As the tweet turns....

Did Sophia confirm some of the connections between Austin and Jake?

Back on Austin's birthday she tweeted....

April 24, 2012Hey peeps. Be sure to say happy birthday to AUS10NICHOLS today. He's a barefoot-running, green-juice-drinking, electric-car-driving #BadassMan, so send some wishes his way. #AllLove


Barefoot running. Like Jake talked about on Letterman?

And was part of the whole Leadville thing?

And green juice?

Like one for me and one for you?

And driving somebody's truck home?

And yeah at OMG already knew, but always nice to know we're on target.

Hiring and office culture

Valve's Handbook for New Employees is online for all to see. I love reading stuff like this and the Zappos Culture Book. It's a fascinating peek into how the organization is run and how newcomers are indoctrinated into their culture.

"Hiring well is the most important thing in the universe," according to the Valve handbook, and I agree. Individual employees will make or break your company. You had better be deadly serious about who you invite to join the club, and how they are treated once inside.

Like most people who have to work for a living, I spend more waking hours at my office than anywhere else, so it makes sense to invest in that environment. That's why I created our company's Culture Book last year. I'm really interested in this stuff!

More LEGO Mech Action

Artillery support mecha in dandelion camouflage. Dual shoulder-mounted seed pod missile launchers. Equipped with grass blade hand attachments for clearing away brush.

Flamethrower mecha with fuel tank reservoir. Handy for blazing a trail through tall weeds or toasting your enemies to a crisp!

Rifleman Battlemech. I designed this frame from scratch based on the model RFL-5M. It turned out a bit clunky but was fun to build. Natalie threw a rock at it.

Biscuit, anyone?

Not the digestive, chocolate coated or otherwise fattening variety but the wooden type used by joiners to connect two bits of wood together.  I have no idea how they do it (somthing about PVA make them expand into a similar-shaped hole I think) and - frankly - don't case.

You see I don't need them for joinery but wargaming (as 99% of my DIY purchases usually are).  I got 100 of these off Ebay for £5.  They are - as you can see - ship shaped.  So drill a hole in them and paint them up and I've got better ships for my ancients DBA campaign.  But they can also be used for Mark's ancients seafaring battles or generally denoting something nautical.

I'm sure other wargamers can see the potential for a low-cost method of building fleets.

Incidentally I think these bad boys measure around 5cm x 3cm.

Also - it wasn't my idea.  Someone suggested it on another blog.  Once again I stand on the shoulders of giants! 

Jimmy Kimmel at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

After just having slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon the other night, President Obama gave the opening address at the White House annual Correspondents' Dinner this weekend, warming up the room for Jimmy Kimmel's roast of politicians, the media and celebrities.

We all know that corruption, hypocrisy, dishonesty, back-alley deals and ineptitude are bipartisan traits, whatever differences of degree there may be between the two parties, so it is especially refreshing when EVERYONE gets roasted, starting with the President himself:

And if you want your opponents to get what's coming to them, you'll want to watch Jimmy Kimmel release what must be built-up frustration, but warning, you will also experience some major cognitive dissonance :)

Thank you for that brutal honesty, Kimmel!

And don't forget to catch last year's event, with Seth Meyers.

A nice conversation

I take Junior climbing on Sunday mornings and have taken Big Lee's advice to develop a portable painting box to use during the two hours he's swinging on the ropes.  It consists of a chunky metal B&Q toolbox (see picture).  All the figures are taken out and I keep some paints, unpainted troops, selection of brushes, white tile (for mixing paints on), piece of hardboard (to stop the paint getting onto the table below), cloth for brushes and a beaker (to hold the water).  This means a constructive 2 hours rather than (like the other parents there) reading the paper or staring into space...

Metal B&Q tool box - now used for my mobile painting studio.

The lighting inside the climbing centre is pretty poor (strip lighting) and they insist at blasting out rock music at Spinal Tap volumes (I have no idea why - I thought climbers liked peace and quiet which is why they climb mountains in the first place...) but its 2 hours to kill and I can usually get quite a bit done in that time (the Prussian mixed units for Grand Armee were knocked out there last week).

So I set up and dab away.  They have garden benches inside (seating and table combined) which isn't that comfy but does provide a wide working surface.

Usually I'm left alone except for the odd curious 4 year old (who also try to join in by jabbing a 000 brush repeatedly into the table unless you're quick and assertive - "Sod off you little brat!").  Oh and the idiot who sat at the same table this weekend and who obviously had St Vitus' Dance as he either kept getting up and down or rocked in his seat - never good when you're trying to paint the face on a 6mm figure.  I suffered in stoic silence except for the occasional loud sigh and "FOR F**** SAKE!" which eventually got the message through to him. 

Anyway, between the Rocking Fool sessions a young girl (probably 12 or 13ish) came over and was clearly interested in what I was doing.  She asked me what I was painting (Japanese ashigaru), where I got the models and paints from, how many I'd painted in the past ("Too many.  Far, far too many!") and loads of other questions about the hobby.  She asked if she could have a go at painting some so I passed over a brush and paint and let her get on with it.  She got so engrossed that she missed out a good half hour of climbing (as her dad kept reminding her) and we had a really pleasant chat about miniatures, painting and wargaming - as well as her hobbies (climbing, painting pictures and playing the piano - only one of which I can do, if climbing the stairs counts). 

I gave her a quick demo on drybrushing - which she'd never heard of - and she was quite impressed with the results.  Easily pleased, obviously.

So I promised that next week I'd bring down an old 28mm figure so she could have a bash at someting easier.  But it was nice to have a simple conversation about the hobby with someone who wasn't (as I've found adults to be) judgemental or condesending about it but just interested to know more.  Unlike her dad who obviously was unchuffed at blowing £10 on a climbing lesson that turned into a painting one.

I also told her to type '6mm painting' into Google when she got home for more info - so we never see her again!

Out Spotlight

Today’s Out Spotlight is an advocate, policy attorney andspeaker. He remains the only former NCAA football captain to have ever comeout, and is one of the most notable collegiate athletes to do so in any sport. In 2012, he was selected as the Democraticnominee for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the solidly Democratic182nd district and will be the first openly-gay state legislator in the historyof the Pennsylvania General Assembly in November. Today’s Out Spotlight is Brian Sims.

Brian K. Sims was born September 16, 1978 in WashingtonD.C., the son of two Army Lieutenant Colonels. An Army brat he lived in seventeen states before settling inPennsylvania during his teens in the early 1990s. He attended Bloomsburg University, inBloomsburg, Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in 2001.

At Bloomsburg, Sims play NCAA Division II football and in 2000,he was the co-captain of the university’s football team, and was recognized asa scholar athlete. At the time Bloomsburg, was experiencing its greatestfootball season in its history. That’s when Sims, senior captain and defensivetackle of the Division II school, decided to share his personal story with histeammates.

“I never planned to come out to my team, but I knew theywould find out.” ….“I lived with them. I didn’t date and I was a hardcorefeminist.”

"I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't know howor when, I feared it would change the dynamic in the locker room. You'respending four or five hours a day with your friends, and that's what I playedfor. I cared that my team would still be comfortable around me. I was concernedthat in the locker room guys would be uncomfortable around me.”

He came out to one teammate after a frat jello wrestling event at another nearby college.

There was no team meeting to announce it, or big announcement, it just happened over time. As his teammates found out one by one, in the locker room no one moved awayfrom Sims. No one shied away from him. His being gay became just more fodderfor locker room teasing, like someone's fat mom. Sims said he also became thedumping ground for every question his teammates had about gay people.

"Straight guys tend to be the most curious about sex,in general, my team asked me everything you can possibly ask a gay guy aboutsex, and in the crudest terms possible."

His teammates, responded in a way he never expected. “Theyall thought something was going to happen to me. They protected me,and I was honored. I never got that negative backlash.” Each player found some time to talkindividually with him. They apologized for jokes they cracked that may haveoffended him. “They were mortified,” he said. “They were worried I didn’tconsider them as good friends as they considered me. And that wasn’t true; theyare my best friends.”

He never heard a single negative comment about his sexualityfrom his teammates.

In coming out, Sims, the regional All-American and teamcaptain, became the only openly gay college football captain in NCAA history.

After graduating from Bloomsburg, Sims went on to earn anJ.D. Degree in International and Comparative Law at the Michigan StateUniversity School of Law in 2004. Hethen came back to East to start his law career, working as a disabilityattorney representing disabled professionals and also worked as the Senior LawClerk at the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s Washington office where he focusedon state and municipal compliance and enforcement.

He then went on to become Staff Counsel for Policy andPlanning at the Philadelphia Bar Association. During his time at the Bar Association,he worked with attorneys, legislators and community organizations on issuesranging from gender and pay inequity to environmental regulation.

In 2009, Sims joined the faculty of the Center forProgressive Leadership and the National Campaign Board of The Victory Fund and hasalso served as the President of Equality Pennsylvania, and as the Chairman ofthe Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia (GALLOP), until he stepped downfrom both organizations in 2011 to pursue his political aspirations.

He continues to serve on the GLSEN Sports Advisory Council,is a contributor to The Advocate Magazine, and has written for The NationalJurist, The New Jersey Law Journal, The Legal Intelligencer, Law.com, ThePhiladelphia Bar Reporter, M.D News Magazine, HRC Back Story, OutSports.com,Yahoo Sports and Compete Magazine. Additionally, he was selected as one of theTop 40 LGBT Attorneys Under 40 in the United States by the National LGBT BarAssociation in 2010. He lecturesregularly about the policy and legal challenges facing the LGBT civil rightsmovement and is a regular lecturer at the Center for Progressive Leadership.

In 2011, he announced his intentions to run for thePennsylvania House of Representatives, 182nd District and received theendorsement of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. The district located in Center City and SouthPhiladelphia represents the neighborhoods: “Rittenhouse, Fitler and LogansSquares, the Gayborhood, and parts of Washington Square West, Bella Vista,Graduate Hospital and Grays Ferry.”

After a running a campaign heavy on direct mail anddoor-knocking he beat long-time incumbent Democrat Babette Josephs, Sims wonthe Democratic Primary this April. Sincethere is no Republican challenger in the November 2012 election, Sims willbecome the first openly-gay state legislator in the history of the PennsylvaniaGeneral Assembly.

Brian Sims remains the only former NCAA football captain tohave ever come out, and is one of the most notable collegiate athletes to do soin any sport.

ID Fest

ID Fest is a film festival organised by QUAD, taking place over four days in May. The festival includes screenings,  live appearances from key industry figures, professional practice events and premieres of new films. This year we created the overall look for the festival by combining characters from films old and new and sought to emulate the festival programme itself and the way classic films are juxtaposed with contemporary and emerging films and talent by combining more graphic shapes with film textures and hand drawn elements. Visit the ID Fest website for more information or to buy tickets here.

(Brochure cover back) You can view the brochure in it's entirety here.

 Website design - Home page

 Website design - Photos page

 Website design - About page

Impetus Samurai army (1550-1600)

This demonstrates a typical Impetus samurai army that I'll be building towards (in fact, I'll have to build two to fight each other).

Unlike PoW Renaissance there is no scope for Europeans in this but I can always pinch some from another Renaissance army e.g.

0-1

T-Hungarian Shot

6

3

1

B

1

24

Musket

or

0-4

T-Harquebusiers

6

4

2

B

1

22

Harquebus B

Anyway, here is the standard list.  It suggests that pavises are fixed fortifications but the Japanese could often carry these with them (although it would slow them down).  I might use the palisades as the 'fixed' and the pavises as portable but cuts the movement rate of teppo and archers (from 6 to 4).

0-4	CP- Mounted Samurai (*)	8	7	4	B	3	38
2-8	FP - Foot Samurai (*)	5	6	3	B	3	26
2-8	FP - Ashigaru	6	5	2	B	2	19
0-2	T - Ashigaru archers	6	3	0	B	2	16	Longbow B
0-2	FP - Ronin	6	5	2	B	2	19
0-6	T - Teppo	6	4	0	B	2	21	Harquebus A
0-4	FP - Militia led by local samurai	5	3	1	C	1	7
0-1	Artillery	3	1	0	B	1	15	Art B
0-20	Palisade sections	-	-	-	-	-	5	permanent fortifications (**)

Not Business As Usual

Owen D. Young (1874-1962) is a nearly forgotten man outside of history textbooks.  Yet, he typified the American spirit in his time and always seemed to be a step ahead of everyone else.  After attending an elite liberal arts college in New York state, for example,  he went on to Boston University and graduated with honors one-year early.  At age twenty-two, his profound contributions to America and the world were all in the future.
.
Due to having a keen intellect, a natural savvy for business and an agreeable disposition, Young was appointed Chairman of the General Electric Corporation in 1922 after many years as a distinguished lawyer.  At age forty-eight, he was still just warming up.  Over the next ten years, his fingerprints were everywhere.  On the domestic side, Young founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and co-founded the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
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In 1924, Young moved into the arena of international affairs by lending his legal and financial expertise to prominent businessman and banker Charles G. Dawes (1865-1951) to reconfigure Germany's reparations from the First World War.  As the German economy remained structurally unstable after years of hyperinflation (1921-1924) and tangled banking practices, he was again tapped by the US government and led a commission and produce a new plan in 1929.   Taking a page out of the financial playbook of Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), the French minister who was forced to resign his position due to the intransigence of the upper classes to his financial reforms (the result of which was the French Revolution two-years later), Young lengthened the repayment schedule to ease the burden on Berlin.  For his efforts, he was chosen as "Man of the Year" for Henry Luce's (1898-1967) relatively new yet widely-read weekly publication Time magazine (est. 1923) - the same publisher and magazine that would declare the twentieth century to be "The American Century."
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Of all of his accomplishments, however, his greatest hour has been buried by the passage of time.  In 1927, Young was invited to give an address to the Harvard School of Business.  In the spirit of true American republicanism, he delivered the following remarks:
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"Slowly we are learning that low wages for labor do not necessarily mean high profits for capital.  We are learning that productivity of labor is not measured alone by the hours of work, nor even by the test of physical fatigue in the particular job.  What we need to deal with are not the limits to which men may go without physical exhaustion, but the limits within which they may work with zest and spirit and pride of accomplishment.  When zest departs, labor becomes drudgery, when exhaustion enters, labor becomes slavery."
.
"Here in America, we have raised the standard of political equality.  Shall we be able to add to that, full equality in economic opportunity?...No man is wholly free until he is both politically and economically free.  No man with an uneconomic and failing business is free.  No man with an inadequate wage is free.  No man is free who can provide only for physical needs.  He must also be in a position to take advantage of cultural opportunities."
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If an audience member did not know who was speaking, he or she would probably assume that the speaker was either a socialist or some kind of left-wing ideologue.  Young was neither.  He was a titan of American business and a powerful figure in the construction of international capitalism.
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There is a profoundly disturbing element to Young's 1927 address in relation to our time in the twenty-first century.  It is nearly impossible to imagine a business executive or corporate lawyer giving a similar speech today.  The social well-being of workers - the very people that make the economy run - has been largely off the table in corporate boardrooms and in MBA programs for more than thirty years.  Human beings have become human resources, and the idea that the social component of our lives ought to be the foremost consideration in economic policy currently has little to no place in American discourse - or in the discourse of many other countries.  If Young were to appear and deliver his 1927 address to the professors and students at Harvard Business School tomorrow, he would be denounced as "radical" and out of touch with the modern demands of production and efficiency.
.
Yet, is not the worldwide culture of business out of touch with what ought to be the first and foremost business ethic - developing business to help and empower people rather than to acquire more and more capital for the impersonal purpose of dominating a market? 
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American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968) once said "The time is always right to do what is right."  What America and the world desperately need is for leaders of the business community to courageously stand up for human interests over corporate interests.  Young understood that when companies make people their raison d'etre - everyone profits both socially and materially.
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The world is impatiently waiting for this Enlightenment.
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(Image: Owen D. Young on the cover of Time magazine, 1929)
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Key Source
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Ronald Schatz, The Electrical Workers: A History of Labor at General Electric and Westinghouse, 1923-1960 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983)
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J Roquen 

Battle Report : Ligny (1815) - Grand Armee

When I arrived, Mark had already set up the majority of the battlefield and my first thought was "We'll never get this done in an evening!".  The battlefield was huge - and considering that we had three large corps on the Prussian side it was going to be a slog.


Mark's map showing deployments

The battlefield - HUGE!

At least I'd finished the Prussian mixed units (11 in total) just in time so we had (with Jon's Prussians) just enough bases to meet our needs.  Jon took Pirch and Zeithen (holding Ligny, St Amand and St Amand la Haye.  I took Thielmann holding the right wing (Sombreeffe and Tongrinne).

Facing us Vandamme (Ian) and Gerard and Grouchy (Russ).  In general Ian was facing off John and Russ was facing off me and Jon.  Ian was going to be in charge of the forces of Drouot and Milhoud - the French reserve (including the Guards).

Our plan was relatively simple - hold the river banks (as the French would be vulnerable when they cross the river).  But we left a token force in St Amand on the other side of the river in order to take some strength off the French before they crossed.

We were under no illusions - the Prussians were numerous but weak.  The French would field at least the same number of bases but most were much higher strength - so we'd struggle to hold them up let alone win.  We just agreed to grin and bear it while the French whupped us.

Mark gave us a briefing before we began.

Mark lays down the law.

"You put them THERE!  THERE, I tells ya!" 

We rolled for initiative and command dice.  Mark gave us a cup to hold our dice in (so the opposition couldn't see how many we had left.

"That's no good - they've got Ian "Rain Man" Taylor on their side!  He'll know how many we've got with his eyes shut".



The French - laid back and confident of victory

We won and rolled for movement.  Zeithen went immediately on hold (great) so Jon had to move Pirch off the hill to plug the gaps.  I also started to eschelon Thielmann over towards Jon's troops.

The guns open up

Jon move Pirch down to support Zeithen and protect the flank

Russ moved Gerard to attack me rather than Ligny (triggered by my echelon) which took a bit of pressure off John.  I was still not in position to cover the whole of the river bank but luckily Gerard was held up by the fields between him and Thielmann and slowed him just enough to allow me to get across.

Gerard held up by the fields.  Good!

"Try It On" Taylor also tried to move Napoleon 40" (rather than the 20" he was allowed).  "Is he in a helicopter?".  But he managed to take St Armand with no trouble at all.  The Prussians were now all behind the river. 

The French take St Armand.  Boo!

We therefore moved as many troops as we could to the riverbank and to protect Ligny.  The French were chucking Vandameme and Gerard at us simultaneously and it looked like a lot coming to hit our thin Prussian Blue line.  I manged to slide across just in time...

Thielmann covers the riverbank as half the French army tries to get over the river.

 As the action heated up, so did the banter - like Jon requesting that Russ mark off casualties as soon as they were inflicted - "Just keeping you honest".  So tight did it get that I had the dicing equivalent of the yips and couldn't seem to let go of the dice when it was my turn to roll. 

There were also claims that Russ had been cooking his dice in the oven as 6 after 6 was rolled. 

The French artillery was moved up (and we Prussians couldn't afford to move) so much damage was inflicted as our troops hugged the river banks.  Gerard's charge over the river though was harsly repulsed by Thielmann and Russ consequently took an absolute kicking.  This weakened his troops to the point where he felt he had to withdraw next turn and rely on his artillery to kick lumps out of Zeithen's troops in Ligny and Grouchy's cavalry trying to get around Thielmann's right flank.

To stop the latter I turned some troops around (hinged on Tongrinne) to stop him - but this also meant that Thielmann was pretty much trapped (albeit holding Grouchy and Gerard in place).  Jon was on his own.

Gerard takes a licking on the riverbank.

This was bad news as the French reserve had turned up and Ian immediately aimed to get the Guards over the river.  As his toughest units they were the equivalent of Panzers he could roll them anywhere he wanted.

In terms of a single battle this is exactly the thing to do.  In terms of Waterloo it means that Wellington would have a much easier time as the Guards took a whupping dduring the battle (Mark went as far as declaring Waterloo won before it was fought given the damage inflicted).

Gerard withdrew (as my cannon shooting inflicted further damage) and aimed towards Ligny instead - while Grouchy went the long way around.  Ian instead chucked everything between Ligny and St Amand and soon had a breakthrough.

Grouchy goes the long way round

The Guards and everyone else from France goes in against Zeithen at St Amand la Haye.

The Guards strength managed to achieve the crossing and the Reserves around St Amand la Haye fell as they were surrounded.  The Guards ploughed on into the hills behind Ligny where Pirch's troops did some surrounding of their own - killing one unit of Guards and giving the other a very bad day.

But the French were over the river in force.

It was getting on - no decisive outcome had yet been achieved.  The Prussians had been knocked around (mainly Zeithen) but many of our units were intact and uphill.  Certainly most of Thielmann's corps were undamaged and could swing around to support Pirch as Grouchy was getting further from Napoleon (and so likely to be out of command radius).  But the French were pouring across the river and it would certainly have been a bloody and messy encounter.

I supopose in the context of the overall campaign, the Prussians had done a good job.  The French were pretty knocked about and with Waterloo beckoning they were a lot weaker than they would have been. 

So a tactical French victory...but Jon and I can feel that it was a job well done.

Spread a little Sunshine

We know Jake can work it bare...

But he's got it covered too.
How about that Sunshine?
Who said that Austin's the only one with all the assets?