I know you've heard and read those words – or others that are very like them.
What those words really mean, from a brain-based perspective, is that whatever it is to which we give repeated time and focus digs "brain-trenches," making it all the more difficult for us to travel outside them — for good or for ill.
Every single time we think the thoughts or say the words that drag us down emotionally, it is that much more likely that we will be drawn to thoughts that will drag us down another time. The reverse is also true – once we give the frequently deeper "negative" trenches some time to fill in.
Look at the graphic to the left. How likely is it that anyone is going to attempt to wander outside the "snow-trench" that has been dug for them? And how much just plain WORK would it be to do so?
Think of the pathways in your brain in a similar manner. If we want them to fill in so that it is possible for us to choose to go another way entirely, STEP ONE is to stop digging them deeper!
We need to train ourselves to pay more attention to what lights us up and stop giving attention to the brain-chatter that drags us down.
From a practical standpoint that means, "Don't think those negative thoughts." Duh!
HOW do we train ourselves to pay more attention to the good news?
HOW do we make sure we lay down our many every day, garden variety good memories to serve as wind beneath our wings as we move through life's inevitable challenges?
HOW do we unhook the cascade of badness that follows in rapid succession with every not-so-great thought that activates our fear centers?
More importantly, how do we stop getting hooked by old fears activated by old memories in the first place?
I'm not the only coach who has posted articles about reframing those negative thoughts and making gratitude lists — making lemonade from lemons, essentially.
They are all super exercises designed to change your come-from. Bringing the dynamic to consciousness is an excellent start. Awareness is always the first step on the pathway to growth and change.
However, even giving that little bit of time and focused attention to thoughts that are troubling is not really the best way to proceed directly toward building new pathways so that the old ones can "fill in" through disuse.
Neurons that fire together wire together – and vice versa.
I'm sure most of us know that we're not really "wired" up there in our heads, and I'm sure more than a few of us understand that the machine-analogy has fallen into disfavor as a description of the brain.
It's useful, however, to use "hard-wired" to point out items on the list of "standard features" — as opposed to the after-market installations. You know, those differences we often reference in nature/nurture debates.
It's also useful, when we think of thoughts (and neurons that make thought possible) as "wired together," to help us conceptualize how thought cascades from thought along similar "pathways" that become more deeply entrenched the more often we activate them.
Yeah sure, that little feature kept us alive long enough to pass along our genes by making sure we recalled where the sabre-tooth tigers liked to hang out – making sure a close call was never repeated simply because we didn't remember where it happened – or that is happened. Yay brain!
However, the more space we give to rehearsing the location of those sabre-tooth hangs, the less "focus-room" we are able to give to enjoying the every day wonders of our lives.
More to the point, every time we pull up the sabre-tooth memories, we are digging deeper the "sabre-tooth thoughts" trench. How deep does it really need to be to assure ourselves that we will remember to run at the first sign of a sabre-tooth?
The amygdala, remember, is that part of the brain that reacts to emotions of fear and anxiety, activating our fight-flight-freeze programming in response to any threatening stimulus – in fractions of a millisecond.
That, in turn, shuts down the PFC (pre-frontal cortex), the "switching station" for the higher order thinking/decision making parts of the brain that we need on board to be able to work through problems and make decisions that will allow us to step through to solutions.
Mr. Amygdala doesn't differentiate between a current threat and the strong memory of the threat — and he doesn't want us using resources of brain or body anywhere they won't be needed to keep us alive. He commandeers them whenever he suspects that they might be needed for tasks more urgent than thinking.
Danger is danger, and danger sounds the first alarm.
The PFC's slower response time is no match for the speed of Mr. Amygdala's finger on the "kill-logical-thinking" panic button. Your PFC may override your automatic response to actually head for the hills or arm yourself for battle, but it's not likely to come up with appropriate responses to the challenges of a particular 21st century distraction of the memory of a problem.
In other words, after Mr. Amygdala has sounded the alarm, attempts to access your more reasonable, logical self to exert your will over the reactive, more primitive parts of your brain aren't likely to be very successful.
Higher-order cognitive skills are modulated by the PFC – which is taken off-line, remember, by activation of the more primitive circuits of the brain in what used to be referred to as the limbic system (Mr. Amydala's turf).
that make accomplishment easier and a lot more fun.
Think a different thought. Seriously. Distract yourself by deliberately thinking about something that makes you really happy — every single time you engage with a negative thought.
You probably won't be able to even remember those items in your sabre-tooth moments, so begin by making a list of what always makes you feel happy – but only those things that never drag along those "yes but" thoughts. That's important. The nano-second you become aware that there is some negative awareness riding the draft, switch to another one immediately.
Keep your list handy and teach yourself to refer to it until you've built the habit of redirecting yourself to a more positive and resourceful place – once you have successfully jettisoned your current habit of rehearsing the thoughts that make you feel crummy.
Playing with my puppy TinkerToy (or even looking into his furry – almost always messy – little face). Taking him outside for a walk or a quick game of frisbee is even better!
Dancing – and it especially makes me giggle to dance all by myself in my office.
Taking time from the daily to-dos to make myself some blended iced-coffee – looking forward to its cooling, yummie taste.
Slathering moisturizer on my legs and arms – or giving myself a quick foot rub.
Singing a song I had the pleasure of singing onstage.
Revisiting the wealthiest feeling of my life when I was able to buy two little one dollar necklaces for two little girls in carefully mended dresses looking longingly – anonymously watching their little faces light up when the vendor walked over and just handed them to them.
Rereading a comment or three from folks who really GOT what I was trying to say in the article and took the time to tell me how it helped.
Some of you may actually DO that, by the way, and find it effective. We all have different sure-fire happy thoughts and activities.
The point is to stop digging negative brain-trenches so that you can access happier states of mind — BECAUSE happier states are more resourceful states, and more resourceful states lead directly to more effective Executive Functioning.
and train yourself to DO it.
If I can help with that retraining, be sure to get in touch.
I totally agree with playing with your pets. It's always amazing to me that the time that I sit down and love on my kitty, just relaxes me and makes me feel so much warmer inside.
I know they are work and take care, but I truly believe they give back so much….
Funny, I never think of the things I do for Tink as work — except maybe the perpetual grooming that my long-haired pup requires – lol – and then only when he wanders into sticker burrs at this time of year. Mostly its just another way to interact with him – which lights me up like a Christmas tree.
I'm with you, however. I get back SO much more than I give.
Thanks for the helpful post. This is so important for people to understand that our brain creates grooves and we need to make new grooves in order to get out of our negative thought patterns and behaviors.
Thank you for underscoring that point, Lisa. SO true – and I'm always surprised at how many folks have never been exposed to the info.
I tried for the majority ofl my life to get my mother to stop obsessing about her dysfunctional childhood, and to think positively and move on. She was never able to do this, and it seems many people cannot. It's an acquired knack which involves living in the present I think – very difficult to do.
It also works to think about something ELSE when we catch ourselves thinking negatively – even revisiting a happy memory in our distant past. The impact on mood is practically immediate.
I am so sorry that your mother wasn't able to do that – but glad to read that YOU were. It does take some time to develop the habit, but it is worth every minute it takes because it dramatically changes our quality of life.
Thanks for taking the time to read and leave this comment, Stevie.
The key is acceptance of what's happened in the past, but then move on and put it behind you.
Spot ON. Stevie! — i.e., it was what is was. Now what do I choose?
Well written and helpful post ( as usual 😉 ) Madelyn.
Something i learned from a self-improvement type course i did years ago has stuck with me ever since (even though i can often fail to apply it to my self – sighhh) is the ease with which our brains seem to overlook the word 'not' as in "i must not forget to.." and i promptly forget or "I will not do that again" and promptly end up doing just that – A-Gain!
I believe the reason for this is that the word tells our brain what we do not want and is item-specific, but it does not always connect to a specific of what we want to do in it's place. So our brain has a focus on what it is we do 'not' want, but no focus on what we do want – unless we consciously supply it at the time.
Excellent comment, Love – I especially love the "item specificity" portion toward the end – back to that "pattern matching" function of the brain.
Negatives affirm resistance – with no clue as to acceptance (or "allowing" as some of the spiritual gurus suggest). Negatives are also linked to past anxiety, which keeps us uneasy when what we are looking for is the ease of well-being.
Thank you so much for taking the time to offer *your* words of explanation. Tink sends his woofs!
The idea of the snow trench is so powerful. I have definitely been guilty of wandering through one, too scared to look up or over the sides of it. Love the article, keep it up.
Me too – where do you think I came up with the metaphor? 🙂 Focusing on a happier thought is how I've learned to stop the fear and go another way.
Thanks so much for the visit and the comment. Have a wonderful weekend.
I can't BELIEVE I did it again, DEBBY – my eyes saw what I meant to type, glancing right past what my fingers had put on the page. YOU wouldn't believe how many times I proofed it, either, missing it every single time. 😦 — underscoring why authors neeeeed editors!
Please accept my sincere apologies. I corrected the article the moment I saw your comment, even before I took the time to respond to it! (I would have done so EVEN if I had only one reader and no reblogs, btw.) My intentions were to help not hinder.
I also added a few words to make it clear that the words I quoted loosely were NOT, in fact, the publisher's blurb, but merely reminded me of one. My intention was to give folks a bit of an idea of what the book was about and how it led me to develop this post.
I neglected to copy review sources as I drafted my article and now I can't find what prompted that wording, or I would attribute, even though it was quoted loosely. Probably my impression of a composite – and I doubt seriously the source of the error.
You're a doll to request a change so nicely – I'm sure it must have been a head slapper for you.
🙂 Since I'm not a fan of others using nicknames for Madelyn, I am always a bit reluctant to truncate names. Thanks for your tacit permission – lol.
I did try out Lyn when I was an older teen – thinking it sounded sort-of cool and knowing that we'd be gone in a year anyway (as always) so if I didn't like it I could always switch back in my next school. It was a long year!
SURPRISE! The moving stopped and I was stuck with it until I left for college. Decades later, that entire community still calls me by a name that feels totally awkward to me and I never really liked for myself – and I went to a HUGE school!
My coaching mentor, Thomas Leonard, was actually offended by Tom or Tommy. He REALLY disliked it when people assumed a familiarity he didn't feel by using a name that his friends knew he disliked, so it actually had the opposite effect. I don't take offense but I don't like still don't like to be nicknamed. Since names spread so quickly online, I do request the change right away, but correcting folks is always awkward.
Fortunately, many folks use "mgh" – which began there were only 7 TeleClass Leaders in the entire coaching world (virtual classes so we all identified ourselves before speaking with name and city). Two of us were "Madelyn from New York." For some reason, my initials never felt like a nickname. Go figure!
Knowing just a bit about your history it is no wonder to me that your given name would make you skeeve (won't even type it – lol). Memories do indeed stick! For whatever reason, using first initials seems fun to me (like cousin D).
You don't even need to bother with the 'quotes' – only good feelings when you use M.
Your Welcome. I help when I can.
Thank you – I endeavor to do my best.
Good post. We all need to figure out what works for us because it's never the same thing that works. Thanks for this post.
A super post, Madelyn. Your list of eight happy thoughts is so interesting. I didn't know you were an actress – how interesting. Do you think it is the same for everyone or are some people more predisposed to be negative. I can't think that I dwell on negatives from my past at all and my life hasn't all been plain sailing.
Thanks, Robbie. Acting/directing was my first career – from the time I was 17 and into my 40s (even after I started coaching I was still acting occasionally). FUN times.
Science does seem to believe that we are genetically "programmed" to be negative or positive. There are a couple of links at the end of the post about that "predispositon" – as well as the reality that we CAN change tendencies toward the negative when we practice the positives.
A couple of spiritual mentors advise that if you want to raise a happy child to only respond/affirm your children's POSITIVE expressions and actions – vs. how we tend to do it when we "parent." GREAT idea, but tough to put into practice. Still, I believe it's worth keeping in mind, doing as often as possible.
Learning to vet our thoughts is important.. I never realised until I read Louise Hays Book You can heal your Life.. way back when it was first published, just how negative my own thoughts way back when, had become..
Learning to shift your focus, and out those thoughts I had to train myself to do.. I would so easily put myself down, and it takes discipline to recognise how those thoughts if you keep on thinking them, drag you and your health down..
Lots of great tips here to do Madelyn ..
At the end of the day it is only WE who can change our thoughts… Thoughts are powerful, living energy.. Energy which creates .. What we think creates, and what you said about what we what you resist persists So true..
I think for me, and many more we have to come through the bad, in order to get to the good.. once you reach the depths there is only one way to go.. And that is to climb back up.. learning no one could do that for me.. I had to haul myself up.. And sort myself out.. Seeing we can be our own worst enemies if we do not take stock of our constant inner chatter..
Love and Blessings,, and a great article which spoke deeply to me . As I take more of your advice. as I stop worrying about catch ups lol.. on WP.. hehe..
We have a lot in common, Sue. When I first moved to NYC I studied with Eric Pace, who was in the same class with Louise when they were both learning from someone who came before them. The older metaphysical works were fascinating to me.
I don't believe we *must* come through the bad to get to the good – even though most of us do. It's all a matter of perspective, and has always been fascinating to me how the words we choose anchor us to the good news OR the bad.
I'm with you on the catch-ups, hehehe. I keep affirming that I'll find the ones I need to read and comment upon when the time is right. Sometimes it even works – lol. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your wonderful comment.
You are MOST welcome, Sue – I so appreciated your comment.
OF COURSE I appreciate the reblog, Christy — thank you so very much — but I truly adore your intro. Stealing your words from a comment I just approved, it makes me hop around happy!
Hopping along with you, Madelyn! I love supporting your blog as I learn so much from it. You really helped me with that emotional bully situation recently too. I send you a big hug for your day!
GREAT to hear that, Christy. We are reminding each other of what we already know deep inside somewhere – and the reminder serves as a "permission slip" to DO what we know – lol. Thanks for letting me know that the bully situation is clearer in your mind. Big hugs back.
This type of article makes me hop around happy because it gives me more ways to turn negatives into positives – which I try to do! I've gotten much better at it with practice. Those negative thoughts are really "sticking" some days though.
I love-love-love your "moments" perspective, Christy – thanks for sharing it. You have clearly jettisoned the habit of black and white thinking that traps far too many folks.
I know what you mean about those sticky negatives, however. I keep practicing too, toward the time when I don't spend a dark moment, regardless of what happens. Some days I almost do it, too! Others . . . well, like I said, I keep practicing.
I'm sorry for your frustration – but happy to get BOTH of these – lol – especially this amazing endorsement!!!
Since I seem to attract an unusual amount of link spam (well over a million caught by Akismet alone, according to my sidebar widget), I must now personally approve every single comment that gets through. Since this theme doesn't give folks a "pending approval" message, they do seem to disappear if I am asleep or away from my computer for a bit.
What a DOLL you are to attempt a second time! I hope that doesn't indicate that many folks walk away muttering, surprised when they get my response the next day.
I know what you mean, though. Before I had to go to this system I blamed the WordPress Gremlins every time one of my comments got "lost" after I hit send. They already attract more than their share of user-anger for legitimate complaints, I'm sure. (Good thing I was too busy to follow through and complain – lol).
I keep praying that the good folks of WordPress will develop an "approval pending" widget for themes like mine that don't already notify on send automatically. But I'm sure it's not high on their list of features we all want added (or put BACK – lol).
Me too – 🙂 – but I think the notice is driven by the host theme.
Are you saying that sometimes my theme DOES notify "pending" but that it didn't on this post? If that is the case, I do need to ask the WordPress folks how to fix that.
I can't recall if I've seen that prompt on your other posts…I meant that I've come across it on blogs that I am new to…how about I go to another of your posts, try to comment and see what happens?
What a lovely comment. Thank you so much! I am blessed to have so many engaged and engaging readers.
It seems like those "sticks and stones" are magnetized, Madelyn — and devilish hard to shake off. Then when we finally do, some unseen force pulls them back to us.
Thanks, Teagan. It DOES take practice – and they never seem to go away forever. Beating them back by "over-writing" with happy thoughts really does help, however.
PS. FYI – you got autospammed for some reason that makes NO sense to me. Wanted you to know, in case a bunch of your comments go unanswered. I get soooooo much link-spam (millions, really! – spam counter on sidebar) that it is extremely rare I have the time to dig through the trash. Hopefully, now that I have "unspammed" this comment Akismet will learn that you are a legitimate member of my community for the future.
Here's to a good new week. Hugs.
You're welcome, Rae. Thanks for ringing in.
There is a wonderful book by Zelig Pliskin "Life Is Now: Creating Moments of Joy, Courage, Kindness, and Serenity." He organizes and hosts "Joy Clubs" (it might be translated as "Happiness Clubs") in Israel that are designed to serve exactly the purpose you describe, Madelyn. Retraining the brain happens sort of subconsciously and spontaneously in those clubs, as club members are free to just sit and listen until they feel comfortable to participate, I've always admired his methods and found his ideas extremely helpful in my work.
Another thought that came to my mind: as I teach Gardner's Intrapersonal Intelligence, I usually ask students to list 3 to 5 things they DO to make themselves feel better – not THINK, but DO, i.e. physical action that redirects the brain from "the trench" as you describe it. Your list also consists of physical actions that supply positive sensory feed. I completely agree with you that "thinking positive thoughts" is about as effective as the old joke: Why no alchemist has ever discover the mythical philosophical stone? Because, while conducting experiments, they shouldn't be thinking of a polar bear, but they focus on it so much that that's all they keep thinking about.
When I was about 17, I even wrote a sci-fi story based on this concept.
Another excellent post – read with pleasure!
Great comment, Dolly. Thanks for the Pliskin suggestion — added "Life Is Now: Creating Moments of Joy, Courage, Kindness, and Serenity" to my TBR list.
I love your exercise as well. I have found "paired sharing" exercises so valuable in live seminars to get people engaged in doing as well as listening – and your suggestion of doing as well as thinking is a great reminder that we may need to work from a number of modalities to find what makes us FEEL good.
Didn't you know that polar bears were the ones who sunk Atlantis? Then they realized there was no more home for them and migrated to the North Pole where they opened a Disney franchise and made the famous "Ice Age" cartoon.
I love doing workshops / interactive seminars where I make people DO and internalize information through sensory experiences rather than just droning into their ears.
Pliskin lives in Israel. He is a Rabbi Dr (psychology, I believe). He has a thriving practice, he lectures all over the world, and he is an incredibly prolific writer. How he manages all this is a mystery to me, but I make sure to buy each new book of his as soon as it is out, and I've found a wealth of ideas in all of them. Highly recommend.
Thanks for the recommendation. I'm sure the Cincinnati library system will carry Pliskin's books if he's that well known. If something is available in any library in the system, they will send it to the branch nearest the top person on request list. Sometimes it's there the next day — and sometimes it's already there.
I've donated a few hundred books to the facility that took excellent care of my father during the last month of his life, and it looks as if if didn't even make a dent on the shelves! Sometimes I think that when we turn lights off, books start having fun on their own, following the commandment "to be fruitful and multiply," and we come back to find a crop of baby books. Most of the time nowadays I read electronically, but on Saturday and holidays, it is not allowed, so I have printed books for that purpose. And, of course, there are those books I just find impossible to part with.
Your library could send you e-books as well, you know.
Not crazy about e-books. I don't read rapidly or nearly as well on-screen (where I already dedicate waaaaaay too much focus!) — give me a paper book any day!
I want to get out of my office and away from technology, put my feet up and sip something yummie as I read.
I get to do that on the boat – no electronic devices other than the phones.
No blender either? lol – I guess that limits the bartender slightly. Seriously, sounds like heaven!
No blender, only an old-fashioned shaker. Does its job, though, in good hands!
When I was a kid I was fascinated by my father's silver cocktail shaker set – tho' I'm not sure it was actually silver. I'll bet, in your husband's hands, that floating shaker is magic!
It isn't silver, on the boat, but it is magic – you're right!
Another well written post Madelyn. It is chocked full of useful knowledge and practical application points.
Your final point, "… is to stop digging negative brain-trenches so that you can access happier states of mind — BECAUSE happier states are more resourceful states, and more resourceful states lead directly to more effective Executive Functioning." is paramount.
We minute to minute make every effort possible NOT to dig that trench. The enemy so often loves and thrives on those negative things to keep us trapped. Loved your personal sharing of things you do to redirect your thoughts. Simple yet so effective.
Thank you for getting the underlying message – as always – and for repeating it. I will bold it so that anyone who didn't read to the end might see it. I'm glad to read you liked my examples – I'm never sure how helpful what *I* do really is, so this allows me to put that thought to bed. THANKS!
We love the humanity in which you ascribe to your post. These are real feelings, real moments, real people and when you personalize you show your humanity. It allows us to connect on both a cognitive and an affective level.
Thank you for this comment. It's important to me to be seen as a fellow human being with joys and struggles, just like everybody else.
I'm simply sharing what I've learned works and helps *most* people when they try it – learned from a great deal of experience, both as a coach and as a plain-ole' human.
It's like taking a walk down a sidewalk in need of repair. We may trip over some cracks – or ALL of the cracks – but we don't fall down once we learn to shift our weight.
Like most things, it takes practice!
Amen to this. We believe this is where the body works together to help and teach one another. This is why we like listening because we learn so much more. We hate it though when one of those cracks surprise us and we're sprawled out on the ground but the good part is when someone comes along and offers us a hand to get back up.
What a lovely way to think about it. That's the BEST part!
I will try it… thanks a lot for a lot of good tips … it can be sometimes so easy to change something… if we try and if we are brave enough to try.
It does take some practice – I catch myself going down negative rabbit holes still. I catch myself sooner, however, and there are times when I immediately look for the good.
Thanks again for stopping by. Tink sends his WOOFs.
Excellent and timely post, Madelyn. I see nothing wrong with being a Pollyanna, as long as the spreading of goodness is authentic. Also, to face realism with an open mind.
Ah yes – lip-service "goodness" is annoying to most of us – spreading the shoulds! There is no "should" about focusing on the thoughts that make us happy – we just feel better and are more effective when we can remember to do it. Over time, it becomes a habit of joy. Thanks SO much for ringing in.
btw- Sue Vincent's recent post on Optimism gives some great examples of facing realism with a mind open to reframing positively. I just added it to this post for anyone reading who hasn't seen hers.
I just got back from a TinkerToy walk – we collected 8 smiles and 5 hellos!!! Good indeed. I hope you collect lots of smiles this weekend too.
I am too, Michael. Much appreciated, actually.
Great post as always Madelyn and loved the way you told us to keep ourselves occupied when we have negative thoughts and make ourselves think positive and it is so true cause every now and then the ego wants to assert its naughty self and pull us down. Thanks for the encouragement and inspiring share.
I'm glad this resonated with you, Kamal – but not at all surprised. Your posts and comments are always positive and loving. I love your "naughty self" expression. It made me smile. Thanks for taking the time to read and ring in.
Lovely language, Sue. Thanks for ringing in here.
Kinda' like that Chinese curse about interesting times, however. I could do with a bit of boredom on a nice smooth stretch of highway – just for a little break.
But compared to YOUR week, I have had absolutely nothing bumpy to navigate. I'm off to bed to count everything I can be grateful for (the sheep ran away). 🙂 G'nite.
It's FRIDAY – I declare it over! Only great things all weekend – so mote it BE!
Thanks so much for seconding this advice. Very few concepts that really, really work are unique or new. There are simply new and different ways of expressing them, hoping to reach new audiences and get folks to tweak them and try them so the "vibration" of the entire planet changes for the better.
I try to "translate" some of the New Age memes into a language that people can understand from a more practical standpoint and might be more likely to embrace.


Event management of incentive travel events that motivate your employees and customers. Incentive travel is an event category that targets to motivate both key personnel and customers. Imagine sunning yourself on a beach in Jamaica or snow skiing in the Alps. Then imagine that your trip is completely free. Many companies use incentive travel as a marketing tool. These trips can range from a week in an exotic location to a weekend getaway in nearby resort.
Most of the time all of the expenses are paid by the company including food, hotel, airfare (or in some cases a rental car).
What better way to spur a lagging sales team than by offering an all-expenses paid trip to Hawaii? If sales dramatically increase, the trip could be paid for by the proceeds.
Many companies don't tell their employees that they plan to reward them for good work. What a wonderful surprise when after a great month or even year, the employee is told her or she has won a trip. This surprise could stir enthusiasm in other to perform better and hopefully win a trip of their own.
Customers come and go, but those that say are priceless. Many business owners choose to reward that loyalty with incentive travel. Sometimes this is a surprise after a customer has placed a large order. Sometimes the trip is planned in conjunction with an event, such as the World Series or the debut of a Broadway show.
Most businesses are competitive. If you don't want your customers taking their business elsewhere, incentive travel is a great way to let them know they are appreciated.
Research destinations. A tropical beach may seem like an obvious choice—unless you already live and work on the beach. Do you ever hear your employees or customers talking about where they would want to visit on a vacation? Do any of your employees or customers hobbies like golf or skiing? You may want to offer several destinations so that your employees or customers have a choice. Look for destinations that will highlight their interests and they will never forget.
Partner with a travel agency or other professional group to create a program. If you want to save on costs, consider trading service with the agency if that is possible. The program should include open-ended dates for travel, a choice of destinations and "extras." Those extras could include tickets to attractions or dinner at an exclusive restaurant in the area.
If possible, visit the destinations yourself and stay at the hotel. Hotel brochures can be deceiving and that great room with a view may be a room with a view of the back alley. Even if you didn't know, your employees will blame you for their bad vacation.
Employees and customers will know that you care enough to take time to plan the event from them. This takes more effort than throwing cash at them.
Vacations create memories. Perhaps some of the beneficiaries have not had a vacation for several years. Or your incentive may have allowed them to visit a destination they had only dreamed of seeing. These memories are worth more to many people than money.
Finally, travel incentives are great public relations and morale boosters. Employees and customers will tell others about the trip you provided. You will be seen as someone who cares enough to take the time to plan a wonderful trip!


text:
A Shau Valor: American Combat Operations in the Valley of Death, 1963-1971
by Thomas R. Yarborough Thomas R. Yarborough
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From the author of Da Nang Diary: A military history of the Battle of Hamburger Hill and other fights between the NVA and the US and its Vietnamese allies.
Throughout the Vietnam War, one focal point persisted where the Viet Cong guerrillas and Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN) were not a major factor, but where the trained professionals of the North Vietnamese and US armies repeatedly fought head-to-head. A Shau Valor is a thorough study of nine years of American combat operations encompassing the crucial frontier valley and a fifteen-mile radius around it―the most deadly killing ground of the entire war.
Beginning in 1963, Special Forces A-teams established camps along the valley floor, followed by a number of top-secret Project Delta reconnaissance missions through 1967. Then, US Army and Marine Corps maneuver battalions engaged in a series of sometimes-controversial thrusts into the A Shau, designed to disrupt NVA infiltrations and to kill enemy soldiers, part of what came to be known as Westmoreland's "war of attrition."
The various campaigns included Operation Pirous (1967); Operations Delaware and Somerset Plain (1968); and Operations Dewey Canyon, Massachusetts Striker, and Apache Snow (1969)―which included the infamous battle for Hamburger Hill―culminating with Operation Texas Star and the vicious fight for and humiliating evacuation of Fire Support Base Ripcord in the summer of 1970, the last major US battle of the war.
By 1971, the fighting had once again shifted to the realm of small Special Forces reconnaissance teams assigned to the ultra-secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG). Other works have focused on individual battles or units, but A Shau Valor is the first to study the campaign―for all its courage and sacrifice―chronologically and within the context of other historical, political, and cultural events.
Casemate Publishers
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Thomas R. Yarborough, USAF (ret.), served in the Air Force for thirty years in a variety of flying and staff assignments. A command pilot, during his two Vietnam tours as a forward air controller, he earned thirty combat decorations, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He currently lives in Springfield, Virginia, where he maintains ties to the academic community as an adjunct history professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
Tom R. Yarborough, USAF (ret.), served in the air force for thirty years in a variety of flying and staff assignments. A command pilot, during his two Vietnam tours as a forward air controller, he earned thirty combat decorations, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. He currently lives in Springfield, Virginia, where he maintains ties to the academic community as an adjunct history professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
A Shau Valor
American Combat Operations in the Valley of Death, 1963â"1971
By Thomas R. Yarborough
Copyright © 2016 Thomas R. Yarborough
INTO THE VALLEY OF DEATH
Act in the valley so that you need not fear those who stand on the hill.
— Danish Proverb
Beginning in 1963, ARVN units and American military advisors essentially ignored Machiavelli's celebrated admonition to always control the high ground. Instead, they focused more or less exclusively on several small settlements along a remote valley floor. A nearly deserted Katu village, namesake for the entire area, was positioned at the southeastern end of a valley measuring roughly 40 kilometers in length and only several kilometers across at its widest point. On each side of the valley, steep, jungle-covered mountains rose thousands of feet and offered a spectacular view of the basin below. From the heights VC and NVA lookouts kept a watchful surveillance over all activities. A small river, the Rao Lao, ran past the village, and a single lane dirt road paralleled the stream, providing the only travel route through the tall elephant grass. The Katu inhabitants called the place A Sap. To the Vietnamese and Americans, it was known as A Shau.
All participants in the war — NVA, Viet Cong, ARVN, and American military advisors — recognized that the valley was indeed strategically positioned. The Laotian border, running along the peaks of the A Shau's west wall, was only several kilometers away, the narrow ravine representing the only passage through the largely impassable mountain region. The valley also served as the junction of three routes: Route 548 running the length of the A Shau; Route 547 running east toward Hue; and Route 922, snaking its way west from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the north end of the valley. Whoever controlled the valley, so the thinking went, controlled the region and the entry from Laos into Thua Thien Province and Hue; whoever owned the A Shau Valley could set the terms of battle. A major clash was inevitable.
Due to 1,000 years of Chinese rule, Vietnamese traditions had been strongly influenced by Chinese culture in terms of politics, government, and Confucian social and moral beliefs. As an example of that cultural sway, according to the Chinese calendar — revered in both North and South Vietnam — the year 1963 did not herald a particularly propitious time: it was the Year of the Rabbit, celebrated by some Vietnamese as the Year of the Cat. In Chinese lore the Rabbit did poorly in conflict, as it was often overly sensitive in times of confrontation. Likewise, those born under the Rabbit sign had a tendency to dwell on negative events in the past, at times to an obsessive extent. Given over to cultural bias, an assortment of fortune-tellers, Buddhist priests, and shamans employed the Chinese zodiac calendar to interpret events and personalities in 1963. In Saigon they made much of the fact that South Vietnam's president, Ngo Dinh Diem, was born in the Year of the Rat, and that President John F. Kennedy had been born in the Year of the Snake. More auspiciously, soothsayers in Hanoi crowed that Ho Chi Minh was born under the sign of the Dragon.
While the year 1963 witnessed the first American ventures into the A Shau, initially by U.S. Army advisors to ARVN units, followed by Special Forces A-teams from Okinawa, the timing of those movements proved to be particularly inauspicious for several reasons. Besides being the Year of the Rabbit, political squabbles in both Washington and Saigon cast a cloud over policy direction and commitment to the war. For one thing, the assessments of the commander of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), General Paul D. Harkins, proved to be overly optimistic to the point of fault, which became the basis for his ongoing problems with reporters who found his assessments sharply different from the accounts provided by American advisors in the field. As a result, MACV unofficially assigned all media the roll of opposition, a label that stuck throughout the war. In spite of that bone of contention, General Harkins and his faction staunchly maintained that ARVN pushback against the Viet Cong was going so well that MACV could plan for phasing out U.S. forces beginning with the withdrawal of 1,000 advisers by year's end. Other official reporting channels saw it differently. They, along with the press, did not concur that the war was progressing well and did not see the South Vietnamese showing evidence of being reliable. For example, CIA Director John McCone felt certain the U.S. had received very inaccurate information from the South Vietnamese who tended to report what they believed Americans wanted to hear. He wrote, "The Province and district chiefs felt obliged to 'create statistics' which would meet the approbation of the Central Government."
At about the same time, American attention was brutally yanked away from various military concerns to a political and religious crisis that bubbled to the surface across South Vietnam. Buddhist monks upset at the Diem regime's crackdown on religious freedom staged protests in Hue that led to deadly retaliation by the local military commander. When thousands marched in protest against a government order banning parades and the display of Buddhist flags, army troops fired into the unruly crowds; nine protesters were killed and scores wounded. A month later Buddhist monks in Saigon shocked the world when one of their number, Thich Quang Duc, doused himself in gasoline while sitting in the lotus position on a main thoroughfare and struck a match. The reek of funeral pyre smoke and burning flesh hung over the location like a dark shroud. Then, over the summer of 1963, six more monks and one Buddhist nun also immolated themselves in protest. The events shocked and appalled leaders in Washington and made Diem's regime, top heavy with Catholics and French-trained bureaucrats, more suspect than ever. After seeing reporter Malcolm Browne's photograph of the first monk's fiery death, President John F. Kennedy remarked, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one."
In spite of the political and religious turmoil that diverted attention away from the insurgency, the American military nevertheless initiated limited moves into the A Shau Valley. One of the first U.S. advisors with "boots on the ground" was a young Army captain assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 1st ARVN Division posted along the Laotian border near the village of Ta Bat, situated in the middle portion of the A Shau. Arriving on January 17, 1963, the young officer, a native of the Bronx and an ROTC graduate from the City College of New York, settled into the sensitive job of advising his "counterpart," Captain Vo Cong Hieu, without intruding on the prerogatives of the Vietnamese commander. When the American advisor inquired about their mission, he was told it was to protect the newly constructed airfield — little more than a primitive dirt runway carved out of the valley floor. In response to the question, "what's the airfield for?" Hieu replied that the airfield was there to resupply the outpost. On that January day in 1963, the experience proved to be the advisor's first — but not his last — exposure to Vietnamese circular thinking.
The American advisor's life settled into an endless series of patrols and movements down the valley. On a regular basis, small, unseen pockets of VC initiated ambushes against the ARVN column or harassed it with sniper fire and booby traps. Aggravation and casualties mounted. Aside from those adrenalin-pumping episodes, the daily grind also ate away at morale. Living conditions in the jungle were miserable; an odious smell hovered around each soldier, an overpowering stench of mud, sweat, body odor, and decaying vegetation. The patrols also trudged through blinding clouds of gnats, flies, or mosquitoes, and every encounter with a puddle or stream meant leeches. The advisor reported, "Worse were the leeches. I never understood how they managed to get through our clothing ... biting the flesh and bloating themselves on our blood. We stopped as often as ten times a day to get rid of them."
The 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Regiment was ambushed almost daily, usually in the morning soon after the point squad moved out. The American advisor's own words capture best the strain and frustration of those early engagements in the A Shau:
I found it maddening to be ambushed, to lose men day after day to this phantom enemy who hit and ran and hit again, with seeming impunity, never taking a stand, never giving us anything to shoot at. I often wondered if we were achieving anything. How did we fight foes who blended in with local peasants who were sympathetic or too frightened to betray them? How did we measure progress? There was no front, no ground gained or lost, just endless, bloody slogging along a trail leading nowhere.
The American advisor who wrote those prophetic words was Colin L. Powell, future Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State.
In late March Captain Powell moved with his battalion to the southeast corner of the A Shau to establish a new camp at Be Luong. The ARVN troops normally used axes or dynamite to clear trees for landing zones (LZ), a time-consuming and exhausting effort in the debilitating heat and humidity of the jungle. The resourceful Powell, however, found a better way. He had several power tools airlifted in, which dazzled the Vietnamese who had never seen a chain saw before.
After six months of "humping through the A Shau boonies," Captain Powell and his battalion received orders to leave Be Luong and move to a Special Forces camp at Nam Dong, 15 miles to the east. On July 23 the point squad, with Powell near the front, was slogging along a creek bed when the big American soldier stepped in a concealed Viet Cong punji trap. The dung-tipped spike pierced the sole of his boot and penetrated clear through his foot to the top of the instep. In a matter of minutes his foot was hugely swollen and turned purple as the poison from the buffalo dung spread. Powell managed to limp into Nam Dong where the Special Forces medic took one look at the wound and called for an evacuation helicopter — Colin Powell's tour in the Valley of Death was over. Ironically, Powell probably spent more actual time on the ground in the A Shau than any other American soldier.
In the spring of 1963, with most of MACV's focus on widespread Viet Cong attacks in IV Corps, known to all as "the Delta," U.S. Army Special Forces detachments began building several new camps in the A Shau Valley. The effort became part of a border surveillance program administered by the Central Intelligence Agency and operated by Special Forces detachments from the 1st Special Forces Group Airborne (SFGA) in Okinawa. The program's primary objectives were to "recruit and train border surveillance personnel, establish intelligence nets, gain the border zone population's loyalty to the South Vietnamese government, and conduct guerrilla warfare — long range patrol activities in the border zone to deny the areas to the Viet Cong."
To set the program in motion, in March, Special Forces Detachment A-433 constructed the first camp at Ta Bat. In addition to border surveillance, the new camp became part of the country-wide Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) program. Focusing on local defense and civic action, the Special Forces teams conducted the training for CIDG activities whereby villagers were instructed and armed for self-defense, while localized strike force companies served as a quick reaction unit to respond to larger Viet Cong attacks. The vast majority of the CIDG camps were initially manned by inhabitants of ethnic minorities, especially Montagnards, who disliked both the North and South Vietnamese. Once in place, the 12 Green Berets of A-433 conducted a number of patrols to determine CIDG training potential in the Ta Bat area. Between operations, the newly trained strike force began receiving advanced training with automatic weapons, mortars and immediate action drills, and during the month of August another strike force company was requested for operations to the west where air reconnaissance had spotted many villages. According to the 1st SFGA monthly operational summaries, throughout this early start-up period there were no reported engagements with the VC.
On November 3, 1963, another detachment, A-434, took over at Ta Bat and established a new forward operating base (FOB) at A Shau. Enemy response was immediate. VC initiated actions included 6 attacks, 1 probe, and 17 ambushes, and unfortunately, with only partially trained troops pitted against tough and experienced Viet Cong fighters, the "good guys" came out on the short end with 1 SF team member wounded, 3 CIDG killed in action (KIA), and 10 others wounded in action (WIA). From that point on the tempo and frequency of engagements increased, resulting in a predictable rash of desertions among the CIDG personnel. The sporadic firefights in the A Shau also portended the deadly combat that was to occur there during the next nine years.
While the skirmishes at the remote A Shau FOB did not warrant more than a single line in the daily MACV situation reports, the escalating political turmoil in Saigon made the entire world gasp and hold its collective breath. The drama played out before the critical eyes of the international press corps and worried officials at the American Embassy. On November 1, 1963, the top South Vietnamese generals, with the apparent implicit approval of the CIA, staged a coup d'état against President Ngo Dinh Diem. The CIA station in Saigon reported that Diem and his brother Ngu were shoved into an armored personnel carrier with their hands tied behind their backs. When the personnel carrier arrived at the Joint General Staff headquarters, Diem and Ngu were dead. Both had been shot and Ngu had been stabbed several times. Inconceivably, the South Vietnamese reported that the brothers had committed suicide. Back in Washington President Kennedy was deeply shaken by Diem's death, but his national security advisor, McGeorge Bundy, commented dryly that "it seemed uncommon for individuals to shoot and knife themselves with their hands tied behind their backs." Three weeks later the unthinkable happened. John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas.
JFK's principal foreign affairs advisors on Vietnam urged Lyndon Banes Johnson to reaffirm the continuity of policy and direction as the new president. Therefore, LBJ's first important decision on Vietnam as president, only five days after taking the oath of office aboard Air Force One, was to approve National Security Action Memorandum 273 which stated:
It remains the central objective of the United States in South Vietnam to assist the people and government of that country to win their contest against the externally directed and supported communist conspiracy. The test of all U.S. decisions and actions in this area should be the effectiveness of their contribution to this purpose.
Following the assassination of Diem, the government of South Vietnam spiraled into a series of coups and power struggles among various military and religious factions. It came as no surprise to anyone that the NLF jumped at the opportunity to exploit the unstable political environment to achieve both political and military gains. The depth of the problem was not completely apparent in late 1963, but in Washington, Saigon, and the A Shau, everyone was relieved to see the end of the Year of the Rabbit.
With the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, several exasperating holdover elements from the Diem regime complicated life for American advisors around the A Shau, especially for the Special Forces A-teams. Diem had established a kind of "palace guard" named the Luc Luong Dac Biet, or LLDB, a term which translates into Airborne Special Forces. Instead of being the elite unit its name implied, the LLDB initially consisted of members who had obtained their positions through family influence or the payment of bribes. In a highly questionable move, LLDB units took command of many of the border surveillance camps, including those in the A Shau, creating very strained relations for the American advisors. First and foremost, the early LLDB commanders were inexperienced, irresponsible, and reluctant to perform their jobs, although once free from President Diem's influence, many became excellent warriors. Additionally, the upper echelons of Vietnamese society frowned on service with savage Montagnards in remote areas, and the I Corps outposts, in close proximity to North Vietnam and the dreaded A Shau Valley, were the most feared assignments. Consequently, Special Forces advisors were initially hard pressed to get LLDB units to even associate with CIDG strike forces. Furthermore, VC activity usually occurred at night; the LLDB generally refused to patrol at all during darkness. At any rate, aggressive patrolling often did not work because the A Shau was full of pro-Viet Cong sympathizers who tipped off NVA or VC units about LLDB patrols or ambushes.
Another problem plaguing the border surveillance camps involved an insufficient local recruiting base for their CIDG units. Camps manned by Montagnards imported from other regions of the country suffered from low morale and desertions, and partially for that reason the camp at Ta Bat shut down in March 1964, with all CIDG and LLDB forces consolidated at Camp A Shau. Inadvertently, however, one of Diem's schemes became an asset. In an effort to rid Saigon of some of its less desirable elements, Diem had emptied the city jails containing thugs, violent criminals, juvenile delinquents, and army deserters, turning them all over to the Special Forces for service at border camps. Oddly enough, the A-teams won the grudging respect of the transplanted hoodlums and turned many of them into valuable fighters.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from A Shau Valor by Thomas R. Yarborough. Copyright © 2016 Thomas R. Yarborough. Excerpted by permission of Casemate Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
1. Into the Valley of Death
2. The Rise and Fall of Camp A Shau
3. Project Delta Invades the A Shau
4. SOG: West of the A Shau
5. Annus Horribilis: 1968
6. Operation Dewey Canyon
7. Eleven Times Up Hamburger Hill
8. Ripcord: Valor in Defeat
9. A Shau Fini: The Ninth Year
10. A Bard for the Grunts
Vietnam War - General & Miscellaneous

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Britain: Labour has shifted taxes from rich to poor
Simon Whelan
Research by the "free market" think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), has revealed how the burden of taxation has fallen heaviest on the working class and the poor under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The CPS research shows that the poorest households in Britain are now paying a higher share of taxes and simultaneously receiving a lower share of state benefits than before Labour took power in 1997. It finds that if the poorest fifth of British households paid the same share of total taxes and received the same share of total state benefits as they did in 1996-7, they would be at least £500 better off.
For a significant section of the population, making ends meet is an unending struggle. Charles Elphicke is a tax partner in a leading international law firm and author of the CPS study, entitled "Robin Hood or Sheriff of Nottingham?: Winners and Losers from Tax and Benefit Reform Over the Last Ten Years." He states, "Almost five million households have an average pre-tax and benefit income of just £4,280."
The extra taxation levied on the poorest fifth of British households since Blair came to power amounts to £56 per household. The total amount of benefit lost amounts to a further £475 for that section of society least able to afford it.
In the immediate post-war period the central tenet of Labour's reformist programme was a progressively redistributive taxation system. This has been replaced by one that is regressive and targets the poor for taxation, both direct and indirect, in order to shift wealth towards the super-rich. That Chancellor Gordon Brown has been the key architect of this punitive system explodes the efforts to promote him as Blair's successor based on the claim that he is more traditionally "social democratic."
Elphicke reveals how the poorest five million British households pay at least £1,000 in income and council tax on their meagre incomes. The poorest fifth of British households accounted for 6.9 percent of all taxes paid in the financial year 2004/2005—the last tax year for which detailed figures are available. When Labour came to power in 1997 the tax burden upon the poorest fifth of families was 6.8 percent. During the same period the share of state benefits payouts to the poorest Britons dropped from 28.1 percent to today's figure of 27.1 percent.
The second poorest fifth of British society have fared little better. The average income of this section of working class households is just £11,000—less than half the so-called average wage. This section of the working class, comprising semi-skilled workers and service sector employees, pay 10.1 percent of the nation's taxes, whilst their share of benefits has fallen from 26.2 percent to 25.2 percent—a loss of £427 per household. This is a staggering situation, with 40 percent of the population earning less than £11,000 and half earning less than £22,000.
The CPS is a pro-Tory body established by Margaret Thatcher and Sir Keith Joseph in 1974 to assist in the Conservative Party's policy of rolling back the welfare state. It is seeking to make hay at Labour's expense, but is no means advocating a return to wealth redistribution.
On the contrary, the most privileged social layers are demanding that their own tax burden be further reduced. The highly paid journalists on the Times and Telegraph newspapers, for example, are promoting the fiction that the upper-middle-classes are paying above the rate of inflation on things like private school fees, council tax and energy costs. The super rich are also being unfairly penalised, they claim, because they spend more on luxury items like sports cars, mansions and other items whose prices are rising fastest.
Their arguments are based on the claim that the government has shifted from a retail price index (RPI) to a consumer price index (CPI) to measure inflation and set its tax and benefit levels. This excludes house prices, school fees, utility bills and such vital necessities as household servants, they complain.
Indicative of the type of bile directed against the working class is an article by Telegraph journalist and media adviser to the Conservative Party, George Trefgarne. He wrote, "So, if you are young and, say, wear tracksuits, live on benefits in a council house, scoff processed food and play computer games, inflation has indeed been non-existent in the past few years. But for middle-class people, who, yes, drink freshly squeezed OJ, and who buy their home and who pay school fees and, of course, taxes—or for older people who require expensive residential care—prices have been shooting up. Perhaps the CPI should stand for the Chav Price Index."
In reality, the CPI does include house prices, utilities, school fees and servant costs and will also include university fees come the autumn. And whereas the government has switched to the CPI for calculations on inflation, it in fact still utilises the RPI when calculating taxes, benefits and pensions. The RPI includes luxury goods like champagne and private education fees, but these have actually risen at a slower rate than essentials like fuel and housing costs.
According to research carried out by John Hawksworth, chief economist at PricewaterhouseCoopers, it is the poorest section of the working class who have suffered most from the 29 percent increase in energy prices over the last year. This has disproportionately impacted on the poorest third of British households, which spend a greater proportion of their income on energy than the better-off.
Hawksworth has estimated the inflation rate suffered by ten income groups into which he divides the British population based on how they spend their money. Higher energy bills are the reason why since 2005 inflation has become more pronounced for the lowest four of his income groups. The poorest two deciles of British society actually pay higher rates of taxation than the richest 30 percent, mainly due to the proportion of the budgets of poorer families taken up by energy bills and, to a lesser extent, food costs.
BritainEurope


It's all about convenience at Greco Estates! Quick highway access puts you in downtown Portland in less than 20 minutes, and Washington Square Mall is only a few blocks away. Several fun dining options are just around the corner.
There are plenty of opportunities for recreation in Greco Estates. The community is just minutes from the Redtail Golf Course and is surrounded by neighborhood parks. Dirksen Nature Park and Greenway Park are also nearby, along with fishing opportunities in multiple creeks.
Those working in the Oregon Business Parks will enjoy a quick commute, as Greco Estates is just 4 miles away.
Students living in Greco Estates attend schools in the Tigard-Tualatin School District. Greco Estates is located within ten minutes of the closest area schools at all grade levels.
If you'd like to learn more about life in Greco Estates, download our brochure at the top of the page or fill out one of our contact forms to request more information.


Fresh out of college or about to graduate? Stand out from other applicants with these tips for your nursing student resume.
You've worked your tail off in nursing school, and now it's finally time to make money. But first: the job search!
It all starts with an effective and thorough nurse resume and cover letter — one that's easy to scan and quick to call out your top successes. A 2012 study from TheLadders.com found that recruiters spend an average of six seconds looking at each resume. Six seconds. That means you need to make your application stand out and showcase all the experiences and skills you've acquired as a nursing student.
To help with the process, we went straight to Roy Munk, president and founder of Global Healthcare Services. His company is a national recruiting firm that specializes in placing nurses and other medical professionals in hospitals, so he knows a thing or two about what hiring managers are looking for. Here are some of his insider tips, tricks, and templates to help you land your dream nursing job.
How Do You Format a Nursing Student Resume?
Your resume must be neat and organized, it must showcase your professional and educational accomplishments, and it should show off a little personality to help set you aside from the competition.
If you have room at the bottom or in a sidebar, consider adding a quote or two from performance reviews or from professors.
Now, what exactly do you put in these sections? You likely have plenty of credentials and experience to list on your resume. It can seem overwhelming to list it all out. Start by mapping your time as a student, highlighting the experience most relevant to the job for which you're applying. Let's break down the categories above.
The Contact Information section should be in a visible spot at the top of your resume so a prospective employer can easily contact you for an interview. Remember: If your resume is longer than one page, your contact info should be at the top of every page.
Tip: Make sure your voicemail message is professional, upbeat and clear.
Tip: Create a new professional one if the one you usually use is a work email or sounds silly like, doctorsloveme@hotmail.com.
Tip: If you don't have one, make one that includes endorsements from past colleagues and links to anything nursing-related you've published.
Professional website, if you have one.
Think of the Professional Summary section as your highlight reel. Go ahead and boast about yourself! This is where you want to include two to four short, descriptive sentences about your education and qualifications. Use adjectives (e.g, diligent, hard-working), facts (e.g., test scores, GPA), and anything that will sell you as the best candidate for the job.
Bold some words that you really want to stand out so anyone scanning the document will catch it.
Tweak this section each time you apply for a new job. Each position requires a different set of skills and certifications, so be sure the language in the summary matches the job for which you're applying.
Feel free to bullet this section if you want to list the accomplishments instead.
The format for the Education & Certifications section should be short and simple. Your education should include the name of the school you're graduating from and the institution's city and state, followed by the degree major (and minor, if applicable), as well as your dates of attendance.
This section should always come before your clinical and professional experience.
If you have stellar GPA, this is the place to show it off.
List any relevant certifications and licenses you have below your education.
Clinical experience is different from your professional experience, as it is specifically referring to what you were graded on in school. Throughout clinicals, you may have been exposed to a variety of units, such as working as an OBGYN or in the emergency room.
List your type of experience, name of the medical facility, and the number of hours completed at the end of each description.
Order these in terms of your strengths and interests, as the top clinical experiences will attract the eye the most.
You can also list your clinical rotations in chronological order if there is no one particular area you want to highlight.
This section should include all your relevant, professional nursing experience, starting with the most recent. You're graduating from nursing school, so this is where you should include all your nursing internships, part-time nursing jobs, research projects, and other applicable experience (including unpaid opportunities). Do not include jobs that are unrelated to the nursing profession, such as working at the school bookstore or as a server at a restaurant.
Each experience should include the job title, place of employment, job location, and employment dates.
Underneath each job heading should be a short, bulleted list that includes your job responsibilities, skills, and experience.
Write in the present tense if you are currently working and in the past tense for previous places of employment.
For new grads, it's OK (and expected) that you don't have much or any work history. But if you've worked as a CNA, STA, aide, or other job in the healthcare field, list that here.
If you're starting nursing as a second career (say, you were a banker before) add your previous career to your resume to show that this is your introduction into nursing and highlight those transferable skills (e.g., organization, detail-oriented, quick-thinking).
This section is optional, as you may not have any relevant volunteer or community service experience to include. If you are tight on space, keep your volunteer and community experience short.
Only include volunteer/community experiences that supplement your nursing resume.
Format this section similar to the clinical experiences.
Place it at the bottom of your resume, as it's the "cherry on top" of your experience and not what's required to get you the job.
This section goes at the bottom of your resume. Your awards, grades, activities, and recognitions can separate you from other new grads. Focus first on what you did during college and nursing school, and be sure to include organization memberships.
The name of the award/honor, the name of the organization it was awarded by, and when.
The dates of your membership should come after the organization and any relevant membership titles.
Did you thoroughly proofread your resume?
Run your resume through spell check on your computer and correct any errors. Once you've done that, print your resume out and go through it with a pen.
Ask a friend or family member who has a knack for reading, writing, and grammar to give your nursing resume one final thorough review.
Is your Contact Information current, eye-catching, and listed at the top of each page of your resume?
Did you choose your words wisely?
As you edit your resume, look for words and phrases that you can condense. The more concise, the better.
Use strong, descriptive adjectives in your Professional Summary.
Are you using action words to highlight accomplishments from your job and service experience (e.g., "Administered vaccines" or "Performed risk assessments")?
Human resource workers are scanning for certain job keywords. Tailor your resume to the specific job for which you're applying by borrowing from the language written in the job description (or from the business/hospital's website, for example, looking up their code of ethics and tailoring your resume to those values.) This is especially important in your Professional Summary.
Have you paid close attention to the length of your resume?
Try to keep your resume to one page in length. Remember, hiring managers and recruiters have to sift through hundreds of resumes for each job opening.
If your resume takes up two pages, include only the most relevant information that will help you land a job interview. A resume should never be longer than two pages.
Did you use a simple design?
Use a sans serif font, such as Calibri or Arial. These fonts are easy to read, especially on mobile devices. The font size should be 10- or 12-point.
Be sure your resume is scannable with well-organized bullet points.
You should have at least a 50⁄50 mix of white space and text. Too much text makes the document less scannable for important keywords.
Avoid centering the text on your resume. This can make it hard to read. Keep the text left-justified.
Resumes typically are run through an applicant tracking system first. Keep your resume free of graphics and photos. Avoid placing text in the header. This text may not get read properly by the system.
Is the entire resume formatted in a professional manner that makes it stand out (and would your designer friends approve)?
Follow the submission requirements. Employers may require your resume to be formatted in Microsoft Word (.docx file) or submitted as a PDF.
Here's an example of an ideal nursing student resume.
Rachel Murphy is a contributing writer for Cinch. She has a journalism degree from the University of Central Florida and previously worked as an editorial producer for ABC News. Her bylines include INSIDER, Mashable, Elite Daily, Care.com and other publications. She lives in Orlando with her husband, two children, and two English bulldogs.


In a highly competitive market, global car manufacturers are continuously finding ways to stand out. According to Oliver Wyman, a new lighting technology is quickly developing into one of the latest differentiating factors for car manufacturers that are active in the luxury segment.
For consumers, new lighting technologies provide two main advantages. Safety is one of them; statistics show that 24% of German car crashes occur in the dark, with the result that some drivers are willing to pay extra for better lighting. New lighting systems - known as Matrix LED - provide cars with contextual intelligence, making lighting tailored to specific situations. This allows such systems, on the basis of 50 controlled LEDS (light emitting diodes), to produce nearly 1 billion light variations, enabling adjustments of light levels. The lights also interact with the vehicles navigation software, enabling it to pre-determine the route of the car and thus also adjust lights according to its surroundings. Two examples: high beams will be dipped when turning a corner, and activated on un-lit and rural roads. Or if a person stands in front of a car the lights are shielded away from her whilst still keeping the road lit. Or if a person stands in front of the car, the lights will face away from the person, but will still illuminate the road.
According to Joas, Audi is a clear precursor in this area. The luxury German car brand has openly admitted that light belongs to one of the innovation pillars; it hopes to quickly establish a lead on its competitors in the highly competitive car market. If they really want to stand out, then, Audi will have to take a big lead quickly, according to Joas – rival car manufacturers BMW and Mercedes will offer similar options in the coming months, according to the Oliver Wyman partner.
The second main advantage of innovative lighting for consumers lie in the 'personalisation' it can offer. When lighting is coupled to car systems, drivers can tailor their lighting demands as they wish, offering a new customer experience. For example, taxi drivers can use lights to create the right atmosphere in the car and drivers can decide which lights, and to what extent, will switch on or off when boarding. Lighting can also be used in combination with music and or navigation systems; using a different levels of dimming for classical music as opposed to a rock song. "Lighting can be a truly distinctive feature that addresses the need of individuals, so it makes sense that car manufacturers are eagerly exploring the opportunities", concludes Joas.


Christmas is a time of reflection on the meaning of Christmas with faith, redemption, goodwill, and peace. This collection features Christmas Drama Shows with of the best performances in old time radio to lift your spirit.
The jewel of the Christmas Drama Collection is Lux Radio Theater presentation of some of the most beloved Christmas Movies of all time including Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, Meet Me in Saint Louis, The Bishop's Wife and more. All most of the original casts that make these Christmas Classics so special including Donna Reed and Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life, Cary Grant in The Bishop's Wife, and many more.
There are multiple and unique versions of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol including Basil Rathbone's famous performance as the stingy and terrible Ebenezer Scrooge. Bah humbug!
Hollywood Star Playhouse's Christmas specials include Gift of the Magi, The Story of Silent Night, and Home for Christmas.
In Vic and Sade, Grandpa Snyder decides to sell Christmas cards for extra money. His poor hearing leads to a misunderstanding of verses.
Radio City Playhousehas a unique performance about two journalists on Christmas Eve on "Twas the Night Before Christmas." They are away from their loved ones in search of goats attached to a red wagon for the wife of the newspaper's owner.
One Man's Family features Christmas at the Barbur's as father promises to be a better person in the New Year after Betty came home from the hospital.
Orson Welles gives a moving performance reading from the Bible for the Theatre Christmas Show.
Cavalcade of America presents historic stories in American History. Included in this collection is a touching story about an orphan 12 year old boy who finds homes for his brothers and sisters after the loss of their mother. There is also a touching story about American prisoners of war in WWII determined to celebrate Christmas under the direst of circumstances.
We wish you peace on earth and good will towards men.
I haven't been able to listen to at of them yet, but what I've heard I've liked very much.


text:
FDA Approves New 400 mg Every-6-Weeks Dosing Regimen of Keytruda for All Indications
Web Exclusives | April 30, 2020
On April 29, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of the oral poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor niraparib (Zejula; GlaxoSmithKline) as the first and only drug approved for first-line maintenance therapy of all patients with advanced ovarian cancer—including epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer—who have had a complete or partial response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.
Zejula First PARP Inhibitor Approved as First-Line Maintenance Treatment for All Patients with Ovarian Cancer
Jelmyto First FDA-Approved Therapy for Low-Grade Upper-Tract Urothelial Cancer
Luspatercept Effective in Patients with Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Web Exclusives | February 11, 2020
Pivotal phase 3 data demonstrated treatment with luspatercept resulted in statistically significant increased red blood cell transfusion independence compared with placebo.
FDA Grants Priority Review to New Drug Application for the RET Kinase Inhibitor Selpercatinib
Web Exclusives | February 4, 2020
On January 29, 2020, Eli Lilly announced that the FDA granted priority review to their New Drug Application for selpercatinib (LOXO-292) for the treatment of patients with advanced RET fusion-positive non–small-cell lung cancer, RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer, and RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer. The FDA is aiming to provide its decision on the approval of selpercatinib in the third quarter of 2020.
Mixed Findings in Annual Cancer Statistics Report
Web Exclusives | January 20, 2020
The American Cancer Society reports good news regarding the overall lower rate of cancer-related mortalities in the United States, but also points to some disturbing trends.
FDA Grants Approval to Avapritinib for Patients with GIST
The FDA approval of avapritinib marks the first time a drug has been approved specifically for patients with GIST harboring PDGFRA exon 18 mutations, which are involved in approximately 10% of GIST cases.
Recap of FDA Drug Approvals in 2019
Web Exclusives | January 7, 2020
The FDA has confirmed another strong year regarding the approval of innovative new drugs and biosimilars, including several agents used in the treatment of patients with cancer.
FDA Will Require Early Assessment of New Targeted Agents That May Be Used in Pediatric Cancers
Web Exclusives | December 16, 2019
On December 12, 2019, the FDA issued draft guidance to implement amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C) Act that will facilitate early assessment of studies of molecularly targeted oncology drugs that may be effective in the treatment of pediatric cancers.
Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation Granted to ADP-A2M4 for Synovial Sarcoma
On December 3, 2019, the FDA granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation to the biopharmaceutical company Adaptimmune Therapeutics for ADP-A2M4 for the treatment of synovial sarcoma. Earlier this year, the FDA granted Orphan Drug designation to the agent for the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas.


What is it to speak our truth? It's to lay bare the highway of communication between heart and brain, emotion and mind, Jiva and Brahman. It's the moving beyond the obsession of wrapping your body into contortions and immersing in the sublime unwrapping of heart and mind. The shoulder girdle is the toll booth on the road from heart to brain. By addressing its sweet balance we can have profound effect not just in our yoga postures but in our lives.
How we carry our shoulders in life speaks volumes. Whether rounded forward, hiked up around the ears or even pulled down the back, an exaggerated shoulder girdle creates disharmony and reuniting with its intelligence can free pain, provide more mobility and foster a sweeter more connected communication between the heart and the mind.
Join us as we examine technologies that I have seen to be immediately beneficial to my own body and numerous students over the years. Come empower yourself and your students to stop pulling ourselves apart and start reuniting our body, heart and mind.


text:
Q: pygame having trouble with wasd keybinding trying to do a dumb little begginer game and i wanted to have two players, one using arrow keys and one using wasd, arrows are working with no issue but i have no idea how to do wasd, i apologize in advance im a begginer in python and my names are in portuguese so before i send the code let me just help out in saying that im using "jogador1" and "jogador2" to mean "player1" and "player2"
here's the full code
# jogo plataformer 1
import pygame
# começar o programa
pygame.init()
# ecrã
ecrã = pygame.display.set_mode((800, 600))
pygame.display.set_caption("Trump attack")
backgroundImg = pygame.image.load("weirdbackground.png")
def background():
    ecrã.blit(backgroundImg, (0, 0))
funcionar = True
# loop do jogo
# jogador1
jogadorImg =pygame.image.load("biden1.png")
jogadorX = 282
jogadorY = 58
jogadorX_mudar = 0
jogadorY_mudar = 0
# jogador2
jogador2Img = pygame.image.load("trump1.png")
jogador2X = 436
jogador2Y = 58
jogador2Y_mudar = 0
jogador2X_mudar = 0
# bala do jogador 1
balaImg = pygame.image.load("trump2.png")
balaX = jogadorX
balaY = int(jogadorY - 5)
balaY_mudar = 0
balaX_mudar = 0
bala_estado = "pronto"
def disparar(x, y):
    global bala_estado
    bala_estado = "fire"
    ecrã.blit(balaImg, (balaX, balaY))
def jogador2(x, y):
    ecrã.blit(jogador2Img, (x, y))
def jogador(x, y):
    ecrã.blit(jogadorImg, (x, y))
while funcionar:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            funcionar = False
    # keybinds jogador 1
    if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
        if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT:
            jogadorX_mudar = -1
        if event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
            jogadorX_mudar = 1
        if event.key == pygame.K_UP:
            jogadorY_mudar =-1
        if event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
            jogadorY_mudar = 1
        if event.key == pygame.K_SPACE:
            disparar(balaX, balaY)
            print("hello")
    if event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
        if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT or event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
            jogadorX_mudar = 0
    if jogadorY < -30:
        jogadorY_mudar += 1
    if jogadorY == float(231.0):
        jogadorY_mudar *= 0
        jogadorY -= 1
    #keybinds jogador 2
    if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
        if event.key == pygame.K_a:
            jogador2X_mudar = -1
        if event.key == pygame.K_d:
            jogador2X_mudar = 1
        if event.key == pygame.K_w:
            jogador2Y_mudar =-1
        if event.key == pygame.K_s:
            jogador2Y_mudar = 1
    if event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
        if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT or event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
            jogador2X_mudar = 0
    if jogador2Y < -30:
        jogador2Y_mudar += 1
    if jogador2Y == float(231.0):
        jogador2Y_mudar *= 0
        jogador2Y -= 1
    # bloco de cima jogador1
    if (jogadorY <=200 and jogadorY >= 45) and (jogadorX >= 227 and jogadorX <= 448):
        jogadorY_mudar *= 0
    if (jogadorY <= 45) and (jogadorX >= 448 or jogadorX <= 227):
        jogadorY_mudar += 1
    # bloco de cima jogador2
    if (jogador2Y <=200 and jogador2Y >= 45) and (jogador2X >= 227 and jogador2X <= 448):
        jogador2Y_mudar *= 0
    if (jogador2Y <= 45) and (jogador2X >= 448 or jogador2X <= 227):
        jogador2Y_mudar += 1
    if bala_estado == "fire":
        disparar(balaX, balaY)
        balaY += 1
    background()
    jogadorX += jogadorX_mudar
    jogadorY += jogadorY_mudar
    jogador2Y += jogador2Y_mudar
    jogador2X += jogador2X_mudar
    jogador2(jogador2X, jogador2Y)
    jogador(jogadorX, jogadorY)
    pygame.display.update()
    ```

A: It is a matter of Indentation. The events must be handled in the event loop, instead of after the event loop:
while funcionar:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
            funcionar = False

    # INDENTQTION
    #-->|
        # keybinds jogador 1
        if event.type == pygame.KEYDOWN:
            if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT:
                jogadorX_mudar = -1
            if event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
                jogadorX_mudar = 1
            if event.key == pygame.K_UP:
                jogadorY_mudar =-1
            if event.key == pygame.K_DOWN:
                jogadorY_mudar = 1
            if event.key == pygame.K_SPACE:
                disparar(balaX, balaY)
                print("hello")
        if event.type == pygame.KEYUP:
            if event.key == pygame.K_LEFT or event.key == pygame.K_RIGHT:
                jogadorX_mudar = 0

    #[...]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The Saskatchewan Roughriders released two-time CFL All-Star receiver/defensive back Duron Carter, the team announced Saturday night.
It wasn't immediately clear what prompted the release, but Carter has been plagued by off-field issues throughout his career.
Carter contributed to the Roughriders on offense as a receiver and on defense as a cornerback over the last two seasons. He was used more on defense this year. As a receiver in 2017, Carter posted 1,043 yards and eight touchdowns.
Duron Carter wasn't given any reason for his release. Was thanked for his work on both sides of the ball & told the team was moving in another direction.
Montreal Alouettes general manager Kavis Reed told the Montreal Gazette's Herb Zurkowsky that he will reach out to Carter, who's now a free agent.


text:
// Wizard-generated connection point proxy class
// WARNING: This file may be regenerated by the wizard

#pragma once

template<class T>
class CProxy_IConsoleObjectEvents :
	public IConnectionPointImpl<T, &__uuidof(_IConsoleObjectEvents)>
{
public:
	HRESULT Fire_PrintEvent(PrintLevel  level,  BSTR  str)
	{
		HRESULT hr = S_OK;
		T * pThis = static_cast<T *>(this);
		int cConnections = m_vec.GetSize();

		for (int iConnection = 0; iConnection < cConnections; iConnection++)
		{
			pThis->Lock();
			CComPtr<IUnknown> punkConnection = m_vec.GetAt(iConnection);
			pThis->Unlock();

			IDispatch * pConnection = static_cast<IDispatch *>(punkConnection.p);

			if (pConnection)
			{
				CComVariant avarParams[2];
				avarParams[1] = level;
				avarParams[0] = str;
				DISPPARAMS params = { avarParams, NULL, 2, 0 };
				hr = pConnection->Invoke(1, IID_NULL, LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT, DISPATCH_METHOD, &params, NULL, NULL, NULL);
			}
		}
		return hr;
	}
	HRESULT Fire_ClearEvent()
	{
		HRESULT hr = S_OK;
		T * pThis = static_cast<T *>(this);
		int cConnections = m_vec.GetSize();

		for (int iConnection = 0; iConnection < cConnections; iConnection++)
		{
			pThis->Lock();
			CComPtr<IUnknown> punkConnection = m_vec.GetAt(iConnection);
			pThis->Unlock();

			IDispatch * pConnection = static_cast<IDispatch *>(punkConnection.p);

			if (pConnection)
			{
				DISPPARAMS params = { NULL, NULL, 0, 0 };
				hr = pConnection->Invoke(2, IID_NULL, LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT, DISPATCH_METHOD, &params, NULL, NULL, NULL);
			}
		}
		return hr;
	}
};

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Wood End Infant School
Full Time Nursery
Morning Playtime & Lunchtimes
School Uniform (including Nursery)
Opportunities at Wood End Infants
The Wider Community
Our Eco committee is made up of representatives Year 1 and Year 2 classes, children from Reception classes will join in the spring term. A member of staff meets with the children every fortnight to discuss Eco related issues and priorities for the school. They also work alongside several adults, including the leadership team and the site manager to produce an action plan and make decisions about our school's sustainability.
Improvements that are made to our school environment, both inside the school buildings and within the school grounds, will allow the children to develop an increased awareness and responsibility for their surroundings. So far, these improvements have included reducing the amount of water used, reducing the amount of paper used, recycling, composting and saving energy.
The current focus is reducing waste as the committee identified that the school uses lots of paper towels. The committee met with the Headteacher and suggested that paper towels could be removed from the toilets and that everyone would use hand dryers instead. This change has already been implemented in the staff toilets and we are planning to do this in the children's toilets too.
Whitton Avenue West
UB5 4LB
admin@woodendfirst.ealing.sch.uk
Warner Stainbank – Executive Headteacher
David Hickman – Head of School
Mrs Donohue
dataservices@judicium.com
© Copyright 2020 | Wood End Infant School


According to the data of the Rosselkhoznadzor Territorial Administration for Krasnodarsky kray and the Republic of Adygeya the tests of pathological material from four five-month swine died during the period from June 02 to June 04 2010, belonging to Ye.P. Vlasenko living in village of Khamishki, Dakhovskoye settlement, Maikopsky rayon, the Republic of Adygeya, gave positive results for African swine fever.
In the territory of the settlement of Dakhovskoye ASF eradication measures and investigation of pathway and source of ASF agent introduction are carried out. At the entrance to Khamishki village veterinary and police post is established.


Power steering uses energy from the engine to assist you in steering the vehicle.
If the engine is off or if the power steering system becomes inoperative, the vehicle may still be steered, but it will require increased steering effort.
Should you notice any change in the effort required to steer during normal vehicle operation, have the power steering checked by an authorized KIA dealer.
Never hold the steering wheel against a stop (extreme right or left turn) for more than 5 seconds with the engine running. Holding the steering wheel for more than 5 seconds in either position may cause damage to the power steering pump.
If the power steering drive belt breaks or if the power steering pump malfunctions, the steering effort will greatly increase.
If the vehicle is parked for extended periods outside in cold weather (below - 10°C/14°F), the power steering may require increased effort when the engine is first started. This is caused by increased fluid viscosity due to the cold weather and does not indicate a malfunction.
When this happens, increase the engine RPM by depressing accelerator until the RPM reaches 1,500 rpm then release or let the engine idle for two or three minutes to warm up the fluid.
• Never adjust the angle of the steering wheel while driving. You may lose steering control and cause severe personal injury, death or accidents.
• After adjusting, push the steering wheel both up and down to be certain it is locked in position.
To sound the horn, press the horn symbol on your steering wheel.
Check the horn regularly to be sure it operates properly.
To sound the horn, press the area indicated by the horn symbol on your steering wheel (see illustration). The horn will operate only when this area is pressed.
Do not strike the horn severely to operate it, or hit it with your fist. Do not press on the horn with a sharppointed object.


Get a taxi catering for you with just 2 touches.
For a wide coverage from urban to suburban areas, 4 to 7-seaters, we have taxi for all your need!
Know the cost estimation and direction before you get the taxi so you can plan time and budget ahead.
Get to know your driver, ride safe and arrive safe with "share my ride" function.
What time are the drivers working?
Our service operates 24 hours a day throughout the week, but subject to availability of taxis at the moment of booking.
As long as you have either a Google Android (4.0.3 or above) or Apple iOS (8.0 or above) smartphone or tablet, then you're good to go!
Why is the fare on the app different from that on the taxi's calculation?
When you use Grab's service, your taxi fare is based on the taxi's calculation system (meaning that you are probably using Mai Linh taxi and will pay Mai Linh taxi' fare). The fare on the app is merely an approximate measurement of how much you would pay.


text:
Home > Gaming / GM Notes
Into the Mountain
Published date 26th March 2022
After getting back to the Sex Thing last session, the crew had to recharge their battlesuits and get some rest, so they were ready to head out to investigate the mountain by late afternoon. Again they went prepared for heavy combat, first flying out to the Stormhaven ship that was landed at the base of the mountain.
The ship was a 100t Starfight Starship, a Stormhaven design. Interior explosives had taken out the drive and power systems, so someone had definitely decided that she wasn't going to fly again. There were signs that she had suffered complete power drain prior to that, so the scuttling was merely to make sure. There had been seven crew aboard, but they were all gone.
The crew (or someone) had taken weapons and armour, and there were signs that someone had been patched up, for there were some bandages and signs of dried blood. Whatever had happened here had done so at least a year ago, possibly two.
After a couple of hours flight over to the ship, and another hour spent looking around, there were 3 hours into their 12 hour battery capacity for their battledress, so decided to take a scout around the mountain rather than actually heading in.
Above them, the crude goblin head loomed out of the clouds, and there was a stairway cut into the mountain side that went up to its mouth. The mouth was a gaping cave, but not that deep – just a single tunnel in the 'throat' of the carving headed deeper into the rock. Flying up, they noticed a goat laying dead – it's head sliced off and other wounds on its body.
The PCs were very careful about checking for signs of anything dangerous as the entered the mouth, which is quite usual for them. The tunnel itself was about twenty metres wide and about seven tall, and gradually smoothed to something that was definitely artificial. Stone buttresses along the side curved up towards the ceilings, and it headed deep into darkness.
It was then that Khadashi noticed a warning on his battledress – it was complaining of high power drain. Not significant, but higher than normal.
They quickly exited the cavern, realising that if they stayed here then their battledress and energy weapons would probably suffer the same fate that the starships had – becoming drained of power and utterly useless. If they hadn't been quite so careful in approaching, then they probably would have realised this too late, and been left in non-functional battledress and having to walk back to their ship.
So instead they got to fly back to their ship, recharge their suits and get some more rest overnight. Bu morning they are prepared for the actual investigation – but this time they are taking shotguns, cloth armour and bladed weapons. I let Khadashi knock up some explosive triggers since he has an explosives skill. It won't be that reliable, but better than nothing. They take some grav belts rather than battledress, since they still don't want to walk, and don't want to risk taking their ship too close to the mountain.
The Sex Thing is incredibly well stocked in terms of weapons and equipment – a side effect of how successful they'd been at trade in the first part of the campaign. Shinzaro and the engineers stay behind on the ship to look after it, whilst the three of them head back to the mountain.
They leave their grav belts outside the main cave, and head inside, using cold lanterns (chemical lights) to provide light. This time they make it far enough in to notice metal woven in within the walls of the tunnel, like a fine mesh. Eventually the tunnel opens out into a large room, which has a 10m circular well in the middle. A set of stairs winds down around the edge of the well, down into the darkness.
There was a pile of discarded equipment – dead laser rifles, a harness of battery packs and some cold lanterns. The only option seemed to be to head down the stairs.
It was a long walk down narrow stairs without any safety rail. And then the steps started getting difficult to balance on and everyone realised that gravity was switching round – what was a vertical shaft had become a horizontal corridor.
Up ahead were alcoves in the walls, most of which seemed to have the shattered remains of some amber-like crystal in them. There were two dead bodies on the floor – both human, both showing signs of cutting wounds. Up ahead, there were some alcoves sealed with amber coloured crystal, and behind them was the shadowy form of something vaguely humanoid. They had four arms – two of which seemed to be formed into blades, and a long predator-like head.
Shotgun casings were on the floor, so there had been some sort of fight here long ago. The Travellers kept well away from the sealed alcoves, and moved ahead to a large circular door. There was more signs of shotgun and rifle casings on the floor, as if someone had made a last stand against something coming from the stairs.
Khadashi touched the door, and it rippled under his hand – flowing back into the wall. Beyond was a large, softly lit room. Some sort of spherical chamber, with a walkway going around it. On the far side was another closed door, and some form of consoles were to the far left and right. In the centre of the room was floating machinery, glowing with yellow and blue light, sliding up and down with lights pulsing around them.
Categories:GamingGM Notes
Tags:DeepnightRoll20RPGTraveller
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