What does it take to make honourable men act honourably? When will our leaders learn to act more like leaders and not thieves in Little Red Riding Hood costumes? When will politics become about the people and not the private investment funds of the rich and powerful?

A bunch of questions that ring out from the mouths of hard working middle class people around the world. The lower class have in time learnt to accept their place in society and seem to be the forgotten trouble of this generation, and every generation to come, until the trouble comes knocking on your door, and the crimes of survival are brought unwelcomingly back to our memories as we realise that we’ve been done over by some fool on a bender to score their next fix.

This is my society. This is the reality of the world in which I live. Trying to survive against all odds, trying not to draw any attention to ourselves lest we become the target of the shadows of the night. This is the legacy that I’ve been left and the legacy I know I’ll pass on. Bankers in charge of my money earning more than many of the Small and Medium businesses listed on the balance sheet in their banks turn over in ten years.

This is the world that I wake up to each morning, where the politicians that rule in a grey cloud of diplomacy that makes their work appear out of focus, in their desperate efforts to be as corrupt as possible while chanting an all too familiar mantra about how incapable the opposition really is of doing the job correctly, while our national debt spirals out of control, and credit lines once extended freely, now act as the rope around the throat of the very people who’s money keeps the system afloat.

Spin is the reality of the truth I am expected to swallow no matter how I may choke on the blatant lies of the bureaucracy spinning the yarn. As our communities have learnt that our leaders hide behind fire screens, pointing in any way possible to create a diversion from the original issues, it has become the norm for society to accept that lying is a way of life, and if you tell the truth you are regarded as being as dishonest as anyone else so What I ask is the point of standing out from the crowd, and trying to be honest.

I have come to the realisation that crime is what really pays in life today, and living by the book, trying to make it in this world without resorting to some sort of dodgy activity is really just not worth it. You know the more I look at society around me today the more I realise that I live in one really messed up world. Morality, respect, justice, chivalry and common decency are things of a bi gone era.

What a depressing thought. What has our world come to? Is this all society can show off for itself after 2000 years of mankind here on earth. Yes that would seem to be the case. It is a harsh reminder that life is not all it’s cracked up to be. But the moral of the story is that no matter how hard life is you can still enjoy it, and it’s up to us to find the things in life that make it enjoyable and cherish those moments in our life.

The older I get and the more I begin to understand this life of mine, the more I realise that friendship is one of the most important relationships that we’ll ever develop in our lives. And when I use the term friendship, you find that most adults can count on one hand the people that they value as their real friends. You see friendship is not all about what you can get out of someone, it’s probably more importantly about what you can give to someone. Selfishness aside not many people know how to be a real friend to someone they cannot understand, do not have respect for, and don’t really rate as an individual. In these circumstances I believe it is far better to be honest with yourself and the other person about where your relationship stands and focus your energy on those friendships that really mean something, rather than waist time being friendly when you don’t mean it.

I have also come to accept that unless you are born exceptionally rich, or land with your bum in the proverbial butter, that hard work is a fact of life. Good things don’t come to those that don’t get up and commit themselves to getting what they want. As a society we need to get out of the daydream that fame and celebrity will be the answer to all our woes. An understanding that hard work and focus on a realistic goal is what is going to make life more comfortable for you, unless living in a council flat on the dole is what makes you happy. Get some ambition, and wake up to the challenge of life before it passes you by.

As the world gets smaller, and its more and more easy to keep up with an international spectrum of friends, relatives, acquaintances, business colleagues and others that fill the gaps, it almost seems that you have to reduce the size of the world around you and keep your near and dear close to you in an isolated bubble of protection that allows you all to thrive in your own little environment. We meet and speak with people on a global scale, but like most other people out there, the world as a whole is desperate to make it, and will climb over any obstacle to get there, even if that obstacle is you.

I’ve also learnt that in life to be in the centre of attention, to aim to be the hero, or seeking for celebrity status is only going to set you up for a fall. People are only admired for an instant in life, and then torn apart as the truth about their lives comes out behind the scenes. How often it is that I meet people who are yearning for attention only to hear rumour after rumour behind their back as the reality is that in order to attain their popularity most celebrities have hurt and trodden all over someone on the way up, and I’ve also come to learn that it’s a long lonely fall coming down too.

It is a human instinct to want to be credited for the things we do. It is only natural to want acknowledgment for the things we do. But in this life it is sometimes better to do quietly, without seeking credit, and reap a reward far greater than man’s praise. More is done by those who quietly pass by in the night, changing people’s lives without recognition for their great deeds, than those that cling to their fragile pillar of the spot light. I tell you now, those people come and go and amount to nothing in your life. Those that are quietly there for you, encouraging you to be all you can, listening and saying nothing when you are rabbeting on about nothing, those who quietly pick up the pieces when you crash and burn and stand back holding them till your ready to return and accept their help to put your life back together. Those are the real treasures of your life. Learn to tell the difference between the light hoggers and the light bringers, and give of your time wisely.

Much of what we do in life is judged by others. And having watched our leaders, read the business success stories, and learnt from experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that it matters not what the world thinks of you. What is really important is what you think of yourself. Are you able to sleep at night without the nightmares keeping you awake? Is your conscious clear and most of all are you proud of what you’ve achieved in life? Forget trying to impress the world, stop hanging around with people whose sole ambition in life is to be famous, and learn to enjoy life around those that are important, make you smile, make you feel special, and keep you on the right road of sanity. In doing this the depression of the realities of the world we live in start to fade off into the distance, and while we have to accept that this is part of the world that we call home, we learn and ability to survive and make our survival tolerable with moments of pure happiness and enjoyment and lots of treasures to be thankful for.

Nearly all apocalypse scenarios will involve our public works shutting down leaving us without water, gas or electricity. So if you’re a freeze baby and like to set that thermostat at 72, you better learn to chop a lot of wood.

In the days after the apocalypse, I envision a lot cold people huddling together trying to stay warm. They’ll be burning their trash and scavenging for twigs and branches. Trees in our city parks will soon fall to make firewood, but when it comes down to burning this wood, most will struggle. (Continued..)

If an unsplit log is thicker than your wrist, it will be hard to burn because of the bark that surrounds the wood. The bark obviously doesn’t protect the wood from fire, but it does help keep the moisture inside the tree, and water doesn’t go so well with fire. To get a log to burn, you’ll need to split it so that the inside can dry out.

To split wood you’ll need an axe, hammer and maul. There are mauls with or without handles, get whatever one is suitable for you. If you plan on roaming the wasteland, you would want a handless one, or you may want to skip the maul, because they are fairly heavy.

First take your log and center your maul in the middle of that baby and start pounding it through the log with a hammer. It’ll split, and soon you’ll have two halves. This will dry out in about a year, but I imagine you are cold now, so you’ll need to split that thing down to more manageable pieces. If you’re going to burn the wood immediately, cut the wood into pieces the size of your wrist. The smaller the wood pieces, the fiercer the flame and the hotter the fire. To do that you’ll need your axe.

I know you think you’re a tough lumber jack sort, but cutting wood is really easy to do wrong, and your arrogance will deteriorate when your wood won’t split, and you’ve busted the axe head off your handle. A couple things about cutting wood.

• If you’re sedentary, get a long handle axe, they provide more power so you don’t have to.
• Make sure your blade is sharp
• Birch is the easiest to split, so if you’re struggling try that.
• Look for knots in the wood. Even Paul Bunyan will curse if he tries to split wood over a knot.
• If the wood is wet it will be harder to split.
• If you’re struggling, try taking off smaller pieces, instead of splitting it in half.

To cut the piece, place it on a wide cutting block, or stand it upright and lay another log on it’s side in front. This will keep your wood from falling over, and also will protect the blade, and your foot, if you miss.

Now stand with your feet apart and line your axe blade up with the wood. Remember, you’ll always over shoot where you aim, so it’s important that that you line up the axe about an inch closer to you. If you over shoot the log, your axe handle will come down on the wood and could break the blade off.

Once you’ve got it lined up, bring the axe above your head and swing it straight down upon the wood. If you didn’t get through the wood all the way, it’s because you’re a weakling. Try using more of your body strength. Your power is going to come from your legs and shoulders. When you come down on the wood, bend your knees so that the strength and weight of your body is transferred to the axe. Don’t try to cut wood with just your arms. If the blade gets stuck, use your hammer and pound it through the rest of the way.

Remember to keep that wood dry. If you will be traveling, I recommend keeping about eight small pieces of wood in your pack, as well as some birch bark. This will ensure access to dry wood even if it rains. Camp fires aren’t for smores anymore, your life depends on it.

This is some tips to survive, when you was in a forest :

1. Get water in some down side of a bamboo stemp.

2. ‘pakis’ tree can to eat

3. Mark you’re place to other people by making fire, cos the smoke will rising up

4. Caterpilar in sagu tree can to eat

5. Eat fruit that just animal eat it, cos it means the fruit is good

6. Using sun as your ‘compas’ to remember the place of some vital place like a river,etc.

That’s all my tips, I hope it useful for anybody anywhere.

Thank you.

Greetings, campers…

Welcome to another psychotic episode of:

“Okay… Who didn’t take their med’s today?”

It’s me… at least for now…

… that “Corten Crusader” on a mission, to house every family in America and points North, South, East, and West… by recycling steel boxes, and turning them into safe, affordable, sustainable, energy efficient Shipping Container Homes.

Lately, several people have asked me whether or not they can re-use those trailers you see plying the highways, to build housing.

There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not a tractor trailer is considered a “shipping container.”

While technically, a tractor trailer is used to ship stuff from “point A to point B…” NO.

An ISBU and a “highway hauler” are two entirely different animals. An ISBU is made of  durable Corten STEEL. It’s weatherproof, tougher than tough, and capable of withstanding tons and tons of pressure.

A tractor trailer is built out of flimsy aluminum, and other “junk.” You can’t stack them, you can’t “build off” of them without basically rebuilding them, and you can’t endure heavy weather in them.

Okay, it’s not actually “junk…”  but it’s stuff that you wouldn’t build a house out of, in the way they have it configured.

But it get’s even further confusing, when you witness shenanigans like this;

Jimmy Lee's "Shipping Container " homes... Bah!

1. Is it a stealth home?
2. Is it an RV on steroids?
3. Is it a viable housing solution?

Well, somebody thinks so…

Some guy in Costa Rica has decided to skirt most of the regulations involved in building housing…

… by recycling tractor trailers and turning them into rolling “container” homes. And he actually wants to export them… to the United States.

Why “rolling?” Because that way, he claims that you don’t need a building permit.  What???

He claims that his homes are;

“Earthquake, Fire, and Hurricane PROOF.”

So right off the bat (if he actually said that, and it’s hard to believe anyone could be that incredibly stupid), he’s a liar out to steal your money.  There’s no such animal.

And, he’s calling his homes “Shipping Container Homes.” Are they? Absolutely NOT. They aren’t even close. They’re based on using tractor trailers. You know, those flimsy boxes you see hauling goods, and butt… up the highway at breakneck speed.

Do I think it’s a good idea?

Nope.

Not just “nope,” but “OH H-E-double-L NOPE!”

Now, this guy… he’s talking about these “conversions” like they are “container homes.” And if you read all the hype about him, he’s selling them that way. But, they aren’t. They’re not even on the same planet.

There’s several problems with this “solution.”

First… you KNOW it’s just a tractor trailer, because the wheels are permanently attached. He didn’t set an ISBU on a flatbed. Plus, that slick siding and big old gooseneck make it a dead giveaway…

Um… BTW: The trailer part of a “highway hauler” is usually made out of  lightweight aluminum. In fact, the lighter the better. After all, it’s job is just to keep the cargo covered, until it’s offloaded in a few days.

They design those trailers to be lightweight for a reason.

It’s not designed to be “heavy duty” because you PULL IT WITH A TRUCK.

Sorry, didn’t mean to shout. Much!

A heavy ISBU type STEEL container would use more fuel and when you’re hauling cross-country, that’s a big, giant no-no… 10-4?

Sure the chassis is steel, but little else is.

And, if you’re crazy enough to buy into this nonsense, you’ll be living in “the other part…” the flimsy aluminum “and other crap” part. And, that part is hardly capable of withstanding high winds and other heavy weather scenarios.

The trailer sits 4′ off the ground.

This means that your center of gravity is way up in the air. Even wonder WHY the DOT makes truckers pull over during heavy weather? It’s because these trailers get blown over onto their sides in strong gusts. It doesn’t take much wind, either…

And your “container home” would be basically empty. Let’s face it, home contents and a few flimsy partition walls to separate your guests from the “bathroom view of the throne”… aren’t all that heavy. It’s just a horrible accident waiting to happen.

Talk about “scrambled eggs!”

This is WAY worse than even being hunkered down inside a mobile home, and you’ve seen time and time again how they hold up to heavy weather events. You want that to happen while you’re inside it? I didn’t think so…

Then (supposedly) he goes on to claim that these “conversions” are “Hurricane proof.”

Yeah, right. Know how? They’re on wheels. The hurricane is coming. You’re sitting there, 4 feet off the ground in a flimsy billboard, waiting to become a sail…

Wait! I know how he can make that statement, and be right! You hook your home up to a Freightliner, and haul tail for anyplace but “hurricane ground zero…” thus avoiding the hurricane completely!

Bingo! Instant “Hurricane proof.”

But, using that same reasoning, my bicycle is “hurricane proof” too… if I can peddle fast enough to get out of the way of the storm… What a load of crap…

But, let’s look at what they do with the space, huh?

After all, even if the shell is based on “idiotic ideas…”

… the internal dimensions are close to what you’d expect to see in a traditional STEEL ISBU container.

You can see how they laid out the living area.

Here’s the “business center…”

For a “temporary” home… that you spent a few days a week in, it might work. Just add a hot plate, and a dorm sized refrigerator.

And you could build a cool fold-down “murphy” bed, to get a nice living room/bedroom layout, too.

The bath (located behind the kitchen to keep everything – like the plumbing – all together) could be decent sized.

But…

That trailer “skin” is paper thin… It’s hardly a deterrent to anything hurled at the outside of your new “house.”

And a decent RV built to American industry standards has a much thicker and more durable skin. That means more insulation, and a broader range of use, geographically.

Will the roof of a tractor trailer take a big snow load, accumulated by sitting in the same spot, over time, during winter? Nope. It’ll bow.

I have PERSONALLY repaired damaged tractor trailers that got snowed in, and buckled under the snow load. And I’m not talking about the Artic. I’m talking about Idaho.

Look folks, don’t fall for this. It’s not anything close to “permanent.” It’s temporary at best. And, I’m not even going to guarantee you that this is even safe.

For that to happen, you’d have to anchor it down, enclose the bottom, reinforce the sides and roof, and just generally start over. Why bother?

Just buy a REAL ISBU, and start with steel.

Stay tuned.

You can find out more by following the link in the YouTube video (IF you double-click on the video and watch it on YouTube). I’m so “P.O’d” at these guys that I’m not even going to ‘hardlink’ their site to mine. This is complete B.S. as a “housing solution.” They’re just going to take people’s money, and get people killed.

A woman was not born with a duster in one hand and a pan in the other, nor do we have “MUG” tattooed on our forehead just after the nurse gives us a good slap.

There will always be dust. Dont sweat it!

If you tidy up as you go along a weekly blitz will be easier HOWEVER….you are not there to tidy alone (unless you live on your own). Get others to do their bit. If they don’t do their fair share, don’t try to reason with them, it won’t work! Reasoning never works when it comes to housework.

Just show them this:

Sometimes life throws us curve balls that are unforseen and it is during these times that we can easily lose our faith, hope and passion.    Experience has served to teach us that during these especially challenging times we need to find that which inspires and motivates us.

The the words from Patrick M Power’s Everyday Wisdom  is sure to re-ignite your belief  in your dreams and aspirations.  The underlying message in this video is to believe in your potential and that basically there are only two things that create your dreams:

1.  Your choices

2. Your committment to those choices.

Social Bookmarking Service

Wikipedia Megaproject lists 200 currently viable human efforts costing over 1 Billion US dollars. Of the UNESCO – World Heritage Sites many of which were even greater human efforts when they were built only those still functioning economically appear to be listed. Ancient projects such as pyramids of Egypt, Meso America, Bolivia, Mesopotamia and elsewhere are not listed but they are still functioning as intended. Upgraded old water canals such as China’s Grand Canal, Suez Canal and Panama Canal  are listed. The Great Wall of China, and Hadrian’s Wall are listed even though they no longer serve their design function and are presently only tourist attractions.

When one looks forward 500o years the same time as back to the Egyptian Pyramids to a high-tech society. It will be wonderful in some ways but for the aviation industry a real downer. The enormous supplies of virtually free hydrocarbons such as gas, oil, and coal modern civilization thrives upon will be gone long before humans have finally gone extinct and those future people will be forced to rely on renewable resources such as wind and solar panels. Hydrocarbons will simply be too scarce to burn up jetting about for vacation entertainment. If that turns out to be true what will be the current megaprojects be which will still be considered valuable in 5000 years.

From the Wikipedia Megaproject list:

Aerospace projects and the Airport projects are totally non-viable because they consume too much hydrocarbons.

 Building projects, such as the various super-tower buildings will be long gone and seen as arrogant monstrosities of people with too much money. 

Canal projects may well be of real value to distant people because bulk products can be moved great distances efficiently using them.

Dam projects may still be viable even though the reservoirs were long silted to their tops because some of the power capacity will still be available.

 Defense projects will have destroyed the world as we know it and will be condemned and controlled or civilization won’t exist.

 Sports projects like the Olympic Games may continue but not in the current stadiums but as traditional events in new stadiums built to permanent standards.

Internet Technology will be of much higher quality than we presently experience and available to everyone but invisibly monitored.

Oil, Gas and Coal projects will be still be coming out of the earth in smallish quantities, not for burning but for essential chemicals and food fertilizers.

Port projects will have all been built long ago and linked to the inland not so much with paved highways as at present but with electric railroads and water canals.

Rail and rapid transit projects will be in great use with an interconnected world-wide electrical system transporting people and goods intercontinentally probably even across the Bering Straights. Super trains are about one quarter as fast as current airliners and the routes are a little longer but still at 300 km per hour it’s only 16 hours coast to coast in the US and you are in the city not an airport. Quite a lot of the critical infrastructure, mountain pass cuts, tunnels and bridges when maintained will still be viable. Two thousand year old Roman stone bridges are still being used. These types of structures should be engineered to last for thousands of years not tens of years.

Road traffic projects like many fabulous bridges now being built for automobiles will not last very long nor will the gasoline driven automobile but electric ones may have a permanent place. Much of their infra-structure may be converted to electric rails because they use less energy.

Science projects will evolve to things undreamed of but the ones now being funded will have answered all thet can be asked of them. The genome project will bring us wonderful monsters which will serve humans in unknown ways. However, our current weapons research will be brought to an absolute halt and the methods for making weapons of Extermination (WOEs) will be suppressed and forgotten but watched. The genetic knowledge has the power to create wonderful things but it also will have the power to target specific species and subspecies to extermination. That knowledge must be hidden and those who seek that knowledge must be destroyed — or our species goes extinct.

Urban projects are always going forward but when one thinks of a five thousand-year permanency of those projects a more solid and static world evolves. When the intent is to make the habitations as livable and comfortable as possible for humans a style people will enjoy improves their lives.

Water infrastructure projects are among those which should be built to thousand-year standards because civilization is as dependent on water as it is on food. Sewage treatment is the flip side of water availability and should also be designed for permanency of operation and with no outside energy input or human maintenance for its perfect operation.

Climate and environmental change projects, are a new effort on humans part to control in a positive way the ecology of very large portions of the Earth. Ways of taking CO2, and other noxious gasses out of the atmosphere and sinking them into permanent reservoirs may return the whole planet to a better place. Ways of cleaning the oceans themselves of toxins and maintaining what is found to be an ideas temperature.

Unmentioned in the Megaproject site was the biggest problem of all — bringing the human population to a permanently stable number.

3014876    การวิเคราะห์การอยู่รอด    Survival analysis

แนวคิดพื้นฐานเกี่ยวกับการวิเคราะห์การอยู่รอด ซึ่งรวมถึงฟังก์ชันของสิ่งอันตราย ฟังก์ชันการอยู่รอด รูปแบบของตัดตอน (เซนเซอริ่ง) การประมาณค่าของแคปแลน-มายเออร์ การทดสอบอันดับล็อก และการทดสอบวิลค็อกซินแบบทั่วไป

(Basic concepts of survival analysis, including hazard functions, survival functions, types of censoring, Kaplan-Meier estimates, log rank testing, and generalized Wilcoxin testing.)

(3014876 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

Image : http://www.flickr.com

Accusations of domestic violence are treated differently than most other criminal cases since the beginning of the load, not condemnation, it is very likely that you have your house and your children are taken from you. We are supposed to have a judicial system where you are innocent until proven guilty, but as you discover this is not the case with domestic violence charges. This survival guide will help explain the system you are cons and how to get throughit.

Do not plead guilty at arraignment. Arraignment is the first formal court appearance in a criminal case. During this hearing, you will be formally informed of the criminal charge against you and have the opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty. DO plead not guilty, this is obvious if you do not think you've done something anything wrong, but is also true if you think you've done something wrong. There is no benefit in pleading guilty in placebefore, but in May there be costs in doing so.

Some inexperienced people mistakenly believe that if they plead guilty at the arraignment, they will have a lighter sentence if they plead guilty later. This is incorrect. The reverse is much more frequent, you will probably be more difficult if convicted pleaded guilty to the front.

If you decide to plead guilty later, the judge will not use the fact that you pleaded not guilty to first against you. In pleading not guilty at arraignment, you arereally tell the judge, then you want a chance to see what evidence the prosecutor, and if you think that is enough to prove your guilt then you want a chance to negotiate with the prosecutor for a best result.

Pre-Trial No contact orders. In most criminal cases, a judge makes an order requiring the defendant has no contact with the alleged victim. In domestic violence cases, that order can be extended to the victim's home, workplace, andchildren. These orders are issued before there is a conviction and can make a homeless Defendant. If you work in the same place as your spouse, then you may just find yourself out of a job too. Whether or not children were involved in the incident, you may be forbidden to see.

If you are served with such an order does not violate the computer. A violation of a contact order is a separate crime. This means that even if the underlying charge isrejected, you can still only be prosecuted for violating the order. The best way is to get the order removed.

Here is what I often see in my practice: two people are together. Something happens, the police are involved and a slap No Contact Order in place. People, be, want to work with any problem they have. At some point, contact the alleged victim, the defendant and says something to the effect of "Come on over and we will work wholeheartedly." The problem, of course, isthe No Contact Order is still in force and no way to contact NO contact, even if invited by the alleged victim. The two people come out to celebrate their love rekindled and someone pulls a 'slow and go "at a stop sign (or any other violation normally negligible). The next thing the defendant knows he's in prison for violating the no contact order. Even if the criminal case underlying goes, it's always got a criminal conviction against domestic violence on his record forviolating the order.

Legal Aid. You will need professional help to successfully defend against a charge of domestic violence. There are two ways of obtaining help: hire a private attorney or acquire a public defender appointed.

Public defenders: public defenders are among the most maligned group of lawyers on the planet. More often than not, their reputation is deserved. I met a lot of public defenders who are both passionate about what they do as well as extremelyclever. Like any group of people, some are better than others. Most, however, have a huge workload, which means they can not spend the kind of time on a case where a private lawyer can. If the court appoints a mediator for you, you're stuck with whomever they assign. You have no control on which you receive. If you choose to go with a public defender and later change your mind, you can always have an alternate private lawyer in. A judge will not penalize you for doing sothis.

Private Attorneys. There are two benefits with private lawyers: First, they tend to be lower workload, so can spend more time with your question. Second, you can choose the one you hire. This means that you should look for someone who communicates well, has a deep understanding of this area of law and who really knows how to listen.

Options: There will likely be several options for resolving your criminal case, but they may not be available beforeafter your case is pending.

Trial

Nobody wants to go to trial. It is expensive, stressful and risky. Why do so many lawyers you talk about the trial then? There are two answers: (1) It may be the only way to avoid a criminal conviction, and (2) you may be able to negotiate a better settlement immediately before trial.

The tactics used at trial, such as self defense or Burden of Proof, will depend on the particular facts of your case. This is aexperienced lawyer and aggressive trial becomes really useful.

Self Defense. In Washington state, you have the right to defend yourself – so long as what you did was reasonable. This means that if someone is hurting you then the law in May as well let you hurt them back. Until the jury finds that what you did was reasonable, Self Defense is a complete defense to the criminal charge. In addition, if a jury finds that you acted in self-defense, then you may be entitled to recoverlegal fees and other sundry expenses you incurred in defending yourself.

Burden of proof. This is by far the most common defense in all criminal law. Basically, you are requiring the prosecutor to prove his case. It is sometimes surprising how often they are unable to do so.

Failure to appear at trial

Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S. Ct 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004). In Crawford, the U.S. Supreme Court held thatunder the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth

The reality of the criminal law is that negotiations do not become more productive, until just before trial. This can mean a day or two before the trial or it may mean the morning of trial. Definition of a case for trial does not always mean that there will be a trial, but that does not mean that the prosecutor and defendant have no incentive to work on a negotiated settlement.

Stipulated Orders of Continuance / Pre-Trial DiversionAgreements

These contracts, nothing more. You made an agreement with the Office to do (and not do) certain things, like entering a treatment program for domestic violence and trouble. If you comply with the contract, the case is dismissed.

Reducing costs

It is often possible to get a new charge against domestic violence, filed as a different, less serious, charge. The factors involved are: the facts of the case,criminal history of the accused, and the position of the alleged victim. Examples of reduced fees are: Misconduct or assault without the tag DV.

Only the state can prosecute criminal. With any criminal charges, including domestic violence, only the state can provide support – not the alleged victim in your case. This means that even if the person labeled "victim" wants the no contact order or the whole thing just go away, they do notpower to reject, only the Prosecutor

Joint Bank Accounts. Be aware that some victims' advocates are advising the alleged victims to empty the joint bank accounts. This advice leaves defendants in the impossible situation of suddenly becoming homeless due to the non-contact order and penniless.

Gun Rights. Conviction for a crime of violence marked lose your rights to ownership or possession of firearms for the rest of your life. This is true even in cases whereno gun was used, threatened, or even mentioned the defendant's property.

Conclusion

Due to the nature of domestic violence charges, you need to find a lawyer who understands the complexity of these charges and you can do about them. If you have questions specific to your situation, please give me a call. I do not take money for an initial consultation and I can answer many questions by phone or email.

Copyright © The Cahoon LawOffice – All rights reserved.

Recommend : tw-glendale tw-germany tw-fayette http://donate-vehicle.ipacapao.com/

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has received so much love from the blogosphere that I’m sure no one is interested in reading yet another review of it, so I’ll try to be brief. This is easily one of the best books I’ve read all year.When I first heard of The Hunger Games I wasn’t that interested, usually I’m drawn to anything dystopic but the idea of a book based around some sort of reality television show didn’t appeal to me. But when everyone else seemed to love it so much my curiosity got the better of me and I’m so glad it did.

The Hunger Games is set in Panem, a nation that arose out of the ruins of North America. Panem is made up of The Capitol and twelve districts subservient to The Capitol’s tight control. Originally there were thirteen districts, but when the they revolted against The Capitol District 13 was destroyed. As punishment for the revolution every year each district must send a boy and a girl to The Capitol’s annual Hunger Games; a fight to the death aired on national television. The Hunger Games can last for weeks as the contestant’s struggle to find food, face animal attacks, avoid traps and try to kill each other off. The novel is told from the perspective of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers for the Hunger Games in her sister’s place when the 12-year-old’s name is drawn out:

“Somewhere far away I can hear the crowd murmuring unhappily as they always do when a twelve-year-old gets chosen because no one thinks this is fair. And then I see her, the blood drenched from her fact, hands clenched in fists at her sides, walking with stiff, small steps up toward the stage, passing me, and I see the back of her blouse has become untucked and hangs out over her skirt. It’s this detail, the untucked blouse forming a ducktail, that brings me back to myself… “I volunteer!” I gasp. “I volunteer as a tribute!”"

As Katniss and the other participant from District 12, Peeta Mellark, prepare for the games, Katniss grapples with the idea of potentially having to kill him, a boy who treated her with great kindness when she was young and in need.

The Hunger Games is an utterly adrenaline pumping, addictive read. I had finished it within 24 hours because I just couldn’t put it down. As the senseless bloodshed of the games escalates Collins provides a heart wrenching look at how violence impacts on young adults. She masterfully weaves dystopia with violence, romance and adventure and enhances the suspense with her clean, simple writing. Collins’ characters are compelling and realistic and the futuristic world she builds is frighteningly believable. I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel Catching Fire. Read The Hunger Games, you won’t be able to put it down.

I Read the Hunger Games as a Part of the Following Challenges:

DystopYA Reading Challenge

The YA Dystopian Reading Challenge

Further Links:

Suzanne Collins Official Site

We staggered along a dusty trail, the five of us survivors, Taylor, Will, Jack, Vincent and I.

“So,” I said to Taylor, “Tell me how your life has been after you left Houston and before all this shit happened.”

“Well,” said Taylor, “I had been working at a dead-end job washing dishes at a diner, and at night, I had been street racing for some extra cash.”

“Haha, I remember we wanted to do that as kids, guess you were living the dream, huh?”

“Fuck that, I hate doing dishes” Taylor laughed.

We had a short laugh, then faded into silence. We continued walking toward San Antonio, toward safety.

“I guess we’ll be there in a couple days,” I said. “San Antonio, I mean”

“More like four to five at the progress we’re making.” said Jack, who glanced back at Will with a sour look, who smacked him in the back of the head.

“Taylor, tell us how you survived on your own during the plague of the 22nd century.” I said.

“Well,” started Taylor, “I heard about it on the news at first as Mad Cow Disease, but something seemed off, like this was a cover up or something. They mentioned that the biggest breakout was in Texas, near Houston, because of the heat and the number of “cows”. We were advised to stay indoors unless necessary but because it was just a cover up, no jobs were shut down, no stores or restaurants closed like they ought to have been.”

“Ahh, the Zombie Survival Guide said that it would be covered up by Mad Cow Disease. Max Brooks knew what he was talking about.” I said

“So I was at work, my day job, washing dishes when my boss came in, looking a bit pale and sweaty. I asked ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and he replied ‘I don’t know. Just feel nauseated, probably the Mad Cow Disease the government is ranting on about.’ I said ‘Do you need to go home?’ ‘No, I’ll be okay’ and he walked off, and I continued to do my work, wondering if I could sneak out if he went home.”

“Wait, did he get bitten?” I interrupted.

“Lemme finish the story,” Taylor said. “I heard screaming coming from the front of the restaurant so I assumed something was up, but I didn’t want to go check it out, you know, we’ve all seen horror movies, so I stopped my washing and just held a large knife in my right hand. That’s when he staggered in, his sleeves torn off, and I saw a large chunk of flesh missing from his forearm. He made a sort of gurgling moan and threw up on the ground and continued to stagger toward me. I didn’t know what was going on, the fact that he was the living dead escaped me at the time.”

“I stood there in shock for a couple seconds and said, ‘Sir, are you okay?’ But he just kept walking and when he reached me, he grabbed me and tried to bite my neck, so I swung the knife I had in my hand into his throat and he spat up blood on my leg and died. It was kinda ironic that the first person I killed was my boss, considering he was an ass and I hated him.”

I laughed, hard. “The first zombie I killed was my old lady neighbor who walked into my room while I was asleep and I smashed in her skull with my guitar amp. But killing  your boss was just funny.” I laughed again.

Voices up ahead told us we weren’t alone. I drew out my shotgun and the rest did similar with their own firearms, and we walked slowly toward the sound. A lone man was shooting into a group of three zombies about 10 yards away with a police-grade shotgun. One zombie’s head exploded into a hundred pieces and another’s arm was missing.

Jack stood up, preparing to help, but I held him down and whispered “If he’s doomed we don’t need to endanger ourselves saving someone who might already be bitten.”

“Oh,” replied Jack.

We watched in silence for a couple minutes, and he killed another, but at a cost: he was bitten by the last before slaying it.

We waited to see if he’d point the shotgun at himself, being infected, but instead he just stood there, tending to his wound.

I stood up, and exhaled sharply, I really didn’t want to do this. The man saw me and kind of half-smiled and said “Those fuckers really bite hard don’t they?” I didn’t reply and continued walking toward him, my shotgun at my side. “Wow, this hurts, any of you guys got a-” he never finished his sentence before my shotgun blast took his face and top half of his brain off.

Another rush of guilt like the one from the morning before hit me.

No sympathy for the dead, the undead, or any form of it. I thought.

I retched up and vomited on the body, overwhelmed by the sadness of it all. Will patted my back and said “It’s okay, none of us think you’re any less of a person for doing that. You did what needed to be done to save more lives, that’s that.”

“Thanks.” I said. “Let’s go.”

We walked in silence, too burdened by the death to talk, until we reached a large town, there we killed the many undead there and found us a place to sleep in a panic room of a large house, with a hidden door and thick walls.

“I’ll take all the watches tonight” I muttered, and no one replied, but I know they heard me because they all took their bedding out of their bag and laid down for the night.

I sat at the entrance to the hidden door and took a cigarette pack out of the messenger bag at my feet along with a black Zippo lighter. I smoked and thought of the man I had killed today, still disturbed by the face he had made when his lifeless body hit the cold ground.

I finished the cigarette and lit another, the last in the pack, which always seemed the best one, the most flavorful and most stress relieving. I never dozed off, but I lost track of time and reality in my thoughts, wondering if we’d ever make it to San Antonio alive.

[Note that this is just the Setup that I made and always use. There are Tons of diffrent ways to play theses. This is just the most effect to me]

Overall Plants used Through Out All Levels:

• Spikeweed
• Spike Rock
• Tall-Nut
• Pumpkin
• Magnet-Shroom
• Coffee Bean
• Peashooter
• Repeater
• Gatling Pea
• Jalapeno
• Cherry Bomb
• Sunflower

Basic Setup: Start up by planting two rows of sunflowers. This keeps up the flow of sun at a good amount. If the zombies quicken up and there are more then you think you can handle, then make on Pea Shooters or Repeaters if you have enough sun. After you start to get a good amount of sun start to make Tall-Nuts to protect yourself from zombies and special zombies that can jump over there smaller cousins. I normally make two rows of Tall-Nuts however that only if i feel like i have the sun for it or the zombies are pretty strong at the time. After you are pretty secured , start making spikeweeds on the rest of the fallow land. This is hurt the zombie before they reach the Tall-Nuts. After you have enough sun again, upgrade the Spikeweeds to Spike Rocks so that it does extra damage and destroys vehicles aswell. Extra Plants can be added latter on. Examples would be plants to go against Ballon Zombies or Miner’s. One Final Note is about the Gargantuar and this setup. They are the real only danger, next to miner’s to this setup. If you have Spike Rocks it will slow them down by alot (being it takes about 3-5 hits to kill one Spike Rock). However, when you have them, be prepared with any kind of powerful plant you have. The quicker you kill them the more likely you would have to much to re-plant. Below are the ScreenCaptured Photos I got each time I completed the Survival Games.

Survival Day (Hard)

Survival Night (Hard)

Survival Pool (Hard)

Survival Pool Night (Hard)

Survival Roof (Hard)

[Screenshots taken by Justles]

Hah, I saw this article in the Washington Post earlier today, and figured I would post it up here….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/26/AR2009112600176.html

“All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. If one were to tell me that this was a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not make an ado about it, for I can do without them.

All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil.  At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it.  But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer.

In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize.

What makes this duty the more urgent is that fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army.“……….. Henry David Thoreau

Is there still a War in Iraq?

0
The human mind seeks to create order out of Chaos
It is in the nature of humanity to attempt to formulate laws from experience
as a guide to future action. Acting as a feedback-response
mechanism, the mind considers the results of previous behaviour and
creates laws of action in an attempt to repeat past good results and
avoid bad results. In the individual this is known as personality, in
the communal world it is known as science.

1
All scientific laws are false
Science attempts to map the universe as a result of previous collective
experience. Since this is limited to what has actually been
experienced so far, it is always inadequate, and since it is not what
has been experienced it is always human-centred. It cannot be objective
because the object does not experience, only the subject, humanity,
experiences. Two approaches have been used to tackle this problem.
The philosophy of the western world posits that an external,
objective world interacts with us through scientific experiment, thus
science creates objectively true laws. Other European philosophy
holds, correctly in my view, that talk of an objective reality is
beyond experience and is thus meaningless babble. Moreover, scientific
experiment is no more objective than a childs attempt to walk. To Know
is not a high ideal, it is an instinct born of our particular way of
survival, and is thus survival-centred. Science is our Elephant Trunk,
our Giraffe Neck, and since it is inherently inadequate, it is a
belief system, a set of interconnected ideas-about-things. In terms of
European, Post-Hegelian philosophy, it is an ideology.

2
All idealogies are subject to chaotic dissolution
Every idealogy, whether science, Christianity or whatever, seeks to
and succeeds in creating a coherent view of reality that satisfies its
believers. The problem is that there is inevitably a gulf between the
idealogy and reality. Ideologies are fixed; reality is fluid. Thus all
ideologies are subject to readjustment when a new discovery challenges
the existing view. The rediscovery of the Greek text of the New
Testament and the discovery of the non-existence of the Ether each
corroded the existing ideologies of their day.
The Christian world responded with Reformation and Counter-Reformation.
(Historical note: Counter-Reformation was the Reformation of the
Catholic Church rather than an attack on the Protestant Reformation.)
Science responded with Einsteinian relativity. These new elements are
Chaotic. The extent to which the ideology can reform depends on how
deep the Chaotic element bites into the ideological structure. Every
ideology has central tenets upon which the rest depend: so the discovery
that Jesus was actually stoned to death rather than crucified
would cause major rumblings; the discovery that he was a woman would
cause deeper rumblings; but the discovery that he was a spaceman
carrying out a standard sociological experiment would bring down the
ideology entire. Several ideologies have completely collapsed in the
past, such as Ptolomaic astronomy, and it can happen again. Moreover,
the spread of a unified ideology over the whole globe, Western Democracy,
leaves the way open to a bigger collapse than ever before.

1253

3
There is no such thing as innate value
All present Western ideologies depend upon a concept of innate
worth, whereby certain things are automatically "better" than
others. The White Race, Men, Adults, all have had their "innate"
value knocked for six. Even the Animal Kingdom is no longer seen as
of higher worth than the Vegetable as the spread of the Gaia
hypothesis shows. This is the Chaotic element that can bring down a
whole pack of cards. There is no ethical reference point, no
beginning from which to derive an end to aim for, to praise, to work
towards. As it says in Liber Al: "let there be no difference made
between one thing and another". The result is a confusion of belief
as people scramble to find a new ideology. Fundamentalists choose
deliberate blindness and perverse stupidity. Thelemites choose "pure
will, unassuaged of purpose". Chaoists worship the confusion itself
as the only "true thing" left. Pagans begin to construct a new
ideology based on the absence of heirarchy and turn to cyclical and
egalitarian beliefs. That a new ideology, or many, will arise is
inevitable; even the truth of Chaos is only true to us, in our
experience. But so what. All things considered, I think that things
are going pretty well.

Further readings:
Knowledge and Human Interest, J.Habermas, 1967
Differance, translated as Language and Difference, Derrida, 1959
Anything by Sir Karl Popper for the view from the opposition
With fractalic greetings and laughter * Fra.: Apfelmann *

Technorati Tags: IDEOLOGY,human,Chaos,nature,action,feedback,response,mechanism,results,world,science,universe,result,subject,philosophy,European,Moreover,instinct,survival,Elephant,Trunk,Giraffe,Neck,belief,system,ideas,Post,Hegelian,dissolution,gulf,Thus,discovery,Greek,text,Testament,existence,Ether,Christian,Reformation,Counter,Historical,Catholic,Church,Protestant,Einsteinian,Chaotic,extent,element,tenets,Jesus,death,woman,Several,Ptolomaic,globe,Western,Democracy,concept,worth,White,Race,Adults,Animal,Kingdom,Vegetable,Gaia,hypothesis,reference,Liber,difference,Fundamentalists,Thelemites,purpose,Chaoists,Pagans,absence,beliefs,truth,Further,Knowledge,Interest,Habermas,Differance,Language,Derrida,Karl,Popper,opposition,greetings,laughter,Apfelmann,Ideologies,idealogy,depend,rumblings

Windows Live Tags: IDEOLOGY,human,Chaos,nature,action,feedback,response,mechanism,results,world,science,universe,result,subject,philosophy,European,Moreover,instinct,survival,Elephant,Trunk,Giraffe,Neck,belief,system,ideas,Post,Hegelian,dissolution,gulf,Thus,discovery,Greek,text,Testament,existence,Ether,Christian,Reformation,Counter,Historical,Catholic,Church,Protestant,Einsteinian,Chaotic,extent,element,tenets,Jesus,death,woman,Several,Ptolomaic,globe,Western,Democracy,concept,worth,White,Race,Adults,Animal,Kingdom,Vegetable,Gaia,hypothesis,reference,Liber,difference,Fundamentalists,Thelemites,purpose,Chaoists,Pagans,absence,beliefs,truth,Further,Knowledge,Interest,Habermas,Differance,Language,Derrida,Karl,Popper,opposition,greetings,laughter,Apfelmann,Ideologies,idealogy,depend,rumblings

WordPress Tags: IDEOLOGY,human,Chaos,nature,action,feedback,response,mechanism,results,world,science,universe,result,subject,philosophy,European,Moreover,instinct,survival,Elephant,Trunk,Giraffe,Neck,belief,system,ideas,Post,Hegelian,dissolution,gulf,Thus,discovery,Greek,text,Testament,existence,Ether,Christian,Reformation,Counter,Historical,Catholic,Church,Protestant,Einsteinian,Chaotic,extent,element,tenets,Jesus,death,woman,Several,Ptolomaic,globe,Western,Democracy,concept,worth,White,Race,Adults,Animal,Kingdom,Vegetable,Gaia,hypothesis,reference,Liber,difference,Fundamentalists,Thelemites,purpose,Chaoists,Pagans,absence,beliefs,truth,Further,Knowledge,Interest,Habermas,Differance,Language,Derrida,Karl,Popper,opposition,greetings,laughter,Apfelmann,Ideologies,idealogy,depend,rumblings

by:  Fra.: U.D.

It is quite easy to poke fun at the historical claims of most
magical and mystical orders, especially when they purport to have derived
from "very ancient", possible even "Atlantean" or, to top it all, "pre-
Atlantean" brotherhoods for whose existence even the most sypathetic
historical scholar worth his name would be very hard pressed to find any
significant proof. Actually, it is rather a cheap joke to cite, for
example, AMORC`s claims that even good old Socrates or Ramses II (of all
people!) were "Rosicrucians". However, the trouble only starts when adepts
mistake these contentions for _literal_ truths. "Literal", of course,
derives from literacy and the letters of the alphabet. And, as Marshall
MacLuhan has justly in his "Understanding Media" and perhaps even more so
in "The Gutenberg Galaxy", western civilisation has a very strong tendency
towards _linear_ thinking, very probably due to – at least in part – the
linear or non-pictographic nature of our alphabet. The very structure of
this alphabet informs us at quite a tender age to think in terms of linear
logics such as cause and effect, or, more intersetingly in our context,
PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE. This is not at all a "natural necessity" as most
people are wont to think, for the ideographic or pictographic "alphabets"
as used for example in ancient Egypt or even modern China and Japan tend to
bias the correspondingly acculturalised mind towards what MacLuhan terms
"iconic thinking" – a perception of holistic factors rather than the
systematisation into seperate (preferably indivisible) single units.
Western thought has formulated this problem as the dichtonomy of the
_analytic_ and the _synthetic_ approach. But it is perhaps no coincidence
that our contemporary culture tends to associate "synthetic" with "artificial"
, vide modern chemistry.
Now magical and mystical thinking is quite different; in fact it is not
half as interested in causality as is linear thought. Rather, it strives to
give us an overalll, holistic view of processes within our perceived
space-time continuum; an overall view which includes the psychology of the
observer to a far stronger degree than even modern physics seems to have
achieved in spite of Heisenberg`s uncertainity principle and Einstein`s
earlier theory of relativity. In other words, mythological thinking is not
so much about literal ("alphabetic"?) truth but rather about the "feel" of
things. For example, a shaman may claim that the current rain is due to the
rain goddess weeping because of some sad event. He might predict that her
phase of mourning will be over in two days` time and that the deluge will
then end. A Western meteorologist might possibly come to similar prognoses,
but he will of course indignantly deny using any of "this mystic stuff" in
the process. His rain godess takes the form of barometric pressure, wind
velocity and direction, air humidity and the like – but who is to say which
view is the "truer" one, as long as abstract and mystic predictions prove
to be accurate? From an unbiased standpoint, the modern demons "barometric
pressure", "wind velocity" and factors of a similar like are just as
abstract and mythic as the shaman`s hypothetical rain goddess – especially
so for us laymen who religiously follow the daily indoctrination via the TV
weather forecasts and satellite photograph divination: all we can do is
_believe_ in what the expert tells us is the truth. The non-shaman in a
shamanic society shares a very similar fate when he has to believe simply
that the rain goddess wants to be comforted say, by a substantial donation
of meat or tobacco in the course of a fully fledged tribal ritual.
1246
There _is_ an important difference however. If we accept the model (strongly
propagated by A.O. Spare, who was, of course, in his very special
manner, quite an orthodox Freudian) of magic primarily taking place within
the subconscious (Freud) or, less ambiguous, the unconscious (Jung); and if
we furthermore agree that said unconscious is not only the source of personal
magical energy (mana, or, as I prefer to term it, _magis_) but tends
to think and act in symbols and images, we might come to the conclusion
that our shaman`s explanation may perhaps not be scientiffical more
satisfying in Western terms, but it is surely more in accord with the way
our unconscious tends to perceive reality. In that sense it is not only
more "natural" but, one suspects, even downright _healthier_ for psychic
hygiene. It is, so to speak, more "ecological and holistic" in terms of
psychic structure.
As an aside I might mention that it is the better explanation for practical
magical reasons as well. For at least rain goddesses can be cajoled into
happiness by magical technique, ritual trance and the like until they stop
weeping, a task a meteorologist will hardly be able to imitate. (Actually I
have preferred the magic of rain prevention to the more classical example
of rain making because it is far more relevant to our own geography and
experience).
In recent years Rupert Sheldrake`s theory of morphogentic fields has raised
quite a hue and cry, not only within the confines of the scientific
community but strangely enough among occultists too. I find this latter
reaction quite astonishing, because a lot of what Mr. Sheldrake basically
claims is nothing more than the old, not to say ancient, tenet of philosophical
idealism: namely that there is what in both German and English is
called "Zeitgeist", a form of unique time-cum-thought quality, leading to
surprisingly similar albeit completely independent models of thought,
technical inventions, political truths and so on. One would rather expect
the people to be profoundly intrigued to be among materialist/positivist
biologists or physicist rather that occultists who have traded in the
Zeitgeist principle ever since occult thought proper as we understand it
arose in the Renaissance. From a pragmatic point of view Mr. Sheldrake is
behaving very much like our meteorologist, replacing mythic explanations
with crypto-mythic "scientific" factors. Unfortunately, most scientific
scholars tend to fear a devaluation of scientific termini tecnici; once

they are mentioned in the wrong "context" (almost invariably meaning: by
"wrong" people) they are readily labelled as "non-" or "pseudo-" scientific
- which is, after all, precisely what happened to poor Mr. Sheldrake
amongst his peers in spite of all his academic qualifications. This example
goes to show how very much estranged occultists can be from their oown
sources even when working with them daily.
Reality too is always the reality of its description: we are marking our
pasts, presents and futures as we go along – and we are doing it all the
time, whether we are conscious of the fact or not, whether we like it or
not, we are constantly reinventing our personal and collective space-time
continuum.
1247
Space seems rather solid and unbudging; even magic can do very little it
seems to overcome its buttresses of solidity and apparent inertia, occasional
exceptions included. (May it be noted that I include matter in
this space paradigm, because solid matter is usually defined by the very
same factors as is space – namely width, length and height.) Time, on the
other hand, is much more volatile and abstract, so much so in fact that it
is widely considered to be basically an illusion, even among non-occultist
laymen. And indeed in his famous novel "1984" George Orwell has beautifully,
albeit perhaps unwillingly, illustrated that history is very little
more than purely the _description of history_. (Which is why it has to be
rewritten so often. It seems that mankind is not very happy with an
"objective past" and prefers to dabble in "correcting" it over and again.
This is quite an important point I shall refer to again later on.) History
is, after all, the defining of our past own roots and our _present_
position within our linear space-time continuum in relation to past and
future. Very often, unfortunately, the description and interpretation of
history seem little more pathetic endeavour to obtain at least a minimum of
objectivity in a basically chaotic universe. The expression "ordo ab chao"
is more or less a summary of Western thought and Weltanschauung, of the
issues straining and stressing the Western mind since ancient Greece. Chaos
is considered "evil", order on the other hand is "good" – then the political
philosophy, if you care to dignify it by this terms, of "law and
order", appeals to people`s deeply rooted fears of loss of stability and
calculability. ("Anarchy" is another widely misunderstood case in point.)
The ontological fact that everything is transitory has never been particular
well-received in Western philosophy and theology.
Now before you get the impression that I am only trying to impose a typical
exercise in heavyhanded Teutonic style philosophical rambling upon your
overbusy reading mind, let me hasten to point out that if past, present and
future are, at least in principle, totally subjective, we as magicians are
locally perfectly free to do what we like with them. For the magician is a)
the supreme creator of his own universe and b) the master of Illusion (ref.
the Tarot card "The Magician/Juggler"). This freedom of historical choice,
however, is seldom realised let alone actively applied by the average
magician. Maybe one of the reasons for this has to do with the somewhat
pathetic fact that most of us tend to live our lives in a more or less
manner, being mild eccentrics at best, distinctly avoiding becoming too
much over the top. There are a number of possible explanations for this,
ranging from "every magician is just another guy/gal like me" to "prevention
of insanity". As we deal all the time with insanity – i.e. extremely
unorthodox states of consciousness by bourgeois standarts, we magicians
prefer some stability in our everyday lives and makeups, but this is not
really our topic.
Rather than delve into social normality of the average magician I should
like to investigate the many bogus claims to antiquity as put forward by a
multiple of magical and mystical orders from this point of view. Such
orders range from Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism and Theosophy to such
venerable institutions as the O.T.O., the Golden Dawn and many others.
Their historical claims are usually quite stereotyped: the spectrum covered
includes Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu, Solomon, Moses, Dr. Faustus, St. Germain,
the Gnostics, the Knight Templar,the Cathars, the Illuminati, the Holy
Grail myth, prehistoric witchcraft, matriarchy, shamanism etc.
1248
Now it is quite common for shamans, to cite one example, to claim that in
the good old days (usually, of course, dating back to a non-calibrated,
non-defined time immemorial) things used to be much, much better. One of
the more profane reasons for this contention may be the fact that most of
these shamans have already achieved quite a venerable age in their trade;
and don`t we all know the typical attitude of old crones towards modernity
? It may not sound particular spiritual or holy but maybe all we are seeing
here is the primitive`s parallel to the "Now when I was in Poona with Royal
Indian Army, young lad…" reported occasionally to be heard in some of
today`s pubs.
But there is more to it, I think. By calling up "bogus" ancestors from
Moses via Solomon to Dr. Faustus and St. Germain, the magician not only
reinvents his own history, he also is summoning up the egregore of these
"entities" (along with all their powers and inhibitions of course) – or, to
put into Mr. Sheldrake`s terminology, their morphic fields. By violating
all the painstakeing endeavours of the meticulous historian, by simply
ignoring a number of tedious and possibly contradictory facts and questions
(such as whether Moses and Solomon have ever _really_ been sorcerers of
some standing in their own time) the magician becomes God in the fullest
sense of the expression: not only does he choose his relatives in spirit
quite arbitrarily, he even claims the right to do what not even the
judaeo-christian god of the old testament is ever described as doing,
namely changing "objective past" at will.
This type of creative historicism appeals, so it seems, very strongly to
the unconscious mind, supplying it with a great deal of ideological back-up
information, thus reducing its conscious-mind-imposed limits of "objectivity"
to at least some modicum of superficial probability. It is only
when the occultist mixes up the different planes of reference, when he
purports to speak of "objective linear truth", instead of mythic or
symbological, decidedly non-linear truth, that serious problems arise.This
should be avoided at all costs in order not to strain our psychic set-up by
contradictory evidence, which can easily result in an unwilled-for neutralisation
of all magic powers.
But this, of course, is the same problem as with occult scientism. "Rays"
are quite a convincing hypothesis to base telepathic experiments on, as
long as you don`t try to overdefine said rays by epitheta such as "electromagnetic"
or the like. For if you do, you become the victim of scientists`
zealous inquisition boards. Or, as Oscar Wilde might have put it, it
is not truth which liberates man`s mind but lying. (Which, again, is one of
the reasons why Aleister Crowley entitled his magnum opus "The Book of
Lies" in the first place…)
1249
Let us then resort to _creative historicism_ whenever we find it useful.
Let us not have "historical objectivity" dictated to us by the powers that
be. Let us accept our fuzziness of expression which is, after all, little
more than a honest acknowledgement of the fact that symbols and images are
always more than just a little ambiguous, as our dreams well prove every
night. As in divination, it does not pay to become overprecise in magic:
the more you try to define a spell, the higher probability of failure. It
is quite easy to charge a working talisman quite generally "for wealth"; it
is quite another to charge it to "obtain the sum of $347.67 on March 13th
at 4.06 p.m. in 93, Jermyn Street, 3rd floor" and still expect success.
While the latter may strangely enough succeed occasionally, this is usually
only the freak exception of the rule. However, by systematically rewriting
our past in fuzzy terms, possibly eventing past lives and biographies for
ourselves consciously or arbitrarily, we are fulfilling the final demand of
Granddaddy Lucifer`s "non serviam". Let nobody impose his or her time and
history parameters on you!
And for practical exercise, allow your clock occasionally to be well in
advance of your contemporaries`; let it sometimes lay behind for a few
hours _and_ minutes (do not just change the hour hand as this would make it
easy to recalculate into demiurge`s "real" space-time continuum, making you
yet again its slave!) Do this to learn about your former ill-advised
humility towards the current time paradigm – and about the illusory
character of time and its measurement in general. Rewrite your personal and
family history daily, invent your own kin and ancestors. "Problems with Mom
and Dad? Pick a new couple!" Experiment with retroactive spells, try to
heal your friend`s flu before he even contracted it. But do this in a
playful spirit lest your censor should whack you for your constant violations
of the rules of this game by again confusing the frames of reference.
Jump from one parallel universe to the next one, never permit yourself to
stand still and become enmeshed by Maya`s veil (you are supposed to be the
_Master_ of illusion, remember?). And don`t panic: for nothing is true,
everything is permitted.

Technorati Tags: Notes,role,Magic,orders,Atlantean,existence,scholar,worth,example,AMORC,Socrates,Ramses,Rosicrucians,_literal_,Literal,Marshall,MacLuhan,Gutenberg,Galaxy,tendency,_linear_,nature,context,PAST,PRESENT,FUTURE,Egypt,China,Japan,bias,perception,Western,_analytic_,_synthetic_,coincidence,culture,fact,Rather,continuum,observer,degree,spite,Heisenberg,principle,Einstein,theory,words,truth,shaman,event,phase,direction,From,standpoint,indoctrination,satellite,divination,_believe_,fate,donation,meat,difference,Spare,manner,Freudian,Freud,Jung,energy,_magis_,symbols,images,conclusion,explanation,accord,_healthier_,hygiene,technique,trance,task,prevention,geography,Rupert,Sheldrake,reaction,tenet,idealism,German,English,Zeitgeist,Renaissance,devaluation,qualifications,description,Space,buttresses,inertia,paradigm,width,length,Time,George,Orwell,history,_description,history_,roots,_present_,relation,Very,interpretation,universe,Weltanschauung,Greece,Chaos,philosophy,fears,Anarchy,theology,Teutonic,magician,creator,Illusion,Tarot,card,Juggler,freedom,Maybe,topic,Freemasonry,Rosicrucianism,Theosophy,Golden,Dawn,spectrum,Atlantis,Lemuria,Solomon,Moses,Faustus,Germain,Gnostics,Templar,Cathars,Illuminati,Grail,myth,contention,attitude,Poona,Royal,Indian,Army,ancestors,terminology,_really_,testament,modicum,reference,problems,result,Rays,hypothesis,victim,inquisition,Oscar,Wilde,Aleister,Crowley,opus,Book,Lies,resort,_creative,dreams,failure,talisman,wealth,March,Jermyn,Street,exception,Granddaddy,Lucifer,clock,contemporaries,_and_,measurement,Rewrite,Pick,Experiment,friend,rules,Jump,Maya,_Master_,contentions,truths,factors,units,prognoses,predictions,demons,explanations,scholars,termini,institutions,inhibitions,parameters,violations,alphabet,towards,linear,holistic,meteorologist,barometric,mythic,laymen,occultists,occult,whether,occultist,magicians,shamans

Windows Live Tags: Notes,role,Magic,orders,Atlantean,existence,scholar,worth,example,AMORC,Socrates,Ramses,Rosicrucians,_literal_,Literal,Marshall,MacLuhan,Gutenberg,Galaxy,tendency,_linear_,nature,context,PAST,PRESENT,FUTURE,Egypt,China,Japan,bias,perception,Western,_analytic_,_synthetic_,coincidence,culture,fact,Rather,continuum,observer,degree,spite,Heisenberg,principle,Einstein,theory,words,truth,shaman,event,phase,direction,From,standpoint,indoctrination,satellite,divination,_believe_,fate,donation,meat,difference,Spare,manner,Freudian,Freud,Jung,energy,_magis_,symbols,images,conclusion,explanation,accord,_healthier_,hygiene,technique,trance,task,prevention,geography,Rupert,Sheldrake,reaction,tenet,idealism,German,English,Zeitgeist,Renaissance,devaluation,qualifications,description,Space,buttresses,inertia,paradigm,width,length,Time,George,Orwell,history,_description,history_,roots,_present_,relation,Very,interpretation,universe,Weltanschauung,Greece,Chaos,philosophy,fears,Anarchy,theology,Teutonic,magician,creator,Illusion,Tarot,card,Juggler,freedom,Maybe,topic,Freemasonry,Rosicrucianism,Theosophy,Golden,Dawn,spectrum,Atlantis,Lemuria,Solomon,Moses,Faustus,Germain,Gnostics,Templar,Cathars,Illuminati,Grail,myth,contention,attitude,Poona,Royal,Indian,Army,ancestors,terminology,_really_,testament,modicum,reference,problems,result,Rays,hypothesis,victim,inquisition,Oscar,Wilde,Aleister,Crowley,opus,Book,Lies,resort,_creative,dreams,failure,talisman,wealth,March,Jermyn,Street,exception,Granddaddy,Lucifer,clock,contemporaries,_and_,measurement,Rewrite,Pick,Experiment,friend,rules,Jump,Maya,_Master_,contentions,truths,factors,units,prognoses,predictions,demons,explanations,scholars,termini,institutions,inhibitions,parameters,violations,alphabet,towards,linear,holistic,meteorologist,barometric,mythic,laymen,occultists,occult,whether,occultist,magicians,shamans

WordPress Tags: Notes,role,Magic,orders,Atlantean,existence,scholar,worth,example,AMORC,Socrates,Ramses,Rosicrucians,_literal_,Literal,Marshall,MacLuhan,Gutenberg,Galaxy,tendency,_linear_,nature,context,PAST,PRESENT,FUTURE,Egypt,China,Japan,bias,perception,Western,_analytic_,_synthetic_,coincidence,culture,fact,Rather,continuum,observer,degree,spite,Heisenberg,principle,Einstein,theory,words,truth,shaman,event,phase,direction,From,standpoint,indoctrination,satellite,divination,_believe_,fate,donation,meat,difference,Spare,manner,Freudian,Freud,Jung,energy,_magis_,symbols,images,conclusion,explanation,accord,_healthier_,hygiene,technique,trance,task,prevention,geography,Rupert,Sheldrake,reaction,tenet,idealism,German,English,Zeitgeist,Renaissance,devaluation,qualifications,description,Space,buttresses,inertia,paradigm,width,length,Time,George,Orwell,history,_description,history_,roots,_present_,relation,Very,interpretation,universe,Weltanschauung,Greece,Chaos,philosophy,fears,Anarchy,theology,Teutonic,magician,creator,Illusion,Tarot,card,Juggler,freedom,Maybe,topic,Freemasonry,Rosicrucianism,Theosophy,Golden,Dawn,spectrum,Atlantis,Lemuria,Solomon,Moses,Faustus,Germain,Gnostics,Templar,Cathars,Illuminati,Grail,myth,contention,attitude,Poona,Royal,Indian,Army,ancestors,terminology,_really_,testament,modicum,reference,problems,result,Rays,hypothesis,victim,inquisition,Oscar,Wilde,Aleister,Crowley,opus,Book,Lies,resort,_creative,dreams,failure,talisman,wealth,March,Jermyn,Street,exception,Granddaddy,Lucifer,clock,contemporaries,_and_,measurement,Rewrite,Pick,Experiment,friend,rules,Jump,Maya,_Master_,contentions,truths,factors,units,prognoses,predictions,demons,explanations,scholars,termini,institutions,inhibitions,parameters,violations,alphabet,towards,linear,holistic,meteorologist,barometric,mythic,laymen,occultists,occult,whether,occultist,magicians,shamans

Get back to running your business, doing what you do best. Leave the workout to pros.

One of the more serious side effects of being under cash flow duress from reduced revenues, are how these issues change your focus from running the business to fighting for survival.

Being forced to fight the battles every day, with notes being called, and threats of foreclosure looming from your bank, not taking home a check, so personal finances are in disarray, most of your time is being spent fighting this war.

Juggling cash flow, worrying about how to make payroll, aggressively collecting accounts receivable, worrying about how to convince vendors to ship you while you still owe for previous invoices and cannot afford to prepay or even pay COD. Late on rent, late on car payments and worrying about a repo, and on it goes. Soon you may be challenged with facing the IRS for failure to make 941 tax payments, or your landlord threatening eviction unless you come current.

I understand. It is a near impossible balancing act.

Two things can occur to change this situation immediately when you engage the professional services of a workout specialist:

First, our efforts and workout strategies remove these issues…completely, affordably.

Second, and most important this leaves you to focus on what you do best and what is most important and most necessary for your long term survival… managing your business, reinventing your business so it once again becomes profitable and successful.

I hear from so many of my clients, that they cannot focus on their business and when they go home they only worry about their situation, none of which will help to change their reality.

As critical to your emergence as is the workout of your debt, is the need for you to be able to get back to business, and with a balanced cash flow, having stripped off the debt and reduced your personal guaranties reinvent yourself, profitably and emerge successful again, under the new economic realities of the day.

Simply removing the war zone from your daily efforts is a huge enough change. Giving you hope and some peace that the issues will be resolved, is another huge uplift. Going home and announcing to your spouse that you have some help and there is light at the end of the tunnel, that you will survive and work this all out, is the best result imaginable and this occurs moments after you sign on.

You cannot do it all alone. You need special skills which most business owners do not posses, nor should you, as you have been focused on building a business not working out debt.

Get professional experienced workout help. Remove the issues from your responsibility, concentrate on your business. That is the recipe for successful emergence from this economic meltdown.

Peace of mind, refocus and professional assistance working out your issues while you rebuild your business. This works, little else does. Call us for a no obligation teleconference to evaluate your situation. Call Norm 413-584-2581, he will arrange.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

What is preparedness & survivalism? Some folks think the two are one in the same, and others think differently. And when you add the term ’sustainable living’ into the mix you can develop a slew of new ideas and definitions. So, I feel it is important to differentiate the terminology and meaning behind all of these words in order to form a more comprehensive view of the coming times, what we are in for, and how we will learn to cope with what is ahead.

In simple terms, we can say that preparedness is the planning that comes before the fact, and survival is the act of living with what happens after the fact. How well we survive is dependent upon how we prepare. But there is much more to consider when making your plans to survive than simply piling up a bunch of go packs, MRE’s, water and endless supplies to feed the family and tend to their scrapes and bruises. Part of this planning should include a plan that has a goal of adapting yourselves to learn to live with less. And this doesn’t mean that you need to learn to live in the woods covered with deer skin to keep you warm. This means that you have to learn to do without what we take for granted today.

There are various stages or levels of disaster after-life that may be permanent, or they may be temporary. But what happens in the aftermath of any disaster is directly related to your response and the level of planning prior to that same disaster. For instance, let’s look at the infamous Katrina event, or Hurricane Katrina, of a few years ago. The storm was well documented, and warnings were given in plenty of time for people to have been evacuated, but they weren’t. There are many reasons for this failure to do the right thing, but the underlying cause of the devastation remains dedicated to just a few basic points.

Number one, New Orleans is built for the most part under sea level, and also has the advantage of being the mouthpiece of the Mississippi River. And remember, all water flows into the sea, if it doesn’t evaporate beforehand. In my opinion, much of what has been rebuilt after the storm should not have been rebuilt. At some point another major storm will bear down upon that same city and we’ll be repeating what never should have happened in the first place. But all that is beside the point.

The point here is that the Gulf is a region prone to hurricane damage, and people know that. Even if the government doesn’t tell you to leave, that doesn’t mean you should stay. Common knowledge would have suggested that the low lying areas of that city were going to be flooded, and that knowledge was, and is attainable by everyone. If these people would have had a survival mindset they would have had go bags ready to go and should have get gone well before the first warnings of flooding potential were issued. But people still wanted to party, and hold onto their property.

The afterlife of many showed just how poor their preparedness was, and the stories of many indicate the level of survivability people were prepared for. Many were orphaned out to other states where they had to rely upon the welfare system to put a roof over their heads and food in their guts. Some still rely upon that aid, in fact. Those who had the preparedness aspect under control and in place long before the flooding fared much better. Those people got out much sooner, they had cash to live off of, and sometimes relatives they could go to, they had insurance to cover their losses, and they were able to obtain alternate employment relatively quickly if their employers were shut down and out of business.

There are lessons that we can all learn from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but very often we fail to listen to our instructor, don’t we? The first lesson we can learn is that no matter how prepared we are to meet disaster, we often times will fail because of some small overlooked detail. For instance, if the Levees hadn’t failed, how badly would the area have been damaged? Did anyone take the possibility of their failure into consideration prior to, and during the period where evacuations were being considered?

Transportation is yet another factor. I recall reading quite a few headlines concerning the usage of city and private busses to get certain segments of the population out of harm’s way. Why would that have been an issue in the first place? Proper planning would have had the mechanisms in place to utilize every means of possible transportation available, and yet the various government agencies bickered over the usage of those busses.

There are a good many more examples that could be presented here, but the picture painted as we look back at this particular disaster just brings to light the fact that there will always be something overlooked that may cause us to fail in our attempts of survival after the fact. Unfortunately, many of these overlooked items could have been seen if we had only put more effort into preparedness. When developing your emergency preparedness plans you need to take the time to think through every conceivable scenario. You need to pretend in your head that this event or another is actually happening, and play out the scene as it were real life. What if should be one of the main mottos of your survival and preparedness agenda.

And then you need to practice and act out your survival plans to see what you have forgotten in the preparedness stage. Remember, once the hurricane, or other disaster hits you can no longer prepare for it. You have nothing less but to survive upon what your preparedness planning has given you.