THURSDAY 15th OCTOBER 2015 05:55 BST

Read my book - ENLIGHTENMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
Also available - EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR ORDINARY FOLK
 
WISDOM, HUMOUR, AND LOTS OF OTHER INTERESTING STUFF CAN BE FOUND ON MY PINTEREST PAGE and FACEBOOK PAGE
TO FIND OUT WHAT I DO, CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE

1. ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
15th October 1529
The end of the first Siege of Vienna
The Ottoman Turks had been relentlessly expanding their empire south into the Middle East and Africa and north into the Balkans since the 14th Century, and after a brief setback in the early 15th century due to a Mongol incursion, had gone undefeated and were seemingly invincible. 

The empire reached the peak of its power under sultan Suleiman I (The Magnificent). In 1526 he had conquered Hungary and was now at war with Austria under Ferdinand I. In September 1529 he launched an assault on Vienna. However, Suleiman's army had been weakened by a long march, long unreliable supply lines and foul weather, and the defence of Vienna proved to be well-organized.  

All attempts to undermine the walls or bombard them to destruction were met by effective counter-attacks. By October, Suleiman was critically short of supplies and his army was heavily depleted from casualties, disease and desertions. A final "all or nothing" assault on 12-13 October was repulsed, so on the 15th, Suleiman ordered a retreat.

This was the first Ottoman defeat since the Battle of Angora in 1402, more than a century earlier, and marked the end of Ottoman expansion in Europe, as Suleiman turned his attention south to Africa, Asia and the Mediterranean.

2. TODAY IN MY LIFE
Blogging
Business promotional work 
Pearl wedding anniversary planning
Meditation, 
Me Time
Quality Missus Time

Twitter Followers = 2,024 (down 1)
Non-followed eliminated = 1
untraced
Unfollowers eliminated = 0 
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New Followers followed back =0
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Spammers not followed back = 0
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3. TODAY'S SELF-OBSERVATION

My circadian rhythm has been disrupted! Feeling sleepy by 2100 I turned in but by 0230 was restless. I tried a wee, then a "well-worn method", but that just made me thirsty, so I had a cup of tea, then another wee and finally gave up and got up around 03:30. I will attempt a meditation/sleep around 1400 to see if I can restore balance.  

These incidents are rare and do not greatly distress me - I just "go with it". I generally find that the bodymind soon settles back into rhythm. I'm fortunate in that I have the abundance of time to catch up on sleep/rest as needed. 

Thursday is my quietest day if there are no clients, so it's ideal for this sort of balance-restoring activity and projects and promotional work, so that's what I'll set about doing today. 

4. TODAY'S QUESTION FOR YOU
Do you have routines, methods and rituals for restoring balance?

5. TODAY'S WEATHER IN BRADFORD
Dry and cloudy throughout with sunny/clear spells and a moderate northerly wind
Max Temp = 10 degC at noon
Min Temp = 7 degC at 7am
Sunrise at 07:34
Sunset at 18:11
Moon: 

Weathertrack: A large anticyclone over north-eastern Europe will keep Britain dry

Air Pressure: 1024 millibars and rising slightly

6. TODAY'S ONELINER

This is my voicemail. You'll only ever get voicemail because I hate cold-callers - if you're a cold-caller, get a proper job! Otherwise, leave a message :D

7. NOW THAT'S FUNNY!

John Oliver on the Queen

8. TRIVIA

There have been several cases of radio programmes trying to be funny ending in tragedy. In 2012, Australian DJs Mel Grieg Mike Christian prank-called King Edward VII hospital to try and get through to the Duchess of Cambridge who had just given birth. Receptionist Jacintha Saldanha, who had a history of attempted suicides and depression, was fooled and put them through to the duchess's nurse. On realizing this later, Saldanha committed suicide. 

In 2007, Jennifer Strange, 28, died within hours of taking part in a competition for a Nintendo console. Called “Hold Your Wee for a Wii,” the competition said it would award a Wii video game system to whoever could drink the most water without urinating. She died of water intoxication, where essential salts are flushed out of the body by excess water. The station responsible, KDND of Sacramento, were successfully sued for 16.5 million dollars and the station was shut down in 2009.

9. ZEN WISDOM

“Goodness” can be defined as that which moves us in the direction of harmonious coexistence, empathy and solidarity with others. The nature of evil, on the other hand, is to divide: people from people, humanity from the rest of nature.