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A Complete Breakdown Of How My Location-Independent Lifestyle Works (After 9 Years On The Road)

My location-independent journey began before I knew the lifestyle had a name.

It was 2007, I was 23, and I’d set off on a bicycle to explore the world. I possessed nothing more than I could carry, with £3,500 in the bank and 750 Euros in my pocket to see me through to an uncertain future.

Homeless and unemployed, I cycled across 32 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, eventually calling an end to full-time bicycle travel after almost four years on the road. Here’s the short version and the long version of that story. I will never fully understand how the experience shaped me, but I cannot imagine living in its absence.

I never had a plan for afterwards, hoping a vocation would emerge on the road. It did. Travel unearthed a long-buried creativity and I learned to express it in writing, photography and film. I built a blog and resource to empower others to travel by bicycle. I learned the rudiments of digital entrepreneurship and set about (tastefully) making a living from it all.

This is how travel and adventure became my livelihood. It demands the kind of freedom I couldn’t find in ‘normal’ life. Little wonder mine turned out so unconventional.

“But what do you actually do?” people ask. I’ve written comprehensively about what I don’t do. This article is my best answer to what I do do. At 8,000 words, it’s a tenth of an average novel, and the longest blog post I’ve ever published.

I’ll describe how, over the years during and since my big bike trip, I’ve honed a purposeful location independent lifestyle with room for both deep creative work and open-hearted adventure.

I’ll do so in enough detail that someone sufficiently interested could borrow or adapt elements of it for themselves.

Some of it might be quite boring. Apologies. Nobody said this lifestyle was all fun and games. (If they did, they lied.)

In any case, feel free to draw from it what you will, with the caveat that it is just how one person is living out this location-independence thing.

Perhaps now would be a good time to put the kettle on.

Ready? Let’s begin.

The Basics

My life over the last decade has followed a pretty regular pattern. Here’s what it looks like:

  1. Spend time ruminating on new adventures.
  2. Commit to the one that most resonates.
  3. Put heart and soul into making it happen.
  4. Gather memory cues for the events of the journey.
  5. Spend time ruminating on possible ways to share the lessons.
  6. Commit to the one that most resonates.
  7. Put heart and soul into making it happen.
  8. Share the resulting creation(s).
  9. Return to step 1.

This cycle operates on several levels, from a particularly epic blog post that emerges over a few days or weeks, to an ebook that might take several months to complete, to a film that might take five years to shoot, edit and release, to projects I don’t even know about yet because I’m still on step 3.

It’s important to note that I’ve derived this pattern in retrospect, rather than having set out to follow it. It could be reduced even further:

  1. Gather material
  2. Make something

Creativity – that much misunderstood thing – is not a constant stream of output. There has to be material to work with. My raw material is what I gather while travelling – memories, diaries, photographs, video and audio recordings. Creativity is about making sense of your raw material, wrestling it into a form that you – and hopefully others – can resonate with. Thus, I have a wrestling match every day. It’s fun.

Exploring the Rio Santa Cruz valley by horseback, December 2014

Exploring the Rio Santa Cruz valley by horseback, December 2014

During the gathering phase, I’m footloose. Things are as flexible as possible. I’m on the move. I’m open to any and all input, accepting everything the world throws at me. It’s sometimes fun, often dull, regularly uncomfortable, and occasionally really, really difficult. It’s adventure. I’ve published many of these stories elsewhere, so won’t recount any of them here.

During the making phase, I need a safe place. A hideout. No distractions. A routine. As little unexpected as possible. Indeed, the very opposite of adventure. I’ve got my raw material; now it’s time to work it into something – a film, a book, an article. Surrounding that, I have a daily life which probably looks similar to yours.

And what drives the cycle? Hmm. I’ll let you know when I work it out. I think it has something to do with making the world a better place.

We often define where we live as being where we sleep. To say I’ve slept in thousands of different places over the last decade would be no exaggeration. Hundreds of these nights have been spent under the stars in a tent, bivvy bag or hammock, practicing the art of wild camping while hiking, cycling, packrafting, horse trekking, being homeless in a city park, or whatever. It doesn’t take long to realise that the world is your bedroom, as it has been since the dawn of time.

Wild camping in the Jebel Akhdar mountains of Oman, May 2009

Wild camping in the Jebel Akhdar mountains of Oman, May 2009

When not sleeping rough on a journey, I look for places to temporarily set up shop to do my making and living.

So where are these places, and how have I chosen them?

Short term accommodation for travellers

Adventure travel can be an intense experience, so I take regular downtime to process and recoup. In new and unfamiliar locations, and in the short term, I’ve Couchsurfed for anything from a week to a month or more. I find a host who’s happy to have someone stay a little longer than usual, often paying the ‘rent’ in cookery and housework and company. Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Istanbul, Cairo, Dubai, Los Angeles and Esfahan are some of the places I’ve done this.

In more recent times, I’ve used Airbnb (get a free/discounted night with this link) to rent apartments short-term when it’s more beneficial to have complete privacy.

And there are some cities where I’ve found people who’ve set me up with flexible lodgings for minimal rent, just by putting the word out on Facebook, Twitter and my blog. (It’s surprising how effective social media can be for asking for help.)

Then there’s that thing called friends, which you tend to make plenty of when you’re travelling, and who might quite enjoy having guests once in a while. Such hospitality is a two-way exchange, not an accumulation of debts.

Long-term accommodation for travellers

When it comes to longer stints in one place for big projects, I’ve found it best to avoid traditional rental markets and think more laterally.

One method is to seek out places where renting is low in demand and therefore cheap and informal. This is why Yerevan makes for such a great regular haunt: I’m yet to pay more than £200 a month for a 2-bed downtown apartment – paid monthly to the landlord in cash, not a contract, deposit, reference or guarantor in sight.

There are cities the world over for which this is true and where digital nomads communities have sprung up. NomadList.com is a fantastic place to find them.

Another strategy is keep an eye out for unusual opportunities. To get my first book finished, I rented a barn-conversion apartment in deepest Cumbria, which came with a kitchen garden, the run of the farm and its workshops and facilities, was within the stunning Lake District National Park, and had an off-grid yurt in the woods where I got much of my writing done. The rent was £400/month; again, no contract, references, nor guarantors as the landlord was a friend of mine. (I also learned a ton about growing vegetables.)

On another occasion, I was staying with a friend in London to work on a film project when one of her housemates moved out of the 3-bedroom shared house. The rent was very affordable, and I needed to stay in town for a few months, so we agreed that the housemate’s name would stay on the lease and I’d pay the rent to her. The result was an autumn and winter living in Zone One for just a few hundred quid a month – again, no paperwork in sight. I’ve found similar short-term opportunities – unofficial cash-payment sublets – on Gumtree, Couchsurfing groups, Facebook location groups, and other such networks.

The time I did go down the traditional rental route through a letting agency, I got stung. The bureaucracy and fees were onerous, the rent and rates sky-high, and the place itself turned to be a transient non-community where people couldn’t even manage to say hello to each other in the stairwells. By the time I evacuated Bristol, I was practically penniless, and the experience had made me so jaded that I decided to leave the UK altogether.

If I did want to spend time in the UK again, I would certainly look at living in a van or on a boat, or housesitting.

Oh yes – housesitting. There’s the informal type, when you look after the place of someone you know while they’re away (which I’ve done). And there’s the formal type, where you become a ‘professional’ housesitter for a stranger (which I’m yet to try, though it’s in the pipeline).

It’s possible to travel the world like this, living for free in all manner of homes, usually with a dog to walk or a cat to feed, from a weekend to months at a time. Though it’s quite competitive and requires lots of flexibility in terms of taking what’s available, it’s a working solution for location-independent accommodation for plenty of people. Try this book for more on the subject. TrustedHouseSitters.com is currently the biggest formal housesitting network.

In the last year or so, several co-living community projects have sprung up to meet the demand of the many itinerant professionals looking for a family, for want of a better world. Check out Roam, NomadhouseTribewanted and Yes HQ for cutting edge examples of this idea in practice.

A Question Of Stuff

Let’s briefly look at the question of possessions. It’s important, I think, because for many they’re the ultimate ball and chain.

My early travels taught me to appreciate the ideals of minimalism. It happened by default. I resented every unnecessary gram of weight as I ground up the world’s mountain passes on a bicycle. Beyond cycling, I noticed that a general rule of less is more seemed to benefit both the individual and society, creating room for us to live by our wit, rather than by our kit.

When my travels became interspersed with more stable creative periods, I began to ask the same questions of all else I owned. Is there a smaller, lighter, simpler version that would serve the same purpose? Is there one item that would do the job of several? Has this outgrown its usefulness? How long will this last? Am I only hanging onto it for sentimental reasons?

Everything that didn’t pass the test went on eBay or was given away. I still repeat the exercise annually. The result is that – when not ‘adventuring’ – I live my life out of one ultralight carry-on suitcase and a messenger bag.

(I do have a bunch of outdoor and cycling gear – which I won’t be discussing in this piece – but I keep most of it in storage with friends and family, picking it up and dropping it off as necessary. Someone I know keeps a self-storage unit near Heathrow for the same purpose, another clever solution.)

Life Kit-List

Though yawnsome, for the sake of completeness, here’s my current ‘life kit-list’:

Carry-on suitcase

  • 2 lightweight T-shirts – lightweight bamboo, great in both heat and cold and odour-resistant as you like
  • Cotton polo shirt – this is about as smart as I get. Smarter events I just avoid
  • Khaki shorts – always with cargo pockets; as good for a day of hiking as going for a meal afterwards
  • Smart-ish jeans – super versatile for any and all social occasions
  • Zip-off trekking trousersgreat all-rounders
  • Midlayer – with full-length front zip and high collar
  • Waterproof jacket – nothing special but very useful
  • 3 pairs boxer shortsbamboo
  • 3 pairs socksbamboo (again)
  • Thermal Buff – for cold nights outside
  • Pair flip-flops – the world’s most versatile footwear
  • Pair light hiking shoes – between these and the flip-flops, 99.9% of situations are covered

Sports gear

Minimal outdoor gear

  • Clear plastic liquids bag
  • Waterproof washbox – toothbrush, nail clippers, foot powder, painkillers and a varying selection of other medical supplies
  • Plastic document wallet

Some points on packing. I roll my clothes to save space and put them in a drybag if the case is going in the hold. Minimal camping gear – which I take everywhere – also goes in the carry-on suitcase. (On long layovers, this means I can find a secluded corner and sleep in comfort.)

Liquids are already in a clear ziploc bag at the top of the suitcase by the zipper, ready for security check. This rarely amount to more than a small roll-on deodorant and a tube of toothpaste. I don’t use shampoo, shower gel, or any other cosmetics, and haven’t done for years.

When on the move, passport, emergency credit card and $100 cash goes in an Aquapac pouch (actually a phone case) around my neck; phone and wallet in a pocket.

Messenger bag

  • Laptop (in padded sleeve), charger & international adapters
  • Backup drive & cable (in hard case)
  • Headphones (in hard case)
  • Nook ebook reader (hacked)
  • USB power pack
  • Paper books (currently this)
  • Notebook, 2 pens, pencil and highlighter
  • Camera
  • Lightweight drybag big enough for all of the above

This bag contains my travelling office/writing desk/media studio. As long as I have internet and electricity, I can set up anywhere. With the wi-fi off, I can get a good 6-7 hours writing done with the laptop unplugged. (This can work particularly well when the weather’s good and I’ve got my hammock to hand.)

Alongside the gadgetry goes a lightweight down jacket, earplugs, and a Buff which I’ll use as an eye mask. These, plus the headphones, are key to getting any kind of decent sleep on planes, trains or buses.

I’m yet to encounter an airline that hasn’t considered this bag a ‘personal item’ that’ll go under the seat in front of me, with the carry-on in the overheard compartment. No baggage reclaim queues for me.

Digital dependence – my take

If I followed minimalism to the letter, I’d have my face permanently buried in a smartphone: itinerary, navigation, check-in, entertainment, photos and videos, email, and social media.

Call me a Luddite, but I keep to a general rule of minimal screen time. I memorise my itineraries and navigate using common sense. I check in the old fashioned way, ask for a window seat, and get a printed boarding card. I read books. I have a Nokia 100.

I write and make films for a living; the last thing I need is more screens when I’m not working. The real world’s quite interesting, actually.

On shoot at the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, December 2014

On shoot at the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia, December 2014

Tools of the trade

As mentioned, I rely on digital technology for my work. I made do with cheap kit for years, but I recently invested in high-quality, durable tools would allow me to work more efficiently. This investment has paid off in spades.

Laptops and hardware for digital nomadism

At the core of it all is the creative workstation – a screen and a keyboard.

My criteria were difficult to satisfy: I needed something portable and lightweight, with a battery that would last all day without being charged, a screen I could use outdoors, a keyboard comfortable enough to use to type thousands of words a day, enough power and pixels to edit HD video, a solid-state drive with no moving parts, compatibility with the apps I use, and a track record of reliability. A tall order.

After arguing long and hard with the part of me that hates everything Apple has done to the world, I resigned myself to the MacBook Pro 13 Retina being the only machine that ticked all those boxes.

What I hate even more is the fact that it’s the best computer I’ve ever used, let alone owned. Grrr.

(I saved myself a few hundred quid by buying it from the well-hidden ‘refurbished’ section of the website, and in Australia, where they seemed slightly cheaper, like-for-like.)

Backup and media storage for the laptop are served by a 2TB external hard drive in a hard shell case.

All of this goes in the drybag that lives in the bottom of the backpack if there’s the slightest chance of rain, rivers or waves during my day’s wanderings.

There are a several distinct occasions on which I use headphones: while listening to music (something I do actively, rather than passively, being a total music freak), while filming interviews or other dialogue (when I need to hear exactly what the microphones are picking up), while editing video (when I need to hear what’s been recorded), and while writing (in order to block out background noise).

One pair of ‘cans’ performs wonderfully at all these tasks: the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro. Headphones come and go like hipsters’ hairstyles; these have been plugging away in professional sound environments for years, if not decades. They’re big and expensive, but because there is no compromise in their functionality and durability, I’m happy to cart them about.

If only there was such an industry standard stills and video camera. Audio reproduction has long ago been taken to its physical limits. Motion picture still has a long way to go before it’s indistinguishable from reality, and so the technology continues its upward trajectory more quickly than the photography press can publish reviews.

Right now I’m using a Sony NEX-7 body with a Tamron 18-200mm lens on the front. It’s an unobtrusive yet capable stills camera that does everything I need it to, and the lens is a compromise I’m happy to make for general use.

But as a primary video camera, it falls short. For years I shot on what I could borrow, waiting for the perfect video camera for my style of filmmaking to come along (not a GoPro, not a DSLR).

Last week I took delivery of a Canon XC10. Fingers crossed it’ll be the one.

Disaster planning

With all of my work taking place digitally and usually online, there is always the risk of something going wrong with the technology that supports it.

Being self-employed, there’s nobody to bail me out, and no IT department to call, so data security is something I’ve approached strategically, because my income depends on it, and also because I value my work intrinsically and would rather not lose it.

The worst case scenario (that could actually happen) is that my equipment vanishes – laptop, camera, hard drive – and at the same time, my web server goes up in flames. So my contingency has been designed for that eventuality.

My writing (i.e. my main business asset) goes straight into my Dropbox folder, not my Documents or Desktop. That includes one-off pieces, book projects, and everything in between. As long as I connect frequently, my work will be constantly backed up, and I can access it anywhere, at any time, from any internet-connected device.

Working files and documents for all of my other projects past, present and future live in Google Drive. I’m not a particularly big fan of entrusting all of my data to one private corporation, but ubiquity wins over in the work department, because everyone I tend to work with has a Google account and collaboration is therefore very simple.

Still photos from my camera go straight onto an external hard drive. This happens via Adobe Lightroom, which I use to import, organise and edit photos. With video files, if I’m on a shoot, it’s the same deal, but I tend to use a separate drive per video project because of the size of these files.

Finally, the laptop and external drives are on permanent real-time online backup via Crashplan, so every time I connect to the internet, my most recent work – including photos and video material – is automatically sent to this cloud repository. So if my backpack were to vanish, I’d be able to replace the laptop and the hard drives and restore the entirety of their contents from the cloud.

Running several websites (16 at last count), I pay an annual fee to a web hosting company, Vidahost, for space on one of their servers. Because this is shared hosting in a big datacentre, meaning I don’t have access to the hardware, I’ve set up my own contingency for peace of mind.

This is a bit technical, so feel free to skip over it. I use the Updraft Plus plugin for WordPress – which I use for all my sites – to take daily database and weekly filesystem backups of each site and send them to an Amazon S3 bucket. If the server dies, I’ll have up-to-date copies of the data and files for every website under my control, ready for re-installation on another server. Another plugin – Jetpack – keeps tabs on the health of the websites. If a site goes down, I’ll get an email to let me know.

Every aspect of this system is automated, so there’s nothing to think about from one day to the next. It’s taken time to set this up, but the result is rock solid.

Healthy body, healthy mind

I had a health scare back in 2011, waking up one morning with swollen lymph nodes and almost immediately blacking out. I lost consciousness five times before the ambulance arrived. Nobody could say what I’d been hit by, other than that it was probably a viral infection.

For about six weeks afterwards I was too weak to do anything more than lie in bed and go for the occasional walk. I’ve suffered from tinnitus ever since. It was at its worst in the first year, when the world would start spinning whenever I closed my eyes, along with nightly heart palpitations. The anxiety that came with not understanding what was wrong with me, together with not being able to sleep properly, added up to a pretty depressing chapter of my life.

The worst of the after-effects are now gone – thankfully – and the net effect has been an appreciation not only of the value of the health I had taken for granted, but of how abruptly it can be taken away. Since then, I’ve found myself paying far more attention to:

  1. Maintaining my health through a handful of common-sense practices such as eating a balanced diet, taking regular exercise, and spending time in nature,
  2. Cultivating an acceptance of mortality, which translates to appreciating good health while it lasts, rather than taking it for granted until it doesn’t.

It’s funny how it often takes a major life event to make clear what should be obvious, but there we go.

A military regimen of dieting and physical training is not really compatible with the unpredictable routine and ever-changing environment of travel, so I take a relaxed approach to taking these things seriously (if that makes any sense).

Eating well

I don’t wish to dish up dieting advice here. Personally, I feel better when I avoid sugar and easily-digestible starches, limit dairy and other fats, and go instead for modest portions of protein and veg. When I’m exerting myself all day (trekking, cycling, etc), I chuck in as many nuts and dried fruits as I can eat.

There are probably cleverer ways to tackle nutrition. I was recently sent some samples of Ambronite, a superfood protein shake designed, apparently, for people like me. It was indeed handy during my last stint of film touring. (As for the taste, think liquidised muesli.)

Staying active

For exercise, I always carry running gear (shorts, T-shirt, Vibrams) and swimming gear (trunks, cap, goggles) wherever I go. Swimming is something I do mainly in natural water and usually on a whim, attracting strange looks from passers-by.

I add to these two staples of exercise by taking inspiration from my surroundings.

In Sydney (from where this post is being written) I’ve been teaching myself to surf, which mainly seems to involve paddling gingerly towards massive waves and then being pulverised by them.

Heroically catching yet another gnarly wave

Heroically catching yet another gnarly wave in North Curl Curl

In London, I cycle everywhere, easily racking up 100+ miles a week. In Yerevan, I do vast amounts of walking, and I plan to join a bouldering gym next time I’m there.

On the kind of adventures I go in for, of course, the fitness side of things is taken care of by default.

Thinking well

On the topic of mental health, I would like to tip my hat to the reader who commented on a blog post last year in which I’d gone off on a bit of a rant about the amount of work-related stress I was under. The commenter put it simply: “Meditation. Seriously. It’ll change your life.”

At the same time I found out that two good friends had recently qualified as mindfulness meditation teachers and were integrating it into the sustainable business coaching practices they did for a living. Once I became aware of it, it started popping up all over the place.

I’ll confess that I long had a block about meditation. I perceived a social stigma attached to it; ridicule at the idea of their being any value in sitting around doing nothing – nothing! – coupled with a subconscious fear of what we might discover about ourselves if we ventured too deeply into our own heads. I can see in retrospect that this fear prevented me from looking further into it.

Long story short, I took a popular self-study course which came with several recommendations for skeptics of spiritual-religious practices (it contains no such element). While it would be trite to say that it has changed my life, it has certainly changed my relationship with myself for the better, and given me the tools to deal with what I’d previously considered personal failings but were actually things I hadn’t learned how to deal with.

Meditation now seems as essential a daily activity as eating. What’s particularly nice is that it can – with practice – be done anywhere, at any time, often invisibly, and the tools are all in your head.

(If you feel resistance to the word ‘meditation’, substitute ‘spending quality time with yourself’.)

Low-information dieting

I noticed a long time ago that consumption of commercial news media has a negative effect on my mood – which, when you look at what makes the headlines on a daily basis, is hardly surprising.

Because the news tends to consist of freak incidents that exert no actual influence over my life, however, I’ve noticed that if I ignore it altogether and go on a low information diet, the overall net effect is a beneficial one.

This has had a few knock-on effects, demonstrating that an ‘interest in current affairs’ is largely a social expectation (as is ‘having an opinion’), and that a balanced understanding of the major forces at work in the world is better gleaned from reading good books.

The result? More time and energy to work on that ‘making the world a better place’ thing.

Balancing Work & Play

I mentioned earlier that I take my work everywhere. But that doesn’t mean I work constantly – far from it. Where would be the time to absorb my surroundings, grasp unexpected opportunities, and do the things that make me happy? Indeed, freeing up play-time has been a key principle in designing this lifestyle.

The culture I grew up in from casts overwork, stress and exhaustion as the price of success. If you’re not happy enough, rich enough, if you don’t hold enough prestige, it’s because you’re not working hard enough.

Sure, there’s a workaholic in me, cultivated while I still lived within this culture. It occasionally resurfaces when there’s an all-encompassing project on the go – a film edit, for example, or a writing deadline. But I’ve learned to intercept this workaholic before he starts meddling. My work no longer defines me.

The best definition of success I’ve found in all my travels is getting to a place of peace, contentment and acceptance of the way things are, rather than frantically striving for something different and better. That’s not to say the world doesn’t need changing, because it surely does, but it’s easier to change what’s outside when you’re not being guilt-tripped to improve what’s inside.

Strategic approaches to location-independent working

So much for philosophy. A while back I decided to approach the issue of workload strategically, rather than continuing to believe in the myth that if I worked as hard as possible without stopping, eventually all the work would be done and I would finally have some free time.

To do this, I began with the end in mind by clarifying my working priorities:

  • To keep sovereignty of my own time, given that time is modern life’s greatest asset,
  • To prioritise making, rather than managing, when I’m ‘at work’,
  • To work only half-days as a general rule (and have the freedom to break this rule if I needed to),
  • To build a passive income which, if all ‘making’ suddenly stopped, would still provide a satisfactory income (as defined exclusively by me).

Defining and following these guiding principles has worked wonders. It has freed up massive amounts of time I used to waste ineffectually; time I now use to explore, read, write, spend time with others, be spontaneous, and allow the subconscious part of the endless creative process to take place.

At work in Moscow airport, April 2015

Launching an ebook from Moscow airport, April 2015

The value of routine for self-employed creatives

Establishing a daily routine has helped enormously too. Here’s how mine has settled:

5:00am – 9:00am

This is my undisturbed writing time, done before the world wakes up. Breakfast not included.

I’ll drink as many cups of tea (white, no sugar, teabag left in the mug) as necessary. I’ll either write an article I pre-determined last night (using FocusWriter), continue with a bigger project like a book manuscript (using Scrivener), or, if I’ve nothing lined up, just do automatic writing until something interesting emerges.

Banned outright is email, social media, and any kind of admin. I enforce this using the Self Control app. Re-reading and editing is also banned. Three to four hours is usually enough to expend a full tank of words; I stop when I hit a natural milestone (end of article, end of chapter, etc).

Usually, I put my massive headphones on so people know not to disturb me during this time.

9:00am – 10:30am

Breakfast is the reward – usually something small unless I’ve got an active day coming up – followed by a half-hour of meditation. This helps break out of the previous creative flow, reset my mind, and quell the presence of the various jobs and tasks I’ve inevitably accumulated towards the end of writing and over breakfast.

Then I’ll either make coffee, or head out to a local coffee shop, library, co-working space, etc. This is about establishing that the creative time is over and that what follows will be something altogether different.

10:30am – 1pm

This is ‘management/email/admin’ time. Most fundamentally, I’ll ask myself if there’s really anything that desperately needs doing today. I’ve found that 3 days a week on admin, give or take, is enough to keep things ticking over at a speed that suits me.

Spending more time here – particularly on email – really just engenders more work, because emails nowadays are used for task delegation, and for each one you send, you’ll get another one back. (Imagine that – only checking your email 3 times a week! Yes, it’s luxury.)

Before anything else, I take a few moments to look at my project management apps, Trello (big projects) and Todoist (random chores), and identify the one project that’s most in need of progress. Then I’ll work on the next steps for the project I’ve chosen, which usually entails writing and sending emails, doing research, or planning a future phase of the project in detail.

Next is checking and responding to emails. This goes in priority order, and is always approached in an inbox zero fashion, otherwise my life would end up looking like this.

First is my personal email account – people close to me (i.e. who have my personal email address) are always top of the pile for a response.

Next is my ‘professional’ email which I give to anyone I’m working with. Then comes the email I get through my websites and their contact forms.

Finally I check in with my virtual assistant, Diane, who handles the admin that come with selling digital products; usually angry emails from people who’ve bought an ebook or film and can’t find the download link (hint: it’s in the Spam folder). She does a much better job at this than me, being both emotionally detached and far more organised.

Then it’s social media time. I’ll edit, add photos to, and schedule any new blog articles that are stacked up in the writing folder. I’ll moderate and respond to blog comments. I’ll check Twitter and Facebook – once – for anything that needs responding to. Finally, I’ll go through various feeds looking for content that’s relevant and useful and schedule them to be shared.

After 1:00pm

And that – usually – is the end of my working day, and the afternoon is clear for that thing called living.

What to do with so much time? Yesterday I found a cave high up in the cliffs by the sea, in which I read three chapters of A Clash Of Kings (no shame) and watched the people below get soaked by freak waves. Today I’m going to sort out the food for a barbecue, listen to the latest Essential Mix, and hopefully get a surf or swim in before the evening. Tomorrow – well, I have no idea. And isn’t that the whole damn point?

I am no totalitarian and these timings often vary widely, but the general rule is that I make the most of undisturbed early mornings, prioritise creativity, and try to wrap everything else up before lunch.

Other software

For completeness, there are a few more apps I use on a regular basis, including a handful of web-based ones:

  • Thunderbird is an old-school email client, like Outlook (remember that?). Great when you’ve got multiple email accounts on the go and you need to keep them separated, and you want to be able to compose emails offline.
  • Evernote is a digital note-taking app that I use to collect and organise research for projects – think of it as a notebook that can store any kind of media, including webpage clippings, which keeps its own online backup.
  • Tweetdeck is an organised, customisable interface for managing Twitter accounts and Facebook pages – particularly good if you need to focus during social media time.
  • FB Purity is a Chrome plugin that selectively disables bits of Facebook. I use it to block adverts, trending news, and also the entire News Feed (i.e. the main bit). Because I use Facebook for Pages and direct messages alone, this allows me to avoid the image-crafting that would otherwise get shoved in my face, and better practice that low information diet.
  • f.lux is a slightly eccentric widget that adjusts the colour and brightness of your computer screen to match the sun, preventing your body’s sleep cycle from being confused by bright white light after sunset.
  • Adobe CC is a collection of apps for digital creatives, including Photoshop & Illustrator (graphics) and Premiere (video editing). Depending on the project, I’ll occasionally subscribe to the suite or just to a couple of its apps, which remain the best in the business.

In case you’re interested, here’s a few bits on how the money side of things works.

The first thing you should know is that I’m as minimal about money as everything else. I’m not going to reveal the secret to building a six-figure online business in just 12 months. In fact, my and my wife’s combined pre-tax income last year was significantly less than the UK living wage for one person when calculated as an annual salary (~£16,000 at the time of writing).

In other words, I can only show you how to be rich in other ways than cash.

Change your mindset

My first piece of advice is to reduce your dependence on money. The less you spend, the less you need to earn, thus the more free time not earning you will have.

(Note: this is not advice to allow your income to drop below what you need for the bare essentials. There’s little room to manoeuvre when you’re living hand to mouth.)

Habit and attitude change are the first steps. Examine every penny you spend for a month; set targets for reduction; rinse and repeat. Add to that a strategy for when you’re confronted with an unavoidable extravagance (i.e. have a slush fund and don’t sweat), and you’re most of the way there.

The art is in doing so without making your life a misery. Read the beginners’ articles by Mr Money Mustache for more on this.

Work smart

The next is to optimising work to support your desired lifestyle. Going digital is taken for granted. So is self-employment, a.k.a. freelancing, or microbusiness ownership.

It takes a real push to make that initial switch to self-employment. After that, tweak and optimise to minimise working time and maximise freedom time – freedom being the prime motivator for going location-independent and self-employed.

The way I see it, there are two ways to effectively do this:

  1. If you sell your time for cash, begin with the end in mind. You need two figures for this: your desired income for a given period, and the number of billable hours you want to work during that same period. Someone who wants £2,500 a month to live on, and wants to work 20 hours a week (15 billable + 5 unbillable), should be charging £40/hour. If you can’t charge that much, specialise more or find better customers.
  2. If you create things, focus on making something really useful. This often comes down to solving a problem. Look at what people ask you for help with. Figure out an appropriate format for the solution, package it in a way that ensures it can solve the problem repeatedly (here’s why ebooks are so popular), and you have the beginnings of a useful and sustainable enterprise.

It might not be particularly fun in the early stages. My ebook on equipment for cycle touring was easily the most boring ‘creative’ project I’ve ever worked on. But it serves an identifiable and valuable need. Before writing it, I’d already written countless articles and answered endless questions on this one niche topic. Putting all that knowledge into a really comprehensive problem-solver of a product created the foundation of my income, freeing up my time to have fun making cool things that generate no income whatsoever.

For the best introduction to self-employment I know of, read $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau, which was a real game-changer for me. Also check out his blog, The Art Of Non-Conformity, and his Unconventional Guides series for some great industry-specific freelancing manuals.

Travel hacking to save money on transport costs

The final step is to look at the big one-off costs and whittle them down. Accommodation is one of the big ones, and I covered it in detail earlier. The other – obviously when a lot of travel is involved – is the cost of transport. This is where travel hacking comes in.

People have written books on the topic, but it boils down to signing up for frequent flyer programmes, finding ways to get free bonus miles (usually through credit card signups), then strategically redeeming them for free or discounted flights. Here’s a good primer. Here’s a big list of resources.

As an example, I’ve just booked a London-Yerevan flight next month for a total of £67: a quick Easyjet hop from Luton to Paris Charles de Gaulle (£35), followed by an Air France flight direct to Yerevan (£32 taxes plus 10,000 Flying Blue points on a promotional redemption). The regular ticket price for this routing would be £337 – in other words, the hack represents an 80% discount. Not bad.

It takes a while to get your head round what’s possible. Head For Points is the best UK-based resource I know of for this. (In the USA, the scene is much more saturated.)

If you’re left having to book flights with the ‘traditional’ method of cash, it often pays to learn and use the ITA Matrix (the professional software used by many travel agents and flight search engines) to find the best fares, before looking them up again in bookable searches on Kayak, Skyscanner and the like.

It also pays to understand how much of an airfare is comprised of airport taxes – particularly for long haul flights. For example, in the UK, which I often pass through because of family, friends and work, airport taxes are exorbitant – currently £71 per economy traveller just to leave the UK on a long-haul flight.

It costs far less than £71 to get to Dublin, Belfast, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin or Oslo on a budget airline, then fly long haul from one of these airports instead. (Short-haul, it can be cheaper to travel around the UK by flying via Europe than to get on the train.)

Sign up for a cashback site (try TopCashBack in the UK) to get a small cashback percentage on your purchases via whichever booking site you end up using – and, for that matter, on purchases from most of the well-known online retailers. Once accumulated, transfer your balance as points to your frequent flyer account. Hey presto; more miles, more cheap or free flights.

You could get even more creative if you’ve got the nouse. I know several adventurers who go on all-expenses-paid ocean cruises as guest speakers, using the gigs for free long-haul travel. You’d never hear of me doing such a thing, of course. (Well, you might have, but there was a non-disclosure clause in the contract.)

Or – hey, what an idea! – you could travel by bicycle!

If, having honed these dark arts, you end up with more money than you need while simultaneously living your dream lifestyle on the road – well, lucky you. Perhaps look at philanthropy as your next move. There’s a national hiking route project that’s currently looking for funding…

Money: the practicalities

People fret needlessly about managing finances on the road. It’s basically the same as doing it at home. When was the last time you actually visited a bank branch in person?

MoneySavingExpert.com’s travel money guide should be your starting point for ensuring you don’t get screwed over by your bank for overseas spending.

Personally, I have a GBP current account with Metro Bank, who don’t charge for EU cash withdrawals (ideal if, like me, you spend plenty of time in Europe) and are among the best value for cash withdrawals elsewhere. The drawings from my business go into this account, and I take decent-sized chunks of local currency from ATMs to cover my expenses.

I use an American Express credit card for big purchases, which often works out cheaper for foreign currency transactions. Which card provider depends on which I’ve most recently signed up with to get the free miles. As well as that, there’s a second credit card hidden somewhere for emergencies (so far I haven’t used it). Holding at least two out of the three major cards (Amex, Visa, Mastercard) is a good move.

Everything is managed via online banking. Security is now extremely stringent; as long as you take the usual precautions, there’s no difference which side of the planet you’re logging in from. I have an active UK SIM card to receive the SMS security codes that many financial institutions use to verify activity.

I don’t get paper statements. For things that need real addresses (not P.O. boxes), I use my parents’ house in the UK. (I rarely get hold of any of the post, and it’s never mattered.)

My business accounting is all managed from a web-based app called Xero. It has far more features than I’d never need or hope to understand, but the important thing is that it makes my business entirely paper free, plugs into my business bank account and Paypal accounts, and visualises what’s going on so my poor mathematically-illiterate brain can understand it.

I set aside one day a month for accounting. When it comes to my annual tax return, I load up a single screen in Xero and have all the numbers I need to plug into the form in order to inform the UK government that I have, once again, failed to make sufficient profit to pay income tax. Oops.

Other bureaucracy

Certain documents are too valuable to lose. There are others it often helps to have access to.

So I keep scans of my birth certificate, passports, driving license & paper counterpart, CBT certificate, and criminal records bureau certificate, as well as a document containing the details of my bank accounts, HMRC login details, and other such things (no passwords, mind you). There’s a copy of each in my email archives, Google Drive, and Evernote.

I keep several passport photos in my wallet for visa applications and the like, and carry my driving license as a form of ID.

Truth and myth in location independence

The more I’ve travelled, the more I’ve come to value the long-term connections I’ve made. These connections have formed a geographically disparate community of fellow adventure travellers and creative people who have become friends.

Obviously there is a natural limit to the size of such a community and the depth of the connections it contains. Regularly renewing them is therefore a big travel priority. The result is that there are a handful of places I keep coming back to – primarily Yerevan and Bristol, and to a lesser extent London, Sydney and Tehran. I feel strangely at home in these cities, even though I was born and grew up somewhere else entirely.

This is different to the image of full-time travel or location independence you sometimes get (particularly when you’re being sold something); an endless parade of sunshine and sightseeing interspersed with cool co-working spaces and beachfront dwellings; a new country every week.

It’s nice if there’s some of this, but taken on its own, it’s just another version of the alluring instant self-gratification which ultimately leaves us feeling so empty.

Many location-independent digital nomads would cite loneliness and a lack of like-minded people in their lives as one of their biggest concerns. Coffee shops have coffee, but are frequently busy, noisy, and impractical for long working hours. Co-working spaces seem to fill up primarily with app developers and startup founders, which isn’t everyone’s scene by a long stretch. Making meaningful connections comes more easily to some than others. There are doubtless people who travel indefinitely but never make any lasting connections at all.

My point is that the idea of full-time travel – on the move all the time – is as much a carrot that lifestyle-design gurus and travel bloggers dangle in front of the desk-bound masses as a rewarding thing to actually be doing.

Though overused, I appreciate more the phrase ‘location independent’ because it doesn’t assume anything other than the crucial freedom to change where you happen to be if it suits you, and for your life’s work to continue unaffected.

Within that framework, the adventures, road trips, and other forms of travel can co-exist – alongside your own personal variants of home, meaningful work, and community.

Well done if you’re still reading – this article has been a truly epic one! I hope it’s been useful, or at least interesting. I’d like to invite others living location-independent lives to comment if anything here resonates, or simply to connect. I’d also welcome any questions, which I shall do my best to answer.

Beyond the comments, I hope this piece is useful to anyone looking to transition to location independent living. Do check out the various links in the article; I wouldn’t include them if they hadn’t contributed in a significant way to my own journey.


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Tag Archives: FTL Advanced Edition

FTL: Advanced Edition released

In Space No One Can Hear You… Two years after the debut of space faring rougelike, FTL: Faster Than Light, it received an update, and is now called FTL: Advanced Edition. The new version of the game adds features to the original and is a free download for players who already own the original. This […]

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Personalized Golf Ball Markers
from Tom's Golf Tips

The golf ball markers are elegant looking and carefully crafted for long life.  If you're looking for a unique
personalized gift, they're sure to please.  The markers come in two sizes and are thin as a dime.

(Note to non-golfers:  A  golf ball marker is something every golfer uses to mark the location of his or her golf ball on
the putting green -- so the ball can be lifted to clean it or to avoid interfering with another golfer's putt.)
Any name you choose up to nine letters will be richly engraved on the balmarker’s surface
– at no extra charge. Or you can have
your logo or any image on your marker.
“The personalized ball markers arrived today and they look great!   Thanks so much for providing
quality products, friendly service and prompt service.  I have your website in "my favorites" so I can
contact you easily in the future.”  Mary R. – Akron, Ohio

"The ballmarkers look fabulous!!"   Jenny M. -- Berryville, Arkansas
It’s a great gift with that all-important personal touch for your golfing friends, favorite customers and others. And
the golf ball markers make
great corporate gifts and giveaways for tournaments and outings.
We ship globally.   For the same address anywhere in the United States and Canada, the shipping charge is $4.95,
and the shipping charge is waived for orders of $50 or more.  All shipments to United States locations will be sent as
First Class Mail.  To all other countries we ship by International Letter Post.  For most shipments outside the United
States and Canada, the shipping charge is $8.95, and the shipping charge is waived for orders of $80 or more.
Orders are normally shipped within two business days.  Contact me for rush orders.
FREE BONUS #1 -- You will receive with your order and without charge four
popular lessons
from  a top pro instructor.

PUTTING.  It accounts for over one-third of most golfers' total
strokes.  But how much attention does the average golfer pay to putting

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the extra distance that is so important to score well.

GET RID OF YOUR SLICE! -- Finally cure the biggest
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KEY STEPS that every golfer can easily take to
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, with articles by ten different pros and other golf experts
on the secrets of becoming a better golfer.

We’re so sure you’ll like the golf ball markers that we’re offering a money-back guarantee if
you don’t.  Just return the ballmarkers within 60 days.  The bonus lessons are yours to keep.

Buyers’ names and contact information will be kept in strict confidence.

You can make your payment through PayPal or by sending me
a check or money order.

To get these elegant golf ball markers, hat clips and divot tools, along with the 14 free bonus
golf lessons, all with a moneyback guarantee, now is the time to
All the ballmarkers, hat clips and divot tools are made of durable metal.  This gives them a nice weight
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well on collars and belts too) and divot tools  have a small but powerful magnet to keep the  ball
markers securely in place.  Your favorite golfer's eyes will light up with one or more of these packages.
1 personalized quarter-sized magnetic
ballmarker (no peg) with no-logo hat clip
with magnet, packaged in a clear PVC gift
pouch. WAS $8.95.
NOW $4.50
1 personalized magnetic quarter-sized  golf ball
marker (no peg) with American flag hat clip with
magnet, packaged in a clear PVC gift pouch.
WAS $8.95.
NOW $4.50
1 personalized magnetic quarter-sized golf
ball marker (no peg), divot tool with magnet,
packaged in a clear PVC gift pouch.   Belt
clip with recessed area for your thumb
makes ball mark repairs easy.
WAS $11.95.
NOW $6
1 personalized penny-sized golf ball marker
with peg.  It comes in a clear plastic gift box
with a foam rubber insert that keeps the ball
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. NOW $3
Incidentally, the photos don't come close to doing these golf ball markers justice.  It's very hard to take a good
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"I gave the ballmarkers to my fellow lady golfers and they were SO impressed and love them. I
think that is one of the most clever golf gifts you can give someone."  Amy P. -- Keaau, HI

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service!"  Sasha -- Manchester, NH
NOW!!  All the ballmarker packages shown on
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images of your choice -- and at no extra
Official PayPal Seal
"Hi Tom.  I received the ballmarkers with the photos on Monday.  They are so wonderful!  I love them,
and I loved the  speedy service!  Unbelievable!"  Kathleen M. -- Hammondsport, New York

"I have ordered from you before and we LOVE your products.  Thank you for your very fast, very high
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"I've been doing business with you for years, and I always get compliments on your ballmarkers.  They
last a long time."
Herb Wilson -- Tampa, Florida.
See something you like?  If you do, you're ready to send details to Tom
Useful Links
Featured Lesson
Tom, I couldn't believe how fast I got the ball markers.  I looked everywhere online and
every place said it would take 3-4 weeks to even make, them let alone ship them!  I'm so
impressed with your service I'll be placing another order right away for my grandfather!
You rock and thank you so much for the wonderful job! -- Morgan Shambo, Rochester,
New York

Tom, Those ballmarkers are awesome!  I will tell people to check out your site when they
are in need!   Thank you for the speedy delivery and the excellent product! --  Devon
DeBilzan, North Saint Paul, Minnesota

"Tom, I received the golf ball markers today. They look FABULOUS !!!  I'm looking forward
to passing them out Wednesday night. -- Elena C., Highland Heights, Ohio


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TOP puts first hygienisator on the market

TOP BV from Wageningen has installed the first continuous plug and play machine for hygienising digestate (fermented manure and plant residues). The hygienisator, developed and build by Dutch innovation company TOP, deactivates the harmful bacteria from the end product of the biodigester, turning the product into a safe fertilizer suitable for export within the EU.

The first hygienisator developed by TOP was recently put into use by pig farmer Mts. Ten Have-Mellema. Manufacturer and customer are both very pleased with the results of the hygienisator. Fermented manure and plant residues from the biodigester (the digestate) still contain harmful bacteria, which are rendered harmless by the hygienisator. By giving the digestate Cat. 3 a heat treatment of 1 hour at 70 ᵒC it is made suitable for export.

Because the machine is completely driven by the excess heat that is released while generating electricity from the biogas, it is a sustainable process. The hygienisator can be added as an independent unit behind the biodigester without having to change it. The installation can also be expanded with a dryer, making it possible to export fluid and dry (40% dry matter) digestate.

Hygienised digestate can be exported as a fertilizer within the EU, which is prohibited for non-hygienised digestate. This makes the hygienisator an interesting technology for companies with excess manure and a possible solution for the manure problem in The Netherlands and for countries and areas with a manure shortage.

Information about the new solution of TOP bv can be found on the website:


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Name: Dmg Opener
File size: 26 MB
Date added: August 6, 2013
Price: Free
Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Total downloads: 1842
Downloads last week: 48
Product ranking: ★★★★☆

Callenging and fun game and Dmg Opener. It uses the 12 Dmg Opener pieces and includes over 100 different boards to Dmg Opener on. It includes 4 different games including the basic game where you try to place the last piece on the board, the challenge game where you\'ve provided with a game position and you have to find the winning move (like chess mate-in-x problems), the jigsaw Dmg Opener where you try to fit all the pieces on the board, and the spanning Dmg Opener where you try to place as few pieces on the board so that no more moves are possible. Feel like Van Gogh! Draw sketch with color Dmg Opener, paint it up with the "PaintUp" menu and then share your paintings to the www.PaintUp.netPaintUp lets your: draw color sketches with diffrent line widths depend on drawing Dmg Opener autopaint your sketch with the color gradient drawing with autosymmetry (horizontal or vertical) share your sketches and paintings to the online gallery www.PaintUp.net Features: 'Undo' Used Dmg Opener palette Local saving Online sharingRecent changes:+ BugFixContent rating: Everyone. Dmg Opener offers a flexible and incredibly customizable tool that replaces your cursor with a virtual pointer. It can get so big that it Dmg Opener up almost all of your screen. The application does exactly what you'd expect it to and can be of great assistance for big-screen presentations. If Firefox and iTunes Dmg Opener up, their hatchling could very well be Dmg Opener. Basic usage Dmg Opener have gone the way of last season's molting, so this fun Dmg Opener that's part music player, part Web browser, and all about music discovery, management, and playback is ready for every day use. Changed the default tab switching Dmg Opener for new users to Control-Tab/Control-Shift-Tab, to match Safari. This was meant to be done for 1.5.4 but it did not work that time.

Dmg Opener

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The Latest News and Advice from Total Clean

Los Angeles Janitorial Equipment: What You Need for Pressure Washing

A pressure washing business can be a profitable venture in a large city like Los Angeles. The pollution  and the never-ending summers make it easy for buildings and outdoor surfaces to accumulate dust, muck and even mildew, and someone has to clean them!

the high pressure water blasts the muck

If you are considering starting a pressure washing business in LA, you need the right tools to succeed. Start by obtaining the appropriate janitorial equipment in Los Angeles. Follow these tips to get started.

Opt for professional-grade pressure washers.

Pressure washers fall under several categories. Typically, these products are based on the pounds per square inch (PSI) they can produce, which ranges from 1000 PSI to 4000 PSI. In general, you can call pressure washes light-duty (maximum 2000 PSI), medium-duty (maximum 3000 PSI), heavy-duty (maximum 4000 PSI) and extra-heavy-duty (above 4000 PSI).

The last two categories are suitable for commercial cleaning. These pressures washers are considered professional-grade because they can be used for extended durations repeatedly. Heavy- and extra-heavy-duty equipment with pumps that can produce at least four gallons per minute are especially effective on solid surfaces like paved driveways, concrete stairs and floors and multistory walls.

Consider what (or where) you’ll clean.

Will your business cater to retail properties, industrial complexes or municipalities? Are pavements, parking lots and driveways your main target areas? How about building surfaces such as walls, siding and floors? Gas-powered pressure washers with hot water systems are generally the best choice for outdoor applications and other heavy-duty uses, but you may need a powerful trailer mounted pressure washer in Los Angeles for construction, mining or logging sites.

To get started sourcing this equipment, contact established dealers like Total Clean Equipment that distribute and service new and used janitorial equipment at affordable prices.


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About the guide

image online
35€ / 2hours

Evgeniy Stasenko

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I do excursion in: Barcelona

My name is Evgeniy Stasenko, I am an artist living in Barcelona. I feel myself in love with this city. And I am happy to share my love with everybody who will join me in sketching workshops.

If you are looking for something really original to do in Barcelona and if you like handmade souvenirs, you may get it both at once! Create your own beautiful postcard souvenir! You don’t need any experience or pencils and paper for drawing, just enjoy the process with expert guidance and all materials supplied. It will take 2 hours to draw at a prearranged location.

And after workshop you’ll get your landscape printed on postcards (4 postcards for each person).

For more information please visit http://bcn.drawart.ru/

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Thursday, 15 June 2017

A Favorite Acadian Dish Served in Acadian Communities on Cape Breton Island

                                                        One of the Best French Meat Pie

lb ground beef
8 ounces ground pork
1⁄2cup onion, finely chopped
1⁄2cup water
2 large potatoes, peeled, cut into quarters
1⁄2teaspoon salt
1⁄4teaspoon allspice
1⁄4teaspoon ground cloves
1⁄8 teaspoon pepper
1 double crust pie crust

Combine beef, pork, onion and water in a medium saucepan and mix well.
Cook, covered, over low heat until the ground beef and pork are cooked through, stirring occasionally.
Boil the potatoes in water to cover in a small saucepan until tender; drain
Add to the meat mixture.
Add the salt, allspice, cloves and pepper and mix well; remove from heat.
Mash the mixture with a potato masher.
Roll the pastry into two 11-inch circles on a lightly floured surface.
Fit 1 pastry into a 9-inch pie plate.
Fill with the meat mixture.
Cover with the remaining pastry, fluting the edge and cutting several vents.
Bake at 450′ for 20 minutes or the crust is golden brown.

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Agriculture Commodities

Wheat flour, organic

Wheat flour is a plain white powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. This flour is unbleached milled from the entire kernel of wheat. The presence of bran reduces gluten development, therefore, items baked with whole wheat flour tend to be heavier and more dense than those made from enriched flour.

Appearance Off white
Protein (Nx5.7) 8.5-9.5%
Moisture 13.8-14.8%
Water Absorption 55.0-58.0%
Colour 2.5 Max
Hagberg Falling Number 150 Min
Lead <0.5 ppm
Arsenic <1.0ppm
Cadmium <1.0ppm
E. coli (CFU per gram) < 10
Staphylococcus aureus <100
Clostridium perfringens <100
Bacillus cereus <100

Pet food
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Translation Technology Training Part II

If you are looking for an intensive hands-on training to quickly get acquainted with the latest trends in the computer-assisted translation technologies and their application in the translation/localization industry, University of Leuven (KU Leuven) is organizing at the Faculty of Arts, Read more ›

After two years of freelancing in the "Language Industry", in September 2014, I had the opportunity re-join academia as a Research Associate on the SCATE-research project at the KU Leuven University, Faculty of Arts – Campus Sint-Andries in Antwerp. SCATE stands for "smart computer-assisted translation environment" and it aims Read more ›

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Image of a collaborative meeting with the team.

Building a Better Boss

Kathy Mount News

You may have noticed that the Training and Education Center has begun placing more emphasis on developing leaders through courses that don’t always seem immediately related to leading and managing employees. Interactive classes in coaching, having difficult conversations and political savvy may seem like fluff to an employee trying to develop the technical know-how and hard-driving persona that will lead to promotion. But it’s exactly those people skills that make great leaders! A recent article excerpted from “Government Executive” talked about the 8 qualities that make a better boss as developed by Google. You may be surprised to find that technical skill is number 8 – far more important were coaching, paying attention to people and being a good communicator.

As you move through your career, consider these 8 simple rules for being a better manager.

1. Be a good coach

  • Provide specific, constructive feedback, balancing the negative and the position.
  • Have regular one-on-ones, presenting solutions to problems tailored to your employees’ specific strengths.

2. Empower your team and don’t micromanage

  • Balance giving freedom to your employees, while still being available for advice. Make “stretch” assignments to help the team tackle big problems.

3. Express interest in team members’ success and personal well-being

  • Get to know your employees as people, with lives outside of work.
  • Make new members of your team feel welcome and help ease their transition

4. Don’t be a sissy: Be productive and results-oriented

  • Focus on what employees want the team to achieve and how they can help achieve it.
  • Help the team prioritize work and use seniority to remove roadblocks.

5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team

  • Communication is two-way: you both listen and share information.
  • Hold all-hands meetings and be straightforward about the messages and goals of the team. Help the team connect the dots.
  • Encourage open dialogue and listen to the issues and concerns of your employees.

6. Help your employees with career development

7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team

  • Even in the midst of turmoil, keep the team focused on goals and strategy.
  • Involve the team in setting and evolving the team’s vision and making progress toward it.

8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team

  • Roll up your sleeves and conduct work side by side with the team, when needed.
  • Understand the specific challenges of the work.

Google’s HR team began a project code-named Project Oxygen in 2009. Their mission was to build better bosses. After combing through performance reviews, feedback surveys and other data-rich metrics, they distilled the essence of what makes a good manager down to eight jaw-droppingly simple rules. Odds are you’ve heard all of these–but when was the last time you practiced them all in concert?

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Strength, Intelligence, and Prayer

Rick Perry’s recent ad

A parody/response by Rabbi Jason Miller (a Conservative Rabbi from Detroit)

And a post I wrote back in July of 2002

Prayer in Public School

I’ve never been able to understand the complaint I hear from some quarters that the right to pray in public schools is being attacked. I know I was able to pray in my public school, and did so often, before every exam I took.

I’m not entirely joking. I often did pray. Yes, silently, to myself. No teacher stopped me. And I can guarantee no teacher would stop someone praying in that manner today. And if a teacher did try to stop a student, that student should go running to the nearest branch of the ACLU. They would love the publicity they’d get in taking that school to court.

Every court case that the critics bemoan has been about **organized** school prayer. Prayer where a school, a teacher, or another student decides on a prayer that all other students are going to be forced to recite, or at least listen to, regardless of whether they want to or not.

Can’t the critics see the difference between voluntary, and forced? It’s the same difference between the concepts of love and rape. If someone doesn’t want to swallow something, it shouldn’t be forced down their throats.

Sorry about the graphic image, but I think it is an appropriate analogy. For those of us who believe, G-d is someone we have a very close relationship with. But our relationships differ. If someone suggests to us that we should have a different sort of relationship with G-d, and tries to force that relationship on us, a negative reaction shouldn’t be surprising.

Public Schools can definitely assign their students to read the Bible as a source for many literary allusions. I studied biblical stories (Old and New Testament) in my Junior year of High School English. (Freshman year we had studied Greek and Roman mythology). American History courses should definitely cover the effect religion has played on American History. From the Puritans, to William Jennings Bryan. From the Scopes trial to Rev Martin Luther King Jr.

But that’s not the same thing as teaching scripture, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, or posting the Ten Commandments.

You might be surprised to discover your translation of scriptural passages, including the 10 commandments, aren’t identical with the translation used by other religions. If a school picks one translation, isn’t it in effect telling students of other religions that their religion is wrong? Heck, you’d even have to pick between Matthew’s and Luke’s Lord’s Prayer. I can’t say I know what lies behind that controversy, but I’ve read that some prefer one over the other.

Matthew 6:5-6: “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men….when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret….”

I rarely ever quote the Book of Matthew. But ironically, he makes a lot of sense to me in this passage


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Tag "Rivers"

Seine A Famous River In Paris Basin

The Seine is basically a French word. Seine is a 482.184 miles stretched canal which is a significant viable canal inside the Paris sink in the north of the France. The canal grows from its source which is 18.6411 miles northwest of Dijon in France in the Langres plateau (flat terrain of France north of Dijon middle of the Seine), fluiding throughout Paris and into the English Channel (a limb


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Robots will take over most jobs in the world by 2045 - The Economic Times | Corporate Business Travel |

As we reach the middle of the 21st century, half the population of the world will lose their job to a machine. Yes, this is another 'robots will take our jobs ' story.

The latest comes from Moshe Vardi, professor at Rice University , Houston, who delivered a talk to the American Association for the Advancement of Science , exploring the question: "If machines are capable of doing almost any work humans can do, what will humans do?"

Future belongs to the machines
Vardi reckons that half of workers across the globe will be replaced by machines within the next 30 years, wiping out middle-class jobs and "exacerbating inequality". He noted that robots would take over in many spheres of life, including automated driving and sex robots. As the Guardian reports, he also observed that this future is likely to mean humans have much more leisure time — indeed we may only work a handful of hours per week....

Via Jeff Domansky


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Travel, photography, and becoming your own superhero!

Tag: Blogging

23 Photos That Will Make You Rethink Ios Island Greece

Posted on October 1st, by Peter Parkorr in Greece, Picture Perfect. 4 comments
Earlier this summer I travelled to Ios island, Greece, for my second visit to the country in a year. I flew in to Crete and took a short ferry north to Ios, which isn’t where they make the Apple software (iOS), believe it or not. Sitting in the Aegean Sea between Santorini and Naxos, Ios has a reputation for being a party island.…

A Blog Day Afternoon in Kingston Upon Thames

Posted on April 30th, by Peter Parkorr in Britain, London, Picture Perfect. 20 comments
My life as a travel blogger took me to Kingston recently, a suburb of London. It’s a nice little place that is easy to get to, but feels a million miles from the capital. As I explored the town centre I felt like I could have been on the pretty streets of Cambridge, or maybe in a Yorkshire market town.  Follow my blog with Bloglovin Kingston Bridge at Sunrise by Flickr user Geraint Warrington Kingston upon Thames So what is there to do in Kingston, why do people come here?…

A Little Something From Italy That Will Make Your Mouth Water

Posted on February 16th, by Peter Parkorr in Italy, Video Adventures. 13 comments
Deep in the heart of Puglia, there is a secret orgy that takes place. Despite thousands of people taking part, the world is mostly unaware of what goes on each summer, in the warm little town of Maglie, Puglia. People of all ages arrive in droves for a week-long event, where they ravenously descend upon the most succulent and ripe offerings, from cunning merchants who spend all year making sure they have only the finest temptations to share.…

Looking back at 2014 from another New Year

Posted on January 19th, by Peter Parkorr in Roaming Resources. No Comments
So 2015 is upon us. 2014 is just another part of the past. And we’re more than halfway through January already! I know I’m not the only one thinking ‘how did that happen??’ Well, luckily for me, and for you too I like to think, I will continue to live in the past for quite a while, through countless photos and videos that are yet to be published.…

Travel Advice: It’s Not Just Where You Travel

Posted on September 12th, by Peter Parkorr in Everywhere, Roaming Resources. 2 comments
Travel is a complicated thing. There are so many decisions to make before you go and when you’re on the road. Usually people decide where they want to go first, and then how they will get there.  How do you decide who to travel with? Often deciding who to travel with is a foregone conclusion – you’re going with your mates or your boyfriend/girlfriend or family.…


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Aug 31, 2016

This is my report about my first half of my Russian travels. Coming into Sochi and working my way through Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Lake Baikal and finally off to Mongolia. This was an interesting trip full of 36 hour train rides, hiking, and almost watching somebody die.

I finally put together my itinerary and was able to...


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Small Cat Halloween Gift Baskets

This Halloween treat and toy gift basket is made with care and love for your kitty.  It contains (6) ½ oz bags of treats, (1) bag Purina ProPlan Crunchy Bites, a yellow and orange cat nip mouse and a ball. Treats may include Science Diet, Pro Plan, Party Mix, Cloud Star, Zukes, Greenies and Whiskas. If your kitty requires a special diet please contact me and I will do my best to accommodate their special need!

This basket can be personalized for free! Please include the cats name (or names) in the order.

Please contact me for custom orders. I have made gift baskets for pretty much every occasion, many made up ones and of course, just for fun! Let me know what you would like and I will make it!

Feedback: 0 reviews

$24.00 USD

Pet Name

Pet Type

Special Instructions

(Decorations & Toys may vary according to color & breed size)

SKU: Small Cat Halloween Basket. Categories: , , .

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Due to the nature of the product, you may have some broken biscuits in your treat basket. While I don’t foresee this happening, it is possible. Please contact me if there are any issues. I will fully refund any damaged product. Ships within 2-3 business days after receiving your order. Please allow extra time during Holiday seasons.


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Monday, March 3, 2008

Equity Market Comment - 3/3/2008

The market action today followed fairly well with what the probability model predicted, with a lower open to be followed by a late day rally and a neutral close.
It is also quite bullish that after a more than 300 point down day the previous session, the market was able to level off and not have downside follow through on the close.

The seasonal model calls for Tuesday to be a very good day on the upside and it is this exact type of day that the market desperately needs in order to keep the intermediate term trend from turning negative.

The Models Components are as follows:
6 Bullish
2 Neutral
0 Bearish

Today was also in the time window for the change in trend date, so there is a very high probability that a low was put into place today.

The great thing about all of this is that if a strong Tuesday should come to pass, it will take the probability model into very bullish territory and we could finally see a breakout of this trading range we have been in for quite some time now.

No question that there are some real short term concerns here, but sentiment remains very bearish and the market remains in a very favorable time for higher stock prices.

Currently the long term allocation remains at 60% invested and this reflects some of the concerns I have for this market. However, as we continue to get favorable signs for higher stock prices, this allocation level will move up.

No comments:

Trend Analysis LLC Headline Animator


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Charriol: Waiting for Laetitia

Charriol heard my prayers and finally created their thinnest cable jewelry yet. These Charriol Laetitia pieces are understated enough to be pulled off with any outfit, yet striking enough to be  conversation pieces. They come in 3 different metals that you can mix and match according to your personal style, and you can see how I paired them in the short video above and the photos below. These would make perfect gifts for your BFFs and your SOs this coming holiday season!

Uniqlo U knit / Charles and Keith shoes and bag / Charriol accessories

LAETITIA – the name of the youngest daughter of the créateur Philippe Charriol, is in the Roman Mythology goddess for Happiness. LAETITIA, insufflated her spirit into the latest creations of CHARRIOL jewelry portfolio, these finely crafted bangles and rings are bejeweled with symbols representing joy, love, nature and eternity. They make charming gifts for milestone birthdays or to show a special someone that emotion and beauty should always remain at the heart of daily life…. delight at seeing a wave in full motion or the first leaves in spring – these pieces tell a story of renewal and hope. Pair with a little prune dress for evening and a mini box bag, or jeans and a tee for a sweet, feminine look. CHARRIOL Creative Director, Coralie Charriol-Paul has also proposed LAETITIA in black and steel, offering a unisex look and a rock-inspired edge. These steel cables come adorned with silver décor in a variety of innovative designs from cubed beads paired with black spinel gemstones to bolder hardware. Men and women alike appreciate these bracelets’ simplicity and functional aspect.

Follow Charriol on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

This is a sponsored post.


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Welcome to Trine University's Moodle LMS

Student Training Resources
Student Instructional Guide Center and Unnatural Causes Video Series - Click Here

last updated 12/01/2017

Faculty and Staff Training Resources

Faculty Instructional Guide Center (Moodle, Kaltura, and Zoom Tutorials)   Click here

last updated 10/30/2017

STUDENTS: Please click HERE to watch how to address the Respondus LockDown Browser Server Error

Moodle Site News (Updated 8/28/2017) For assistance with Moodle, please contact the Help Desk at 260.665.4275 or help@trine.edu.

Remote Assistance Page: www.logmein123.com


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Message: previous - next
Month: November 2011

Re: [trinity-devel] Can't login with KDM

From: Darrell Anderson <humanreadable@...>
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:53:41 -0800 (PST)
On a whim I tried this really big hammer. I created a patch to strip from the kdebase code all references of consolekit.c and CONSOLE_KIT. Seemed like a reasonable idea.

No luck. Still can't login with KDM.

Would somebody please provide me a knee-bone-connected-to-the-thigh-bone explanation or simple flow chart how KDM runs through everything? I'm still leaning toward this being an authentication problem. Perhaps with some kind of flow chart I can try something.


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Triple Threat Mentoring is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Our mission is to address the needs of urban youth through strategic programming in Athletics, Academics and Arts.

When you support Triple Threat Mentoring, you can trust that your donation will be handled with integrity. Our commitment is to direct 100% of your donation toward the program for which it is intended.

Tax Benefits

When you donate to Triple Threat Mentoring, you’ll receive a gift receipt which may be up to 100% tax-deductible (consult your tax adviser).

Razoo Info

Our policy is to give 100% of your donation directly to the program in which it was intended.

We are proud to offer convenient online giving through our merchant partner For this service, Razoo charges a small transaction fee to process your secure payment online. (The current Transaction Fee is a flat rate of 4.9%)

NOTE: All payments are processed securely by You will be directed to their website to complete the transaction. *Recurring Donations: Amount is withdrawn once a month for 12 months.

  1. Brian 4 years ago

    I made a donation today in the honor of our neighbor Amy who graduated from high school this year. Amy has always been an outstanding role model for our 3 kids over the years. Besides sharing her time with our kids, Amy has been a great example for our kids to look up to. What better way to honor her than by supporting an organization that strives on providing role models to kids who might need this type of positive influence in their lives. Thank you Triple Threat Mentoring and thank you to Amy.

    • Seth McKinley 4 years ago

      Wow, thanks a ton Brian! And a special thanks to Amy for showing amazing character and living out the Triple Threat mission. Way to be awesome!

  2. I. Frndz 3 years ago

    This reminds me of MENTORS make a DIFFERENCE and will change the Trajectory of the lives of our children.

What do you think?


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Infomercials Find Their Way to Television’s Prime Time.

Posted by truecreek on February 16, 2009 under More Dam News | Be the First to Comment

By Stephanie Clifford
Published: January 26, 2009

THE last two Saturday nights, CBS’s prime-time lineup included “Game Show in My Head,” “48 Hours Mystery” — and lots of infomercials.

The two-minute commercials, for a DVD set of “The World at War” and a CD of relaxing classical music, both from Time Life, ran during almost every show on the network’s recent Saturday nights.

It is a sign of just how bad the advertising market is: infomercials are running during network prime time, filling slots that automobiles and banks once owned.

“The economy is the No. 1 focus for everyone, and it affects the advertisers and the rates,” said Pat Boos, the senior vice president for broadcast, acquisition and marketing at Direct Holdings Americas, which licenses the Time Life brand.

“When someone pulls off the air, like a pharmaceutical or medical company or a sports company, the networks sometimes find themselves with last-minute dead space,” she said. “We can come in and say, we’ve got a tape ready, we’ve got the product ready.”

Ms. Boos said that Time Life was running double the number of prime-time spots that it did a year ago. Networks try to avoid infomercial advertisers, because they pay “a fraction of what general advertising costs,” said Nancy Duitch, the chief executive of Vertical Branding, which runs infomercials for its products like the Steam Buddy and the Nicer Dicer. Although her rates vary, she said she often paid as little as 5 percent of what a general advertiser would.

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  • Little Havana
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I left Cuba in '55 and this place takes my right back to my childhood so long ago. The place just feels right. The staff are friendly and the food is superb, especially the 'Ropa Vieja'. I would love to go back, but alas I'm an old man now and so much has changed. For now, regular trips to Little Havana will be my surrogate.
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Running SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines

We recently started hitting some capacity issues with an SQL Server Reporting Services box hosted
on Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Platform. The server had been setup around the time, Microsoft end-of-life’d
their platform-as-a-service report server offering, and forced everyone back onto standalone instances.
The server was a Basic A2 class VM (3.5GB Ram, 2 Cores). Originally, it only had to handle a small amount of report
creation load but in recent times, that load has gone up significantly. And due to the “peaky”
nature of the customer’s usage, we would regularly see periods where the box could not keep up with
report generation requests.

In the past week, we’ve moved the customer to a new SQL Server 2014 Standard Edition install. Here are a few of the things we’ve
learned along the way with regards setting up SQL Server as a standalone instance on an Azure VM.

This information is based on the service offerings and availabilities in the Azure North Europe region as of February 2016

Which Virtual Machine Class?

First off, you should choose a DS scale virtual machine. At the time of writing, Microsoft offer 4 different VM classes
in the North Europe region: A, D, DS and D_V2. Only the DS class machines currently support Premium Locally
Redundant Storage (Premium LRS) which allows you to attach permanent SSD storage to your server.

Within the DS Set, DS1-DS4 have a slightly lower memory : core count ratio. The DS11-DS14 set have a higher
starting memory foot print for the same core count. We went with a DS3 server (4 core / 14GB) which we can downscale to
DS1 during out of hours periods.

Which Virtual Machine Class?

Which Storage Account?

During setup ensure that you’ve selected a Premium Locally Redundant Storage account which will
provide you access to additional attachable SSDs for your SQL Server. This can be found under
Optional Configuration > Storage > Create Storage Account > Pricing Tier

Which Storage Account?

External Security

Security will be somewhat dependent on your specific situation. In our case, this was a
standalone SQL Server with no failover cluster or domain management. The server was setup
with a long username and password (not the john.doe account in the screenshots).

We also lock down the management ports for Remote Desktop and Windows RM, as well as the added
HTTPS and SQL ports. To do this, add the public-to-private port mapping configurations under
Optional Configurations > Endpoints

Endpoint Configuration

Once you’ve finished setting up the configuration and azure has provisioned the server,
you’ll want to reenter the management blades and add ACL rules to lock down port access
to only the IP Ranges you want to access it. In our case, our development site, customer
site, and Azure hosted services.

You can add “permit” rules for specific IP addresses to access your server.
Once a single
permit rule is added, all other IP Addresses/Ranges are blocked by Default.

Endpoint ACLs

Automated Backups

SQL Azure VMs can now leverage an automated off-server database backup service
which will place your backups directly into Blob Storage. Select SQL Automated
Backup and enable it. You will be asked to specify where you would like to store your
backups and for how long. We chose to use a non-premium storage account
for this, and depending on the inherent value of your backups and whether you
intend to subsequently off-site them yourself, you might want to choose a storage
setup with zone or geo redundancy. You can also enable backup encryption by providing
a password here.

Automated SQL Backup to Storage

Disk Configuration

Now that your server is up and running, you can log in via Remote Desktop. The first
thing you’ll want to do is patch your server. As of mid-February 2016, the base image
for SQL Server 2014 on Windows Server 2012 Standard R2 is missing quite a number of
patches. Approximately ~70 critical updates and another ~80 optional updates need to
be installed.

Once you’ve got your server patched, you can take a look at the disk setup. If you’ve
chosen a DS Class Server, you’ll notice that you have 2 Disks. A regular OS disk, and
an SSD Temp Disk. This temp disk is NOT to be used for real data, it is local only to
the VM while it’s running and will be deallocated and purged if you shut the server

You can however purchase additional SSD disks very easily. Head back out to the Azure
Management Portal, find your VM, go to settings and choose Disks. In the following
screenshot, we’ve chosen to add an additional 2 x 128GB disks (P10 class) disks to
the server. The
SQL Server best practices
document recommends using the 1TB (P30 class) disks
which do give a significant I/O bump but they are also more expensive.

Ensure that you specify “Read Only” host caching for your Data Disk and No-Caching for
your Log disk to improve performance.

Adding Extra Disks

Once your disks are attached you can access and map them inside your VM. We chose to
setup the disks using the newer Window Server 2012 Resilient File System (ReFS) rather
than NTFS. Previously there were potential issues with using ReFS in conjunction with
SQL Server, particularly in relation to sparse files and the use of DBCC CHECKDB however
these issues have been resolved in SQL Server 2014.

Disk Configuration

Moving your Data Files

SQL Server VM Images come pre-installed with SQL Server so we’ll need to do a little bit
of reconfiguration to make sure all our data and log files end up in the correct place. In the
following sections, disk letters & paths refer to the following.

  • C: (OS Disk)
  • D:\SQLTEMP (Temp/Local SSD)
  • M:\DATA\ (Attached Perm SSD intended for Data)
  • L:\LOGS\ (Attached Perm SSD intended for Logs)

First, we need to give permission to SQL Server to access these other disks. Assuming
you haven’t changed the default service accounts, then your SQL Server instance will
be running as the NT SERVICE\MSSQLSERVER account. You’ll need to give this account Full
Permissions on each of the locations you intend to store data and log files.

Folder Permissions

Once the permissions are correct, we can specify those directories as new defaults
for our Data, Logs and Backups.

Setting Default Paths for Data & Logs

Next We’ll move our master MDF and LDF files, by performing the following steps.

  1. Launch the SQL Server configuration Manager
  2. Under SQL Server Services, select the main Server instance, and stop it
  3. Right click the server instance, go to properties and review the startup parameters tab
  4. Modify the –d and –e parameters to point to the paths where you intend to host your data and log files
  5. Open Explorer and navigate to the default directory where the MDF files and LDF files are located (C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\). Move the Master MDF and LDF to your new paths
  6. Restart the Server

Moving the Master Database

When our server comes back online, we can move the remainder of the default databases.
Running the following series of SQL Commands will update the system to expect the MDFs
and LDFs and the new location on next start up.

ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE ( NAME = modeldev , FILENAME = 'M:\DATA\model.mdf' )
ALTER DATABASE [model] MODIFY FILE ( NAME = modellog , FILENAME = 'L:\LOGS\modellog.ldf' )
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'D:\SQLTEMP\tempdb.mdf');
ALTER DATABASE [tempdb] MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'D:\SQLTEMP\templog.ldf');

--You can verify them with this command
SELECT name, physical_name AS CurrentLocation, state_desc FROM sys.master_files

Shut down the SQL Instance one more time. Phyiscally move your MDF and LDF files to
their new locations in Explorer, and finally restart the instance. If there are any
problems with the setup or the server fails to start, you can review the ERROR LOG in
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL12.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG

There are a number of other steps that you can then perform to tune your server.

You should also setup SSL/TLS for any exposed endpoints to the outside world
(e.g. if your going to run the server as an SSRS box). Hopefully you will have a you a far
more performant SQL Instance running in the Azure Cloud.

~Eoin Campbell


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5 Keys to JSON Web Tokens and ASP.NET Core 2

I know JSON Web Tokens (JWT) have been around for a while, but I still run into many developers who do not know much or anything about them. You can read much more in the JWT Handbook and at one of my favorite online tool sites for using JWT at jwt.io.

Here are the 5 things I think you should know about JWT:

#1. OpenID

If you're not already using OpenID, a standard for single sign-on and identity provision, you should be looking into it. There are many sites where you can learn more about OpenID. The connect2id.com OpenID overview is a good place to start. And if you're using ASP.NET Core 2 and IdentityServer4, you definitely want to know more about JWT and OpenID.

#2. Security Concerns

You can encrypt your JWT tokens but most do not. You can include whatever you want in terms of claims in the token. Here's an example of a token trimmed down for length to simply demonstrate what an encoded token may look like. Note the "." dividers.

Here is what that token may look like when decoded from the Base 64 string:

  "typ": "JWT",
  "alg": "RS256",
  "x5t": "a3rMUgMFv9tPclLa6yF3zAkfquE",
  "kid": "a3rMUgMFv9tPclLa6yF3zAkfquE"

Payload Data

  "iss": "https://identity.yourdomain.com/identity",
  "aud": "https://identity.yourdomain.com/identity/resources",
  "exp": 1512842905,
  "nbf": 1512839305,
  "client_id": "apiclient",
  "scope": "openid",
  "sub": "108434458",
  "auth_time": 1512839305,
  "idp": "youridpid",
  "amr": [

So what do you need to be worried about with respect to security? Simply this. Make sure whatever you put into your JWT tokens do not reveal secrets or sensitive data that you do not want discovered. Yes, of course, the JWT is signed. The third part of the token is a hash created by the identity server and must be validated on the server side accepting the token when you use it in the Authorization header as a Bearer token.

This means the server side has to have the key used to validate. But on the client side, for unencrypted JWT tokens, the data can be useful. Just don't make it useful to the bad actor. And when you decide to add claims to your JWT from your identity server implementation, be sure you are comfortable with that data being out in the wild.

#3 Authorization Most Common Use

The most common use of a JWT is as a bearer token in the Authorization header as I've just mentioned.

Authorization: Bearer [token]

Here's the flow.

  1. Browser (or API client) sends POST to identity endpoint with username and password.
  2. Identity server authenticates and creates JWT signed with secret key or certificate.
  3. Browser (or API client) receives the JWT token.
  4. Browser (or API client) makes request to the app server with Authorization header with "Bearer [token]" in request.
  5. App server validates the JWT token and authorizes and executes the request or denies it.
  6. Browser (or API client) receives response from the application server.

#4 Getting the "sub" Claim Back from Microsoft's Mapping

Before you spend a lot of time in ASP.NET Core 2 trying to get access to the "sub" (subject) claim in the controller's User (cast as ClaimsPrincipal), just know that it's not your fault. It's Microsoft's. They map claims and are not 100% compliant with the OpenID standard in that the "sub" claim disappears. Here's how you get it back:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
  //config services like logging, Mvc, etc.
  //config services.AddAuthentication and AddAuthorization

By removing the "sub" claim from their claim type map, it will reappear in your ClaimsPrincipal like this dummy code written simply to show how to grab the "sub" claim now that it's back.

[HttpGet("{id}"), Authorize("openid")]
public string Get(int id)
  var user = User as ClaimsPrincipal;
  var memId = user.Claims
      .Where(x => x.Type == "sub")
      .Select(x => x.Value).FirstOrDefault();
  return memId;

Try that without removing it from the type map and you'll get a big fat null.

#5 JWT Tokens Can and Should Expire

If you are using JWT and OpenID, you should make sure that your identity server sets an expiration on the token. And if your authentication request provides your with a refresh token, you should learn how in the client to refresh (call the identity server with the refresh token) your access JWT token. See auth0's details on using refresh tokens.

A refresh token is especially useful for keeping a user logged in without asking her or him to enter a username and password again. And it is a great way to avoid storing credentials locally. Yeah, don't do that.

If you're not using JWT or have not yet become comfortable with tokens, you owe it to yourself to do a little reading, even if you're not a coder. But if you're a coder, you definitely need to grok JWT.