Political Matters, Gaming etc., Work Matters

As the Ukrainian army moves on pro-Russian separatists, thought I would put finger to keyboard on the subject on an article for the Isocracy Network (reposted at talk_politics, where it received "highly recommended status". Apart from a concern for people who are on the receiving end of lead from both sides, I have an interest in how big powers claim the validity of territorial integrity and-or self-determination depending on their interests. Followed up shortly afterwards with the scandalous remarks by Israeli lawmaker recommending genocidal policy against Palestinians. Currently have been giving some thought about the relationship between a welfare system based on punishment, depression, anxiety, and inequality. Putting theory into some practice, attended a Kew ALP branch meeting on Tuesday night at our new location at the Kew library with most discussion concerning the upcoming state election.

More socially, on Thursday evening ran a side adventure of a tournament for Pendragon and threw yet another a moral challenge to the player characters; they are now faced with the realisation the the object of their all-hands rountable quest (the Holy Grail), will end the spread of the Wasteland, but will also end the Enchantment of Britain. Saturday night attended a housewarming party for _fustian and wildilocks in Elwood; a Victorian mansion that has been converted into apartments. Plenty of good conversation, especially around 1980s computer culture, of which a number of attendees could reminisce. On Sunday I had to step in as MC for Florence W., who was not feeling well at the Unitarian biannual concert, where we raised several hundred dollars for Save The Children. With a programme that went over two hours it was a little on the long side, but there was certainly a lot of talent present as well. Afterwards ran the second session of Werewolf:The Yugoslav Wars, centered around the discovery of relevant artifacts at Daorson, taken to the abstract brutalist Historical Museum (which, in the real world, has had some interesting financial problems).

Work has been keeping me extra busy at late. We're a ISO 9001:2008 quality assured certified company (which is good business practice, even if you don't seek certification) and last week we had a partial internal audit of our practices, an area which I am responsible for. Also, I am having to prepare for a presentation to OSIA this week on the history of the company plus presenting on why free software dominated scientific and high performance computing, promoting Liz B., seminar on Psychosis and Adolescent Brain Development, and a set of four HPC courses for early next month, plus running an internal course session for those less than familiar with the HPC side of things. In addition to all this, there has been some changes of roles in the advanced computing team and the addition of a new staff member to lead project management. I'm hoping that all this will further improve the organisation.