Gutenburg WordPress plugin
| |

Gutenburg WordPress plugin

Byrichard

The
Gutenburg Press Plugin provides a new way to write blog posts. Rather than write as if a blog post was a single block of text it breaks it up into segments or “presses” 



A few weeks ago a
Gutenburg Press was brought to the Palais
wilson and we had the opportunity to experiment with printing our own Universal Declaration of Human rights as part of the UDHR 70 event. In Gutenberg’s day you would have to typeset every letter character by character but for the sake of
speed we just had two slates as you see above. One version was in French and the second one was in English. It made duplicating a single page instant. 



Working with blocks speeds up the process of formatting posts because it allows for you to write each paragraph as a block of text and to insert images with ease.



As
twitter becomes more like a blog and as attention swings away from Facebook it is the perfect time for a project like Wordpress to diversify
it’s audience. As we have seen on the Wordpress.org front page they power 29 percent of websites. 



I would love to see us move back towards having websites, blogs and user-owned websites. I want to go back to when people enjoyed writing and sharing content without competing with hundreds of others. The beauty of a blog, as opposed to a Facebook, Linkedin or other posts, is that it can be multimedia rich. We can add images anywhere in the post and we can write information about them. We can share multiple videos at once and more



Using this plugin is a pleasure because everything you do is context sensitive. When you create a block you see what options you have. The tools you need appear when you need them as a result of which the experience is much cleaner. You can see the content you’re working on, rather than the tools. Writing software push that as a feature and now it will become a feature of Wordpress as standard.


I look forward to Writing many more posts with this plugin. 

Improved Belaying – perfecting our technique
| | |

Improved Belaying – perfecting our technique

Byrichard

Belaying is a core climbing skill. With good belaying a climber can climb as fast as he is comfortable to climb, as if without a rope and yet have his fall cushioned at be safe at all times. The belayer needs to be active. He needs to observe and be attentive. I first learned to rock climb with a rope about ten years ago on the Italian side of the Alps and at the time I enjoyed climbing more than I enjoyed belaying. I then spent several years climbing via ferrata instead. The advantage with via ferrata is that it’s a simplified form of climbing.

Over a year ago I started climbing indoors daily as I finally found a group with which to climb. My interests and skill in belaying improved. Yesterday I assisted a short belaying perfection course in anticipation of the Villars IFSC climbing event. During this session we were reminded of a few key points.

Pre-climb check

As part of the pre-climb check we check that the rope is threaded through both loops on the climbing harness. We then check that every knot on the figure of eight knot is double. Once this is done we run through the rope and put it in a theoretical basket to check that there are no knots.

Initial part of the climb

Before the first clip as a belayer we are there to assist and direct the climber should they fall. We guide them towards a good landing until they get to the first clip. Once they are clipped in we make sure that they have enough rope to progress without feeling a pull downwards. We keep one hand to feed the rope and the second is always below holding the brake end of the rope. If they fall we are ready to stop and block the fall for the first four clips. From the fourth to the sixth clip we have a choice of either absorbing the fall or absorbing the fall and letting them descend to the ground. Once above the sixth clip we are feeding rope and ready to slow the fall and then lower the climber to the ground.

A dynamic movement

When you’re belaying you keep your legs so that one is forward and the other is behind. You’re ready to step forward to quickly provide more rope and ready to step back to tension it. If they fall we are in a good position to react to slow down the fall and lower the person back to the ground.

Lowering

When lowering the climber both hands are on the brake side of the rope. One can feed the rope a little faster and the second one is providing resistance as the rope slides through the system. Gloves that protect palms are recommended that are cut off so that fingers still have a tactile feel for the rope.

Learning to fall

During the training we took it in turns to belay and then to climb. When we were climbing we learned to be confident enough to fall and trust the belayer to slow down and then lower us. As a result of this part of the climbing training I was able to push my climbing to a higher grade and be confident enough to fall a number of times. This was a pleasant part of the climbing training because it allowed me to open up more challenging climbs.

Out of my comfort zone – A day of trying new things.
| | | | |

Out of my comfort zone – A day of trying new things.

Byrichard

I was out of my comfort zone for a day last week and enjoyed it. This involved trying improv theatre for the first time. Vinyasa Tango Yoga and Bollywood dancing. I tried all of these things within the framework of the Refugee Cultural Festival that took place between last week and this week. I was assigned to the room where these activities took place and took the opportunity to try everything.

Improv Theatre

As an introvert I am usually happy to observe rather than participate in such activities. In most circumstances I would be there with a camera filming the event. I chose not to hide behind the camera this time. We were outdoors and we played a few games. Improv theatre isn’t just about acting. It’s about grown ups being playful and creative as a group. This is comfortable. This is fun. It’s fun enough for me to have changed my Sunday plans from hiking to trying this once again. I’m going to be out of my comfort zone but change is good.

Vinyasa Tango Yoga

I have seen and read about yoga in a multitude of places and I have had a desire to try it for a while now. I almost tried it two years ago but chickened out. This time not only did I try Yoga but I enjoyed it. Aside from the instructor I was the only guy in the group. As I am not as flexible or experienced as the others there are certain moves where I suffered and others that I really enjoyed. I train for endurance so I had to fight that instinct during this session.

Aside from never trying Yoga before I found doing yoga moves with a partner interesting. I had never thought about how you can synchronise breathing through feeling a person through your back. You feel the inflation and deflation. It’s interesting. It’s also interesting to balance using each others’ bodies.

The point of these exercises with partners is to get used to feel of their body and to grow a deeper physical connection so that it may be used in dancing. I felt really good after the experience.

Bollywood Dancing and Free Hugs

I never considered trying Bollywood dancing. If it had not been for the fact that I was in that room when the event was taking place and had I not been in such an open frame of mind after the improv and yoga I would probably have been like the photographers. “Put down your cameras and join us” is a sentence that is so frequently said to me. “Stop living your life through a lens”. This time I participated.

I mention the free hugs because a few of us, volunteers, headed down to the lake for a continuation of the event and some of them had participated in the free hugs event. They wanted to continue giving free hugs at the lake side so I joined in. It’s amusing to see people say “thank you” after being given a hug. What’s even more amusing is that we had joked about “Free hugs for a sausage” and how it could be taken the wrong way. Ironically within minutes of that conversation two of us were giving free hugs to people with barbecues going and they offered us wine, beer, sausages and more. We laughed as the recipients were offering them. “We have too many, have some”.

I enjoyed Improv theatre and Yoga enough to want to try them again. In fact I am planning to try improv theatre again this weekend. As it’s about playing, rather than acting, it entertains me. It is good to break the routine and do new things and to meet new people.

 

Gallantry and Rock Climbing
| |

Gallantry and Rock Climbing

Byrichard

Gallantry and Rock Climbing are a good combination. In Rock climbing the person with more experience or comfort helps the person with less comfort. In some cases it might be helping people walk on trails and in other cases it may be walking at the pace that is comfortable for others.

According to the Merriam Webster website gallantry can be a number of things:

1 archaic : gallant appearance
2 a : an act of marked courtesy
b : courteous attention to a lady
c : amorous attention or pursuit
3 : spirited and conspicuous bravery

According to the Larousse Galanterie is

  • Politesse empressée auprès des femmes.

The image above was taken a few years ago on one of the two times we went rock climbing on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc. At the time I was still new to rock climbing, was about to try Via Ferrata, altitude diving, canyoning and a number of other sports. At the time I liked to climb but I did not have the compassion or motivation to belay. I was more selfish, more interested in climbing and having fun than in waiting below and belaying people.

Since then I have learned to be more compassionate, to be more helpful and to be more patient. Within a year or two of this picture being taken we went canyoning as a group in the Italian Alps and several of us jumped from 11 metres in to a pool of water. One woman jumped the same jump that we had just done and came back to the surface screaming in agony. We rushed out to help her. We went to her and kept her afloat. We placed life jackets underneath her to float her horizontally. We placed them under her legs and brought her on to a flat rock.

Rescue services were called in and everyone from the group evacuated the area except me. I stayed there so that she had at least one familiar person next to her. A helicopter came in but could not land so medical staff were lowered. The experience was both really exciting because I was able to observe medical staff at work from up close but also unpleasant because someone was injured and in pain. Glass vials of morphine were broken and given to her as she was prepared to be winched up to the helicopter. We used our bodies to shield her from the downwash from the rotor blades until she was ready to be lifted and transported to a nearby hospital.

The group went for a quick meal and then I drove to the hospital to see this person and wait for advice from the medical staff at the hospital. Eventually she was cleared to take an ambulance back to Switzerland but as it involved waiting for an ambulance to come from Switzerland we decided that we would drive her back ourselves. We were lucky because on that day I was driving a comfortable Mercedes. We flattened the front passenger seat so that she would be more comfortable. I drove more carefully and asked her which hospital she wanted to go to. We brought her to that hospital and waited until she was checked in before heading home. That adventure lasted until about midnight or one in the morning. As I was the person that had driven her from Geneva to the mountains I felt uncomfortable abandoning her up there. I felt that it was my duty to repatriate her.

That is one example where I was gallant but there were other cases. Most cases of gallantry in the mountains are more tame, less extreme. The gallantry that I was thinking about when I was inspired to write this blog post was more pleasant. As I climb frequently I am now growing more at ease with lead climbing, able to negotiate harder routes. I am also more comfortable with lead climbing. The person I climbed with yesterday had taken a break from climbing for a few months. As a result of this she was not comfortable with lead climbing so it was an opportunity for me to climb easier routes and set up the top rope for her to climb.

This worked out well for the two of us. For me it was an opportunity to climb easier routes and build experience and for her to practice climbing routes in safety. She thought that for me the experience was boring but I felt the opposite. It was an opportunity for me to climb more than I usually do at climbing walls. It was also more physically demanding. Usually when you go climbing you lead climb a route and then you come down, pull the rope down and then the next person climbs. In this scenario I would sometimes lead climb a route for myself and then set up another route for her. This means that I had no break between two climbs so it pushed my endurance.

Last summer I had another experience. I was climbing with a woman who wanted to do via ferrata despite her fear. I respect such people because they are not at ease and yet they still want to enjoy the experience. They do not want to look down too frequently and they want you to be close by. They need more coaching to get from the start of the finish to the end.

I did one climb with this person where she was really afraid. A route that I would have found boring and taken 45 minutes to do if I was doing the via ferrata normally took about two and a half hours. It was uncomfortable for both of us, for her it was because of fear and for me it was a mental exercise, to coach her along until the end. There was a moment when I did ask if I could be unkind and she said no so I stayed compassionate, courteous. By the end of the VF I felt mentally tired but the thing that hurt me was when the group that had been enjoying a drink or two while waiting for us dispersed. This was the most extreme case.

Now that I have five or six years of via ferrata I have no problem being at the back of the group to help those that are less confident. I also climb at the rear of the group because I know that when I was still new to the sport I did not like the feeling that I could be left behind or abandoned. It’s also because I know where and how to rest so I do not get as tired. It means that I have reserves to help people when it is needed. In previous years we never needed to use ropes but last year was different. There were at least two or three moments when people were too tired to continue. Ropes were used to help them through the harder passages.

It is an interesting irony that in Bellevaux last year I had seen that one person felt unable to try the second via ferrata so I chose to stay and wait for those doing the second via ferrata to finish. I think some people finished the second VF so I went to catch up with them on the cliff. I climbed fast and hard and found that the group had become stuck on a hard bit. One person had decided that he had enough strength to do both via ferrata but ran out of energy at an overhang. At this point I passed a number of people, negotiated the bit that he was struggling with and helped with the ropes. We were lucky on that day because one individual, separate from our group had ropes and pullies. We improvised a rig to top rope the struggling person. Eventually we got him past the section that he was finding hard.

One of my goals when I lead via ferrata and when I climb with people is to keep them calm and comfortable. When they show signs of stress or fear I try to understand it and I try to coach them, to relax them. I pride myself in the ability to take relative via ferrata novices and help them complete the VF without ever having to call a helicopter or even use a rope. I believe that Via ferrata is a mental challenge where compassion and gallantry are used to get people from the start to the end of the climb. Those of us with experience are there to coach people with less experience to believe that they can complete the challenge.

 

 

| | |

First time directing a multicam

Byrichard

Directing a Multicam is easy, after being a cameraman at many conferences. it’s a matter of knowing which shots you would like to have had with just one camera but couldn’t get. It’s easy, switching from one source to another and making sure the pacing is right and that there are not too many screw-ups.

Overall it went well and I enjoyed it. It was different today as I was a simple camera operator. I had to concentrate on getting the right shot and fight away the desire to sit down or do something else.

On both days the last speaker was the more entertaining of the day.