#and we have a good few of those in our city from the 2016 quakes. red stickered and unsafe. but theyre more spread out because

[andromedasummer]

thinking about the felt store i dropped into at the mall near my uncles house a month back. god i would love to see more craft and hobby stores in malls, i dont know what it was about that place but it instantly made the mall feel way warmer and nicer (and it was a pretty damn nice mall)

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #497

Top Ten PC Games No One Talks About Anymore

Blimey, Quake is rather good, isn’t it? Have you heard about it? I really hope so, because it’s only twenty-five years old. I mean, Jesus. What’s up with that? Quake is meant to be the future. It’s full of true-3D polygonal texture-mapping and real-time dynamic light-sourcing. Fancy it being a quarter of a century old. That’s ridiculous. “Old” is for things like, I dunno, Space Invaders or The Godfather or I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Stuff that our parents heard about before we were born. It’s not – it’s absolutely not – used to describe something that people bought 3D accelerator cards for. It’s not used to describe a game that popularised online gaming.

But old it is, getting silver anniversary cards and everything. No longer the angry, hungry young tiger, devouring its ancestors and growling at upstart rivals like Duke Nukem 3D – sure, you’ve got non-linear levels, interactive scenery, and toilet humour, but we’ve got grenades that bounce with real physics – Quake is now an aged beast of the forest, resplendent, battle-scarred, weary with gravitas. Quake is the game that shaped the now, but it does not represent the future anymore. In fact, arguably its greatest rival – Unreal – is the game with the lasting, living legacy, its progeny building the next generation of gaming with one of the most popular and impressive engines around, the framework underpinning everything from Gears to Jedi to Fortnite. Quake blew us all away, but arguably it ceded the conflict, secure in its status as one of the most important and influential games of all time. Quake II got plaudits for actually having a proper story and an engrossing single-player campaign (and coloured lighting!), and its immediate descendants such as Half-Life changed the nature of what FPS games could do, but in a funny way it feels like Quake has long since retired. A sleeping titan. It got old.

So it’s great that they rereleased it on modern systems! The version of Quake released last month is basically the game I remember, but tarted up a little around the edges, with texture filtering and dynamic shadows and other stuff that I couldn’t manage on my Pentium 75 back in the day. It plays great – it’s slick as anything, and you go tearing round the levels like a Ferrari with a nail gun, blasting dudes and ducking back around a corner before you get hit with a pineapple in the face. It’s the first game I’ve played in a long, long time that evokes the feel of classic PC first-person shooters of that era – which, y’know, kinda makes sense as it is a first-person shooter of that era. But that style of fast-paced run-and-gun, circle-strafing gameplay has gone out of fashion now, with FPS games usually favouring slow, methodical, tactical combat, or larger-scale open-world warfare usually involving vehicles. Whether it’s a straight-up no-frills blaster like Quake, or a game that takes you on more of a linear, narrative journey, like Quake II, or even just a multiplayer-focused arena shooter, like Quake III Arena, it does feel like a dying artform, like a style of gameplay that could do with a resurgence (and, to be fair, there are games on the horizon that look like they’re harking back to the era, so that’s cool).

But it’s not just first-person shooters like Quake that I feel have slipped from gaming’s shared consciousness. Maybe it’s my age (it’s definitely my age) but there seems to be quite a lot of games that were a big deal twenty or so years ago that are utterly forgotten now, whereas some – Doom, Duke Nukem, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires – are often namechecked or rebooted (even before the full-on 2016 reboot, Doom must have been one of the most re-released games of the last thirty years). But there are lots of others where sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that remembers it. And that’s where this list comes in: inspired by the excellent re-release of the Quake franchise, here are some other great PC games of that general era that I feel still need shouting about, even if I’m the only one doing the shouting. Maybe they don’t all need a full-on remaster or whatever, but it’d still be nice if they got a bit of modern gaming love.

No One Lives Forever (2000): coming at a time when most FPS games were still Doom-style blasters with little in the way of real plot, NOLF was different: stylish and funny, genuinely well-written (as in the dialogue), with interesting objective-based missions and a cool female protagonist. It skirted similar ground to Bond and the then-white-hot Austin Powers franchise. Two games were made and then, as far as I’m aware, it evaporated into a mess of tangled rights, hence no sequels or remakes. A shame, because it was great.

MDK (1997): the next game from the people who made the multimedia phenomenon that was Earthworm Jim, MDK was a really cool slice of sci-fi style, all sleek level design and intriguing features. It had a supremely bonkers plot which bled through into a game with a sense of humour, but mostly it was the run-and-gun gameplay and innovative use of a scoped weapon – possibly (don’t quote me on this) the first sniper rifle in a videogame. An even wackier sequel followed, but despite its cult status, that was it.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Klingon Honor Guard (1998): it’s probably fair to say that Star Trek has not had as many great videogames as Star Wars, perhaps because Trek’s historically straightlaced earnestness just didn’t translate as well as bashing someone up the chops with a laser sword. Honor Guard shook things up by casting you as a Klingon, showering levels with pink blood and going Full Worf. It was the first game to licence the Unreal engine, and had a cool level where you walked along the outside of a ship like in First Contact. Also: shout out to the Voyager game, Elite Force (2000), which was another really good FPS set in the world of Trek, with intriguing gameplay wrinkles as you fought the Borg. It also let you wander round the titular starship between levels. Trek deserves more quality action games like these.

Earth 2150 (2000): the nineties on PC really saw RTS games come down to those who liked Command & Conquer or those who liked Warcraft, but as the decade drew to a close other titles chased the wargame crown (including Total Annihilation, which would have made this list, except I feel like the Supreme Commander franchise is a sequel in all but name). 2150 was notable for its Starcraft-like mix of three factions with contrasting play styles, and its use of 3D graphics and the ability to design and build weapons of war that could lay waste to armies and bases with spectacular results. I think the genre has ossified into something more hardcore, and this was probably an inflex point where idiots like me could still get a handle on things.

Midtown Madness (1999): Microsoft has a history of building up great racing franchises and then abandoning them, but their “Madness” line of games in the late nineties/early noughties was terrific and much-missed. Back when tooling round actual 3D cities was still new and exciting, this was a no-holds-barred arcade racer, with some gorgeous shiny chrome effects on the cars, and very nippy handling. It was great fun smashing up VW Beetles and the like. It was surpassed, I guess, by Project Gotham on the Xbox, and sadly the whole franchise was then forgotten, despite the ascendent Forza franchise mostly shunning city driving.

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines (1998): part tactical war game, part puzzler, Commandos was famous for its gorgeously intricate graphics and its difficulty – I mean, it was way too hard for me. But its beautiful top-down design and its slow, methodical gameplay was compelling, as you evaded Nazis and solved missions with a team of unique units with special skills. Sequels followed, and western spin-off Desperados, but there’s not been a true follow-up for quite some time, despite promises; and few games have echoed its style or look.

The Pandora Directive (1996): okay, so really this is just a placeholder for an entire subgenre of game that appears to have been forgotten: interactive movies. I know, there are flirtations with this from time to time; and many of these games featured obtuse puzzles and relatively little gameplay strung between FMV scenes. Pandora was great though; a first-person 3D game with loads of old-school adventure aspects, as well as FMV, it was a noir-tinged detective story but set in the future. The Tex Murphy series (of which this was the fourth instalment) has had sequels – the most recent one was sadly cancelled only this year – but many other games of a similar ilk, such as Phantasmagoria and even Wing Commander – have fallen by the wayside. With in-engine graphics now allowing the fluidity and expression of cinematic renders of old, shooting movie inserts doesn’t seem like it’s worthwhile; but I still always loved a point-and-click game that featured digitised actors milling about. Toonstruck, anyone?

Marathon (1994): before Halo there was… Marathon! Back when I used to lug my Pentium round my mate’s house so we could play different games on different machines side-by-side, he’d bang on about this Mac-first series of games, like Doom but better, with an intricate plot and complex levels. And y’know what? He was actually onto something. There’s a style and an earnestness to the Marathon franchise, along with many concepts that would be refined in Halo years later. With Bungie now seemingly committed to Destiny, and Halo in Microsoft’s hands, I’m not sure what could possibly become of this, their forgotten FPS forebear, especially as it shares so much DNA with its offspring.  

Outlaws (1997): LucasArts are famous for two things, really: their Star Wars games and their adventures. But they made loads of other stuff too – including this intriguing Western shoot-em-up. Back when Western games were rarer than Western movies (which were rare at the time), this quirky and difficult cowboy-em-up saw you rounding up outlaws in typical oater locations such as saloons, trains, and mines. It had great music and a really intriguing set of weapons, including (don’t quote me on this) the first sniper rifle in a game. Sadly Outlaws’ success could be described as “cult” and it never got a proper sequel. and, weirdly, despite the success of Red Dead Redemption, we’ve never had a bit Western-themed FPS again. Which is really odd.

Soldier of Fortune (2000): I pondered whether to include this one, as if I’m honest I’m not sure I want this licence brought back. But I can’t deny the game was a huge deal and has seemingly been forgotten. A relatively gritty and realistic combat game with a huge variety of excellent real-world weaponry, its big hook was its incredibly detailed damage modelling, that could see you blowing limbs off enemies, or splitting open heads, or disembowelling them. Whilst its OTT violence made headlines, the granularity of its systems meant you could be more tactical, shooting weapons out of hands. But really its biggest controversy should be its association with a big old gun magazine.

There are many, many other games that nearly made the list - I almost had a Top Ten of just FPS games, for instance. Little Big Adventure was here, till a sequel was announced the other day. Hexen and Heretic I think still have a place in FPS history. Toonstruck, although without a sequel, was only really a cult hit at the time, and I feel the people who’d love it already know about it. I do tend to overthink these things, y’know.

So maybe not all of these could make a comeback, but all the same I don’t think they should be forgotten, and it does make we wonder what games will fall by the wayside twenty or more years from now. That game about the big green space marine dude in a mask – what was that called again…?

[drtanstravels]

It’s been a while since I’ve checked in because we’ve had a relatively quiet two months, until now that is. We had been anticipating our first venture back to mainland USA since we left New York three years ago for quite a while, but for slightly different reasons than the usual excitement that comes with a big trip; the bulk of our stay was going to be in the state of Wyoming for another one of Anna’s conferences, this time the Midwest Ocular Angiography Conference being held in the small town of Jackson. We were going to be in a white, working class state that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump and one where a licence isn’t required to carry a concealed weapon so we figured the two of us together might draw a bit of attention. Then there was the fact that Wyoming is the least populous state in the United States so when we were looking for information about where we’d be staying, among the endless memes such as these, we also found a lot of people, mostly ironically, even calling into question the state’s existence:

Our plan was to fly out on the night of Friday, July 5, taking a 15-hour direct flight to Los Angeles, California, but due to the time difference, landing around the same time we left. We would then stay a night in LA, fly out to Jackson, Wyoming where we would spend the following four nights before spending a similar amount of time traveling around both the Great Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Let’s get this show on the road!

I think someone wanted to come with us

Friday, July 5, 2019 I had a lot of loose ends to tie up during the day, then Anna returned from work and we began to pack. This was no easy task as the temperature in Wyoming is a little scattered. With the exception of a couple of colder outliers that were in the mid-teens, most days were going to be between 27°C (80.6°F) and 31°C (87.8°F), however, the nights would be quite cool, every evening in single digits, sometimes dropping to 0°C (32°F). This meant we would have to pack for both summer and winter, especially due to the fact that Anna had also planned to spend two nights “glamping” in a tent. Anyway, we went through our boxes of winter clothes, got everything packed, dropped the dog off at Brownie Buddies, and made our way to the airport.

There’s been a recent trend of disasters occurring around the same time we are in, or not long after we leave, a country:

We were in Honolulu, Hawaii (I realise it’s not a county in itself, but part of the US) for an ophthalmology conference from April 29 – May 2, 2018. The Kilauea volcano erupted the day we left, followed by several earthquakes including one at a magnitude of 6.9, as well as multiple lava flows. 700 houses were destroyed.

We then stayed in Tokyo, Japan from May 2 – May 7 on the way back from the Hawaiian conference. Two months later Western Japan suffered its worst natural disaster since the 2011 earthquake and the worst weather-related disaster in 36 years with flooding and landslides killing around 200 people and two million more evacuated after July 5. Another two months after the typhoon, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 occured in Hokkaido, killing at least 39.

We visited Chiang Mai, Thailand for another conference from June 27, 2018, I returned on June 30 and Anna on July 2. In what was only a relatively small story when it broke, 12 teenage soccer players and their coach became trapped in a cave in neighbouring Chiang Rai on June 23, not being rescued until 18 days later, one volunteer rescuer suffocating in the process.

We were in Hangzhou, China from September 12 – 15, 2018, with Anna arriving on the 13th from Hong Kong. The day I landed in Hangzhou, Hong Kong, also technically a “special administrative region of China”, was hit by Typhoon Mangkhut, leaving 400 seeking medical care and 1,500 taking refuge in temporary shelters.

Later in the month we had a holiday in Turkey from September 24 – 29 and they didn’t escape lightly, either. Not only was there a hurricane warning for Turkey on the day we left to return to Singapore, but Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by his own government just two days later as well.

This year we spent February 1 – 5 in Sri Lanka, a mere two months before a series of bombings in churches and hotels in Colombo killed 257 people.

So, what does all of this have to do with our trip to Wyoming? Well, we had a one-day layover in Los Angeles and a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit about 240 km (150 miles) north of LA just before we departed from Singapore, that’s all.

We caught our flight, landed, and it is alway amusing people-watching at Los Angeles International Airport, including the middle-aged woman we encountered resembling Lolo Ferrari who wouldn’t be able to sleep on her back for fear of being crushed under the weight of her own ridiculous breast implants. Once through immigration we caught a shuttle from our terminal to our hotel at the airport and an extremely strong female driver who appeared to have just returned from the manicurist picked up our exceptionally heavy suitcases like they were nothing and loaded them onto the shuttle. When we got to the hotel we grabbed our bags and I asked her how she managed to do that and keep a full set. She just gave me a cheeky smile, winked, and drove off. We checked into the hotel before making our way downstairs to a bar where we pulled up a seat for a few drinks, but the staff all seemed a little freaked out, talking about the earthquake. It seemed a little fresh in them all until I looked up at a screen showing CNN and the numbers didn’t quite add up. It turned out that another 7.1 magnitude quake with several aftershocks hit about an hour before we landed at LAX. They weren’t dwelling on the previous day’s occurrence, this stronger quake that everyone was nervous about had only just occurred. The staff just wanted to get out of there and check that their homes were still intact, plus we were pretty tired so we just had a couple of drinks and went back up to our room.

Saturday, July 6, 2019 You never get a great sleep when you make a flight as long as the one we had, constantly waking up during the night, struggling to get back to sleep, then waking up early again. This left us a fair bit of time to kill in LA before we had to fly out later that night so we decided to catch a cab to a nearby shopping mall, but first we grabbed some breakfast in the hotel cafe. One thing we were aware of, but to the degree of which we had completely forgotten, was the portion sizes in the US. Case in point, we got a breakfast burrito each and probably wouldn’t need anything else until dinner! Time to walk this one off in Westfield Culver City.

Add “NBA record most missed shots in NBA history” to that list

This mall had a ton of sporting goods stores selling NBA jerseys, caps, and other stuff, predominately Lakers gear. I’ve mentioned before that I loathe, hate, and despise the Lakers, think Kobe Bryant (left) is the most overrated player to ever lace them up, and believe that LeBron James’ spoilt, overprivileged attitude is ruining the league. This offseason the Lakers traded for Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans, a deal that could ruin the franchise for years to come if it doesn’t work out and left them wanting to sign another star player Their eyes were set firmly on free agent Kawhi Leonard, whom had just led the Toronto Raptors to the NBA championship. Instead, Leonard announced that very morning that he intended to sign with the Lakers’ crosstown rival L.A. Clippers, a team that also managed to trade for Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George, and Lakers fans were PISSED! There was a guy who ran one of the stores, an overweight dude in a Kobe Bryant throwback jersey and all other Lakers attire who was close to tears. “If only we still had Kobe, man,” he said longingly of a player that retired three years ago. “He’d be 41, but we’d still have a chance, with Kobe you always had a chance.” He’s talking about a guy who couldn’t stay healthy toward the end of his career, playing a grand total of  107 of a possible 244 games over his final three seasons, the Lakers’ three worst regular seasons in franchise history for that matter, all while pulling in a cool US$78,953,000 in salary over that time. Yeah, he’d get it done today.

We spent the bulk of the afternoon wandering around Westfield, finding quirky objects such as Twix chocolate bar packets that claimed to contain four of only the left-side bars. We are attending Anna’s cousin’s wedding in Vancouver, Canada in September so I managed to pick up a three-piece Calvin Klein suit plus a shirt from JC Penney for a grand total of only US$355.88 (AU$506.49) plus tax, well under half-price and it actually fits. This isn’t boasting, but the price will make a bit of sense when I use it as a comparison later in this post. Anyway, take a look at some photos from our less than one day in Los Angeles:

The TV while we were in the bar on Friday night

Breakfast is served

These things were enormous

For those who believe the right Twix bar is unlucky and need twice as many in total

And vice versa

Anna had a weird craving for In-N-Out Burger, but we didn’t have time and before long we were back in the airport, ready to take a short flight from LA to Jackson, Wyoming. There is only one flight per day to Jackson and I was beginning to think there may be some truth to the conspiracy that Wyoming may not even exist when we boarded the plane and there were a grand total of 12 passengers onboard. Anyway, a bit of background information on our alleged destination:

Jackson is a small city in the Jackson Hole valley of Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 9,577 at the 2010 census, up from 8,647 in 2000. It is the county seat of Teton County and is its largest town.

The town gained significant fame when a livestream of the town square went viral on YouTube in 2016, leading to much fascination with the town’s elk antler arch, its law enforcement, and its prevalence of red trucks.

As of the census of 2010, there were 9,577 people, 3,964 households, and 1,858 families residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 79.8% White, 0.4% African American, 0.8% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 15.2% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 27.2% of the population.

Upon finding out those demographics, I immediately set myself the goal of getting a photo with one of those nine or 10 Pacific Islanders if Wyoming did indeed exist, especially if they drive a red truck. Failing that, a guy in a MAGA hat shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. I can honestly vouch for the existence of Wyoming as we landed in the Jackson Hole airport. No memories planted by the government, just real visions of a tiny airport decorated with discarded elk antlers. Anna had hired a car, but we wouldn’t be picking that up until the following day. Instead, we had a driver collecting us to take us to our motel about 10 minutes outside of town. When we arrived at the Flat Creek Inn at 8:30pm, sitting directly opposite the National Elk Refuge, the place had an appearance resembling kind of a much larger version of the motel where Earl and Randy lived in My Name Is Earl. In fact, if the motel were located in any major city in the US, it seemed almost inevitable that at least one hooker or backpacker would have been murdered there and stuffed into a wall cavity. Realistically though, it was a nice enough place and pretty much suited our needs. Our flight, the airport, and our home for the night:

Our packed flight

Flying over “Wyoming”

Anna out the front of the airport in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Outside our room

The store where we’d be buying dinner

In our room

A little dingy, but it’ll be fine for the night

Anna sitting on the bed

Me trying to give the room a sexier vibe

After we had checked into our room it was time to try to find something to eat and that is where any semblance of normalcy ceased. This was truly an area where you couldn’t achieve anything without a car and, despite being only a 10-minute ride, a taxi into Jackson was US$40.00 (AU$57.00) each way so we were limited to the convenience store that was linked to our hotel, one that closed at midnight. Now, one thing that needs to be made clear here for anyone who hasn’t suffered from jet-lag before is that it is simply agony, especially when it is the result of an excruciatingly long flight from South-East Asia to North America. Traveling to the west coast of the US isn’t quite as bad as the east, but it’s still awful — You are unable to keep your eyes open at 4:00pm, it’s almost as if you suffer from narcolepsy and you have no problem falling asleep once you go to bed if you make it to what would be the time you would normally sleep back home, but then you find yourself wide awake a couple of hours later at 3:00am, unable to switch back off. The one upside of that late-afternoon and onward period where it’s tough to stay awake is that you are also a little delirious and anything can become absolutely hilarious. That is the position in which we found ourselves at this point. Anyway, we went down to the convenience store, but there wasn’t a lot of food options and no alcohol, however, there was a microwave and an electric coffee maker in our room so we bought two packets of instant noodles, a large frozen pizza, some jerky, and a small turkey pot pie, as well as some Tabasco sauce and two bottles of sparkling water. Dinner would soon be served. We took our instant foodstuffs back to the motel, I went to the bathroom while Anna heated some water in the coffee maker for our noodles and upon return was informed of some unpleasant news — Our room was devoid of all cutlery and crockery. Never mind, she came up with the brilliant idea of using two coffee stirrers for chopsticks. This method worked perfectly between her Kermit the Frog-like fingers, but wasn’t conducive to particularly successful eating in my massive mitts, although I eventually managed in the end, much to Anna’s amusement. But this was nothing, things were only getting started. It was time to prepare our second course, a large, frozen, pepperoni pizza. This one we did have the equipment for, or so we thought. Our pizza was vacuum-sealed so I had to tear the inner package open with my teeth. Once done I also discovered it was a little large for the microwave, but on the other hand the microwave had a button specifically for pizza. Our pizza spun and spun, smearing cheese and tomato paste all over the inside of the oven and then it occured to me; This was America and that button was for reheating cold pizza, not cooking a frozen one. This was not some dual convection oven, this was a basic microwave and if you’ve ever tried to cook an unbaked bread product in a microwave before, you’ll be more than aware that it essentially just steams it. Our microwave was getting cheesier and pastier as time went on so we had no choice but to remove the pizza and cut it in half, sans knife. Anna’s inner-MacGuyver kicked in and she thought cutting through our steamed pizza with the cardboard base upon which it had come would be the best approach. The only problem was that there were no plates to put the two halves on so Anna gnawed half of her portion of the floppy, steamed pizza from the cardboard, laughing to the point of crying at how ridiculous the situation was, while at the same time lamenting that her half wasn’t cooked properly and quitting halfway through. I started to eat my share of the pizza from the glass base of the microwave, but agreed that it needed further steaming. Nothing an extra minute of heating couldn’t fix, I even got the crust to rise a little. We gave up on the idea of even attempting to eat the pie so I cleaned the cheese and tomato paste from the inside of the microwave using makeup-removing wipes, followed by washing the microwave base in the bathroom sink, leaving an oily, red ring around the basin. What better way is there to follow a hilariously bad meal than with a hilariously bad film? RoboCop was on TV so it seemed that our night had just planned itself. Some of the offerings on hand that evening:

On the menu tonight

Easy for the daintier among us

Not so much for the larger of the species

We tried to make it fit

Pure ingenuity

Going…

Going…

Gone.

Nothing some medicated wipes couldn’t fix

My half turned out okay for a steamed pizza

Sunday, July 7, 2019 It was tough staying asleep again that night and we were awake early so we did a check of the room to make sure there were no lasting repercussions of the steamed pizza episode, checked out of the motel, and waited for our ride to take us into town to pick up our rental car, snapping a few pictures in the process. Anna had done a little research and found a cafe and bakery called Persephone so we drove down once we had our Toyota Carola and pulled up an outdoor seat for brunch. The cafe was run by hipsters so it would probably be one of the only places around to get a half-decent cup of coffee, plus we had learnt our lesson the previous day so we only ordered an appetiser each, instead of bloating ourselves on a enormous main meal when we don’t usually even eat breakfast.

Before long our brunch was finished, but it was too early to check into our new hotel so we decided to have a look around the shops. We had never been to this part of the US so I was expecting it to be a bit like Fargo, either the film or the series, but I was pleasantly surprised, however, one thing needs to be said — There is a ton of taxidermy around these parts! Go into almost any store and there is going to be anything from stuffed jackalope creations on a small table, to stuffed and mounted elk and bison heads on the wall, to full bearskin rugs with the head still attached. Add to that the wide variety of redneck t-shirts and and cowboy gear on offer, fossilised animals, and bear shit-shaped chocolates and we had an interesting afternoon ahead of us. Anna likes to find a ring for every place she visits and although there were mainly ones with ugly turquoise stones, she managed to find a unique, black gold ring in a jewellery store that has an ancient elk tooth that is actually a remnant of a tusk from when elk hadn’t fully evolved into the animal we have today. I picked up a Wyoming t-shirt with different regional animal turds on the back. Once done, before checking into our hotel, we went to a supermarket because we wanted to see what you would find in a small town US supermarket in a sparsely-populated state and we weren’t left disappointed; there was an entire bar of different flavoured fried chicken wings, you could get 80 fl.oz (2.36lt) jars of pickles, but I guess that’s because there isn’t a lot else to do in this town, especially in winter, but eat. We just bought a foam cooler for later in the trip, as well as some other supplies, but we were delayed on the way back to the car when a gust of wind came up and blew the lid off the cooler, hitting an older Mexican man in the head in the parking lot. He felt guilty for some reason and chased after it, returning the lid to us.

We then went back and checked into our home for the next three nights, the Four Seasons Resorts and Residence Jackson Hole. It was a really nice place, our room was massive, and there was food and drinks for Anna’s conference in one of the downstairs conference rooms, as well as outside by some fire pits, so we just spent the night snacking and drinking with old colleagues and some new friends. I didn’t get any pictures from the evening, but here’s the motel from the previous night, the vibe of some of the stores, and our new room:

Our motel from the previous night

The Elk Refuge across the road from the motel, sans elk

On the way into town

Hanging out with what was once a bison

This stuff was everywhere!

Anna was worried she wouldn’t see any bears on this trip so she wanted this taken

As soon as I saw this book my post had a title

One of the finer volumes ever published on the topic of wild faeces recognition

Seriously, almost all shops are like this inside

You could just settle for a fur

The perfect gift for your coprophiliac friends

Anna was a fan of this Dolly Parton picture

Fossils for sale

Some of the redneck attire available

Part of the wing bar inside the supermarket

More wings

I should’ve put something else with these pickles for perspective

Looking into a small portion of our bathroom at the Four Seasons

Part of the room

The view from the bed

Monday, July 8, 2019 Anna’s conference began early each morning and finished around 1:00pm, which wasn’t an issue for either of us because of the jet-lag and even if we did manage to nod off again after waking up in the wee hours, we’d be wide awake again about 7:00am, just in time for the conference. Anna would go about her business in the morning and we had a Nespresso machine in our room so I would drink coffee and watch the NBA Summer League until she returned, but today didn’t look like it was officially the third week of summer, it was one of those outliers I mentioned at the beginning of this post; cold outside, about 13°C (55.4°F), and pouring rain. When Anna returned the rain had stopped, but it was still cold. We went and had lunch in neighbouring Teton Village and then took the arial tram up the mountain into the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort:

The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR) is a ski resort in the western United States, at Teton Village, Wyoming. In the Teton Range of the Rocky Mountains, it is located in Teton County, 12 miles (20 km) northwest of Jackson and due south of Grand Teton National Park. It is named after the historically significant Jackson Hole valley and is known for its steep terrain and a large continuous vertical drop of 4,139 ft (1,262 m).

Jackson Hole’s original aerial tram was closed to the public in the fall of 2006 and replaced with a new tram that opened in 2008. The tram’s vertical rise is 4,139 feet (1,262 m) to an elevation of 10,450 feet (3,185 m) above sea level.

That explains a whole lot, because the previous day we had both felt a bit out of breath at times, but we didn’t realise that we were at that elevation. Denver, Colorado is known as the “Mile High City” due to its elevation and I experienced a little bit of breathlessness when I was there, but nothing like this. However, it turns out that at 5280 feet (1609.3 meters) above sea level, Denver is barely half the elevation of the Mountain Resort and only about three quarters the average elevation of the entire Jackson Hole valley, something we definitely weren’t prepared for.

Once we were at the summit it became abundantly clear that I was glad we had come in summer. People were saying that it had been snowing as recently as a week prior and before we arrived the previous day there had been a storm of enormous hailstones out of a clear sky! There was still a bit of snow on the ground and a fair bit on the peaks so we went inside the cabin there to have a cup of awful coffee and then started to explore around the area. People around here are completely oblivious to the cold, as was proven to us time and time again on this journey, the first evidence of this was locals walking around near the snow in shorts and t-shirts! We were only out a short while when an announcement came over stating that everybody needed to get back on the tram or be stranded in the cabin for an unknown period of time, because there was a thunderstorm coming and if lightning struck the metal platform for the tram, everyone standing on it would be fried. Instead of packing onto the tram, we sat in the cabin, drank more shitty coffee, walked around and got a bit wet outside, and waited for the next opportunity to leave, embracing the lack of children in the cabin and the space in the tram, all the while the operator played classic rock on our descent and we spotted foxes and marmots on the mountain. Our day up until that point:

A little grim outside our hotel window that morning

A challange in the restaurant in our hotel. That’s almost a 1kg burger and a litre of beer

Heading into Teton Village

“Hey, let’s go up there!”

Beginning our ascent

A panoramic view of the summit

Anna was complaining that the wind was making her teeth hurt

These people are fearless

Coming over a bit bleak

Making the most of everyone else fleeing

It’s nicer up here alone

A fox running around

Now beginning our descent

Another fox in the snow

About halfway down

Most shops and restaurants in and around Jackson close at 10:00pm so we decided to take the opportunity to drive into town and get our outfits for the Western-themed dinner the following night. It was also essential that we remembered to refer to the clothing as our “outfits” and not “costumes,” because this is how a large portion of the local population actually dress every day, including some of those in attendance.

We found several stores selling what we needed and it soon became abundantly clear why cowboys used to rob banks and shoot people back in the day — It was so they could steal money to buy their clothes! The reason I mentioned the Calvin Klein suit that I had purchased in Los Angeles a couple of days earlier for US$355.00 was for a comparison. For my “outfit” for the dinner I figured I’d get a Western shirt, some boots maybe with a fringe running up the side, a hat, possibly some chaps, but those dreams were all shattered when I saw the prices. A shirt was at least US$100.00, most pushing US$200.00. It was impossible to get a pair of boots my sizes for much less than US$500.00. I even found the sweater The Dude wears in the film The Big Lobowski, marketed as such and it was US$239.00! For a zip-up woollen sweater! Fortunately, I was able to snag a shirt for US$59.00 on a post-fourth of July sale rack and when you see it you’ll realise why, plus a cheap hat for another US$39.00 (all plus tax, of course).

We looked around a few of the areas of town that we didn’t explore the previous day and soon it was time for dinner. We’re not used to this cooler weather, plus we both love cheese, so what better option could there possibly be than fondue? We found a place called Alpenhof Lodge that had fondue back in Teton village near our hotel, then settled into a bar claiming to be “World famous” called the Mangy Moose Steakhouse and Saloon for a few beers and some live country music, or “Farm Emo” as I like to call it, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last time we’d be listening to it on this journey. A pattern we would discover while in this part of the country was that bars close at 11:00pm no matter what day it is, but we still managed to have a good time that night before walking back to our place to try to get some much needed sleep. How the rest of the day looked:

In another arch made from discarded elk antlers. There are a few of these around

I see what they did there….

The main street of Jackson

I love ‘The Big Lobowski’, but I’m not paying that much

$567.00 is the sale price for a very small pair of boots

That’s the original!

All the cars here are enormous!

Someone’s excited for fondue

There was a ‘Galaga’ machine where we had dinner, too

Settling into the Mangy Moose

Our entertainment for the night

They inexplicably have an original 1950s Las Vegas showgirl costume framed on the wall near the toilets there…

…as well as what looks like the evolution of bear traps

Tuesday, July 9, 2019 It was our last full day in Jackson prior to moving on to the holiday leg of our stay and the weather was nice so we had to make the most of it before I made a complete fool of myself in front of a bunch of strangers that night. I did my usual routine — a coffee and NBA Summer League — before Anna returned home, we had a bite for lunch, and then she confirmed what she had been considering the previous day as a way to fill in today; we were going to go whitewater rafting on Snake River:

The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean.

Formed by the confluence of three tiny streams on the southwest flank of Two Oceans Plateau in Yellowstone National Park, western Wyoming, the Snake starts out flowing west and south into Jackson Lake. Its first 50 miles (80 km) run through Jackson Hole, a wide valley between the Teton Range and the Gros Ventre Range. Below the tourist town of Jackson, the river turns west and flows through Snake River Canyon, cutting through the Snake River Range and into eastern Idaho.

When Anna gets her mind set on something her intent is always to do it properly, however, I didn’t have to worry about her inadvertently signing up to do the full length of the river, just a stretch of about eight miles (12.8km) through Snake River Canyon, an area known to have some of the best whitewater rafting in the US. There were several options regarding the size of rafts and the amounts of people thereon, but we wanted to keep it intimate so we opted for one with room for eight people plus our guide. Our journey down the river was going to consist of Anna and myself, as well as Adrian, one of Anna’s colleagues that works in Sydney, Australia, and Nicole, an ophthalmologist we had met at the conference that we got on well with from Chicago. The other four spots would be taken up by some randoms that wanted to join us, which ended up being a family of four from Oregon. We took a shuttle bus for about an hour to the point in the river where our journey would begin. For a few dollars extra you could rent a wetsuit, but it was a nice, warm day so everyone besides Adrian and Nicole decided they didn’t need one, a decision we would all regret in hindsight. We all put on some sunscreen, the combination with Adrian’s black wetsuit making him look a pale shade of blue, as if he had a vitamin-D deficiency or maybe it was just his first ever time in actual sunlight, but he would have the last laugh. Once we had donned our lifejackets we pushed the raft out into a calm part of the river, boarded, and Hunter, our guide who was also clearly a massive stoner that had his own radio show with his friend, gave us our instructions as we floated downstream, informing us on how to react to each command, what to do if we have an “out of boat experience,” that type of thing. You could tell from a million miles away that this dude spent the nine months of the year that weren’t summer completely baked in neighbouring Colorado, just punching decriminalised cones and snowboarding. One thing that he said, however, had me a little worried; he told me I was going to freeze in my cotton t-shirt. Should’ve opted for the wetsuit. After receiving our advice and instructions we started to hit some small rapids, but it was when the first wave sprayed over our boat that we truly realised that this river was formed from glacial runoff and was absolutely freezing. The four of us were seated in the back two rows of the boat, the family in the front two with the father and the teenaged son having volunteered to be at the very front of the boat. Every time we hit a rough patch that sent water over us the teenaged kid seemed to cop it the worst and from the very first time you could just see him perpetually shivering and his teeth audibly chattering the entire ride. It was a really great time, the scenery was stunning, and it was hilarious when we would see a capsized boat or people doing something stupid and a possibly still-stoned Hunter would make chicken noises and yell either “Utah” or “Florida” at them, the latter an obvious reference to the less than stunning track record people from that state have in the common sense department. Not all of the people in the water were in there accidentally, though. Some of them were swimming! I mentioned earlier about how these people are impervious to cold and some thought a dip in the frigid waters was rather refreshing, one group even turning their inflatable boat upside-down and used it as a slip-n-slide. Me? I was soaked in my t-shirt, probably shouldn’t have worn socks either, my hands and feet were wrinkled and completely devoid of any colour whatsoever. In my own defence, it wasn’t the kind of boat I was expecting and I didn’t think I would get quite so wet, but we had an absolute blast and I’m just thankful I didn’t have an “out of boat experience.” Here’s a few shots from inside the boat, some of our group, and a couple more of our beautiful surroundings:

Heading down to the water behind the family that would be joining us

Yup, we’ll be on a small one of those

All aboard!

And we’re off

Going to have to put the camera away and paddle soon

Adrian, Anna, Hunter, Nicole, and my saturated self

The upside-down boat is the slip-n-slide

It doesn’t look that rough, but it certainly was

Another area of the river

Looking back on from where we had come

We got back in the shuttle bus and made the one hour trip back to the hotel, trying to get the feeling back in our lower extremities the entire way, as the moment we had spent a large portion of the previous day shopping for was almost upon us; when we arrived back at the hotel it would be time for us to start getting ready for the Western-themed dinner. I was a little nervous about the dinner for the sole reason that when I purchased my cowboy shirt, it was one of those seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time moments. You see, as I mentioned, the shirt was on a discount rack for fourth of July stock that the store now needed to get rid of, but this wasn’t just any old shirt — It was an extremely ugly shirt with a design based on the good ol’ stars ‘n’ bars. Yes, my shirt was a particularly patriotic-looking one that resembled the American flag and I was worried the irony would be lost on some at the event. Admittedly, it really was the cheapest shirt I could find, but my concern was that some people wouldn’t find it anywhere near as funny as we initially did. At least there would be others that would look just as stupid as I would, as Adrian had just ordered a generic cowboy costume online and this was his first time even trying it on, although we had to remind him to refrain from calling it a “costume,” because it closely resembled the wardrobes of some in attendance.

When we arrived there was a live country band churning out some more Farm Emo so Anna started to do the rounds, chatting to colleagues, friends, and acquaintances and I hit the bar, which had some really good local microbrews available. Soon it was time to sit down for dinner, but not long after we were seated some of the organisers wanted to get everybody up again to do line-dancing and they were relentless! They just wouldn’t take a “no” for an answer, but fortunately they also weren’t going to get a “yes” out of myself. It was a good thing too, because the end result wasn’t pretty:

As you can clearly see some people got a little more into the line dancing than others, possibly even enjoying themselves, as is also evident here:

The food started to come out and the line-dancing devolved into just regular dancing to country music for those that refused to give up the dance floor. Dinner was good, but there weren’t a whole lot of options and there was one woman on our table who had allergies to seafood and nuts, as well as being lactose intolerant, ruling out the bulk of what was served to her. The night continued on, but one thing that occurs when drinking at high altitudes is it takes you nowhere near as much to get drunk so the crowd started to peter out a little as people began to realise they were getting sleepy and went back to their rooms. As for Anna, Nicole, and myself, we decided to hit up the Mangy Moose again, joined by a cool pharmaceutical representative from Chicago we had met, Tony. We hung around in the Mangy Moose until they were going to close, the girls getting served special, albeit exceptionally strong, house Slurpee cocktails. When the Moose closed, we headed back to our rooms, myself content in the knowledge that I would never need to wear that shirt ever again. Or so I thought; one of our plans for this trip was to attend a rodeo and Anna was insistent that I wear it, fully aware that it could possibly get me killed. Anyway, here’s how the dinner and drinks looked:

This is what I’d be rocking

More Farm Emo

On the menu tonight

Some really got into the line-dancing

The table centrepiece

It was a fun night, but I couldn’t dress like this all the time

Back at the Mangy Moose

The next day we had lunch with Tony and then drove out to Grand Teton National Park to begin the holiday leg of our journey.

Stay tuned for the conclusion to this story to see us exploring the US Pacific Northwest and “glamping” in Grand Teton National Park, as well as staying in the world famous Yellowstone National Park, encountering more than our share of geysers and wildlife along the way. If that doesn’t interest you, at least check to see if I have my Borat moment at a rodeo:

via GIPHY

Hanging out in Wyoming, an American state that some don't even believe exists It's been a while since I've checked in because we've had a relatively quiet two months, until now that is.

[gnomesagetion]

Missing Gears Chapter 2

Things always go wrong when something good happens. For example: The Thunderbirds were just starting up when Gordon Tracy was the only survivor of a holfoil crash. An engagement of a Tracy son and an ex FBI agent when someone is out to get International Rescue. But sometimes good things come from the bad things in our lives.

Read on: Fanfiction.Net AO3 Wattpad

Naomi stepped off Tracy 2. She took a deep breath. This was going to be her home for the rest of her life. “Wait until you’re top side,” Virgil told his fiancé “You’re supposed to be doing post-flight checks,” Naomi laughed “That I should,” Virgil agreed “Why don’t you head up?” Naomi looked around. To the untrained eye the hanger looked like every other hanger. There were cans of fuel and tools for repairs. Spare parts were neatly shelved. But when you knew the secret of Tracy Island, you would see so much more in the hanger. The door which most likely led to the hangers for the famous Thunderbirds. The tiny alarm in the right hand corner. And the open door leading the Tracy Family home. And the small red haired Tracy. “Hey Gordon!” Naomi called out, waving at the 20 year old. The red haired looked up and saw the tall 29 year old. He ran down the stairwell and across the hanger to greet her. “You’re here! You’re finally here!” He says, pulling her into a tight hug. Naomi embraces the fourth son of Jeff Tracy. “Of course I’m here. I’ll always be here for you,” “Thank you,” “No problem. Want to help me with my luggage?” Gordon nodded and picked up the smaller of the two suitcases. Naomi rolled her eyes. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room Miss Winchester,” Gordon noticed the movement and decided to be a porter. “Why thank you,” Naomi smiled as she followed the second youngest Tracy Brother to the hanger door and into the house. A tall Malaysian teen ran past the two adults. “Watch where you’re running Tin Tin!” Gordon called out to the teen. “Sorry Gordon!” The girl told the red head “Sorry Naomi!” “Virgil’s been talking about you and drawing you a lot,” Gordon explained when he saw Naomi’s confused face “That’s Tin Tin Kyrano. She’s Alan’s girlfriend,” “I’m staying at her house until Virgil and I get married right?” “Yep,” “Anyone else I need to know about?” “You ask a lot of questions,” “Of course I do. It was my job,” “True, true. And to answer your question, there’s the Kyrano family; Tin Tin and her parents and then there’s Brains. He’s the local genius,” “Other than John?” “I’d say that they could be an equal match,” Gordon thought about his words carefully. The two friends walked out of the Tracy household and onto the porch. Naomi spotted the pool. “Olympic sized or regular?” “25 metres,” Gordon sighed “Didn’t have enough room for an Olympic one,” “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re a spoiled brat,” “And I’d say that I’m the person caring your luggage and I could easily throw it into the pool,” “And if I remember correctly, I need to be able to lift someone twice your weight with two hands. I have one hand that I use and quite frankly, if you were to throw my stuff into the pool – you’d be joining it,” Naomi shot a murderous glare at the fourth Tracy. “Okay. I won’t throw you things in the pool,” Gordon said, filing the knowledge away “I’ll just have to do find something better,” “I’d like to see you try,” Naomi said, laughing as they continued their way to the Kyrano household.

Naomi had just finished putting her clothes away in a closet when a loud siren blared. “At least I now know what Virgil meant by a really loud bell,” She muttered as she ran out of the Kyrano household and over to the Tracy house. One by one members of International Rescue flooded into the Tracy living room. Virgil, Gordon and Jeff were present. John was on hologram and the other Tracy’s were in America. One for School and the other for business. “What’s problem John?” Jeff asked. “A 5.6 earthquake has struck Christchurch, New Zealand. Buildings have collapsed and a lot of people are trapped,” John explained “This earthquake has caused more damaged than the 5.5 on February 14th in 2016,” “Gordon, you’re taking Thunderbird 1, Virgil and I will go in Thunderbird 2. Tin Tin can run Control,” Jeff said. Jeff turned around to see Naomi. “Any words of advice from our New Zealand expert?” “Watch out for liquefaction, keep clear of cliffs and other tall structures and be prepared for aftershocks,” Naomi replied “Those are the major risks after an earthquake in that area,” “Thanks for the advice,” Virgil said, kissing his fiancé on the cheek before heading off behind a portrait of a rocket. Soon it was only Tin Tin and Naomi in the room. “Anything I can do to help?” Naomi asked “Of course,” Tin Tin replied “But it might not be for a while. So tell me more about the Christchurch area,” “Well its part of the Canterbury region. The super 18 team is the Crusaders and their colours are red and black. Christchurch is known as the Garden City of New Zealand and was home to the Christchurch Cathedral which they had to demolish a few years after the original Christchurch Earthquake. They didn’t know there was a fault line under Christchurch until the first quake hit. And it was also the first place to encounter liquefaction,” Naomi explained “They’ve been plagued with quakes ever since,” “It’s hard knowing your country is in danger and you can’t do anything to help,” Tin Tin said “But International Rescue will be doing everything they can to help,” “I know. I’m just worried about the aftershocks. The February 22nd Earthquake was an aftershock. It was bigger and caused more damage than the first,”

“You were right about that liquefaction Naomi,” Gordon said into his head piece “It’s everywhere,” “And it’s getting on my bird,” Virgil huffed. He could hear laughter from the two female members of International Rescue through his head piece. “We’ll clean it later Virg,” Naomi promised “Any success on finding anyone?” “We’ve managed to find a group of people under a pile of rubble,” Jeff answered “We attempting to do the rescue now,” “I don’t think that’s a good…” John’s thoughts were cut off as Tracy Island shook a little “Idea,” “John?” Naomi asked quickly “Do not tell me that that was an earthquake we just felt,” “You asked me not to tell you that,” John said “Epicentre was off the coast of Christchurch. And it was stronger than the first,” “And what about tsunamis?” Naomi asked “None for Tracy Island yet but there’s a few for the Australian coast,” John replied “I can take Thunderbird 3 out if we need to,” Tin Tin says. John’s hologram frowned. “Have you guys made contact with the others?” Tin Tin and Naomi looked at each other. “Op 6 to Commander, come in Commander,” Tin Tin said into her head set “Op 7 to Op 3, come in Op 3,” Naomi nervously said into her own “Pick up,” “I’m sure they’re fine,” John said “I’ll call Scott and Alan so that they know what has happened. I’m sure that they will be fine. Probably just a communication error,” “We’ll keep trying,”

Three hours later the sound of jets was heard over Tracy Island. Both Naomi and Tin Tin rushed down to the hangers. They were just in time to see Thunderbird 2 roll into the hanger. Naomi sighed. The way that her fiancé had talked about his bird was like her Uncle Dean talk about his wife. There was only two ways that Thunderbird 2 could have come home. Number One was if Virgil was flying her. The other way was if Virgil was hurt and one of his brothers or father was flying. The second way rarely happened. Virgil was just as stubborn as his bride-to-be. And he hated it when someone was flying his bird. “They’re alright,” Naomi whispered “There’s no way Thunderbird 2 would leave without Virg,” “Well no one could have been seriously hurt,” Tin Tin said, checking the hanger log “Thunderbird 1 is already parked,” “And there’s no scratches on it,” Gordon said “Virgil and Dad are fine as well. Although Virgil wants Dad to take it easy with his left arm for a next few days,” “Well go and get cleaned up. You’ve got liquefaction all over you,” Naomi said “And Mum will kill you if you drag… that… all over the house,” Tin Tin agreed “Let us handle your brothers,” Gordon smiled as he walked off to the showers. “So was it your end or our end that closed of communications?” Virgil asked from behind. “Well we still had John on the line and Thunderbird 5 runs off Tracy Island so it must have been your end,” Tin Tin says “Also go and have a shower, I doubt your wife-to-be will hug you otherwise,” “Take as long as you want,” Naomi said “We’ve still got Scott, John and Alan to inform,” “Better you guys than me,” Virgil said “Also – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or Star Wars episode 1?” “Harry Potter. Popcorn or Hot Chocolate?” “Both,” “It’s a date then,” Naomi smiled. Virgil followed his immediate younger brother’s footsteps to the showers. “You two make a great couple,” Tin Tin commented “So do you and Alan,” Naomi said “Oh don’t look so surprised. I know exactly who each brother did. So of course I know that you’re the best girl for the baby of the family,” “Thanks. So what were you working on back in the lounge?” “Just something that I was working on when Virgil was in hospital after the whole DC Bombings case. Let’s just say that if my idea comes to life, it might just make our jobs a little easier,” Naomi replied “But I still need to get a few signatures from the FBI Director, the Commander of International Rescue and few world leaders before it can work,” “Just another day at the office then?” “I suppose so,”

[killmytbr]

Non-Fiction November

It’s the most magical time of the reading year~ Non-Fiction November!

Now, I’ve spent pretty much all of 2017 reading some non-fiction but this is a month that is meant to be dedicated to it. Hopefully I can get through five books this month. Ideally I will get through ten but we shall see...

And now to keep track of the non-fiction books I’m reading this month: Updated November 30th!

As You Wish by Cary Elwes - Finished November 3rd. This has been sitting on my shelf for way too long. I loved the movie The Princess Bride and this book has been the sweetest love letter to the making of that remarkable film. I think this book is on so many recommended lists and it is for a good reason.

Texas Blood by Roger D. Hodge - Finished November 10th. My local read for the year. This is a book about Hodge’s family history, how it is tied to Texas and the history of the land during their migration to the Rio Grande ranch he grew up on. 

Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson - Finished November 12th. This one has been ‘currently reading’ for a while but my goal is to wrap it up in November. This is the Pulitzer Prize winning work for History in 2017. The book is a comprehensive history of the Attica prison uprising that occurred in 1971.

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah - Finished November 9th. Tales about The Daily Show’s host growing up in apartheid South Africa. This was hilarious and insightful and all the wonderful things you’ve come to like about Trevor Noah since taking the helm of the show. Even if you don’t know much about Trevor Noah I recommend it solely on the relationship with his mother and the background on apartheid from the perspective of someone who lived through South Africa’s transformation.

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy - Finished November 13th. Then Senator Kennedy’s compilation of notable examples from previous Senators standing up for what was right for the nation despite party and people surrounding some of the toughest parts of America’s history. 

Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza - Finished November 8th. Notes and photography from Obama’s official White House photographer from all eight years of his Presidency. Souza’s commentary and stories behind some of the most iconic images of the Obama administration were really interesting to read. There are obviously more photographs versus text but this was a pre-order since I’ve loved Souza’s work the last few years. 

American Fire by Monica Hesse - Finished November 15th. A look into a series of arsons started in a rural Virginia town. This one looked terribly interesting when it came up as a Book of the Month Club pick so I’m excited to read it.

While the City Slept by Eli Sanders - Finished November 19th. The examination of the suspect of a murder and the alarming signals authorities ignored that could have prevented the crime.

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher - Finished November 16th. Carrie Fisher’s more specific recounting of her time on the set of Star Wars. She grapples a little more with Leia, her relationship to Leia, and her legacy that is separate from Leia’s. And... a bit about her affair with Harrison Ford.

Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson - Finished November 18th. A memoir on Wilson’s life as one of the most iconic child actors of the 90s. She explores a lot about the craft, her reflections on her career and just overall what is was like playing precocious roles in an adult’s environment.

The Games by David Goldblatt - Finished November 28th. A history about the Olympic games from its revival through major world events to the 2016 Summer Games.

A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes - Finished November 24th. The tracing of the American justice system from the 1960s to the present. I’ll add more of an accurate description once I finish this book. This is a really high level overview and observation of how oppression was allowed to occur and some of the alarming trends in law enforcement that could fundamentally change our society. 

Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden - Finished November 25th. Vice President Joe Biden’s memoir of the last year in his son Beau’s life. This covers events happening that Biden was chiefly involved in and how he drew parallels between human suffering and his own family’s dealing with his son’s cancer. This was my cry book for the month and totally worth it!

Quakeland by Kathryn Miles - Finished November 30th. Recounting and theorization on how crucial parts in America will hold up when the next devastating earthquake strikes. This book came out just before the quakes in Mexico City so its insight is especially poignant in light of that tragedy.

Dreams from My Father by Barak Obama - Finished November 27th. A memoir written after learning about his father’s death. It explores the legacy of his parents and how those journeys shaped him into who he is.

Letterman by Jason Zinoman - Currently Reading. A biography of David Letterman and his career in late night television. It highlights and examines the comedic styles of Letterman and the crew surrounding his various shows and how they transformed how we think of nighttime talk shows. Won’t be done before the end of the month but it is really good so far!

I’ll keep adding to this and updating it as I finish and pick up more books this month. Yay Non-Fiction November!

[justinjohn]

The Past Six Months. Part II.   2.22.17. (scroll down for part I).

After six months of some of the darkest lows of my life, I received a phone call while I ‘did work’ (aka, facebooking and looking at Instagram memes) at Starbucks. It was for an interview in New York. I flew out the next day, and I found out later that week I got the job. It was actually really suspenseful because I unexpectedly had to meet with the people twice in one day since they were flying back to Europe that night, and it was really dramatic and intense and I wanted to just die the whole time but just dealt with it and had a lot of wine after. Also, I left my notebook and some important documents on the restaurant table when I left, and the hostess called my cell phone from the number on my resume to come back and retrieve them. 

Anyway. 

Once I got the job, I called my old landlady, Celeste, on a lark to see if she had any units available in any of her buildings. She’s kind of senile now and says “I love you” when we hang up on occasion, but she’s still wonderful. She hadn’t rented my apartment yet- it was still available- and she said I could have it back.. for $50 less a month in rent. It had been listed for over a record 70-days (ostensibly because other people want about an apartment with a kitchen), but I’m fine with a microwave and a frozen dinner, so it always worked for me. I had seen three other apartments, by the way, one of which was up 5 flights of stairs and so close to the Manhattan bridge you could practically smell the drifting car exhaust, and it featured a pile of mouse droppings in the corner near the front door where the broker had swept it up but not emptied it. Also the shower looked like an HVAC. After that experience, I decided to take Celeste up on her offer. (which reminds me I need to pre-emptively call an exterminator to plug any holes through which any cockroaches could squeeze through the wall because I’m not dealing with that shit this time around.)

And then as luck would have it, a few days later, a nice girl reached out from Equinox gym. They were offering initiation-free memberships, and she wanted to see if I wanted to rejoin. Free $500 initiation fee? “Yes, Shanika, sign me up.” 

It was as if the life I’d relinquished I suddenly could have back again. A new lease. Perhaps the universe wasn't so cruel. I felt this small but certain sense of reassurance that things would be okay. 

I glommed onto these moments of excitement. I wanted a second chance, an opportunity to fix what I’d so carelessly cast aside. It was a thrilling moment to finally once again look the stability of a paycheck, insurance, and a sense of self-worth in the eyes and re-join the formal workforce, an American cell membrane that turns out is incredibly exclusionary and difficult to penetrate once you’ve left. I haven’t seen a dentist in over a year. I’d spent $15,000 of my savings since September of 2016, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. And scariest of all, I had forgotten what it was like to wear a hard-soled pair of shoes. I was lucky to change my clothes at home on a regular basis.

So, I signed. And signed again. It felt so great feeling like an adult again: a new job, a new apartment. Things were looking up.

And then yesterday, as I looked at the email to re-sign on my gym membership, the panic attack set in.

As I peered into the computer monitor and thought about everything for which I was volunteering myself, it all suddenly came rushing back: “Is this what you want, Justin? To move back to that place you hated, where you were so desperately unhappy? Is this what you want? A job in fashion, which wrung you dry, chained to a desk with such limited self-worth? Moving back into the same tiny apartment? A gerbil on a wheel of life..all for some money? Do you give up that easily?” 

I tried to quell the critical thoughts but they skidded and collided around my head like bumper cars. 

I looked at the calendar on my desktop and followed the boxes. February only has 28 days. I need to move back by March 1. That’s in less than a week. The realizations continued to mount and my hands started to shake.  How was I going to do this? I am in Philadelphia. My things are in Chicago. How am I even going to get them to New York in time? It all sounded so good in my head but now that this was happening, what in God’s name was I thinking?

I began to hyperventilate. I had told myself I would do things differently this time, make sure I didn’t get caught in the same traps into which I’d so unwittingly fell last time, but none of that mattered at that moment. Reality overtook me like a tsunami, like a force that just completely subdued means brought life to a standstill. My heart pounded within my chest, and impulsively, I called my boyfriend in panic in the middle of the workday, for some sort of placation that I was doing the right thing. 

He was resigned. By now, he was so calloused to my self-centered inner-wirings he couldn’t pretend to offer sympathy. He watched me leave a city I “loved” but hated, only to be miserable somewhere else, to then now return to the same city in hopes to start over again with my tail in between my legs, without any sense of consideration for him or ‘us’ or the relationship or taking a chance to move to him in Austin.  And in turn, I felt sour on the inside: I loved him but I just kept hurting him, over and over- in my mind out of necessity- but ultimately to pacify my own need to gain solid footing. My heart was scattered between cities, my focus blurred for what I wanted, and now in this frantic moment, I was falling apart, and I had the audacity to ask for his empathy. It was a wretched thing to do, but I had no other option: he understood me and always knew what to say, when he wanted. But not now.  

Over the course of the past few weeks, I could tell I was prodding him closer and closer to the ‘demise’ for our oftentimes frustrating and stagnat long-distance relationship, due to these newly-developing prospects that would keep us further apart. I had canceled the trip I was going to make earlier this week to see him in light of interviewing obligations, and now, not only was I forcing him to look into a bleak and unclear future for our relationship, but I called to selfishly ask for his support on moving back to a city without him. He finally responded, 

"Maybe it’s time.”

The words socked me straight in my stomach and I just felt like my heart had been knocked clear out of my body with a baseball bat.

The distance, the lack of progress, the inability to make ‘this’ work had all come to a head. With this new job, I wouldn’t be able to see him for weeks, if not months. I was so overwhelmed, beyond capacity to understand my own quantum life changes, to place him into the picture, and in the process, I had reduced him to simply a nightly phone call, and not even an enjoyable one at that. “What are you doing tonight?” “Did you cook?” “What are you watching?” The banal questions had replaced the rich honest core of what we used to be. And maybe he was right, maybe it was time.

“When you decide to move to Austin, or one day I decide to move to New York, we can make this work, but until then, I think we need a break.” He said.

I couldn’t help but agree, but the words knifed my insides, which already felt carved out and empty like a Halloween pumpkin.

This was my first love (at 29, no less). Three-plus years of time and dedication. Someone whose smile lit up my heart and whose humor and dumb joy made me a happier and better person. Someone whom I met in person from Tinder (yes it’s possible), who stole my heart from miles away and managed to show me what it is to let someone in. And like everything, I’d killed it. Squeezed the life out of it like a poisonous weed due to indecisiveness, knee-jerk impulsivity, fear, and inability to commit. 

We hung up. I closed the door of the balcony and went inside of my brother’s quiet apartment with the gilded wooden ceilings and the drop crystal chandelier, and after I looked around for a moment in the silence, I wept. I cried so hard, my empty insides quaked. I just let all of the pain and turmoil that had been building inside of me for the past year of hell gush out of my aching, broken body, like torrential rain from a gutter. I surrendered. I just gave up. Life had won. I had failed. In so many ways.

I just wanted good things. 

I just wanted to make life right. I wanted happiness. To rebel against the system. I made a run for it and I was stopped and compromised right at the onset. I never had a chance. I tried to take on something bigger and I/it was just completely rendered futile.

I held the dog for a minute and he licked me as tears streamed down my face. I texted my sister and one of my best friends here in Philly: “I need you please.” 

My friend Zach came over and hugged me for an extended period of time and got me paper towels (from somewhere in the house because when he brought them back I was too busy crying to ask him where he found those), into which I cried and stuffed my face in shame, to which he said, “you’re too pretty to be single, you’ll be snatched up in no time.” (Which didn’t help at the time because I was like, my whole life is a fucking disaster and that is what you have to say?) But now in hindsight was sweet and makes me feel better.

I said something dramatic in the moment about ‘saving me from myself’, which I still mean but less in a way that I’m the actual grim reaper of happiness. And then we went shopping for shoes for a short vacation from Breakdown City. I was a little vacant the whole time, as emotional trauma sort of mirrors physical trauma in the sense that you just try to evaluate the magnitude of the injury just incurred. I was sort of reeling and trying to get through shopping like a socially-functional person and not cry in public or just unresponsively stare at people when they would ask me questions.

And then we had a Manhattan at 5pm, watched the Bachelor with friends (which I haven't seen all season- go Vanessa), and as I got home and laid my head on the pillow last night, it just felt like I didn’t know how I’d gotten there. It all seemed surreal.

--

And as I sit here now, a day later, bereft of armor, nothing to offer but my meager and humble words in light of my disposition, I have a few thoughts.

Life is complicated. It’s hard. It’s full of stumbling blocks and it can be rife with heartache and pain. At times it glimmers with moments of happiness, and it’s for those moments we ought to live because that’s all we really have. No one promises us happiness. It turns out we have to go out and get it ourselves. And it just depends how hard you want to work. 

Life isn’t a goal. Sure, you can plot goals along the journey, but life itself isn't a goal. You don’t ‘check’ life, the box. I mean, I guess you do, but that’s when you die. And that sucks then because it’s over then and you can’t celebrate by getting wasted off of champaign or whatever. But more importantly, it reframes the way that we have to think about it, kind of like Christopher Columbus realizing the earth isn’t flat.

Life is not a game to be won. Not a puzzle to be solved. It’s certainly not an upward-bound slope on a graph with the axes: x-income and y-happiness. And social convention actually doesn’t equal happiness. 

You don’t get some kind of award if you somehow figure out how to become insta-famous, or if you come up with a great business venture that enables you to become a millionaire. You’re actually just the same person who has a lot of Instagram followers, the same person who just has a lot more money than probably most of us do in the bank. Congratulations, you can still be an asshole. Look at Mark Zuckerberg. 

It’s one thing I’ve learned: people are people and we have to look past context to really see who they are. Just as fame, income, beauty, career success, educational degrees, etc., don’t indicate happiness, I think the only way to begin to understand what we need in this world is to introspectively to look at ourselves in spite of those things. In a way, we’re all just scrambling to appreciate what we have and figure out how to attain what we do not. 

For me, I realized I don’t want ‘career’ to be everything. I want to write. I want to do things for the environment. Be in New York and live the city. Salvage my relationship if that’s what is meant to be. But I also realize there are thing I need to do for a baseline of mental sanity. Which don’t include living in my parents’ house in Chicago and jeopardizing everything I know.  --

Life is really quite aimless.  It’s kind of like that game we used to play as a kid in the car with all the metal balls that slide around all over the place on the board with the little round-shaped craters, and you just try to get all aligned in respective divots for at least a moment before you hit a bump and they all scatter again. I think the general idea is to try to keep it together but at most points in time, shit is just actually completely out of control so you just try to manage what you can for as long as possible.

The only way I think I can describe life in my eyes at this point, is as if to say we are all born with a watering can filled with the same amount of water, and we are led into garden filled with all these different ‘aspirational’ plants. [I envision various potted seedlings with signs that say things like  ‘money’, ‘family’, ‘art’, ‘family’, ‘career’, ‘love’, ‘adventure’, etc.,] And you just have to try and decide, with no information other than your own innate pragmatism, what you think you should do. (Isn't that a terrifying assignment? I think so, too.) 

Some people pour all of their water into the ‘career’ bucket. Surely, they can count on whatever arises as a likely result of that: stability and perhaps a decent home, even a nice chunk of change for retirement, but, sometimes that doesn’t happen. And even if it does, many of these people struggle with relationships or feel their success came at a detriment of family time, the arts or recreational travel. [Some of those people also water the ‘alcohol / party’ plant which leads to getting fired and unemployment, etc, but there are many ways to play out. (It gets complicated, but you get my drift.)]

And then there are those who watered the ‘love’ bucket. They may have a wonderful spouse, but perhaps a modest home. They may feel the stability of marriage and have lots of kids and embrace it, but always long for what it would have been like if they really pursued a stronger work identity. In some ways, I believe the ‘career’ guy and the ‘love’ guy look at each other equally enviously, with ‘grass is always greener’ eyes. But it’s just the choices we make. 

I think as humans we are programmed to look for concrete measures of success: big house. fashionable clothes. nice car. attractive spouse. wedding. children. And we live our lives to the things that will help us get there. But what I’ve realized is that those things don’t actually equal happiness. They’re social constructs. They’re checking off boxes, or more simply, again, life choices. Happiness is inside. 

So it’s official. As of next week, I am moving back to New York City, to start a new job, and try to figure out what the actual fuck is happening with my relationship, to rediscover the place for which I’d lost my love after so long. And I have one goal, and one goal, only: happiness. 

Maybe New York is the same. Maybe my apartment is the same. The job description. But I have changed. I may be a little war-torn and battered, but I am stronger and smarter. I go in with an understanding of moderation, limits, self-awareness, and like a phoenix rising, Justinthecity is coming back home.

--

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[smoothshift]

Tesla Model X 1000 mile road-trip report via /r/cars

Tesla Model X 1000 mile road-trip report

I thought I’d write a review of a Tesla Model X for the sub from the perspective of a V8 loving petrolhead. There’s a lot of hate on here, and even more misinformation, so I thought I’d give the car a chance.

I’ve just spent 5 days with a P75D and done over 1000 miles. The car was a 2016 with Gen 1 Autonomous tech, 68,000 miles on the clock, and a 200 mile range battery.

My last big drive was in a 3.0D Range Rover Velar, and the road-trip car before that was a Merc C63 AMG V8 Bi-turbo. I’ve owned 15+ cars, many over 400bhp, and driven dozens more in Europe, UAE and the US.

The car was booked through Turo. This was for a road-trip from Vegas to San Diego and back, so some days I was doing around 350 miles. Other days I started in the city center of SD and then drove to attractions in and outside the city. I covered all kinds of roads, but the vast majority were freeway and city driving.

Originally I’d booked a BMW i8 to do the trip, but the car was apparently totaled two days before my booking, so the Model X was a last-minute alternative. I’m aware of how unreliable Turo bookings can be, so I had my eyes on a Tesla as a replacement in case of issues.

First the bad.

This car has a massive blind spot. Within 10 minutes of being in the car I was blasted with horn as I nearly wiped out some poor fucker in a SUV. It seems this blind spot exists when in Autopilot too, as it sometimes happened when the car was autonomously changing lanes.

There’s a wonderful driver’s display that shows the car in relation to the lanes, the cars, trucks, and bikes around it. But the icons of passing cars only appear once they are a car-length in front of the Tesla. With the blind spot issue, it would be super duper useful if this showed cars beside the Model X!

Anyway, I quickly came to respect the danger, and learned to not trust the mirrors or autopilot. Every lane change I looked over my shoulder for an extended period to scrutinize the space before moving over, or activating the autopilot lane change.

The second bad thing was the size. It is a big, wide car. In LV and SD this was not too much of an issue, but in the UK, where I’m from, we have tiny roads. I’m not sure it would fit.

As it was a Turo rental, I didn’t get to hook the Tesla up to the Tesla mobile app, so I’m sure it is much better when using this, but the key was confusing, dumb and frustrating. I soon gave up trying to open or close doors with it from afar.

You can open the "frunk" from the key or the screen, but you can’t close it.

Price. New, this car is apparently over $100k. That is a stupid amount of money. It did not feel like a $100k car. The Turo cost was the same as an i8, so that's what it's competing against!

My last criticism is other Tesla owners. At a supercharger bank on the edge of LA so many empty parked Teslas were just left taking up a supercharger way past full. You can see the green light as it is charging. Most were not green. Maybe it's just LA that’s full of assholes, as I didn’t experience this problem anywhere else.

Now the good.

This car is the future.

I say that without hyperbole or hype.

There’ve been a few moments in my life where I’ve seen the future. Playing Quake for the first time. Dialing up to the internet for the first time. Listening to my first mp3. Using WiFi. Putting on a VR headset. Using my first smartphone. Wireless charging. Seeing the Burj Khalifa.

These were all crystallizing moments. They all felt right. They all felt like a huge step forward, like the future had arrived and become real. This is the first time a car has done that for me. From a user experience, it is so far ahead of anything else I’ve ever driven before.

I’ve been in cars that redefined what I’d considered fast (Nobel M14). I’ve driven a Lotus Exige that realigned cornering physics. I’ve been in opulent luxury (Velar, S Class Limo, Aston Martin), and total, hilarious shit (2CV). But all these cars were a variation on a theme. They all did the same thing.

You put fuel in. It burns the fuel. You drive the car, until that fuel runs out. Repeat.

The Tesla changed that perspective.

Walk up to the door and it pops open automatically. If you’re approaching from the front, the door waits until you’ve passed by before fully opening. Pop the rear gullwing doors for a bit of theater, but also for a practical way to load the car.

When you get in, the car is on (is it ever really off?) Touch the brake and the driver’s door closes. The massive screen and clean, button-free interior greets you. From the screen you can shut all other doors and trunk.

The screen shows a familiar Google Maps satellite view with simple car controls along the bottom. Set your nav destination and it will calculate expected charge at arrival, and expected charge if you make a return trip. If the car needs charging, it will add Superchargers to the stops, with estimated charge and charge time displayed when you get there.

The car is ready to go as soon as you take it out of park. No key to turn or engine to start. The moment you hit the accelerator, the car moves smoothly and with plenty of torque. Mash the gas and you’re firmly shoved with a relentless insistence.

Everything is just easier driving this car. It does a lot for you. If it can be automated, it is. Lights. Wipers. Handbrake. All controls are intuitive and easy to find on the screen. I see criticisms on here about hunting around for controls on a giant iPad, but in reality all common car controls are always along the bottom and clearly visible for both driver and passenger. Use it and you will wonder why we still have dashboards covered in knobs and dials and buttons and stalks.

The nav is clear and clever. Not only does it show on the massive shared screen, it also shows further details, lane position, and a zoomed detailed view on the driver screen.

Then you get to a freeway and pull the autopilot stalk. Set a speed and the car does the rest. It is eerie. I’ve driven cars with radar cruise, and lane assist, but spend some time with the Tesla and you know it is much cleverer than that.

It anticipates issues and it doesn’t panic. For example, if a car pulls into your stopping gap in most radar cruise cars, they slam on the anchors until the stopping gap is acceptable. The Tesla just calmly backs off.

I could feel it anticipating a potential crash when one car darted in front of the car we were following. The brake tensed and it shifted the weight onto the front wheels, but once the situation was over it relaxed. No speed was scrubbed.

It gave passing bikes room if they were filtering.

It can be duped, but in a safe way. For example, on the way into a car park the car in front almost stopped while approaching a speed bump. The Tesla saw this as the car having an emergency moment, so highlighted it red, sounded the alarm and slowed the car. I wasn’t driving with autopilot engaged at the time.

It was a joy when we hit start stop traffic. It slowed to a stop and just got on with it when cars started flowing again.

If the lanes get confusing, or if it anticipates trouble that it can’t deal with, it disengages with an alarm with the expectation you’re paying attention. And it effectively enforces that attention. All I had to do was hang on to the wheel, but this forces you to take heed and not be complacent. It alerts if you don’t. And if it alerts too many times in a row, it bans you from using autopilot until you park up and leave the car!

If you spend any time using autopilot, you’d be a moron to trust it 100%. It has its limitations, yes, and there’s a long way to go before its Level 5, but that’s clearly within reach. A few more iterations and its there. And those iterations are likely software rather than hardware.

It is leagues ahead of anything else out there that I have driven.

Given this was a two year old car with Gen 1 autonomous tech, it was mightily impressive. It did 99% of the freeway driving for me on my road-trip, even in the pouring rain. It soon got to the point where I felt safer with it doing the driving. It makes you realise just how often you do dumb shit in a car that distracts you. Faffing with the radio, glancing at your phone, grabbing a drink, munching on a snack, chatting to the other half. All these things are now OK when you know the car is watching the road all around you.

But what about that range? Really, it was not a problem. Every night I parked the car at the hotel EV charging station (once next to a Hummer H2!) and by morning it was fully charged for my day’s activities.

As I said above, the nav works out the Supercharger stops for you if it needs it during a journey. Crucially it tells you how much charge you will need to continue your journey, and how long it will take. It is smart. It will split a long journey into two smaller supercharger stops. Our trip back to LV from SD had two stops. One ten minutes, one 40 mins. The 40 mins one was at lunchtime, so we grabbed some food.

Walking up to your car knowing it can do another 200 miles, and it has cost you nothing is an amazing feeling. For 20 years I’ve had to consider MPG and the ever rising cost of fuel. With a Tesla that worry disappears.

Also it coaches you during the journey to make sure you don’t use all your charge. If you keep nailing it from onramps (like I did), then it will recommend you stay below 75mph to maintain predicted arrival charge.

An electric motor is so much better than ICE. Safer, simpler, cleaner and quieter. Those last two points are critical. I live in a city and walk through car and bus fumes every day. It is nasty. And our environment isn’t all too happy about the shit we pump into the air. But a lot of that shit is sound. Noise pollution pisses me off. I can appreciate a nice engine noise, but let's be honest. Most ICE engines sound like shit. And then you have trucks, busses and dumb kids with shitty aftermarket mufflers making everyone’s lives hell.

The sooner vehicles can be quiet and clean the better.

There were other things I loved about the car. Black on black it looked mean. The huge windshield that reached way up into the roof was amazing. The clever little touches like the sun visors, were a delight. The sound system was awesome. And the car was holding together well. Two years old and 68k on the clock, and there wasn’t a rattle or a squeak. All 4 of my brand new BMWs couldn’t boast that.

Oh, and it had this feature.

The Model X is the benchmark for what cars should all be soon. It is clever, fast, clean, quiet, safe, practical and good looking. It is obvious with the way all manufacturers are trying to emulate Tesla that they have made waves.

I have put down a deposit for a Model 3 after this experience. Talking to the Turo host, he also has a Model 3 and had a Model S. The 3 is his favorite.

Consider me converted.

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Monday 2nd July 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. And I thought I was the only one to get up at this time of the morning, Good to see you, want to come on the walk with Bella and I?? OK, Company will make a change, normally it's just the two of us, we'll head towards the sea  and watch the lights from the cruise ships passing through the Straights of Gibraltar and see the little one man fishing boats that ply the coastal waters and provide the fresh fish for the local restaurants.. a walk along the promenade, it's cooler here than in the town, but we have to wander through the "Old Town" with its hanging baskets of Geraniums of just about every color, the smell is quite "Heady" but I love it.. The bells, calling people to mass are loud here, not that many stir from their beds these days.. I imagine it's only the Priest and maybe if he's lucky, four of five regulars, then it's back to the house and coffee, water and whatever you want to drink, so let’s have a look at the "Papers" and see what the world has in store for us today...

SLEEP IN THE PARK EVENT TO EXPAND ACROSS SCOTLAND…. The world's biggest mass sleep out will take place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee this December. Sleep in the Park 2018 intends to raise £6m as part of a homelessness campaign after the inaugural event in Edinburgh last year made £4m. Charity Social Bite has announced a line-up of performers for the event on 8 December including Amy MacDonald and KT Tunstall. Both singers will perform at all four locations, travelling by helicopter. Last year's event saw 8,000 people sleep out at West Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Comedian Fred MacAulay has been announced as the host for the Edinburgh event and author Irvine Welsh will perform the "bedtime story". Further acts will be announced in the months leading up to the event. About 12,000 participants are expected to sleep out in Aberdeen's Duthie Park, Dundee's Slessor Gardens, Glasgow's Kelvingrove Bandstand and Edinburgh's Princess Street Gardens. Last year's fundraising helped complete the Social Bite Village and pay for a "Housing First" programme to bring 800 homeless people into mainstream tenancies across Scotland. Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, said: "For Sleep in the Park 2018 we're doing something that has never been done before - a simultaneous multi-city sleep out. "We were completely blown away by the thousands of people who joined this movement and supported Sleep in the Park last year. We want to build on this across the whole of Scotland. "By organising these events locally, we will invest the funds so that homeless people in those cities are housed and given the support they need to get back on their feet."

PINNEYS OF SCOTLAND JOBS TASKFORCE SEEKS ANNAN BASE…. A base is being sought for a task force to help deal with the effects of the closure of the Pinneys of Scotland plant in Annan. Premises in the heart of the town - including on its High Street - are being considered. It comes with the first redundancies among the 450-strong workforce expected by the end of the month. The Scottish government's PACE team is working to help identify alternative job or training opportunities. Sean Marshall, a councillor for the area, said there was a recognised need for an economic taskforce to be put in place for the longer term. "I really see that as taking it to the next step," he said. "We are now starting to see probably the first tranche of workers leaving Pinneys. "I had a meeting with the workforce representatives and they said there needs to be ongoing support to the workforce." He said a high street base would be ideal to help tackle the impact of the loss of jobs at the site.

SCOTLAND'S FIRST TRAMPOLINE PARK CLOSED AS IT ENTERS ADMINISTRATION….  Scotland's first trampoline park has closed after its owner placed the business in administration. Air Space in East Kilbride ceased trading at its unit in the Playsport complex on Tuesday. On its website, it blamed "the competitive local leisure market" for a downturn in trading. The park's owners, Oxygen Freejumping, purchased the venue in 2017 but said they were unable to "rejuvenate the product". The firm has also closed a branch in Manchester. The £2m park was the first of its kind in Scotland when it opened in the South Lanarkshire town in December 2014. It was billed at the time as Europe's largest freestyle jumping arena. But a raft of similar ventures followed, with the company citing this as its reason for streamlining its operations. On the company's website, a statement was posted saying: "We regret to inform customers that we have been forced to close our Manchester and Air Space Glasgow trampoline parks. "We opened our Manchester trampoline park in June 2016, and acquired Air Space Glasgow in 2017. Despite encouraging early performance, the competitive local leisure markets caused a downturn in trading. We were unable to rejuvenate our product and as a result our trading performance has become unsustainable and we have no choice but to close and place the respective sites into administration. "Decisions relating to the Manchester and Air Space Glasgow parks will now be taken by the administrator and we cannot comment on individual cases." Oxygen Freejumping is under new ownership and it is believed the brand will continue. The company said it would fully refund bookings from 26 June onwards.

THIRSTY WORK AS POLICE CLEAR SPILLED BEER KEGS FROM ROAD IN WEST LOTHIAN…. Traffic police in West Lothian were faced with a thirst-inducing task after a lorry shed its load of beer while leaving the motorway. More than 40 kegs were rounded up from the off-ramp of the M8 westbound at Junction 4A near Whitburn. Road Policing Scotland tweeted that it was "thirsty work" for those who helped clear the road on one of the hottest days of the year. About 21 tonnes of beer were recovered quickly and the road was re-opened. A spokeswoman for Police Scotland confirmed officers attended the incident at about 15:15 and said: "There were no issues with the lorry and it was sent on its way."

BRITAIN'S BIGGEST 2017 EARTHQUAKES FELT IN SCOTLAND…. The two largest British earthquakes of last year were both felt in parts of Scotland. A quake with a magnitude of 4.0 ML in Moidart on 4 August was felt from Inverness to Glasgow and out west on Islay in the Inner Hebrides. It was the largest onshore event to occur in Scotland since a magnitude 4.0 earthquake focused on Arran in 1999. The largest offshore quake was on 30 June, had a magnitude of 4.7 and was felt in Shetland, Orkney and Wick. It was also felt in Thurso, Fraserburgh and a few locations on the west coast of Norway. The epicentre of the offshore earthquake was about 62 miles (100 km) southwest of a magnitude 5.7 event that occurred in the Viking Graben region of the North Sea on 24 January 1927. This quake was felt throughout western Norway and down most of the east coast of Scotland. Details of last year's earthquakes are in British Geological Survey's new Bulletin of British Earthquakes 2017. Some people reported that the Moidart event cause doors and windows to rattle and hearing a loud bang followed by rumbling. A rumbling noise and rattling windows were also reported in the offshore quake.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Linlithgow Palace at sunset. Taken by Paul Ewing.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Monday 2nd July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #News #Scotland #Blog #Earthquake

[365footballorg-blog]

Armchair Analyst: Philly's process, Quakes sink & more from Week 13

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May 27, 201811:23PM EDT

Three months of the MLS season are down. My firm belief is that the soccer we’re seeing is better and more diverse than ever, and that means we’re seeing more and more diverse ways of teams attempting to win the game.

It reveals itself in the possession numbers:

Has possession mattered in MLS in 2018 so far? Maybe not so much as RBNY, LAFC and ATL haven’t relied on it very much. pic.twitter.com/E6pmKNekfS

— Ben Baer (@BenBaer89) May 28, 2018

Atlanta United, the Red Bulls and LAFC are three of the nine (or so) best teams in the league, and while they (and FC Dallas and Houston) haven’t relied upon possession as much, the top four teams are NYCFC (60.5%), Sporting KC (59.3%), Toronto FC (57%) and Columbus Crew SC (53.8%).

In all, 7 of the top 10 teams in the league in total possession percentage are above the playoff line; six I mentioned above, plus Orlando City. TFC – literally the second-best team on the continent when healthy, though it’s now an open question/legit concern as to when/if that will be – make it eight, while Philly and RSL are the other two rounding out the top 10.

Let’s take a look at what’s happening with the Union:

Welcome to Undertown

How much attention have you been paying to the Philadelphia Union? Have you noticed what’s happening? Have you noticed how they’ve pulled themselves out of their early-season funk? Have you noticed how Keegan Rosenberry has grown a beard and rediscovered his 2016 form? Have you noticed how they’ve gone 3-2-1 in their past six games? Have you noticed how the central defense – a pair of 19-year-old academy kids in Auston Trusty and Mark McKenzie – have existed somewhere between “lockdown” and “rock solid” for the past month?

That’s who the Union have become in May of 2018, thanks to reps cohesion and chemistry. They went to Harrison this past weekend and they did what nobody else has done (not Xolos, not Chivas, not Chicago in a 2-1 win for the Fire six weeks ago) in a long time: They outplayed the Red Bulls. They built from the back, they strung passes through their veteran midfield, and they rocked the vaunted RBNY pressure back on its heels with precision and useful, purposeful build-up patterns.

They made the game their own and should have won because they were able to set up in their own attacking third and string passes together in a way that almost nobody does on the Passaic – or, honestly, anywhere else.

#RBNY final-third passing accuracy allowed:

4/14 v MTL: 48%

4/21 v CHI: 36%

4/28 @ LA: 54%

5/5 v NYC: 56%

5/12 @ COL: 52%

5/20 @ ATL: 61%

5/26 v PHI: 68%

That 68-percent passing accuracy in the final third wasn’t a mistake and it wasn’t useless. Philly battered the Red Bulls and probably should have won this one. C.J. Sapong missed a penalty and Ryan Meara had a second straight monster performance in goal, and somehow the visitors turned three points into one. It should’ve finished 1-0 or 2-1, but it ended 0-0.

But still … you can’t have watched that game and not take away a “man, this is progress�� feeling from the Union. They were really good, and Jim Curtin is right to like what he sees.

“As a coach, I can’t create that in practice,” Curtin said about facing a team that plays with the week-in, week-out intensity and skill of RBNY. “It’s impossible. Until they go through it, I try my hardest to create it but I can’t. The intensity that they play at, the speed of game, a young player is never going to be used to that and for them to both step up and handle it can confidence, with winning tackles, playing with a yellow card, too, by the way, playing smart — we have asked them now through the weeks to grow and they are growing before our eyes and they are impressing.”

“They are impressing the other staff, as well. Again, happy with where they are at. But it was a total team effort. I don’t want to take away from the rest of the group. I think everybody put a lot into it and again, [and I am] almost disappointed that we didn’t make three points.”

Curtin is no dummy and he’s aware that progress isn’t linear. Sapong has followed up his career-best season in front of net with his career-worst, while from week-to-week the wingers can dominate or disappear. April was miserable for the young backline; May has been stellar. That’s just how this works.

But what’s important right now is that Philly have proved they can go out, keep a zero and get results on the road. It’s a major step for a young team that’s been a long time coming, and while I still don’t think they’re a playoff squad … folks, it’s worth paying attention to the Philadelphia Union. They’re playing good soccer and it’s not an accident.

All You Need is Nothing

I’m taking the opposite tack and feeling the opposite way about a struggling team on the other coast. I’m just not sure, at this point, what the San Jose Earthquakes are all about. They’re 2-7-3 following Friday night’s 1-0 loss at the LA Galaxy, and the song remains entirely the same for this team that was partially reconstructed over the winter:

As I said in the above video, it almost doesn’t matter what formation the Quakes set up in. They’ve tried a 5-4-1, a 3-4-3, a 4-2-2-2, a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-3-1, and regardless they always seem to find a way to concede goals from Zone 14. It’s not inexperience or anything like that – in this game they had Florian Jungwirth, a Bundesliga veteran, and Anibal Godoy, who’s on his way to the World Cup, patrolling in front of the backline. It just didn’t matter. They’ve simply shown no ability to adjust and adapt to/for the weakness that’s been killing their season since first kick.

Head coach Mikael Stahre was sanguine afterward.

“It was quite a good game. It was a game with a lot of intensity and passion. I think we stood up in a good way. We deserved at least a tie in this game,” he said, before addressing areas in which his team need to improve – which, to his credit, he admitted are myriad and sundry.

“I think we need to improve in all parts, actually. Tonight, we weren’t dangerous enough in the last part of the field. I think handled the build up well. I think we handled the defensive part well. I just think we weren’t dangerous enough in the last 30 yards of the field.”

In part he’s right. The Quakes didn’t generate a truly good look all night and while they weren’t sharp when they needed to be defensively, they did only get beat by a Romain Alessandrini banger. It’s not like the Galaxy outright dominated.

But at the same time, it’s not like the Quakes are any better than they were in March. There are lots of worries for teams below the playoff line, but in general it’s worth looking at their improvement curve. Philly can point to theirs and say “see? We’re doing lots of stuff right, just not finishing.” When the Quakes point at theirs … there’s no curve at all.

A few more things to ponder…

11. LA actually took a pair of 1-0 wins this week, with the first coming Monday at the Impact. I’m convinced there are five for sure playoff teams in the West (Sporting, LAFC, Dallas, Portland, Houston) and then a sixth spot that’s up for grabs. And right now, I’m thinking that the Galaxy are likeliest to claim that remaining slot because, so far, they only lose to good teams, and beat the teams they should.

Here are their losses:

@ NYCFC

vs. Sporting

vs. Atlanta

vs. RBNY

@ Houston

@ FC Dallas

It’s a lot of home Ls, but none of those are actually bad. If the Galaxy keep beating the Montreals and San Joses of the world, they probably have the inside track on a Knockout Round appearance.

10. FC Dallas haven’t been awesome, per se, but they’ve been the ruthlessly pragmatic and cohesive team that were the league’s best in 2015 and 2016. They punctuated it with a 1-0 win in Toronto on Friday night, taking advantage of the injured Reds’ lack of speed at the back to counter the defending champs into a loss.

Jesse Gonzalez helped – he’ll be on the Team of the Week. But at the same time it’s pretty clear that TFC have the yips:

It’s time for concern if you’re the Reds. We know they’re literally the best team in MLS history when healthy, but the revolving door of center backs (Eriq Zavaleta played last week, then was injured this week; Chris Mavinga played a half on Friday, then came out with an injury; Nick Hagglund played the second half; what’s in store for him next week?), the lack of left backs, and their disastrous form in front of net has left them foundering after nearly three months.

They’ve got precious little play left in the schedule before they turn this around.

9. There would be no wiggle room for TFC if the Revs had held onto their leads – plural – against the Whitecaps. But they turned a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 stalemate, and then a 3-2 lead into a 3-3 draw. Truth is, they were lucky to get that, and Kei Kamara’s got two looks he wants back.

A point on the road is never a bad result, per se, and the Revs enter June with an eight-point lead in the race for the final playoff spot in the East. But there are 24 games remaining and the Reds have a game in hand. Those two extra points would’ve been nice for New England.

8. Still, that wasn’t as disastrous a result as what Orlando City suffered at home against the Fire. Chicago won 2-1 in central Florida and the Purple Lions, who’d been on a six-game winning streak, have now lost three straight.

Those three are the first three of a 13-game stretch, from mid-May until the end of July, in which I figured Orlando would be outright favorites in just two games. Saturday’s home date against the Fire was one of them, and even if they get healthy – a huge “if” – they’re officially in a brutal stretch. Jason Kreis & Co. need to figure out how to grind out results or this year will slip away from them as fast as last season did.

7. I’ve been down on RSL this year but take a minute to appreciate Bofo Saucedo’s golazo in the Claret-and-Cobalt’s 1-0 win at Seattle:

RSL, like Philly, have invested bigly in their academy program and USL affiliate. The rewards they’ve reaped haven’t been consistent, but are nonetheless bearing fruit from time-to-time. In this one, they played five members of the US Under-20 national team that made the quarterfinals of the 2017 Youth World Cup (Saucedo, Justen Glad, Brooks Lennon, Danny Acosta and Aaron Herrera), as well as sixth Homegrown (Corey Baird), a USL-developed CB (Nick Besler) and a young DP (Jefferson Savarino).

6. The best team you’re not paying enough attention to are the Houston Dynamo. They dominated NYCFC, 3-1, on Friday night, punishing the league’s best possession team for their stubbornness about playing through central midfield. 

Houston are completely rocketized when they win the ball in midfield, and let’s give credit to Wilmer Cabrera for allowing young center back Alejandro Fuenmayor to play through a rough first couple of months. That may have cost them points in March and April, but it will likely give them more stability and options in October and November.

5. Sporting KC’s scoreless home draw against Columbus on Sunday was rife with controversy. Make sure you tune into Instant Replay this week to get the full review from Andrew Wiebe and Bobby Warshaw.

4. Remember what I said about Philly’s finishing?

CJ’s got face of the week on lock. Miserable year in front of net for him thus far. #NYvPHI pic.twitter.com/BkqRnuN4O4

— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) May 27, 2018

3. Credit Minnesota United FC’s backline for finally giving Bobby Shuttleworth a relatively easy day in their 2-0 win over visiting Montreal. There were none of the usual errors that have plagued the Loons for the last 18 months, and both Christian Ramirez and Miguel Ibarra were on the mark for the hosts.

The Impact look destined to be one of the worst MLS teams in some time. They’ve lost eight of nine and the schedule doesn’t really get easier.

2. D.C. United put in their second really good performance in a row, this time going up a man and then taking a 1-1 draw out of LA against LAFC. Truth is it could’ve/should’ve been more with better finishing (hear that, Wayne Rooney?)

United spent nearly a third of the game in LAFC’s defensive third – a huge number, and one that shows they’re getting more comfortable using the ball to pin teams back. Obviously part of that has to do with the man advantage, but earlier in the year when D.C. went up 11-v-10 they were still a sit-and-counter team.

I’ll admit, I don’t know if this is an aberration or not. But for two weeks at least, adding Paul Arriola to central midfield has helped.

1. And finally our Pass of the Week goes to Samuel Armenteros for this pass to … himself:

That’s outrageous, and so reminiscent of the 2002 Dennis Bergkamp goal that was recently voted best in the 25-year history of the English Premier League.

Armenteros has been wonderful as the Timbers have rocketed up the standings. Their 3-2 win at Colorado marked their sixth straight, and it’s fair to say their early-season defensive issues have been mostly solved.

As for the Rapids … six straight losses with no end in sight. They’re off to the second-worst start in club history.

Series: 

Topics: 

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Armchair Analyst: Philly's process, Quakes sink & more from Week 13 was originally published on 365 Football

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Rebuilding a Nepali village, one block at a time

(CNN)Two years after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal, killing nearly 9,000 people and causing extensive damages to property, residents are still reeling from the tragedy especially in remote villages, where aid has been slow to arrive.

Many villages have turned to international nongovernmental organizations for help. Though it's not always possible for these NGOs to meet all the communities' needs, they do bring hope and some relief to beleaguered residents.

One such organization is Conscious Impact, a small nonprofit working to rebuild Takure, a low-income, farming village in the Sindhupalchowk District, about 30 miles northeast of Kathmandu.

The April 25, 2015, earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks decimated all but one of Takure's 245 structures, according to residents. Homes, buildings and schools laid waste in piles of rubble as families worked to assess the damage.

While there's no official death toll for Takure, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) lists Sindhupalchowk as one of the "worst-affected districts" in all of Nepal. Official figures say 3,570 people died and more than 90,000 homes were destroyed in Sindhupalchowk alone.

Sunita Tamang, a widowed mother living in Takure, described the quake's tragic aftermath: "Everywhere I went -- in and around my village -- I saw people who lost their loved ones."

Tamang's husband died two months before the earthquake. "My husband was the only person I had to take care of me," she says, "but now, looking at my three children, I am living my life to take care of them."

Chitra Kumari, the president of a women's cooperative in Nawalpur, another village in Sindhupalchok District near Takure, said those fortunate enough to escape death found themselves immersed in "personal loss, economic loss, and social chaos."

She says all the training Nepali people received in earthquake preparedness, "like to crawl under beds and tables, could not have helped people survive."

Since the quake, many of Takure's men have left to find work in bigger cities like Kathmandu. For those who stayed, corrugated makeshift shelters made from salvaged materials have become their new homes.

In August, 2015, Gula and Haas met a group of Takure residents. "We became friends and started talking," Gula said. "At that time Conscious Impact was little more than a website and some friends with big ambitions." A couple weeks later the group set up camp in their new home of Takure.

Conscious Impact is one of the hundreds of nonprofits involved in an international effort to rebuild the quake zone. UNOCHA estimated, "thousands of volunteers" and "over 450 humanitarian agencies" responded to deliver aid to Nepal following the earthquake.

The organization uses what they call an affordable and "sustainable, alternative path to rebuilding." They work with community members to produce Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEBs) for building. Earth blocks are composed of local soil, sand and a small percentage of cement. They are made using a brick press at the Takure Training and Production Center, which also provides full-time employment to over a dozen local residents. In 2016 the group produced more than 50,000 CSEBs.

Rather than solely delivering aid, Conscious Impact has made its mission to teach local Nepalese how to rebuild their communities. The organization set up its headquarters in Takure to "empower and collaborate."

The group envisions its training center as a "self-sufficient, Nepali run business which can function as a national hub for local, culturally-relevant, sustainable, earthquake-resistant, and affordable technologies in building," according to its website. The belief is that it is critically important for Nepalis to "use the tools themselves to rebuild their own lives and have autonomy in uplifting themselves from economic struggle."

Since September 2015, Conscious Impact has rebuilt a primary school and is working towards completing an orphanage, senior center and a community center. The group has also hosted more than 300 volunteers from 22 different countries.

'Overwhelming love'

Ellen Stewart, a 25-year-old from Norwich, UK, found Conscious Impact while she was searching for an organization to volunteer with during her last two weeks in Nepal. Those two weeks turned into a year and a half, accompanied by three changed flights.

"The passion and the energy for what we do still continues to make me feel as excited as I did back in August 2015," said Stewart.

The Red Cross, Plan International and a few other multinational NGO's have helped in and around Nepal, but Conscious Impact is the only organization that is headquartered in Takure.

Without Conscious Impact's work in Takure, the village would be in an even worse situation, as government aid has been slow to come.

Since the quake, Nepal's government has been promised $4.1 billion in aid from various sources, according to Nepal's Reconstruction Authority. However, the NRA is only in its first round of distributing aid to the 14 hardest hit districts -- including Sindhupalchowk. Aid distribution to the remaining 17 districts is just beginning, according to Yam LalBhoosal, joint-secretary for Nepal's Reconstruction Authority.

Out of 542,000 families in the 14 hard-hit districts, less than 10% have begun the rebuilding process, according to Bhoosal.

The government and NGOs have blamed Nepal's mountainous terrain, the remoteness of the villages and volatile rainy season for the sluggish response. However, there has also been some government push back.

Bhoosal acknowledges the first year of aid distribution was slow. "It took eight months to get NRA up and running after the earthquake," he says, "There are foreign donors, there are several agencies within the government, and there are matters of transparencies, we have to follow all the rules set by donor agencies -- all of which makes the aid distribution process slower."

When asked if the NRA was satisfied with their progress, Bhoosal responded:"Our work in the second year has been quite good."

Kumari, whose women's cooperative is based in a building created by Conscious Impact, said the group's contribution to Sindhupalchowk has been invaluable.

"I don't have the words to express my happiness," she said. "We never thought we'd receive any relief after the quake, but now we have this structure for the women's cooperative."

Reflecting on why Conscious Impact chose to work in Takure, Gula said: "Whether we chose Takure or Takure's overwhelming love and need for rebuilding called to us, is debatable."

Regardless, they're committed to rebuilding Nepal one Compressed Stabilized Earth Block at a time.

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Wiebe: Presenting the All-Underrated Best XI, aka the Dom Badji All-Stars

USA Today Sports Images

April 4, 201811:10AM EDT

If you score your first professional hat trick and it isn’t plastered all over the front page of MLSsoccer.com, I think it’s fair to say you’re living your soccer life under the radar.

Consider this column a mea culpa to striker Dominique Badji, who deserved better after his three goals fueled the Colorado Rapids first win of the season, a 3-0 romp against the Philadelphia Union. By now, you know some guy named Zlatan stole the show in Week 5. In any other week, Badji would be the shoo-in MLS Player of the Week – you can guess how that turned out – and we’d all collectively be singing his praises.

Yet, as so many of you have pointed out to me on Twitter, relative crickets.

No more. I present to you my All-Underrated (and Overlooked) Best XI, also known as the Dom Badji All-Stars. You’ll undoubtedly be rankled by my picks and have suggestions of your own. Feel free to hash that out in the comments section or @ me.

GK: Matt Turner (New England Revolution)

It’s tough to find a starting ‘keeper who hasn’t had their turn in the spotlight, so we go to a relative unknown in the 23-year-old Turner, who signed with the Revs ahead of the 2016 season after going undrafted. Most figured it’d be either Cody Cropper (last year’s starter and US national team hopeful) or Brad Knighton (10-year veteran with 57 MLS starts) who won Brad Friedel’s trust. Instead, Turner’s got four starts, two wins, a massive penalty save and a hold on the job (for now).

LB: Ben Sweat (New York City FC)

I assumed Ronald Matarrita, a Costa Rican international finally healthy after a year out recovering from a broken foot, would be the starting left back on opening day for NYCFC. In assuming, I overlooked how good Sweat was in 2017 (25 starts, six assists), and how much Patrick Vieira valued a player who earned his place via trial and hasn’t let go of his starting spot. Sweat’s a two-way player, he’s comfortable in possession and he absolutely deserves more love.

CB: Francisco Calvo (Minnesota United)

Francisco Calvo | USA Today Sports Images

Not a troll job, I swear! In no way is this about the Loons captain calling for more respect for his squad. It’s about the fact that Calvo doesn’t get enough love for being one of the most versatile, physically gifted defenders in MLS. The Costa Rican was Top 10 among defenders in headed clearances and interceptions last year, one to forget for the Minnesota defense, and he’ll be the rock Adrian Heath continues to build around in 2018, most likely with a trip to Russia sandwiched in the middle of the year.

CB: Aaron Long (New York Red Bulls)

This was a toss-up between the Red Bulls man and NYCFC’s Alex Callens, who has near zero name recognition despite being arguably MLS’s best defender a year ago. Long’s career is basically defined by being overlooked and underrated. He was drafted in the second-round by the Timbers in 2014 and never played a minute for the first team. He moved to Seattle, same story. Long did play for Sounders 2, however, and the Red Bulls saw promised. After a year with RBII (USL Defender of the Year), he earned a move to the first-team contract and immediately became first-choice for Jesse Marsch.

RB: Nick Lima (San Jose Earthquakes)

Shout out to Real Salt Lake’sTony Beltran, who has been on this team for the better part of a decade. Nick Lima may be the next in the line of domestic outside backs that hold it down for years and never truly get the respect they deserve. Last season was a good start for the Quakes Homegrown (22 games played, 20 starts, two goals and an assist), and now it’s about consistency, longevity and helping San Jose become a regular playoff team again.

CM: Ilie (Sporting KC)

Callum is right.

So many holding midfielder across the world get no where near the amount of credit they deserve. If someone’s underrated, its usually a defensive midfielder.

— Callum Williams (@CalWilliamsComm) April 3, 2018

Ilie gets the nod here because I watch and talk about this league so much that the likes of Wil Trapp, Alex Ring, Diego Chara, Jeff Larentowicz and others I don’t have time to name generally feel properly appreciated in my book. They are very good and important to their team’s success, for various collective and individual reasons.

That leaves me with Ilie, who must be both the metronome and conscience in Sporting’s midfield. That’s not easy with Roger Espinoza and Felipe Gutierrez marauding ahead of you and the fullbacks pushing high. When you try to explain why Kansas City had the league’s best defense a year ago, you’d be wise to widen your scope beyond the backline and goalkeeper Tim Melia.

CM: Ibson (Minnesota United)

**Violins in the background** You can hate me now, but I won’t stop now…

I bet you didn’t know Ibson finished last season with the following stat line among his fellow MLS midfielders. All courtesy of Opta.

So Ibson and … a who’s who of MLS’s best midfielders. Since I am guessing you don’t know much of anything about the Minnesota midfielder unless you live in Minnesota, that makes him overlooked, for sure, and underrated, in my opinion.

AM: Federico Higuain (Columbus Crew SC)

Federico Higuain | USA Today Sports Images

Here are profiles for two Argentine No. 10s in MLS. Both played their first full MLS season in 2013. One is Higuain, and the other shall remain unnamed for now.

Player A: 12,574 minutes played (152 GP, 146 GS), 59 goals, 53 assists

Player B: 13,101 minutes played (154 GP, 149 GS), 50 goals, 51 assists

Player A has three MLS Best XIs, three All-Star appearances and an MVP award to his name. Player B has received none of those individual plaudits. Player A lost to Player B in MLS Cup 2015, a game that cemented Player B’s legacy.

Player A is Pipa, Columbus’ quiet genius. Player B is Portland’s Diego Valeri, near universally and rightfully revered. My point? With a few different bounces in 2015 and a little more national publicity, Higuain’s profile would be a lot different. He’s underrated, don’t @ me on this one.

WING: Ignacio Piatti (Montreal Impact)

This pick is more of a “Bradley Wright-Phillips Lack-of-Appreciation Team” selection than underrated or overlooked. Piatti is the name every single defender who visits the MLSsoccer.com studios mentions as the toughest 1v1 matchup in the league. He’s got back-to-back years of 17 goals and six assists. That’s best in show stuff, but I never hear his name mentioned among the league’s best players. He’s earned that recognition, and if Montreal make a run this year, it’ll largely be because their talisman willed them there.

WING: Alphonso Davies (Vancouver Whitecaps)

Alphonso Davies | USA Today Sports Images

Yeah, Davies has a hype train chugging along behind him already, and yet he’s still underrated and overlooked. If Davies was American, the whole country would be salivating at the combination of potential and production the 17-year-old wunderkind has already shown in his young career. He’d be the Next Great Hope, a player to help us forget about the disappointment of Russia 2018. But he’s not ours, and he’ll likely help our northern neighbors eventually reach the promised land along with a raft of other young players. Congrats to Canada and Vancouver. I am jealous. Davies is that good, and he’s just scratching the surface.

CF: Dominique Badji (Colorado Rapids)

Finally, our namesake finishes out the squad. Every single offseason, this one included, we talk about the Rapids needing a game-changing forward. Meanwhile, Badji’s just out here quietly producing. He bagged nine goals and six assists last year without a ton of help, six and four the year before and already has four goals in three games this season. Maybe Colorado doesn’t need more strikers. Maybe they need to feed the beast they already have. Congrats on the hatty, Dom!

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Wiebe: Presenting the All-Underrated Best XI, aka the Dom Badji All-Stars was originally published on 365 Football

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Stejskal: New York Red Bulls leading the charge in MLS-USL partnerships

USA Today Sports

March 15, 20184:53PM EDT

His team doesn’t start their season until Saturday, but New York Red Bulls II head coach John Wolyniec already has a couple of big victories under his belt in 2018.

The longtime New York forward saw six of his former NYRB II players lead the way in the MLS team’s 4-0 demolition of the Portland Timbers at Red Bull Arena last weekend. Vincent Bezecourt, Sean Davis, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Ben Mines all started in the blowout, while Tyler Adams and Aaron Long made second-half cameos in the resounding victory. All six of those players played for Red Bulls II before they debuted with the first-team, and all but Davis were on full USL deals before they ever inked an MLS contract.

Adams, Long and another USL alum, first-year MLS midfielder Florian Valot, also played key roles in the Red Bulls’ historic Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal win against Tijuana, each starting the second leg on Tuesday.

They’ve all played well to start 2018, particularly against Portland (highlights above). The 17-year-old Mines marked his MLS debut by scoring the opener, Bezecourt dropped a couple of assists, Etienne had one of his own and Davis played a huge role in locking down reigning MLS MVP Diego Valeri. Adams helped see things out after coming on in the 64th; by the time Long entered in the 82nd, the game was out of reach.

Through their five-game unbeaten start to 2018 in CCL and MLS play, 40 percent of all of New York’s minutes have gone to USL grads or academy players. 

“It feels great,” Wolyniec told MLSsoccer.com Tuesday afternoon. “I’m stuck somewhere in between being really excited and just recognizing the fact that these guys put a lot of effort in and it’s great to see them kind of see the fruits of their labor. Being able to move themselves up through the ranks and not only just get on the field, but be so successful and be so confident with the way they went about their business Saturday night, it was just a great thing to see.”

Together, their performances illustrate just how valuable USL, which will begin its 2018 season this weekend, can be to MLS clubs. For New York, who wholly own and operate Red Bulls II, the USL team is a bridge to the first-team.

Teenage academy stars like Adams and Mines can dip their feet into the pro ranks in USL before diving into the deep end in MLS. A player like Davis, who spent four years at Duke before signing a Homegrown deal, can get run in USL while working to beat out older, more established players for first-team minutes. Late-bloomers like Long and Valot can extend their developmental timelines in the league before potentially earning a look in MLS.

Now a starter for RSL and USMNT prospect, Glad cut his teeth in the USL after leaving the academy. | USA Today Images

Other clubs are taking advantage of the USL pipeline, though none to the extent of New York. Real Salt Lake have one of the better setups. They’ve used their USL side, Real Monarchs SLC, to continue the development of talented youngsters Justen Glad and Danny Acosta during that awkward period in a player’s path when he’s too good for the academy but not yet good enough for MLS.

Philadelphia have also gotten good mileage out of their USL squad. Current Union Homegrown players Auston Trusty, Anthony Fontana, Matthew Real and Mark McKenzie all spent time with the club’s USL team, Bethlehem Steel, last year. Trusty and Fontana started their season-opening win against New England on March 3, with Fontana scoring the winner in the 2-0 victory and Trusty performing decently in his first game as an MLS starter.

“A lot of people called for Auston earlier last year. Why not just throw him out there, we’re not in the playoff picture, that kind of thing. But it’s not as simple as just throwing them out there and letting them learn that way, because in some ways at a defensive position, a lot more can go wrong,” Union head coach Jim Curtin told MLSsoccer.com Tuesday. “An attacker can have a crappy 89 minutes and score a goal and everybody talks about the great goal. With a defender, it goes the other way. You can have a bad one minute and it can set you back, your confidence is gone, you feel like you don’t belong and it’s challenging.

“So we went with the 34 real games at Bethlehem Steel against pros, against men. We know that MLS is a bigger jump up for him, but I think giving him that full season there has really, really helped him. And he had some struggles there, he really did, but I think he grew from it.”

A few other clubs are effectively forging ahead in a slightly different manner. The Houston Dynamo, San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders all have hybrid relationships with USL teams, allowing local ownership groups to run the business side of the operation while maintaining full control over technical matters.

The hybrid setup has had its biggest early returns in Houston, who helped found USL side Rio Grande Valley FC in 2016. The Dynamo have promoted several players from USL to MLS and even hired head coach Wilmer Cabrera from RGV FC after he led the team to the USL playoffs in their first season.

Apart from Seattle, who will still share a training facility with Sounders 2 after they farmed out business ops of their USL side to the Tacoma Rainiers minor league baseball team this winter, the hybrid relationship usually involves a sacrifice. The Dynamo and Quakes save by not running the entirety of a USL team, but they lose the convenience offered by proximity. Houston and San Jose are hours away from their respective affiliates in South Texas and Reno, hampering easy training integration between their MLS and USL sides.

That distance can make it harder to develop young players, but many around MLS think it’s preferable to affiliating with an entirely independent USL team. Just like their MLS counterparts, independent USL sides are primarily in the business of winning games. For a coach who needs good results to keep his job, it’s often preferable to give minutes to more experienced, full-time USL players than a developing MLSer who might only be in town for a week or two.

No MLS club feels that disconnect more than FC Dallas. FCD have long had one of the more productive academies in MLS, leading the league in US Soccer Development Academy titles and in number of Homegrown players signed. Those are nice milestones, but they haven’t translated to Homegrowns succeeding with the first-team. Of the record 21 Homegrown players Dallas have signed, only three – Kellyn Acosta, Jesse Gonzalez and Victor Ulloa – have made an impact in MLS. That’s not a good hit rate, even with a fourth, starting right back Reggie Cannon, looking like he’ll join that group this year.

Kellyn Acosta (center) is one of the few Dallas academy products to become a first-team regular. | USA Today Images

FCD co-owner and president Dan Hunt acknowledges that Dallas have struggled to turn academy stars into impactful pros. He told MLSsoccer.com in October that he wants FCD to have a USL side in place in the next few years, a stance reiterated by a club spokeswoman on Tuesday.

“We’re going to have to bridge the gap, and we owe it to the player pool to ensure that they have an outlet to play games,” he said last fall. “Having players not play is detrimental. It’s not just detrimental to the players, it’s detrimental to FC Dallas and it’s detrimental to US Soccer. We’ve got to take that big jump to ensure that we control what happens with minutes played, the opportunities, the frequency and quality of training, the health and nutrition and the environment that leads to the development of successful players.”

Of course, owning and operating a USL team isn’t a catch-all. Teams like Seattle, Kansas City and Portland don’t have as deep of a youth talent pool as New York, and, while they’ve had success here and there, they haven’t been able to push as many impact players through USL to MLS.

Even the LA Galaxy, who operate in perhaps the most talent-rich area in the league and were the first MLS team to establish a USL side back in 2014, haven’t built an effective bridge from their academy to the first-team. The Galaxy didn’t have a single Homegrown in the 18 in either of their first two matches of 2018, though LA Galaxy II alums Daniel Steres, Dave Romney, Justin vom Steeg and Ariel Lassiter have made the bench in at least one game this season.

LA took on more of an academy and USL presence after former Los Dos head coach Curt Onalfo was hired to replace Bruce Arena last year, but the pivot didn’t pan out. USL alums like Nathan Smith, Jaime Villarreal, Bradley Diallo and Jack McBean largely struggled as Onalfo was fired midseason and the Galaxy finished with their worst-ever record. They’re hopeful that the current LA Galaxy II roster, which, according to a club spokesman, will be composed of about 70 percent academy products, will help get the pipeline flowing over the next few years.

Wolyniec has been instrumental in setting up the Red Bulls’ talent pipeline. | Courtesy of the New York Red Bulls

New York don’t have to wait – their system is already producing. According to Wolyniec, the Red Bulls’ success is driven by a multitude of factors. The most important among them? A market stocked with youth talent, an organizational commitment to playing youngsters and a clear tactical identity shared by their MLS, USL and academy teams.

Those integrated tactical principles were on full display in the wins against the Timbers and Tijuana. From the moment they stepped onto the field for their first-team debuts, Mines and Valot fit right in with the Red Bulls. They both pressed high, consistently looked to go forward with their first touches and hit their opponent hard in transition, with Valot tallying an assist shortly after coming on in Leg 1 against Tijuana and Mines scoring the aforementioned opener against Portland.

“It’s clear that the consistency with our principles helps develop the player and helps prepare the player to move up,” Wolyniec said. “If the demands are as closely aligned as possible, you get a good look at whether the demands can be met and then you’re also doing a good job of preparing the player to succeed once they do move up.”

But a consistent tactical approach doesn’t mean much if an organization doesn’t give the players in its pipeline a shot in MLS. The Red Bulls, who, it should be noted, have the advantage of being able to draw talent from the New York market, have made that commitment. They’re now starting to see real results.

The rest of the league is starting to see just how much USL can mean to an MLS first-team.

“If we want to be about playing young players, then we better help them and part of helping them is filling that gap,” said Wolyniec. “Whether it’s after high school or after college or however the player ends up in our system, we’re giving them an opportunity to get immersed in it, to develop in it, to start to put their efforts into it and give them time to adjust and learn and improve, so that when they do move up sign and MLS contract or step onto the field in an MLS game or a Concacaf game, they’re ready to go and ready to show what they can do.

“You can put young guys out there and help them develop and help them learn by being on the field, but if you give them a little bit more and prepare them, then a lot of times the results can improve. I think that’s important for our club and I think it’s important for young American players to have these opportunities throughout the league.”

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Stejskal: New York Red Bulls leading the charge in MLS-USL partnerships was originally published on 365 Football