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On Change.
A conservative, by definition, is someone whose political or social views advocate the norm; an aversion to change. Similarly, by definition, liberalism is seen as the "change" ideology, and whilst I think traditionally these definitions may have once been valid, in a modern context they simply don't make sense.
When a conservative is in power, the liberal seeks to change – in the liberal's mind of course that change is "progressive" but ideology is left-and-right not forward-and-back, so no one is to say what constitutes a progressive change versus a regressive change. If progressivism is, as so commonly referred to, anything which moves towards equality and social justice, then at least half of the "progressive era" in the late 19th/early 20th century would be considered regressive. It was considered progressive in that time to impose prohibition laws, equally the move toward eugenics, Woodrow Wilson was considered a progressive who advocated the Democratic party's segregation laws. Are these progressive values? The Republicans opposed much of this as it was contrary to that stated in the constitution. In this sense, they were conserving the principles of the constitution, and yet it would seem a great change away from the status quo.
My point here really is that it would be stupid to see a priest turn away from God and consider it change, then a former priest turn back to God and consider it an aversion to change. It is a shift between views, not directions, and you can see in this past year alone, the conservative uprising against the established order of America, and Europe, which is very much considered "liberal", and it would be stupid to consider that movement away to be a movement backwards and still consider the established order, an order for "change".
There's a subset of liberals who consider themselves "classical liberals" following this definition of liberalism as moving away from rigidity and inequality, who oppose the modern left in its embrace of rigidity and inequality, but I would argue too these are positions on the wrong grounds. If I am a conservative, I am a conservative because of what I believe is best, not because of what I believe is old. If I am a liberal, I am a liberal because of what I believe is best, not because of what I believe is change.
Defining Conservatism.
An article by Gordon S Livingston, in a very partisan way, described conservatism as the "punishment ideology". Taking his cue from religious background, the conservative in Livingston's eyes "rewards the good and punishes the wicked, [and] those who have "succeeded" materially are naturally favored over those who have failed. The latter have not made use of their opportunities to better themselves and should not be objects of concern for those more successful. It follows therefore that the poor are simply not taking responsibility for their lives, only seeking "entitlements" when they should be looking for jobs."
Well if this is true, and conservatism focuses too much on punishment, perhaps liberals focus too much on reward; neither of which are very workable systems. I would also argue, much like "to expect the worst is never to be disappointed", to assume that poor people are not only seeking entitlements, is to be open to being taken advantage of. Of course, to assume all are is wrong, but how do we know the difference? I think also Livingston is assuming that because many conservatives are religious, it would seem then that conservatism stems from religion, but I think this is an oversimplification. Wouldn't it be more likely that their values simply lean to being both rather than one enforcing the other?
Livingston also notes a hypocrisy, where conservatives who value less government would be in favour of imposing religious beliefs on people. This is, I believe, one of the fairer points he makes, although ignoring the hypocrisy of liberals who want to end corruption in government being in favour of larger, more corruptible government (and the hypocrisy of wanting freedom to act but allowing any government the power to control), but it is true, there are conservatives who seek to impose religious values on people – so are these people true conservatives? If you believe in the "less government" definition of conservatism, then no, they aren't. If you believe in Livingston's "religious" definition of conservatism, then absolutely.
So this is my definition of conservatism, and I would like to hear from people if they disagree, but it is largely informed by own experiences, and I will say that no two conservatives, like no two liberals, are the same but the mindsets and the way they view the world are similar enough to group together in this way. I am a sensitive person, emotional, empathetic and sympathetic to a point of near delusion in some cases. If for example I saw a murderer, who murdered his entire family bar his mother, feel sad because he won't get to see his mother anymore in jail, I would feel sorry for him. I shouldn't, but I would. Would that make me a liberal? Following my heart, not my head? Well, no. And here's why;
I am forced by nature to develop a set of principles whereby this sympathy does not impede. This murderer broke the law, and is morally evil, therefore he must be treated as such, if I cannot override my sympathy then it would be to allow this man to kill again. In the same vein to not allow my principles, following my heart, is to allow people to take advantage of me, and to allow people to use me.
Should one sacrifice themselves for the happiness of others? No, as Ayn Rand would suggest, because if everyone were to do that then nobody would live, let alone be happy. In a Kantian way, if it cannot be universalised then it cannot work as a moral principle – if it was moral to sacrifice yourself for the happiness of others, then it would ensure that the one person who does not do so, and therefore profits from it, is immoral – it is a moral principle which, by definition, favours the happiness of those who do not follow it.
Applying this then, to let my sympathy impede my reason, is to ensure the betterment of a murderer who does not have that sympathy. It is equally flawed as a moral principle, and is therefore an immoral principle. What I'm getting at is that conservatives, and I consider myself conservative in a lot of my views, are people who may not necessarily hold the delusional levels of sympathy I do, but who know that you cannot be human in the face of logic, for it is not human, nor is it logical. Liberals however only believe in being "good" among arbitrary definitions, probably guided by the desire for change, even when no change would actually exist. In this sense I suppose it would give reason as to why new "movements" are being formed out of illogic, the transgender movement for example, to make up for a deepening knowledge that their ideology is the new establishment. These are people born and bred to say "fight the power", rather than "fight power".
The conservative conserves, yes, but only their foundation principles, the search for which make some of them vulnerable to religion (which offers up a ready-made set of foundation principles). Do liberals change? Not always, but oh how they'd like to.
(Image of Rebecca Pow, by: Rebeccapow (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons)


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Using hot/cold therapy for a pinched nerve in the lower back
A pinched nerve in your lower back can cause extremely debilitating symptoms, such as chronic pain, burning, weakness and tingling. As anyone who has experienced this condition can attest, these symptoms can quickly rob you of your ability to lead a normal active lifestyle. Activities, like sitting at your desk at work or taking a walk with the kids, can easily become nearly impossible due to pain and other symptoms. However, one of the most commonly recommended treatment methods for a pinched nerve is actually an easy, at-home remedy — hot/cold therapy. Learn more about how this treatment can help alleviate your pinched nerve symptoms in the following article.
How does hot/cold therapy work?
Always remember to speak with your doctor before beginning any treatment program. He or she will be best able to advise you on which options might be right for you. With that being said, it's possible a simple hot/cold therapy program might be suitable to treat a pinched nerve. This treatment option involves soothing your pain with alternating heat and cold. Hot treatments can be applied with a heating pad, or even a hot bath, while cold therapy involves ice packs. Keep in mind that these treatments shouldn't be continued if they cause you pain, but if you find one that works and makes you feel better, be consistent by applying it as often as needed.
When hot/cold therapy doesn't work
Some individuals with a painful pinched nerve in the lower back simply can't find relief from conservative treatments, whether it's hot/cold therapy or some other option, and instead turn to elective surgery as a last resort. If this describes your situation, contact Laser Spine Institute today to learn about our minimally invasive procedures that are safer and effective alternatives to traditional open back surgery.^
At Laser Spine Institute, our board-certified surgeons+ use a less than 1-inch incision and muscle-sparing techniques in order to alleviate pinched nerve symptoms while resulting in a lower risk of complication compared to traditional open back surgery.^ Laser Spine Institute is the leader in minimally invasive spine surgery and has helped more than 75,000 patients to date find relief from chronic neck and back pain
To find out if you are potential candidate for minimally invasive spine surgery, reach out to Laser Spine Institute today and ask for your no-cost MRI review.*

subset: commoncrawl


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When you drive through the mountains in BC and Alberta it's easy enough to feel small, with the towering rocks and sky-high waterfalls greeting you at every curve in the road. But stop and get out of the car and the world around you gets even more surreal.
Don't miss the entrance (it's easy enough under the canopy of all the trees on the side of the road), but if you are ever driving past the Giant Cedars Boardwalk near Kelowna, you must stop. The trail a quick 1/2 km walk, if you can pull yourself away from staring upwards. The boardwalk is stable, stepped and itself beautiful in construction as it weaves around tree trunks and waterfalls.
But the real beauty is in the trees, whether they are standing tall or have tumbled to the forest floor. Their width and strength is overpowering. Their misty, mossy environment feels like it is straight out of a movie. Look up and up, the "giant" name of this trail is well deserved. Some of the trees on this trail – western red cedars and western hemlock – are more than 500 years old. Benches and interpretative signs along the way makes it easier to stay longer than the typical 15-20 minutes to walk the boardwalk.
We stopped as a break from driving and it was refreshing and awe-inspiring. This quick little dip into the forest gives you an idea of what the untouched parts of the mountains must be like, in a way that is easy to see even by a 2-year old, thanks to that boardwalk. He may never remember how big the trees were on our trip, but I'll certainly remember how small my son looked, how small we all looked, in that forest. This road trip stop was a small one, with giant memories to take home.
Many thanks to Laura for the inspiring guest post. Check out her website at An Italian Canadian Life, which features many of our family's traditional Italian recipes!


text: You can use Horizon Client to connect to remote desktops and applications. Setting the Certificate Checking Mode in Horizon ClientYou can determine whether client connections are rejected if any or some server certificate checks fail by configuring a setting in Horizon Client. Connect to a Remote Desktop or ApplicationTo connect to a remote desktop or application, you must provide the name of a server and supply credentials for your user account. Use Unauthenticated Access to Connect to Remote ApplicationsA Horizon administrator can use the Unauthenticated Access feature to create Unauthenticated Access users and entitle those users to remote applications on a Connection Server instance. Unauthenticated Access users can log in to the server anonymously to connect to their remote applications. Disconnecting From a Remote Desktop or ApplicationYou can disconnect from a remote desktop without logging off, so that applications remain open on the remote desktop. You can also disconnect from a remote application so that the remote application remains open. Log Off From a Remote DesktopYou can log off from a remote desktop operating system, even if you do not have a desktop open in Horizon Client. If you are currently connected to and logged in to a remote desktop, you can use the Windows Start menu to log off. After Windows logs you off, the desktop is disconnected.


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Stainless steel elbow: In the piping system, connect two pipes with the same or different nominal diameters to make the pipe turn at a certain angle. Elbow classification: According to the angle points, the most commonly used are 45 °, 90 ° and 180 ° three, in addition to the project needs also include 60 ° and other abnormal angle elbow. Connections to the tube include: direct welding (the most common method), flange coupling, threaded coupling with socket coupling, and the like.
skills requirement
1 Since most of the pipe fittings are used for welding, the ends of the fittings are used to form a bevel in order to improve the welding quality, leaving a certain angle with a certain edge. This requirement is also strict, the edges are thick, the angle is how much and the deviation range is There are regulations. The surface quality and mechanical properties are basically the same as the tubes. For ease of welding, the fittings are the same as the steel type of the pipe being joined.
2 is the packaging requirements for small pipe fittings, such as exports, it is necessary to do a wooden box, about 1 cubic meter, the number of elbows in the box should not exceed a ton, the standard allows packages, ie large sets of small, but The total weight must not exceed 1 ton. For large y, a single package, like 24′′ must be a single package. The other is the packaging mark, the mark is to indicate the size, steel number, batch number, manufacturer's trademark and so on.


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Hello everyone, so I have been blogging for about nine months and thought it was time to let you guys know a little but more about me. Thank you to Reece for giving me inspiration to do this post. I will give credit to the original owner at the bottom of the page.
Q1: Do you have any pets
I used to have two cats but one ran away so now I only have one black and white cat called Spencer.
Q2: Name three things that are physically close to you.
Phone, laptop and water
Q3: What is the weather like right now?
It is dark, raining and cold.
Q4: Do you drive? If so, have you crashed?
No, but for my 17th birthday (which is this year!) I have asked for lessons. Hopefully I won't crash but I have been involved in a car crash.
Q5: What time did you wake up this morning?
I think it was about half nine
Q6: When was the last time you showered?
Yesterday evening
Q7: What was the last movie you watched?
I don't really watch movies as I don't really have the patients for them, but the last movie I watched was 'Insidious' with Furn, Amy and Reece
Q8: What does your last text message say?
It says "Btw we are c block first floor." This was from Nasiha to me.
Q9: What is your ringtone?
My ringtone is called 'Night Owl' and it is a default ringtone on iPhone's.
Q10: Have you ever been to a different country?
Nope, I have not even got a passport!
Q11: Do you like sushi?
I have never tried sushi, and honestly, do not plan to. (Sorry if I have offended anyone)
Q12: Where do you buy you're groceries?
My mum buys groceries in my house but if I need to go to the shops to get ingredients then I usually go to Tesco.
Q13: Have you ever taken any medication to help you fall asleep faster?
Nope, and have never had to.
Q14: How many siblings do you have?
I have one younger brother
Q15: Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
I have a laptop which is a white HP that I got for my 16th birthday.
Q16: How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
On the 6th December 2016 I will be turning 17!
Q17: Do you wear contacts or glasses?
I don't wear either
Q18: Do you colour your hair?
Yes, my hair is bleached so that I can have it coloured a lighter blonde than it naturally is. I do want to dye my hair pink though…
Q19: Tell me something you are planning to do today.
I would like to go running but it is raining out, so probably end up watching YouTube! 🙂
Q20: When was the last time you cried?
Last week, my mum told me some really upsetting news 😦
Q21: What is your perfect pizza topping?
Pizza is not really my favourite food but if I had to choose something probably ham and pineapple or Texas Barbecue.
Q22: Which do you prefer: hamburger or cheeseburger?
I don't eat any of these burgers because I don't like beef.
Q23: Have you ever had an all-nighter?
No, the latest I've ever stayed up until is 3:00am.
Q24: What is your eye colour?
Dark brown
Q25: Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke?
I don't really drink Pepsi or Coke but when I do I will normally get Coke. Don't know why, just do.
Thank you for reading this blog post. Give it a like if you enjoyed reading some probably useless information about me and remember to follow so you never miss a blog post. Lots of love;


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A bunch of filmmakers have been linked to all sorts of new projects in the past day or two. Here are the details:
James Marsh ("The Theory of Everything") has been slated to direct the Blueprint Pictures and BBC Films untitled project about amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst and his attempt to win the first round the World Yacht Race in 1968. Firth will play Crowhurst, and shooting will begin in the spring.
Tate Taylor ("The Help") has come onboard to helm Warner Bros.' untitled drama about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis which Robert Downey Jr. will produce. Mike Jones will write the script for the aftermath story of the 1945 sinking of the battleship in shark-infested Pacific waters.
Ang Lee has come onboard as director of the film adaptation of Ben Fountain's novel "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk". Most of the film takes place during a Thanksgiving Day football game where a 19-year-old having returned from an Iraq tour is briefly back home before shipping out again. Filming begins in mid-April.
Bobby Farrelly has signed on to helm the comedy "One Night Stan" with Foresight Unlimited, marking the filmmaker's first solo directing gig. The story centers on a commitment-phobic man who falls hard for a woman and discovers she has her own ideas about relationships. Shooting begins in August.
Finally, Roger Michell is attached to write and direct adaptation of the classic Daphne Du Maurier 1951 novel "My Cousin Rachel" for Fox Searchlight. The dark romance revolves around a young orphan, who believes his beautiful cousin Rachel may have been responsible for the murder of his beloved guardian. As he plots his revenge, he finds his feelings complicated as he falls for Rachel's charms.


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Maui sounds pretty magical this time of year. If only it weren't a huge hassle to coordinate every teeny, tiny trip detail. Thanks to these eight apps, it's not.
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Download Google Translate. All you have to do is hold up your phone's camera to any words you don't know (on everything from street signs to menus) and—boom—you're out of a jam.
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Fans welcomed the return of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) in "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," so why not bring back more of the original "Jurassic Park" stars?
Colin Trevorrow, who wrote and directed "Jurassic World," co-wrote "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," and will be directing the third "Jurassic World," says he'd love to bring back Ellie Satler (Laura Dern) and Alan Grant (Sam Neill).
On MTV's "Seen It, Spill It," Trevorrow said, "We felt like ["Fallen Kingdom"] was Malcolm's return, this was his moment… let him have his moment. I feel that way about everyone, especially Laura [Dern] in that she never got to have her own movie… that's important."
So, would the focus be on Dern in the third film? We'd be down with that, but given how little screen time Goldblum got in "Fallen Kingdom," that's highly doubtful.
What about the return of Dr. Grant? Trevorrow said he felt fans would feel "robbed" if Sam Neill didn't return also.
Getting those two understandably dinosaur-wary doctors back on board would require some major plot calisthenics, but "Jurassic" movie plots are usually not heavy on believablity.
We'll see when "Jurassic World 3" opens in 2021.
[Via The Playlist]


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Hello world!
I'm .NET developer from Latvia.
Primary blog content: code snippets that I have found useful.
I'll try to less write and give more examples.
Feel free to notify me about any mistake – content or grammar.
Why blog?
During more than 7 years I have found and discovered a lot of interesting stuff in various technologies. But there is no centralized place to put all useful coding stuff. Now snippets are hard coded in projects or just located on different folders on different computers (home, work). I'm to lazy to every time when I need staff what I already was found or managed to understand start googling again or start browsing my HD content. So I decided that it is much easier to put it in blog once and get easy access whenever needed. And in second hand: if something I found useful for me then maybe it will be useful for someone else.
Janeks Malinovskis
My location
Try my online calculator with memory: www.calc.lv


text:
Maggie Williams is a co-founder of the Advocacy Institute, which equips grassroots activists and community organizers with critical skills and tools to effect legislative change. Through powerful trainings, visual tools, and a growing strategic network, the Advocacy Institute builds the power of social justice organizations and fuels legislative wins. For nearly two decades, Maggie has worked to support progressive policy issues as a lawyer, legislative counsel, and advocate. She has extensive experience with community organizing and working to ensure that all communities have their voices heard in the political and legislative process.
Prior to starting the Advocacy Institute, Maggie applied her experience collaborating with grassroots organizations to analyzing and drafting legislation and making policy decisions in the New York State Senate. During the Democratic majority of the State Senate, Maggie was lead counsel on two key bills that were signed into law: then-Senator Eric Schneiderman's bill to end prison-based gerrymandering and Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson's bill to establish no-fault divorce. Before joining the Senate, Maggie worked as an advocate on criminal justice issues at the Correctional Association of New York and The Bronx Defenders.
Maggie also brings to the board her background in donor organizing for social justice philanthropy, a central part of North Star Fund's mission. Previously, Maggie served on the board of Resource Generation, an organization that works with young people with wealth to leverage resources for social change.
"Having worked for the State Senate, North Star Fund's funding and work seem even more critical. New York needs an organization that is committed over the long-term to supporting grassroots organizations fighting for progressive legislative change."


text:
- Description
A Towering Powerhouse of Sound
Vienna Symphonic Brass II contains the instruments for large-scale orchestral arrangements, i.e., the "Wagner orchestral brass". Oriented toward Wagner's "Ring", there are the bass trumpet, the contrabass trombone, Wagner tuba and contrabass tuba, all with the standard single note and Performance articulations such as Interval Performances, Repetitions, Trill Performances, etc. As an alternative to the Viennese horn, Brass II also contains a new solo horn, the triple horn, Yamaha's master instrument in F/Bb/high F, recorded down to the lowest register (A1). Further, there are the piccolo trumpet, the cimbasso, and of course the famous "Epic Horns", an impressive sounding body of eight double horns that not only fulfills the sonic ideal of the theatrical late Romantic orchestra but also meets the challenge of "larger than life" scores for modern movie scores. Full library contains 98,870 samples.
System Requirements:
- PC Windows 7/8/10 (latest update, 32/64-bit), Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64 X2
- Mac OS X 10.8 (latest update) or higher, Intel Core 2 Duo
- 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
- VIENNA KEY (Vienna Symphonic Library USB protection device) or other USB eLicenser (e.g., from Steinberg or Arturia)
- 39.1 GB free hard drive space
- Other configurations may work but are not actively supported
- Windows 7/8/10 (latest update, 64-bit), Intel i5/i7/Xeon
- Mac OS X 10.9 (or higher), Intel i5/i7/Xeon
- SSD or fast separate hard drive (7200 rpm or faster)
- AU/VST/AAX Native/RTAS compatible host (also works stand-alone)
- RTAS version requires Pro Tools 7.3 or higher
- AAX version requires Pro Tools 10.3.5 or higher
- 88 key master keyboard
- Specs
Additional Information
Condition New Software Delivery Electronic Delivery Virtual Instrument Type Brass and Woodwinds Plug-In Format AAX Native, RTAS, AudioSuite, VST Operating System Mac, Windows
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MacRobertson Shield
NZ vs ENG Day 1: Shilling and Hogan vs Maugham and Hopgood by Jarrod Coutts
Welcome to test 3 of the MacRobertson Shield. Australia are the only team unbeaten after two tests and are playing the winless USA in the final round, while on paper, NZ is fighting it out against England for the silver medal. However, teams on paper don't always go to plan and anything can happen. Players are currently completing their warm up. It's another lovely day in Palm Springs and I can't see a cloud in the sky. The weather is expected to get even hotter this week and could reach close to 40 degrees, so it will be a real test for the players.
Chapman/Hakes vs Mulliner/Patel are on the top lawns.
Hogan/Shilling vs Maugham/Hopgood are on the top lawns on the feature lawn for those who want to watch online.
Clarke/Tahurangi vs Death/Burch are on the bottom lawns so there will be less commentary for this match, but I'll try and provide updates.
Giddy up!
30 Apr 2017 7:27AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
A bit of an interactive start.. I see Hogan has a clip on h2 and Maugham now has first break
30 Apr 2017 8:04AM (Tournament); 23 Readers
I'll go for a little wander to see what leave he's making
30 Apr 2017 8:10AM (Tournament); 22 Readers
Had a question from one of our followers "I've heard Mark Avery has a new mallet. What does he think of it?" I can confirm that this is true, but I've heard he's having mixed results with his stop shots. Had a great start to the season though
30 Apr 2017 8:11AM (Tournament); 22 Readers
Maugham hasn't had an ideal finish to his turn..
30 Apr 2017 8:14AM (Tournament); 24 Readers
He popped Hogan to h3 and was going to have Hogan just off the EB level with 4, Shilling on the WB peg high and I think was going to lay up in c2. Instead, croqueted Shillings h1 ball off the WB when he was getting a rush on partner. This left shilling a 5 yarder for the break which he has hit
30 Apr 2017 8:16AM (Tournament); 27 Readers
Shilling is filling his boots on lawn 4.. just ran h3 and in control
30 Apr 2017 8:23AM (Tournament); 28 Readers
Completed his leave.. either Hoppy hit/Hogan made an error as Hoppy is now on a delayed TP
30 Apr 2017 8:55AM (Tournament); 24 Readers
Standard TP* 4b peel completed after h4
30 Apr 2017 8:57AM (Tournament); 21 Readers
Hoppy completes and ENG are game up
30 Apr 2017 9:47AM (Tournament); 23 Readers
Hoppy has first break in G2
30 Apr 2017 9:47AM (Tournament); 24 Readers
Something happened and Hogan is on the lawn.. my guess is that Hoppys clip is not on 4b
30 Apr 2017 9:57AM (Tournament); 24 Readers
Hogan is hampered out of h1 and doesn't look like he can hit the reception ball
30 Apr 2017 9:58AM (Tournament); 24 Readers
Hogan and Hoppy h2
Shilling on 4b
Dave currently on a TPO with 4b ball in the jaws
30 Apr 2017 11:01AM (Tournament); 27 Readers
Dame completes the TPO and is having the balls in c3 and c4
30 Apr 2017 11:15AM (Tournament); 28 Readers
30 Apr 2017 11:15AM (Tournament); 28 Readers
Hogan takes contact from the ball in c4 and rolls this to h5 going to the ball at c3. Then misses his 10 yarder into the corner
30 Apr 2017 11:20AM (Tournament); 30 Readers
Hoppy now up to 2b
30 Apr 2017 11:58AM (Tournament); 11 Readers
Very good turn from Hoppy so far
30 Apr 2017 12:01PM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Started with a rush to h4 from near c3
30 Apr 2017 12:01PM (Tournament); 10 Readers
2balled to 3b so far and gets a forward rush.. 3rd ball in c3
30 Apr 2017 12:01PM (Tournament); 10 Readers
Approach out c3 getting in front of 4b balls short and retires to c4
30 Apr 2017 12:03PM (Tournament); 8 Readers
4b and peg plays 3 alone
30 Apr 2017 12:03PM (Tournament); 9 Readers
Hogan has a 4y lift.. cuts this to h2
30 Apr 2017 12:06PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Makes h2 but gets a rush pointing at c3 rather than h2
30 Apr 2017 12:07PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Plays a good cut, average approach to h3, but runs through it
30 Apr 2017 12:07PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Slightly hampered and rushes to halfway between 3 and 4. Rolls to the ball in c4.. has a 5 yarder..
30 Apr 2017 12:08PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
1/2 balls it. Big shot here
30 Apr 2017 12:08PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Leaves himself a 4 yard h4..
30 Apr 2017 12:09PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Maybe its 3
30 Apr 2017 12:09PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
Grovels through..
30 Apr 2017 12:09PM (Tournament); 13 Readers
30 Apr 2017 12:09PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
Laptop about to die... I'll plug it in and update as soon as I can
30 Apr 2017 12:10PM (Tournament); 12 Readers
At 18 Feb 2019 9:15PM (Tournament) there are 0 people reading commentaries.


text: So it appears that I need to really be careful when I am putting thing on the table edge. I already knew this, but it hasn't really backfired on me until today. Here is how it played out. I was vacuuming and Amber was playing with her toys and trying to stay as far away from the vacuum as she could (she is scarred of it most of the time, except when she wants to help). The next thing I know I look over and she is eating my doughnut! J had his final in class last night and took them doughnuts for them to munch on while taking their test and had some leftovers so I snagged one. When I caught Amber she had a look like 'I am in trouble now' - but I didn't take it away so she continued to eat it happily. Here are a few shots of her with the stolen doughnut.


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Father John Misty
(New Orleans, LA)
Josh Tillman has lived many lives. The singer-songwriter has been a defiant child of God, a broke dishwasher, a successful drummer, a Dionysian shaman, a failed poet, a drug-hoovering spiritualist, and a gleeful prankster. Now, he's a man with one of 2015's most compelling albums.
By 21 he was J. Tillman, a depressed acoustic panel-maker. By 27, in 2008, he'd made six austere solo albums before morphing into Josh Tillman, the Fleet Foxes' invisible and irreconcilable drummer. In 2012, he split from the Foxes, releasing his first album as Father John Misty, a far more adventurous effort than his earlier offerings hinted at. At the same time, he started indulging in promotional chicanery, selling the 'Innocence' men's fragrance on his website, giving operatically goofy interviews and pulling mock-jerk stunts to promote his 2015 album I Love You, Honeybear.
A huckster of the highest order, Tillman's pranks would be enough to obscure the talents of a lesser songwriter. But Honeybear's strengths aren't easily hid. Tillman's songs don't so much straddle the line between cynicism and romanticism as they destroy that line outright, combining sun-drenched Laurel Canyon compositions with droll humour and soaring sentimentality. It's archly detached and soul-searingly confessional—all those many lives lived, reconciled into one larger-than-life character.


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Installing through the Windows Store, when the process reached the final stages I experienced a BSOD. Subsequently, the install process rolled back.
The install error given was 0xC1900101 - 0x4000D
Looking at the BSOD information a driver called AKSDF.SYS was the cause. It seems to be some sort of licensing software, though I'm not sure where it came from or what it protects; the install date was around the same time as the installation of Fiery Printserver controller software and X-Rite i1 colour calibration software.
Uninstalling the software did not make a difference to retrying the 8.1 upgrade.
I had to manually delete all files in C:\Windows\ that matched the following pattern:
If I only deleted AKSDF.SYS, AKSFRIDGE.SYS caused a BSOD on the next attempt. So they all had to go.
Windows 8.1 Preview successfully installed after that
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Windows 8.1 Preview fails to install
4 comments:
Thanks very much for your help as I was suffering the same issue - I managed to find a clean way to remove the SafeNet drivers, but I'm still unsure what they were required for!ReplyDelete
Glad it helped Karl! Thanks for letting me know about the uninstaller tooReplyDelete
but i do not find any files about aks** but i meet such a BSODReplyDelete
Hi Jerome, what driver does it mention when you get a BSOD?ReplyDelete
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Well, not exactly under my skin, since
application/xhtml+xml-flavored XHTML 1.1 junkies — like me — still have to go through a lot of grunting and swearing to repair their templates after the one-click-thingies do their job and install the upgrade and that keeps me from loving it with all my heart… but nevertheless, under my blog' skin… In an under-the-hood way, if you know what I mean ;)
Bottom line, the dudes and dudettes who wrote the detailed step-by-step upgrade tutorial have done a great job. It went exactly as expected, no bumps nor fuck-ups… It took me less than an hour to get the blog back online and the actual upgrade — including database back-ups, FTPing and re-enabling plugins — was as advertised: no longer than ten-fifteen minutes. The rest of the hour was spent exclusively on squashing the fucking bugs these one-click jobs always leave behind; namely, uncalled for tags sticking their noses in my well-formedness :)
No major problems so far, not even minor ones. As soon as I'm done hacking back the files I had to hack when I first installed the monster, the whole thing will be back to normal… hopefully :)
Meanwhile, if you happen to catch any misbehavior at all, please let me know about it so I can fix it right away.
I've posted a couple of comments, tweaked the new
kses.php, deleted them, tweaked some more, posted again… Ended up disabling any markup input in the comments, because 2.0 doesn't seem to be able to deal with incorrectly nested shit and unclosed tags… That's a bummer, because I really liked the way 1.5.2 was handling them but *sigh*… I guess I'm going to have to do without them.
The rest is good, as I said previously: apart from this bug — ot should I call it "fuck-up"? — with the way 2.0 handles badly-formed markup in the comments, I can see no other problem. An upgrade is an upgrade, too bad it still feels like a downgrade…
And no, I'm not going to give up XHTML 1.1 just because a certain version of the software fails to grasp its subtleties :p
Bottom line again, 2.0 is alright and under my skin, but not very close to my heart. I'm mostly dissapointed. And I'll stop bitching now:)


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I'm Steve, a documentary filmmaker and insatiable traveler. I wander a lot, so this will be the primary portal through which my friends and family can keep tabs on me, read about what I'm doing in the world, and experience it with me through the video, photos, and audio I share.
Contact me:


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A blog to show my journey into the world of mixed media art and my sister Trinette's journey into the written word.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Being Laid off
So I am 58 years old and for the first time in my life I am being laid off. It's kinda a weird feeling knowing you are no longer wanted. It is also a very liberating feeling. I just wish I'd had more time to plan. I think I will continue to teach whenever I can. I will work on my blog more and start putting up projects again. I will make kits and sell them on my blog, I think. I like how some blogs have a list of supplies under the project. Then you just click and buy. No going out in the snow or having to fill up gas tanks.. I am sure something will come to mind as to what my next step will be.
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About the WLAMF
Our Mission
Our Annual Reports
Our IRS Designation
Our Board of Trustees
Our Scholarship Awardees
Featured Awardees
Sharon Dolente
Julianne Pastula
Catherine Dritsas
Maya Watson
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Michelle Johnson Tidjani
Women Law Students
Menttium Awardees
Our Educational Projects
Our Contributors
The "Dean's List"
2018 Dean's List
Other Supporters
Why Contribute
How to Contribute
Contact the WLAMF
5th Culinary Challenge Raises over $6,000 for WLAM Foundation
This year's Fifth Annual Culinary Challenge, hosted at the home of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Kirsten Frank Kelly, raised over $20,000 to benefit women's charities—including Alternatives for Girls, Crossroads for Youth, and the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation. The event, which includes a competition for best judicial chef and a live grill-off, is hosted by a different judge each year.
The grill-off consists of a competition between the bench (Grilled by the Bench) and the bar (Grilled by the Hour): the lawyers once again prevailed in the contest. Chefs also competed in two categories, with Judge Colleen O'Brien winning for best dessert and Denise Alexander for best appetizer.
Heartfelt thanks from the WLAM Foundation to our friends and supporters, the Culinary Challenge Committee!


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How To Bring Your Dog To The Philippines (4)
Travel nursing is one of America's answers to the national lengthy-term shortage of nurses. The national population is steadily rising with out enough numbers of nurses to adequately serve the people. Further, many nurses retire early due to the outcomes of stress they experience on the job. Others retire on the normal age and both levels of retirements depart a further shortage of nurses unfilled by the limited variety of new nurses entering the American workforce yearly, based on US Department of Labor forecasts.
There are many varieties of hoses, some are very long and some are short. Your best bet is one that can be expanded from a brief one to about 15 ft. The only souvenirs it's best to want are some images, perhaps a number of t-shirts. Send postcards instead! They're old skool, but such a unique and timeless method to update family and mates that it is worth taking the time to buy and ship.
Packing effectively for a enterprise trip – or a trip, for that matter – is a challenge for most of us. Frequent enterprise travelers usually discover themselves living out of a suitcase, and packing and unpacking several instances throughout the course of each trip could be a time-consuming chore. The cowl photograph, from top left: Port Hercule, Monaco; Batumi at night time; Skopje in Macedonia and northern lights in Iceland.
The choices are almost limitless and anybody can reap the benefits of them. My husband and I have actually pushed proper as much as a campground with out even calling forward and have been employed on the spot! Thanks for testing my latest RV hub, Mike! Yes, it is quite enjoyable to rebuild one of many old classic Airstreams or motorhomes and to use them on tenting journeys.
More from my site
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Safe - 3-1-2018 Brooklyn
Meow Gallery: The layout slider is not available in this version.
Care Center Location: Brooklyn, ZIP Code From: 11434, Intake Type: Owner surrender
Medical Behavior: Blue, Age: 12 years, Sex: Neutered Male, Weight: 23 lbs
DVM Intake Exam; Estimated age:10-12y; Microchip noted on Intake? yes; History 😮 surrender; Subjective: Observed Behavior -nervous, allows exam; Objective ; T =; P =60; R =panting; BCS 5/9; EENT: OD hyperpigmentation, ears clean, no nasal or ocular discharge noted; Oral Exam:mod tartar; PLN: No enlargements noted; H/L: NSR, NMA, CRT < 2, Lungs clear, eupnic; ABD: Non painful, no masses palpated; U/G:neutered male; MSI: Ambulatory x 4, skin free of parasites, no masses noted, healthy hair coat; CNS: Mentation appropriate – no signs of neurologic abnormalities; Assessment: generally healthy. chronic irritation to OD due to conformation; Prognosis:good; Plan:articial tears optional
Let's get to know each other a bit more…
Date of Intake: 26-Feb-2018
Spay/Neuter Status: Neutered
Basic Information: Cupid is a 12 year old, small mixed breed male, who was neutered prior to coming into the shelter. He has no known health issues or injuries and has not seen a vet recently. He was adopted from BACC in 2009 and was surrendered due to the owner being deployed, and the caretaker is no longer able to care for the dog.
Previously lived with: Owner
How is this dog around strangers? Cupid is protective of his owner and is alert when people first enter the home. He takes a few minutes to warm up, but will then relax after guests start petting him.
How is this dog around children? Cupid has grown up with the owners daughter and was relaxed and playful with her.
How is this dog around other dogs? Cupid has interacted with other dogs and is indifferent towards them. They will try to engage with him but he is uninterested in playing with them.
How is this dog around cats? Cupid has not spent time around cats.
Resource guarding: Cupid has no resource guarding behavior reported by the owner.
Bite history: Cupid has no bite history.
Housetrained: Yes
Energy level/descriptors: Low
Other Notes: Cupid's owner is able to pick him up and hold him, as well as bathe and groom him. The groomer has always trimmed his nails, and he is not bothered by being disturbed while sleeping or pushed off the furniture. During thunderstorms or fireworks Cupid will hide under the bed. He will alert bark when someone approaches the house or door.
Has this dog ever had any medical issues? No
For a New Family to Know: Cupid is described as being friendly, mellow and independent. He will stay in his favorite spot during the day and has been an indoor dog. He eats both wet and dry food mixed together and likes all treats except for fish based ones. He is house trained to go outside on any surface and is well behaved when left alone in the house. He knows the commands sit, come and shake. He walks on leash for exercise and loves the outdoors and to be walked outside.
Behavior Notes: Cupid was very calm and relaxed during intake. He allowed for all handling by counselor.
Details on my behavior are…
Summary (1): According to Cupid's previous owner, Cupid is indifferent around other dogs.
2/27: When off leash at the Care Center, Cupid mostly keeps to himself after greeting a group of small male and female dogs
For more information on adopting from the NYC AC&C, or to find a rescue to assist, please read the following: http://urgentpodr.org/adoption-info-and-list-of-rescues. If you are local to the Tri-State, New England, and the general Northeast United States area, and you are SERIOUS about adopting or fostering one of the animals at NYC ACC, please read our MUST READ section for instructions, or email [email protected] Our experienced volunteers will do their best to guide you through the process. * We highly discourage everyone from trusting strangers that send them Facebook messages, offering help, for it has ended in truly tragic events.* For more info on behavior codes and ratings, please click here: http://information.urgentpodr.org/acc-placement-status-descriptions. For answers to Frequently Asked Questions, please see: http://information.urgentpodr.org/category/frequently-asked-questions/. You can call (212) 788-4000 for automated instructions.
View all entries in: Safe Dogs 2018-03
Reader Interactions
Facebook Comments
Owner was deployed, 'caretaker 'surrendered Cupid…..this is soooo terribly sad. I wish there was some way for a rescue to get involved and set up a long term foster schedule if this person will be back, or if they are deployed again……he or she is fighting for our country, the least we can do is get this precious baby safe . How awesome if something could be figured out if the shelter kept any contact information. Does this owner even know that the caretaker dumped the dog in a kill shelter, …these situations kill me. At the very least, we need to get this little one adopted and at least try to contact the owner and let him know that Cupid is ok….how horrible if he comes back home only to find out his dog was dumped in a kill shelter with no further information. These are the times we all need to work together to figure something out if any way possible..
This poor babies story breaks my heart. Lesson to all…choose your friends wisely. No friend of mine would take my perfect dog to a kill shelter after I trusted them with its care till I got back. Unbelievable. To do this to a person in the military ….they should be ashamed.
20.00 for this little sweetheart
Can anyone at the shelter please contact dogs on deployment so possibly the person who was deployed can see there dog again
A friendly little gentleman who desperately needs a safe, warm home with a loving family and comfy bed!!! Cupid is a love! Please save him! Praying and sharing with lots of love and hope. #SaveCupid ????
Tammy..with whom my friend??? Thank you!!!
Hoping this super cute, little fella is truly safe (from message above). Fingers crossed and will continue to sharing cutie Cupid everywhere until moved to Safe folder!!! #SaveCupid ??
This little senior who was Dumped back at the Slaughterhouse 9 years after being adopted out is SAFE❤??????
As of 2/27/18?
Contact a rescue about CUPID as I will also. I hate when all the dogs especially the senior ones get surrendered. This little guy will take up no space in a rescue or a home. He needs out of the shelter ASAP!
They say "unable to care for anymore" how much work could one little dog be?? Lazy & heartless people are the problem!
Yay Cupid!
Yay! Happy life little cutie!!! ❤


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Second Chance for Young Osprey Born in Loveladies Marsh
From her desk in her home in Loveladies, Deb Traster can see the osprey platform, occupied by avian couple Jack and Wendy, that rises up from the marsh behind the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences. "I work from home, and I sit here at my window watching the nest," she noted. Not long ago, Traster upgraded from binoculars to a telescope to sharpen her view of her raptor neighbors, which, this summer, included three chicks born to the osprey pair.
Late last month, aided by the focus of her telescope and assistance from Conserve Wildlife Foundation Habitat Program Manager Ben Wurst and local blogger and conservationist Northside Jim, Traster came to the rescue of the youngest of the juvenile ospreys.
After an early walk with her dogs on July 30, Traster gazed out at the nest, looking for five heads. "That morning, I didn't see five," which, she explained, wasn't exactly cause for alarm, as Jack was often out hunting, and the two older juvenile ospreys had fledged and would occasionally leave and return to the nest.
However, through her telescope, Traster then spotted a little head bobbing on the marsh. "I could tell it was a bird in distress," she explained.
She continued to monitor the situation, unsure of the type of bird and wondering if it was perhaps caught in fishing line. Eventually, she realized the bird was an osprey and that he seemed to be trying to fly away, but could not.
Traster emailed Wurst, who she'd heard speak about ospreys at the Foundation three years ago, when Jack and Wendy had a single baby, and Traster became hooked on the nest and its osprey family. She also notified the Long Beach Township Police Department, which said it would reach out to animal control.
Wurst soon contacted Traster and said a volunteer called Northside Jim would meet her at the marsh, while he advised for a bit over the telephone. When the duo got to the site, they realized the bird was the youngest of Jack and Wendy's brood, tagged as Red Band 78 – otherwise known as Chump.
Jim, a North Beach resident, names all the birds that inhabit the nest in the LBIF marsh. Jack and Wendy are christened as such for the main characters in Stephen King's The Shining, as they were "a really dysfunctional couple when they first arrived" in Loveladies. The pair's single chick three years ago was called Danny, Jack and Wendy's son in the horror novel. Last year, the pair had three babies – Larry, Larry and Larry – and this year's trio was named Knuckles, Hoagie and Chump, after the cartoon pigs in a Disney short film.
Traster said she got Chump's attention while Jim covered him with a towel and scooped him up. They then inspected him and deemed him relatively fine, if malnourished and a bit scabby. As Wurst explained, "Ospreys hatch in the order in which they're laid. Chump was the runt," and was therefore likely pushed aside at mealtime and otherwise bullied by his older siblings.
Wurst and Northside Jim – who often assists in installing and repairing osprey platforms, and has become a local animal rescuer par excellence, with guidance from his CWF pal and other stewards of the wild – had banded the osprey babies earlier this year. At the time, Knuckles and Hoagie looked healthy, but Chump, not so much.
"We believe that when he fledged, he didn't have enough meat on his bones (to fly). He didn't have enough energy," said Wurst.
Once Jim had corralled Chump, he fed him a bit of fresh fluke from Boulevard Clams, then took him to Don Bonica of Toms River Avian Care. "Don is great," said Jim. "He's a phenomenal resource."
Bonica determined that Chump didn't need any surgical care. As Wurst noted, "Don was able to fatten him up, and he put him in the flight cage as well to make sure he could fly."
After three weeks with Bonica, the young osprey was ready to leave his care. Last Thursday, Wurst picked up Chump and drove him to the LBIF marsh. Ospreys have nest fidelity, so he wanted to return him to his place of birth, although the bird may not necessarily return to the nest site.
"That morning there was a good breeze out of the north. The birds need a little headwind to get lift," Wurst remarked. Osprey 78 took flight. "We sat in the blind there and watched" as the juvenile osprey, as well as his parents, soared above. "He was riding on some thermals," said Wurst, "sailing around overhead."
Wurst offered gratitude to Traster for her part in rescuing Chump: "She keeps an eye on her birds, and knew what to do, and made a difference."
"The kudos really need to go to Ben for sharing his breadth of knowledge with the community, and informing the general public about this amazing resource, the marsh," said Traster. "He does such an awesome job with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation.
"And kudos to Northside Jim for being as obsessive as I am about ospreys," she said with a laugh. "He's certainly an asset to this island."
Jim, who blogs at his site Readings from the Northside – at exit63.wordpress.com – said what he loves most about the Island is "the wildlife, the natural part of it. … Through that, I've gotten really into conservation.
"I can't walk by an injured animal and not help. My poor wife is concerned I'm becoming 'The Bird Man of LBI.'"
The story, writ large, Jim noted, is that there are people in the neighborhood on the marsh, and elsewhere, who care about the animals that are part of the local community.
"These are our birds," he said of the ospreys. The parents come back every year and raise their children here, just like many people on the Island.
Northside Jim relayed a story about a seagull who, he realized awhile ago, is a regular on his beach. One year, he noticed that seagull had brought his offspring to the beach "and taught them how to steal food from people," as human parents stood their children on surfboards and dug holes with them in the sand.
As for the osprey kids, Traster and Northside Jim haven't spotted any of the three juveniles recently. Ideally, now at three months old, Chump and his siblings are out catching their own food and growing stronger.
"Hopefully now he has a shot," Traster said of the youngest osprey. "I do hope we see Red Band 78 again."
— Juliet Kaszas-Hoch


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I've been shortlisted for Security Serious Unsung Hero awardPosted: September 2, 2017 Filed under: Conference, Cyber, Team Leadership | Tags: Awards Leave a comment
I've been nominated for a Security Serious Unsung Hero award in the Best Educator category. This will be awarded to a professor, lecturer or teacher who leads by example to inspire and motivate the next generation of cyber security professionals. I'm humbled to be considered. Thank you!
Join me at the event.
Developing Global Cyber ServicesPosted: May 17, 2017 Filed under: Cyber, Project Management, Skills Development, Team Leadership | Tags: Cyber Leave a comment
Over the past year I've worked as a core part of the KPMG's Global Cyber Strategic Growth Initiative as the lead for service development activities, with a focus on working with member firms to deploy capabilities in order to ensure consistent delivery and quality across key growth areas.
I was responsible for the roll-out of cyber security services that included developing sales and delivery accelerators, accreditation requirements, learning pathways, vendor ecosystem and quality and risk management principles across EMEA, APAC and Americas.
To achieve this, I created a service development framework and worked with numerous stakeholders across the firm's network: global deployment, service development leads, acquisition leads, risk management and key member firm cyber representatives and regional leads.
I also developed a method for the in-country adoption of deployed capabilities and supported both global and in-country risk team members in the evaluation of risk when taking services for client use.
I ensured the sustainability of deployed capabilities through the implementation and use of delivery frameworks and tools, and assigned ownership for the upkeep of deployed capabilities. I worked with member firms to promote the adoption of prioritised services; developed adoption timelines and targets for deployed service.
One of the existing aspects of the role was alliance, acquisition and investment integration support where I collaborated with the relevant stakeholders to deploy and embed offerings obtained through alliances to member firms while monitoring progress against agreed budgets, milestones, deliverables and benefits for capabilities being deployed.
By the end of the programme, I deployed Cyber Maturity Assessment, Identity and Access Management, Industrial Internet of Things Cyber Security, Privacy and Cyber Incident Response services to 19 countries around the world.
This resulted in achieving significant revenue and market share growth for cyber security services of my firm globally. KPMG International was also named a leader in information security consulting services in 2016 and 2017 according to Forrester Research.
The Psychology of Information Security – Resolving conflicts between security compliance and human behaviourPosted: November 26, 2015 Filed under: Compliance, Information Security, Information Security Management, Interview, ISO 27001, Productive Security, Project Management, Research, Risk Management, Security Culture, Skills Development, Team Leadership | Tags: Compliance, Cyber Security, Human Behaviour, ISO 27001, Risk Management, Security Culture 1 Comment
In today's corporations, information security professionals have a lot on their plate. In the face of constantly evolving cyber threats they must comply with numerous laws and regulations, protect their company's assets and mitigate risks to the furthest extent possible.
Security professionals can often be ignorant of the impact that implementing security policies in a vacuum can have on the end users' core business activities. These end users are, in turn, often unaware of the risk they are exposing the organisation to. They may even feel justified in finding workarounds because they believe that the organisation values productivity over security. The end result is a conflict between the security team and the rest of the business, and increased, rather than reduced, risk.
This can be addressed by factoring in an individual's perspective, knowledge and awareness, and a modern, flexible and adaptable information security approach. The aim of the security practice should be to correct employee misconceptions by understanding their motivations and working with the users rather than against them – after all, people are a company's best assets.
I just finished writing a book with IT Governance Publishing on this topic. This book draws on the experience of industry experts and related academic research to:
- Gain insight into information security issues related to human behaviour, from both end users' and security professionals' perspectives.
- Provide a set of recommendations to support the security professional's decision-making process, and to improve the culture and find the balance between security and productivity.
- Give advice on aligning a security programme with wider organisational objectives.
- Manage and communicate these changes within an organisation.
Based on insights gained from academic research as well as interviews with UK-based security professionals from various sectors, The Psychology of Information Security – Resolving conflicts between security compliance and human behaviour explains the importance of careful risk management and how to align a security programme with wider business objectives, providing methods and techniques to engage stakeholders and encourage buy-in.
The Psychology of Information Security redresses the balance by considering information security from both viewpoints in order to gain insight into security issues relating to human behaviour , helping security professionals understand how a security culture that puts risk into context promotes compliance.
It's now available for pre-order on the UK, EU or US websites.
Change ManagementPosted: April 22, 2015 Filed under: Information Security Management, Risk Management, Security Culture, Team Leadership | Tags: Change management 1 Comment
Information security professionals not only have to deal with change, more often than not they represent change. It might be changing the way a company manages access to its systems, works with third-parties or anything else.
To be effective with the change management process, security professionals should work with the business, demonstrating the value of security.
John Kotter in his book Our Iceberg is Melting tells a story about a penguin colony, which demonstrates basic principles of successful change management:
- Establish a sense of urgency
- Create a guiding coalition
- Develop a change vision
- Communicate the vision for buy-in
- Empower broad-based action
- Generate short-term wins
- Never let up
- Anchor new approaches into the culture
Training offshore teamsPosted: January 12, 2015 Filed under: Presentations, Skills Development, Team Leadership | Tags: Team Leadership Leave a comment
I just returned from my trip to Bangalore, India, where I was asked to deliver a series of training activities to the KPMG offshore teams. Spending a week there came with lots of wonderful insights.
First of all, India is a beautiful country. I didn't really have a lot of time to travel around, but I still had a chance to visit the Bangalore Palace, drive up and down the Mahatma Gandhi Road, see the Parliament and many beautiful parks.
Moreover, apart from delivering training sessions myself, the local leadership organised a presentation for the UK team, where we were described the services they offer globally. I was impressed by the level of innovation and standardisation, which clearly demonstrate the rapid technological growth in India.
I've had a chance to work with some of the marvelous members of our offshore team before, and it was very valuable to finally meet them in person. I had an opportunity to interview a few people for a position in my programme and we are already on-boarding the successful candidate.
Not only I was able to share my knowledge and meet some lovely people, but I could enjoy a brief but wonderful taste of India and its warm hospitality. I'm sure the effectiveness of our communications and project work will increase substantially in going forward.
Active listeningPosted: December 9, 2014 Filed under: Team Leadership | Tags: Team Leadership Leave a comment
Imagine the following situation. A father with his son are driving to the camping site for the weekend. The deer was crossing the road and the car hit it. The father dies in the accident and the son is badly injured. He was swiftly brought to the emergency room and requires surgery. A surgeon enters the room, sees the boy and exclaims: "I can't operate – this is my son!".
How is it possible?
Think about it for a few moments…
Didn't his father die in the accident? The answer is really simple. Read the rest of this entry »
Knowledge ManagementPosted: November 17, 2014 Filed under: Team Leadership | Tags: Team Leadership Leave a comment
A knowledge management system is an integral part of a modern organisation. It involves processes, people and technology that make sure information is not only kept in the individuals' heads but is shared with the whole department. It is usually implemented in the form of an intranet portal which requires processes to maintain it and people to support it.
Because I believe having the right information at hand is crucial in making effective business decisions, I volunteered to take on the role of a knowledge management champion in my department. A knowledge management champion is the person who oversees the adequate operation of the system. In this case, to lead the project that would re-launch the system that wasn't being fully used.
In my company, the knowledge management system is mainly intended to support the bid management process, where we respond with proposals to fulfill specific requests from our current or prospective clients. It is also used to assist project delivery when a piece of work is won.
As a first step, I managed a team of four to analyse the current state of the system and to gather feedback from the users to understand the limitations they felt they encountered. We discovered that the portal was hardly being used because some users were unaware of its existence, and many others found the navigation not very user friendly. This meant that the information stored in it was out-dated.I then developed a strategic plan to promote easy access to static information such as templates, proposals and engagement created data for the department. Several design changes were introduced based on feedback from the users.
Because the portal is only useful if it actually contains data that can be easily searched for, the next step was to collect as much information as possible from the department. We held multiple interviews with engagement managers to gather case studies and relevant data to add to the system. To ensure that the quality of the data collected was constant, we created a case study template consisting of three main parts:
- The client's challenge: the problem the current or prospective client needs addressing.
- The approach: how the problem was tackled and solved
- Benefit to the client : the specific and measurable positive outcomes
When the design changes were implemented, the outdated data was removed and a sufficient amount of information was collected, everything was ready for the system's re-launch. This re-launch was important enough to be given a presentation slot at the quarterly departmental meeting, where we talked about the improvements, encouraged the users to use the system and requested further feedback.
Though this successful project, as all projects, had a defined desired outcome due by a specific date, knowledge management never finishes and requires continuous improvement. It is now in the operational "run-and-maintain" state. New information is being uploaded to the portal and processes are in place to make sure it is maintained and information remains up-to-date.
I also organise regularly and participate in knowledge sharing events. I believe participating in such events and communicating lessons learnt to the rest of the team can help everyone to avoid mistakes we've made in our projects and improve the quality of deliverables.
Image courtesy of cooldesign/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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Great Days Out for NHS Staff Groups.
We provide specially created scheduled days outs, tours and walks for Groups using the best tourism guides, and linguists.
From visits to Greenwich in the east to Hampton Court in the west there are over 200 events that happen in and around London every day we have the expertise to provide that memorable experience. .
Discover Palaces, Gardens, Castles, Markets, Pubs and Restaurants and many other major attractions throughout London and the Home Counties.
We can provide the complete package to Group Travel Organisers including coach hire, restaurants and entry to attractions. Which ever way you choose to travel we look forward to providing you with a great day out.
You will notice that there are no firm dates for many of our days out. This allows groups to choose a date that suits their organisation. Just select from our advertised days out or tell us where you would like to go and we will do the rest, providing a price per person for the event which could include transport, lunch and guides, plus pre-booked entrance. We will also help organisers to prepare literature and collect payments.
Click here to see places we have visited.
We also provide speakers for your group meetings speaking on many subjects but especially about the places we visit.
Coach Transport for groups
We can provide a local coaches and as aguide price of £10 per person for 35 persons minimum and up to 50 miles from venue. (Ask for quotation for more than 50 miles from venue)
We are a partners with Visit London and the the Tourism Agency for London providing a greatest variety of London walks, talks, and tours.


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My tip for how to sew on a button easily stems from a vast pool of ingenuity I have, which in turn comes mostly from being part of a long line of, well, rednecks. Every male in my family is like a midwestern MacGyver. They can fix anything that breaks, usually using their huge stash of-sometimes superfluous- tools and supplies. (I have one brother who actually uses the term "My Good chainsaw") But they're also very good at making a way to solve the problem when they have next to nothing on hand to fix it with. Knowing that, my button sewing trick will probably make a little more sense. My secret? Scotch tape.
I hate getting my buttons in just the right spot and at just the right angle, only to have them slip out of place while I'm sewing. So, out of frustration, I grabbed my tape and figured I'd give it a go. It worked like a charm, and here's how you do it. Get the button into the correct position and apply a strip of tape over it so it stays in place as you sew. Once it's on, you can rip the tape off with no ill effect. I hand stitched this button on, but you could use this for machine sewing, as well. I'd just make sure to clean the needle afterward to remove any stuck on adhesive.
I always begin and finish my buttons on the front of the fabric, underneath the button so the knot isn't exposed on the inside of the garment. I wouldn't want that against my skin.


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It snowed today in England. Roads closed, no schools, chaos, stay at home, warning, dangerous conditions.
It snowed today in Perthshire.
It was suggested by Perth Business Gateway to rewrite the 2001 proposal to use the Millennium Dome as a global environmental management centre, this time relevant for Scotland in 2006. The outline executive summary, Scotland:The World's First Ecological Superpower, was produced. The next stage is to implement it, what do you think?
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Perthshire View: Snow
Posted by Roger Thomas at 20:44
Labels: England, Perthshire, Scotland, snow
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Re: Computer freezes/solved
Re: Computer freezes/solved
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followups ] [ FAQ ] [ Back to Messages ]
Posted by bill becker on January 29, 2002 at 08:32:24:
In Reply to: Re: Computer freezes posted by bill becker on January 27, 2002 at 21:18:02:
My brother had me get the case off of
the carpeted floor, onto a wood shelf.
This seems to have completely eliminated the problem. Evidently whenever anyone walked
across the floor, some of the static buildup
accumulated up into the case, causing a freeze,
Also, if you have an older house, be sure to
check if your outlets are properly grounded.
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|Clifford Tower
Many cities in England have lost wholly or partially their city walls over the centuries as modern development has demanded room for expansion and access, but the visitor to York is fortunate that Parliament refused permission in the early 19th century for the local authority to tear down the city wall and apart from small areas of removal or adaptation to allow for example access to the railway station, the wall is almost complete with its bars (gates) and evidence of Roman and later medieval extensions.
During our visit Carolyn and I decided to put aside a day to walk the wall and see it and some of the attractions on it. In addition we made a separate visit to the heart of the Norman addition, later incorporated in the medieval defences, namely Clifford Tower; which is a typical Norman motte-and-bailey arrangement built around 1068 when William the Conqueror came up on his infamous ravaging of the north to demonstrate who was now in charge in the brutal way that William developed a reputation for.
The picture below shows the castle soon after its building in the 11th century with a wooden construction typical of the first Norman buildings.
In time the area became prosperous and recovered from the earlier depredations by William with York becoming a centre of regional government, a Royal palace, treasury and prison requiring a more sturdier and stone built castle as seen in the model and illustrations below.
The Great Tower and its remains which can be seen today was built in the late 13th century and was used in medieval times as the Royal treasury, together with lodgings and a chapel.
The bailey area was also reinforced with stone walls and gates and would have held the gaol, mint and other administrative halls, stables, lodgings and chambers.
|An impression of the interior layout of the 13th century Great Tower
The picture below shows the late 13th century castle further protected by a moat that was fed by the King's Pool created when the Norman's damned the Foss creating a large pond for fish breeding for the King's table and food for the garrison as well as enhancing the defences.
In March 1190, there were riots in the city against the Jewish community and many of them took shelter in the wooden tower. However, when it came under heavy attack by the citizens led by several local knights, the approximate 150 Jews, men, women and children, occupying the building opted for setting fire to it and committing suicide rather than being captured, with the survivors being massacred by the rioters.
|The massacre of the Jews of York in 1190
The chapel served not only as a religious building, but its position over the main gate also meant it housed the portcullis as well.
In 1643 Clifford Tower served as a billet for soldiers garrisoning the city and in 1684 the tower was again badly damaged by fire and the evidence of that can be seen in the picture above with the blackened stone work close to the red bricks.
|A view of what was the lower floor of the Great Tower but now appears as a courtyard in the open walls
Clifford Tower is a much more peaceful building today offering great views out over the city towards the Minster.
York City Wall
|York City Wall pictured in 1718
The map below is taken from the sign at Clifford Tower and I have added to it to illustrate the route we took, beginning at Bootham Bar, and the features I photographed along it. I have also emphasised the original Roman wall that would have surrounded the area around the Minster and the foundations of which underpin the later medieval additions.
The medieval York City wall was built on taxes raised from goods brought into the city in 1266 and has served to protect it first from the Scots in 1319, the Parliamentarians in 1644 and the last threat from the Jacobites in 1745. However perhaps the final threat was seen off in 1800 when York council applied to Parliament to demolish the thing all together.
Bootham Bar
Bootham Bar was the natural place for us to start our walk as it was just along from our apartment in the city.
The bar is built on the foundation of the original gate or Porta Principalis Dextra of the older Roman fortress.
This is the gate that the Roman expedition to Caledonia and the northern frontier would have set out from.
The earliest parts of the gatehouse date from the 11th century.
The walk between Bootham Bar and Monks Bar follows the original Roman perimeter and gives a great view of the Minster.
Monk Bar
Monks Bar has some interesting figures lining its battlements with one known as the 'boulder thrower' and you can see them in the picture below.
Monks Bar is another one of the four fortified gateways into York and was built in stages from the early 14th century when the principle threat was from the Scots. The top storey was added in 1484 during the reign of King Richard III.
For its time Monks Bar was a state of the art defensive feature and retains its original portcullis and machinery together with overhead murder holes.
The gate retains two of its medieval toilets or 'garderobes' and has also served as a prison and a police house.
In addition it also serves as the home of the "Richard III Experience" with as you can see displays illustrating some of the major battles from the Wars of the Roses, plus items relating to Richard and the times he lived through.
See if you can identify the battles modelled by Mr Russell Marwood who manages this and the Henry VII exhibition at Micklegate Bar and put his wargaming talents to good use to produce these nice little battle scenes using as I recall Pendraken 10mm WoR figures.
All the items seen below were found on the battlefield at Towton and are mostly from the Bloody Meadow area and North Acres where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. I posted about Towton in a previous post.
Battle of Towton
Item number 2 (top left) is a piece of a hand gun found in the area of the Lancastrian line and is unique as a find for this kind of weapon on any of the battlefields for this period. Given that this is a fragment it makes me wonder if it caused more harm to the owner rather than the intended target.
Below the piece of handgun is a piece of armour with holes designed to allow this piece to be laced to another.
|Towton Battlefield Items discovered in Bloody Meadow and North Acres on loan from Simon Richardson
Other items include buckles, rings and a sword chape and the scabbard hangers (middle right) items 5.
Item 6 is a cross guard from a sword found in Bloody Meadow. Alongside, items 7 are a range of dagger and sword pommels designed to provide a mixture of balance to the weapon as well as a useful implement to strike an enemy opponent with. Next to them(item 8 middle left) are parts from a dagger including cross guard and hanger parts.
|Model depicting the two lines at Towton, with Cock Beck and Bloody Meadow bottom left
Below are the remains of one of the Towton victims discovered in the dining room excavations at Towton Hall, part of the Towton Battlefield Archaeology Project with funding from the Royal Armouries.
This unfortunate fellow was an adult male aged between 36-45 years and stood at 6 foot one inch tall
Despite his stature, this man suffered from poor nutrition in his early years, evidenced by the pitting seen in the eye orbits in his skull above.
His skull also displays blade and blunt force injuries with a sword nick seen at point 5 on his lower jaw.
His shins display evidence of inflammation, common in Towton skeletons, thought to have been caused by long marches.
The arrow at point 2 indicates nodes discovered on his spine, called Schmorl's nodes, suggesting this chap was not unfamiliar with carrying heavy loads of kit.
He also has a blade injury to his right hand, point 6.
And to add to his suffering, that little nick at point 4 on his left foot shows he took a stab wound that must have been rather painful.
The Wars of the Roses saw medieval armour reach a pinnacle of design in attempts to protect the wearer from blows and cuts by deflection and padding and this full harness gives a good impression of how these chaps would have appeared whilst fighting on foot.
Alongside the armour, the exhibition has several options in helmets for the self respecting Wars of the Roses foot soldier of the period, with examples for the more fashion conscious from Italy and Germany.
|King Richard III wearing some of the items displayed below
Originally set with rubies and diamonds in gold, these replica items of jewellery, based on the late 16th century portrait of Richard III by an unknown artist and held in the National Portrait Gallery, really help capture the look of the originals.
The banner carried by the chap below and the fact that he and his supporters are mounted should help to identify the battle scene modelled. Lets just say a lot of people ended up visiting the wrong area of ground purported for this battle up until recent times and is the battle associated with Richard III - no more clues.
Original features abound in Monks Bar and make the perfect venue for the Richard III experience.
From Monks Bar we followed the wall around the city towards the King's Fish Pool area, a part of ground flooded during the Norman occupation when the River Foss was damned.
Along the route we saw other remnants of previous buildings like the walls of an ice house seen below.
River Foss-King's FishpoolOn arriving at the River Foss, the wall comes to an end and you are led along the banks of the river towards the Red Tower where the wall continues.
For 700 years this area of York was protected by a large lake with a bridge, Layerthorpe Bridge, guarded by a fortified gateway and portcullis thought to have been added around 1309.
Given this areas association for providing a source of fish for the garrison it was great to see that the Foss is clean enough to still support wild fish including a rather fierce predator that can really liven up an anglers afternoon.
The pike is is sometimes referred to as the 'water-wolf' in reference to its voracious nature and my eye was caught by this little chap lying stock still close to the lilly pads, until Carolyn called my attention to one a bit bigger.
This is the bigger version and just as we proceeded to continue our walk this one struck with a flashing glint of silver as it snatched at one of the roach swimming close by.
The business end of the pike is packed full of teeth and it was a great thrill to see these hunting from under the lilly pads.
|The map from 1610 shows the extent of the original lake between Layerthorpe Bridge
and the Red Tower
The Red Tower or Brimstone House marks the recommencement of the wall and this unusual building gets its former name from the red brick used in its construction rather than the more usual stone and the latter name from its use as a production facility in making gunpowder.
Built in 1490 as a watch tower over the nearby Fishpond, the Red Tower is on the side of the wall that received particular attention during the Parliamentarian siege in 1644 and the building suffered significant damage during it.
The building appears more as a house rather than a tower as the stone foundations are now covered in earth, rather than as in the drawing from 1852.
From the Red Tower the wall leads off towards Walmgate Bar.
Walmgate Bar
The wood and plaster building on the inner side dates from Elizabeth I and is now a snug coffee shop frequented by students working on essays on laptops and swapping gossip, and has a great roof top terrace with the wooden balustrade seen above, where Carolyn and I enjoyed a much needed sit down and drink on what was a very hot day.
The barbican seen above is thought to date from the reign of Edward III and facing the main Parliamentarian gun line on the opposite Lamel Hill suffered significant damage in 1644 with evidence of that still showing on the repaired stonework.
|Evidence of shot and shell still marks the exterior of the barbican
|The ruined barbican from the damage caused in the English Civil War can still be seen in this print from 1813
The portcullis and original gates still remain on this amazing building and you can't help wondering if only these walls could talk.
Another monarch has left their mark on Walmgate with the arms of Henry V displayed above the interior gate.
We spent a bit of time enjoying the sun on top of the bar whilst sipping our elderflower presse and I grabbed some pictures of the wall leading off towards Fishergate Bar and over the barbican towards Lamel Hill now covered in modern day buildings.
Fishergate BarThe inscription above the medieval Fishergate Bar commemorates the Lord Mayor of York, William Todd, knighted in 1487 by King Henry VII for his support against Lambert Simnel, another pretender and claimant of the English throne, during which time the Lord Mayor paid for the reconstruction of a large part of the wall.
Lambert Simnel
In the 16th and 17th centuries the towers above the bar served as prisons for Catholics and lunatics.
In 1489 when the aforementioned Henry VII raised taxes an outraged and angry mob marched on the city and burned Walmgate and Fishergate Bars and the black scorch marks from the fire can still be on the stones lining the arch here at Fishergate.
The damage caused to the bar meant that it was bricked up until reopened and restored in 1827 to provide access to a nearby cattle market.
From Fishergate Bar it is but a short walk along the wall to Fishergate Tower.
Fishergate Tower
The back of the tower seen below from the other side still has its original garderobe or toilet chute just visible projecting out from the top into the tree canopy. So not a place for any unwary passer by to stand for too long.
One sight we were keen to visit, that lies close by to Fishergate Tower, is the alleged grave of the infamous highwayman and murderer Dick Turpin whom I partly referred to in an earlier post from this year, on our trip to Wallingford, where master Turpin carried out many of his crimes.
Wallingford and Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin
Born in 1705 in Hempstead, Essex, Turpin became an apprentice butcher to his father John, and marrying at twenty five had his own butcher's shop from which he fenced poached deer.
By 1735 he was the landlord of a pub in Clay Hill where he teamed up with a bunch of villains known as the Gregory Gang committing murderous robbery in homes and on the highway. By July of that year he had earned the title of 'Turpin the Butcher' and with a fellow robber Thomas Rowden attracted a bounty of £100 for his arrest and capture.
In time his notoriety made it to risky for him to remain in the London area and by 1737 he was lodged in Brough in East Yorkshire, operating under an alias, John Palmer and purporting to be a horse trader, crossing the River Humber to commit further crimes, mostly theft.
In 1738 after threatening to shoot someone, Turpin attracted the attention of the local Justices of the Peace and being suspected of sheep and horse stealing was eventually identified in 1739.
Tried for horse stealing on the 22nd March 1739 at York Assizes and surprisingly not for the murder of Thomas Morris who had attempted to apprehend him in Epping Forest in 1735 and whose murder attracted a reward of £200 for his arrest; he was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging and together with a fellow horse thief John Stead was executed at Knavesmire, York.
Following his burial at St George's Church, Fishergate the next day, his body was stolen by grave robbers but subsequently recovered and returned to St George's for reburial in quicklime to prevent any further disturbance.
As with many of these kind of villains, their story is often romanticised and the character is created into something they were not. This partly explains the fame of Dick Turpin in England, but as with most romantic tales they hide a grim reality that highwaymen were not gentlemen and their crimes were often accompanied with murderous brutality in an age when life was often cheap anyway.
Crossing the Rivers Foss and Ouse we were looking for the last section of wall and the Micklegate Bar, home to the Henry VII experience.
Sadly, on the day we walked the wall, the Micklegate Bar was encased in scaffolding and sheets undergoing some much needed TLC and so I didn't bother capturing the exterior, which was a shame as this bar, built in the 12th century has opened its gates to royalty and displayed the heads of traitors.
Micklegate Bar
|Henry VII - National Portrait Gallery
This is a much smaller exhibition than that of Richard III and one gets the impression of where the city's loyalty lies to this day, but at least Henry gets his rightful place in the history of the city and the conflict.
Barker Tower & River OuseFollowing our look round the exhibits at Micklegate Bar I was looking forward to a well earned evening meal and freshen up before dinner.
I knew we were getting close to the river when we bumped into this young chap below and the crossing point at Barker Tower taking us back to our start point.
The 14th century Barker Tower and its opposite Lendal Tower, acted as points from where a chain could be hung across the river to control the passage of ships along it.
Once over the Lendal bridge you are back on the wall leading up to the Bootham Bar from where we started.
|The view from Lendal Bridge over the River Ouse in York
Just one post left to conclude our visit to York with a look at the city, the minster, Roman baths and the ghost legion on its march north.
I'm off on holiday to the Low Countries at the end of this week with posts planned about the Arnhem campaign and the Romans in Germania, plus the Saxons are coming followed by some Dacians.
More anon.


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After starting the season with the Santa Clara Baseball League's Dauphin Brewers, Will Hlady took his pitching skills west, where he suited up for the Western Major Baseball League's (WMBL) Melville Millionaires.
Comprised of players from Division 1 and Division 2 schools, the level of ball in the WMBL was higher than Hlady was used to, even though he has a year of Division 3 college ball under his belt with the Iowa Wesleyan Tigers of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"It was just like college all over again. I tried to make some small adjustments towards the end," he said.
For more on Hlady's season, see this week's Dauphin Herald.


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Big Global Media News
Opinion – Why I'm Not Ashamed To Still Be Playing Pokémon Go
When Pokémon hit in the late '90s, I was all in. I still remember my friend telling me about it in homeroom in middle school. By the time lunch rolled around, he had convinced me to watch the anime when I got home. It was pretty goofy, so I played it off like I didn't like it at first, saying, "It was okay. I'll give it another shot tomorrow," but I liked it from the first minutes. The seeds of obsession were planted. I didn't have a Game Boy to play the games, so I began devising ways I could engage with these characters in the meantime, typically spending my evenings at home logging onto America Online to research about these creatures and read about the games I didn't have. Since I didn't have much money at that age, I resorted to making Pokémon cards out of the index cards my parents sent me to school with until I could buy real ones. Months later, I convinced my parents to get me a Game Boy Color with Pokémon Blue for Christmas. The hooks were deep.
One thing eclipsed my love of Pokémon in middle school: my hopeless, yet undying desire to be popular. Because of this, my love for Pokémon was often kept quiet since it was considered a "dorky" thing to like. By the time Gold and Silver came out, my tempered enthusiasm for the franchise combined with my hesitance of learning 100 new Pokémon drove me to skip it. I dropped off the Pokémon series, and didn't return until Pokémon X and Y nearly a decade and a half later.
Fast forward to summer 2016 and I'm a 29-year-old looking forward to Pokémon Sun and Moon. A few months before that hit, Pokémon Go launched to a swell of enthusiasm. Unsure of the concept, I downloaded it and took a stroll around my neighborhood, catching everything in sight. What started for me as a fun diversion during walks has evolved into something much more for nearly two years.
When you look at people playing Pokémon Go, it's easy to mock them – groups of people huddled around each other, hunched over their phones, feeding Pikachu a berry. However, the game is much more than the sum of its parts. Look beyond the core concept and the buggy infrastructure, and you have a game that Game Informer executive editor Andrew Reiner rightly pointed out as life-changing.
As my obsession with filling my Pokédex grew, I began coming up with excuses to engage with the game. Using tools like The Silph Road's map, I found nests of Pokémon I was hunting and started planning exercises in that area. I felt more motivated to go for runs in highly populated Pokémon areas because it not only let me make progress in the game, but it also occupied my mind during the run. This encouraged me to run scenic routes during all seasons, allowing me to take in gorgeous sunsets over warm lakes, or gaze over awe-inspiring icy expanses during frigid Minnesota winters.
Even when I'm not using it as an excuse to exercise or a distraction from how tired I am, Pokémon Go has compelled me to explore the area surrounding my home. I'm still a fairly new resident of Minneapolis, and many of my favorite locales have been discoveries I owe to Pokémon Go. I've stumbled upon cool waterfront parks that I've returned to for picnics, or lesser known areas full of awesome bars. I even found a quaint lake tucked away in a neighborhood less than a mile from my house.
Sure, these are things I could have discovered without the aid of Niantic's Pokémon-themed AR app, but the incentive to go out and explore has helped me break the mold and stray from my mainstay spots. Along with that, I've met many fellow players who I recognize when I participate in raids by my house. It's always nice to have a small reunion with a familiar group for a legendary raid.
In addition to getting to know my area around me, Pokémon Go has enabled me to reacquaint myself with a franchise that I hold near and dear to my heart. The way Pokémon Go has slowly rolled out the generations of creatures, I've grown intimately familiar with the second and third generations of monsters. I now know Gen 2 nearly as well as Gen 1, and I've already gone back to rectify never playing Gold and Silver as a kid. I'm currently in the process of playing through Omega Ruby, and it's giving me a similar joy and a sense of wonder to that of my first playthrough of Pokémon Blue. I've even returned to the anime, watching the first five seasons. Pokémon Go is far from the best Pokémon game, but it's given me an appreciation of the franchise in ways I haven't felt since I was a middle schooler discovering the sensation for the first time.
Paramount to all these life enhancements are the memories I've formed playing with those close to me. Whether it's the day-long excursions with coworkers to a neat downtown park known for rare monster spawns or that time I sprinted across a crowded field with my girlfriend and hundreds of other trainers to catch a Snorlax, I love looking back at the unique excitement the game has provided me. I've certainly had much better gaming experiences over the last two years, but few have provided me with as vivid and fond memories as Pokémon Go.
If I've learned anything from experiences such as this over the 31 years I've been alive, it's to love what you love and not be ashamed of it. I abandoned one of my favorite things as a child thanks to peer pressure, and I missed out on 15 years of great games because of it. Now that I'm playing catch-up, I understand how foolish I was to leave something I genuinely enjoy behind to try and gain the acceptance of others. Sure, I sometimes feel a little silly battling a raid boss in below-freezing temperatures with a group of shivering players, but I'm loving every minute and I don't give a damn what any bystander may think.


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