Uprising A Kingdom Torn Asunder Board Game Review

A Game Crafter Game

Take part in a rebellion, or play the king and fend off the rebels (the rest of the players)! The overall game, Uprising: A Kingdom Torn Asunder, has a thematic feel that doesn't seem "slapped" on in any way. From the art, to the game play to the victory conditions, the game theme is fully immersive. This game aspect is well done. The graphics are not masterpieces, but they are far from ugly and they suit the feeling of the game very well.

One quirk I'm noticing among Game Crafter games is that they tend to be efficient at using low-cost parts to make games affordable. Uprising cost me $24.99. Similar games often cost $35 and up. Want tips on making your own board game? Click here.

When it comes to using small cards versus large cards, it makes sense to opt for small cards when large ones are not needed. But in Uprising, I feel that it would have been more appropriate to go for the more expensive large quad-fold board. Instead, you get two cheap folded "mats" that lay beside each other to make the map. While it looks fairly appealing, it doesn't lay flat.

I would be willing to pay more for games with nice-quality pieces. A good game should get 20+ plays if its a good game, giving the game 10 to 60+ hours of game-time. That is worth paying an extra $10 for a sturdy board and nice-looking pieces.

Pros:

• Immersive theme
• Visually appealing (although some of the spacing and printing could use adjustment)
• Strategic
• No Dice
• Interesting hidden-moves feature

Cons:

• It's hard to communicate reasonings for strategy without making the King leave the room.
• Depending on what characters you play, the balance can be off.
• Manual isn't polished or perfectly clear

Balance Issues in Uprising

Movement bonus is useless if you've got the Spy and the Instigator which both have movement abilities. That makes those territories really lopsidedly useless in comparison to getting a mercenary.

"Search" ability seems really over-powered. If all the rebels put their guys in one place and that place gets searched, the King gets to place all of his troops elsewhere, get full influence bonuses whereas the Rebels get no influence and no cards that turn. This happened on our first play of the game.

~ Raederle

Blog Update, December 2013 – Designing A Board Game

Intentional communities are of great interest to me. I lived within one (of sorts) for a couple months while I was on Kaua'i island for 4.5 months this past summer (2013). I'm actually going to be visiting the "co-op house" of Buffalo (an urban intentional community) this evening.

Ever read Ishmael? I've found that Ishmael readers/fans tend to be seeking community. It's one of the books on my recommended reading page.

This summer I'm going to be working on doing my part to save the bees by planting rosemary, sage and other flowers. I am totally against lawns. What a waste! I love the bumper sticker that says, "Food! Not lawns!" If I had a car, I'd have the bumper sticker on it.

I love to travel. For thanksgiving I visited family in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina. March I'm planning on taking a trip further south to visit friends and family in Florida and Georgia. I love the southern climate. Most people would be surprised if I disclosed how much I make yearly (much less than average), because I travel a lot and I support my husband and I. And we eat an all organic diet high in fruits and vegetables.

I'm thinking about making an ebook on the subject. It seems like most people have no idea what to do with their money, and instead of using their money to bring them things they really want, things that really impact their well-being positively, they instead turn their money into things that actually bring them down.

[In 2014 and 2015 I actually did write the book. It is Living Big & Traveling Far on $8,000 a Year (or Less!)]

I'm currently working on a board game design. The prototype actually ships today, so soon I'll be play-testing and ordering replacement cards for anything that doesn't work with the balance of the game. I'm a board game enthusiast. I love how games give a great excuse to be with people without needing anything to talk about. People can have little in common and still enjoy a game together. You can appreciate someone's ability to be a gracious loser or a staunch ally in a game even if you have little in common when it comes to interest or lifestyle.

As someone who lives on the fringes of social norms (no TV, no movies except documentaries, lots of books, raw vegan, nutritionist who keeps studying and studying, working from home, doesn't drink or smoke or eat any refined sweeteners, enjoys public speaking, etc), I find it can be hard to relate to day-to-day life of many people. So we play board games together. I can enjoy anyone's company if they want to play games. :D

So that is a small update on where things are for me now in my life.

~ Raederle

Creating Jobs: Good Jobs, Green Jobs, American Jobs — Why should good work be paid less?

I received an interesting message from someone who complained that "nothing is free" on the internet anymore. They wrote:

The web used to be like Camelot (or so it seemed), it was like sitting in the New York Public Library as a college student all over again. All you needed was a library card and the world was at your fingertips. Now, too many of the newspapers, magazines, websites chuck full of fascinating new worlds, all charge money. On principle alone I choose not to purchase from these sites. I fear the day that everybody will sell subscriptions just to open their site.

The Internet Is Still Free: Let it always stay that way!

I think what you've observed is true in many ways. However, I personally put out dozens of free articles, and I also work with The Vegetarian Health Institute, which does the same. I even provide free services, like the service I'm providing now by answering e-mails and helping individuals with their needs.

All of that costs money. Using a newsletter service or having your own blog costs money, and maintaining it and researching and writing to readers takes a lot of time.

Getting Good Money For Good Work

People talk about "creating jobs" but for some reason, many people seem to think you should only get paid to do things nobody wants to do, or things that are very bad for society. Yet if you do something noble, it should just be a donation to the world, and you should go hungry... Why do people think this way?

This is why teachers, healers and counselors get paid less than lawyers and accountants. This is why an excellent professor or airplane pilot might find themselves applying for government aid, despite the masses of your average-Joe businessmen who get paid a lot of money to do their work. Why should a cell phone sales man make more money than a good editor and nutritionist like myself?

There Is A Donation-Based Movement

Yet on principle, I do agree that information should be available to all. Try checking out the "thrive movement" and watching their documentary and checking around their website. Everything there is donation based. I think that is the real path of the future. People will give freely to causes and services they believe in, and providers will offer what they have freely. Unfortunately, I think that is still a minority of the world doing that, but I am seeing this concept more and more often.

What about For-Profit Charity?

Another concept is arising, which is companies doing good things, for profit. I have an article accompanying a great TED talk on that topic.

~ Raederle Phoenix

Healing duodenal stomach ulcers and getting rid of helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori, previously named Campylobacter pyloridis, is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium found in the stomach. Another way to put it is that h pylori is your worst nightmare. Fortunately, I can help. I suffered from H pylori for years, not knowing what the problem was. Once the issue was revealed to me, I was finally able to heal myself of duodenal peptic ulcers.

Conventional H pylori treatment

If you go to a doctor they give you antibiotics to kill it. These are very strong antibiotics. They will do a lot more than kill off the H pylori. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't get the antibiotics necessarily, but it does mean that you'll need to do more than take the pills if you want to recover your health.

If I take antibiotics, should I also take probiotics?

Yes. Infact, if you take antibiotics, you should also take tons of probiotics. Way more than usually prescribed by natural healers, doctors, friends and so forth. They'll tell you that one in the morning and one in the evening will be plenty. That is plenty of maintenance of a healthy body in an unhealthy world.

That is not going to cut it if you're fighting off a cold, recovering from stomach ulcers, taking antibiotics or fighting of H pylori.

How many probiotics do I need?

Whether or not you take the antibiotics, I recommend this same amount of probiotics. The reason my recommendation is the same, is thus: If you take the antibiotics, you'll need high levels of probiotics to reestablish equilibrium in your system. If you don't take the antibiotics, you'll need high levels of probiotics as part of your strategy to fight of H pylori naturally, like I did.

Daily Probiotic Protocol That Finally Kicked My H pylori

It wasn't until I did the following probiotic protocol in addition to eating the foods that harm H pylori that I finally turned the tide and won the war against H pylori.

• 3 caps of a cheap probiotic 3 times daily (thats 9 caps daily)
• 1 cap superpowered probiotic before bed (I recommend Natren's Trinity for fastest relief)
• 2 scoops Akea Essentials, 1 at breakfast, 1 at lunch (Highly important, as this works full-body and probiotics antioxidants and enzymes as well as probiotics. You need this support when fighting this battle!)
• Optional: 1 mouth-swish and gargle with Inner Eco every morning and night. Not required to win the battle, but this will make the transition more pleasant by providing extra assistance in your mouth and esophagus.

Fighting helicobacter pylori naturally

The worst enemy of H pylori is the mustard family, which includes broccoli. Whether or not you choose to use antibotics or not, you should also include the following:

1/2 head raw broccoli per day (this can be consumed with cashew dip, sea salt, etc), if needed, this can be briefly dipped in boiling water. (Two seconds in boiling water will make it taste better but preserve 80%+ of the good stuff)

1 stalk broccoli raab (rapini) raw per day or 1 stalk mustard, cooked or raw

Optional: Store-bought organic unsweetened mustard daily and powdered mustard in meals.

If you don't like mustard or broccoli, then you can accompany them with strongly flavored foods like salsa and guacamole.

H pylori prefers your stomach to be alkaline

One thing that is hard for H pylori to tolerate is changing the pH of the stomach dramatically. H pylori starts a pH war with anything acidic, because it needs an alkaline environment, which is why it's so harmful — the stomach is meant to be acidic! This is why many acidic foods burn. However, that burning can be an indicator that you're successfully annoying the H pylori. Consuming apple cider vinegar and fresh lemon juice throughout the day in small amounts will help keep the H pylori off balance.

Diet for destroying H pylori

While probiotics and mustards will do most of the work for you, it is important that you're not healing yourself with one hand and punching yourself with the other. What I mean is that you should also look to the rest of your lifestyle for balancing your serious flora problem.

One major thing to take into account is your diet. Are you consuming coffee, soda, candies, white bread, fast food, or refined sweeteners on a daily basis? If so, cut it out! This is very important if you want a pain-free body. This doesn't mean giving up delicious foods or being groggy in the morning. You can make yourself a chocolate-Akea smoothie in the morning like so:

Anti-Bacterial Flora-Balancing Tasty Chocolate Wake-Up Call!

2 frozen bananas

3 tablespoons raw cacao powder

1 scoop akea essentials

3 probiotic tablets (such as acidophilus)

Cold drinking water as needed to blend

Blend all ingredients in your blender until smooth.

Other Wake-Up Ideas

If you're not into cold drinks, or not into chocolate, that's fine. You don't need a McFrosty or a Coffee for a good morning. I promise! You can have a hot cup of chicory tea; it tastes like coffee (but actually is very relaxing, so only use this if you like coffee for warmth and comfort rather than stimulation). You can use carob instead of chocolate if you prefer an option with no stimulants or relaxants. You can opt for licorice herbal tea if you desire something sweet. You can add cinnamon, cloves, and/or ginger to your smoothie or to your tea if you desire something to help keep you warm.

There are many healthy alternatives to sugared foods and processed bread products. Stop on by my recipes page to discover gluten-free sweetener-free pies are delicious, beautiful, easy to make and fun to share with friends.

Lifestyle changes to recreate flora balance in your body

Bacteria is all over you and everything in your home. Some of it is good, some of it is bad. If you have H pylori, then you've got bad bacteria all over every surface you frequent. When you start the protocol for overcoming H pylori, its important to get all of these surfaces clean. Wash your sheets, pillowcases and blankets. Do all of your laundry. Mop the floors. Clean of your desk! I can't stress this one enough: clean your keyboard, your mouse, your monitor, your desk and everything on your desk. Clean your favorite chairs and tables, as well as your toilet, sink and bathtub.

You don't need to clean everything all at once the same day you begin the protocol. Its going to take a few weeks to get rid of the bacteria inside, and you can likewise take a few weeks about cleaning your home. Start by cleaning your deck on the first day. Then move onto bedding and clothing. Within the first two weeks, aim to do your entire office area and bed area. Next do your kitchen and dining room areas. Then your living room areas. Lastly, do any other location your frequent. When all of that is done, clean your desk again.

Encourage others to also clean up

Anyone else you live with should also clean up their areas and take at least two probiotic tablets per day. This is for their protection as well as to help you recover by not getting further bacterial problems from anyone you live with. Encourage them to take Akea Essentials in particular, because this pribiotic powder will benefit them in many ways with its full-body nutrition.

Your full natural H pylori-killing protocol

• 3 caps of a cheap probiotic 3 times daily (thats 9 caps daily)
• 1 cap superpowered probiotic before bed (I recommend Natren's Trinity for fastest relief)
• 2 scoops Akea Essentials, 1 at breakfast, 1 at lunch
• Optional: 1 mouth-swish and gargle with Inner Eco every morning and night. Not required to win the battle, but this will make the transition more pleasant by providing extra assistance in your mouth and esophagus.
• 1/2 head raw broccoli per day (this can be consumed with cashew dip, sea salt, etc), if needed, this can be briefly dipped in boiling water. (2 seconds in boiling water will make it taste better but preserve 80%+ of the good stuff)
• 1 stalk broccoli raab (rapini) raw per day or 1 stalk mustard cooked or raw
• Consume apple cider vinegar and fresh lemon juice throughout the day in small amounts diluted in water. This will also help with acid reflux.
• Optional: Store-bought organic unsweetened mustard daily and powdered mustard in meals.
• Stop consuming coffee, soda, candies, white bread, fast food, alcohol or refined sweeteners.
• Do not ever swallow any baking soda. This helps create the environment that H pylori thrives in. Especially do not take anti-acid pills.
• Clean your home, especially your office and bedroom.

How long does it take to get rid of H pylori?

This depends on how long you have already had it, how much of the above you implement, and how good your overall diet and exercise routine is. It can take as little as two weeks. It can take as long as three months. No matter how long it takes, keep sticking with it. Keeping sticking the protocol for at least two months even if it seems like your fine after two weeks. This is critical! If you stop taking probiotics and eating broccoli just because you think you're better, but you still have H pylori in your body, it will come back, and it will come back just as strong or worse!

So make sure that once you start, you keep on going for at least one full month after all your symptoms are gone. Once you've continued for an entire month past the elimination of all symptoms, you can then safely decrease to just the following daily:

Maintenance: After all ulcer symptoms have cleared

• 2 caps of a cheap probiotic daily
• 2 scoops Akea Essentials, 1 at breakfast, 1 at lunch
• 1 piece of raw broccoli, mustard or rapini per day
• Continue to avoid consuming coffee, soda, candies, white bread, fast food, alcohol or refined sweeteners.
• Continue to maintain a clean home, especially your office and bedroom.

Eventually you can stop including the broccoli or mustard every single day, but the rest of those are really great to just simply continue for life. What do you have to lose besides being tired, having chronic pain and unwanted bacteria?

I hope this page empowers you to heal yourself, like I healed myself. You can read more of my story here.

~ Raederle

Values Clash: Fostering Healthy Change

Often around the holidays, conflicts arise due to differences in values. A cousin or friend may join your family for Christmas dinner and be shocked that you don't include the “traditional” whateveritis, and be offended. You may visit a friend of a different religion and find yourself in the midst of a spiritual ceremony that is against your religion. You might find holiday music obnoxious, but your siblings may insist on playing it anyway.

Whatever the situation may be, there is one magic question you can ask yourself to alleviate the discomfort of the situation. Before I get to that, here is an example of one of those difficult situations:

How can I “speak vegan” in effective ways? At a vegan Thanksgiving, a non-vegan man mentioned a hunter friend of his who sees the animals he kills as sacred. I was speechless and horrified that he said this at a vegan Thanksgiving. Some spoke up in disagreement; We don't need to eat animals to be healthy, there are better ways to be sacred. He responded that his friend believes his hunting practice to be sacred. How can this sort of situation be defused?
— Vegan seeker of peace

It is important for both vegans and omnivores to get over the idea that one of you is “right” and that the other is “wrong.” Some of the most spiritually evolved and healthy peoples of the world have included some meat in their diet. Some of the most brilliant people and healthiest people have been vegetarian, vegan or raw foodists. Some vegans are not healthy. Some vegans are very robust. Some omnivores are very spiritual and respectful about hunting. Some are not.

If you can't respect another person's beliefs, choices, and lifestyle, then you can't hope to ever influence them to be anything different.

To help a smoker quit smoking, love them despite their habit.

To help yourself lose weight, accept yourself fully at the weight you are.

The precondition of change and growth is acceptance.

In other words, there is no debate, no fight, no “right” and no “wrong” in the discussion. Not if anyone is to “win.” When you argue, you both lose, because you're both just trying to make yourself right. When you both accept and respect each other, you both win, because you get to learn about the other person in an honest and loving way.

If another person is trying to be right, trying to disrespect you or someone else, then the best thing you can do is ask the magic question, “What would love do?” And then do that.

Perhaps say, “I understand that you have values that differ from mine. That's okay. I don't think any less of you. We can talk more about how our values differ and how we came to our own values for a better understanding of one another after dinner.”

A Look At Vegan Values

When conversations about your vegetarian or vegan diet come up, and the person really wants to know, its best to give them the “soft touch” so that you don't lose their interest and respect. Let them know that you care about the big picture, and keep it personal to how you feel.

What is the big picture? As a vegan myself, I've been exploring “the big picture” that encompasses veganism, as well as the core values that lead someone to become a vegan. I've come to some startling conclusions which I've detailed in this article, Beyond Veganism. The concepts I write about in Beyond Veganism are ones that took me a few years to formulate: The root of all ethical questions is "Does this allow for thriving?", or in a word, we're all seeking efficiency. To see the dots connect between efficiency and veganism, click here.

~ Raederle

What foods are contaminated with heavy metals and mercury?

What foods contain mercury or other heavy metals is going to depend wholly on where the food is coming from. A certain type of fish may have no mercury or be saturated depending on the waters it comes from. Similarly, a boxed food may have no heavy metals or it may be loaded depending on how that company processes the food. To know for sure, select a product of interest, find out the company that provides it, call the company and/or visit the website and discover their source or production method.

If there is contamination, they're going to want to cover it up if they can. Very rarely will anyone honestly say, "yes, my product has contamination." It's bad for business.

So, in other words, the best you can do is make an educated guess based on what they tell you and what their website says.

To be on the safe side, I don't recommend any canned foods. All canned foods will have some metal residue, and the chances are good that this residue is harmful to you. Canned foods also tend to contain table salt (not whole and good sea salt) as well as refined sweeteners. Also, nothing that comes in a can on a shelf is raw. It can't be raw on a shelf unless it is dehydrated or the shelf is refridgerated. Otherwise it would spoil.

Even if being "100% raw" is not a goal for you, I recommend avoiding canned food. If you have some organic canned chickpeas once a year, probably won't hurt you in the slightest, but don't make it your every day lunch.

To take things further, I generally don't recommend anything boxed at all. Anything advertising being "minute" (like minute rice) is a bad idea. So are artificial flavorings, colorings, MSG, refined sweeteners, etc. Boxed foods tend to have all of that, and they're way more likely to have heavy metals than fresh produce.

I do enjoy occasional raw organic vegan treats like Go Raw bars and Raw Crunch bars.

In addition, I ensure that I consume foods like cilantro in my meals and especially in my vegetable juices. Cilantro is a powerful heavy metal detoxifier. Its most effective when used in vegetable juice freshly made at home.

What foods are a good source of B-vitamins?

All fruits and leafy greens are excellent sources, and so are most other vegetables. Other categories of food (grains/seeds/nuts/beans/dairy/meat/eggs/fish) are all very limited in b-vitamins. In fact, most people become deficient in b-vitamins due to not getting enough variety of quantity of fresh fruits and leafy greens in their diet (with the exception of B12 which is entirely different from other b-vitamins and really more of a mineral than a vitamin anyway).

I have full charts for the various b-vitamins as well as the other vitamins and minerals (and protein, and the calcium to phosphorous ratio, and more) in my ultimate vitamin and mineral reference guide, Vitamin Confusion Solution.