FRIDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2015 08:07 BST

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
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TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
23rd October 2002
The Moscow Hostage Crisis
Between 40 and 50 armed Islamist Chechens infiltrated the audience in the Dubrovka Theatre in Moscow and took 850 hostages, then demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. The siege was officially led by Movsar Barayev.

A rescue seemed impossible - special forces would have had to fight along 30 metres (100 feet) of corridor and attack up a well defended staircase, before they could reach the hall in which the hostages were held. The terrorists also had numerous explosives, with the most powerful in the center of the auditorium, that, if detonated, could have brought down the ceiling and caused in excess of 80 percent casualties. 

After a two-and-a-half day siege and the execution of two female hostages, Spetsnaz operators from the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alpha and Vega Groups, supported by a Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) SOBR unit, pumped massive quantities of powdered fentanyl into the building's ventilation system, causing everyone inside to become unconscious. The Russian forces wearing respirators then raided the building.

All the terrorists were summarily executed while still unconscious, so there were no casualties among the Spetsnaz. However about 130 hostages died, including nine foreigners, due to fentanyl poisoning. Physicians in Moscow condemned the refusal to disclose the identity of the chemical agent as it prevented them from saving more lives. To this day the Russian military refuse to officially reveal what the substance was. Once Physicians were able to make an "educated guess" from the limited information, some lives were saved by use of the antidote Naloxone.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Ironing
Shift 1 of the Weekend Job
TV Comedy Night

Twitter Followers = 2,026 (no change)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
@qutulecotyl
Unfollowers eliminated = 0 
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New Followers followed back =1
@Sis_Cristin
Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

The great thing about being an introvert is that we're much deeper insightful beings than extroverts - we see clearer. What's not so great is our unhelpful responses when we're suddenly confronted with things. Last night I had two such incidents and I was deeply disappointed with my own responses. 

Computers, or Windows ones at least, have the annoying habit of spontaneously losing device drivers, which is really annoying when you've bought a cheapo external CD drive that refuses to have a name on it or even on its online sales blurb. I solved the problem by plugging it into Son's laptop, getting the device name from his device manager (it was a Matshita) then downloading the driver from the web. Unfortunately I gave Son, who has no skill or interest in the more technical aspects of software, an unfairly hard time over this deficiency. I had to rightly apologize.

The more disappointing response was to Missus who has had a sore knee for a few days, and could only get a GP appointment weeks into the future. It finally reached intolerable point and with nowhere else to go, we went to A&E. At this sudden disruption to my schedule I made a poor decision, making her walk on said bad knee not only to the bus stop, but then another half a mile away when the local bus was running 18 minutes late.

At A&E, the wait was unexpectedly short, but the doctor in a polite NHS way said what boiled down to "if you can walk four steps, piss off!" Missus now has no choice but to go skip work and go to today's walk-in surgery. In all this I found my own emotional responses appalling. First I was grumpy, then once we got back home, thoroughly depressed. Missus, bless her cotton-socks, thought I was supportive through it all, and the "bad-spirit" went over her head.

Given suitable distance and contemplation, sanity returns, and with it deep remorse over my emotional responses. I am generally good at the disciplines of release and acceptance, but only when I've got time to mentally prepare! I now need to respond to these recent events by installing a subconscious trigger to be INSTANTLY able to release and accept, as you just don't always have the luxury of notice that something's going wrong!

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Is there a part of your life where you need to make a change?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy throughout
A moderate south-westerly will turn southerly in the evening
Max Temp = 10 degC at 3pm
Min Temp = 7 degC at 8am
Sunrise at 07:49
Sunset at 17:53
Moon: 

Weathertrack: An anticyclone moving rapidly east into Europe will in passing keep Britain dry

Air Pressure: 1019 millibars and falling

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

Guys, if you want to pick up girls ....keep your back straight and lift from your knees. :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

John Oliver on Sepp Blatter's Successor

8. TRIVIA

Probably the most humiliating defeat for the United States occurred on August 16, 1812 during the War of 1812, when Sir Isaac Brock and his Native American ally Tecumseh tricked American William Hull into believing that they had more troops than they actually had. Hull surrendered Detroit without any shots fired. For his speedy surrender, he was sentenced to be shot, but he received a reprieve from President Madison.

9. ZEN WISDOM

To remain silent in the face of injustice is to support it