 2011
www.freemalaysiatoday.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Chinese researchers develop device they say can test loyalty of ruling party members
Researchers in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui say they have developed a device that can determine loyalty to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using facial scans.
A short video uploaded to the Weibo account of the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on June 30 said the project was an example of "artificial intelligence empowering party-building."
The Weibo post was later deleted, but a text summary of video, produced in honor of the CCP's July 1 anniversary, remained available on the Internet Archive on Monday.
"Guaranteeing the quality of party-member activities is turning into a problem in need of coordination," the text said.
"This equipment is a kind of smart ideology, using AI technology to extract and integrate facial expressions, EEG readings and skin conductivity … making it possible to ascertain the levels of concentration, recognition and mastery of ideological and political education so as to better understand its effectiveness," the description said.
"It can provide real data for organizers of ideological and political education, so they can keep improving their methods of education and enrich content," it said.
It said the device relies on "emotionally intelligent computing," among other methods, to measure to what extent subjects "feel grateful to the CCP, do as it tells them and follow its lead."
In the video, as reported by Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, a researcher in white walks into a room and sits in front of a screen to take a test, before receiving a test score and analysis onscreen.
Before the post was deleted, some comments slammed the idea as "high-tech brainwashing," while others referenced George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984, saying that "Big Brother" would be watching them.
Anhui-based sociologist Song Da'an said the post had been removed due to its political sensitivity.
"Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center has been using biotechnology to measure the loyalty of party members and cadres," Song said. "This shows that the CCP is becoming more and more totalitarian."
"In the logic of a totalitarian society, more and more emphasis is placed on refining controllability, and party members are regarded as screws [that could come loose] and potentially cause damage; they are the enemy of the machine," he said.
Song said the technology was based on the polygraph, used by security services to detect lying, which was itself based on the word association experiments of Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung.
"They are using this technology to treat all party members as potential anti-CCP agents," he said. "The use of these technology on officials demonstrates the sorry state of affairs within party ranks."
A Jiangxi-based current affairs commentator surnamed Zhang agreed.
"They are consolidating their power to better hold onto it," Zhang said. "That's what these people want; to consolidate their position."
"Would a regime that served the people be afraid of losing political power?"
'All-seeing eye'
A call to the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center on Monday resulted in a recorded message saying "Sorry, the person you have called isn't authorized to take your call. Goodbye."
In 2018, authorities in Zhejiang province installed an "all-seeing eye" in a high-school classroom to spot students who weren't paying attention or who fell asleep in class, official media reported.
The new system at the Hangzhou No. 11 High School links up a surveillance camera to facial recognition software that tracks students' movements and facial expressions, according to the Zhejiang Daily newspaper.
The technology was part of a trial of software and surveillance systems that could be rolled out elsewhere as part of the development of "smart campuses," the paper said.
"The system … can perform statistical analysis on students' behaviors and expressions in the classroom and provide timely feedback on abnormal behaviors," the report said.
Data collected by the system will be analyzed by the software, and overly inattentive or sleepy behavior will generate a prompt to the teacher to admonish the offender, it said.
The data could also be used to evaluate teachers' performance in the classroom, the report said.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Tibetan former political prisoner Jigme Gyatso dies in Gansu
U.S. aircraft carrier to visit Vietnam as Western allies stage war games


THE INSTITUTE FOR CIVIL INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS (ICIS) was established in 1998 with initial funding from the National Science Foundation. The Institute engages in research, education, and outreach in infrastructure, including energy, transportation, water, communication and environmental protection, in the context of the quality of life in urban areas. Agencies that have funded current and recent research include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (through university centers at NYU, USC, and Dartmouth), the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Transportation Region 2 University Transportation Research Center, the NYS Department of Transportation, and the Fund for Public Health in NY. Institute researchers have also engaged in research impacts of global climate change on public infrastructure.
2nd floor, New York, NY 10012.


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The only scale contains ALL 12 notes in one octave.
Music uses the first seven letters of the alphabet to name the notes and chords used in music. The letters are: A B C D E F G. The Chromatic scale is all 12 pitches or notes of music within one octave. An octave is the distance from one letter to next same letter in a scale or chord. A to A' within the below scale is one octave.
One of the easiest instruments to visualize these seven letters and the notes they correspond to is the piano. The natural notes A B C D E F G are the white keys of the piano.
The Chromatic Scale with Natural Note Names, Sharp, and Flat note name The next key, white or black to the right is higher and sharp. The previous key, white or black to the left is lower and flat.
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A new Dunelm superstore looks set to open at Cribbs Causeway near Bristol.
The popular furnishing giants are expected to open a huge new store, its second in the city, at the former Toys R Us site.
The news has not been officially announced, but a now-expired job advertisement for sales assistants online reveals the plans to assemble a new team ready for the opening of the new store.
Dunelm has not yet released any official information about the store, or given any indication of its opening date.
However, the job advert indicates that the new store is very much on the cards, it states: "We have some exciting opportunities or sales assistants in our brand new store in Bristol Cribbs Causeway.
"We have a variety of positions available between 16-30 hours per week.
"We will need you to be able to work in a fast-paced environment and be confident in approaching and engaging with customers, full flexibility is required as you will be required to commit to a minimum of one evening shift and one weekend shift per week."
The postcode used in the job advert - BS34 3TU - belongs to the former Toys R Us store at Cribbs Causeway.
The site has been empty since the toy shop closed in early April.


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diana's engagement ring worth
Charles didn't exactly have a say in how much he'd be spending on Diana's engagement ring — considering she picked the ring out for herself in a Garrard catalog. And while the world was captivated by the young royals (Charles was, at the time, considered one of the most eligible bachelors), it was also the first peek at Diana's gorgeous engagement ring, a 12-carat oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded with 14 solitaire diamonds and set in … The ring features a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon faceted sapphire, which is surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds. 'If this ring were bought today then you would spend in excess of £150,000.' This equates to about €164,500. Diana's sapphire engagement ring, which is now Kate Middleton's, caused drama when Prince Charles gave it to her in 1981 — here's why. It's a good thing nothing happened to the ring while they were vacationing, considering it's now worth a whopping $500,000. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. When Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with his late mother's iconic engagement ring in 2010, we were only getting half of the story. Contrary to what some sources say, Diana did not choose this ring because it was the biggest. It's surrounded by 14 solitaire white diamonds and is set in 18 karat white gold. Diana's engagement ring may now be loved by all, but back when she chose the piece, she caused quite a bit of controversy. By thegirlsun. According to The Court Jeweller, the ring would have cost £28,500 at the time, meaning it would cost £123,000 (about $223,979AUD) today. When Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with his late mother's iconic engagement ring in 2010, we were only getting half of the story.. Most royals have engagement rings custom-made, which ensures their ring is one-of-a-kind and special. Tagged in Diana039s, Engagement, Princess, Ring, worth. I remember thinking, "This is a joke," and I said: "Yeah, OK," and laughed. It created an uproar at the time as it wasn't a bespoke piece thought to be fit for a Princess but rather a ring that anyone could buy,' Susannah Lovis revealed. He said: "You do realize that one day you will be queen." And a voice said to me inside: "You won't be queen but you'll have a tough role." So I thought "OK," so I said: "Yes." I said: "I love you so much, I love you so much." He said: "Whatever love means.". On top of being described as one of the most famous rings ever, it's been through some of the most crucial moments in the royal family's history. Diana's, instead, was far from rare, considering anyone (who had $37,000 to shell out) could have the exact same ring as the princess. Princess Diana's engagement ring from Prince Charles has been at the center of attention for over 35 years. Before Princess Diana and Prince Charles tied the knot, the prince impressed the young Diana with a glittering eternity ring. At WP Diamonds, we are the leading online engagement ring experts thanks to our professional service, experienced gemologists and rich understanding of the second-hand luxury market. Today, the ring is worth $500K. Meghan Markle does own some of Princess Diana's jewelry, but to be clear, she didn't just scoop them up and run off to America with them. The moment he proposed to Diana, however, The princess told Andrew Morton, author of. Its estimated worth is now £300,000, but if you ask us it's invaluable. A professional jeweler estimated that Lady Spencer's engagement ring could be worth up to $160,000. When Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton with his late mother's iconic engagement ring in 2010, we were only getting half of the story.. Diana, Princess of Wales, was not known for doing things the traditional way. Princess Diana's engagement ring on Kate Middleton | Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images. Engagement ring The keepsake that Harry chose was the stunning blue 12-carat sapphire and diamond ring that Prince Charles purchased for his bride-to-be in 1981. She reportedly continued wearing her rings "out of respect for her sons," Prince Harry and Prince William. Princess Diana's Aquamarine Ring Isn't Worth As Much As You Might've Guessed. The sapphire ring remains one of the most famous in the world. She reportedly continued wearing her rings "out of respect for her sons," Prince Harry and Prince William. But with all the buzz around Princess Diana and Prince Charles' relationship because of the upcoming season of The Crown, we wondered about the engagement ring. With its 14 solitaire diamonds surrounding the sapphire, all set in 18-karat white gold, we can certainly see why. Harry was actually the one to initially take their mother's engagement ring. Purchased for £28,000 in 1981, the ring is now said to be worth £390,000. When Catherine Middleton received the ring, it was slightly too big for her. , "Garrard, the crown jeweler, was inspired by a sapphire and diamond cluster brooch that was crafted for Prince Albert in 1840.". Eddie LeVian, CEO of New York City-based jewelry company Le Vian, told Insider in a statement via email that he estimated Lady Spencer's engagement ring could be worth approximately $160,000. 'The central stone is a large 12ct Ceylon Sapphire surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. While prices of Ceylon sapphires have gone up in the intervening 40 years they haven't soared like gold.'. It was created by then-crown jeweller Garrard.The design was inspired by Queen Victoria's sapphire-and-diamond cluster brooch, a wedding present from Prince Albert in 1840, which Victoria donned that day as her … It was said for a long time that this ring is the most valuable in the Royal Family, but new research disputes this. Princess Diana's famous engagement ring, now worn by Kate Middleton, is believed to have cost £28,000 at the time but is now priceless thanks to its history The sapphire stone was surrounded by 14 diamonds and it cost about £28,500 (€31,227) in 1981. Despite Kate having the ring resized to fit her finger (using two platinum studs rather than interfering with the metal band), Diana's engagement ring has soared in value thanks to the bittersweet story attached to it. May 21, 2018. It turns out Princess Diana's ring—a 12-carat oval blue Ceylon faceted sapphire surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds and set in 18K white gold—wasn't actually Prince William's to give away. The post This is how much Princess Diana's engagement ring is worth now appeared first on Marie Claire. Princess Diana's sapphire engagement ring now belongs to Middleton, carrying on her legacy in such a beautiful way. "Princess Diana's engagement ring is a 12 carat oval sapphire surrounded by 14 round diamonds set in 18 karat white gold," says Greg Kwiat, CEO and owner of Kwiat Diamonds and Fred Leighton. From shop ShinyJungleJewellery. Before Diana's tragic death in 1997, she made sure to pass down her jewelry collection to William and Harry. Charles purchased the ring for $37,000 back in 1981 before walking down the aisle that same year. Kate Middleton shares her Christmas outfit regret, Kate Middleton wows in monochrome as the Cambridges attend the panto, Kate Middleton pays tribute to Princess Diana with festive red look, * Sign up to the EVOKE.ie survey panel to trial free products and win prizes for your opinions! She knew she wanted a sapphire, which is surrounded by 14 solitaire diamonds and it about... Her ring, royal engagement ring … Diana and Charles, Diana decided to keep wearing her ". 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diana's engagement ring worth 2021


text:
That One Time A Cheating Player Got His Comeuppance Via A Cyclops
Just a reminder that for the rest of 2014 I'm having a holiday giveaway! Check out the details in this entry, and if you'd like a free ebook from a Pathfinder Tales author then just send me an email using the contact form on this page!
Now then, where was I? Oh yes!
We all know those players. The people who make convenient math errors a little too often, who ignore the negatives their characters are suffering one too many times for it to be chance, and who snatch their natural 20's up off the table before the DM can get a really clear look at what was on the die. We're pretty sure they're cheating, but we're not sure if we're ready to stick our necks out and accuse them in front of the whole table like the world's geekiest courtroom drama.
Their own actions will eventually deliver the karmic crotch-kick we so desire. Or at least that's how it happened to a guy named Rob.
Short-sighted doesn't begin to cover it.
Those of you who've read the other entries in Table Talk will recognize Rob as the fellow who ran the Star Wars game that resulted in my getting an out-of-game job offer from a Sith Lord. Well he was a invited along with myself and several others by a DM named John who was going to put together a grueling game that would challenge our abilities, our courage, and our luck.
Needless to say, we were in.
The Most Pointless Cheat In The World
There were roughly 6 players in this group, which is heading toward the big side of a party. There was a paladin, a sorcerer, a rogue, a cleric, a fighter, and a monk. Because John is a foolish but interesting DM he told us to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, and to re-roll 1s and 2s for our stats. He also had a caveat that said if you rolled all 6's then you got to keep the 24 for your stat.
Take a wild guess who got the 24.
Instead of rolling his dice carefully where the DM could see it, Rob's rolled a mysterious 24 when the rest of the table was engaged in a discussion over other rules. Because none of us had seen him alter the dice post-roll, though Rob's defensive facial expression and body posture said that was likely what had happened, John told him to take the 24. It was just easier than dealing with the argument that would ensue.
Here's where things get dumb. The paladin, sorcerer, rogue, and cleric all had understandably high charisma scores. After all, each of them has skills or class features that depend on that stat. My fighter, a black knight who'd cut ties with his noble family in Cheliax, also had a charisma of 16. Morvius Henderthrane was going to be recruited by the Eagle Knights, and I needed a high charisma for his prestige class. Upon comparison it's remarked that we are, "a very pretty party," with a 15 sitting as the lowest charisma score among these five characters.
Rob hears this and immediately decides to switch the 24 from his strength to his charisma. Why does a half-orc monk need a 24 charisma? Your guess is as good as mine dear reader, but I have a sneaking suspicion it was because he wanted to "win" what was never a competition in the first place as to who had the most striking presence.
The Comeuppance
The game starts with all of us at level five adventuring together. We're put ashore on the south side of an island and told that there is a hag leading an army of nightmare creatures in a cave up the coast. If we want to end the threat we need to take her unawares. We smash our way through a fight with some giant crabs, and start climbing the cliffs. Showing both strategy and variety, John throws some harpies at us. Once the harpies have distracted us, a cyclops crashes in from the woods, large-sized greatax raised and ready to swing.
Everybody chill. I got this.
Arrows and daggers are flying, and the party is getting slammed by the assailants. Morvius is even pushed off a small cliff. Non-plussed and seething he storms back up the rise, and splits the last remaining harpy from crotch to crown with a critical from his bastard sword. At almost the same time the sorcerer, the only other Chelaxian in the party, casts blindness on the cyclops. The DM rolls low, and the giant's single eye withers and drops out of its socket, leaving the potent foe significantly reduced.
Morvius being lawful and a knight calls for the cyclops's surrender. The giant agrees. It is at this time that the monk, who has done nothing useful to contribute to the fight up to this point, rushes up to the cyclops with the intention of striking a death blow on the helpless, surrendered creature. The cyclops hears the monk coming, and uses an ability that those who hadn't read the Pathfinder Bestiary in-depth to see how it was different from the Monster Manual didn't know about; the ability for a cyclops to declare any die roll a natural 20 due to a brief glimpse into the future once per day.
The result? The creature brings down its ax, and the DM rolls to confirm the critical. He confirms with a natural 20, and rolls enough damage to smash the orc down to -20 hit points.
He Chose Poorly
The entire table was silent for about five seconds. The silence filled up with the sounds of barely-suppressed laughter as the DM showed Rob the description of the ability, and Rob spluttered to try and find some way to save his dishonorable and mostly-useless monk. There is no way to save him, and so we're reduced down to a mostly-functional party size.
If only he'd put that 24 in Constitution...
Despite the player pouting and huffing about his well-deserved and totally-legal character death, the rest of the table used it to further the plot. Morvius and the sorcerer threatened the giant badly enough that it nearly killed itself running for its life down the mountain, and Morvius demanded that they stop and bury their fallen comrade. Only once the dirt had been thrown on it did he insist they continue, and give the half-orc an escort on his way to Pharasma's judgment.
He had plenty of company... enough so that we gained 2 levels in a single fight. But that's another story for another day...
If you have a gaming story of your own you'd like to tell, send it to Improved Initiative and we'll be happy to give you a moment or three in the spotlight! If you'd like to support the blog then stop by my Patreon page and become a patron today! If you want to make sure you get all of my updates then follow me on Facebook and Tumblr too!
Posted by Neal Litherland at 3:20 PM
Labels: cheating, cheliax, cyclops, dishonorable, gaming, gaming stories, half-orc, home brew, improved initiative, monk, pathfinder, table talk
Angelus April 20, 2016 at 11:30 AM
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It's Not Your Imagination... Your Dice Really Are ...


Okay so I started out pretty badly this morning. I completely overslept after being awake talking to Jordanne until well after 3am and so had 30 minutes to get ready for uni today only to end up getting to my tutorial and doing very little as I had no questions to ask about the work that had been set.
So of course, me being me, I went onto Twitter and started just scrolling the way we so-called millennials are stereotyped to do. I came across a post (once again I do apologise because I can't remember who wrote it or what it was even called) all about how 2016 wasn't going the way they wanted it to so they decided to make a change. This hit home a little and got me thinking. Why do we always set a time to change from? Surely if we want to change, we should just jump in there – 2 feet at the same time.
Every year, around this time, we suddenly realise that in just over a month we'll all be talking New Year's Resolutions and the likes, and I always set them. I even manage to last maybe a month before I give up! But why should I wait until January 1st to make the changes I feel are necessary? And why do I assume I need to make changes?
Over the past 48 hours, I've done a lot of thinking about different things, and I got so wound up about some of it when talking to Jordanne last night, and this morning I found myself asking why I let these things build up for so long. I spent the first 8 months of 2016 being a bit of a mess. I decided I wanted to come back to uni and put the effort in and I'm doing that. The majority of the time anyway, yes I'm blogging now instead of studying but I can manage my time the way I want to.
I want to make the effort to be consciously happier. But why should I sit and wait for happiness to find me? It's my responsibility to go out there, grab life in both hands, and make myself enjoy life. I don't want to sit at the age of 50 and question where my life has gone and why I didn't do this thing or another thing. This year, I want to travel more and see more places. Even just places in Northern Ireland and Scotland! It's why going to Edinburgh for the day, or Aberdeen, or even the fact I'm going to Dundee this weekend makes me so excited! This weekend I have Dundee. Next weekend is a friend's birthday dinner and I get to travel to a different part of Glasgow. Weekend after that, I've decided to take a spontaneous trip home – I miss the animals and haven't seen my parents in ages. Normally that wouldn't bother me but I just want to go home to a house that's bigger than the flat for a few days. Anyway, I got distracted there. So I'm home for a while. The weekend after that is our flat Christmas dinner and I can't wait to cook that and have fun with Mary, Nuala and Jason. The weekend after that? LONDON!!! I cannot wait to see Jordanne and the others and get to spend time with them, all while exploring a new place! The weekend after that, I will be home for my mum's birthday (so more travelling), the weekend after that is Christmas. After that comes New Year, which I'm hoping to spend in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Weekend after that? Well, that's the weekend before classes start again and knowing us we'll have a welcome back party for our friends from halls. So that's 9 weekends in a row I have at least one thing planned!
This has been a very rambley post, and for that I apologise. But I just wanted to update you all on what's been going through my head recently. It can get a bit messy in there, and I never know how I get from one topic to another. So in conclusion, I'm so excited to be going home for a weekend soon, even if it's purely to see my furbabies!
And once again we find ourselves looking at a Wednesday morning. Only 3 more hours until we're officially half way through the working week! The more I think about it, the more I'm ready for the weekend again. With another night out again tonight (and many advance apologies to my snapchat friends) I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning.
Anyway, enough about today, and on to today's post! Anyone who read all of last week's posts – and if you didn't, why not? – will know that last week I guest posted on Jade's blog over at simpleyjadey.co.uk with the topic of My Anti-Bucket list, a list of things I hope not to do in my lifetime. So today, a week later, I thought I would share my bucket list with you! Sounds interesting, right?
Become a teacher. It's all I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember and it's so close but yet so far!
Go to a Christmas Market on the continent. I don't overly mind which one, but I've heard the Christmas Markets on the mainland of Europe are fantastic and so, being obsessed with the festive season, I really want to go!
Have a holiday home in Ibiza. Yes, my love of Ibiza has spread even to here. When asked why I love it so much, I still can't give an exact answer. But surely that's a good thing? If you've never been, I definitely recommend Santa Eulalia. Just saying.
Visit Florida. Not really sure why this one either but it seems like a nice place to go!
Go ice skating in New York. Yes, I've been to the Big Apple, but I didn't get to go ice skating. I did, however, go shopping on 5th Avenue but that wasn't ever on the bucket list.
See Ed Sheeran in concert. I was heartbroken that I couldn't get tickets for him in Glasgow but was able to get Rachel and a friend tickets for in Belfast while I was stuck in lectures in Glasgow.
Go to Disneyland in America. Having been to the Parisian one, I'm now set on going in the states.
Visit the Harry Potter studios. What Potter fan our age doesn't want to go??
Go to South Africa to see the penguins. When I told my sister this she looked at me in disbelief but yes there are times of the year when penguins are at the southern-most tip of South Africa!
Visit London's Winter Wonderland. It sounds magical and it's Christmassy so who wouldn't want to go?
Get my tattoo. Have you not heard about my tattoo? The one I want is a turtle but I'll have to show you it.
It's back! Have you missed it? I can't decide if I did or not. However, it's a Sunday morning and here we are, ready to take a look back at the last 7 days. How have you been? Haven't asked you in a while, how rude of me. I'm actually looking forward to sharing the last few days with you so without further adieu, here's Sunday's Summary!
Sunday was a little bit of a lazy day. Well, not lazy as I had so much university work to do… But I stayed in my pyjamas all day and got to be a bit of a slob. I finished up around 7ish and an old friend from first year showed up unexpectedly while Mary was cooking dinner for the two of us, so it was quite nice to have a bit of a chat. Actually, I've just remembered I want to ask Mary for her recipe for that chicken… Knew this was helpful!
On Monday, I had my two lectures and my first lab session of the year! Except it wasn't really a lab. Instead, we discussed estimating things and deriving equations and used a cool app called Kahoot to answer multiple choice questions on the board. We then had to partner up and sign up to our experiments and our literature reports for later in the year. This was the nervous part for me – I know no one in my labs and was so worried about having to find a partner and talk to someone completely new. I hovered by the sign up sheets until a good three quarters of the room had left before approaching 4 girls and a guy standing in a group – there was bound to be someone without a partner! Thankfully, the guy (Will) told me he didn't have a partner and so now we're together for the experiments! We're starting with probably not the best experiment but then at least I've done it all before! Next week however is Matlab so please wish me luck with it. It's a horrible coding course we have to take… Not looking forward to that.
Tuesday came and once again I made it to my lectures, and came home to an empty flat. I phoned home on Tuesday for a bit of a chat, and had a chat with my aunt in Dundee too, and so I passed the time that way. Again, I mainly spent the day writing notes up and making sure I understood what was going on. Of course, I remembered to take part in the GRLPOWR chat on Twitter and it basically ended up being a Christmas chat – at least the bits I saw! Oh, that's another thing. I woke up with fresher's flu on Monday and so by Tuesday honestly thought I was dying. Yes, I'm quite a bad sufferer of man-flu. A simple cold was killing me. But I attempted an early night on Tuesday as a result.
Thursday morning was painful. I woke up and spent the first hour trying not to throw up, before throwing on whatever clothes I could find and going to my lectures. Warm lecture theatres, lots of people, and being hungover was not a fantastic combination but I survived! Came home, went to have a bit of a nap but couldn't due to noise, and so just got on with some work. Mary and I got Chinese as she had been out with the football girls and was feeling equally as rough as me. We then curled up on the sofa to watch The Apprentice. Anyone else delighted that it's back? There were some fabulous comments and one-liners! Unfortunately I missed the chat for GRLPOWR but I think it was a good one! I then went to bed and wrote up a few blog posts while discussing the GRLPOWR Christmas plans. Yes it's early but the fact that it's already the 9th of October is a sign that time is going to fly!
Friday was a bit of a mixed day. I woke up thinking 'Wow, Mary's up early, I don't normally see her before lectures…'. I rolled over and looked at my phone – 11:08am. My first lecture of the day had started 3 minutes earlier and there I was still in bed. There went my 'attend every lecture' goal! I did, however, manage to shower, dry my hair, have breakfast, and look semi decent all in the 40 minutes I had before my next lecture – not too bad in my opinion! On my way home, an old friend bumped into me and followed me home… Not that I don't like him but just he ditched us for over a year because he had a girlfriend and now that they've broken up he's come crawling back. I wouldn't care but he expected me to just continue as if no time had passed. The afternoon was spent talking on the phone to Mum, and writing my post for Tuesday next week. Trust me when I say I was writing it from 4:30 until well after 9, and I didn't even stop for dinner. So at 10pm I curled up in bed with doritos, netflix, and the GRLPOWR group chat to have a relaxed night.
Finally, Saturday was spent tidying my room, organising shopping lists and actually doing the shopping. I caught up on some uni work, spoke to one of my grannies, and cooked dinner for Jason, Mary and myself. Then Saturday night was once again spent blogging and chatting to friends! Haha, what happened to my social life?
So that's you up to date! What did you get up to this week? Any fun stories to share?
Haha okay so this one is really easy to pick. What is my most memorable trip and why? Obviously Ibiza!
The summer between finishing school and starting university, I went to Ibiza with my parents and my sister. We stayed in an adult's only hotel and it was the first holiday in 8 or 9 years that we didn't have Mum's mum with us. Rachel was the youngest guest there and so we got a lot more attention than other guests – although I think her looks might've had something to do with that. It was the first holiday we went on that I actually felt 100% comfortable and like I could've stayed longer than our two weeks.
As a result, we went again the next two years! However, they have seriously upped the prices due to a recent refurbishment – who pays over £2000 per person for two weeks half board? I can cruise for less than that. It upsets me that I won't be able to go back next summer, we've made some real friends in the staff there, never mind some of the other guests. If you have the money, I would seriously recommend Sol Beach House Ibiza, however I won't be back for quite some time now due to the sudden increase in price.
Why are my dreams important and what are they? Well… For as long as I can remember, I've dreamt of being a mum and being a teacher. I'm currently working on getting into teaching – I'm studying physics at university in the hope of doing a PGCE or a PDGE as it's known here in Scotland. I'm emailing schools, asking to do work shadowing for the month of June after my exams have all ended, as the more experience I have the more likely I am to be accepted for a course.
Being a mum may be slightly more difficult/complicated but I'll figure it out somehow.
One of the longest running dreams of mine was finally reached in May this year. For as long as I can remember, I've dreamed of going to Disneyland – didn't matter to me whether it was Paris or in the USA. At the age of 20, I finally got to go and actually I'm so happy I was older when I first went. I had the energy to keep going. I watched the parades and was tall enough that it didn't matter if the adults with their children blocked my view. I could go on all the rides I wanted to, and could sit and wait for my friends if they were on a ride I didn't want to go on. No one could tell me not to buy too many soft toys, and when I watched the night time show, I felt the shivers down my spine. It was an incredible experience and one which will be with me for many years to come.
Now this one is difficult to write. I recently had my 21st birthday and received so many incredibly thoughtful and meaningful presents from friends and family! For this post, I've to talk about a gift that I cherish and why – but it's so hard to pick just one!
Not going to lie, my friends bought me an amazing gift this year – one I will have forever. They got me a personalised calendar with pictures of us and other friends in it, as well as a picture of things I like. Of course, their names are on it in prime positions, but it just goes to show that they know what they mean to me. It's going to be something I'll always have, and I'll definitely always remember who gave it to me!
Helloooo my lovely friends! Okay so you may be forgiven for forgetting I was participating in the 30 Days of Gratitude Blogging Challenge, especially considering I basically skipped 10 days worth of them… But have no fear! I shall post a brief one for each of these throughout the day – I'm actually going to write them the minute I finish this post.
So, as you can see, today's theme is Challenges with the subtitle of What is your greatest challenge in life and how do you plan to overcome it? Haha well let's just put out there that I picked a hard one to come back in on!
Before I could even begin to write this post, I asked myself 'What constitutes as a challenge?'. The Cambridge Online Dictionary defines it as "(the situation of being faced with) something that needs great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and therefore tests a person's ability." To me, personally, a challenge is something that prevents you or makes it more difficult for you to achieve the goals you set for yourself. If this is the case, then I had a lot more to think about!
I had to ask myself – what do I consider a challenge in my life? Blogging daily? We all know how well that's been going – not. Going to university and getting a degree? We're working on that one, patience young grasshopper. My relationship with my family? Ha, don't get me started. Wow, there were a lot I could think of! However, I realised that none of these are really a proper challenge – more things that my self-doubt hinders or affects. That's when it hit me. My greatest challenge, at this point in my life anyway, is my self confidence.
When conversing with the lovely ladies at GRLPOWR, and all the other amazing people involved in their chat on Sunday 18th September based on Confidence, there came a question – 'How far would you go to gain confidence? (Surgery, buy things, etc)'. While replying truthfully, I stated that I constantly spend money on makeup and clothes to try and look better and more confident. I admitted that I considered either laser skin treatment for my acne scarring or laser hair removal, and I had also looked into laser eye surgery – all in the hope of becoming 'prettier' according to societies rules. I heavily rely on the things I buy and how I look to try and get people to like me – as someone once said to me, all I talk about is TV and I'm incredibly boring because of it. Well since then I've started talking a lot more about blogging too so I guess I'm just a nightmare to be around.
Woah, sorry, this was meant to be a post about overcoming challenges – not focusing on what the challenge is or how I feel about it! But that last paragraph was to give you a basic insight into my mind. I hate being left out of things, even if it's nothing important. There's always a constant worry in the back of my mind that no one likes me and they all just put up with me because I've attached myself to them. I know that it's not true (hopefully) but it's there and it's because of my low self confidence.
It's not something I can just get over. It's not a quality I like about myself, ha the irony of having low self confidence because of problems caused by low self confidence, but it's one I can work on. Back in August, I wrote about my promise to myself. I've recently started doing things because they make me happy and I want to do them. I'm getting more involved in extracurricular things at uni because, as Nuala said earlier, there are so many opportunities while at uni that disappear the minute we leave this place!
Planning to overcome low self confidence isn't really effective in my opinion, simply because it takes a lot longer to change a thought or opinion than it does to change or fix a physical problem. Yes, there are ways to physically change to increase self confidence, but why should I have to change to feel better about myself? So yes, we're working on that.
By the way, I don't know if any of you have realised but I often refer to myself as 'we' – please ignore this, I am a me.
Wow okay sorry this is late! As you may have noticed, I kind of stopped blogging last Friday after my birthday before trying again on Thursday. Unfortunately I'm just in a slump where even though I know what I want to write, I just can't make myself sit down and write it. Sunday (yesterday) was my sister's 18th birthday and so I went all out. Check out the planning post here!
As my friends have learnt, I love putting thought and effort into birthday presents and so I started with the intention of buying her 18 presents that would all be given to over the course of the day. Unfortunately this would include starting super early so instead I decided to give them all to her in one go.
In the end, I managed to buy all 18 presents and numbered them for giving them to her! So here they all are, listed and shown below. Technically it's 19 presents but shhh…. These aren't in the order she opened them in by the way, I forgot to make a note of what was what.
Travel adaptors – now she can stop stealing mine!
A Smuggle your booze umbrella hipflask – perfect for that night out!
A real leather hand luggage case – not what she asked for but I'd bought it before she specified what she would like… Whoops!
The final present was that I am taking her away on a mini break to Lanzarote in March, just the two of us, to an all inclusive adults only hotel. I'm actually so excited to get away – here's the hotel we're going to!


text:
Muy deficiente es el segundo álbum de estudio de Platero y Tú, grabado entre febrero y marzo de 1992, y publicado el 12 de junio de 1992 por el sello discográfico DRO.

Cuenta con la colaboración de Rosendo, quien canta en el tema "Sin solución", y de Ángel Muñoz "El Reverendo", quien toca el Órgano Hammond en "Cantalojas". También colaboraron Arma Joven, quienes hacían los coros en "Rompe los cristales" junto con Sergio Muñoz, técnico de sonido que grabó el disco. A pesar de contener los que luego serían algunos de los mayores éxitos de la banda, en su día tuvo bastante menor repercusión de la esperada, teniendo que esperar hasta el siguiente disco (Vamos tirando) para consolidarse en el mercado como uno de los más grandes grupos de rock del panorama nacional.

Lista de canciones

Sencillos

De este álbum se extrajeron en el mismo año de su publicación los siguientes sencillos:

 "Rompe los cristales", edición en vinilo, conteniendo el tema "Rompe los cristales"
 "El roce de tu cuerpo", edición en vinilo, conteniendo los temas "El roce de tu cuerpo" y "Cantalojas"
 "Sin solución", edición en vinilo, conteniendo los temas "Sin solución" y "Esa chica tan cara".

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 Letras del álbum en Plateroytu.com

Álbumes de Platero y Tú
Álbumes de España de 1992
Álbumes de rock en español

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


That finding was published too late to make it into Stephen Hall's provocative book, but it's in keeping with the litany of obstacles arrayed against short men that he documents in "Size Matters." Consider the very word "stature." Its primary definition refers to physical height, but it can also connote everything from presence and charisma to virtue and importance; on a metaphorical level, height and worthiness of esteem are linked in the human mind. "Nobility of soul accompanies tallness of body," wrote one 18th-century German physician, reflecting the conventional wisdom of the time. Repeated studies in the modern era have shown that people unconsciously ascribe positive qualities to the tall: in addition to being deemed more intelligent, tall people are automatically considered more likable, more dependable and more commanding. It seems that benefits accrue to the tall beginning almost from birth, and then keep accruing, leading to what is, generally speaking, a society where the tall lead and the short follow — an "altocracy," as Hall puts it. Only 3 of 43 American presidents — James Madison, Benjamin Harrison and Martin Van Buren — have been under 5 feet 7 inches, and it is well known that the taller of two presidential candidates usually wins the election.
The other appealing argument Hall makes is that there is evolutionary and moral value in being puny. Darwin himself intriguingly suggested that while there is a general evolutionary bias toward greater size, survival-of-the-fittest pressures on our ancestors, who were smaller than their primate competitors, may have led to the development of human intelligence. Or, as Hall speculates, "the relative smallness and weakness of smaller human ancestors might be responsible for nothing less than the birth of civilization." Speaking from his own experience, Hall surmises that being short as a boy forced him to develop not only greater mental quickness and wit but also greater empathy and understanding.
And made him also, perhaps, a more appealing mate than his alpha male competitors. (Hall is happily married — to a woman almost four inches taller — with two kids.) Herewith some advice for the ladies: When surveying the scrum that is the schoolyard (or the boardroom), resist the strapping breast-beater at the top of the pile and consider the runt at the bottom. He's less likely to become president, but he might turn out to be the better husband.


Located at 4.2 km from the Lake Pichola, Devendragarh Palace (As a Luxury Paying Guest House) offers breakfast and Wi-Fi internet access to its guests. The Udaipur City Railway Station is at 3.7 km from this Udaipur guest house.This 2-storey property has AC rooms equipped with tea/coffee makers, refrigerators, TVs, and attached bathrooms.This Udaipur accommodation provides travel assistance, laundry service, and room service to guests.Some of the tourist spots that guests can visit during their stay at Devendragarh Palace (As a Luxury Paying Guest House) are the Monsoon Palace (6 km), Fateh Sagar Lake (4 km), and Shilpgram (2 km).
The Udaipur City Bus Station is at 2.7 km from this property, whereas the Maharana Pratap Airport is at 22.5 km. Guests can avail of car- and bicycle-rental service at this accommodation.
These beautifully designed lake facing rooms are designed in traditional decor. Equipped with a separate sitting near the window, these centrally air-conditioned rooms have a comfortable bed, wireless connection (charge), iron/ironing board (request), premium bathrooms, a self grooming makeup mirror, refrigerator, a telephone, bottle opener, wakeup calls service, bottled drinking water and hot/cold running water.
Reason For Rating : Nice Place, lake facing, good rooms.
Reason For Rating : Service very good, location amazing, staff very helpful..
Reason For Rating : Very Good property at beautiful place. Good staff. Found dinner little expensive. Very comfortable stay. Thank you.
What's Good: Best place to stay in Udaipur.
Reason For Rating : Awesome experience to stay in Udaipur. Friendly staff, lovely food, all happiness under one roof. We will be visiting this place again in future & Devendra Garh Palace will be the place for stay again. Thanks to Ruchika Mam for the advice & support through out the stay.
What's Good: It was an awesome experience staying in Hotel Devandra Garh. The facilities and room amenities were excellent and very clean. Food was awesome and the staff very polite, soft spoken yet very quick. The hotel is beautifully managed by the owner of the property Mrs. Ruchika Hiran who gives it a very personal touch to your visit there. Highly recommended esp for families.
"Devendragarh Palace (As a Luxury Paying Guest House)"
As a frequent traveler , apart from the property I always give preference to the professionalism . Booked this property from my parents for 1 night stay after reading the fabulous reviews . However I was disappointed to learn that my parents were not allocated the room till 12:45 when the checked in time was clearly mentioned by 12. On calling I found out the the previous guest could not check out on time since the child along with them was unwell . I totally understand this but what the hotel couldn't see was that my mother was equally unwell and needed to check in at the earliest. I believe hotel should atleast have the courtesy to call their guest beforehand ( 1 hour or so) and update them which they failed to do so . Secondly in such a situation , my parents were simply asked to sit in the reception area till the room was getting ready. How about little courtesy to ensure that they are atleast comfortable while waiting ? Since I don't believe in only mentioning the negative points , the property was good with nice view of the lake and rooms even thought standard was neat and up to the mark . Just wished it could have been a better stay .
Really enjoyed my 4 days here recently. First room given was not so good but as soon as i mentioned it I was immediately moved to a very nice replacement. Owners and staff were very attentive, friendly and helpful, especially Kumesh. It is a very relaxing place to stay being away from the bustle of the town but only 10 minutes in a tuc-tuc. Lovely views the lake from the gardens. I am sure I will be back very soon.
Felt like a king, with the whole property of around 3 acres to yourself, facing the lake, with the most stunning sun rise, beautifully maintained gardens, having different fruit trees, and flowers, a choice of swings, tree house, a clean and inviting swimming pool and lots and lots of birds. This is what you get extra with the special services of Mrs Ruchira and her team. Excellent food served with love and at the setting of your choice. Big and clean rooms with all facilities. Added to it, was the vintage car collection of Advocate Hiran. I feel no other facility in Udaipur would have given all which has been given by Devendra Garh. My personal thanks to Mrs Ruchira for the special things organised to make our anniversary special.
Breathtaking lake view, service, food and personalized touch from the host. Definitely, my second home in Udaipur. This was my second visit with a group of 15 people. Everything was very well organized and taken care personally by Ruchika. She is a great host. Most competitive prices with an amazing view of Udaipur.
This was a wonderful experience for us , kind of a homestay and wit absolute comfort of that of home. Room was quite big and spacious with beautiful interiors. Ours was Blue room. Bathroom was again very big and spacious but the water pressure was slow. Food at breakfast was just awesome. Limited menu, but every single thing tasted heavenly. Since it was very cold, rooms were provided with heaters. Excellent hospitality. The owner herself had a very good interaction with all the guests. Overall it was a wonderful experience. We stayed for two nights. There are lot of steps to the rooms, so elderly people might find difficulty. Otherwise it's a beautiful property just next to Fatehsagar lake, its neatly maintained too. I feel bathroom should be rennovated.
Best view from Green and Blue room. I could sit there for hours.


1. Do you have a search form on your page? (you should) What are readers searching for? For example, I have a kids site where I have coloring pages, word searches, etc., and when I see in my stats that someone has entered something like "play money" in the search form, I make some printable play money and post it at the next opportunity.
2. What are your most popular posts? What posts have gotten the most comments? Write more like that.
3. Do a WordTracker trial or a search on Overture's keyword tool around your main keywords. What are people searching for the most? Write posts around the items you find that are within the scope of your site.
4. Install MyBlogLog on your site and use the member pages to find out what other blogs your readers frequent, along with other things about them such as what they've tagged on del.icio.us, for example.
5. Where does your target audience hang out? What forums do they participate in? What problems are being discussed there? What are the topic areas in the forum? These should give you ideas about what your readers are interested in and what problems they're trying to solve.
Now, I'm not trying to say if your blog is about underwater basketweaving, that if you find out a large number of your readers are interested in claymation that you should suddenly write lots of posts about claymation (you could start another blog about claymation and cross-promote them though). What I am saying is that if you find out that your readers are most interested in the different materials to weave their baskets with, spend more time writing about that than methods of drying out the baskets when they're complete!