England Divided: the Baron's War

A nation divided is a nation weakened and ripe to be conquered. The second English Civil War took place from 1215 to 1217 between the Royalists led by King John and the group of Barons who had spear-headed the campaign which led to the signing of the Magna Carta on the 15th of June, 1215, led by Robert Fitzhugh.  John was fit to be tied, so to speak, over many provisions of the Great Charter, as the Magna Carta came to be known. One of the worst ones in his mind was clause 61:  which allowed the rebellious noblemen to declare war on the king. In the King’s mind, he’d been forced to sign the paper. The ink had barely time to dry before John was trying to come up with a reason to nullify the contract.

The Magna Carta was arguably one of the most important documents in the history of freedom. The English contract between King John and the noblemen of the thirteenth century restricted the powers of the Monarchy for the first time. No longer could the king randomly enforce his will without limitation. King John met with his Barons in the field at Runnymede by the Thames River on the 15th June, 1215, the nobles of England expected the king to abide by the provision of the Great Charter (the Magna Carter). A committee, made up of twenty-five elected Barons (the ‘Twenty-five’) were the leaders of the rebellion and subsequent counsels.

They should have known better.

Pst: your camise is showing: medieval clothing

The nice part about developing my own world for my novel was the freedom to place characters in clothing of my choice. I was able to take mix and match medieval periods to create my ‘own’ fashion, not worrying if I was breaking any rules. In reality, many of us already have pre-conceived notions of period wear should be courtesy of Hollywood: never mind that Tinsel town oft gets their facts wrong. Really, knights from the ninth century did NOT wear plate armor. Corsets have been known as part of cloting attire as afr back as the Greeks, where anthropolists found evidence of the garments among the ruins. The true bra, however, wasn't invented until 1889.

What did the A-Listers wear to the Queen’s Ball? Did peasants really wear rough homespun? Who started the fashion craze?

Baby not breathing: a San Varlin Story

It was 2030 hours, or 8:30 p.m. in civilian speak, and Carly Johnson was ready for her dinner break. Saturday nights were a hot bed of activity in the City of San Varlin.  And when the City was jumping,  the San Varlin 9-1-1 Communications Center rolled right along with the residents on the train. Shootings, stabbings, fires, heart attacks - and anything in-between - the firefighters, cops, and paramedics went from one call to the next.

For once, Carly mused, the shift was at full staffing. When Shaneera Rosewood returned from her break, Carly could take hers. Come on woman, you are due back and I’m hungry!

The 9-1-1 line rang. Carly selected the line on the computer screen. “9-1-1, Carly speaking, what is your emergency?”

“My baby isn’t breathing! Please, please send help!” a woman screamed frantically in to the phone.

Running on Crazy: The 2012-2013 NHL Playoffs are back

April 30th is opening night for the annual National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs and the San Jose Sharks are in! That's right, our men in teal are in 6th place. This means they face the Vancouver Canucks in the first round. For new Sharks fans, San Jose and Vancouver have met in the post season before, the Canucks eliminating the Sharks.

St. Louis played Chicago last night, the 4th-6th play-off positions hinged on whether St. Louis, the Kings, and the Sharks won or lost their games. Chicago's Coach chose to sit out many of its star players for the game, allowing Kane, Toews, Seabrook, and Keith to rest. In reality, Chicago had nothing to prove, so I could understand the decision. The move allowed the Blue to win, cementing the team's position as the Western Conference's 4th seed. Los Angeles beat San Jose 3-2, taking the 5th seed. LA will play St Louis.

The Training Games: Listen/Watch/Do

I'm training a new hire to be the newest member of our dispatch staff. She comes to us as an experienced Public Safety Dispatcher. This is nice: it means I don't have to teach her how to do the job - I only have to teach her to to do the job our agency's way.

With that said, what is the best way to train a lateral hire verses an entry level dispatcher? In all honesty, there should be no difference. Lateral hires and entry level hires should be treated the same when it comes to training. Why?

Every agency has its individual policies & procedures (P&Ps), standard operating procedures (SOPs), and radio codes. A example of this is found in the California Bay Area: two neighboring city police agencies use completely different types of codes. One, City 'A' utilizes a series of nine-codes while over the jurisdictional border it's neighbor makes use of a combination of ten & eleven codes. The dispatch staff are directed to speak in plain talk when calling one another to avoid any miscommunication.