Coming back to the First Tuesday Club

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

It was with great joy that I saw the First Tuesday club notification come up on LinkedIn.

Run by the owners of Information Security Solutions, I’d been going to the event since they first started many many years ago, but they’d obviously stopped during lockdown, and I was happy to see that they restarted, This was the 185th one and I was wondering it they still had kept the same key points that made it such a solid event before the pandemic.

I’m glad to say they have, and for those who are new to the event let me explain

  1.  The Attendees: The club consists of a very broad group of people from the London security scene. yes It’s invite only, but it’s not just managers, or just technical, or die hard security. It’s a group of people who are all to do with security in a professional capacity. Everybody there knows their stuff, and that means that you are free to have an open and easy-going conversation on just about any subject. You meet a wide variety of people, So I had conversations with various souls, ranging from hardware encryptions and the latest hacking tools such as the flipper zero all the way through to very anonymized anecdotes of security horrors that we’ve all seen during life, as well as how we solve individual problems and any recommendations we might have. All in all, it’s one of those places where you always learn something new and meet someone fresh. Never just the same faces, always a new addition. If you’re brand new to the club and to this audience, just grab a drink and within about 40 seconds 1 Someone will come up and introduce themselves, shake hands and off you go.
  2. No Hard Sale: With so many of these social things, particularly those that are sponsored, you’re living in dread of the hard sales pitch. Everybody wants to flog something or you’re expected to hand over your details and then you’ll get a hard sale later on. None of that exists at the First Tuesday Club, I was pleased to see that this events sponsor Cybereason behaved in the same way. They had their very minor sales pitch. Very easy-going and professional and because of that their name sticks in your brain.
  3. Good food, Good drink, Good Venue: The food and Drink has changed subtly over the years to adapt to a changing world. So when I went to the first one, Vegan options were not really a thing. Now Every possible food taste is catered for with a never ending supply of nibbles. Not enough to make you bloated and tired, but enough to keep you full because you will have arrived straight after work. The drink selection also had something for everyone:  champagne, Red wine, White wine, bottled beers and all soft drinks.

So it was great to be back at the First Tuesday, its survived the pandemic and has come back better then ever, I look forward to next month.

 

  1. if your not actively dealing with emails[↩]

Painting Guide – Emperors Champion

Posted on by dultoriminis Leave a comment

Painter: Dultoriminis

Model(s): Emperors Champion

Paint(s): Spray Chaos Black, Abaddon Black, White Scar, Celestra Grey, Ulthuan Grey, Dark Reaper, Zandri Dust Screaming Skull, Mephiston Red, Rhinox hide, Leadbelcher, Retributor Armour, Liberator Gold, Agrax Earthshade, AK – Streaking Grime

Method(s): Spray Chaos Black, paint whole model Abaddon Black ( this can be done with a thin mix and just “slapped” on quickly), the reason for this is Chaos Black and Abaddon Black have a different finish and if we need to clean up any mistakes you would very clearly notice the difference in blacks. For armour edge highlight with Dark Reaper. For cloth paint Zandri Dust, wash with Agrax Earthshade and highlight with Screaming Skull. Base the puldrons and chest shield in Celestra Grey, layer Ulthuan Grey and highlight with White Scar, you can either freehand the chest shield or use a transfer, for all gold parts, base Retributor Armour and highlight with Liberator Gold, for all silver just base with Leadbelcher.

GRIM DARK: Once the model is finished cover the whole thing in AK – Streaking Grime . Allow to dry for 30 mins. Now with cue tips or a soft cloth wipe off as much as you can. this will leave all the grime in recesses and create a realistic used/worn look.

Paint Time: 6 hours

Corporate phrase: “The Tropic of F**kabout”

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

Definition:

“It is defined as the point where high difficulty stops being a stimulating challenge and becomes merely f**king me about” – Zero Punctuation

Explanation:

This phrase has been lifted in its entirety from the review of “The Surge” by Zero punctuation,

In corporate terms, this is when you have finally reached the stage with any kind of stakeholder where you know nothing you can do or say will make them stop blocking your deliverable.

This could be a member of business for whom you are changing the way they have to work for an accepted reason i.e. New regulations

This could be a localised stakeholder where you are implementing a global project, and it will ruin their little empire.

This could be a technical staff member for whom you’re either taking control away from what they’re currently doing, or implementing a way that they suddenly receive oversight.

It is just a time where you have made every attempt to cater to someone’s needs, you have bent over backwards and they still just keep making stuff up in meetings.

You can see it in people’s eyes when you or they hit this moment, and it’s always a definition of professionalism as to how its handled. Do people utterly flip out and rage? or is it taken offline and hard evidence is presented that this person is an active hindrance to delivery (always a grim moment).

Anyway, I have met no better phrase for that moment of realisation that someone is just a blocker and holds no further use to the project.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.

Management Nugget No 18: When asking for help, learn to clean up after yourself, it makes all the difference

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

Explanation:

So you are on a giant multi deliverable project, but there are certain shared resources that do tasks that are common to all streams, say they create users, or allocate database space, or do training, etc etc 

And you need these people to do their work on your deliverable right now!. your deliverable might be important to the senior management, it might even be absolutely critical to the project. Unfortunately, EVERYBODY feels exactly the same way about their part in the project. and here is where the purpose of this tip is. That even though you might have the backing to put pressure on the shared resources, does doing that actually help the project long term, because yes you have your stuff over the line, but have just screwed up other peoples work plan, added extra pressure, and done nothing to help in return for the help you have received.

As a delivery manager it’s your responsibility to ask, “what is in the way of doing my work now?”. And in return for them raising your priority, go and speak to the people whose work you have just overridden, make sure that they understand that things have moved and the reason for that. Otherwise you just make life harder for other people, you can see this in the way that “go to” people start to hide from you, as you bring nothing but trouble and don’t clean up after yourself.

This can be done really simply, just the phrase: “Tell me who is blocking this and I will go talk to them”, It makes all the difference to the person who you are asking help from.

Disclaimer: As always these posts are not aimed at anyone client or employer and are just my personal observations over a lifetime of dealing with both management and frontline associates.

“Acid Sam” Run No. 6

Posted on by Mark Myers Leave a comment

Welcome to Episode 6, as I continue trying to get a really good “Acid Sam” time 1, An “Acid Sam” 2 is 100 Kettle bell Snatches followed immediately by a standard “Acid Bath” fitness test.

The details and timings are:

100 Kettle Bell snatches

Sam is prepping me so I can match the “Russian Kettlebell challenge certification Requirements” , so I use a session kettlebell of 24kg which is a basic standard for someone of my size 3

Time: between 5 – 10 mins, with under 5 mins without the Kettle bell touching the floor as the strict challenge (see details).

Details: The proper details of the challenge ( taken from) + the no set down rule:

Begin by getting into position, Hike-pass the kettlebell back and snatch it overhead in one movement, ending with a straight-arm lockout.
    • You may swing and change hands as much as needed
    • You may set the kettlebell down and rest as needed
Acceptable hand-coverings for the test include: tape, socks, Dragon Skins™, and minimalist gloves (i.e. cotton gardening gloves). You may use chalk and reapply it during the test, if needed. You may not use belts, thick or padded-gloves, wrist wraps or any other equipment designed to support your body.
No Count Criteria
    • Not locking out the elbows.
    • Rebending the knees on the way up.
    • Failure to stop all movement at the lockout.
    • Pressing out the kettlebell to finish your lockout.
    • Touching the chest with the working arm or passing through the rack position on the way down.
    • Placing a hand on the knee or thigh.
Failure (strict challenge)
Failure on the strict challenge will occur if:
    • You Touch the kettlebell with the non-working arm, unless you are switching hands.
    • You drop the kettlebell rather than setting it down with control (at the end).
    • You run out of time before completing the required number of reps.
    • You set down the kettlebell on the floor before the end.
Snatch Test Requirements:
For the snatch test, the sum of both arms is scored. There are different requirements based on gender and age group (Only the Open ones are listed here). They are as follows:

Men’s Open Class:

  • Up to 135 pounds     18kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 136-150 pounds       20kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 151-165 pounds       22kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 166-250 pounds       24kg 100reps / 5 min
  • Over 251 pounds     24kg 100reps / 5 min
  • Over 251 pounds (mad option) 28kg 100reps / 5 min

Women’s Open Class:

  • Up to 100 pounds     10kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 101-120 pounds       12kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 121-135 pounds       14kg 100reps / 5 min
  • 136-200 pounds       16kg 100reps / 5 min
  • Over 200 pounds      16g 100reps / 5 min
  • Over 200 pounds  (mad option) 18kg 100reps / 5 min

Acid bath

Details: The “Acid bath” is a standard fitness set which consists of the following:

For standards these all have to be done on the concept2 range of equipment.

Time: Men are supposed to do this under 6 minutes and Ladies under 7.

Progress and attempt times

This weeks was my first under 12min set (11.47), and as you can see from the video it was very ragged, I had to move 10 snatches to the end of the set so I could try and hold on the some of the timings, but this is still the way to go as the end time shows, I know you might think “just do it as fast as you can”, but you really do have to manage your energy levels even over such a short time or you screw it up.

the “pause” between sets needs a tiny bit of managing, so I’m doing a little shuffle

  1. 20 Snatches Off hand (0:58)
  2. 20 Snatches On hand (0:58)
  3. 15 Snatches Off hand (0:43)
  4. 15 Snatches On hand (0:43)
  5. 10 Snatches Off hand (0:29)
  6. 10 Snatches On hand (0:29)
  7. 5 Snatches Off hand (0:15)
  8. 5 Snatches On hand (0:15)
  9. Transfer Over to Acid Test (10 seconds using the Kettle Bell time, 10 seconds using the Acid bath time) (0:20)
  10. 500m Ski Erg (1:55)
  11. 500m Row (1:55)
  12. 1km Bike Erg (2:00)

This may seem a bit complex but I’m finding that Seconds Pro is the best app for handling it.

  1. , A Base goal of 11 minutes and a perfect goal of 10:30 seconds.[↩]
  2. Named after my fab PT Sam Bradley. [↩]
  3. The weight you would take into a class.[↩]