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Career And Education
Supreme Court Decision Important to Employment Testing Profession
Throughout the Ricci v. DeStefano case, great attention has been paid to the nature and validity of the promotional exam given to New Haven's firefighters. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision, various news outlets have interviewed the firefighters, city officials and legal experts on the case, but few have sought comments from the designers and scientists who are among those instrumental in developing these employment tests.
Stimulus Dollars Lift Hopes for Teen Jobs This Summer
WASHINGTON (NNPA) - As summer heats up and yields thousands of unemployed teenagers anxious for a break from school and looking for something to do, Black leaders and state governments are hoping that President Obama's investment in youth initiatives will help put them to work ñ boosting the economy and away from crime.
Summer School Cancellation Stirs Deep Concern in South L.A.
LOS ANGELES (NNPA) - More than 225,000 Los Angeles Unified School District families with elementary and middle school students will be forced to find alternatives to summer school this year, following an announcement that the session would be canceled due to declining revenues and the state budget deficit. The move, which is expected to save LAUSD roughly $34 million, will result in the district offering summer school and intersession at a reduced number of high schools, and solely for credit recovery — meaning only an estimated 74,000 students who need the courses to meet graduation requirements are eligible.
Low Income Chicago Children Facing Barriers to Pre-School
CHICAGO (NNPA) - Three years after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich launched a bold initiative to provide universal pre-school for all 3-and 4-year-olds, a new report shows that children in low-to-moderate income communities are still falling through the cracks. In 2006, Blagojevich created the Preschool for All program that aimed to expand the number of pre-school slots, especially for economically disadvantage toddlers. But a report, called "Why isn't Johnny in preschool" found that between 40 to 64 percent of preschool-aged children were not enrolled in any structured preschool or Head Start programs.
To the Rescue: National Urban League Bringing Empowerment Fair to Dallas
DALLAS (NNPA) - They don't pretend to be superheroes. Yet the National Urban League, in conjunction with the Urban League of Greater Dallas and North Central Texas, are determined to come to the rescue for possibly thousands of North Texas residents that have been disproportionately slammed to the ground from the evils of the nation's economic crisis and severe recession. The Urban League's super weapon is The Economic Empowerment and Restore Our Homes "Rescue Fair". It is set for this Saturday June 13, at the Dallas Convention Center, with hopes of helping put a dent into the high rate of unemployment, home foreclosures and health disparities effecting North Texas' urban communities.
Parental Separation Anxiety: Tips on How to Cope with Sending a Child Off to College
While some fathers and mothers fear the experience of sending their child off to college will be a traumatic one, it doesn't have to be, said Mark Thompson, director of Colgate University's Counseling & Psychological Services and father of a current college student. "There are definitely healthy ways for today's involved parents to stay connected with their sons and daughters, and maintain their distance — and sanity — at the same time," he said.
More Articles...
- Study to Examine What Makes Kids Thrive Or Struggle
- "Race Overwhelms Everything:" PhD Grad Studies Impact of Black Sororities
- Teach Your Children Well: Focused, Happier Kids Grow Up to be Healthier Adults
- Finding a Stereotype That Is True: Mexicans More Sociable than Americans
- FSU: Students Selected to Attend National Leadership Conference
- Racial Discrimination And Excessive Force

subset: commoncrawl


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Archetypology 101: Fact, Fiction, & Fallacies
Episode 5 - Rebel without a CAWSby Aeon
September 18, 2001 � �
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Frank the fighter, Waldo the wizard, Charlene the cleric and Thomas the thief are all sitting together in a bar. They've just decided that the evil haunted mine shaft near the village is a good place to go adventuring. Waldo wants to go look for magical artifacts. Charlene has heard that there are undead down there that need to be put to rest. Thomas is looking for a quick way to pick up some stray loot.
Frank just wants to go kill stuff.
The fighter is arguably the least-developed and most useless character archetype in the history of role-playing. And yet despite this fact, every party has one (or more), and he crops up again and again; in fact, of all the character classes, races and other archetypes that have trickled down through the years, the fighter is the only one that's shared by almost every RPG that I can think of, from the earliest pen-and-paper games down to the latest PC and console games on the shelves right now.
Let me be clear: I am not talking about the Barbarian, or the Paladin, or the Ranger, or even the Cavalier, Monk, Mercenary, Knight, Crusader, Gladiator, Soldier, Highwayman, Watchman or Guard. Because each of those names carries with it a certain understanding of role, of a purpose and a place in the world that comes along with the sword and shield. But for over a quarter-century, the fighter has merely been dragged along for the bloody ride, the only significant change in that entire time being the slight acquiescence to sexual equality by changing the title of the class from the blatantly sexist "Fighting Man," as it appeared in the earliest Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, to what we have today: Fighter.
As if that were any better.
The main problem here, which you may or may not have fully appreciated by now, is that every other character archetype comes with a built-in purpose; a mission in life; a goal; even, dare I say, a job. Your wizard, normally locked in his tower, has plenty of motivation to go adventuring, in that he needs to find spell components, research forgotten spells, and discover artifacts from past eras. Your cleric needs to spread the faith, tend to her people, and smite disbelievers. Your thief is the most obvious of all, even if the "rogue" moniker is a little less so; being a thief means you want to take things from others, which means the thief is in it for the money.
But the fighter doesn't carry any such convenient luggage with him. No passport, no vacation plan, not even a t-shirt that says "My friends went to the Caves of J'Bar and all I got was this lousy shirt." No, just a blurry photo on his driver's license and maybe, MAYBE, a crumpled business card stuffed in his back pocket that reads "Have sword, will travel," like the hero in "Have Gun, Will Travel." Except unlike Mr. Paladin, or any paladin for that matter, the fighter is more James Dean than Richard Boone.
To use a more modern analogy, the fighter is not entirely unlike the Heckler & Koch Close Assault Weapon System (CAWS). Though it never saw actual military use, this combat shotgun was capable of firing in full automatic mode at a rate of 240 12-gauge shotgun shells per minute, emptying its 10-round clip into a target in just about 2.5 seconds.
Beautiful to think about, in a perverse "Would you like a side of fries to go with your Orcburger" sort of way, but leaving no doubts as to the purpose of such a weapon, or such a person. A weapon without a war, a rebel without a cause. Better knock before you come in. Come to think of it, why not ring the doorbell with your 10-foot wooden pole?
Don't give us none of your aggravation
We had it with your discipline
Saturday night's alright for fighting
Get a little action in
- Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting), Elton John
Let's cut to the chase--playing a fighter character is all about one thing: killing. Because I don't care what the rules say, you've never used a blackjack or a sap in your entire life, and you can't even pronounce the term "subdual damage." You're a killer, plain and simple. Fighters exist to kill things, as rapidly and as often as possible.
Allowing that, one has to wonder exactly why fighters are called fighters. Why not murderers, or plunderers, or criminals, or bloodthirsty savages? Well, I think I answered my own question there--we are, after all, talking about role-playing games, and questions of Satanism aside, I don't think Mom and Dad are going to want Billy playing a game in which he boasts to friends that he's got a 24th level Murderer.
Fighter isn't a dirty word; in fact, it's almost pleasant. Your parents would be proud to raise a sturdy little fighter. "He put up quite a fight," your mother might say of your birth. "He fought the good fight," relatives might say at your funeral. Somewhere in between, your father might pat you on the back for fighting the school bully, whether you walked away with a black eye or not. When you grow up, you might become a Fire Fighter, or even, if you're brave enough, a Freedom Fighter. Older relatives who fought in World War II might talk about Fighter Pilots, or even Foo Fighters (and they're not talking about the band, either).
The word "fighter" comes to us from around the 13th Century, when it originally meant, simply, "one who fights." For obvious reasons, at the time it was associated and almost synonymous with "warrior" or "soldier," since they were the ones doing most of the fighting. In short, it meant something. To be a fighter meant that one had a purpose. Granted, the dictionary makes no bones about what that purpose is, even if it doesn't come right out and say it--a fighter fights, after all, and to fight is "to contend in battle or physical combat; to strive to overcome by blows or weapons."
Exactly how we get from real medieval combat to the fighter class in role-playing games is pretty obvious. As most are aware, RPGs have their origins in Miniature Wargaming, in which people with way too much time on their hands meticulously painted hundreds of tiny lead figurines, arrayed them on tables, and re-enacted famous battles and fights from history. Newer role-players might be surprised and shocked to learn that the Chainmail Miniatures advertisement on the back page of that new Dungeons & Dragons book is really in many ways a return to roots.
But it's even more cyclical than that, really. Moving lead miniatures around on a table comes straight out of board gaming, and, specifically, out of chess, in which you don't have Wizards and Bugbears but you do have Kings, Queens and Knights battling it out for dominance. And of course, if you look back far enough, you discover that chess was itself the creation of a philosopher in India who wanted a way to recreate a battle between two armies in an abstract fashion.
Amusingly, in light of the continuing debate on the morality of role-playing games, even playing chess was grounds for excommunication from the Church around about 1110, when John Zomares, a monk of the Eastern Church, decided that it wasn't in keeping with Christian morals. The more things change, indeed.
But to get back to the point, and the pointy end of the sword, the fighter is more or less the default character class, against which all others are compared. And that's precisely because the fighter was the "class" which was represented by all those little pawns and miniatures. In short, the fighter represents fighters. Simple enough.
But, as I touched on earlier, that doesn't give the fighter a purpose, nor does it explain what he's expected to be doing in a role-playing game. When the fighter was a black pawn or a grey figurine, he represented a warrior, someone who was sent into battle for a reason. Remove the fighter from the fight, and you have a real quandary: what the hell is there to fight?
Regardless of what game you're playing, the fighter typically has more "hit points," a higher strength/might and a higher constitution/health. He can wear the heaviest armor, use the nastiest weapons, and generally gets the best combat-related skills of any of the classes. He can't cast spells, he can't turn undead, and he can't pick locks or hide in the shadows. He is nothing more than a killing machine.
Which is fine, in the proper perspective. Take the "common" subclasses of the fighter as Dungeons & Dragons presents them: the Paladin, the Ranger and the Barbarian. The Paladin kills within the narrow perspective of purging the world of evil; more will be discussed in a later episode of this series, but for now it's enough to acknowledge that he represents a specific goal, drawn from tales of crusading knights and noble sacrifices. The Ranger is straight out of Tolkien, and he too comes along with a backstory--that of the sneaky woodsman tracking through trackless woods, hunting and trapping and living off the land. Even the wild Barbarian has his baggage with him, his ancestors running the gamut from Attila to Conan.
But the fighter, like the cheese, stands alone.
The problem plagues fighters in all gaming systems, but it's most obvious in the game which first featured him, namely Dungeons and Dragons. In the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook, each of the classes comes with brief descriptions of their purposes and goals in life. The other classes are fairly narrow and specific in scope: Wizard researches spells, Rogue steals things. But the fighter's description reads like a shopping list of different possibilities, around two dozen listed in just a few paragraphs: "The questing knight, the conquering overlord, the king's champion, the elite foot solider, the hardened mercenary, and the bandit king..." Didn't this guy talk to his high school guidance counselor? It seems nobody can figure out what the heck the fighter is supposed to be doing. And the brief "explanation" in the text merely says that "fighters see adventures, raids, and dangerous missions as their job." As if that's supposed to explain everything. I like adventure too, but that doesn't mean I wander down to Market St. every Saturday to mow down some pedestrians with my bastard sword.
In the end, it all works out, because for most people, role-playing means dungeon crawling, and dungeon crawling means plenty of things to kill. But if we remove ourselves from that for a minute, we have to seriously question the point of all of this. Merely arguing that fighters are fighting because they like killing things means they are all mass murderers, and there's got to be more to it than that. Who are we killing? Where are we doing our killing? Why kill?
Why fight?
"Have Gun Will Travel" reads the card of a man
A knight without armor in a savage land
His fast gun for hire heads the calling wind
A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin
- The Ballad of Paladin, Johnny Western
From 1957 to 1963, American television told the tale of a wandering fighter named Paladin who lived in a hotel, slept with prostitutes, drank bourbon, and charged a thousand dollars for his services. Once hired, he'd wander on over to wherever you were having trouble, fix the problem, collect his fee and wander back to the inn for another round. Of course, he did carry with him a sense of morals (hence the name, Paladin); if you hired him and turned out to be the bad guy, for example, he'd probably turn his guns on you. And much like the Japanese samurai, who were trained in the arts of haiku and origami as well as swordplay, Paladin was a scholar to boot. But in the end, it almost always came down to fists and bullets, and a fight of some sort.
Since fighting and killing have been around since Cain slew Abel, it should come as no surprise that fighters have been present in literature, TV shows and film from the very start of each of those mediums. Most, if not all of our earliest written works (I don't exactly have a list here) contain references to fighting and warfare, and for many of them war and battle is the driving force behind the action. Consider the Iliad and the Odyssey, Beowulf, The Song of Roland... I'm not going to list them all; you know their names better than I, perhaps. Even the Old Testament of the Bible is in some ways a list of battles and bloody conflict.
One key difference between the central figures in these works and the vanilla RPG fighter is that these heroes are just that: heroes. In some cases they are princes or kings, in others they are chosen warriors of God/the gods, holy knights/paladins or somesuch. These are not mere grunts and fighters, per se. Their deeds and actions are being recalled after the fact, their achievements and prowess being heralded for the ages. We don't want to hear about the life of a typical medieval warrior: Woke up; met friends around campfire; lined up in formation; charged over hill; pierced by arrow from longbow; lied on muddy field in pain; had skull crushed by enemy mace; died.
Another difference between the key figures in these stories and our generic "fighter" is that these people are fighting for a very good reason--either because something big and nasty is attacking someone (atypical), or because they're in the middle of a war (overwhelmingly typical). The reason for this is obvious; consider what a story about a real medieval/fantasy role-playing fighter would read like if it detailed the events of a typical role-playing session: Woke up, met friends in bar; went down to caves; killed some orcs; killed some more orcs; killed a bugbear; went back to town because cleric was out of Cure Light spells. The stories are about big events because big events make good stories.
However, when it comes to TV and film, this isn't always the case; there are many, many films which contain characters that are recognizable as true "fighters." Consider the double edged sword of the Kurosawa samurai film and the spaghetti Western. Both film "genres" featured one or more nameless fighters wandering a bleak landscape in which they were called into action, not to fight and die as members of an army, and not to slay a mighty dragon as prophesied in ancient manuscripts, but to perform some considerably menial task of questionable worth (at least when one considers the larger picture). The films are generally divided into two categories: the first features a coalition of fighters, and the other a single, typically nameless fighter who performs the task alone.
The finest example of the "group of fighters" picture is unquestionably 1954's The Seven Samurai, by Akira Kurosawa. In this film, a wandering ronin (masterless samurai) comes across a village which is beset by bandits. Realizing that he cannot defend them alone, but wanting to perform the task set before him, he gathers six other "samurai" to assist him in defending the village, each receiving three meals a day in exchange for their service (which is good pay for these down-on-their-luck fighters, who are all jobless and homeless). Ultimately the seven successfully defend the village from an assault by some twoscore bandits, and head off into the sunset, mission accomplished.
Those unfamiliar with the film might recognize the story in the guise of 1960's The Magnificent Seven, a Western which retold the tale in a small Mexican village. Those unfamiliar with both films will nevertheless recognize the theme of a group gathering to perform some service, echoed throughout the 20th Century in films like 1977's Star Wars (which Lucas readily admits is based on Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress), 1983's Krull and 1998's blindingly obvious Ronin. This is to say nothing of Tolkien's The Hobbit, which by itself is nothing more than a group of fighters, a thief and a wizard getting together to invade a dragon's lair.
The nameless wanderer (immortalized in the D&D 3rd Edition Sword and Fist supplement as the Ghostwalker) has pretty much the same motivations as the groups mentioned above (namely, to get the job done and leave town), but he, of course, works alone. The best example is again Kurosawa's Sanjuro Kuwabatake (a pseudonym; we never learn the character's real name) in 1961's Yojimbo and the 1962 sequel Sanjuro, the ronin who wanders into town and cleans up someone else's mess before heading off again. In Yojimbo he's a bit more cocky and headstrong, cutting down opponents so quickly that he has to correct his math: "I want three coffins... make that four." But by the end of Sanjuro, he's almost growing weary of the killing that makes him what he is, stating displeasure at having to kill another fighter who, like him, was "a sword without a sheath." Or a gun without a holster. Or a rebel without a cause. All dangerous.
Yojimbo, of course, was remade into another Western, 1964's A Fistful of Dollars, which starred Clint Eastwood in what is arguably the role that made him what he is today. That film was followed by two others to complete the "Man With No Name" trilogy: 1965's For a Few Dollars More and 1966's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The theme appears in a whole slew of other films of different genres, from the aforementioned Have Gun, Will Travel, to 1976's Rocky to 1988's Die Hard (and its two sequels), and 1999's Fight Club, which takes the whole theme of the solitary, mysterious fighter into absurd territory by putting two individuals into the body of one fighter, and slapping silly, redundant rules on top of the whole purpose of fighting: "The first rule about fight club is you do not talk about fight club. The second rule about fight club is you do not talk about fight club."
Purpose. It's a word we keep coming back to. For the fighters in the films and stories mentioned above, the purpose is relatively questionable and ultimately fleeting, but it's there, be it a village in need of defense or a boxing match that needs to be won, or some terrorists that need to be taught a lesson in Bruce Willisitude. Purpose has also been the problem plaguing real life fighters throughout history.
The death of one is a tragedy
But death of a million is just a statistic
- The Fight Song, Marilyn Manson
War. It's as good a reason as any for a person to fight. But there's a significant difference between a warrior and a fighter, and to demonstrate that we first need to look at what war means.
The dictionary defines "war" as "a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations," the word originating at some point in the 12th century, derived from the Middle English "werre", probably from the Old High German "werra," which meant "strife." In short, it's a pretty specific sort of fight we're talking about, being a declared conflict between states or nations. Which is to say, this isn't something that involves one or two fighters in a boxing ring, or several in a gladiatorial arena, or even a few dozen hanging out at the pub. War is serious, bloody business, and it requires that you throw lots of bodies in the line of fire (hence the term "cannon fodder," since we're feeding the cannons.)
Depending on how you define war, you can include many, many groups of fighting individuals into the category. The Greek Hoplites and Roman Legions, the Vikings and the Huns, everything from highly organized and structured armies to wild, free-roaming barbarians. All soldiers, but certainly not all fighters. This is most clear when you consider the larger picture of the Crusades; while some Crusaders were certainly well-trained fighters, Templars and "Paladins," many if not most of these warriors were untrained farmers and peasants. Some were even children.
This is why I heartily disagree with the assertion that soldiers and warriors are all fighters. Being enlisted to fight in a war (or volunteering for such) does not mean that you have any desire to fight. Most soldiers are killed in battle. Of those that don't die, many flee or are captured, or serve their tour of duty and return home, at which time they don't fight ever again. To argue that being a solider makes one into a fighter is like saying that riding on a sailboat makes you a sailor, or flying in an airplane makes you a pilot. Being carried along by something larger than yourself does not make you an active participant in that thing. In short, not all soldiers are fighters.
Historically, however, it could be argued that many, if not most fighters were soldiers.
As early as the 6th century, many of the fledgling kingdoms of Europe required all landholders of a certain age to serve in the army--the kicker being that they didn't get paid for this, and had to provide their own arms and armor. This by itself doesn't prove anything; a farmer with a scythe sits around a barracks for a few months. This does not make the solider a fighter; it makes him a farmer who's in the army. But at some point, the farmer has to go home. And it's that going home that I think captures the essence of the fighter.
Because while you can go home again... the question is whether or not you want to.
Our sixth century "conscripts" were, after their terms of service ended, required to go home with no pay and till their land and milk their cows as if nothing had happened. Some of these men had, during the course of their service in the armed forces, been party to pillaging and looting of villages (the loot being their only real pay for service). And now, after being trained to fight, after serving beside others hacking away at enemies, after looting and burning villages, they were told to go home and pluck chickens.
Pluck that.
Is it any wonder that Europe was, at the same time, beset with bandits and highwaymen? These were normal people forced to adopt warlike tendencies and then thrust into non-war situations. Swords without sheaths, in other words. As Andrew McCall's The Medieval Underworld points out, the situation was exacerbated by the fact that individuals found guilty of crimes like thuggery and murder were often merely banished from one town, which meant the most violent, warlike individuals were moving about the countryside, roaming with weapon in hand, looking for a way to make money by thumping heads.
It's pretty easy to see where this is going; it becomes even moreso when you see how the plot thickens, and the story recurs time and again.
It wasn't long before these wandering bandits started getting together and forming little clusters of fighters; at times, they were even joined by monks who'd left their monasteries, thieves and other outlaws (no doubt the source of myths like that of Robin Hood). By the 10th and 11th centuries, some roads in Europe were so plagued by highwaymen that it was completely unsafe to travel without an armed escort. Of course, these armed guards wanted to be paid for their trouble, and so many of the bandits switched sides and protected the people they had once robbed against others of their kind. In short, the presence of fighters necessitated the presence of more fighters to counteract the first bunch.
Since these roaming bands of mercenaries were a good source of highly skilled fighters, it wasn't long before some countries started hiring them to supplement their own standing armies. In Italy, for example, the bulk of the military was mercenary, perhaps the most well known being the 10,000 strong "Great Company," who were willing to work for the city-state who paid them the most money. By the 12th and 13th centuries, it was commonplace for a King to hire a band of mercenaries to perform some task or other for himself, thoughtfully turning the other way while the fighters took their payment via pillaging whatever lay in their path. By the 14th century, these mercenary companies were actually in some ways better trained and equipped than the standing armies of some parts of France and Italy.
This killing nonsense was not just a fact of life in the medieval era; it continued on into the Renaissance and Age of Exploration. Shakespeare's plays recount for us the dangers involved in having armed, angry citizens with too much time on their hands and grudges to settle. Consider the Montagues and the Capulets dueling in the streets, or the trail of blood left behind when Othello goes off the deep end. Duelists also had a new tool to play with, in the guise of the firearm, and duels with pistols at twenty paces became more popular and more illegal as time went on, their popularity even trickling over into the American colonies. Of course, the American Revolution is a great example of what happens when people with guns are prodded into action; certainly, among the Minutemen and Backwoodsmen who did so much damage to the Redcoats, there were more than a few who would be called fighters.
This was not a wholly Western phenomenon, either. As Kurosawa's films so vividly depict, the life of a samurai who was no longer needed for military service in many ways mirrored that of his European counterparts, especially in the 17th century. These masterless samurai, or ronin, were still equipped with their swords and armor, and were still highly trained killers. But they now lacked money and employment, and for many the study of haiku and origami was not enough to fulfill their needs. Many became bandits, scouring the countryside looking for easy prey. Others undoubtedly sold their swords to protect those set upon by such bandits. The similarity between this situation and that of the American West need not be discussed again; suffice to say that many of those settling in the West were of a military persuasion, and the outlaws and bandits who roamed the "Wild West" certainly counted a few "fighters" amongst their ranks.
All these were relatively small groups, or individuals raising a little hell; back in Europe, however, the tendency of these fighters to group themselves into mercenary companies continued in one fashion or another. In the period following Germany's defeat in World War I, thousands of German troops got together to form Freikorps, small, highly trained volunteer divisions who saw varying degrees of service over the next few years. In 1919, when a new German armed force was established, many of these mercenary fighters went on to join the official military force.
World War II also saw mercenary participation on the side of the German Army. In fact, about 2 million foreign individuals lent their fighting capabilities to the Germans, nearly a million from Eastern European areas where conscripted soldiers were looking for better conditions to fight under. While some of the volunteers became part of the German force-at-large, many formed individual units and companies and operated with some degree of autonomy, some proving to be even better fighters than the German army soldiers. A Britsches Freikorps was even formed in 1944, composed (as the name suggests) of British soldiers conscripted to fight on the side of the Germans "in the common European struggle against Communism."
By far, however, the most impressive and interesting group of "mercenary" fighters in history is the Gurkhas, whose motto, Kaphar hunnu bhanda marnu ramro (translated as "It is better to die than to be a coward") says all you need to know about their attitude towards fighting.
In late 1814, Britain's East India Company declared war on Nepal, and British troops moved in to take the country. Some 30,000 troops were mobilized against a mere 12,000 Gurkhas, Britain thinking that their superior military might could easily overcome a smaller band of upstart rebellious individuals (apparently they'd forgotten about the lesson learned in the American colonies already). The British were wrong, and were fought to a near standstill by the fierce Gurkha fighters. Three of four incursions were beaten back, in one case (at a secured fort) 600 Gurkhas easily turning back some 3500 British soldiers until the British finally gave up and just bombed the place. Stories of this sort repeat themselves through 1815 when Britain's superior manpower finally won out. But even in defeat, the Gurkhas wound up winning; that same year, Britain, so impressed by their fighting capabilities, formed a Gurkha regiment in the British army. The Gurkhas have served the British military ever since, fighting in both World Wars, the Gulf War and in Bosnia and Kosovo.
The Gurkha story doesn't end there, however; instead, it ends in the same way as it's ended for the other fighters in our story. As Britain's military needs have diminished, the number of Gurkhas serving has decreased as well, from hundreds of thousands in World War II to only a few thousand today. Nowadays, fewer than 200 are needed each year, and yet 60 thousand Nepalese boys try out for the positions every year, some committing suicide if they fail to make the cut, so treasured is the position. Much of the reason for wanting to be a Gurkha is the financial stability it brings; those accepted have a steady job and a steady income for years to come, those that are not being forced into a life of relative drudgery.
And for those Gurkha fighters who are chosen for military service, the ride doesn't last forever. Tens of thousands of ex-Gurkha fighters have returned to the rural life of Nepal, only to find that being forced back into an ordinary life after being trained as a feared killer is disconcerting, to say the least. No longer can they see the world, reveling in perfecting their fighting prowess. For many, the need to be a part of a fighting force means that some are joining the Maoist army as mercenaries.
"The British government taught us to be fighters, we have no knowledge of civilian jobs," said Om Gurung, a 13-year Gurkha veteran. "We can't survive here."
And so it goes.
I can't fight this feeling anymore
I've forgotten what I started fighting for
- I Can't Fight This Feeling, REO Speedwagon
So if we can achieve some understanding of why fighters exist, and how they're made, the next question becomes, why fight? For some, the answer is obviously financial. For others, restlessness and the desire for adventure. But one answer can hardly be applied to all fighters.
I propose four.
This is an unusual undertaking for this series, so I'll prefix this bit by saying that this next part has no actual basis in fact, historical or literary. This is merely me presenting what I feel is an interesting way to look at the fighter archetype, considering that the fighter, taken on his own, is pretty weak in the "reason for being" category.
The standard Tarot deck's minor arcana cards are divided up into four suits, roughly analogous to the four suits pictured on any standard deck of ordinary playing cards. The symbolism of the number four is deeply rooted in mysticism and magic; everything from the elements to the corners of the earth can be drawn back to this magical number. The number four also appears in role-playing, although not quite so obviously. Boiled down to their bare archetypes, there are four character classes (Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, Thief), just as there have traditionally been four main races (the Tolkienesque ones; namely, human, elf, dwarf and halfling/hobbit). There are also four main elemental planes, four divisions of extra-prime planes (outer, inner, ethereal, astral), four extremes on the alignment scale (lawful, chaotic, good and evil), and so on.
It's with all this in mind that I think fighters can be divided up into four rough groups, each providing that "type" of fighter with a bit more of an idea of his place in the world, how he got there and what he's supposed to do with what he has. Looking back at the Tarot, and the chessboard, and our main character classes, it's pretty clear that the fighter is best represented by the Knight (with the Page being the thief, the Queen being the cleric and the King being the wizard). But that's belaboring the point; the obvious military connotations of the Knight make it an obvious choice for this exercise.
The first of the groups, and in many ways the "earliest," is represented by the Knight of Pentacles. The suit of pentacles is also known as coins, or diamonds, these things representing common, earthy matters and the literal "fruits of your labors." It's unsurprising, then, that pentacles have traditionally been associated with the element of earth. Pentacles are grounded, stable, founded on tradition, endurance and a sense of security, a sense of home. If a race had to be chosen to be represented by pentacles, it would undoubtedly be that of the halfling, or hobbit. Consider the hobbit fighter in the guise of Bilbo Baggins, unwilling to leave his comfortable little hole in the ground, but eventually coaxed out onto a quest involving earthy materialistic matters of money. Consider the tools and weapons traditionally associated with halflings: simple weapons, including farming implements and missiles like the sling stone. All of these are weapons of convenience, weapons that are taken from nature and from tools used to tame nature. In many ways, stone age technology.
The Knight of Pentacles, then, represents a fighter who is tied to common things and desires. Halfling or not, he may be unwilling to leave his home and family, but might be coaxed out if the right motivation is given. His knowledge and his weapons are likely to be simple, if not primitive, consisting of clubs, staves, slings and other common tools used to work soil and wood. He is perhaps a farmer or a carpenter by trade, perhaps drawn into the life of the fighter out of financial or moral necessity, or perhaps because the rural life is getting a little bit dull. Consider Luke Skywalker when we first meet him in A New Hope, frightened of the journey ahead of him but eager to see the world, especially if it means avenging his murdered family, and you have a pretty good idea of what might motivate a fighter of this sort. Fighters like this tend to be young, as this suit also represents the season of Spring, of new, young life blossoming into being.
The second group is represented by the Knight of Wands. Wands are also known as clubs, staves, rods and batons, all of them elongated wooden objects that represent the element of fire (not really surprising when you look at a torch, or a campfire; the fire itself cannot exist without the wood providing the fuel). Heat, light, and all those things that flame represents are bundled into this suit: restlessness, willfulness, life, creativity and discovery, energy and activity. Fire has represented intelligence and inspiration ever since Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and was punished for his impudence. For obvious reasons, it also represents the forge, and the things which come from it: metal arms and armor, particularly simple objects like axes, spears, maces and hatchets, typically associated with the bronze age and the early development of metal weaponry.
In many ways the Knight of Wands is the prototypical fighter: hasty, rash, impudent and full of violent, deadly energy. And for this reason and others mentioned previously, the race most associated with fire is the dwarf, a warrior at heart, tied to the love of battle and the heat of the forge. These fiery fighters are the true mercenaries of the bunch, driven to action by little more than a passion for excitement and a love of battle. They look towards the future, towards what they can glean for themselves in the next city, after the next battle. They are frequently wandering and moving, and when not moving are still active in some way (possibly by banging away on a forge or partaking of a favorite variety of "firewater.") For obvious reasons, fighters of this type are often loners, like lions on the prowl, somewhat disagreeable but quite capable. They tend to be a bit older and more worldly, but are not as mature as their age might indicate (particularly appropriate when one considers the dwarf), often relying on instinct as much as learned knowledge, and for that reason often scarred because of it. Consider Luke Skywalker in Empire Strikes Back: a capable warrior, yet still brash and foolhardy enough to get his hand cut off. Or the young Mordred in the film Excalibur, bane of King Arthur, glowing golden armor carrying him into battle against knights much older than he... and resulting in his death.
The Knight of Swords is the third category of fighters, swords being represented by spades on the traditional deck. Swords represent the element of air, and thus tend to represent a great deal of intangibles as well as the obvious: mental capacity, rational thought, logic, intelligence, communication and truth. However, the suit also carries with it the notion of courage and strength, of confrontation and conflict. Considering the history of the human race, this best describes humanity itself, capable of great intelligence and rational thought, yet so often plagued instead by wars lasting hundreds of years. Likewise, the Knight of Swords is most often seen with the weapon one might expect, the sword, representing in many eyes the pinnacle of weaponsmithing. For the Western fighter, the bastard sword or claymore of Damascus steel is a prized possession, and for the Eastern samurai, his katana and wakizashi (collectively, his daisho) are as valuable to him as his life. The lance and, in later eras, the firearm, might also fall into this category, both deadly tools in the hands of masters.
The Knight of Swords is even more mobile than his fiery cousin the Knight of Wands, constantly in motion as he moves from one conflict to another. But unlike his brash relative, the Knight of Swords is also capable of higher level rationalization, and so he might very well have deeper reasons for entering into battle (even if they aren't exactly in line with everyone else's reasons). While the mercenary Knight of Wands might sign up for the love of battle or the money, the Knight of Swords might very well fight for a cause, or a religion, or a political ideal, or a belief. And since he tends to be a bit older and wiser, he is typically accepted as a master of his weapon, and in this regard is a deadly opponent. Consider the samurai in Kurosawa's films, or Sturm Brightblade from the Dragonlance Chronicles, or Luke Skywalker dueling with Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. And if you're looking for purpose and meaning, look no further than the Spaniard swordsmaster from The Princess Bride: "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." A noble cause indeed.
The final category, and in many ways the most advanced and difficult to play, is the Knight of Cups, also represented by cauldrons, vessels or hearts (a vessel containing blood) in various other decks. The suit of cups is the suit of water, and many of the characteristics of water apply: the fluid nature of emotions, the restless spirit ever seeking more knowledge, illusion and fantasy and mirage, fertility and imagination. Terms such as these have been applied to the race of elves in the past, and for many reasons this suit fits them like a glove. They tend to act on a higher emotional plane, removed from humanity in Vulcan-like fashion, blending with nature in an almost fluid way. Their forests would be barren wood without the presence of life-giving water, and their own lengthy (arguably immortal) lifespans are a testament to the power of their own hearts and lifeblood.
For the fighter represented by the Knight of Cups, melee weapons are a second option. Just as for the master samurai or ronin, most battles were won without ever drawing one's sword, intelligence and spiritual strength being called on from an internal reservoir of ki/chi in order to win the day. There is more than one reason the masterless samurai is called a ronin. "Ronin" translates as "wave-man," because their movements and actions were like the ocean waves that surrounded Japan; restless, unpredictable, beautiful, powerful and deadly. The true Knight of Cups is mature or even elderly, fights only when necessary, and often leads others with his counsel rather than entering into battle himself. When he does enter combat, the fight is typically over before it has begun, his wisdom and creativity besting even a master of his weapon. The obvious connection here (if you trace the path carved above) is that of Luke Skywalker as a true Jedi Master, using his weapon only when necessary. There's a reason Obi Wan Kenobi said he would be more powerful if he were struck down: the body may perish, but the spirit is eternal.
Earth to Fire to Air to Water, the tree burns and turns to smoke which rises up to cause rain which falls to nourish the next tree. Pentacles to Wands to Swords to Cups, youthful indiscretion to brash fury to mature mastery to spiritual power. Where is your fighter on the path? Perhaps by finding where you are, you can give yourself a better reason for hacking those orcs to pieces. A little thought can't hurt, can it?
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say, "Fight the power"
- Fight the Power, Public Enemy
Stop for a moment, and ask yourself: why am I fighting? It's one thing to pound your fist in the air, or your sword into the face of the next orc around the bend, but it's quite another to understand why. So why are you fighting? Are you like Frank the fighter ("I just wanna kill stuff") or are you like Maximus from Gladiator:
"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
Wow; talk about motivation!
It's one thing to say that fighters can be knights, or mercenaries, or samurai, or constables. But it's quite another to explain why they're fighters in the first place. Profession is never a true explanation; in fact, in many cases it can be more of a crutch than a benefit. So your fighter is a member of the armed forces; good luck trying to get leave to go tromping around in a cave. Or maybe you're a member of the town watch; just try getting a few nights off to raid the tower of the local necromancer. No, in most cases, the fighter is definitely NOT employed as a warrior. He may sell himself as a mercenary, or be sold as such, but being a member of a larger machine means that you move with the machine, or you get spat out into the slop bucket.
And like it or not, it's the slop bucket which gives us most of our fighters. Sure, it's noble and whatnot to say that you're charging into battle in glowing silver armor, wielding the sword of your ancestors as you smite evil to and fro. But if you look at the real fighter, you're going to find someone with dirty boots, with a rusty sword, someone who's probably lying in the gutter (even if he is looking at the stars). You're going to find someone who wants to be a warrior, or used to be a warrior, or no longer wishes to be a warrior. You're going to find the brash young youth in line at the recruitment center, and next to him you'll find the grizzled veteran clutching a knife to his wrists, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You'll find the youth swaggering into the dojo, and the master beating him senseless without lifting a finger.
What you're not going to find is someone who punches a clock, killing 9 to 5, then heading home to kiss the wife and kids. Because at the end of the day, when the orcs are all dead and the last torch has guttered and died, there comes a point when the warrior can turn back to his family and his farm, and go home to get a good night's sleep. But for the fighter, ploughing the field isn't an option once the dragon is dead. Not really. The fighter has got something inside of him that makes fighting the only real option. It's not because he gets an extra Feat, or because his strength is higher, or because his THAC0 is better, or because he's in the army or because he owns a sword. There's something deeper there, waiting to be discovered.
And finding it just might be the toughest battle of all.
Next time: dwarves (and more about the Gurkhas)
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text:
The Andy Baskin Lebron blog from 2010
Can't find this anymore just wanted to preserve it.
Baskin's Blog: Reflections and revelations on covering LeBron James
Posted: 07/14/2010
Last Updated: 14 hours and 45 minutes ago
CLEVELAND - For six weeks, my nose has been buried in the LeBron James free agency story. I have looked at what it would mean to the city of Cleveland, let alone to how we were going to cover the story at Channel 5. It became an obsession of information. I wasn't in the middle, but I was in the pipeline of information and misinformation.
The story began for me when LeBron James was a freshman at Akron St. Vincent St. Mary. I remember watching him play in his first state championship game. Interviewing him with a pack of other TV stations after the game, he was a soft spoken freshman. But, he was an amazing talent. I was watching the next Michael Jordan. I knew it.
Later, I watched the last live basketball game I would ever see with my brother, who passed away in 2005. My brother, father and brother-in-law went to the Canton Field House to see St. V's play the Chones triplets and Orange High School. We marveled at a modern day Jordan in a "Hoosiers" style gym. I cherish that game because of who was with me. Ron Harper walked in with the largest purple sweat suit I have ever seen. Shaquille O'Neal was there. I was in the center of the universe, and I was with my family. It was a milestone night, especially knowing I witnessed this with my brother.
The high school journey took his team to games all over the country. They even played games on pay-per-view. We laughed when his mom bought a Hummer. Her income to purchase the car was questioned left and right. Then, a young defiant LeBron brought a remote control hummer and played with it on the court. We laughed with him as he made fun of the state for questioning his actions. Then, we watched him get suspended in high school when he took expensive free jerseys. I looked at the then OHSAA director Clair Muscaro like he was an out of touch old man. How could the state stop the greatest thing from Northeast Ohio? He told LeBron he couldn't do something. How dare he stand up to "The Chosen One."
One time in high school, LeBron showed up late for the Cleveland Sports Awards. My co-workers at FSN Ohio and I sat with him at the same table. His mother, Gloria, put hot sauce on his food like it was going out of style. He picked up his award. He didn't say much. He won the amateur athlete of the year. It was the only year he actually showed up to pick up his award. In the following years, he would not return. I thought maybe he was just too big to attend the event. That's the price we pay for having a local superstar.
During his senior year, ESPN decided to air his game against Oak Hill, Virginia. Before the game I thought, "this is wrong." The hype, everything around this doesn't feel right. But, I justified it all in my mind. I remembered wanting to watch when SportsChannel America broadcast Robert Smith at Euclid in the first nationally televised high school football game. So that made it okay.
When it came time for LeBron to go to college, Ohio State was one of his choices if he was going to play college ball. Like it was actually a something he wanted to do. I almost thought he was considering about not turning pro. Then OSU basketball coach Jim O'Brien told me that he called LeBron and told him a full scholarship was all his. James just had to say the word and a full ride was his. But, he wasn't going to waste any recruiting time on LeBron. The funny thing is O'Brien knew that if he landed LeBron, the NCAA would drop the bomb on Ohio State for the recruiting violations that happened to LeBron while he was in high school. The NCAA and Ohio State fired O'Brien later in his career, but those infractions were child's play compared to what James had coming to him if he attended Ohio State.
Then the Cavs pulled the magic lottery ball. I was at the ballpark that night, and the city erupted. All hail, "King James" is coming to our city. After LeBron was picked in the draft, the next day he was at the ballpark. The folks at Jacobs Field told me LeBron was quiet, but his guys were a pain. They said his group was more difficult than most celebrities that came to town. I said, "Well, he just got drafted. Cut him some slack. After all, he is LeBron James."
Along the way, I traveled with the Cavs and LeBron for Fox Sports Net. For the first two years, I was always amazed. It looked like he had read a book on each city before we arrived — he was always well read to tell the good people of any city how much he knew about them and that each city was special. Watching city after city, I was blown away by the way he handled the cameras.
But something didn't feel right. It seemed scripted like a WWE event. I watched from afar. When I did the postgame interviews for FSN, we would request LeBron and wouldn't get him, even though NBA rules clearly stated the home TV broadcasting team got first choice of a player after the game. At the time, I still hosted the Indians postgame show and the Tribe still had some big stars. The Indians never turned down a postgame interview. I thought it was crazy. I think I talked to LeBron twice in the postgame show all season long. I thought it wasn't right. But, I let it go because we were the cable TV home of the Cavs.
I watched as LeBron's men moved in around the team. I watched our guys at FSN who were on the broadcasting team for years get bumped off the team flights because LeBron's boys were flying on the team plane. I watched Head Coach Paul Silas — a guy I respected — get run out of town. While I thought he was a little too worried about little things, I knew he was not about to put up with anybody's garbage. I think that's what got him fired. How dare he tell LeBron what to do? Did he not buy in?
It got worse.
I was not a big fan of going to shoot around or practice because of all the waiting. A scheduled 1 p.m. interview session suddenly became a five-hour wait. When the Indians season started, I could not wait to jump back over and cover the Tribe on FSN. The Cavs were all about the show, and not about the game.
It proved to be true. When the powder started flying from LeBron's hands, I thought to myself that he ripped that off from Jordan. As time grew, the dancing, the choreographed introductions, it just grew really old. It wasn't right. This wasn't about the game. This is a show. On the road with the Indians, I would get mad when fans started ripping the Tribe. Covering the Cavs, I used to listen to LeBron cry and whine to refs left and right. I was embarrassed. Fans would be yelling all by me. I couldn't argue back. I knew they were right. Somebody told me Jordan used to talk to the refs all the time. So I thought, "super stars get to do that. I must not be used to covering a super star."
I looked at the 10-story piece of art/billboard across the street from the "Q." It said "We are all witnesses!" I thought, "This is crazy. This guy is not God." This was wrong, but, I looked at the ratings on FSN. I knew people were watching, so I looked the other way.
In 2006, The Indians moved away from FSN. The thought of covering LeBron and "the show" was not as enjoyable to me. A shot to jump to another TV station and stick with the Tribe was enough to convince me to change jobs. I had a chance to leave. The timing was right.
Now, I was at a distance, back in the pack waiting for LeBron like everybody else. I had a chance to be more critical. I remember walking to desk after a Sports Sunday show. I said something critical of James. I looked at the nasty e-mails. They said, "How dare you say anything critical about LeBron? How can you say that? You know that stuff will make him want to leave town when he is a free agent."
So I backed off. I was feeling like if I said something negative, maybe he was listening. Talk about ego. How dumb was I? I sliced my own thoughts to play the game.
Every move the Cavs made, LeBron knew and had some say. They did everything they could to get him to stay. Go back and look at previous blogs. When the Cavs picked up Antawn Jamison and then got Z back. I said, "Look at this team. They are the Yankees of basketball." That's LeBron's favorite team. There is no way he is going to leave. I even looked past the fact that LeBron totally stiffed the Browns when they played the Cowboys. The Browns hooked him and his boys up with a suite and free everything. Did he say, "Thanks?" No. Browns staffers will tell you he was rude, calling out Browns fans. He wore Yankees hats to Indians games. He did not care about Indians and Browns fans. Looking back, that was the first sign he didn't care about Cavs fans either. Yet, I looked the other way.
After I came to NewsChannel5, one of the first things LeBron said was, "I am a great leader!" It's a running joke on the set now, and has been since he said it. It is the most egotistical thing I have ever heard. He has no championships. At the time, the only thing he led was St. V's to 3 state titles. I never made a big deal out of it. I should have.
Then, look at this season. Often I watched and marveled at his play. I thought, "Wow! We are really spoiled by how good he is." Those were the same words he would utter after game 5 against Boston. I thought, "it is okay for me to say it. Not him." The game was the defeat in then Head Coach Mike Brown's tenure. Brown said there was nothing wrong with LeBron's elbow. The MRIs showed there was nothing wrong with LeBron's elbow. LeBron said there was nothing wrong with his elbow. Guess what, there was nothing wrong with his elbow. But, because I noticed at practice he was holding his elbow a month before the playoffs, I said something to the Plain Dealer's Brian Windhorst about it. He told me I was right. It was bothering him. I bought in again. It had to be the elbow that was causing all these problems.
During game three of the playoffs in Boston, I walked by Gloria James, said "Hello," and I thought nothing of it. Little did I know, by the end of the week, rumors about her would hit an all time high. I just thought she had really grown up from the days
LeBron was at St. V's when she would take the Wheaties Box and taunt other parents. But, I looked the other way.
By game five, and for the first time in LeBron's career, he was called out by someone in the Cavs organization other than Paul Silas (and I believe Danny Ferry behind closed doors). Dan Gilbert thought he quit, and the fans booed him. He didn't like it. We all feared that it would be fuel for his fire if LeBron wanted to leave. But, there was another game to be played. We felt LeBron wanted to win a championship. I thought it looked like he quit. I didn't want to believe it.
It was ESPN Armageddon in Boston for game six. The world was going to end if the Cavs didn't win. It didn't after the loss. The locker room looked in a daze. I wondered how this had happened. My texts blew up about how LeBron threw his jersey after leaving the locker room. I waited for the LeBron to get to the podium. I watched, hoping he would give us a sign. He did. He said Cleveland wanted to win a championship. That was enough for me to blow off the rumors of New York, New Jersey, Chicago, the Clippers. He was staying.
We watched LeBron drag some of the world's richest men to Cleveland to hold free agent meetings. They all came ready to roll, ready to make a pitch. Before this happened, Fox Sports' Steven A. Smith told us he was going to Miami. We all laughed. We all thought he was just looking to get back on ESPN. We had seen misinformation about who the Cavs next head coach would be. ESPN had different reporters saying different teams. I would hear one thing and think it was a misdirection to another. I believed nobody. I thought LeBron was going to stay for the money.
Players often talk about being businessmen. It is a business. We all know it. LeBron was meeting with some of the most powerful men in the world. He showed up in sweat suits and shorts. That's not what you wear to a business meeting. It's what you wear to a game. Guess what? To LeBron James, who wears some very fine suits, this was all a game. A game that was over before anybody walked in the door. He knew where he was going. But, I thought because the Cavs had one of the last cracks. They were going to win.
Then came the real dog and pony show: ESPN's "The Decision." LeBron was going to announce what he was going to do. James is a man who understood Cleveland sports history and had talked about "The Drive", "The Fumble" and "The Shot." For LeBron James to go on the air and not pick Cleveland would mean that he was manufacturing his own place in sports misery. In fact, he even got to name it. The folks in New York bought in, when he said the announcement was in Greenwich, CT. People thought LeBron was going to the Knicks. But, once again, the man I watched, and a man who had wowed audiences around the country, made everyone believe they had a shot.
He picked Miami.
I just gave you all kinds of excuses for things LeBron did that I knew were not right. But, in the end, we should have listened to Stephen A. Smith. In an interview on ESPN 850 WKNR, he said he knew LeBron was going to Miami at least three weeks before anybody said it was true. Smith got it from LeBron's inner circle, but, he didn't work for ESPN. If he was right, the ratings would have been a flop. The "E" stands for entertainment, not ethics.
I do believe there are people at ESPN who knew Stephen A. Smith was right. Plus, there must have been an internal debate in Bristol about if the show was right. It just didn't seem kosher that the station that was airing the event to have reporters or analyst pick different teams. On the outside, it looked like a big ratings ploy, which is questionable from a journalistic point of view, and brilliant from a ratings point of view. Not only will I never trust LeBron James, I will have trouble trusting ESPN again. But, one man on the network stood out: Skip Bayless. From day one he was a LeBron realist. He was right about LeBron. I just didn't want to listen.
I used to laugh when WTAM's Mike Trivisonno ripped LeBron. I thought he was only doing it for ratings. He said the things I was thinking. I give him credit for having the guts to go against the grain. I look back at all my excuses and Triv was dead on.
In the end, LeBron wrote his own place in Cleveland sports misery. I watched it happen before my very eyes for over a decade. The problem is that I was blinded by the fact that I want to see a championship in my lifetime. I was willing to bank my hopes on a 25-year-old who is the second best basketball player in the league. I can blame him for what he put Northeast Ohio through, but I blame myself for looking past things I knew in my heart weren't right.


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Bat Conservation Ireland (Caomhantas Ialtog na hEireann) is a Company Limited by Guarantee with Charitable Tax Exemption status. It is dedicated to the conservation of Ireland's bats. We promote this by disseminating educational materials, giving talks and leading bat walks, carrying out nationwide surveys and monitoring of bats, acting as an umbrella group for the local bat groups and providing a central repository for bat records.
Bat Conservation Ireland launched its first book about Irish bats on Saturday 11th October, with the help of Ella McSweeney of RTE. It is 173 pages, full colour and packed with lots of the information on Irish bats that has been gathered over the past 10-15 years, much of it by volunteers. It will soon be on sale (€30 plus postage) at three online shops.
BCIreland, as a member of the Environmental Pillar and a direct supporter of ERIN, is promoting the campaign for the inclusion of environmental protection the Irish Constitution. You can read more about the reasoning behind this and campaign goals on the ERIN website. You can help by making a direct submission to the Constitutional Convention by logging on to www.constitution.ie, click on make a submission, scroll to 'other' and type!
We have developed and launched guidelines for surveying for bats at windfarm sites, or where existing windfarms are proposed for extension or modification. These guidelines can be found on the publications page of this website, click here to download a pdf of the guidelines.
We have also written guidelines for dealing with the very special and highly protected lesser horseshoe bat in the Appropriate Assessment process. These guidelines can also be found on the publications page of this website, click here to download a pdf of the guidelines.
Natural England recently provided an updated list of insecticidal products that can be used in bat roosts. Also, for the Natural England list of products approved for timber treatment in bat roosts click here.
Bat Conservation Ireland was saddened to hear that, due to funding cuts, The National Parks and Wildlife Service is no longer running the BAT HELPLINE SERVICE for people with queries or worries about bats. Our contact details are shown below, however, and we are always happy to help with batty queries.
A fungal disease that has caused deaths of over 1 million bats in the U.S. has been found in a number of European countries. Bat Conservation Ireland has more information on White Nose Syndrome (click here to download pdf) and recommends that bat workers and cavers familiarise themselves with guidelines to prevent the spread of this fungus that is potentially lethal to bats.
A DVD packed with information, images and film footage of Irish bats has been produced. Proceeds from the sale of this DVD will contribute to BCIreland's bat conservation work. For more information on the DVD and instructions how to buy it please click here.
Bat Conservation Ireland's address and telephone number are:
Ulex House, Drumheel, Lisduff, Virginia, Co. Cavan. Tel: 086 4049468


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Three days after trial, man faces new felony chargeJune 27,2013By Patrick McArdle
BENNINGTON — A Pleasant Street man who was found guilty earlier this month of recklessly shooting a deer from the road in November was recently arraigned on a new charge after police said he kissed a 14-year-old girl.
Joshua P. Hayes, 21, of Bennington, pleaded innocent last week in Bennington criminal court to a felony count of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child.
In an affidavit, Sgt. Michael Plusch of the Bennington Police Department said he met with a woman on June 18 who had come to the police station to report that her 14-year-old daughter was in an inappropriate relationship with an older man.
Plusch said he and Wendy Nolan, an investigator with the Vermont Department of Children and Families, met with the girl at the Bennington County Child Advocacy Center on June 19.
During the interview, the girl said she and Hayes had "developed this relationship" over the previous four weeks, primarily through text messages. She said she had told him she was 14 and he had told her that he knew he could "get in trouble" because of their relationship.
Plusch said the girl told investigators that Hayes had sent her a text message on June 16 asking her to come to his apartment. At the apartment, Hayes kissed her and bit her neck, she told police. She said the contact was consensual, according to the affidavit.
While she told police that Hayes had been drinking beer, she said she had not had any alcohol.
For the complete story, see Friday's Rutland Herald.MORE IN This Just InAwards, according to the Rutland Recreation department: Full StoryBy JAMIE NORTON Full StoryBRANDON This unit needs a nickname. Full Story
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- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: V-2 No. 13, launched this day in 1946 from White Sands, New Mexico, takes first photographs of Earth from the edge of the planet's outer atmosphere; 1947: Walt Disney testifies before HUAC, names employees he says are communists.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Vermont's brand discussed at Killington, state's attorney candidates Marc Brierre and Rose Kennedy profiled, Curtis reports about Rutland police chief's new job, and four arrested, charged for heroin, crack sales.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1935, New York gangster, bootlegger, ruthless murderer Dutch Schultz, born Arthur Flegenheimer to Jewish-German immigrant parents, and three associates gunned down, killed, at the Palace Chophouse in Newark, N.J.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: Acclaimed illusionist & escape artist Harry Houdini, performing in Montreal in 1926, is sucker-punched by a McGill University student. Houdini doesn't know he has peritonitis - the punches are possible factor in his Oct. 31 death.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Rutland Police Chief James Baker to resign from the force at the end of the year to take a job in Washington, D.C., jury remains out in teacher killing murder trial, Rec Dept. releases report on what's wrong with White's Pool.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: Well diggers in Cardiff, New York, find what is thought to be the petrified body of a 10-foot-tall man, perfectly preserved after thousands of years, which becomes a popular roadside attraction until proven to be a fake.


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Some of the questions Sam answered on Reddit.
Q: What is your dream car? A: My dream car is actually my daily driver.. it's my F150. I'm not a huge fan of sports cars, a lot of them are too small for me to fit in. I love my truck.Q: What was your "Welcome to the NFL" moment? A: It was probably my first game. I thought training camp practices were fast, then we got into the pre-season, and I thought things were then going REALLY fast. I'll definitely remember the first game. Q: Where is your Heisman trophy right now? A: It's been at my parents until this year. I think my mom was tired of it being in her living room so I took it to my home officeQ: What is your favorite band? A: Kings of Leon never get old for me. The Black Keys. The XX. I still love all the old Arcade Fire stuff too Q: How do you think this year's Rams team compares to the greatest show on turf days? A: Haha, it's hard to compare a team who hasn't played a game to a team whose won the Super Bowl. But I'm optimistic, we've acquired a lot of great play makers, our teams defense played really well last year — all the pieces are in play for the team to be really great this year. –SamQ: What do you think the biggest transition was from the college game to the pro game? A: The biggest transition was the speed of the game. Q: Favorite spot to hang out when you go back to Norman? A: My favorite spot in Norman is Victoria's pasta shop. Best restaurant in all of Oklahoma. Q: What are your opinions on a freshman joining your elite fraternity, and on the media circus that's followed him this offseason? What about how he's handled it/been portrayed as behaving since the award? Have any of you met him outside of the night he received the trophy? A: I have no problem with a freshman, I actually thinks its cool. He was the best college football player this last season, so he deserved it. I feel bad for him with the media attention he's getting. It's hard to enjoy college if everything you're doing is being filmed. Q: Did you have other plans for a career if football didn't work out? A: If I wasn't a football player, I probably would have ended up going to Law School. It's always intrigued me. It opens your eyes to new things. If not that, something in the business world. Q: if you got to vote during the year you won the Heisman and could not vote for yourself, who do you select? A: I probably would have voted for Colt.Q: Outside of the team you played for what is your next favorite college football team? A: I don't have one. I grew up an Oklahoma fan.Q: I see a comment about how winning the Heisman opened doors and opportunities for you, but did it also create any difficulties or handicaps for you? If so, what difficulties/challenges surprised you the most? A: It came with certain opportunities, that's why I'm here today - for speaking requests, etc. The difficulty would go back to the attention. For a while it's hard to go anywhere without someone coming up to you. Most people are really nice about it, but it's hard being alone sometimes. Q: I can't imagine how hard it was for you when you injured your shoulder your junior year. But what was going through your mind when you re-injured your right shoulder later that year? Did it plant any doubts about what would happen in the upcoming draft for you? A: I always knew if I needed to I could come back to school the next year since I was just a junior at the time. But it was definitely frustrating, since you want to play and not be on the sidelines. But I knew that it wasn't going to affect me, and it didn't. Q: Can you provide us with a typical work week? A: Typically, during the season, we spend (including games) 15 hours a week on the field. The meeting time is about 40-50 hours a week. It's a lot. And working out, probably 3 hours a week.


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Always up-to-date, filled with information, suggestions, and interesting facts, this tourist guide is a perfect resource for planning your trip and to take along during your stay in and around Venice...
Events in Venice and surroundings: detail
From October 26 2014 to October 26 2014
Venice Marathon 2014
The twenty-nineth edition of the world's most spectacular marathon. Just think that participants run along the gorgeous Riviera del Brenta to Venice following a path that will leave you in awe. This event is for individuals who are passionate about beautiful places, but also for those who want to experience a world-class event, as well as a time of joy and great sport!
Venice Marathon
26 October 2014
Info: www.venicemarathon.it
Nozio © 2014


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Can't Wait for The Prometheus Sequel?
10 Infuriatingly Bad Endings to Good Movies
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A New Batman and New Batmobile for 2016 Movie
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The Holiday 2014 Movie Preview
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Teen Titans Live Action is Headed to TNT
Was Quentin Tarantino Disappointed by Prometheus?
10 Movie Franchises We Don't Want Anymore
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Get A First Look At The Fantastic Four's Costumes
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1976 – Happy 37th birthday to retired NBA center Brad Miller (@BradMilzy) who spent 14 seasons in the league. The two-time All-Star was surprisingly one of the NBA's best offensive players in history. According to Basketball-Reference, Miller's .564 career true-shooting percentage is in the top 100 and his 114.2 offensive rating ranks in the top 60 all-time. In addition, he led all players in offensive rating in 2004-05.
For more NBA coverage, follow King James Gospel and Adam Lowenstein on Twitter: @KJG_NBA and @StatsAdam
Tags: Brad Miller


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Depending on what happens with the NBA Draft, the Kentucky Wildcats could be down to just three scholarship guards next year. I know as of now, it is a common consensus that James Young may be gone and well, depending on who you talk to, the Harrisons are a toss-up. I would like to think that Andrew and Aaron Harrison would stay as their draft stock could be vastly improved in another year, but I always tend to be wrong on predicting this type of stuff.
If the Harrison's do go to the NBA, Kentucky would be left with Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker, and Dominique Hawkins as their only scholarship players. And we know what to expect from the last couple of years of getting freshman guards ready for the college game. So it was not a big shock that Kentucky is interested in a player like UNLV's Bryce Dejean-Jones.
UK assistant coach Orlando Antigua called the head coach of the Compton Magic AAU program Monday night to inquire about Bryce Dejean-Jones, who will graduate from UNLV this spring and intends to transfer to another school for his senior season. Dejean-Jones — a 6-foot-5 guard — was the Runnin' Rebels' leading scorer this season.
Compton Magic Coach Etop Udo-Ema told the Herald-Leader that UCLA, Cincinnati, Florida State and Arizona State have also called about Dejean-Jones.
Udo-Ema previously coached Daniel Orton, who played for John Calipari and Antigua during their first season at UK. Another one of Udo-Ema's former players is Waki Williams, who played for Calipari at Memphis.
"I know Coach Cal very well," he said.
A player like Dejean-Jones would solve a lot of problems for Kentucky next year but as a lot of transfers do, he carries a lot of baggage. DeJean-Jones was involved in altercations at USC and his parting at UNLV seems to be the stuff of turmoil as well.
The 6-foot-5 guard was suspended for the regular-season finale after a confrontation on the bench toward the end of the previous game, which was UNLV's final home contest of the season. Dejean-Jones also left the arena soon after that game, only to return later to talk with his coaches.
He came back from the one-game suspension and played in both of UNLV's games in the Mountain West Tournament. But he reportedly was involved in a physical altercation with teammate Jelan Kendrick following their season-ending loss in the tournament. UNLV Coach Dave Rice told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that there was no physical altercation, but there was a verbal altercation between the two players.
Rice called Dejean-Jones' departure from the team a "mutual" decision.
CBS analyst Doug Gottlieb told the Review-Journal that he overheard the locker room confrontation between Dejean-Jones and Kendrick.
"I was back in the bowels in the arena, and I heard some of the shouting and some of the shenanigans going on in the locker room," Gottlieb, who called multiple UNLV games this season, told the newspaper. "I think Bryce was toxic. He was really hard to play with, but he needs a really strong personality as a coach, and Dave has to show that."
Granted, Kentucky fans are going to overact more than likely of this becomes a serious courtship, but in the end, John Calipoari is going to be the best judge of whether a player is worth the baggage. I am always going to point at DeMarcus Cousins as an example of Calipari being able to reign in a big personality/possibly volatile type player and it should be noted that Cal has passed on Royce White and others as well.
There is no harm on Calipari having Dejean-Jones come to campus and meeting with him after the tournament. I don't think Calipari is going to rush to judgement on a questionable player. And in the best case scenario, Dejean-Jones could realize that this is his last chance and become a Julius Mays type of player.


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Raverbashing Lyrics - Atari Teenage Riot
This number is a number that...
In England they didn't wanna play on the radio!
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Come on!
Go! Go! Go! Go! (x4)
Raverbashing! 1, 2, 3, 4!
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Stop it please!
Traitor! you want the statue for yourself
Raverbashing! 1, 2, 3, 4!
Come on!
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Book Description:
This study, done within the comprehensive Weberian framework, focuses on religion and social change in Bangladesh through an imaginative use of qualitative as well as quantitative methods of modern social research. It first provides a sociological interpretation of the origin and development of Islam in Bangal using historical and literary works on Bengal. The main contribution is based on two sample surveys conducted by Mrs Banu in 20 villages of Bangladesh and in three areas in the metropolitan Dhaka City. Using these survey data, she gives a sociological analysis of Islamic religious beliefs and practices in contemporary Bangladesh and more importantly, she studies the impact of the Islamic religious beliefs on the socio-economic development and political culture in present-day Bangladesh. She also shows how Islam compares with modern education in social "transforming capacity". This work aims to hels deepen our understanding of the interactions between religious and social changes common to many parts of the Third World.
Tags: Crafts-Hobbies-Home, Home-Improvement-Design, Home-Decorating-Design, Interior-Design,


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Dean's Honors Recital
The 2013 Curtis Dean's Honors Recital, a program presenting reprises of some of the year's outstanding student performances. The program:
Isaac Albéniz: "Asturias" from Suite española no. 1
Jiyeon Kim, guitar
In 1887, the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz gathered a group of his short piano pieces into a suite to honor the Queen of Spain, with each piece representing a region of that nation. The suite was re-arranged in 1912, a year after Albéniz' death. "Asturias" loosely represents that Atlantic region of the Iberian peninsula.
Jean Francaix: Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano
Beverly Wang, oboe; Catherine Chen, bassoon; Bryan Anderson, piano
Francaix lived from 1912 to 1997, and distinguished himself as a piano virtuoso, as well as a composer very much in the neo-Classical style. This Trio is a late work, dating to 1994, on a commission from the International Double Reed Society. Typically for this composer, the work manages to be both thoroughly modern and thoroughly accessible.
Thomas Oltarzewski: Winter Scenes
Kensho Watanabe, violin; Will Chow, cello; Elizabeth White Clark, harp
Tom is a good friend of Onstage at Curtis; for two years as a Curtis student, he helped our production team put together a number of shows in the series. His "Winter Scenes" was commissioned by the Lyra Society of Philadelphia, and was composed in 2012/2013, as part of the Costello Award, in honor of the former Philadelphia orchestra principal harp.
John Cage: Third Construction
Ted Babcock, Yi Fei Fu, Tomasz Kowalczyk, Won Suk Lee, percussionists
The avant-garde composer John Cage created three "Constructions" between 1939 and 1942, while working at the Cornish School of the Arts in Seattle. Each is scored for an unusual selection of percussion instruments, such as tin cans, split bamboo and conch shells, as well as more conventional instruments. The result is surprisingly accessible and engaging.
Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 55, No. 2
Chopin: Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53
Alexander Ullman, piano
Alex played these two evocative miniatures by Chopin on his Graduation Recital, and returned to encore them on the Dean's Honors concert.
Music Word of the Week: Polonaise
"A Polish dance in triple time and of moderate speed. It has a processional and stately character, having originated in courtly 16th-century ceremonies. The early polonaise bears little resemblance to the 19th-century dance, which is characterized by triple time, phrases starting on the first beat of the bar, the repetition of short, rhythmic motifs, and a cadence on the third beat of the bar."
(from the Oxford Dictionary of Music)
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Floating Candle
Spook out your guests when you decorate with the Floating Candle. This awesome prop features sound, lights, an edge sensor and it floats! It's basically the coolest decoration ever! Batteries included.
Floating Ghost Super Skin Child Costume
Redefine yourself as a spooky specter on Halloween when you wear this Floating Ghost Super Skin Child Costume. Black and white full body jumpsuit features attached gloves and socks, complete with a hooded mask.
Animated Floating Ghost Decoration
Scare up some Halloween fun when you decorate indoors with this life-size and totally spooky looking animated ghost - the skeletal face and bony fingers are enough to scare even a hardened ghost or ghoul. Whatever you do, don't make eye contact or this creature will steal your soul.
Floating Ghost Lawn Stake
…grinning with menace and malice - only you know for sure! Decorate or take this guy with you - either way he'll start a spooky conversation! The Floating Ghost creature looks like an ancient ghost using one arm to prop himself up on a cane. Walk with him or stick him in a flower pot or out in the…
Floating Pumpkin Hanger
Suspend disbelief! Suspend your jack-o-lanterns in mid air for an amazingly eerie effect - this will scare the neighbors! Ordinary jack-o-lanterns appear to float with this unique Floating Pumpkin Hanger hardware.
Walking Clown With Tongue Animated Prop
Did we mention that we hate clowns? Who wouldn't - especially when they appear to float across the floor as their eyes light up and their tongue moves, all to the sounds of four frightful audio tracks. This five foot tall animated prop is truly terrifying, which is why you simply must add it to your…
Animated Tabletop Floating Broomstick
What could be more spooky than a floating broomstick - you know the wicked witch who owns it can't be far behind! This Animated Tabletop Floating Broomstick is the ideal party decoration - it hovers and at the slightest sound it emits scary sounds and creepy noises. Conjure up some Halloween fun…
1000 Watt Fog Machine
…so scary and so easy to set the scene for spooky fun - fog rolling in almost begs for the howl of a werewolf, the flapping wings of a bat and the floating specter of a ghost, goblin or ghoul. Set the scene with this powerful corded remote control 1,000 watt fog machine that pumps 4-5 more fog than…
Baywatch Lifeguard Suit Adult Men's Costume
Take the plunge when you dive into Halloween wearing the officially licensed adult men's Baywatch costume - the padded muscle arms and muscle chest may not keep you afloat but it will attract the ladies! Float her boat in this fun costume.
Melting Skull Party Favor
Watch it fizzle! The perfect addition to your witch cauldron or mug of toxic juice, the Melting Skull party favor assumes a new identity when dropped in water. Watch it dissolve to reveal two floating eyeballs!
Ghost Scene Setter
These floating, life-size reapers will keep people looking over their shoulders! Easy to put up, they're a Halloween decoration that can hang in windows, walls or doorways. Also perfect as a haunted house decoration, they can be trimmed to fit a specific area. Light from behind will add an eerie…
Small Flying Ghost
…Step it up a notch when you invite ghosts and goblins into your home. This Small Flying Ghost is suspended on a 25' long cable and he appears to float and fly back and forth while issuing creepy sounds. The sounds and the ghost are real - the spooky factor is up to you, depending on where you choose…
Floating Witch Lawn Stake
…effect with the Floating Witch - she actually appears to float! This spectral character will enhance your Halloween decor and make a memorable and lasting impression upon all who behold her. Standing a full four feet tall, she looks ready to cast a spell - let her "float" and watch her garments…
Ghostbusters Floating Slimer Animated Decoration
Who you gonna call when you want some Halloween fun? Ghostbusters! Hang the officially licensed and totally awesome Ghostbusters green Floating Slimer animated decoration in your home and watch the show begin. The creature has light-up eyes and moves from side to side as it plays Ghostbusters music.…
Floating Ghost Super Skin Mens Costume
Spook everyone out when you decide to wear this Floating Ghost Super Skin Mens Costume. Black and white jumpsuit features attached gloves and socks, complete with a hooded mask.
Floating Ghost Super Skin Adult Mens Plus Size Costume
Take a new approach to Halloween with this Floating Ghost Super Skin Adult Mens Plus Size Costume. Black and white screen printed specter jumpsuit features attached gloves and socks, complete with hooded mask.
Ghost Cape Adult Womens Costume
You'll be gorgeously ghostly in the Ghost Cape Adult Women's Costume. This white floor-length cape has a hood and sheer lining details; you'll look like you're floating on air.
Annabelle Angel Wings
She'll float above the audience of the Christmas Pageant when you cress her in these Annabelle Angel Wings. Gorgeous white feathers create a beautiful and heavenly look.
Evil Entity Animated Prop
…animated prop can do. Watch in horror as the creature slowly moves his torso at the shoulders in a "figure-eight" motion - it looks like he is floating and swaying in the wind - the effect is heightened with creepy sounds and illumination from within the head and chest. This is a truly depraved…
White Velvet Wings and Halo
Be heaven-sent on Halloween when you decide to wear the White Velvet Wings and Halo set! Float and flutter from house to house seeking heavenly sweets and looking the part!
Haunted Ghost Robe Adult Womens Costume
You will be hauntingly beautiful on Halloween when you float into the room in this Haunted Ghost Robe adult womens costume. The white, floor length sleeveless dress of this womens ghost costume comes complete with a sheer hooded robe.
Purple Angel Girls Costume
You are an ethereal vision in this pretty Purple Angel girls costume. Float into the room with marabou-clad wings and halo headpiece. This striking ensemble comes complete with purple crushed velvet dress, gloves and leggings.
Tinkerbell Fairy Adult Womens Costume
Make them all green with envy when you float into the room wearing this Tinkerbell Fairy adult womens costume. The mint green dress of this womens fairy costume features an adjustable skirt. Sleeves, wings, a pouch and headpiece complete this sexy womens costume.
Ballerina Butterfly Girls Costume
Flutter, float and dance about in this Ballerina Butterfly girls costume. Spin, twirl and frolic though the neighborhood or at the party in the iridescent blue and black dress with lace-up bodice, complete with tutu skirt, wings, mitts and matching headband.


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Elevate Your PresentationsPublic speaking doesn't have to feel like root canal. We can help you polish your professional presentation style, pain-free.
Elevate Your ManagementWhether you love leading a team -- or consider supervision an interruption of your real work – we'll teach you how to get the most and the best out of your key contributors.
Elevate Your Sales and ServiceThe first challenge is winning the customer. The next one is keeping the customer happy – for life! We'll show you how to do both, better.
Elevate Your LifeEverything would be great, if it weren't for ____________. No matter what you put in the blank, our one-on-one coaching will help you overcome personal and professional obstacles, and living the life you really want.
"The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
- George Bernard Shaw
Elevated Training, Inc. helps you and your team stop hoping that you're communicating well, and gives you the tools, techniques and motivation to consistently communicate with polish, passion and professionalism. Whether you need to present better, supervise more effectively, sell successfully, improve your customer care – or even speak to yourself with greater compassion and drive – our engaging, results-driven workshops and one-on-one coaching will get your staff, your leadership and your clients talking. And we mean that in the best way possible.
Our satisfied clients span the industries, from financial services, law, pharmaceuticals and advertising to non-profits, academia, government and utilities. And despite the diversity of our clients, they can agree on one thing:
"Elevated Training Inc. understands our company culture and gets the results we need."
No pain. No naps. Noticeable progress.
If you need real communication skills improvement rather than an illusion that change is taking place, we should talk.
Call us today at 516-569-9139 or email us at email@example.com
- Presentation Skills
- Communication Skills
- Supervision Skills
- Sales Skills
- Customer Service Skills
- Meeting Management Skills
- Team Building
- Project Management
- Leadership Development
- Meeting and Retreat Facilitation
- Management and Career Coaching
- Life Coaching