text:
1954 January to June.

National Events.

The Flags and Emblems Act in Northern Ireland (6 April) bans interference with the Union Jack and effectively prohibits the public or private display of the tricolour
Michael Manning (aged 25) becomes the last man to be executed by the state in the Republic of Ireland: he is hanged on 20 April at Mountjoy jail, Dublin, for the murder of a nurse
General election in the Republic (18 May): a second coalition government takes office on 2 June with John A. Costello as Taoiseach
The IRA raids Gough military barracks, Armagh (12 June)
Brendan Behan’s The Quare Fellow opens at the Pike Theatre, Dublin (19 November)
A four-month bank dispute commences in the Republic (4 December)
The last issue of The Bell appears
Christy Brown’s My Left Foot is published
A record 84,856 people watch Cork beat Wexford in the All-Ireland hurling final at Croke Park

Jimmy Barry Murphy (hurler and Gaelic footballer) in Cork (22/8)
Ollie Campbell (rugby player) in Dublin (3/3)
Maud Cotter (stained-glass artist)
Síle de Valera (Fianna Fáil politician) in Dublin
Bob Geldof (rock musician, charity organizer) in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin (5/10)
Richard Kearney (philosopher and writer) in Cork
Ger Loughnane (Clare hurler and manager)
Thomas McCarthy (poet) in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford
Kevin Moran (Dublin Gaelic footballer; Manchester United, Sporting Gijon, Blackburn Rovers and Republic of Ireland footballer) in Dublin (29/4)
Brian Mullins (Dublin Gaelic footballer) in Dublin (27/9)
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (writer and lecturer) in Dublin
Julie O’Callaghan (poet) in Chicago
Mary O’Donnell (writer and broadcaster) in Monaghan
Dennis O’Driscoll (poet) in Thurles, Co. Tipperary
Bobby Sands (IRA member and hunger striker) in Belfast
Mikey Sheehy (Kerry Gaelic footballer) in Co. Kerry (28/7)

John Collins
Margaret Cousins
James Green Douglas
Denis Fahey
Henry Harrison
Elinor Price
Robert Smyllie.

Local Events.

2-1-54 Enniskillen new Fire Station, now completed, will be opened shortly. The brigade consists of 20 members under section leader Robert McCutcheon.

2-1-54 There is no need for alarm in Fermanagh says Dr. Brian Moore, Chief Medical Officer for the County, speaking about the four cases of infantile paralysis reported in Fermanagh in the past month.

2-1-54 A youth named Patrick Barron of Derryrona, Leggs PO, Belleek is in Fermanagh County Hospital suffering from head injuries suffered on Christmas Day while riding a motor cycle.

2-1-54 A Donegal youth, Johnston Morrow of Derrybrick, Clonelly was sentenced to one month imprisonment for driving a tractor while disqualified and without insurance or licence and also for obtaining a license while disqualified. He had been employed by David George Noble of Derrybrick.

9-1-54  St. Mary’s Hall, Devenish, was packed for “The Message of Fatima,” Pageant by the local school children. An enthralled audience drawn from four counties saw unfold scene by scene the wonderful miracle which shook the world only thirty six years ago. I take of my hat to Fr. Marron and his brilliant galaxy of juvenile stars and I think it only fair to hand a special bouquet to little Nuala Gilbride of Rosinver, who played the part of Our Lady of Fatima in a manner worthy of the highest commendation. The parts of the children to whom the apparition appeared were played by Bridie Neilan, Agnes Burns and M. J. Flanagan.

16-1-54 Irvinestown’s unbelievable plight to end soon. For years past they have had the water turned on for only two hours per day and only one hour in the Summer. In January they are to join up to the huge Lough Braden water network.

16-1-54 An application to have the Ballinamallard – Mossfield – Sydare closed for the annual “Enniskillen 100” motor cycle race this year was granted by Fermanagh County Council. Owing to a late application last year there was no race – the first occasion this happened since the war.

16-1-54  Lawyer and cattle dealer summonsed at Belleek as a result of accidents at a bad bend at Keenaghan, Belleek within five days of each other. The defendants were cattle dealer Maurice Leonard, Pettigo and Thomas T. Montague, LLB, Irvinestown. Leonard’s cattle lorry demolished a length of stone wall and had the front axle torn from the vehicle was fined £1 for driving without due care and 10s for not producing his insurance within five days. Evidence was given that the front tyres of the lorry were smooth. In his own defence Montague said that there was no evidence that he was driving without due care and that the skid marks and damage to the wall were just as likely to have been those caused by the lorry. Case dismissed for insufficient evidence.

16-1-54 In a sequel to a row over admission to a dance hall at Brollagh, Frederick Brock was fined £1 and bound over for a year on his own bail of £5. Sydney Brock who was trying to take his brother from the police was fined £3 for obstruction, £3 for disorderly behaviour and bound over for a year for £5. John Dolan was fined £3 for disorderly behaviour and £1 for obstruction and also bound over and Thomas Murphy was fined £1.

16-1-54 It was with regret that his many friends heard of the death of Mr. Patrick Eves, Kesh, one of the oldest and most respected residents of Kesh. Until he retired from business due to failing health he had carried on a long and successful business as a spirit merchant and farmer and had earned a fine reputation as a man of sound judgment, a good counselor and neighbour and the respect of men of all creeds.

23-1-54  Mrs Mary Mc Garrity, (49) wife of John Mc Garrity, tenant of apartments in the old Workhouse, Townhill, Irvinestown, gave her life on Friday night in an effort to save her two daughters, Josie (24) and Veronica (19) who were returning from the cinema at 11.00 when they became entangled in a live electricity cable in the darkness of an enclosed yard in front of their dwelling place. The wire had been broken in the storm. Hearing their screams their parents rushed down to help them and were aided by Samuel Gillespie, an electrician, who helped the father and two daughters get clear. Unfortunately Mrs Mc Garrity was fatally shocked and died on her way to hospital.

23-1-54  Garda William Melly, Dublin Metropolitan Police has retired after 39 year’s service from 1st January 1954. He was stationed all his time in Dublin and was attached to the Dublin District Courts for over 30 years. He served through all the troubled years in the city during his service. He was a native of Castle Caldwell, County Fermanagh.

23-1-54  It was with regret that the people of Devenish heard of the death of Mrs Ellen Feely on January 5th. She had been a member of the Total Abstinence Association since 1911.

6-2-54  Mr. S. Hernon, Secretary of Devenish GAA Club said in his report that last year was not an outstanding success although the Minor team had got to the County final only to be defeated by a very good Lisnaskea team.

13-2-54 The Annual Fermanagh County GAA Convention was held in Enniskillen on the last Sunday in January with 74 delegates present, the greatest ever number. Not counted were Mr. Denis Hogan and Denis Leonard of the newly formed Knocks club who were not allowed to vote since their team did not compete in the last championship in 1953. All three nominees for chairman were unwilling to put their names forward but this was not accepted and Mr. Thomas Campbell, Belleek, was retained in office for a fourth time. The most far-reaching motion to be decided was to reduce the number of players on Senior teams from 15 to 13. This probably suits most Fermanagh pitches better and should lead to a more open brand of football.

27-2-54 Lack Farmer, 54 year old, Francis Mc Cusker, Largy, Lack, was killed while loading trees on to a lorry from an embankment on his farm. A verdict of accidental death was returned at the inquest. He was a brother of Nurse McCusker, Ederney.

27-2-54 Regret has been occasioned by the death of Mrs F. Campbell, wife of Mr. Francis Campbell, Aghoo, Devenish, after a long illness.

6-3-54 A fine of £3 was imposed on Bernard Mc Kenna, Ardees, Roscor, Belleek for stealing an Exide battery from a motor cycle parked at Mahoo. District Inspector Wolseley said that the defendant had previously been convicted of stealing cattle.

6-3-54 The Belleek V Enniskillen Gaels football match was abandoned at half time due to snow with the score Belleek 0-4, Enniskillen 0-1.

6-3-54  Death of Leitrim-Born Christian Brother, founder of Australia’s Boy’s Town. Regret is felt in Kiltyclogher and district by the death of Rev. Bro. Paul Francis Keaney, which occurred suddenly at his Christian Brothers College, Perth, Australia last Friday, 28th February. Known all over the great Australian Continent as the founder of Australia’s Boy’s Town and beloved for his charity and kindness towards the flotsam and jetsam of humanity with whom his social activities brought him into contact. His death is mourned by hundreds of orphaned and abandoned boys who owing to Br Paul’s noble work are today happy and prosperous citizens.  He was born on a small farm at Corraleskin, Kiltyclogher in 1888 he was one of a family of nine of whom seven still survive. He joined the RIC in 1909 and served two years before emigrating. He received the OBE in the Coronation honours list. When he decided recently to return to Ireland after an absence of 42 years he was presented with a cheque for £1,500 by the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Menzies, on behalf of a group of businessmen as a tribute to his services. However his return to Ireland was not to be. (Another view from the Internet)

Brother Kearney, of Bindoon notoriety, was a saint to the Catholic Church and a monster to the boys placed in his “care”. The Catholic Church erected a huge statue of him at Bindoon. In a case of typical Aussie larrikinism, former boys at the Home knocked its head off one day. Reports indicate that they were observed attempting to use it as a football.

One of the six Royal Commissioners, former Senator for Western Australia, Andrew Murray, once described Kearney as “a sadist who indulged in criminal assault and who knowingly protected rings of predatory Brothers engaged in systemic, long-term sexual assault on defenceless children (Hansard 2001, p.27275 – Matter of Public Interest). Presumably, Mr. Murray will be eager to revisit the matter during the course of the Royal Commission.

Former inmates of Bindoon also pull no punches with regard to “The Orphans’ Friend” (as the plaque on his statue reads) Kearney, an abuser who stood 6ft. tall and weighed 17 stone. Laurie Humphreys says that “I guess you could call him a sadist”. John Hennessy, also from Bindoon, speaks with a stutter which he says is a legacy of being stripped naked and publicly flogged by Kearney. He notes that “At Bindoon, the threat of violence was ever present. The Brothers carried a strap consisting of leather stitched together and a metal weight.”

In a glowing tribute to Kearney, even the Christian Brothers had to acknowledge that “Conversely, some former inmates remember him as a brutal disciplinarian with an ungovernable temper, who neglected their education, exploited their labour and turned a blind eye to sexual abuse of them by other members of the staff.” Note the use of “some” rather than “all” in that statement. The paragraph concludes, for some reason, with the statement that “An enthusiast, Keaney was easily depressed by criticism.”

The 2001 Australian Senate Community Affairs and References Committee Report, titled “Lost Innocents: Righting the Record – Report on Child Migration”, detailed evidence which revealed the “depraved, violent and abusive nature” of Brother Keaney and his role in the “systematic abuse of children under his care”. In submissions to the Committee report, individuals who had been abused by Keaney described his brutality; “I lost my teeth at Bindoon – my face kicked repeatedly by Brother Keaney”. Similarly – “Br. Keaney was a very sadistic, perverted and deviant paedophile. He abused many of the boys… in his care. Tragically, there was just no one that we victims could go to for help. Who would have believed us anyway?”

Another former Bindoon resident stated that “The Christian Brothers used to walk around with a thick 18in leather strap hanging from the waist of their long, black outfits, and they’d give you a wallop at the slightest opportunity. They’d hit you wherever they could – be it on the backside or sole of the foot – and boy, did it hurt. Once I was on the receiving end of a real hiding from one of them. He was giving a younger lad a hard time and I must have said something under my breath. He lashed out with his strap and put in his boot. I ended up cowering under my bed, trying to escape him, and was left covered in bruises.”

Yet another noted that “He liked to prod us with a walking stick, and was one of the cruelest people I’ve ever met.”

A secret church report about Christian Brothers’ institutions such as Bindoon in Western Australia from the mid-30s right up to the mid-60s refers to:

  • brothers who were “odd or mentally unstable”,
  • of a “sex underworld”
  • of brothers who “shared boys” for sexual purposes
  • and that often the church hierarchy knew of the abuse and did nothing about it.

Kearney’s Bindoon was billed as an educational institution, but as one former resident claimed, “There was no teaching at Bindoon, and I know of several former inmates who still cannot read or write.” Another reported that “there wasn’t much in the way of schooling. I’d always been good at school in England but it pretty much ended overnight. A lot of the boys at Bindoon never learnt how to read or write.”

A CBS Television documentary aired in the U.S. claimed that, at Bindoon, “The priority was construction. Brother Francis Keaney, an imposing, white-haired Irishman who ran the place, was obsessed with building the largest Catholic institution in Western Australia. He used his charges as labor. From sunrise to sunset, the boys built Brother Keaney’s shrine, with no shoes, and no questions asked.”

When the Christian Brothers arrived in 1939 with the first group of seven boy labourers, the only building on the property was a mud-brick homestead which became their home. After the work of a generation of boys, the facility is grandiose and has been listed by the West Australian Government as a heritage-listed property.  The “Statement of Significance” refers to “The design, use of local materials, use of child labour, relationships of the buildings, and period during which they were constructed, make the places exceptionally significant, both individually and in their precinct setting. The place has an exceptional ‘sense of place’ for the ‘boys’, and their families.”

When Kearney arrived in 1940, with another eight boys, foundations were dug and one wing of the first building, the dormitory block now known as Edmund House, was officially opened by 1941. Most of the building work was completed by 1953. During construction, two boys died in accidents and a third died from an undefined cause. They are buried in simple graves on the site, while Br. Kearney’s grave has a large marble headstone, and, of course, a (headless) statue.

Not only did Kearney use forced child labour to build his edifice, he treated the boys badly in ways other than sexual abuse and violence. One of his slaves remembered that, on arrival, “We were immediately put to work. I learnt how to milk a cow within a week, and then we began constructing a new building. By the time I was 14, I was driving a truck. We’d work, sleep and eat. That was it.”

He also reported that “We slept on open verandas all-year round – and when a wind blew up, it got pretty cold. Foodwise, we’d get crushed wheat or porridge for breakfast, followed by bread in dripping (cow fat). The rest of the meals were similarly plain: we seemed to subsist on a diet of swedes and turnips.”

For his efforts, Kearney received Imperial Honours awards, known as an MBE and ISO. Despite all of the evidence of his unworthiness for such prestigious awards, attempts by many people to have the awards rescinded have, so far, been unsuccessful.

6-3-54 A Chemist Shop is now open at Mill Street, Pettigo under the management of M. T. Egan, M.P.S.I.

13-3-54 During the weekend telephone engineers started to erect telephone poles from Pettigo village to Tievemore Post Office where a Post Office telephone is being installed.

27-3-54 The Belleek Erne Drainage Strike over the sacking of a fitter who complained about their conditions of employment especially at the Marion crane at which he worked.

27-3-54 Devenish Pioneer Social on Sunday last in St. Mary’s Hall was a great success. The Sligo Pantomime Players provided the entertainment. Rev. Fr. Brennan, C.C., Pettigo was the guest of honour and was welcomed by Rev. Canon Coyle, a member of the Association for 33 years. The Association was first set up in the parish in 1945 and three Councils were established at Cashel, Toura and Devenish. The parish now has 242 Pioneers and 105 probationers and the juvenile section is being especially catered for in the schools.

27-3-54 The residents of Pettigo village and district deeply regret the transfer of Sergeant M. J. Mc Donagh, Garda Siochana, from Pettigo to Newtowncunningham during the week. Sergeant Mc Donagh was a very popular member of the Garda and for his brief stay in Pettigo village had endeared himself to everyone. Of a retiring disposition he was genial and had a most efficient manner in the discharge of his various duties. During his term as Sergeant in charge of Pettigo Garda Station lawlessness had completely disappeared in the area.

27-3-54 During blasting operations in a quarry at Cashelinney a small piece of rock from the quarry travelled 500 yards landing on the roof of Lettercran School and broke a few slates.

3-4-54 The opening of the Adelphi Cinema, Irvinestown on April 5th with the first film “Ivanhoe” with Robert and Elizabeth Taylor. Telephone Irvinestown 242.

3-4-54  Donegal defeat Fermanagh at Glenties. The ex-Fermanagh player Matt Regan (Belleek) was in sparkling form against his old colleagues. Many strange decisions by the referee almost led to the Fermanagh team leaving the field on several occasions in the second half. Sean Gonigle (Belleek) was the best player on the Fermanagh team.

17-4-54 Garrison man, Thomas Murphy, of Knockaraven, was fined £2 for assaulting another youth, Walter George Carson on March 14th. Murphy had caught hold of Carson’s bicycle by the carrier and bounced it up and down several times.

17-4-54 Very Rev. E. Canon Coyle, PP, Devenish paid tribute to the Anti-Partition League after an anti-Partition film show, concert and meeting in St., Mary’s Hall, Devenish on Sunday night. After thanking the speakers, Mr. Cahir Healy and P. J. O’Hare he said, “No other movement is doing anything only talking.”

24-4-54 Junior Football League – Holywell 2-11 – Devenish 1-7.

24-4-54 Garrison Publican, Patrick Casey, of Casey’s Hotel, was fined £1 for allowing the consumption of intoxicating drink on his licensed premises and his wife Margaret was fined £1 for aiding and abetting. Four persons found on the premises were each found 8 shillings. They had drink on the counter in front of them when the police entered at 10.00 p.m.

24-4-54 The O’Donnell Rally opens in Ballyshannon with glorious weather for a memorable occasion. It was attended by Mr. Aiken, Minister of External Affairs, Count O’Donnell and The O’Donnell.

24-4-54 Ballyshannon Notes. The town was gaily decorated with flags and bunting during the Easter weekend. This was to celebrate the opening of An Tostal and the O’Donnell Clan Rally. The Power House was illuminated with bright yellow lights, and viewed from the bridge, was an inspiring sight.

1-5-54 On Friday morning when travelling to her place of employment at Waterfoot, Pettigo, Miss Maggie Mc Caffrey, Mullinagoad, heard a fox barking and on investigation found a young fox which she promptly killed with a stick from the roadside.

1-5-54 Tievemore Post Office was on Thursday officially opened as a telephone call office.

1-5-54 The cuckoo was heard for the first time in the Pettigo area during the weekend, and also the corncrake, which is late compared with previous years.

1-5-54 The “Robe” at the Regal Cinema, Enniskillen. Enniskillen is this week enjoying its most stupendous cinematic treat. And when I say “stupendous” I know I am employing one of the superlatives that Hollywood blurbs have largely made meaningless. But using it with a due sense of proportion, one can only say of the magnificent drama, “The Robe” brought to the Regal, Enniskillen this week, in the new screen medium, cinemascope, that it is a stupendous achievement. Many feel that a wonderful religious performance like “The Robe” should finish only with a suitable religious air at the conclusion. There are three performances daily – Balcony 2/-, stalls 1/-.

1-5-54 In the Junior League Derrygonnelly defeated Devenish by 3-3 to 1-2. Devenish had a grand full back in J. Mulrone, who gave a sound display while others to impress were P. Keown, R, Mc Dermott and J. Treacy.

8-5-54 Enniskillen Unionist majority on the Town Improvements Committee which has Council powers in the allocation of houses voted to give four new Council houses in Derrychara to Protestants. This makes a total of 77 houses let at Derrychara, all to Protestants. There are 18 left to be let.

8-5-54 On Wednesday morning the wedding took place at St. Patrick’s Church Belleek of Mr. George Johnston, Pettigo and Miss Molly Monaghan, daughter of Mr and Mrs Edward Monaghan, Aghafoy, Pettigo. Mr. Edward Monaghan, brother of the bride was best man and Miss Mona Flood, “The Hotel” Pettigo was bridesmaid. Afterwards the happy couple set off for Bundoran for their honeymoon.

8-5-54 The wedding took place of Mr. John J. McGurl, Farrancassidy and Miss Maureen Doogan, Corry, Belleek.

8-5-54 The death is reported of Mr. John Dolan, Drumnasrene who was one of the most respected residents of Devenish Parish.

15-5-54 Ballyshannon’s new GAA Park opens with a Donegal win over Armagh in a challenge game.

5-6-54  The death is announced of Mr. James Maguire, Seemuldoon, building contractor, responsible for the erection (and of the design) of many fine schools, halls, churches and buildings. He had erected the curates house and Ederney Hall in his own parish.

5-6-54 A 22 mile dash by Enniskillen fire brigade saved the world-famous Belleek Pottery from possible destruction on Sunday. They reached Belleek in a record time of half an hour. Workmen and others, including police under Sergeant John Mc Michael, formed a bucket chain which confined the flames to a limited area of the kiln polishing room where the outbreak started. Fire fighting units from Ballyshannon also attended the blaze and Customs formalities were waived as they crossed the Border.

12-6-54 By attaching a wooden frame behind his motorbike, Mr. John O’Connor, Mulleek, was able to “top” two acres of potato drills in a few hours. When done by hand this usually took several days. Miss Rita Dolan, a nurse, of Killybig, Garison, was fined £2 for allowing a juvenile to drive her car without being properly licensed, and covered by the insurance, and she was disqualified for driving for a year. The RM suggested an early application be made to the court for the removal of the disqualification on Miss Dolan.

19-6-54  Daring Raid on Armagh military barracks. Fifteen khaki-clad men seize 700 guns from the Armory. Officers held up at pistol point.

19-6-54 For the second time in a fortnight the River Erne between Belleek and Roscor will be drained of all water.

19-6-54  Juvenile Football League. Ederney’s Grand Win over Gaels by 4-13 to 1-1. Ederney proved to be far too good for Gaels Juveniles. It was a pleasure to watch the Ederney team and especially their grand nippy forwards with their well-worked and constructive moves, and their beautiful finishing. Practice, training and constructive coaching were apparent in every movement. All were splendid but M. Maguire, Joe Turner, J. Moohan and especially A. Mc Grath, a grand little player with a great “pick-up” and a delightful body swerve merit special mention. J Wylie, N. McClurg, H. Herbert, V. Henderson and Nolan in goals were best for Gaels.

19-6-54  Mr E. Thompson, Castle Caldwell had a narrow escape from injury when, swerving to avoid an auto-cyclist, his car mounted a ditch and overturned. After treatment for injuries he was able to resume his journey in a friend’s car.

19-6-54 Senior Football Championship. Enniskillen Gaels qualified for the Divisional Final with a narrow victory over Ederney by 4-2 to 3-4. Best for Ederney were Jim Eves, B. Sheridan, B. Mc Hugh and the McKervey brothers. The stewards had the excellent idea of clearing the goal lines before the game started, thus leaving the two umpires at each goals free to carry out their duties more efficiently. Referee Mr. Bill Thompson.

26-6-54 In the league Irvinestown 1-4, Belleek 1-4. Best for the home team were O’Hanlon, Charlton, McGrory, Lennon (Joe who played for Down) Mahon, Maguire and Hegarty. The visitors were well served by McCann, Gonigle, Rooney, and Tinney. The match was refereed by Fr. Tom Marron, Ederney.

26-6-54  On next Sunday, June 27th, Pettigo village will be en fete for the annual Memorial celebrations which it is hoped will be a success. There will be a fancy dress parade led by Ederney and Irvinestown Bands to the new Memorial Park, where many football teams will compete for the Memorial Cup.

26-6-54 Irvinestown mid-week Tournament, 13-a-side for wristlet watches valued at £120 at St., Molaise Park, Irvinestown. Fixtures include Pettigo V Derrygonnelly Thursday 24th June and Trillick V Ederney Thursday 22nd July.


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Reputation Selling Heifers

March 26, 2010

“Would you take 650 a head for the entire group?” Greg said.

“We would,” Dad said.  “But we’ve got guys coming to the sale. And I told Kevin I’m bringing them.  And Bloomington advertised already.”

“Yeah,” I said.  “I wished we could have talked a week ago.  We’ll definitely call you next year.  I didn’t realize you bought cattle in the spring.”

“Whenever.  Whenever there are good cattle to be bought,” John said.

“Do you think we made the right decision,” Dad said.

“Yeah, it’s our reputation,” I said.  “It’s probably going to cost us about 2,000 dollars, though.”

“How do you figure?”

“I figure they’ll bring about 600 dollars net at the sale barn.  So 50 dollars a head times 40 head equals 2,000 dollars.”

“I guess that sounds about right,” Dad said.  “Would could we do?  We’ve made a commitment.”

“And we’re in this business for the long haul.  So even if it costs us a couple thousand short-term, we can make it up long-term by having consistently good cattle that people want to buy.  Let’s call it an investment in our future.”

As our hay supply dwindled and the groundhog didn’t see his shadow, we thought about selling our yearling heifers.  We planned to select the heifers we wanted to breed and keep for cows and then offer the rest privately for farmers to add to their cowherd.  Whatever was left would be sold at the local livestock auction.  We have been doing this ever since we improved our genetics using Red Angus bulls and have always had a positive response from farmers.

We placed an ad in the local Shopping News.  It read, “Yearling Red Angus replacement heifers for sale.  Matthew Walter, phone number.”

We ran the ad for three weeks and I received no calls the first week, two calls the second week, and four calls the third week.  Nibbles, but no bites.

It appeared that our price was a little high.  We were asking $700 a head.  The feeder calf market was soft in January and the first half of February.  Our best estimate was that we would get $500 to $550 a head at the sale barn.

One guy stopped in a couple of times and told us we were $100 too high.  We thanked him for his interest and told him we would tell him when we took them to the sale barn.

Dale stopped in and walked through them.  We could tell he was impressed when 978 walked up and licked his arm.  People are impressed by quiet cattle.

Dale was interested, but in the whole group.  He wanted us to call him when we took them to the sale barn.

We called Kevin at Bloomington a week in advance of the sale so he could advertise them.  We contacted a trucker to help us haul them.  Everything was lined up for the March 12th sale.  And then John and Greg stopped in and made us a great offer.

The very night after we declined Greg’s offer, Kevin called us to make sure we were bringing our heifers.  He said they had received calls and there was definitely some interest in them.  Dad and I were glad we weren’t going back on our word.

We sat and watched cattle sell.  There is always tremendous variation in the prices.  Four red heifers averaging 666 lbs., brought 95 cents per lb.  Five black heifers averaging 632 lbs., brought only 88 cents per lb.

Thirteen red heifers averaging 656 lbs., brought 99.5 cents per lb.  I hoped ours would bring that much.

Our heifers came in the ring.  They looked good.  Thirty-eight heifers averaging 666 lbs., brought 102.5 cents per lb.  Two small heifers averaging 420 lbs. , brought 112.5 cents per lb.  Dale was the winning bidder for all of them.

They averaged $672 each.  Even after commission and trucking was paid, we still made well over $650 each.

We were happy.  We made some money.  And more importantly, we stuck to our word and kept our reputation intact.

March is the Mud Month

March 11, 2010

March is the mud month.

Returning geese, melting snow.

Rubber boots, wet gloves.

Pictured is our cowherd on their winter quarters.  We had them down to Dad’s most of the winter.  It was closer to the hay supply.  But as the weather warmed they started to damage the hay strips with their hooves.

We moved them to my contour strips which will be oats and no-till corn this year, so there is no hay ground to damage.  I am worried about them damaging the waterway which is a grass sod, but I think it will take the abuse from their hooves and spring back eventually.

Here is a picture of my contour strips last summer.

We are buying time until the frost goes out of the ground and the soil dries up, hopefully by April.  Because they will be moved into the calving pasture by April, regardless of conditions.

And this brings me to my point.  If you have animals year-around on your farm they always have to be somewhere.  And some days, even months, are not much fun to farm with livestock.

So if you are a beginning farmer here is my advice.  Stick with seasonal production until you know exactly what you want to do.

Broiler chickens, feeder pigs, lambs, calves, young cull cows, even year-old laying hens are all available in my area in the spring.  Only purchase what can be marketed by fall and have everything gone by Thanksgiving or Christmas.

And then you will enjoy beautiful down-time.  Down-time is even more valuable when you’re trying to figure out what you want to do.

2010 Wisconsin Grazing Conference

February 2, 2010

I am looking forward to the Wisconsin Grazing Conference in Wisconsin Rapids, February 18-20.  The theme is “Pasture, People, Planet, Profit.”  Here is the schedule of speakers and entertainment.

I will report on some of the more interesting speakers  and any other scuttlebut I hear.  I have attended this conference several times and have always learned something and been rejuvenated by talking with my peers.  I hope to see you there!

Salvage: A Junk Run to Belmont

October 15, 2009

Loaded for a junk run to 1st Capitol Salvage in Belmont.

As we accumulate trash on the farm, we sort.  Recyclables, trash, and metal.  We take the recyclables and trash to our township pickup point in Calamine, open two days a week.   This is a service paid for by our property taxes.

The metal is thrown into an old wagon and when the wagon is full we make a junk run.  This happens a few time per year.  The fun part about this is that scrap metal is actually worth something.  So as we get rid of what we consider trash, we have a payday.

1st Capitol Salvage was paying $100 per ton, yesterday.  I don’t know if this is a good or bad price.  I do know that a few years ago there was a huge demand for scrap metal and prices were at least double.  I saw junk moving out of fields and fencelines that hadn’t moved in my lifetime.  People made part-time jobs out of cleaning up other people’s junk.

We never let our farm get to the point where a junk-man would salivate.   It’s a constant struggle to keep a farm looking decent.  I’m glad we have a system in place to help us.

Our small load only weighed 580 lbs.  We drove away with a check for $29 dollars.  Another successful junk run!

Money is the Only Thing That Can Be Insured

September 8, 2009

Nothing in this picture is insured, not the barn, not the hoop buildings, not the crops, not even the dog.  I only insure that which would be financially devastating to replace.   Am I a reckless wildman of the north woods?  Or am I an astute businessman?

I go over my farm insurance with my agent nearly every year.  A few years ago he pushed a paper across his desk and asked me to sign it.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s just a waiver.  The insurance company won’t insure the hoop buildings for wind or hail.”

“Hmmm,” I scratched my head and smiled.  “What else could happen to them?” I asked.

“Oh, someone could take a knife and run along them,” he said, still trying to make the sale.

I thought to myself, “If someone is doing that, then I have bigger problems than hog housing.”

“I guess I’ll take my chances,” I said and pushed the paper back across his desk.  “Let’s go over the rest of the policy.”  Now I was in a cutting mood and starting to get the high a spendthrift feels upon finding a nickel.

“The barn is insured for $10,000,” he said.

The premium for the barn was $150.  I thought about how little economically I use the barn.  I keep a few square bales of hay and straw in the top and I keep my chickens, (which is a hobby), in the bottom.  But I love that big, old, red barn.  If I were to drop the insurance I would somehow feel like I was neglecting the barn.

“We both know it couldn’t be replaced for $10,000,” he said.

Never talk through the close.

I perked up.  “You’re right, it couldn’t be replaced for $10,000.”

“But you could build something else, like a pole shed,” he stammered as he felt another premium slipping away.

I thought to myself, “If I wanted a pole shed, I would build a pole shed.  What I want is this barn, and the only real insurance is to avoid fires, keep up the roof and structure, and pray.”

What I was in considering in actuality was a $150 lottery ticket which would pay out $10,000 and the only way to win was for my barn to burn down.  I didn’t want any part of it.

So the test I came up with is, Could I afford to lose it?  What I was left with is insurance on my house and garage and personal belongings for $200,000 for a premium of $316 per year.  $500,000 liability for $82.  $36 because I have a 4-wheeler.  And an $18 policy fee which is unexplainable and would drive me crazy if I gave it much thought so I won’t for now.

So what do you think?  Was I raised by wolves?

Health Savings Account

August 27, 2009

J9 recently commented and ask that I explain my healthcare.  Thank you for this suggestion.  This topic is timely as the country debates health reform.

So I’m writing this on a rainy Thursday morning, trying to decide whether to eat eggs or hamburgers for breakfast.  Yes, my diet is still meat heavy.  I’m conducting a lifelong test on the question, “Does saturated fat clog arteries?”

I have a Health Savings Account combined with High Deductible Health Insurance through Golden Rule Insurance.  My insurance premiums and the money I contribute to the savings account are tax-deductible.

Congress created this program in 2003.  I jumped on it quickly because I already had high-deductible health insurance.  It’s a burden to pay the premiums and to contribute to the savings account, but it’s nice to have money I can use for medical expenses.  And any money I don’t use for medical expenses can be used tax-free for any purpose once I reach retirement age.

So what does this look like in practice?  I have a $3000 deductible policy.  For this insurance I pay $2223 annually.  I contribute $2850 annually to my savings account.  So my total health cost for the year is $5073.

I am in favor of healthcare reform.  However, I reluctantly admit, I am not writing letters or attending listening  sessions.  I do little more than vote.  I am waiting to see what congress comes up with and will choose the best option for me.

Kiva: Microfinance With American Ingenuity

July 27, 2009

Can a loan of $500 dollars change someone’s life?  Microfinance says yes.  Microfinance is the supply of loans and other financial services to the poor.

Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi banker and economist.  While visiting a poor village near his university in Bangladesh in 1976,  Mr. Yunus was shocked to meet people kept in virtual servitude by usurious loans.  He made a loan of $27 to 42 women out of his own pocket.  This experience caused him to realize that an organization was needed that would provide banking services to the poor.  Grameen bank was born.

In 2006, Muhammed Yunus and Grameen bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

Something about microfinance inspired me.  I like the idea of helping someone with their own idea.  After all, I’ve benefited from borrowing.

I started looking for a way to get involved.  In 2007 I read that Premal Shah, the President of Kiva, was speaking in Madison.  Kiva is microfinance with American ingenuity.  Kiva’s mission is “to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.”  “Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entreprenuers around the globe.”

I attended Mr. Shah’s invigorating talk.  The next day I made a loan of $25 dollars to Guloglan Agakishiev, who was running a butcher shop on what looked to be card tables.  Within a couple of months Guloglan had started repaying his loan of $1000 on schedule.  He finished repaying his loan in the fifteen months that was promised.

Testing Kiva even further, I let my money sit in their account and watched to see if they would sweep it into their coffers.  To their credit, they haven’t, and occasionally remind me that I have money in my account that could be loaned again or taken out.

Hooked, I started to give gift certificates to try to get more people involved.  And so now I am offering a $25 Kiva gift ceritificate to each of the first three people who comment.

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Events - The Rise of the Contingent Workforce – Australia Read Article

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The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)
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Lauren Willis, Performance-Based Consumer Law, 82 U. Chi. L. Rev. (forthcoming), available at SSRN.

Two decades ago, contract law ran headlong into online terms of service, looked around briefly in confusion, and announced that it needed to go take a nap. It has not been heard from since. In its place we have something that looks like contract law, and claims to be contract law, but is oddly ignorant of things that the real contract law would know. This usurper, part Martin Guerre and part pod person, is formalistic to a fault, obsessed with meaningless details, lazy beyond belief, and utterly devoid of human feeling.

Generations of scholars have tried to unmask this impostor, to little effect. Lauren Willis’s Performance-Based Consumer Law offers a different and more promising way of protecting consumers from overreaching and incomprehensible terms of service. Consumer law cares about form contracts, too, but it can afford to be more realistic about how well consumers actually understand them — or don’t.

Scholars since Karl Llewellyn’s day have pointed out the obvious: courts enforcing form contracts bind consumers to terms they have not read and could not reasonably be expected to read. This is a problem for any theory based on upholding voluntary agreements, or at least it ought to be. Impostor contract law doesn’t care. It remains firmly committed to what Gregory Klass calls an “interpretive” approach to contractual meaning: a contract means what it says, even if almost no one actually knows it says that. So while there must be an unambiguous manifestation of assent by the user, that assent can relate to a mess of undigestible text vomited up on the page.

Scholars at least since Llewellyn have resisted this reasoning, trying to bring either some substantive scrutiny or some realism about what people do and don’t read to the table. For a time in the in the 1960s and 1970s, they took ground on both fronts. Unconscionability doctrine recognized that some contractual terms were simply fairer than others, and false advertising law recognized that even statements that were literally true in theory could be hopelessly misleading in practice. But both offensives bogged down in the deregulatory rainy season of the 1980s. Combine this doctrinal rigidity with ubiquitous user agreements and the result has been bad news for consumers. The only difference is that mouse clicks have replaced signatures and the mess of undigestible text is vomited up on the screen rather than on the page.

This formalistic compromise gives firms bizarre and perverse incentives. They can be dinged for not having terms of service (or their close cousins, privacy policies). They can be dinged for lying about what is in the terms. And they can be dinged for omitting important terms. But adding more is always safe. I like to show my students the reductio ad absurdum of this trend, the user agreement toward which all terms of service naturally trend: the 35,000-word user agreement of the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum, complete with staring eyeballs and warnings not to self-diagnose yourself with smallpox or engage in “vigilante activities.”

It is all but impossible make substantive regulatory progress in such an environment. Any attempt to empower consumers — think “notice and choice” in privacy law — ends up tossing a few more shovelfuls of disclosure onto the contractual dung heap. Now consumers have “notice” of the practice regulators want them to know about. But their “choice” is emptier than ever.

Willis’s article builds on a few recent turns towards realism in online contracting — attempts to point out that consumers don’t and can’t read these behemoths, and that law can recognize this fact without bringing the whole e-commerce crashing down. The Federal Trade Commission’s consumer-protection docket includes numerous cases recognizing that consumers don’t click on every link, and insisting that it’s not enough that the user agreement fully “discloses” a term if that term undercuts the messages consumers actually receive from its ads. And Ian Ayres and Alan Schwartz’s The No-Reading Problem in Consumer Contract Law helpfully suggested that perhaps the legal system should seek empirical evidence about whether consumers actually understand specific contract terms rather than simply positing that they do. (Klass calls this approach “causal-predictive”; it relies on surveys and on psychology to make informed claims about what consumers think and do.) Their proposed solution — a “warning box” with a special border for unexpected and unfavorable terms — is a bit of an epicycle, one that recreates the problem they set out to solve. But their core insights and the FTC’s are important: incomprehensible terms shouldn’t count, and the best way to learn whether a term is comprehensible to consumers is to ask consumers.

Performance-Based Consumer Law is the keystone in this arch: the conclusion toward which everything has been building, the piece that locks everything into place. Willis’s central observation is that the law can regulate what products do as well as what they are. Instead of telling a factory to use a particular kind of smokestack scrubber (a design standard), the government can tell it to reduce its emissions by 60%, any way it wishes (a performance standard). Performance standards can make it easier for regulated entities to comply, and they can make it harder for those entities to wriggle out from regulations they dislike.

In the consumer context, required disclosures and contract formalties are design standards. They regulate inputs to the consumer contracting process, but there is no guarantee those inputs make the slightest difference. Regulating the outputs of that process using performance standards lets us get at the real questions. Willis identifies two kinds. There are suitability standards: do consumers sign up for services that are right for them? And there are comprehension standards: do consumers understand the terms?

Suitability standards and comprehension standards are the old two lines of attack on form contracts — substantive scrutiny and realism about the behavior of contracting parties, respectively — updated for the 21st century. And when we understand them as consumer law, the power of Willis’s reframing becomes clear. The old contract law we knew and loved isn’t coming back; we’re stuck with this soulless reboot of the franchise instead. Applying performance standards to consumer contracting takes these familiar critiques and hands them to another body of law capable of pushing back against what contract law has become. The point is not to be skeptical about terms of service just to be skeptical about terms of service, but instead to be skeptical when there is some consumer-protection reason to care.

Willis offers thrilling suggestions about what performance-based consumer law could look like in practice. Survey evidence would become routine, and if surveys showed that consumers misunderstood important terms or made head-slappingly bad choices, there would be serious consequences. The most elegant remedy would be to deny enforcement to any systematically misunderstood term. More mildly, regulators could use this evidence to decide which firms to investigate. More severely, regulators could treat a failure to hit a comprehension or suitability benchmark as per se unfair, deceptive, or abusive. The point of imposing sanctions is not just to punish firms whose lawyers write like lawyers. Rather, it pushes firms to help consumers understand their choices and to choose wisely. It aligns firms’ incentives with their customers’.

Performance-Based Consumer Law is a rich article, and I am not doing it full justice by dwelling on its application to terms of service. Willis’s examples include overdraft fees and over-the-counter drugs; she is thoughtful about pragmatic questions of how (and how not) to implement performance standards. But when you have been beating your head against a nail for years and someone hands you a hammer, it is natural to apply it to the problem close at hand, even if there are other bodies of law also in need of a good pounding. Consumer contracts are terrible for consumers, and Willis offers a way to do something about it.

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Cite as: James Grimmelmann, An Offer You Can’t Understand, JOTWELL (May 15, 2015) (reviewing Lauren Willis, Performance-Based Consumer Law, 82 U. Chi. L. Rev. (forthcoming), available at SSRN),


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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Year is Six-Monkey-Slap-Slap - Adventures in Gamma World 4e

Just after 3 P.M. on a Thursday, the Large Hadron Collider worked...

Too well...

At that instant, multiple possible realities all collapsed into one.

It is now just over 50 years later and the world is mixed up jumble of ancient ruins, radioactive wastelands, unexplored jungles, and mutated wilderness and it's not done shifting.

Welcome to GAMMA WORLD!

At the beginning of December, I decided to pick up a copy of the new Gamma World Role Playing Game from my FLGS, Fair Game. In reading the sourcebook, it looked like a lot of fun and I was itching to play!

So I rounded up the usual suspects and then some. We gathered at Fair Game on December 7th and ran with it.

I decided to do character generation a tad differently. I wanted unique character origins with no overlap, so rather than rolling, I printed out a list of all the first level character origins (including Engineered Human) on card stock, cut them out as cards, shuffled them, and had the players draw randomly.

Here's what we ended up with:

Catadonia (played by Josh): Gravity Controlling Cockroach - Josh's description: "Cat was minding her own business when the 'big mistake' happened. She was a muck-shucker working in the pits of a pork rendering plant, cleaning out the chaff during third shift. The plant was 90 clicks down the hill from CERN when 'it' happened -just as a she was swatting at an errant cockroach which had crawled onto her cheek. A bright light, high-pitched squeal, and the smell of bacon potpourri is all she can remember. She awoke in the back of a garbage truck being dumped into a land-fill. Amazingly still alive - yet changed. She is now a two and a half foot cockroach who has the ability to shape gravity at will. And she developed a bit of a mutation (feature!) - a long proboscis which can be used as a stabbing weapon - doing damage and restoring health to herself. She has a stabbing weapon built into her face."
Marty's take: "She spent most of her time either climbing on things or falling into pits full of radioactive waste.  She also packed a mean laser rifle."

Fjordinnheas (played by Jon): Seismic Speedster - Marty's take: "A running conundrum, he hid and fired his rifle a lot. Jon was new to gaming, so he was finding his comfort zone."

Frank (played by Marty): Giant Hypercognitive - Marty's description: "Yep, nothing sexier than a giant with a brain...I ended up with the most gear of the group, all of which turned out to be some form of transportation. I had a truck, a horse, a wagon, a keel boat and a I played him as a redneck. A giant redneck with mandibles (my first alpha mutation) and a blonde sidekick who could claw your eyes out. He also has a 16 pack a day habit, so traveling was only done by vehicle and any walking required a sit down afterward. But oh was I brutal in combat."

Gypsie (played by Peter): Empathic Felinoid - Marty's take: "Her stats made her beautiful, graceful and dumb as a bag of hammers.  She's Frank's sidekick."

Hips (played by Eric): Plant Doppelganger - For the most part, this tree is schizophrenic. More often than not, he doubles himself (his other half named Bips), and casually converses with himself.
Marty's take: "Occasionally he would duplicate himself to distract enemies. So in theory he was two doppelgangers."

Owl (played by Joe): Hawkoid Engineered Human - Marty's take: "I just imagined him as a Silverhawk and Joe pretty much agreed. He was our aerial reconnaissance. He also saved Josh's ass when he fell into the radioactive pit and was getting plugged with crossbow bolts by some Badders."

Session #1 (December 7, 2010)

Since I hadn't run a game in a while and we wanted to see how the new Gamma World played, I decided to run the intro adventure from the rule book.

I plopped the PCs into the town of Chell and jumped right into the story. They had a few minutes to mingle, before there was a call from one side of town and the townsfolk ran to gather on that side. The PCs followed to find the crowd watching what looked like a dinner plate with dangling appendages trundling down from a nearby hill. As it approached, the townsfolk dispersed to safer vantage points. I believe Hips and Bips, Catadonia, and Fjordinnheas stood by to intercept this foreign robot. Unfortunately for them, it exploded right in front of them, to the cheers of the crowd. Bruised and battered, the PCs confronted the townsfolk asking why they weren't sufficiently warned. The answer they got was, "well, this has been happening daily for at least a week!"

The PCs decided to head up the hill to find out where they were coming from. Frank and Gypsie jumped in Frank's pickup with Hips and Bips in the bed of the truck and Owl carried Cat and Fjord. At the top of the hill, they find some pig-men (Porkers) rutting around and an old stone tower guarded by giant badger humanoids (Badders) armed with crossbows.

Owl decided to drop Cat and Fjord off on top of the tower while Frank proceeded to drive his truck through the cluster of Porkers. Combat was on at that point. For the most part, Owl and Fjord sniped from above, Cat scurried down the tower to engage the Badders, Frank kept rolling over the Porkers while Gypsie took pot-shots, and I believe Hips and Bips pummeled anything that came near them. The Badders took the strategy of burrowing in to hide and popping up to fire occasional crossbow bolts. The Porkers provided minimal resistance, but one ended up on the hood of the car, smashed in the windshield, and Foul Belched in Gypsie's lap.

Marty's take:

"The system plays like a very simple D&D, which is great for newcomers (of which we had two) but a little frustrating for people more familiar with the original ruleset. It was just a matter of getting used to the simplicity.

…suffice it to say it was a lot of fun.  We ended up fighting some Porkers and Badders and my pickup truck came in handy. It also got filled with pig vomit, but that'll wash out…"

Session #2 (December 14, 2010)

Josh's summary (see unedited, and funnier, version here):

"For this session, we were short a few players due to real-life getting in the way. Gypsie was being played by Marty (with Pete’s blessing) and Hips basically rooted himself on the spot and sat out (as a Plant Doppelganger, it was a natural way of having him sit out).

After the first encounter, we found ourselves outside of this 30 foot tower with dead humanoid badgers and pig-men strewn about the front yard. Obviously our next step was to investigate within.

Frank would guard the front entrance while Gypsie (the cat woman) would climb into his pickup truck and crash through the front door.

So much for subtlety!

I decided immediately to get a higher vantage point and scurried up the outside wall to the roof (hooray cockroach abilities!).

Owl also decided discretion was appropriate, so decided to fly up to the roof - with Fjordinnheas in-tow.

So there are three of us on or hovering above the roof while the truck accelerates toward the front door. Fjord decides he wants to use his seismic ability to crash through the roof, so Owl dutifully drops him.

Simultaneously, Fjord crashes in through the roof while the truck drives through the front door and chaos ensues. A battle takes place with more ‘badders’ (the giant badger critters) and a bat-winged lion monster that fires lasers from it eyes named a Yexil.

Anyway - the combination of a “boss” Badder, and that Yexil put us into some pretty rough times. We barely avoided being totally decimated with the final scene culminating with Owl teetering on the brink of unconsciousness and stabbing the Yexil in the eye, delivering the final blow.

All in all, a great encounter."

Marty's summary:

"Gamma World was pretty fun, but ... it ended up being a shorter night and we only got through one encounter. It was almost a TPK (total party kill) though, and it required our Engineered Hawk/Humanoid standing his ground to get us through. My Giant blasted a few Badders (mutant Badgers) but went down like a sack of shit after getting nailed with a psychic assault of some type. The rest of the group faired about as well, getting taken out one by one by a Yexil (batwinged lion monster that fires lasers from it eyes) until it was just the aforementioned Hawk/Humanoid, who managed, while teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, to stab the creature through its laser firing eyes. He kept the other eye as a trophy. Thankfully he also happened to be one of the better trained members of our little group and his medical skills kept us all from bleeding out.

All in all it was fun, Gypsie, who I was running, mutated four times throughout the encounter. That only happens when you roll a "1", so you can imagine how well I was fairing. Went from having the ability to shunt people out of time to growing tentacles to turning into living mud to...well, I don't remember the last one, but I didn't last long in the fight with it either way."

GM Note: Fjord spent some time riding the Yexil like a bucking bronco!

Session #3 (December 21, 2010)

New character addition: Brainulo (played by Chris): Radioactive Telekinetic - Basically a giant floating brain that armors itself with a shifting shield of telekinetically manipulated scraps of metal and talks with a Stephen Hawking-like voice box.

Joe's summary:

"As we last left the game, everyone was still within the tower after killing the mighty Yexil. We resumed with finishing up the exploration of the basic level of the tower, nothing of real interest was found.

At that point both Owl and Fjord heard a loud sound coming from outside, Owl flew up to the roof to get a vantage point as Fjord ran to the main doors. Once outside we all saw a group of three Porker-bikers, they were examining the carnage that was left by our first encounter. We also noted that there was a large lead box in a sidecar attached to one of the bikes.

Owl hears them yell out, "we must report this to Tangh!", and they start up their bikes and head out down a path. At this point we all decide to pile into the battle damaged, rusty old truck with Gypsie in the driver's seat. Lady luck is on her side as she is able to drive full speed, in reverse, down the hill and over one of the Porkers.

A short chase ensues where the remaining Porkers attempt to out run us. But Gypsie, with the truck still in reverse mind you, is keeping up and is close enough for Cat to use her gravitational power to slow down the Porker that is escorting the large lead box. At this point the box bursts open to reveal a what appears to be a giant exposed brain. Gypsie catches up with and runs over the slowed Porker. He flies into the back of the truck and lands on the unexpecting Cockroach (ewww… Cat smothered in dead Porker…). Gypsie slams on the brakes, the truck stops and we all get out to examine the brain.

This is where we learn that the brain, named Brainulo, was captured by the Porkers and kept inside this lead box for an unknown amount of time. We tell Brainulo everything we have yet discovered and experienced and then travel back up to the tower. I wasn't that happy about letting the last Porker go, but alas, I could not keep up with him. Besides, Gypsie was driving.

We reentered the tower and proceeded to the stairs leading down. As we made our way over there, one of the exploding saucers came running up the stairs and explodes in the the middle of us, damaging almost everyone. After the explosion we head down to the basement where another encounter quickly takes place.

We take out a few enemies and find ourselves in a larger room with a huge humming machine in the center and even more enemies circled around it. The fight that proceeds takes longer because the enemies appear to be healing themselves, also those of us that are close to the machine are taking mental damage every turn. We focus our attacks on the machine and destroy it, and the rest of the Badders after that. After the battle, we notice there is a cage in the corner of the room that contain four brainless, human zombies."

GM Note: At one point, Owl zorched one of the Badders by whipping out the Yexil eye, aiming, and yanking on the optic nerve bundle!

Session #4 (December 28, 2010)

New character addition: Cloud (played by John): Electrical Swarm - Basically a small semi-solid storm cloud that hovers 5 feet above the ground. John has cleverly integrated most of his starting gear as "features" of the cloud (e.g. he has low-light vision as he started with night vision goggles).

Marty's summary:

"Having successfully defeated the Badders in their fortress and destroying their brain melting machine, we proceeded to search the room and try to figure out what was going on with the zombie people locked in the cell. Cat (the roach) poked and prodded them with her antennae while Brainulo split his attention between them and the now-defunct machine. During her probing, Cat discovered a strange goo on the floor with an electrical current running through it. It was determined it was some type of protoplasm and the decision was made to see if it would react to an outside stimulus. Fjord and Cat probed at it from different sides while Frank headed back up to his truck to grab a battery, his generator and some jumper cables. Owl wandered off down some Badder tunnels we'd discovered while Gypsy herded the zombies out of the cell and into a corner.

Frank returned and, with Brainulo's guidance, pumped electrical life into the protoplasm. Much to Franks surprise, the Goo grew and in a thunderous voice demanded MORE ENERGY. Enter John's character. Welcome to the game John!

Anyway, Frank, Brainulo, and the newly formed Goo/Cloud tried to figure stuff out as the group began looking for Owl. Brainulo decided to hang back and fiddle with the broken machine and watch over the zombies as the rest of the group pressed ahead (Chris was out for this session).

Further down the Badder hole the group discovered Owl in a cave filled with luminescent blue moss and three very angry killer moths - moths that seemed to bend time and space around them. A fight ensued. Three exploded time/space bending killer moths later, our heroes were victorious, coming through with only minor scrapes and scratches. Gypsie suffered a mighty bruised ego, though, and Frank probably hasn't heard the last of it.

Pressing on, the group entered a large natural cave filled with 20-25 foot crystalline formations, an electrical grid and a giant sphincter....door. Guarding the door were two flying disc robots, ones similar to the kind that had been exploding outside of town. Fjord attempted to talk to the guards, hoping to get past them without a fight. He failed spectacularly and mutated on the spot. As a matter of fact, Fjord managed to do this twice during the encounter, first gaining the ability to death read (viewing a corpse's last memories) and then, when he attempted to overcharge the death reading, gained the ability to alter reality and reverse events. Or something like that. All I remember is him falling to ground and sputtering.

Having defeated the robots, the group discovered a control panel in the center of the room and prepared to open the door and face whatever was on the other side."

GM Note: Half the party leveled up at that point.

Session #5 (January 4, 2011)

Chris' recap:

Our party rose from a long rest in the cavernous room that held some bue crystals that emitted a strange electroluminescent glow. In the center of the room was a console station with an assortment of levers and buttons. Surrounding the console was a field of indecipherable glyphs. At one side of the room was an irising door that when opened, issued forth the hovering bastard robots with their flagellating umbilical arms. One robot came into the room, but Brainulo was able to take control of the machine and return it to it's point of origin. While the robot hovered in the door frame and kept the "sphincter" open, a glance into the adjacent room found another dark area. Cat jumped at the opportunity to try her hand at mining and chipped away a small piece of the glowing blue mineral. When the mineral was struck, however, the floor panel marked with runes delivered a painful electric shock to anyone touching one of the crystals or standing within the demarcated floor area. Brainulo and Cat took a stinging shock at this time, but we were succesful in puzzling out the rudimentary controls of the center console. Unfortunately, this process also destroyed the robot and those standing by the door were caught in the explosion. With the door controls available and mineral in hand, it was decided to explore the adjacent room, and the blue mineral was tossed in to see if it would illuminate the area.

It didn't do much of anything, but luckily, once inside the next room, lights flickered on and machinery in the center of the room hummed into life. A quick scan of the room, and it was discovered that the robots that we had been encountering had a larger counterpart. The room was dotted with alcoves, and they housed either the small robot disks or larger modules that had more complicated apparatus and some nasty looking appendages. Frank charged forth and swung his axe at tthe closest three robots. Two were quickly destroyed, but the larger one remained and struck back. Not only was this robot awakened by the strike, but the other robots in the room buzzed into life and immediately moved to intercept our intruding party. Owl rushed in to aid Frank, and in a flurry of blows, both were struck down! While Owl and Frank were barely clinging to life, the rest of our group made their best effort to dispatch the rest of the robot attack. The familiar sound of metal sliding against metal was heard, and more of the smaller robots floated into the room. Gypsie was furiously slashing away, and Cat was using her natural salivary discharge to do her best to injure the robots. After a particularly rough melee engagement, Cat was restrained, and when she pulled away from the robot, it had taken on an insectoid appearance. It was no less deadly in its new form, however. Brainulo tried to rush around the room to disable the consoles that allowed the smaller robots into the room. Once the room was sealed and the robots had been destroyed, we tended to our wounded and searched the lockers within the room. Not much of use was found (such as a pager that didn't get any signal, or a roll of velcro) and it was decided that we should press on. Opening the door at the far side of the room, we could see the red glow of lasers criss-crossing across the room from floor to ceiling, and...."

Session #6 (January 11, 2011)

Chris' recap:

"Our team continued to press on into the adjacent room, only to find that the room had a sloping floor that dropped precipitouosly towards the middle of the room. Criss-crossing the center of the room, and emitting a red glow, a series of lasers made further exploration impossible. Beyond the lasers, in the faint red light, we could see two more of the larger robots we have encountered, as well as some fearsome looking soldiers that were packing heat. These soldiers appeared to be some horrific mutation of rabbits, and clearly their physiology never intended for them to stand upright. Frank bolted into the room, but rather than beginning to smash anyone in his path, he tried to communicate with these rabbit creatures. He called out to them, but they sneered in derision and shouted something back about the Iron King in schlurpy, lispy tones. Frank seemed to think that diplomacy had failed, but another effort was made to talk our way through the situation. Brainulo called out to them, but again was met with scorn, and one of the hoop soldiers readied his weapon. Owl, meanwhile, was experiencing some bizarre change in which his feathers molted into a glowing gold bioluminscence.

Sensing this attack, Brainulo took his chance to remotely control one of the robots and set the bot's sights squarely at the hoppy bastard. While a rocket went flying towards the rabbit, he fired and shot Brainulo. At this point, Owl joined the fray and attacked from long distance, injuring the other rabbit. We were able to remotely wrest control of the panel away from the rabbits, turned off the lasers, and moved closer for the attack. Gypsie adeptly jumped on her hoverboard and drew close to the uncontrolled robot and tried to attack while performing a 360 kickflip ollie. This overly complicated jump dashed gypsie from her board, smashing it into a wall! The robot closest to gypsie attempted to track and fire at her, but mutated in the process and became a see-through assemblage of laser light. This new mutation allowed it to emit a painful laser blast to all of us close to it. The robot under our control again fired at the rabbits, and they were immolated in the rocket blast. In an attempt to get it to shoot the other robot, it suffered a mutation of it's own, changing into some sort of hideous amalagm of robot and rabbit. Frank drew his shotgun and blew that furry monster out of the air. Fortunately, the laser light robot reassumed its tangible form and we were able to down it as well.

The Hoop soldiers weren't carrying much but their weapons, vests, and Stupendico badges. We continued into the next hallway, and after searching a series of ransacked laboratories, we came away with one post-it note that read "The Nanites are over-active - from the desk of Jackie Treehorn." We moved on down the hall to another aperture door, Owl opened it, and with a quick look around we spied three Hoop soliders and another pair of the larger model robots. In the center of the room were two giant vats of purple solution that was pulsing faintly. The Hoop soldier towards the back of the room was on a suspended catwalk and was wearing some sort of steel helmet - the Iron King. Above the room, a giant mechanical arm was supsended and looked to be a remnant of some previous manufacturing operation. Owl closed and locked the door as quickly as possible, and we decided to retreat back a step and take a rest to take stock of our situation.

After a few hours, we went back to the door and opened it only to find six of the smaller hoverbots waiting for us! We must have been spotted, and they accumulated a small army as we rested. Owl cried out in a horrifying shriek, Brainulo unleashed a telepathic blast that took out the smaller robots, and Frank charged into the room to attack the Hoop soldiers on the ground. While embroiled in combat, the Iron King used something to bring the mechanical arm to life and grabbed Frank, squeezing him!

Gypsie, in an unexplained sugar rush, charged in, and, in a flurry of claws, blinded one of the Hoop soldiers. He wandered off, slipping in a pool of the purple solution. Brainulo locked radioactive eyes onto the downed hoop soldier and this gaze killed him. Overhead, Frank was hauled off to one of the purple vats and plopped in! Gypsie struck the other Hoop in a flurry of claws and blinded him as well. One of the larger model robots tried to fire, but instead, turned into a hovering glob of purple goo. Gypsie bounded after the now gooey robot and, in yet another a flurry of claws, it fell to the floor. Frank, having climbed out of the purple nanite bath, clambered up the catwalk, and, with his mandible pincers, bit off the head of the Iron King - his head and helmet falling to the floor. Brainulo retrieved the helmet, now controlling the mechanical arm, grabbed the remaining robot, and squeezed it in a satisfying crunch. There was much rejoicing!

Hopefully our cockroach friend is still waiting for us back in the previous chamber. Time to return to town, let them know that the robots won't be bothering them anymore, rape the horses, and ride out of town on their women! (wait, what?!)"

GM Note: Most of the party made it to level three!

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Monday, January 11, 2016

Katanas & Trenchcoats - Fire & Lightning

Copyright 2015, Ryan Macklin

So, my buddy Keith asked me to run a roleplaying game for his birthday. I asked him what he was looking for genre-wise and he said, "Magic. A world full of magic."

Now, when he said that, I hope he didn't see me slump in my chair. In my experience, magic systems in RPGs are overly complicated – long lists of spells, tricky drain mechanics, flipping through books to find what effects do, arguing about the same... Even my current go-to system, Fate, doesn't have an explicit spell system – it has dozens.

So, I was just about to whip out my copy of the Fate System Toolkit, when I remembered that one of Fate's authors, Ryan Macklin, had recently released his latest episode for his recent RPG, Katanas & Trenchcoats: Episode 7: Celestial Boogaloo, in which he includes rules for celestial sorcery. Best of all, they take up maybe three-quarters of a page! It doesn't hurt that Keith is a knife and sword collector. I guess I'm running Katanas & Trenchcoats...

So, what is this Katanas & Trenchcoats RPG
Ryan Macklin (Mythender, Fate Core, Dresden Files RPG, various Pathfinder, and many others) has apparently been noodling on a dark and sexy roleplaying game about immortals doing battle with swords, a'la 90's movies and television, since at least 2014. Since talking Fate with Macklin over coffee at GenCon 2014, I've been following his blog. In March of this year, giant hints about an actual sword-swinging, trenchcoat-donning roleplaying game started showing up. And on April 1, he dropped the bomb and released it: Katanas & Trenchcoats - Episode 1: Welcome to Darkest Vancouver.

Since Macklin released it on April Fool's Day – in three editions: Basic, Premium, and Immortal – there was some discussion that it was an elaborate hoax. But, it soon became clear that it was a real thing that you could spend real money on – with the proceeds going to Seattle Children's Hospital. Since I am also a contributor to his Patreon, I purchased it at an insider's discount (but missed out on the Immortal edition - dang...).

Packed into 22 pages (not including covers and character sheet) is a fairly complete roleplaying system of epic sword fights between brooding immortals. Macklin and his fellow authors (dozens!) do an impeccable job of capturing the tone of those 90's shows in their writing. I can't help but read their mocking love for the genre without hearing the voice of the Movie Trailer Voice Guy or Mr. Torgue from Borderlands 2.

How does it play?
Character Generation:
To get the ball rolling, I emailed Keith and Dave (the other player) an intro blurb to explain the concept and set the tone, and asked them to noodle on their characters' backgrounds as laid out in the rules: Saga, Personal Tragedy, Badass Rep, Inner Deal, Historical Influence, Origin Story, and Name. To my surprise, when we got together to put the finishing touches on their characters and begin playing, Dave showed up with a page of background; Keith had THREE PAGES! I made sure to reward them with Grandeur appropriately (see below).

To finish up the characters, they rolled 3d10 for their birth year. Dave rolled triple threes, making him "Triple Edged!" I gave Keith three edges as it was his birthday. They then proceeded to choose their Traits, Skills, and Edges, and fill out their character sheets. I have summarized their characters in the following table:

SAGA Viscount Vero "Feenix" Vivicar "VOID"
PERSONAL TRAGEDY Herr Emberedge killed my love Odelia. My parents were killed by the monarch's assassin.
BADASS REP I burn debt collectors with fire I bring nothing into a fight except pure skill. A foe once said, "The look in your eyes is so empty..."
INNER DEAL I appreciate brandy and other fine beverages. Aristocratic. I want to provide equality for the underdogs. My long term goal is to find the man who let me live and gave me his katana with the promise to fight again in 200 years.
HISTORICAL INFLUENCE I participated in the Boston Tea Party. I free indentured servants, usually by torching their masters' fields (or toes)... I fought to liberate the Scottish in the Battle of Bannockburn. I fought alongside the British against the Spanish Armada.
ORIGIN STORY I was in the Roman Legion. I was Orelius' personal accountant. After some shady business, Orelius and the Emperor's Advisor locked me in my home and set it on fire. This is when I first discovered I was immortal and could set myself ablaze at will. My parents wanted to change the status quo for farmers. The monarch, not having any of it sent an assassin to kill my family. After murdering my parents, the assassin went after me. Lightning struck the assassin just as he plunged his sword into my chest. The lighting toasted the assassin, saved me, and melted the sword into the my chest. I have since discovered I can deflect metal by adjusting the electricity around me.
PRIMARY TRAIT Mystical Talent - Flames Mystical Talent - Electricity
EDGES Armor of Passion
Majestic Accent
Human Torch
Deadly Hanzo Steel (a "gift" from Herr Emberedge)
Electromagnetic Parry/Reposte
Steel Wound
THRONE OF COMFORT The urn of Odelia's ashes. My parents' home in Portsmouth, England.

Actual Play:
Failing to follow my suggestion to start the game knowing each other, I had to force them together. We agreed that Herr Emberedge, who killed Feenix's love Ophelia, was the same man who gave Void his sword, vowing to return for it in 200 years. Perfect!

Now to start playing! The section, "Being a Damn Story Master," does a clever, albeit brief, job of hitting important storytelling bullet points. One of those bullet points is to start the game with a bang, something I regularly try to do, and includes three tables to randomly generate such a scene. Keith and Dave had provided enough background that all I needed was a location. Rolling on the "Where You Are Now" table, I got:  "4. A houseboat, some distance from the docks." I changed the houseboat to Herr Emberedge's yacht, set it on fire, and put Void on the dock, watching it burn. Feenix arrives on the scene and spots the unmistakeable Hanzo Steel strapped to a shadowy figure's back – who must be Emberedge! A fight ensues...

I find that combat is the fastest way to introduce players to new game systems, so we were on track. Swords are drawn and steel flashes. Feenix bursts into flames chasing Void off the dock and into the water. Feenix follows and Void electrifies the seawater as he enters. Eventually, the cloud of confusion is lifted and they realize they are after the same man.

The conflict resolution system feels epic! It basically boils down to: somebody acts and somebody else reacts. Actions are simmered down to three: Attack!, Boost (basically setting up for your next action, kind of like Create an Advantage in Fate), or Push (anything not an Attack! or Boost). Both participants then roll a fistful of ten-sided dice based on the Skill and Trait they are using, and whoever gets the most successes (each die that rolls a 7 or above) wins. What particularly makes it feel epic is that you can respond to an Attack! with an Attack! Edges are easy to implement and add that extra color to already outrageous characters.

After questioning the legless harbor master, fighting off muscleheads in suits who happen upon the immortals in the apartment of a dead security guard, and skydiving into Herr Emberedge's surgical implement factory, Feuerkante, Void (with a bum leg from epically failing his skydiving roll) and Feenix face off against Herr Emberedge himself.

Void and Feenix spend a few cycles keeping Emberedge talking; not because they care what he has to say, but because they want to recover from the wounds they received wading through Emberedge's goons. Once combat begins in earnest, sword nicks are traded back and forth. Void uses his Electromagnetic Parry to deflect a deadly blow. Feenix uses his Armor of Passion to save himself and responds by burning a saved up Boost, setting himself ablaze, and directing it at Herr Embererdge. He rolls a ton of d10s with a corresponding number of successes, and Herr Emberedge..... fails miserably – no successes. He goes down in a trail of smoke.

Void and Feenix attempt to vanquish their archenemy permanently, fail to land the perfect blow, and Herr Emberedge disappears in a puff of ash – to appear again when they least expect him...

What's your take on it?
We all agreed we had a good time playing immortals beating on other immortals with sharp objects. However, from the Story Master's (SM) point-of-view, I felt the rules, as presented, were a tad incomplete.

I would have liked a bit more guidance on how to set opposing difficulties. The only thing I could find was one sentence: "The SM just picks a difficulty between one and, oh, ten dice; more dice means harder."

In a similar vein, even though the authors provide a couple of pages on how to generate other supernatural beings, there's nothing on how to tackle statting up "mooks" that inevitably fill the ranks of those other supernaturals.

Finally, Katanas & Trenchcoats includes a Grandeur Rank, a reward system for good roleplaying. It provides a mechanical way for "showing favoritism" in game. I just wish it did more, like power Edges or modify die rolls.

Overall, we had fun playing K&T. Hopefully, the minor omissions will be tackled in the future Episodes Ryan Macklin has hinted at releasing.

I totally forgot to use this playlist while running it!

Edit: Corrected to note that dozens of authors contributed to making K&T a reality. Sorry guys!

cyberook said...

I should point out that I contacted Ryan for some advice on handling sorcery - basically use the guidelines from Celestial Boogaloo and create Edges for anything special, which is where we got the Human Torch and Electromagnetic Parry.

As part of the discussion thread, Ryan provided feedback on this writeup. Good stuff!:

Neat! I just read that. FYI, I wasn't the only author. The book was able to sound like that because of around two dozen authors. :) Lenny carried the character creation section. Josh Roby much of the core rules pages. Adam Koebel did Darkest Vancouver, etc.
[Thank you for the reminder - edited accordingly.]

Funny bit: The original K&T draft didn't have a Story Master section. I ended up having to add some pages to the book in the last two weeks of production because I discovered DriveThru doesn't do 16-page POD, and I realized we were missing opportunities to joke about being the GM. So that got a spread. Turns out DriveThru's POD was so horrible that I decided not to make K&T available that way. Like, unreadable in some cases. But I'm glad we made those pages.

As far as "mooks" go, I'd go the ad hoc route of just saying they're a single entity that has narrative permission to be in a bunch of places and even take more than one action, but share some number of Wounds and has some general rating of how many dice to roll for anything. But because the book is blank in that regard, others' cleverness trumps my own. We never had nameless combatants in our playtests because we focused on Highlander cheesy drama.

Weirdly, one of your comments confirms something I've been thinking about: I can't do a Kickstarter for a more "complete" edition, because that very completeness would kill the humor. Like, having Grandeur Rank do anything other than be a social posturing tool turns it from something funny into something to become upset about when you don't get it. To make it more mechanically functional, then I have to remove all the jokey stuff about starting Grandeur being based on how much you write because if not, the game is effectively punishing mechanically those who don't have that time or energy. In which case, it just becomes a flat mechanic rather than an interesting social manipulation tool we can laugh at. Or to keep it as-is, I would have to explain the joke broadly to explain why the longer book doesn't have more rules for Grandeur, which also effectively kills the joke and makes the mechanic no longer useful in that regard. :/

Hope this helps,

- Ryan

Ryan Macklin said...

Since emailing you that, I figured out a potential way to make the explanation work in the book: as a final "behind the curtain" section that starts out saying it could ruin some of the jokes by overexplaining them, but that could also help in actually playing the game.


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event tags

Back to events

SwasthyaCON-2019 : International Conferance on Metabolic Disease

Date: 12 Jan, 2019 - 13 Jan, 2019
  • Location: Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Auditorium., B/h Rajpath Club, Ahmedabad-380059, INDIA, Ahmedabad, India
  • Type: Conference / Congress / Symposium
  • Region: South East Asia
  • Organiser: Swasthya Diabetes Care Hospital
    Telephone:+91 79 27439977
  • Target audience: All health professionals
  • Event website: www.swasthyacon.org
  • Language: English
  • Attending members: 0

About SwasthyaCON 2019Swasthya Diabetes Care has being recognized by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) as “Centre of Excellence in Diabetes Care” and “Centre of Education”. And this has encouraged Swasthya to increase its commitment to provide world class expertise to medical and paramedical practitioners to reduce the impact of diabetes and its complications through various academic activities. To address the various issues of Metabolic Disease we are organizing a 2 day Conference: “SwasthyaCON2019 (International Conference on Metabolic Disease)” at Ahmedabad. To make the Conference more relevant and valuable, the format will consist of interactive case discussions, panel discussions, unique quizzes and other activities by national and international experts. The content of the Conference is tailored to empower practicing doctors with knowledge and confidence to provide quality services to their patients. For the first time technology based ongoing clinical and educational support will be provided after the conference to all interested delegates throughout the year.We look forward to host you at the “SwasthyaCON2019” on 12th & 13th January 2019 at Ahmedabad.


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Category Archives: energy independence

The Terror of Climate Change: Uncorking Bombs of Streaming Snow in the Atlantic

Even in an era when waking up to weather bulletins provide a basic way of orienting oneself to the world, the arrival of the bomb cyclone in the early morning of January 4, 2018, along the east coast of the United States, commanded a certain degree of surprise.  For those without alerts on their devices, the howling winds that streamed through the streets and rose from rivers provided an atmospheric alert of the arrival of streams of arctic air and snows, creating something called “white-outs” in highways along much of the eastern seaboard that paralyzed traffic and reminded us of the delicate balance over much of our infrastructure.

The effects of the arrival of a low pressure system in the western Atlantic created effects that cascaded across the nation, setting temperatures plummeting and winds spewing snowfall as the extratropical cyclone was displaced off New England, and propelling snow over the east coast from what was an offshore weather disturbance.  While the “bomb cyclone” sounded portentous, the actual explosiveness was perhaps not felt at its eye over the Atlantic–

–as the bomb-like burst of pressure scattered snows through howling winds across much of the coast, but rather in the unbalanced distribution of snowfall across the nation that it so quickly created.  The cyclonic winds of the “weather bomb” could not be localized:  their effect was to set off a burst of precipitation, chilled by arctic airs, remindeding us of the delicate relation between land and sea in an era of climate change, when we are apt to feel the effects of colliding air masses across the country, as far as Tennessee or Ohio.

The bomb created a deep oceanic disturbance in the dissonance of sea-surface and air temperatures, and triggered the increasing imbalances of the distribution of snow across the nation, as if inaugurating an era of the increasingly unequal levels of snowfall, as a bomb that seemed to burst over the Atlantic sent snowfall flying across the east coast–

Thursday am bomb

–in ways that led to a deep disparities of snow and ice levels across much of the country, where much of the nation’s western states were surprisingly free of snow, increasingly rare save in several spots.

The bomb cyclone spread across a broad surface of the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico, as the areas that stand to be open to gas- and oil-speculation suddenly took a far greater hit than was expected, raising questions of the arrival of extreme weather systems as sea-surface temperatures grew:  the kink in the Gulf Stream created a swirl that sucked in arctic air and spread clouds of snowfall across the eastern seaboard as the seas became incredibly stormy, driven by hurricane winds.  The bomb cyclone wasn’t a major disaster, but seems a wake-up call of the charting of minerals stored in the seabed of offshore areas in the Outer Continental Shelf off the United States–the “federal lands” that the government decided since it administers directly it may as well start to lease.

Thursday am bomb.pngPrecipitation Column Rising from Offshore Winds, January 2-4/Ryan Maue

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Filed under energy independence, environmental change, Global Warming, oceans, remotely sensed maps


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Send Your Friends an English Video Message

Everybody likes to get surprise messages, so why not spread a little joy to the world and send your friends some video messages in English. To do this you'll need to have a webcam attached to your computer.

  • You then need to select an image for your card. There are lots to choose from. Try to choose one which suits your message.
  • Once you've selected the type of card you want to send you'll need to allow the site to access your camera and microphone.

  • You should then be able to record a 60 second message. Don't worry if you get the message wrong you can record it again as many times as you like until you get it right.
  • Then just fill in the form with your email address and the email of the person you want to send it to and go to the bottom of the page and click on 'Send'.

Be sure to send your message in English. You can send as many messages as you like. It's all good practice for your speaking. Try to send a new one each day.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Come back tomorrow for more EFL ESL activities to improve your English.

Nik Peachey

Related links for teachers:

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Revise your Vocabulary with Images

Sometimes you know the word you want to use, but you just can't say it when you are in a situation that is putting you under pressure. This can be very frustrating.

So today's activity is going to use a timed image game to put you under some pressure to recall your vocabulary.

  • You will be paired with another person to play the game. You will then see a series of images. When the images appear you have to type as many words as you can to describe the image.
  • For this image, you could type a variety of word like, bird, fly, sky, soar etc.
  • You will get point every time your word is the same as your partner. Try to score as many points as you can.
  • At the end of two minutes, you can see the images again and see the words your partner suggested.
  • This is a great way to revise your vocabulary and put yourself under pressure to remember words. You can easily play this for a few minutes every day to improve your ability to recall vocabulary.
I hope you enjoy it. Here you can find more vocabulary activities

Related links for teachers:

Nik Peachey

1 comment:

Marina said...

Creative, funny and useful. What else could we be looking for? Thanks a lot, Nik.

My Books & Lesson Plans


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African, Southern cuisine, Pastries,Asian

December 20, 2017

…whetting your taste bud one meal at a time

Hey guys!!! It’s another memorable holiday and I am in at sharing with you most food you could make why spending your holiday with family. If you have not read my blog post on how to cook Breadfruit, please do so as you get a comprehensive information on breadfruit and you will also explore the previous recipe.

For this recipe, I will be showing a different way to make your healthy yummy breadfruit (ukwa). Trust me this is an awesome sauce. It is healthy, tasty and nourishing. I have never cooked my ukwa with carrots but I wanted something different and delicious. I also added fresh tomatoes and parsley leaves. Guys this is not just delicious, the look is yum and mouthwatering and you can’t wait to get it down your throat.

Ukwa (breadfruits) has tons of health benefits and you can head over to my previous recipe on how to prepare ukwa to get that whole information.

I will leave it here quick and simple. Cooking ukwa can really take much time especially if you are using dried ukwa. The good news is that you can always use pressure pot and get it done quicker. Now if you don’t have a pressure pot, ensure to soak the ukwa overnight before cooking. Also adding some edible potash can make it cook quicker.

I didn’t use edible starch or pressure pot, so I relaxed and took my time, besides I wasn’t in a hurry. While cooking on a high heat be ready to be checking it out consistently and topping up the water until its soft.

If you are in Nigeria or in Africa, you can get it on the open market. If you stay overseas, you can get it at any African stores or order online.

• 2 cups of African Breadfruit

• 3 teaspoons ground crayfish

• 2 stock cubes

• 2 teaspoons of palm oil

• Fresh parsley leaves

• 3 medium carrot

• 2 large fresh tomatoes

• Ginger powder

• 1 habanero pepper

• 2 dried chili peppers

• Salt (to taste)

❖ Wash the Ukwa carefully and watch out for stones and sands at the bottom, it will always settle down and place in a pot.

❖ Add enough water above the Ukwa and begin to cook.

❖ Wash and peel the carrots, then cut into tiny cubes

❖ Chop the habanero pepper, the fresh tomatoes, and the chili pepper and set aside.

❖ Chop the parsley, set aside.

❖ Don’t forget to check occasionally and add water when necessary.

❖ Once the Ukwa is tender, add water if necessary, add the chopped habanero pepper, the sliced tomatoes, the palm oil, stock cubes, a bit of ginger powder and salt. Cover to cook for about 5-7minutes.

❖ Add the crayfish, the chopped carrots, the chopped parsley leaves and stir. Also, add the chopped chili pepper to make it spicier.

Don’t let the water dry up completely, it will give it that yum look good when its cooled off and gets thick.

❖ Adjust the taste if required. Then turn off the heat.

❖ Then it’s ready to be served.

@foodace @cookingtips

  1. Nice recipe

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Sounds delicious!

    Liked by 1 person

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