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Agile Coaching - new book from Rachel Davies
I've just been reading the excellent new book called Agile Coaching by Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley.
It's the result of many years spent coaching teams to be agile, and the cumulative experience really shows.
Writing about agile processes often seems to get lost in an abstract discussion of the nature of processes - analysing the team as a Complex Adaptive System and so on. Rachel and Liz comprehensively avoid such mistakes, and keep their advice firmly rooted in practical examples from their own real-world knowledge.
So, at the start of the book, they describe a generic agile process (usually a blend of XP, Scrum, Lean etc), and then use that as the basis for examining in detail how the process really works and how to coach people in using it.
The emphasis is always on the pragmatic application of the process, illustrated with plenty of examples and stories, which makes it very easy to relate to the daily experience of working with agile teams. Each chapter ends with a checklist of bullet points to summarise and reinforce the key messages.
The first section of the book describes the basics of the coach's role - how to get started, how to work with people and lead change, how to build a team, and when to move on. Some of this would probably be just as relevant to coaching any activity, but much of it is specifically about the issues in applying agile principles to software development. In the chapters about working with other people there's plenty of good advice - how to give feedback, resolve conflict and so on - that would make great reading for anyone who has to work with other people in ANY environment. I particularly like the bit about "Emotional Outbursts in Meetings"..!
The next section walks the reader through the iteration processes in more detail. There are chapters covering all the main elements of an iteration, including standups, stories and story cards, acceptance tests, estimating and planning, and keeping progress visible. As usual, there are plenty of hints and tips for coping with problems - ideas for what to do when the team is dispersed, or work at different hours, or just hate planning.
The third section focuses on issues of quality. There's lots of techie detail here that'll be familiar to anyone who's worked in an agile development team - discussion of unit testing, continuous integration, pair programming and other practices. But the key focus is on how all these practices work to the end goal of running, tested, maintainable software. And again, some pointers for techniques to try when things are difficult.
Finally, there are some chapters on listening to feedback - in terms of process, that includes demos for external feedback, and retrospectives for internal feedback. Retrospectives in particular can be quite difficult to get right, and there's a range of techniques to try as well as a checklist of "Retrospective Smells" (like "History Lesson" and "Hot Air") that can indicate that the retrospective isn't working as well as it should. The "Growing You" chapter gives some ideas for planning your own personal development.
It's also a great grab-bag of hints and tips, and reminders of key principles.
There are plenty of pointers scattered throughout the book to further reading, from personality types to Kanban to pair programming. And as for the stories and examples that illustrate the chapters, having worked with Rachel at Connextra, I recognise some of them, and can vouch for the fact that they're genuine..


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Unfortunately, we were unable to post the final scheduled post for the roundtable, which was set to be on race. So instead of someone trying to scrounge up a full post last-minute on this important topic, a few of us decided to put up some brief concluding thoughts on various topics related to the New New Political History. We ask that these be read as more informal than the previous three posts, and more as a touchstone for possible discussion. If things go right, we should have a response to the roundtable from Andrew Robertson sometime soon.
Besides engaging with any points in this or other posts in the roundtable, please feel free to bring up any other issues that we didn't address related to the NNPH. Continue reading

subset: commoncrawl


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It's time again for the list of books that I enjoyed most this year. As always, only some of these books were published in 2012, but they were all a part of my 2012 experience.
Each of my top 5 could easily have been #1. In the end, I put Gone Girl in the top spot because on almost every page I muttered to myself, "How is she DOING this?"
I want to be a mystery novel lover, because the genre is so huge and so there are so many pleasures to be had, but I often get halfway through a mystery and admit to myself that I simply don't care who did it or why (P. D. James is someone who often disappoints me this way). Other times I don't even get that far, because I am so distracted by the poor writing. There are a few writers who never let me down. Kate Atkinson is one; Tana French (see below) is another; and now, I have Gillian Flynn, and I am so, so grateful.
2. How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
This was a Christmas gift from my husband, and I read it in less than 24 hours. Heti reminds me of Lydia Davis, but without Davis's chilly control. Don't get me wrong – chilly control is what I'm all about – but How Should a Person Be is exhilarating, befuddling, and inspiring. Imagine if Lena Dunham made a film that was only interior monologue – it would be a bit like this novel. Self-absorbed and miniature in detail, yet huge in scope. Full of laugh-out-loud gorgeous turns of phrase. I've known of Heti for a while but have never felt inclined toward her work – I'll go back and investigate her earlier books now.
3. Broken Harbour by Tana French
See comments on Gone Girl, above. Tana French's Dublin Murder Squad series is a collection of those rare finds: murder mysteries that are re-readable. Not only did I list her novel The Likeness as one of my Top 10 Books of 2010, but it may be one of my favourite books of all time. Broken Harbour may be just as good. The intersection of intricate plotting with beautiful writing is almost unparallelled. Also: set in Ireland, which can't hurt.
4. Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel
This book should probably be #1, but my top picks are all so good that ranking them is stymieing me. I love graphic novels. Bechdel's Fun Home, in which she grapples with the legacy of her complicated father, is also one of my favourite books of all time. In this sequel of sorts, she turns her analytical eye on her equally difficult relationship with her mother. One difference: her mother is still alive, and an active participant in the writing and narration of the story. Fascinating, unrelenting, and funny, and Bechdel's artwork never fails to slay me.
5. How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
I have written several posts on Tough's work, including a review of this book and a meditation on an excerpt that was published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. He is a deep thinker on educational issues, yet he writes fluidly and accessibly and has a warm and gentle sense of humour. This is not just a work of social science; it's an entertaining and enlightening read.
Another graphic novel. Forney's chronicle of her battle with bipolar disorder is hilarious, touching, instructive and hopeful. Her honest recounting of her own experience is interwoven with historical and medical info. The central question – "Do I have to be crazy to be a great artist?" – is not answered, but the exploration is illuminating.
7. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
One of my projects this year was to prepare a list of 42 children's books for reading in my Child Studies course. When I asked for recommendations, The Phantom Tollbooth came up over and over. I'd never read it. Now I have. It is great, and the final line is now one of my all-time favourite quotations.
8. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Compiling the above-mentioned children's book list has involved re-reading lots of old childhood favourites. I'd forgotten how fantastic this novel is. I must have read it 10 or 12 times as a child, and reading it again now was perhaps my most delightful reading experience of the year, not just for the book itself but for the immediacy with which it transported me back to being a child reader, the wonder of which is difficult to retrieve in adulthood.
(Note: the finished list of books for the Child Studies course can be found here, if you're interested.)
9. The Film Club by David Gilmour
This was also a re-read; it was one of the memoirs I taught in my Personal Narrative course this fall. I thought my students might like it – a story about a father who lets his teenage son drop out of school if he agrees that they watch and discuss three films a week, chosen by the father – but I was surprised by how much they enjoyed it, and how much I enjoyed it the second time around.
10. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Is this a cheat? I didn't actually read this book – I listened to it as an audiobook, and then bought the book so that I could read it, and haven't gotten around to it yet. People keep telling me that listening to a book counts, and I loved this book, so it makes the list. If you often wonder if there's something wrong with you because you don't love going to parties, you'd rather write an email than talk on the phone, and you feel anxious if you don't get some alone time every day, then this book is for you. It helped me embrace my introverted weirdness and recognize its strengths.
Please tell me your favourite book(s) of the year! And happy reading in 2013.


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On November 14, 2003, at Abu Ghraib prison, on the outskirts of Baghdad, six hooded Iraqi prisoners accused by their American jailers of trying to start a riot were brought to the Military Intelligence cellblock and handed over to Corporal Charles A. Graner, Jr., the military-police officer in charge of the night shift. Graner noted in the M.P. logbook that he had instructions from a lieutenant colonel to strip the newcomers, and to subject them to a routine of rough calisthenics designed to disorient, exhaust, terrify, and humiliate them, and to cause them pain. This was standard practice on the M.I. block, and Graner set to work. When one of the prisoners resisted, Graner later told Army investigators, "I bashed him against the wall." Running hooded prisoners into walls was also standard practice at Abu Ghraib, but this prisoner fell to the floor, and blood ran out from under his hood, and a medic was summoned. In the logbook, Graner wrote that the prisoner required eight stitches on his chin. He helped sew the stitches himself, and he had one of his soldiers photograph the bloodstained scene.
Graner clearly felt that he had nothing to hide. When his company commander, Captain Christopher Brinson, and one of Brinson's deputies, Master Sergeant Brian Lipinski, stopped by, Graner said, he made the other prisoners crawl to their cells while Brinson and Lipinski watched. Graner also said that, in addition to medics and his superior officers, lawyers from the Judge Advocate General's Corps frequently visited the cellblock and saw the abuse that went on there. Graner interpreted their presence to be "implied consent that this was all O.K.," he said. In fact, two days later, Brinson, who in civilian life is a top aide to Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Alabama, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, issued a Developmental Counselling Form to Graner. Such a form is normally used for reprimands, but what Brinson wrote sounded more like a commendation: "CPL Graner, you are doing a fine job. . . . You have received many accolades. . . . Continue to perform at this level and it will help us succeed at our overall mission."
That story comes to mind as Americans are seized by belated outrage over the Bush Administration's policy of practicing torture against prisoners in the war on terror. It was exactly five years ago that some of the photographs that Charles Graner and his comrades took at Abu Ghraib were aired on CBS's "Sixty Minutes" and published in this magazine. At that time, the Administration claimed that Graner was the mastermind of the abuse represented in the photographs, and that they showed nothing more than the depravity of a group of rogue soldiers who had fallen under his sway. Yet it became almost immediately apparent—and has been confirmed repeatedly in the years since, most recently with President Obama's decision to release four Bush Administration memorandums seeking to establish a legal justification for the use of torture—that the Abu Ghraib photographs showed not individuals run amok but American policy in action. (From those memos, we now know that Bush Administration lawyers had a technical term for what Charles Graner called bashing a man against a wall. The term is "walling.")
The natural first reaction on seeing the photographs of American soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in Saddam Hussein's old dungeons was to ask: Why are we doing such things to them? With time, however, Americans have come increasingly to understand that it is equally appropriate to ask: Why are we doing such things to ourselves? Why dismantle the laws that have made our country worth fighting and dying for against states that torture? Former Vice-President Dick Cheney has said that we must torture because it is effective. That is, at best, a false argument: a crime is not absolved just because it works. (After all, terrorism can be effective.) President Obama, in his press conference last week, cut through the noise to the essence of the issue. Torture, he said, "corrodes the character of a country."
America is now embroiled in a debate about how, or whether, to hold the true masterminds—the former President, the former Vice-President, the former Defense Secretary, and their top lawyers—to account for their criminal policies. Here, we are on uncharted ground. As a rule, the war-crimes prosecutions of the past century were conducted by a group of states, acting collectively, against the (usually defeated) leaders of another state. When states hold their own leaders to account, it tends to happen not after an election but after a revolution, when the very premise of the ancien régime is treated as criminal. Furthermore, prosecution and punishment are not necessarily the best means to eradicate the rot from a political system, because in adjudicating systemic crimes political compromise is inevitable. It is practically impossible, and politically intolerable, to contemplate holding to account every corrupted officer in the chains of command that ran between the White House and the guardhouse at Abu Ghraib or at Bagram Airbase. A full and public reckoning of the historical record might be less cathartic but would ultimately be more valuable than a few sensational trials.
In any event, President Obama, who has taken a courageous lead in bringing the issue of torture to light, and in insisting on recriminalizing it, appears to have no interest in taking any of the policymakers to court—though he has not precluded doing so. Still, to date the only Americans who have been prosecuted and sentenced to imprisonment for the criminal policies that emanated from the highest levels are ten low-ranking servicemen and women—those who took and appeared in the Abu Ghraib photographs, and embarrassed the nation by showing us what we were doing there. Charles Graner is the only one remaining in prison, serving ten years. His superior officers enjoy their freedom, and C.I.A. interrogators, who spent years committing far worse acts against prisoners than Graner did even in the darkest days at Abu Ghraib, have been assured immunity.
But, if full justice remains impossible, surely some injustices can be corrected. Whenever crimes of state are adjudicated—at Nuremberg or The Hague, Phnom Penh or Kigali—the principle of command responsibility, whereby the leaders who give the orders are held to a higher standard of accountability than the foot soldiers who follow, pertains. There can be no restoration of the national honor if we continue to scapegoat those who took the fall for an Administration—and for us all. ♦


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Archive for August 14, 2010
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I saw a Greenpeace advertisement recently that lambasted LEGO® for its ongoing toy deals with Shell Corporation. The advertisement was dark, sarcastic, and tasteless.
The video, made to highlight the Danish company's $130-million relationship with Shell, has reappeared on YouTube after being withdrawn last week following copyright complaints from the toy-maker.
The video made me feel sorry for LEGO®. It also reminded me that LEGO® is made from oil-based products (even though they're trying to find a sustainable alternative), and it inspired me to make this infographic: the Chemistry of everyone's favourite building block.
LEGO® is made from ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), a thermoplastic polymer comprised of three monomers. The first monomer, acrylonitrile, gives the bricks strength. The second, 1,3-butadiene, gives them resilience (i.e. stops them from snapping so easily) and the third, styrene, gives them a shiny, hard surface. These three ingredients are mixed with colorants then polymerised (hardened) with the help of an initiator called potassium peroxydisulphate. LEGO® buys pre-made ABS granules and injects them into brick shapes on a massive scale.
LEGO® make 20 billion bricks each year (that's 35,000 bricks a minute) and according to the Guinness Book of World Records, they produce more plastic tyres than anyone else. Personally, I think that's a remarkable feat. It's engineering genius.
In a statement, LEGO® said: "We firmly believe that this matter must be handled between Shell and Greenpeace. We are saddened when the LEGO brand is used as a tool in any dispute between organisations. We will continue to… deliver creative and inspiring LEGO play experiences to children all over the world." •


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This video from Britain is called Arnie Gundersen: Nuclear Free Future: Fukushima-Daiichi: "An Accident Waiting to Happen."
From daily The Morning Star in Britain:
Survivors of disaster set to speak at seminar
Sunday 06 January 2013
Eyewitnesses of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan will speak at a seminar organised by Manchester-based Nuclear Free Local Authorities group later this month.
Mitsuko Sonoda and Geoff Read were living in Fukushima at the time of the disaster on March 11 2011 and fled the zone with their young son.
Since the disaster Ms Sonoda has been active in finding and sharing information about radiation contamination and especially food safety.
Mr Read is an English social artist who lobbied for more families to be evacuated, and subsequently worked with 100 children from Fukushima on collaborative portraits.
The nuclear incident was one of the worst international radioactive emergencies in the industry's history causing the evacuation of thousands of people and leaving a large area of land uninhabitable for years to come.
The incident had a profound effect on the possible future development of nuclear power.
The seminar takes place on Friday January 25 at Manchester Town Hall. Visit strongchildrenjapan.blogspot.com/ for more details.
Related articles
- Illegal dumping of radioactive material in Fukushima (nuclear-news.net)
- The women of Fukushima with rare footage from inside the exclusion zone and opinions on the nuclear disaster (nuclear-news.net)
- Hello World! "Global Nuclear Coverup" We Are the 94%! We are the Media Now! (askaboutfukushimanow.com)
- Fukushima bosses admit guilt (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
- Bluefin Tuna Off California Coast Tainted With Fukushima Radiation (But Scientists Say It's Okay To Eat) (laist.com)
- VIDEO: Fukushima 50 'remain invisible' (bbc.co.uk)


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Billed as a horror-Western, Bone Tomahawk is a film without direct cinematic precedent. For starters, it's really more of a Western with a short horror film packaged seamlessly into one brief and glorious stretch of its narrative. It's also the first very good film in the history of film to marry the two genres (with respect to the great Dusk Till Dawn, which isn't really a Western). I am, of course, operating on the premise that such titles as Billy the Kid Vs. Dracula, The Quick and Undead and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter aren't exactly "triumphs."
Sure, you could argue that it draws from a patchwork of disparate sources: an amalgam of The Searchers and The Hills Have Eyes, or perhaps the warped offspring of The Descent and Apocalypto.
The closest singular film I can link it to would be the black comedy Ravenous (1999). Both, after all, are cannibal-themed period pieces that traffic in undertones of supernatural terror while maintaining a sense of morbid humor.
Bone Tomahawk, however, is simply a different kind of animal. Its humor is more subtle; its horror worlds more horrific; its Western more… Western. The closest singular source I can link it to is Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian, but while that would encompass Bone Tomahwak's grotesque and philosophical Western leanings, it doesn't fully capture the more traditional horror avenue into which it (quite literally) devolves.
In short, this movie does something profound for viewers like myself (and other adherents of the idea that bleak cinema is like ASMR) by combining two of the best grim genres ever created into a tidy little package of bloody carnage and retaining the bleakest soulful expression that each has to offer. Furthermore, there has never been a more perfect movie to recommend on a blog that doesn't focus specifically on horror, crime, Western or thriller, but instead connects these genres through an undercurrent of thrilling morbidity and bleakness.
But enough gushy babbling. Here's your goddam synopsis:
Like Ravenous, Bone Tomahawk is propelled in part by a fantastic cast of recognizable b-listers. Ravenous gave us the great performances of Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle and Jeffrey Jones. In Tomahawk we have Kurt Russell harkening back to his Snake Plissken and R.J. MacReady days as a mean-as-nails, no-nonsense sonuvabitch frontier sherriff.
Speaking of The Thing, first-time director S. Craig Zahler draws from a dark pool of horror and crime cinema vets to bring his script to life. Richard Jenkins (The Cabin in the Woods) steals the show as a simple-minded, chatty backup deputy who serves as Russell's loyal bloodhound.
James Wan alum Patrick Wilson (who I'm starting to realize can actually act, even if he ain't much with a Western accent) plays the lead of a crippled land surveyor spearheading a rescue party. We also get Sid Haig (Rob Zombie vet), David Arquette (Scream, Ravenous), Zahn McClarnon (Season Two of Fargo, Resolution) and Lili Simmons (True Detective, Banshee), with the latter looking way too hot for frontier life. Oh, and then there's Matthew fucking Fox as a bloodthirsty playboy Indian hunter in what might just be his best-ever role (meaning it's completely tolerable).
I don't really feel like giving much away about this film, as I think you should just experience it knowing that you're going to get something Western, weird and horrific. But for a bit of background, it borrows the theme of a doomed four-man search-and-rescue party a la John Ford's Searchers who are out to retrieve a damsel in distress from a group of "troglodyte" cave-dwelling Indians. (A story which was originally inspired by the capture of Cynthia Ann Parker, as chronicled in S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon—a must-read for Cormac McCarthy fans, by the way.)
Packed with brilliant dialogue (especially in the hands of Richard Jenkins), claustrophobically sublime Old West cinematography and one of the best climaxes I've seen in any genre in years, Bone Tomahawk would surely make my list of the best horror films of the past decade. But then there's the predicament of how—like a another one of my favorite 2015 would-be horror films, Spring—it isn't a full-fledged horror film. It's an anomaly. A brilliant, grotesque, slow-burn anomaly that you simply have to behold to comprehend.
IMDb: 7.1
-Sam Adams
NOTE: Bone Tomahawk is currently free for Amazon Prime subscribers.


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I Chronicles 16:8-12
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
10 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
11 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
12 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
There are no other memories I cherish more than the moment I first caught sight of my husband-to-be, nervously waiting for me at the altar. That surreal moment in time represented the culmination of so many hopes, dreams, and prayers. My job of "Watering the camels" had come to an end, and if you could have looked inside my chest, you would have seen my heart leaping in sheer joy as I made my way down to David. Every ounce of my body, soul, and spirit exalted and rejoiced as I made my way to the God-given answer to years of waiting and hundreds of tearful but resolute prayers for a husband and companion. Had there been time that day, we could have spent hours recounting the most amazing story of God's guidance, protection, mercy, and provision in our lives. Our story was a testimony of His glorious faithfulness, as He patiently worked and moved to intersect our lives and hearts to become one. On that day, we Rejoiced!!!!
Today my husband, I am giving thanks to the Lord for you. Our lives are beautifully marked with the fingerprints of the Holy, Righteous, Living God. Every page of our story contains the unmistakable bold, rich, strokes of His abundant mercy, love, and grace. My heart rejoices as I think back over the past 10 year and my spirit exalts as I look ahead with curiosity to the future that has been set aside for us since the beginning of time.
My prayer today is that He would bring to mind the innumerable moments in time when He demonstrated His love, compassion, and faithfulness to you. May your heart be overcome with a sense of awe and wonder as you recall precise Divine interactions with Him. May these moments wipe away any doubt or fear of His love, presence, power, or favor for you! My prayer is that the 33 years of His presence and work so clearly evidenced in your life would be a source of joy. May His deeds in the past be a cause for you to rejoice today regardless of the pressures and trials you face. He has loved you with an everlasting love, revel in His love, and the endless provision of power and grace evidenced in your life.


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Here's Why Global Music Revenue Rose For First Time Since 1999
By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.
According to the latest numbers from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), global music revenue rose 0.3 percent to $16.5 billion in 2013, reversing 12 straight years of declines (.pdf). Apparently, where music is concerned, 13 is a lucky number.
"At the beginning of the digital revolution it was common to say that digital was killing music," Sony Music Entertainment international chief executive Edgar Berger told the New York Times. "The reality is that digital is saving music."
The Times credits the following factors for this increase:
- Digital music sales (a.k.a. iTunes, Amazon, etc.) are rising.
- Subscription fees (Rdio, Spotify, Rhapsody, Muve, Deezer, etc.) are "growing rapidly." This is hardly surprising, because many of the numbers people are complaining about are old, but it's obviously good news — and it should even improve our actual culture, for real.
- Licensing revenue (i.e. to film, advertisements, videogames, YouTube, etc.) is also "growing rapidly."
"We can see growth happening already from Brazil to Scandinavia, Canada to India," said Berger within the report. "We think this is the start of a global growth story for the industry."
The Times doesn't mention that apps running on Spotify's and Rdio's APIs are also contributing to these fees, but they're helping. Users of Spotify's third-party desktop apps listened to 1,500 years of music in the first three months they were available, and Spotify has to pay for every second. That effect will likely become more pronounced as these apps move beyond the desktop and become commercialized, attracting more developers and brands.
Ultimately, though, it's all about multiple sources of revenue in the digital age. This digital-driven turnaround will not propel the music industry to its old heights ($38 billion per year) overnight. But for anyone even tangentially involved in music — and the much larger group of people consisting of music fans — this is good news no matter how you slice it.
(NYT via Debbie Newman; image courtesy of IFPI)


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For most of July and August 2017 I've used an iPad Pro as my primary work computer. Here are my thoughts as I wrap up the experiment.
I chose a 9.7-inch iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard.
Why do this? Two reasons. First, as an empathy challenge to look for quality issues in the products I work on for Automattic. To truly feel the pain of working from a mobile device, that's more common than a laptop or desktop computer for many of our customers. Second, to try it as a viable alternative for normal work. As Matt told us in a work chat, the iPad Pro is "always on, super fast, split screen, always connected [with available SIM option and a paid mobile broadband account], long battery life, fantastic screen, works on desk or lean back."
For other perspectives, see Beau Lebens's recap Working on an iPad from late 2016, and Paolo Belcastro's iPad-only experiment in 2014. I also recommend this review on Quartz: The new iPad Pro is pretty great—if you accept it for what it is.
Below are my notes in journal form. I used the iOS Simplenote app to document my findings as I went along.
July 1, 2017
Which apps support Pencil? How can I use it to draw? What about annotating screenshots? Keyboard doesn't appear so can't use TextExpander; unless I can configure a shortcut key instead. Using iOS text replacement works instead.
July 8, 2017
Tried out Penultimate based on Beau's recommendation. Sweet app, just need to work on my penmanship. Could help me be more visual in my communication, Maeda style. Note up things and not just in text. Mark up images, highlight things, share graphics.
Right away I miss things from TextExpander like
ttime to put in the current time stamp.
This keyboard will also take getting used to; it's tiny! I wonder if I could connect my bigger Mac keyboard to it temporarily. It's a bit harder to type, so might lead to wrist or hand strain versus the iMac keyboard which takes almost no effort to push down the keys.
I miss in-page or in-app search. Say I'm editing a Dropbox text file, and want to see if I already mentioned a word. On desktop I'd Cmd-F but on iOS I can't seem to have the same function, so might duplicate some things, and lose time scrolling around. Simplenote search is nice, though.
Might be a time-waster to not have Cmd-F for websites — I use that a ton on P2s and stuff. Note, I discovered that both Chrome and Safari apps support it, but not all iOS apps do.
Notes on Simplenote or Dropbox for text editing: bigger text size in Simplenote is nicer to read. Simplenote saves immediately, Dropbox I could forget to click Save.
What are other amazing notes apps? I might switch back to Simplenote for everything — tags instead of folders. And archive things in Dropbox folders if not an "active" project or team. Alister recommends Bear, but it's iOS only and I have an Android phone.
I really like the Penultimate app. Lined or plain paper, grid layout; easy to erase and highlight. The only thing to learn is a smoother sharing flow. Currently trying Evernote to sync the images back to my other computer.
Now trying with my Logitech K811 keyboard, the action is super nice but the whole thing feels huge (the keyboard). Could work. Wouldn't travel with it, though, so getting used to the small one is probably smarter.
July 8, 2017
I miss accessing the internal employee directory to look up people and teams at work, and other internal tools. Might need to set up VPN for some things, but turns out on iOS using our internal proxy requires a jailbreak.
Annoying quirk of iOS that start of sentences require capitalization; even in text documents where I want to say iOS it fixes it. Also my personal todo format with lowercase O is hard to do. 🙂 Hack: type two letters, then backspace to remove the uppercase one.
IiPad then delete first I, to leave
I love the iOS text replacement for quick-and-easy TextExpander replacement. Also like touching the suggested spellings in the tablet's bottom bar. I imagine this is what the Touch Bar on the new MacBooks is like, but haven't used one yet.
July 10, 2017
Booked a flight, bought a jacket on REI, read P2s, posted to Delta P2, answered emails, and edited some Google documents. Not bad. Tried out Zoom and Skype — the camera angle might be less than ideal. Also can't use my Sennheiser headset because it's USB only.
For using this while traveling will want to set up a SIM card for broadband. Or try an MacBook Air or MacBook instead. The touch screen is super cool, though — and I'd mostly just need something on a plane once in awhile.
July 11, 2017
It's naturally quite hard to open links in Chrome. The launcher in the Share menu only gives the option to use "Add bookmark" or "Add to reading list" — when I simply need "Open this link in Chrome" as the action. Exception to this are Google apps; Gmail gives the option to launch in Chrome or Safari, with the ability to save the preference for all links. Kind of like the Choosy app on OS X used to work.
Using the native app in iOS actually feels… behind Calypso (WordPress.com) in Chrome webview. I was surprised by that. Aesthetically, and also when using WordPress.com Reader for internal P2s and comments, the functionality feels clunky in the app. Seeing comment replies together with the post body feels more natural.
I miss RescueTime and other timing apps. They don't work on iOS apparently due to security and privacy for apps and usage.
Split screen is super nice. Simplenote is so smooth — such a beautiful experience on iPad.
I keep running into the first letter capitalization default setting with iOS. Trying to type "w00t" is a challenge.
Screenshot from a P2 theme comment form:
Settings change in iOS:
Doesn't seem to stick for first letter auto-capitalization. Hmm. Still using the first two letter hack I mentioned before.
July 13–21, 2017
Using the sketching apps with Pencil fun and inspiring in a way I didn't expect. Sync via Evernote is nice, sometimes exporting to Dropbox for reference in situ. The freehand drawing makes me miss type setting, though, since that always looks great. My attempts to liven up a blank white page with a digital pen are sort of terrible so far.
Here are two examples from Penultimate:
I'm loving the autocorrect on this OS. It's pretty slick. When you mistype something, you just keep going and it works. The only thing I'm noticing is my thumb on the space bar is getting a bit tired, just today.
July 21, 2017
Quick notes today about using the iPad Pro as a main machine. Harder than I expected to move text around, though OK on iPad (really bad on my Nexus 6P phone when trying to move a flight itinerary by copy-paste from a web page to Simplenote). Annoying quirk with first letter capitalization in iOS is still bugging me. Oh well.
July 27, 2017
Loving the Cmd keyboard shortcuts much like on desktop: Cmd-tab to switch apps, Cmd-space to search like Spotlight, Cmd-Shift-3 to take a screenshot, Cmd-h to go to home screen directly. Tip: hold down Cmd to see the available shortcuts for the current app.
July 28, 2017
Publishing a blog post to simpledream.net was a bit slow, trying to grab a YouTube video and link to slides. I ended up with a lost post content (was able to copy the HTML first). Frozen editor pane, couldn't save or recover it.
I use keyboard controls a lot, and certain ones don't work on the iPad: Cmd-d to delete from start of a line, when using Cmd-L for address bar, choices come down in a menu — can't use arrow and Enter like on desktop (Chrome, Safari).
August 1, 2017
Biggest issue after one month is ergonomic: my neck and shoulders hurt because of the angle; typing on the small keyboard is harder on my wrists. I love the laser focus with 1-2 apps at once, portability and battery life, drawing with Pencil, and the beautiful screen. I didn't purchase a mobile broadband plan for the available SIM option — just used WiFi everywhere.
Because of the ergonomics I wouldn't consider using this full-time as a main computer. Besides the neck and wrist discomfort, there's the issue of the camera angle. It's hard to get it right — straight at my face, slightly down.
Aug 8, 2017
My coworker Marek mentioned the 10.5″ iPad Pro has a wider keyboard; could be a better fit. I might just get another laptop next time, though — to continue coding when needed, as well as access to internal tools.
As I mentioned before, I love discovering new keyboard shortcuts by holding down the Cmd key. With Chrome for example, you see all the options and don't have to memorize them. Just remember holding down the Cmd key.
Screenshot from the GitHub website, using Chrome:
Aug 9, 2017
Used the iPad on the flight from Europe back to the USA. Plugged into power, so didn't test the battery life. Went well with Zoom, was able to join a team meeting even with the inflight GoGo wireless. The form factor is nice and compact, making it ideal for small plane seats.
Nice fit on a small plane seat, allows lots of reading and writing when you need the focus. I think at home, or with a nice office setup, it'd feel restrictive. For my coworkers that travel a lot, though, could compete with a lightweight laptop for primary travel machine — especially if a slightly bigger version. But, a touchscreen laptop like Surface Pro could be the best of both worlds. Next version of the Touch Bar? iPad and MacBook merging someday?
For developers and designers it'll probably never be powerful enough. For writers, it probably would be perfect if the ergonomics were better: screen at eye height, comfortable hand position for keyboard. Screen resolution and brightness is superb, however. Using Simplenote and Google Drive for document editing is a pleasure.
August 13, 2017
To wrap it up, I'll probably use the iPad often, just not as a primary machine. Supplement my visual sketch work, reading, newspapers and magazines; great for travel and tight spaces; ideal for writing and reading when focus is at a premium. Overall, it's not a full replacement for a laptop because of the bad ergonomics over long periods, and the lack of full access to necessary work tools.


text:
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court soon will pull the trigger on the epic health care case. Better be ready to rumble. Everyone else is, as the court should announce Monday, June 25, or by the end of the week whether the Obama administration's signature health care law lives or dies, in whole or in part.
"We'll be ready for court contingencies," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius pledged.
Key players certainly are prepared to pounce, whichever way the court moves. If the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act survives, Republicans will introduce repeal bills to keep the debate roiling. If the law dies, Democrats will turn an "activist" Supreme Court into a juicy campaign target while lawmakers from both parties resurrect certain favored portions of the measure. If the individual mandate to purchase coverage is cut out but the rest of the law is left intact, lawmakers and insurance companies will be figuring out how to manage what remains.
"The question is always, does Congress want half a loaf?" Justice Elena Kagan noted during oral arguments. "Is half a loaf better than no loaf?"
Whatever happens, it's unlikely that Congress will act quickly, except to issue news releases. Republicans control the House of Representatives, but Democrats run the Senate. And lawmakers are scheduled to recess from June 29 until July 9.
Insurance companies, too, will need time to adjust. Len Nichols, the director of the Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics at George Mason University, noted that "insurers have been preparing for reforms, and they would have to do a 180 anticipating deregulation" that could force them to return to old business models.
Still, some crucial maneuvering already has occurred.
Aetna, Humana and United Healthcare have declared that they'll continue offering certain popular provisions of the law regardless of the court's eventual decision. These protected provisions include an option to keep children on their parents' policies up to the age of 26.
More than 40 other parts of the law also have kicked in already, including protections for children who have pre-existing medical conditions and provisions that lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors.
"While every health care plan will make its own decision, many will maintain important patient protections," stressed Karen Ignagni, the president and chief executive officer of America's Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group.
The health care case is one of only six left to be decided from the Supreme Court term that began last October. Some of the other pending decisions also are huge, including a ruling on Arizona's strict immigration law. But none is as complex as the challenge to the health care legislation, which spanned 2,700 pages when it passed Congress on a party-line vote two years ago. Even when boiled down into statute, the health care package covers 975 pages.
The Supreme Court's deliberations, too, have been monumental. The six hours of oral arguments that stretched over three days in March were the most since the mid-1960s. The 136 amicus briefs filed by kibitzers ranging from the California Public Employees' Retirement System to the Montana Shooting Sports Association set a court record.
Every interest group worth its salt already has its talking points and news releases prepared. Law schools and law firms are barraging journalists with experts prepared to opine. On recent decision days, the court's press office has been more jam-packed with reporters since, perhaps, justices were deciding the outcome of the 2000 presidential election.
"This is a case about sovereign immunity and prudential standing; maybe not what you've all come for today," Kagan announced playfully Monday to widespread laughter, as she read an unrelated decision.
Tantalizingly, the health care decision itself almost certainly has been made, at least in broad strokes. June 1 was the court's unofficial deadline for draft opinions and June 15 was the unofficial deadline for dissents and concurring opinions. Whichever way it's gone, the words definitely will flow. The divided 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals needed 304 pages last year when it ruled on health care.
Four questions will be decided:
— The most predictable is whether the court should even consider the case in the first place. There's a technical argument that the legal challenges are premature, but few expect that the court will let the historic moment simply fizzle out.
— The court then must decide whether two separate provisions survive. One is the famed individual mandate, which requires most adults either to buy insurance or pay a fee that would reach $695 by 2016. The other is a directive that states expand Medicaid coverage, at the risk of otherwise losing federal payments.
— Finally, if the court eliminates the individual mandate, justices must decide whether that measure can be severed from the law or the whole law goes down with it.
"The whole issue here is whether those (other) provisions … are so closely allied to one that has been held to be unconstitutional that they also have not been legitimately enacted," Justice Antonin Scalia said during the oral arguments.


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Rachlin: Talking Dog Blog Interview, May 24, 2007
Talking Dog Blog Interview
May 24, 2007
Robert D. Rachlin is a senior partner at Downs, Rachlin, Martin PLLC in
Burlington, Vermont, and is on the faculty of Vermont Law School. Mr.
Rachlin is counsel to two Guantánamo detainees, Saudi national Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi,
who was one of only ten detainees charged by the military commissions
until that commission process was found unlawful by the Supreme Court's
Hamdan decision, and Algerian national Djamel Amezine,
who has not been charged. On May 22, 2007, I had the privilege of
interviewing Mr. Rachlin by telephone. What follows are my interview
notes, as corrected where appropriate by Mr. Rachlin.
The Talking Dog: Where were you on September 11th?
Robert Rachlin: Then, as now, I was sitting right here in my
office, in Burlington. The news of the first attack came quickly, and
we went into a conference room to watch television, and actually
watched the second plane strike the tower. After the first plane hit,
there was some thought that it might be an accident. However, having
myself been a pilot for many years and a flight instructor, and looking
at the weather, as today, a beaut[i]ful and clear Tuesday morning, I
thought otherwise. Perhaps had it been instrument weather, coupled
with bad radar or something like that, a poor pilot might have hit a
building... but on a clear day, there was no way an airliner would have
crashed into the World Trade Center unless it was intentional.
The Talking Dog: Please identify your clients' names and nationalities, and what it is they are accused of, and where their current legal cases stand, given the recent court developments. I understand that Ghassan Abdullah Al-Sharbi had previously been charged with conspiracy to violate the laws of war (only one of ten so charged), but has not been re-charged thus far; is that correct? Please tell me how you came to be involved in representing them.
Robert Rachlin: Al-Sharbi was charged before a military
commission with conspiracy to engage in hostile acts against the United
States and its allies. After the first military commissions were
invalidated by the Hamdan case, the Military Commissisons Act of 2006
("MCA") was passed by Congress. But, Al-Sharbi, a Saudi national, has
not been charged under the MCA. The Algerian, Djamel Amezine, has been
accused of (in the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, or "CSRTs",
rather than the commissions) with having been "associated with a
terrorist group, i.e., he was found in a place where Al Qaeda people
were. He declined to appear before the CSRT, and was thus
unsurprisingly considered an enemy combatant. He was in a house with
an Al Qaeda individual, during a period when he and others were trying
to escape from Afghanistan through the Tora Bora Mountains. After
September 11th, our attacks on the Taliban government made Arabs
in Afghanistan very unpopular, and many tried to get out, and the Tora
Bora mountains were one of the escape routes. Djamel was picked up
with the collaboration of Afghan guides, and then turned over to
Pakistani bounty hunters who turned him over to the Americans; we
understand the going rate was $5,000 per head.
The Talking Dog: Can you tell me your personal impressions of your clients, and your personal impressions of Guantanamo Bay (including of soldiers and other people you've encountered there as well as the place itself)?
Robert Rachlin: The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)
in New York was spearheading the effort to obtain private counsel for
the detainees. They solicited the American College of Trial Lawyers,
and the head of the Vermont chapter sent around an e-mail to the
fellows of the ACTL, of which I am one-- and I said "well, someone's
got to do it." That was how I came to represent Amezine.
As to Al-Sharbi, his military appointed counsel, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, was looking for assistance, and so advised CCR. Well, fools rush in where angels fear to tread... so I accepted that representation as well. I then became involved and got to know Bill and developed a working relationship with the Office of Chief Defense Counsel and traveled to GTMO with them-- on the military rotator-- rather than with regular habeas counsel on the quasi-charter flights out of Ft. Lauderdale.
Al-Sharbi and I have actually never met. I was formally engaged by his father as "next friend." Al Sharbi has refused all counsel, including his detailed military counsel. Of course, the attorney client relationship is consensual. I was on a panel recently, and will be on one again, where this issue has come up-- the issue of someone who doesn't want counsel.
Well, there is a question of whether there is an issue of consent and a consensual relationship where a client is under a disability-- such as being under-age, or having a mental illness, or, perhaps, being confined incommunicado from the rest of the world under as in the case of GTMO detainees... my argument is that such people are rebuttably presumed to be acting under some kind of a disability. I'm still exploring this-- there is no final answer. While I haven't met Al-Sharbi, I have seen him at a commission proceeding; he has met Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler- and even that took some doing. Al-Sharbi has rejected counsel in "open" court (to the extent the commissions are open).
As to my other client, Djamel Amezine, he is clean cut, amiable, and courteous. He has a sense of humor. I'm not allowed to tell you what's in the classified government dossier, but I can tell you what is not there: there is nothing to suggest that he raised a finger against anyone. He happened to be in a place where there were bad people-- indeed, he was trying to escape Afghanistan at a time and place when bad people were escaping, and ergo, he is bad! He had gotten out of Algeria during a previous round of that country's troubles. I understanding he might have been traveling with a false passport.
The Talking Dog: Were you involved in the recent lobbying effort that Guantanamo habeas corpus attorneys took to members of Congress? Whether you were or not, can you comment on it? Do you see any possibility that Congress will take action with respect to Guantanamo?
Robert Rachlin: I was not involved specifically in that
action. However, I have done my own "version". I know our senator,
Pat Leahy, now Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, very well. I
visited him in his office, with military defense counsel Major Tom
Fleener and Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler, and we talked about the circumstances of
Guantánamo. Regardless of the rest of the country, our Vermont
Congressional delegation is firmly on the side of the angels on this
Pat Leahy is co-sponsoring a bill to amend the Military Commissions Act to restore habeas corpus with Sen. Arlen Specter. I don't know where that stands, but certainly, as Leahy and Spector are respectively the chairman and ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee, it will surely get a committee hearing.
And so while I was not involved with that particular round of Congressional outreach, I have done my own "brainstorming" with lawyers, officials and legislators on these issues.
The Talking Dog: Can you comment, in general, and what appears to be the Bush Administration's campaign this year to attack habeas lawyers, from Cully Stimson's remarks to the latest court motion to limit (or end) attorney visits to Guantanamo?
Robert Rachlin: Looking at it objectively, the law serves as a constraint on government, and specifically, as a constraint on the executive and executive power. Any executive tries to expand his powers-- it's almost a law of nature. And lawyers often stand in the way of that expansion, so the executive tends to attack lawyers.
Stimson's comments were deplorable in their own right from the standpoint of our traditions and values. But what has emerged, and is amazing, is that he got so little support. Indeed, the media and the press took him to task to the point were he resigned-- and this is a good sign. He's "the gift that keeps on giving""-- he promoted the rule of law by making naive and indefensible attacks on it.
The recent attempt to limit visits also smacks of a petulant effort to strike out at those trying to put brakes on executive power. Now, if the habeas cases are dismissed per the recent Al Odah and Boumedienne cases, and the government argues that, as a result, the protective orders applying to lawyers in those cases no longer apply until the lawyers file new Detainee Treatment Act (DTA) petitions (granting a very limited review to the D.C. Circuit from the CSRTs-- literally review only of whether CSRT procedures themselves were properly followed) and obtain new protective orders-- that would certainly be a far sounder tactic legally than simply the blanket ban being sought for "security" reasons as now.
But again. as lawyers are trying to constrain executive power... the attacks come, no matter how ridiculous some of the attacks may be.
The Talking Dog: Can you comment over all on your view of how the media has handled the recent assaults on attorneys, and can you comment on how the media has handled American detention policy overall?
Robert Rachlin: My impression is that the media have been overwhelmingly against the detention policy. Certainly, most editorials in the "responsible" news media seem to be uniformly against it, joining, by the way, most other countries in the world.
The Talking Dog: What has been your personal experience with the military commissions (to the extent any proceedings took place before the Hamdan decision found the first version unlawful), the combatant status review tribunals, and habeas corpus proceedings, on behalf of your clients? Have you taken any action in light of the recent Boumediene decision by the D.C. Circuit Court and the denial of certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court?
Robert Rachlin: The military commissions have two extremely serious flaws (not military commissions in general, but I'm talking about the particular commissions associated with Guantánamo). These flaws can be classified as systemic and procedural.
First the systemic flaws. The Secretary of Defense appoints the
convening authority or appointing authority (different terms for the
same thing),and the chief defense counsel and the prosecutors. The
convening authority appoints the judges. This is a serious flaw. In
regular courts martial, the convening authority does not appoint
judges. But in this case, the highest prosecuting authority, the
Secretary of Defense is appointing the judges via his appointed
convening authority. So... the convening authority, answerable to the
SecDef, is also appointing the judges who will judge the cases they
choose to prosecute.
It is generally believed by people involved in defense that the judges have been selected on the basis of their proneness and propensity to convict. The judges are all military judges, selected from the court-martial system.
Another problem is that the convening authority acts effectively as a court of appeal from the commissions. One actual example was the question of whether detainees would be allowed to defend themselves. The presiding officer referred the question to the convening authority, who said "no." This is a serious departure from Anglo-American notions and traditions of separation of prosecutors from judges and how past military commissions and courts martial have been conducted.
This systemic flaw is not merely theoretical. A couple of years ago,
Brigadier General Hemingway-- assisting the convening authority --
announced that everyone at GTMO was guilty. In lectures, I give the
analogy of an individual charged here in Vermont in one of our district
courts. The Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, which might review that
individual's case, announces before trial "that guy is guilty"...
well, this just cannot be in a system that respects the rule of law.
Besides the structural flaws, there are serious procedural flaws. For example, a detainee can be convicted purely on hearsay evidence. If the government contends that evidence is "sensitive", it can be kept from the hearing of the detainee - in other words, a detainee can be convicted on evidence about which he knows nothing. There is, of course, no application of the Federal Rules of Evidence. The chief rule of evidence is that anything the presiding officer considers "reasonably probative" may be admitted.
And there is a Catch-22 on torture. Evidence obtained by torture cannot, under current rules, be admitted. But ... no evidence is permitted as to the manner of interrogations-- so you cannot prove that evidence was obtained by torture! This is right out of Kafka-- a truly abominable system. The individuals involved in this and appointed as prosecutors and judges are nice, courteous people as individuals, but they are operating in a framework that is a reproach to everything we stand for.
The Talking Dog: Do you have any knowledge of whether the military intends to re-charge Mr. al-Sharbi under its "new and improved" military commissions apparatus?
Robert Rachlin: Again, I don't know; he has not been re-charged thus far.
The Talking Dog: Can you describe what abuses your clients have suffered, and to what extent (if any) you have observed abuse or abusive conditions?
Robert Rachlin: I cannot speak about my own clients. However, FBI reports of abuse
that FBI agents actually observed have been released and
de-classified. So.. abuse has been documented by the FBI-- which will
be rather difficult to dismiss as a "tool of the left-wing"; the
specifics are reported in declassified documents, which I possess.
The Talking Dog: Do you see any kind of "exit strategy", for your own clients or for Guantanamo or American detention policy in general (for example, has your client ever been offered anything like the guilty plea that Hicks was offered), or do you concur with my view that Guantanamo and most of its current residents will remain in place as long as George W. Bush is the President?
Robert Rachlin: Overall, the only exit strategy will be political. I'm afraid that the operation of law will not spring anybody-- not in the nexxt year or two, anyway. The political pressure, however, is growing.
One possible exit strategy is to close GTMO-- decide who are the really bad guys-- after all, not everyone we are holding there are boy scouts-- and, if we have the evidence, charge them, transfer them to a secure facility within the United States, and then try them, giving them the normal procedural protections that we give others we try.
The concern about the security associated with "bringing terrorists to the United States" is silly. We tried Moussaoui in Virginia. He was convicted in a proceeding that no one criticized as unfair. Needless to say, no jihadists were running rampant in the streets as a result of that. Again, the exit strategy is to decide "who are the bad guys?"-- who committed cognizable offenses under American or international law, and then charge them and try them. If they are acquitted, send them on their way.
Of course, a lot of this will depend on public opinion, and the public is just not educated about these issues. Further, most Americans take the unfortunate attitude (as is often the case with Iraq) of, "well, it doesn't affect me personally, so I don't care that much").
We need to elect people to Congress who aren't wimps-- people who are less afraid of having the support of a half-educated electorate. And we need a much more responsible media, a media that gives actual information (such as what we're doing right now with this interview) rather than just sound-bites. And we ultimately need people to get more balanced information than is available on their 6:30 newscasts.
The Talking Dog: I join all of my readers in thanking Mr. Rachlin for being so generous with his time and for that informative interview.
Get original here.


text:
The Psychogeographical Commission
The Psychogeographical Commission was formed at the start of 2008 to explore the many interfaces between the built environment and the people who inhabit it through dérive, magick and sonic experimentation.
After a wandering the back streets of London and other large cities looking for the spirits which now dwell within them, they came to the conclusion that the psychological make-up of cities are at odds with the population's inherent rural based mythology. People simply aren't evolving to cope with cities fast enough to keep up with the constantly shifting cityscape.
They then set about creating music which blurs the line between the real and imagined landscapes in order to allow individuals to revaluate their own mythologies and provide new ideas to bring them closer to harmony with their urban surroundings.
Track list
Magick, Music and Ritual 6 - Walking with Omega 05:19
Walking with Omega is the final track from the album Patient Zero.
The album attempts to portray the mind of a Patient Zero wandering through their urban surroundings infected with the dying sun at the Summer Solstice. It tracks the advancement of symptoms as the sun goes from the height of its earthly power to its astronomical nadir just before dawn on the Winter Solstice. Each track was written during the six month period at times of lunar or solar significance, with each song portraying a thought, experience or mood of the time and place of its conception.
The entire album Patient Zero and others are available on the free to download via Urban Psychetecture.
Magick, Music and Ritual 2 - The Lost Rivers of London 07:34
One of the most obviously psychogeographical songs in the Coil catalogue, "The Lost Rivers of London" was inspired by running through the Streets of London tracing it's now enclosed rivers and uses an excerpt from Hubert Montague Crackenthorpe's "Vignettes: A Miniature Journal of Whim and Sentiment" (1896) to evoke the emotions of a Victorian London night by the Thames.
The Psychogeographical Commission's cover is deliberately more ambient than the original replacing the electronic staccato rhythm of the original with a simple cyclic guitar and concentrating more on the rivers themselves as they still wind their way under, past and sometimes through modern Cityscape.
Read more news on the blog at The Psychogeographical Commission


text:
Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. – (1 Peter 5:7, NLT)
Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. – (1 Peter 5:7, TLB)
Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for He always tenderly cares for you. – (1 Peter 5:7, TPT)
This is a timely reminder, as school feels really heavy right now. The academic demands feel unapproachable to some, and the behaviors displayed in response, disrupt and distract, making the teaching process extremely challenging. Inadvertently, I begin to carry the weight of the worry as to how to help all kids learn and grow. Though it is critical that I care, it is not my burden to bear alone. First and foremost, I need to give the weight of the worry and stress to the Lord, and allow Him to hold the heaviness. Second, I must ask for what I need. If it is strength or clarity or perspective, God is faithful to meet us where we are. When it is a tangible need that can be met in the moment by a colleague or simply by creating a built-in break, then each avenue ought to be utilized. May we cast all our cares to the Lord, for He is able and willing to walk us through, bearing the weight we are not meant to shoulder alone.
When worry and stress,
Begin to weigh down;
Give all to the Lord,
In Him, help is found.
Help in our struggles,
Strength when we feel weak;
In love and in grace,
He answers who seek.
So, go to the Lord,
With stress and concern;
He's ever for us,
Unto Him, let's turn.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that we are not meant to bear the weight of the world on our shoulders. Thank You that we can come to You and give You our worries and cares, and You will shoulder the weight and grant us the help we need to navigate whatever we face. Forgive us for attempting to bear heavy burdens on our own, rather than running to You. Teach us to trust You more, as You are our strength and peace, no matter what storm we face. Show us how to love those around us in a way that provides help, peace and hope in the places where stress or anxiousness were weighing heavily on their heart. May many come into a lasting relationship with You. Be glorified O God, as we give all of our worry and stress to You, and trust You to be our strength. Amen.
© Shannon Elizabeth Grabrick and Revelations in Writing, May 2011 – present
Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. – Psalm 68:19


text:
Finding Brett Keisel on the seventh round of the 2002 NFL Draft with the 242nd overall pick, grabbing an Aaron Smith in the fourth round of the 1999 NFL Draft – those are the player personnel equivalents of hitting the lottery. And while it's true that somebody wins the lottery every day, very, very, very rarely are you that somebody.
Because defensive linemen in a 3-4 scheme have come to be seen as complementary pieces, and because the Steelers had such grand success with Smith and Keisel, can the argument be made that spending high draft picks on this unit is a waste?
"Yes, you can get lucky in the seventh round," said General Manager Kevin Colbert. "Any time a late (drafted) player develops into a starter, you got lucky because if you thought that player was that good, you should've taken him earlier. It's a credit to the player and it's a credit to his coach that they exceeded our expectations."
Clearly, Smith and Keisel exceeded expectations. But does that then make the No. 1 pick used on Casey Hampton back in 2001 a waste? That seems to be a ridiculous contention to make about a player who was voted to five Pro Bowls – more than every defensive lineman in franchise history except for Ernie Stautner, Joe Greene, and L.C. Greenwood, by the way – and was a starter on teams that were 2-1 in Super Bowls during his career here.
"Defensive linemen are a premium in this league," said Colbert, "and so if you want to have a good defensive line, you do have to invest higher picks because, traditionally, the big guys are going to be picked higher. You look at the Pro Bowl numbers, 70 percent of the guys voted to the Pro Bowl are picked in the first three rounds. I believe it's 56 percent are picked in the first round. So, there's no great mystery to it. Whether or not a guy lives up to that expectation, we'll see."
Here's another question to ponder: who are the best 3-4 defensive linemen in the NFL right now? There could be some disagreement, but J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans and Justin Smith of the San Francisco 49ers are two of the players who must be included on any such short list.
Smith was a first-round pick in 2001, the fourth overall selection in the same draft where Hampton came to the Steelers 19th overall. And Watt was a first-round pick as well, 11th overall in the same 2011 draft that brought Cameron Heyward to the Steelers 31st overall.
And with Steelers fans, that's really the crux of the matter. Did their favorite team waste first-round draft picks on Ziggy Hood in 2009 and in Heyward in 2011?
As is to be expected, Colbert doesn't believe that to be the case with either Hood or Hayward, and it's not that difficult to come up with some facts to support his opinion.
Hood will play his fifth NFL season as a 26-year-old in 2013, and after learning behind Smith for most of his first two seasons he now has started 39 games. In 2012, his first full season as a starter, Hood finished with 40 tackles, three sacks and 17 pressures, second among the team's defensive linemen to Keisel in all three categories. Certainly the Steelers need more from Hood, and they will expect more from him as soon as the 2013 season, but those are not the numbers of a bust.
Heyward will play his third NFL season as a 24-year-old, and because he came into the league during the lockout he missed out on the entire offseason of his rookie year. Playing behind Keisel, Heyward has not made an NFL start as yet, and he finished 2012 with 22 tackles and 1.5 sacks. And don't be so quick to criticize Heyward for not being take Keisel's starting job, or Hood for finishing second to Keisel in those primary statistical categories, because Brett Keisel remains highly productive, with 58 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 40 pressures in 2012.
"Collectively that group of defensive linemen, we're happy with them because they're part of a productive defense," said Colbert. "Productivity for a defensive lineman in the 3-4 is based as much on plays that he creates as it is plays that he makes, because in all honesty, the playmakers in the 3-4 are designed to be the linebackers. There may be a time where a defensive lineman doesn't look like he's making the play, but he is creating a play for another guy.
"Traditionally, 3-4 linemen aren't going to be great playmakers, but they should be capable play-creators, and you do have to draft them high."


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A Pocket of Paris: rue Quincampoix
By Marc Rickenbach | Published: September 26, 2010
It's September again and fall will soon arrive in Paris which means the city has woken up from its August hibernation. The tourists are gone, the shops are open, the children are back in school, and galleries are redecorating their white walls with new art. It's pretty easy to get the impression that in its […]
Posted in Best Restaurants in Paris, Events, Quoi de Neuf, Wine | Also tagged -30, 75003, art, centre pompidou, galerie cour caree, galerie mediart, gallery, Gérard Alary, l'art brut, luxury biosphere, maison de la poesie, polad-hardouin, Quoi de Neuf, quoi de neuf -30, quoi de neuf art, Quoi de Neuf events, rue quincampoix, rue rambuteau, soiree, soiree bar, Théâtre Molière | 1 Comment