Saturday, May 09, 2009

[housekeeping] comment moderation until monday

On the weekend, I do not have access to the internet and thus any posts are on 'scheduled'. Knowing this, an unprincipled person has apparently popped up again. He left a comment on this blog some days ago but fortunately the failsafe caught him out and it was deleted.

He knew that my failsafe was not going to work this weekend and so left a comment, not so long ago, accusing me of all sorts of things, basing them on hearsay and innuendo. Naturally, these statements are actionable, which he seems to be hoping I'll initiate but I have no intention of having anything whatsoever to do with him.

Unfortunately for this person, a friend of mine saw the comment, contacted me and has had to alter his own weekend plans to allow me to come up here and deal with the problem. I now have another failsafe in place which will only operate from Monday during business hours but until then, I'm sorry, dear readers but I've had to switch on moderation.

There are many bloggers of some years standing who know exactly who this person is and yes - he doesn't seem to be able to leave matters alone, does he? Perhaps his former friends could ask him to desist.

For now, for the readers who nothing about any of this, sorry for this temporary inconvenience.

[wolfram alfa] sounds good for bloggers

Wolfram Alpha‘.

As a technophile [:)], I'm going for it.

UPDATES

Here

Here

[english] laying the groundrules

How well do you know your own language? Give the correct variant in each case:


1. He laid/lay down on the bed to take a nap.

2. Having laid/lain in bed all day, she got up to eat.

3. Lie/lay the baby down on the bed and have a rest!

4. She laid/lay the baby on the bed while she took a nap.

5. The chickens laid/layed the eggs and then took a nap.


Oblique, simplistic answers

Lay – laid – laid - laying is ‘to place something down’.
Lie – lay – lain - lying is ‘to place yourself down’.
Lie – lied – lied – lying is ‘to tell an untruth’.
Layed is a misspelling and does not exist. Use laid instead.

[education destroyed 2] the issue of research


This [shorter] article is the continuation on the educational post here and abridges the work of:

Stone, J. E. & Clements, A. (1998), Research and innovation: Let the buyer beware, in Robert R. Spillane & Paul Regnier (Eds.), The superintendent of the future (pp.59-97), Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, via J. E. Stone and Andrea Clements, East Tennessee State University

Quantitative versus Qualitative Research

Quantitative research includes both descriptive and explanatory studies. Descriptive studies are concerned only with establishing the existence of a phenomenon of interest--student achievement, for example. How much of it exists, where it exists, and what kinds of it exist are typical descriptive hypotheses. Explanatory studies are concerned with the causes of a phenomenon of interest.

For example, does the use of Direct Instruction improve achievement? Technically stated, explanatory studies are concerned with the discovery of functional relationships (i.e., relationships in which the state of a given phenomenon is said to be a function of a preceding event or condition).

Less technically, explanatory studies are concerned with whether a given effect is the result of a particular cause. Causal relationships are examined in experiments and experiment-like studies called quasi-experiments. More is said about experiments below.

Descriptive studies address a wide range of topics. For example, a report of average test scores for students at different schools would be descriptive. So would a study of the number of words comprising recognition vocabulary of children at succeeding ages. Descriptive studies include a number of subtypes.

For example, studies of characteristics such as preferred types of play or ability to perform certain intellectual tasks may entail observation of fresh samples of children at successive chronological age levels. Such studies are called "cross-sectional" descriptive research. Studies that examine the same characteristics but observe the same individual children over a period of years are called "longitudinal."

Quantitative descriptive studies also include reports of correlational relationships between variables. An example of a correlational study would be one that describes the degree of relationship between family socioeconomic status and school achievement. Another example is hyperactivity's relationship to junk food consumption. Correlational studies are among those most frequently misinterpreted by users of educational research.

Despite its current unpopularity among educators, there is a great deal of high-quality quantitative research in education. It includes disquieting descriptive findings such as falling SAT scores and reports of low math and science achievement and similarly disquieting experimental results such as those of the Follow Through project. In the opinion of the authors, quantitative research's unpopularity may well be related to its disagreeable results. Findings that affirm orthodoxy are clearly more popular.

Qualitative research in education is a growth industry. It is a type of research long used in fields such as cultural anthropology. Qualitative research relies on written description instead of objective measurement, and its findings are subject to all the vagaries associated with written descriptions of any kind. Rather than attempting to affirm hypotheses and make generalizations that are grounded on an agreed-upon objective framework, qualitative research is more concerned with description as subjectively perceived by an observer in context.

Such descriptions are thought to be more honest and realistic than descriptions that purport to be objective and at arm's length. It is a form of research premised on a postmodern, multiculturalist view of science. It argues that the objective understanding to which traditional science aspires is nothing more than an arbitrary Western convention--one educators should be free to reject.

By avoiding a focus on particular variables of interest, qualitative research presumably avoids the imposition of cultural bias. Of course such a process ignores the very information typically sought by the consumer. For example, a teacher's question about whether one teaching method produces greater achievement than another would not be answered by a qualitative study. Qualitative studies do not "prove" or "disprove" anything. They can only describe. The validity of such studies is simply an open question (Krathwohl, 1993).

The vagueness of the methods used in qualitative studies invites observer bias. Observers are necessarily selective in their observations. For example, an observer who dislikes the punishment seen in a classroom may tend to note the negative emotional reactions of students more than would a disinterested observer.

By contrast, a more impartial observer might give greater attention to the increased on-task behavior that may be effected by the use of punishment. Although there are ways to make such observations more reliable, they are far more subject to researcher bias than most quantitative reports.

Action Research

Like qualitative research, action research has gained in popularity among educators. Wiersma (1995) describes it as research "conducted by teachers, administrators, or other educational professionals for solving a specific problem or for providing information for decision making at the local level" (p. 11). Action research is typically quantitative but less rigorous in design and methodology than conventional quantitative research.

The following is a classroom level example: A teacher is having discipline problems during her fifth-period class. She arranges the desks differently and assesses whether the discipline problems are reduced. A written report of her investigation, including data, analysis, and a brief discussion, would be considered action research.

Would such a finding be a sufficient basis for recommending that teachers employ rearranged desks as a means of treating discipline problems? In theory it would not. Practice, however, is another matter. Despite methodological weaknesses--in the present example, a single class sample and no control group--such findings are sometimes used to bolster proposals for new and innovative programs.

Pseudoresearch

Pseudoresearch is a form of scholarly writing that appears to make factual claims based on evidence but, in fact, consists only of opinion founded on opinion. Previous studies are cited, but they contain only theory and opinion. Legitimate empirical reports traditionally present a review of literature that enables the reader to put new findings in context and to strengthen factual generalizations (Stanovich,1996). However, previous studies containing only opinion do nothing to strengthen the report that cites them.

Commonsense educational claims are often supported by such "research." For example, if an expert opines that schooling is improved by greater funding and if other experts cite and endorse that original claim, subsequent reports will contain what appears to be substantiation.

* If the claim seems plausible and thus goes unquestioned, it appears to gain acceptance as a fact without ever being tested. Such claims are said to be supported by "research" but it is "research" in the sense of a systematic review of relevant literature, not in the sense of studies that offer an empirical foundation for factual assertions.

Educational innovations that are consistent with popular educational doctrines are often supported by such research. The controversial but widely used whole-language reading instruction (discussed below), for example, goes unquestioned by most educators because it fits hand-in-glove with learner-centered pedagogy. It is supported primarily by favorable opinion among like-minded educators, not demonstrated experimental results.

A type of research that seems to produce empirical facts from opinion is a group-interaction process called the Delphi method (Eason, 1992; Strauss & Zeigler, 1975). However, instead of creating the appearance of empirically grounded fact from multiple reports of opinion (as does pseudoresearch), the * Delphi method creates facts about opinion.

In Delphi research, the opinions of experts are collected and synthesized in a multistage, iterative process. For example, if a researcher sought to determine the future occupations open to high school graduates, he or she might consult a panel consisting of career counselors, former high school students, employers, and economists. The panelists would be asked to compose a list of prospective jobs, and they would each share their list with the other panelists.

After viewing the lists of other panelists some members might choose to change their estimations, and their changes would then be shared with the other panelists in a second round of mutual review. Ideally, three or so rounds of sharing and realignment would produce a consensus. The "fact" resulting from such a study is that experts agree about the future availability of certain jobs, not that certain jobs have a high probability of being available.

A recent attempt to find effective institution-to-home "transition strategies" for disabled juvenile delinquents illustrates how a Delphi consensus can be confused with an empirically grounded conclusion. Following three rounds of surveys, Pollard, Pollard, and Meers (1994) concluded that the priorities identified by the panelists provided a "blueprint for successful transition" when, in fact, the surveys produced only a consensus about what may or may not prove to be a successful blueprint.

Rand corporation is credited with developing the Delphi technique as a means of distilling a consensus of expert opinion. Sackman (1974) has summarized its primary shortcomings. The expert status of panelists is not scientifically verifiable and neither is the assumption that group opinion is superior to individual opinion.

One other confusion about the Delphi technique pertains to its use by the leader of a deliberative body. Delphi methodology can create the appearance of consensus where none exists--a problematic outcome of a deliberative process. Technically, the Delphi technique does not force a consensus; but as a practical matter, it is designed to produce a consensus and it puts substantial pressure on dissenters for conformity to the group.

When employed by the leadership of a deliberative group, it can turn what should be an open and fair-minded exchange of views into a power struggle. Minority viewpoints can be isolated and marginalized. The result is more mindless conformity than reasoned agreement. The conclusions reached by committees and policy-making bodies can easily be distorted by Delphi methodology.

Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research

Experiments are quantitative studies in which cause-effect relationships are tested (Campbell and Stanley, 1966). Quasi-experiments attempt the same but with certain limitations. Other studies may suggest or imply causal relationships, but their findings are far more ambiguous and subject to misinterpretation. Experiments are not foolproof, but they afford the best evidence science has to offer.

From a purely scientific standpoint, experiments are important because they attempt to answer the primary question with which science is concerned:

"What explains or accounts for the phenomenon under investigation?"

All sciences aspire to this kind of understanding. They are valuable from a practical standpoint, too, because they address the question of whether a given program, teaching method, treatment, intervention, curriculum, and the like produces expected effects.

Because schooling is intended as means of making a difference in the lives of students, the armamentarium of professional educators should contain tools that are well tested and demonstrably effective. Ideally, they should also be convenient, cost-effective, and well received by the student; but at a minimum, they must be effective.

The critical importance of experimental evidence in establishing effectiveness is not well understood by educators, but it is just such an understanding that is at the heart of knowing which research is valuable and why.

The aim of science is said to be the explanation of natural phenomena. However, the term explanation itself requires a bit of explanation. As the term is used by scientists, explanation refers to cause-and-effect explanation.

For example, a phenomenon such as achievement in school is said to be explained (or at least partially explained) if it can be shown that the presence or absence of achievement is functionally (i.e., causally) related to a preceding event or set of events termed a cause. A functional or causal relationship is initially stated in a tentative form called a hypothesis and is not considered a valid explanation until affirmed by evidence.

Experimental research is the business of collecting evidence that might support or disconfirm causal hypotheses. It entails the manipulation of a hypothesized cause for the purpose of inducing an expected effect. If a given effect (technically, a change in the "dependent variable") follows alteration of the purported cause (technically, a change in the "independent variable"), the causal hypothesis is said to be supported.

Other types of quantitative research and even qualitative research may be valuable in suggesting cause-effect hypotheses, but only experimental research can provide a direct test.

Internal and External Validity of Studies

Whether an empirical study is capable of demonstrating a causal relationship is one issue, but whether a given experiment was properly conducted is another. Moreover, even a properly conducted experiment may have limited applicability and usefulness in the "real world."

Whether the procedures used in an experiment permit valid findings is the matter of internal validity.

Whether the findings of an experiment are generally applicable to the "real world" (i.e., applicable under conditions beyond those under which the study was conducted) is the matter of external validity.

A wide variety of technical considerations can adversely influence the internal validity of an experiment. For example, the manner in which subjects were assigned to treatment and comparison groups can profoundly affect the outcome of an otherwise well-designed experiment.

Technical issues with respect to type of sampling and type of population sampled, for example, can greatly influence the external validity of a study.

Accurate assessment of these and other technical details requires considerable expertise. Even well-informed investigators may overlook significant threats to the validity of an experiment. Cook and Campbell (1979) provide an authoritative discussion of the myriad considerations that should be considered. Happily there are at least three considerations that a nonexpert can examine to assess the internal validity of a study: source, convergence, and replication.

Source. If a study is reported in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, chances are good that it meets acceptable standards of internal and external validity. Peer review typically entails blind review of a manuscript by a panel of experts selected by an editor. Panelists are not given the author's name and the author is not given the reviewers' names. All criticisms and replies are exchanged through the editor. The most reputable and selective journals use this process.

Reports reviewed only by an editor may be valid, but peer-reviewed scholarship is generally conceded to be the most credible. Again, the process is not foolproof, but it is the best science has to offer.

Unpublished reports and reports that are not subject to editorial review--grant proposals and reports of funded research such as those included in the ERIC's Research in Education, for example--are of uncertain quality and should be treated as such.

Convergence. If a study's findings are generally consistent with (i.e., they converge with) the findings of other investigations in an area of research, they are generally assumed credible (Stanovich, 1996). Any competent research report will include a review of relevant literature. Consistencies and discrepancies within the existing literature and between the report at hand and previous studies are analyzed and discussed.

Articles called "reviews of literature" and "meta-analyses" are dedicated to citing and summarizing all of the findings relevant to a given topic or area of study.

Although new and revolutionary findings are sometimes uncovered by a single study, competent observations of the same or similar phenomena usually result in similar findings. Most scientific advancements come as incremental additions to understanding, not breakthroughs.

Replication. Replications are repeats of an original study by another investigator using a fresh set of subjects. The credibility of a study that has been replicated is greatly enhanced. Findings that have been replicated are considered valid even if they do not converge with other reports in the same general area of investigation. Only a small percentage of studies in the behavioral sciences are replicated, however.

The Need for Both Experiments and Field Testing

Few experimental investigations are able to fully satisfy requirements for both internal and external validity in a single study. The controls, artificial conditions, and other constraints necessary to ensure internal validity tend to interfere with external validity. Conversely, unanticipated and uncontrolled events can confound or invalidate an otherwise well-conceived study that is conducted in a natural environment such as a school.

Because of this inherent conflict, programs or interventions derived from experimental investigations should be field tested prior to implementation.

Field tests are trials of an experimentally supported finding in the classroom or clinic or other setting for which it is intended. Not infrequently they result in the discovery of limitations, cautions, and restrictions on the applicability of experimentally validated findings. Even findings that have been field tested elsewhere may lack local applicability because of peculiar local conditions.

Thus, large-scale programs, in particular, should also be locally tested on a small scale in what is called a pilot study. Pilot studies are especially important when the implementation of research findings entail significant time and energy costs for school personnel or learning opportunity costs for students.

My comment

An example of the problem of research methods is the climate debate. Both sides quote ‘experts’ but only their own experts, not those of the other side. Thus there appears to be quite cogent science supporting the sceptic stance that man made global warming is not occurring and there is an august body of science also supporting that it is occurring.

Both sides ignore the other’s ‘science’ and continue to quote their own as some some of refutation. This is ‘pseudo-science’ and proves nothing.

In education, it is one of the key methods of forcing through ‘educational consensus’ on ‘latest discoveries’ supporting the socialistic thrust of the powers that be in education and the results are now out there for the whole community to see.

Hover near a group of chavs and listen to their conversation for more anecdotal evidence of the plight of education in our community.

Friday, May 08, 2009

[russia one year on] has anything changed


My eyewitness information is now [coming up to being] a year out of date but primary source material still comes in from Russia as to what’s happening in that great land – I’m pumping one girl for as much as I can about the current state of play.

As is often the case with eyewitness and primary sources, they’re of less use than what researchers can offer, being specific to the situation those sources find themselves in. However, there are enough different sources currently coming in to my inbox, to attempt a comparison between Russia and Britain.

Both are facing depression and both have interesting set-ups at the top but one difference, it seems to me, is that not only are prices artificially kept in check over there, they are able to be. By this, I mean that Russia is still not sufficiently part of the market economy that it feels the strictures of process.

Here, if Darling says it is so, there are a thousand pundits to point out that he’s either in cloud cuckoo land or telling porkies. Everyone knows Britain’s debt. In Russia, everyone knows it is oil and gas which keep things afloat and when the Duma says, ‘This is,’ usually it is, until next week at least, when they may have changed their minds. Either way, the pan-Russian public just accepts it and puts it down to being Moscow’s doing.

The original model for our UKSSR, soviet Russia left a legacy of red tape and criminalization which put the average punter into a position, long ago, of having to ignore the million and one tiny regulations but to concentrate instead on the ‘regulation of the week’ which the powers that be happen to be pushing.

For example, everyone knows when the police have been instructed to pull over drivers for having half a wheel on a white line and with the state of the roads over there, it’s impossible to take any journey without four or five times committing that particular breach. Therefore, one doesn’t travel by car that day or else takes a route where the GAI are not likely to be. Usually these things happen when the coffers are low, at certain significant moments in the year.

Another difference is that apparently the mini-skirt is back in fashion and over there, the young women are absolutely everywhere, on every street, in every shop, anywhere you try to turn - there they are. It would be difficult for a man in the main shopping streets just at this point. Over here, women are only just de-rugging.

There’ve apparently been changes to tertiary education over there and I’m trying to get my friends to fathom those and be a little more than mono-syllabic in their replies. More on that at a later time.

I suspect that things are not a great deal different to what people can remember in the ‘bad old days’, a debatable question over there as to whether they were the bad old days and Russians are uniquely placed to cope with deep privations and dire circumstances in general. Over here, only the war generation would be prepared for what is coming up in late 2009 to mid 2010.

Having siad that, the Brits are perhaps halfway between the Americans and Russians for being able to batten down hatches and live on a shoestring, to shamelessly mix metaphors, as is my wont.

There’s a popular joke in some quarters in Russia and it goes a little like this:

There was a tank broken down in the desert. An American was sent out to assess it, he got to the core of the problem and ordered the part from Pittsburg, waiting time six weeks.

Two Brits came out to assess the problem, looked over, under and around, one raised his eyebrows, muttered, ‘Typical, in’it?’ to which the other said, ‘Big job, that. American tank. We’ll need to make a list of parts and we’ll sort it tomorrow, at 2.55 p.m.’

They departed the scene to get the requisite gear, for which they’d need to submit a Form SQ23-4h5, a J7D/347/T27 and possibly a K43 in triplicate plus they’d have to check that the officers authorized to do the repairs possessed the relevant NVQs. They’d be back tomorrow at 2.55 p.m and if a Brit says it won’t be sorted before 2.55 p.m. then, barring someone being called onto another job, in which case they’d need to reassess the return time, it will be sorted at 2.55 p.m.

A Russian came out, looked over, under etc., then broke for a cigarette. Two more Russians arrived, all shook hands and they discussed the matter, handing ciggies around. Four more, including two women, saw this group, came over, shook hands, cigarettes were passed round again, at which five more came upon the scene, cigarettes etc. etc.

Half swarmed over the machine and the other half remained smoking, for moral support. Dima called out, from under the tank, for someone to throw him down some chewing gum and one of the girl’s hairclips. After some time, he called out for Sergei to try the ignition.

The tank spluttered but wouldn’t start.

They broke for cigarettes and another brainstorming conference began, at which they discussed the two eternal Russian questions, in this order: ‘Who’s to blame and what to do?’

Time to break for a nip of vodka. Someone had brought some dried fish and khlep [bread].

In a better frame of mind now, everyone staggered back and then Misha saw the crux of the problem, common sense really, where before all had been fog. One of the girls’ panyhose, a hairclip and two chewed pieces of gum later, Sergei tried the ignition, it growled and spluttered, then suddenly sprang into life.

They all broke for a couple more nips and some ciggies, a good day’s work having been put in and some super lovemaking coming up late evening. Then they piled into, onto and around the tank and drove back to camp.

On Monday - why it is still possible to starve in Russia.


Good Trance

Sometimes I find it amusing to be looking for a song on YouTube and then finding another one, completely by accident. Usually, the accidentally found one turns out to be quite good.

Such was the case last night when I was looking for "Ibiza Sunrise" by Labworks:



One question I've always had, since I never have been to Ibiza, (even during my six month sojourn in Spain) is why do they have these chicks in two piece swimsuits? You look at any, and I mean any song on YouTube that is from the electronica genre and you will find one version of the song (if it's only the song) that has an avatar or a real photo of some chick in a two piece. It's as if the two piece swimsuit and chick are symbols of the place.

A brief primer (please don't take this as the definitive word, as I'm just now learning although I've dabbled in the genre for a number of years now) on electronic sub-genres:

house - a genre that usually (but not always) has vocals and is generally listened to in (where else?) your house

trance - a genre that employs usually only methodic beats without vocals, very popular in clubs

dance - a genre that is easy to dance to (usually remixes of pop songs from what I've found)

Back to my story, last night I searched for Labworks' "Ibiza Sunrise" by typing in "sunrise on Ibiza" on YouTube and this came up



It is now my new favorite trance song. Enjoy!

PS: Did I mention I just finished my last final of my undergrad epoch? Joy!

[copyright] shows you have to be careful

That header of the shoreline and boat at sunset came about this way. I had the large picture and trimmed it to header size, accentuated and did bibs and bobs, then had it hosted.

Fine. The original had been in my store for years, I couldn't recall from where but as i thought about it, it seemed to look like one of Gary Dierking's boats [he's known for that super-smooth strip-planking]. So today I thought I'd check his site out again and what a shock. Not only did he crop the way I did but he used the Papyrus font, as I do in many pics I use.

If you were to compare the two, it looks as if I've just come along and lifted his pic whereas I can assure anyone it was not so. Anyway, look through his site, he's a nice chap that I've had correspondence with from time to time.

[opera] elite test

To be a true member of Them, you’ll need to display an appreciation of opera. Supply the name of the composers from the initial letters:

1. Eugene Onegin…..1879…..T
2. The Tales of Hoffman…..1881…..O
3. Prince Igor…..1890…..B
4. La Boheme…..1896…..P
5. Salome …..1905…..RS

Answers

Tchaikovsky, Offenbach, Borodin, Puccini, Richard Strauss

[staying together] or taking the easy way out


This article by Cate Russell makes some good points about why people break up:

When I was in college, I was shocked when one of our psychology teachers
told the class he didn't expect his marriage to last. He had concluded that two people just aren't able to stay together forever as they change and grow. I was twenty years old, in love for the first time, and horrified at his defeatist attitude.

I now know from personal experience that it can be really rough going to keep a relationship strong, but I still disagree that marital failure is inevitable. I believe that a relationship is worth the love, energy, time and history which is invested in it, and all avenues to improve it, rather than abandon it, should be taken unless it is abusive or dangerous.

Once the passion and newness of a relationship has died down many disappointments do surface, and they take a lot of effort to come to terms with, and rebuild around. You may not treat each other as tenderly or considerately as you did before. The romance may have died, or the affection may have dwindled. There may be financial pressures, unemployment, sickness, the stresses that the arrival of children bring, or serious problems with other family members.

The internal pressures of realising that Mr Right is Mr Average, and isn't the white knight you thought he was going to be, coupled with the external problems you both face, can lock the greatest love story of all time in a pressure cooker to see how long it can handle boiling point! It is painful. Some couples stay together, and adapt and cope as best they can as a unit. Others become disillusioned and feel robbed. They pull apart and retreat to safer territory.

According to the experts who study relationships, the greatest predictor of divorce is how close the couple feel to each other. This is displayed in black and white when a couple faces conflict. When you watch couples fight, it is like watching a love meter which registers where they are really at. Do they get nasty and try and score points off each other? Do they avoid the problems? Are they defensive or critical? Do they bring up past hurts, whether they have been resolved before or not? If so, that couple could very well be headed for a break up within two years.

The decision to split up doesn't come because of differences in each partner's expectations of the other, domestic annoyances like leaving the cap off the toothpaste, or differences in personality. Splits happen when there is a loss of love, intimate sharing and connection. As human being we all need connection.

This is what holds families and societies together, and what can make or break a marriage. Attacking, criticising and being defensive in conflict, show that the emotional connection between the two parties is lacking. They may not feel loved or valued. Communication on a deep level is often missing, and there is more tension present than togetherness.

Couples that still show consideration for each other, even in a tense, hurtful situation, are far more likely to pull through and find a way to resolve their problems. They may use humour to break the tension. They don't blame and criticise, but rather, they acknowledge each other's viewpoint while not backing down from their feelings, or withdrawing just to escape facing up to what is going wrong.

Using kindness and honesty in a conflict, no matter how much you are hurting, is not only an indicator of an individual's maturity and relationship skills, but also how much they respect and are bonded to the other person. Kindness can prove that they see the relationship as a worthwhile investment, and they want to keep it alive.

So how do you know if you're headed for a break up? If you feel dissatisfied, even if you don't know why. If you don't share things with your partner the way you used to: big and small, daily and life changing decisions included. If you feel like you don't know each other, and are living together as two isolated, separate individuals rather than a unit.

The biggest warning sign is whether you are going ahead making decisions about what you want to do with your life without consulting with, or considering the needs of your partner.

However, just because you are in trouble doesn't mean break up is inevitable, and nothing can be done. If you are willing to work at it, and risk some failures while you are aiming for the successes, you can build a better quality more loving relationship, built on communication, genuine sincerity and trust.

The commitment to stay in a relationship is not just made at the beginning. It is re-evaluated periodically as the value of your loved one and their relevance to your life is reconsidered in tough moments.

Successful long term partners have been studied, and often it was found that they didn't consider splitting up or divorce to be an option. They had made a commitment, and the preciousness of their partner overrode the highs and lows they knew they would face.

All couples experience pain and dissatisfaction with each other at various times. Some days it may seem so intense that breaking up is the only escape. Yet life too throws us the same hand, and we choose to keep trying.

All couples are closer emotionally at some times and not others. There will always be demands on us which will alter our priorities, and conflicts and crisis' will always arise. It's our decision whether to give in and quit, or find a way forward and stay together.

Essentially, whether you break up or not is your decision. It is an act of your own free will, no matter what the circumstances are, or how hopeless and damaged the situation may seem at the time. As the slogan of one Australian bank neatly puts it, "Make It Happen."

Cate Russell, 26th August, 2001

Her point about:

Successful long term partners have been studied, and often it was found that they didn't consider splitting up or divorce to be an option. They had made a commitment, and the preciousness of their partner overrode the highs and lows they knew they would face.

… is an excellent one and reveals the extent to which society today goes for the soft option and the easy way out. However, the article above doesn't take into account some other factors, such as:

1. The global external pressures present today, e.g. internet, alternative youth 'culture', gaming, clubbing, permissiveness, the 'me first' mentality and of course – the economic depression. Money is a major factor in breakups for people fixated on acquisition of material goods.

2. Nagging. This is a word you never read of in articles written by women and yet it is a major factor in break-ups. That shopping list of faults and the sour-faced look do more to drive a man away than almost anything else, under the guise of 'trying to talk' or 'improving him'. In the article above, this does not appear as a prime cause.

In a similar way, non-gender-specifically, one of the killers of a relationship is the partner who says, 'Let's talk,' or 'Let's work together,' by which he/she means, 'Let's agree to do things my way.' The Beatles song We Can Work It Out addresses that directly. 'We' here means that you must see it my way. Why is it that the person who calls for dialogue is often the one less able to accept the other's position?

3. The refusal of boys today to accept responsibility for impregnating girls or even just committing to a partnership and the refusal of girls to say no or to be discerning and by so doing, allowing the boys to refuse to accept responsibility and so on.

A more recent phenomenon is the widespread, parallel refusal of girls to commit and thus the seeds have been sewn for a gomorrah type situation in the not too distant future, ushering in Huxley's Brave New World.

4. Cate Russell makes another good point: 'When you watch couples fight, it is like watching a love meter which registers where they are really at.'

It comes down to why they're together in the first place. Was it because she was pregnant, because they were genuinely in love, both of them, because they were frightened of being alone … what?

Thursday, May 07, 2009

[science and technology] five questions for you



1. Mrs. Thomas Smith of Ryde, NSW, Australia, produced a new variety of fruit in 1868. What is it called?

2. Name anything that happened in Britain on September 3rd, 1752.

3. The prefix mega- is a millionfold in the SI units and giga- is a billion. Tera is a trillion but what is the quadrillionfold (10 to the power of 15) prefix?

4. Truth, beauty, strange, charm, up and down are types of what?

5. If the camel with one hump is called a dromedary, what’s the other type called?

Answers

The Granny Smith apple; nothing happened - after September 2, the next day was September 14, due to the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, peta, quarks, bactrian

[illegal immigrants] why post when someone already has

Deogolwulf can be slightly inaccessible at times to those without that sort of mind but this is one everyone can comprehend:

Illegal immigrants gathered openly in Trafalgar Square yesterday to protest against the “injustice” of not being British citizens, and yet for some reason they were not rounded up and put into camps ready for deportation. Still, I suppose the sight of the authorities taking seriously the integrity of the country and its laws might scare the voters away, millions of whom haven’t even arrived yet.

[darling's pisstaking] tyburn hill


Eamonn Butler:

When the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee asked how he decided to impose the new rate on everyone earning £150,000 or more, he replied: “There was no science behind it. It was simply my judgment.”

My mate just said:

'If that was private organization and someone [the one payrolling me] came to me and said there was a recognized mechanism for determining these things and I stuck two fingers up to tell him where to go, I'd be sacked on the spot. And it's not the first time he's ignored the recommendations of committees, just because he doesn't like those recommendations.'

I can't improve on that, nor on this comment by a fellow blogger on the Adam Smith site:

Lord T, May 06, 2009
It would take more than a day to work out the true level of public sector debt we have. I would:

Bring back Capital punishment for a day for Treason. Hang Blair, Gordo and his entire cabinet as well as every MP who voted for the Lisbon Treaty. Pref in a slow way. Televise the event and move the May day holiday to this day to remember it.


Then just cancel everything this lot has ever done. Repeal all the laws, cancel all the contracts and fire all the new staff. Don't forget to cancel capital punishment as well.
Make it so every second year in May we vote for a new Government. No MPs to serve more than 4 years. Fix them so they are unchangeable.

Any new laws would be put on a web site and voted for by the public where their inputs are considered if above a certain number of voters. Any will automatically expire after four years unless approved again in which case they become permanent.
Retire. You now have the PM's pension. Whoo Hoo.

My own comment is that if Eamonn Butler's words can be taken at face value, then Darling is taking the piss, quite openly. I do believe that, on the grounds that he is bringing that attitude to the disbursement of public monies, he should either resign henceforth or be up on treason charges, on the further grounds that he is, with malice aforethought, combined with criminal negligence, attempting to dismantle the British economy.

I mean really up on treason charges, not just blogger words of ire.

[chavs rule] rise of the new ignorance


Paul Trout, in Student AntiIntellectualism and the Dumbing Down of the University, wrote, in 1996:

Students demonstrate the anti-intellectual mindset in a number of ways: by not reading the assigned works; by not contributing to class discussions; by complaining about course workloads and lobbying for fewer assignments; by skipping class; by giving low evaluations to instructors with high standards or tough requirements; by neglecting to prepare for class and tests and not bothering to do extra-credit work or take make-up exams; by not consulting material placed on reserve or picking up class handouts; by refusing to learn any more than is necessary to get a good grade; by boasting about how little time is spent studying; by ridiculing high achievers; by being impatient with deliberative analysis; by condemning intellectual endeavors as "boring"; by resenting academic requirements as an intrusion on free time, etc., etc., etc.

There are a number of comments and questions:

1. Has it got any better or worse since 1996? The truth is, the problem has always been present in the student, in his/her self-actualizing tendency and one has only to read Evelyn Waugh, Douglas Adams, Pink Floyd and others for anecdotal evidence that it is a ‘base instinct’ of students to be that way.

The question then is whether the universities and staff are any better or worse these days. Trout:

Faced with growing numbers of high-school graduates who resent and resist the rigors, demands, and pleasures of higher education, colleges and universities have lowered standards to keep students happy and enrollments up. The reason, of course, is obvious: body count equals money. As long as larger enrollments mean larger budgets, and larger budgets mean administrative success, enrolling and retaining as many students as possible, regardless of their attitudes or aptitudes, is more important than making sure students achieve, learn, and produce. This explains why administrators monitor credit hours and student evaluation ratings, but not how much students actually learn. There is no economic incentive to do so. So, over the long haul, enrollment-driven funding weakens commitment to high academic standards (Stone 20-21).

Faculty, of course, are complicit in the dumbing down. Few ever question the recruitment, enrollment, or grading policies that ultimately bring money to their departments. Most department heads and chairs champion educationally fraudulent policies and practices, even when they are ultimately ruinous to staff morale, as long as they believe such policies and practices strengthen the department and protect it from being cannibalized. So, as long as administrators control the purse strings, "there is a great incentive for faculty collectively to support the administrative emphasis on growth" regardless of its negative impact on academic quality and standards (Stone 15).

This explains, in part, the phenomenon of grade inflation, for which faculty must bear most of the blame. "The incentive for institutions to emphasize rigorous grading standards is minuscule" because grade inflation--higher grades for lower achievement--keeps more students on campus, and more students on campus means larger budgets for all (Stone 10). "In essence, there is a substantial body of informed opinion suggesting that grade inflation has come about mainly because enrollment-driven funding has made grade inflation bureaucratically profitable" (Stone 9).

Lower standards and grade inflation make campuses safe for students who have little hunger for knowledge, little love of learning, and almost no appetite for hard work. Although students have many reasons for going to college, a very large number--71.3 percent of the entering class of 1995--do so not to enrich their minds but their pocketbooks. "The only reason most of us are going to school is society says, 'this is your meal ticket'" (Sacks 139).


You can read the rest of these excerpts here. So my answer would be yes, it is worse now and my post not so long ago looked at it from the research perspective. The combination of the students’ base instincts, the commericalization of higher education to a degree not seen before, the socialist hijacking of the curriculum and the accompanying social dislocation of young people and there is the recipe for disaster for the next generation or two.

2. Is it any different in, say, Russia? Well no, in fact it might be worse. Russia is a country of extremes and when I arrived, they were still in the throes of authoritarian soviet education, which nevertheless produced the goods in terms of intellectualism. I’ve mentioned one Russian student who was below average over there, she came to our school in 1996 and swept the board.

Yet the process had already begun, it seems, in some parts of the country, as early as 1993 [all attribution in the Trout addendum]:

Andrei Toom, an adjunct math instructor from Russia, reports his dismal experiences trying to teach anti-intellectual undergraduates consumed by the consumer mindset. "As soon as I started to explain to them something which was a little bit beyond the standard course, they asked suspiciously: 'Will this be on the test?' If I said, 'no,' they did not listen any more and showed clearly that I was doing something inappropriate" (Toom 125). When asked by students why he gave math problems unlike those in the textbook, Toom responded: "Because I want you to know elementary mathematics." Immediately an imposing train of students "stood up and tramped out" (Toom 127). A colleague of Toom's was also criticized for asking his students to learn more than students in another section (Toom 127). Students viewed this not as better teaching but as an iniquity.

I can’t say I found this in the early years but it certainly was so in the later stages.

A broader view

Swinging away from education itself to the broader picture, Trout asks:

Sad to say, the problem of anti-intellectual students is … the result not only of misguided educational policies and practices K through 16, but of vast social and cultural forces well beyond the classroom. These forces include family dysfunction and divorce, disengaged and permissive parenting, peer pressure to regard education derisively, youth-culture activities that militate against serious and sustained intellectual engagement, a widespread deligitimation of reading and print culture, and, an ambient popular culture that glorifies triviality, coarseness and mindlessness. How is it possible to overhaul the entire system--from popular culture and family life to the educational establishment--simultaneously?

That puts it succinctly. Many argue that things are no better nor worse than in previous generations and in previous eras. Some have this cyclical view of society which holds water to a point.

However, we’ve never before had the rampant prostituting of under 18s across all western nations and many eastern ones, down to such young ages, we’ve never had the nightclubbing culture where youth goes out en masse, without parental strictures to be bathed in dark, primaeval entrancement [I should know because I’ve listened to enough of it], supported by drugs, we’ve never had the level of alienation, we’ve not seen the gaming culture completely supplant the officially transmitted mores to this extent.

In ASDA recently, I overheard three girls of around fourteen discussing a fourth and how she’d just got pregnant recently. They were laughing about which boy it might have been. I wasn’t privy to the rest of the discussion as we were passing by at the time but I caught the tone and it was along the lines that it was par for the course for their entire sub-group to be doing it, the only demarcator being whether the girl got pregnant or by some miracle, didn’t.

It’s a question of percentages – there was always a proportion into this but not to this extent. Some say that with the advent of the internet, we simply know more of what’s going on now than before and in fact it went on just as much earlier.

I have to disagree. In a previous post, the point was made that the age of the girls and the much harder nature of the acts they’re expected to do in pornography is completely different today than in previous years. Again, the percentages doing those shoots is small but that doesn’t mean it’s not going on in real life.

I call this process evil. It’s a debatable point whether we can sheet this home to Them or not, to the socialists or not or to whomever but the fact is - it’s wrong. Some point out that Polynesian societies have relations at very low ages and there’s the example of Mohammed of course but I challenge that it was accompanied, in those societies, with the breakdown of the whole infrastructure and dark values driving this dystopia on, as it is here.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

[handguns] protecting your future or boys with toys


They love their guns in the U.S. of A. and with good reason. Apparently the fear of Obamamerica is about and suppliers are running out of stock. Here in the U.K. of course, guns are illegal, which leaves us all defenceless and at the mercy of Gordo's troopers but one man who did something about it [see pics above and below] was f-ed over real well.

Now, my legal advice is that you can show how to make a gun on a blog, as long as you don't encourage anyone to make it and you don't make it yourself. That's how they got him. If it's the issues you're interested in, Joe Huffman is your man.

Pity this debate is dead in the water in this country because it is more relevant now than ever before.


[wordless wednesday] thank you so much


Click pic to read more clearly.

[the kiss] a tragedy of boylean proportions

The question of Susan Boyle is a tragedy, to judge by every organ so far, except this blog, a tragedy which has transfixed the population now that Jade Goody has passed on.

Your humble blogger is at a loss for words. There are those who’ve probably come to terms with their lot, for whom the world of the opposite gender might not be a major priority in their lives and good luck to them.

For me it is a priority, I’ve never been one for the constant company of men, except in the gym where you don’t need the distraction of women and with one or two mates to have a bit of a laugh with. YHB just enjoys the company and the conversation of one woman at a time please, that’s where the true pleasure is and he could do this for hours and hours but anything further, of course, is another question.

That’s where Ms Boyle apparently finds herself and on sheer looks, the benchmark of the average punter, she doesn’t measure up [join our club], so she’s considering some sort of make-over but why a Demi Moore is beyond me -surely Ms Boyle would want to mimic someone she could look up to?

I’ve known some girls/women who’d pass for beautiful and they had their crosses to bear as well. In the public eye, Kylie is an example of this – a woman fishing in the wrong pool and coming up with piranhas every time [are piranhas ever found in pools?]. My own situation is that I’ve somehow found myself entangled on occasions, after a bit of groundwork surprisingly produced a result but I’m hanged if I detected anything remotely approaching ongoing love and my own cold heart might have had much to do with that.

In the hallway of our house, my life partner of an almost forgotten era once tried the word ‘darling’ on me for size, thought about it, decided nah, it doesn’t sit well and never bothered again - I remember the incident well. She wasn’t quite so reticent about calling me a bastard and a male whore [this latter has always puzzled your humble, celibate, faithful, virtually ineligible and near-virgin blogger] but there you go.

Ms Boyle says she’s never been kissed. That’s probably never been your own problem, dear reader and it’s not been mine but we all have our crosses to bear. My cross has always been that she, whatever the age, looks around to see no one is watching, then ‘allows’ herself to go with me, wonders afterwards how she could ever have allowed herself to do that but keeps returning to the well anyway for some time and so I’ve spent most of my life as the secret assignation but not one you can whisper about to your girlfriends. Alternatively, for light relief, some have been quite defiant about being with me.

Some people would settle for that but we always want what we can’t get, don’t we and some sort of stable relationship would have been nice. Like Simon and Garfunkel, I once heard the word ‘love’ and have forgotten what two affectionate arms around the neck feel like but then, when you think of Ms Boyle, it would be nice if two arms went around any part of her and two lips upon hers.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that we have our lot allocated to us, we’re physically what we are [a particular dear heart once looked up at me and asked, ‘Why can’t you be taller?’ to which I replied, ‘I want to kiss you, not pat you on the head’] and though we can train in the gym and watch what we eat, it doesn’t fully compensate for the person we project to others.

I’m not sure that a Demi Moore makeover would change much in Ms Boyle’s case – perhaps she just needs a bit more of the ‘come hither’ in her eye although done amateurishly, it could be counterproductive. Many years ago, one particularly dedikated miss, with a penchant for the colour green [she even wrote in that colour], spent forty minutes licking her lips and doing the heavy staring thing into the eyes, which only resulted in a bout of chuckling on my part.

I don’t know what to suggest to Ms Boyle. The critical test, of course, is to ask oneself, ‘Am I the man for the job?’ and if the answer is in the negative, then how can that be changed to an affirmative? What would have to take place first?

It’s a dilemma and may your own special dilemma also find a solution.


Check this out.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

[thought for the day] tuesday evening

A stupid person can imagine being bright but intelligent people … can’t imagine what it is like to be truly stupid.

[Tom Paine, July 16th, 2007]

[survival kit] which ten items would you choose


You're going into the hills for one week with one other person. Which 10 items, which you'll have to carry on your person, would you take?

[cities, best and worst] another poll


Another poll:

Holidaymakers, be warned: London has the worst food, Paris is the most overrated and Brussels is the most boring, according to a survey of what travellers think about European cities.

In the poll of nearly 2400 travellers, by website TripAdvisor, the British capital was voted the dirtiest in Europe, home to the worst-dressed people and the most expensive.

Paris did not come off any better, with travellers saying it was the least friendly city and the second-most expensive.

But both popular destinations redeemed themselves in the online poll, with Paris voted as having the best cuisine and best-dressed people, while London was seen as having the best nightlife, best public parks and most free attractions.

"Europe's capital cities all have their highs and lows, but no other continent offers travellers' such a wealth of culture and sights within such short distances," TripAdvisor spokesman Luke Fredberg said in a statement.

"Despite London emerging as the dirtiest and most expensive city, its fantastic free attractions prove that you don't need to be a millionaire in order to enjoy the capital."

Venice beat both Paris and Rome as Europe's most romantic destination, but it was also voted the third-most expensive, after Paris and London.

Travellers seeking friendly locals should go to Dublin, while the health-conscious may prefer Denmark's Copenhagen, voted the Europe's cleanest city.

Prague was picked as the best bargain destination, while people seeking visual treats should head for Spain's Barcelona, but avoid Warsaw in Poland, which were seen as the cities with the best and worst architecture respectively.

And the most boring city? Travellers voted for the Belgian capital Brussels, with Switzerland's Zurich a close-runner up.

What fantastic free attractions?

[what's wrong with this pic] answer


There might be much wrong in yesterday's pic but the thing I noticed was this: There's a young boy sailing the boat and it doesn't seem anyone else is on board. Now, these boats carry about 235 square feet of sail and even in a light wind, it takes an adult to balance. If you look at the pic above here, you'll notice two grown-ups, both on trapeze wires, trying to balance the craft. Look again at yesterday's pic and you'll notice the boat is 'heeling' or leaning over, so there is actually a breeze and the sails are 'sheeted' or pulled in.

I surmise that dad was in the boat behind, ready to come alongside and take over. Hell of a risk though for a photo opportunity.

Monday, May 04, 2009

[amon duul II] archangel's thunderbird

[what's wrong with this pic] occasional series


Answer tomorrow.

[berlusconi] get away quickly, dear


I'd like to tell Berlusconi to go to hell but as that's clearly where he's [allegedly] going anyway, there's little point:

Silvio Berlusconi has demanded an apology from his wife after she accused him of "consorting with minors" and said she wanted a divorce.

The Italian prime minister, 72, told the Corriere della Sera that he did not think their marriage could survive. Veronica Lario spoke out after her husband attended the 18th birthday party of a friend's daughter. She has also clashed with her husband over his choice of inexperienced but attractive female election candidates.

"Veronica must apologise publicly - and I don't know if that will be enough," Mr Berlusconi said in an interview with the Italian daily newspaper. "It is the third time she has done this to me in the middle of an election campaign. It's too much," the billionaire prime minister said.

Asked whether his 19-year marriage to Ms Lario could survive, he added: "I don't think so. I don't know if I want it to this time."

Good riddance to the archetypal [alleged] 'Them'ist. He's [allegedly] decimated Italy and is an [alleged] criminal with a Capital C. Actually, the Christian thing would be to hope he can redeem himself - shouldn't be too much of a problem - Italy's the country of churches, if he's interested before he [allegedly] dies.

[mish mash] bits of everything

Hope you're enjoying your Bank Holiday Monday.

Did you know that in Russia, it's a big holiday weekend too where they try to go to their dachas if the weather is reasonable and open everything up for the new season? More properly, it's the May 9th holiday next weekend when this goes on, with shovels, hoes and all manner of bulbs but it starts this weekend for many.

The Christianity posts. I really didn't expect anyone except Sonus to read them and all they were for was to set him up for the 'real' posts today on Satanism. These are where I get stuck in. I appreciate the time some people took to wade through yesterday's lot.

I'm trying to post some alternative music at the moment as well and there's a strange one coming up this evening. One or two people are liking these, as well as the barbarian series.

With no internet of my own yet, it's damned difficult getting it all done and I'm trying to visit. Today I've set up a mechanism whereby I can be sure to do that faster. Also, the book is now being loaded and will be ready, I hope, by Wednesday.

Thanks to JHL for that post as well.

Phew! I think about covers it for now. Enjoy the remainder of your holiday. Do you guys over in the U.S. of A. have one, by any chance?

[the dark one] alive, kicking and sentient [2]



Some modern historical context


The Committee of 300

This one’s just a snippet, it’s not that interesting:

Founded in 1729 by the black nobility through the British East India Company to deal with international banking and trade problems and to support the opium trade, it is run by the British Crown. It comprises the world banking system and the most important representatives of Western nations. Through the Committee of 300, all banks are linked to the Rothschilds.

1875 - Russian occultist Helena Petrovna Blavatsky founds the Theosophical Society. Madame Blavatsky claims that Tibetan holy men in the Himalayas, whom she refers to as the Masters of Wisdom, communicated with her in London by telepathy. She insists that the Christians have it all backwards - that Satan is good and God is evil. She writes: "The Christians and scientists must be made to respect their Indian betters. The Wisdom of India, her philosophy and achievement, must be made known in Europe and America."

JH – you see, it’s not just the Christians who polarize good and evil – the pagans do it too.

Feb. 5, 1891 - Rhodes joins his group from Oxford with a similar group from Cambridge headed by ardent social reformer William Stead. Rhodes and Stead are members of the inner "Circle of Initiates" of the secret society which they found. There is also an outer circle known as the "Association of Helpers."

1934 - "The Externalization of the Hierarchy" by Alice Bailey is published. Bailey is an occultist, taking over from Annie Besant as head of the Theosophical Society. Bailey's works are channeled from a spirit guide, the Tibetan Master [demon spirit] Djwahl Kuhl. [Her teachings form the foundation for the current New Age movement.]

She writes: "The hour for the ancient mysteries has arrived. These Ancient Mysteries were hidden in numbers, in ritual, in words, and in symbology; these veil the secret. There is no question therefore that the work to be done in familiarizing the general public with the nature of the Mysteries is of paramount importance at this time.

These Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity." She further states: "Out of the spoliation of all existing culture and civilization, the new world order must be built."

Nice people.

The book is published by the Lucis Trust, incorporated originally in New York as the Lucifer Publishing Company. Lucis Trust is a United Nations NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) and has been a major player at the recent UN summits.

JH - Djwahl Kuhl now masquerades, by the way, as Lord Maitreya, the teacher, the Christ amongst us and he even has a website, replete with their beloved, diffused light blues, pale yellows and vague expressions of love and all-inclusiveness [read relativism]. If you ever see a company or government department using this colour configuration, odds are …

[By the way, did anyone ever see a miracle performed in Nairobi?]

April 1978 - The U.S. Department of the Army adds in its "Chaplain's Handbook of Religious Requirements" new religions which had become federally recognized and which could be legally practiced on all military bases throughout the world. These "new" religions are Satanism, witchcraft and other occult religions.

April 25, 1982 - A full-page ad appears in major newspapers around the world proclaiming: "THE CHRIST IS NOW HERE." The advertising campaign coincides with the beginning of a speaking tour by one Benjamin Creme, a British theosophist. In various interviews and speeches, Creme explains that in speaking of "the Christ," he does not mean Jesus Christ but Lord Maitreya, the World Teacher.

According to Creme, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and others are merely disciples of Maitreya. These Ascended Masters comprise an enlightened Spiritual Hierarchy which has guided humanity's evolution throughout history.

He maintains that Lord Maitreya fulfils the expectations of all peoples. Maitreya is the Christ awaited by the Christians; to the Jews he is the Messiah, to the Moslems he is the Imam Mahdi, to the Buddhists he is the Fifth Buddha, to the Hindus he is Krishna.

In the past, Creme tells us, these Ascended Masters have usually worked through disciples, but now they're among us and ready to help our world take its next step. [Benjamin Creme's publication "Share International" is now produced in association with the U.N.'s Department of Public Information.]

Muslim take on the whole thing

"At that time suddenly Jesus son of Mary (on whom be peace) shall appear among the Muslims. Then the people will stand up for the Prayer, and he will be asked, 'Step forward, Oh Spirit of Allah (and lead us in the Prayer); but he will say, 'No: your own leader should step forward and lead the Prayer.' Then, after offering the Morning Prayer, the Muslims shall go forth to fight the Dajjal. "

Meanwhile, the dark one and his legion indulge in their delusions of grandeur …

In "The Illustrious Lineage of the Royal House Of Britain" (First Published in 1902 by The Covenant Publishing Co., Ltd., London, England), the authors easily trace Prince Charles' lineage back to David and beyond.

The College of Heralds (London) has also traced Prince Charles to be the 145th direct descendant of King David. This claim was also made, in May of 2000, in a documentary on Israeli television.

Charles also claims descent from Islam's prophet Mohammed. [!^&*$%!]

Prince Charles' Coat of Arms and Crest was designed for him by the British College of Heraldry, using a system of guidelines over 500 years old. It contains ALL the Biblical symbols of the Beast.

It has a dog supported by a roaring lion and a unicorn, (called a wild beast with a straight horn, a wild oxen, or 'little horn').

Revelations 13:2 "And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. "

On Prince Charles' Coat of Arms are representations of the Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. These are the animal symbols for France, the leopard; Germany, the Bear; and England, the lion. These nations represented the western arm of the Holy Roman Empire.

His Coat of Arms contains ten heraldic beasts, which is a first for the British Monarchy. All previous British Monarchs had either three or six, but none have ever had ten.

Prince Charles has a red dragon on his coat of arms from the flag of Wales. At his coronation (investiture as Prince of Wales) in 1969, he sat on a chair with a large red dragon emblazoned on it.

During the ceremony, his mother said:

"This dragon gives you your power, your throne and your own authority."

His response to her was:

"I am now your Liege-man, and worthy of your earthly worship."

Revelations 13:2 says:

"And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority."

Another symbol on Prince Charles' Coat of Arms is that of The Order of the Garter. The Order of the Garter is the parent organization over Freemasonry worldwide. When a man becomes a 33rd Degree Mason, he swears allegiance to that organization.

On June 26th 1994, Charles announced that when he becomes king he will relinquish the monarch's role as head of the Church of England. He said he would rather be seen as "defender of the faiths," rather than "defender of the faith."

On June 2nd 1953, with the knights of the garter carrying and holding the canopy over her head, Elizabeth II was anointed and crowned as "Queen of Thy people Israel".

Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II claim to be of the bloodline of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Jesus is claimed to have married Mary Magdalene and fathered a number of children.

This bloodline is referred to as the "Holy Grail", with those possessing it believing themselves the rightful heirs to the throne of Jerusalem. They believe that a new king of "the holy seed of David" will preside over the Israel and the world.

Prince Charles' link is through the Merovingian Kings of France. He is allegedly descended from the Merovingian Hildegarde. Princess Diana's Bloodline can also be traced back to the Merovingians.

In 1992 (just before the full unification in 1993) Charles applied to the EU to be made King of Europe. He was turned down by the European parliament. [WTF!%^&*£*?]

According to Prince Charles, "I am sure that many people consider that the United Kingdom is in an ideal geographical and historical position to act as an interpreter and mediator between the United States and Europe."

Right on, Your Highness!

The perversion and misery are his legacy

Dirty, cruel, painful things, arrogantly done to the Common Man by grubby, empty people in clean, crisp uniforms - the evidence is there if only you will look.

1* Evidence exists that mind-control and behaviour modification technology is presently concealed behind Non Lethal Defense (NLD) initiatives. In an announcement in 1995 that non-lethal weapons - including high powered microwaves and radio frequency devices - are to be 'transited' to the law enforcement sector was met with dismay in some quarters.

This joint programme, known as 'Operations Other Than War', opens the way for the military to move into the civilian domain - a move precluded by the American constitution. The stated aim is to more effectively tackle narcotics trafficking, terrorism and other criminal activity.

2* There is profound evidence in favour of the iatrogenic pathway to DID [and so] my only possible conclusion is yes, you can create full tilt DID artificially from ground zero. There is absolutely no limit on the quantity, complexity, reality, congruence and plausibility of false memories that you can insert into somebody's mind - wittingly or unwittingly.

They didn't tell me that in medical school. This is a little sub paradigm revolution in the DID field. There is a huge wealth of information, experimental information and clinical anecdotal information of DID that's been up and running and full tilt in the mental health field for 50 years now. This did not spring out of nowhere in 1980.

Bluebird and Artichoke were two programs that ran from 1951-53 and these were then rolled over into MKULTRA, which ran from 1953 to 1963 and then there are 149 sub-projects. That was then administratively rolled over into MKSEARCH which ran until 1973. Contiguously with that, and in collaboration with Edgeware Arsenal, was MKNAOMI, which involved MKULTRA, ARTICHOKE and BLUEBIRD type research done abroad.

Martin Orne was on the Scientific Advisory Board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, as was Richard Ofshe, an expert on coercive mind control and cult persuasion techniques.

In his book, "Making Monsters", Ofshe ridiculed nuts who believed that the CIA had been creating MPD. Next there was Joly West, funded under MKULTRA to study the psychobiology of dissociation. He was also the only person to ever kill an elephant, at Oklahoma City Zoo, with LSD. Joly West started his professional career interviewing American pilots who had come back from Korea, having been captured and brainwashed by the Communist Chinese.

3* Tate (1991), who examined a number of these British cases and compared them to North American and Dutch cases (Hudson 1991; Jonker and Jonker-Bakker 1991; Snow and Sorenson 1990), was struck by the similarities. Because many of these children reported SRA without attending adults encouraging them, Tate concluded that either there exists a worldwide conspiracy among toddlers or the children are speaking the truth. [Onno van der Hart, "Reports on Ritual Abuse in European Countries: A Clinician’s Perspective," 1998]

Approximately 80 youngsters came forward and made allegations concerning sexual abuse, forced prostitution, and cult activities including the human sacrifice of small children and babies at satanic rituals. Many of the children stated that they were placed on private jets and flown to Washington DC and other cities for sex orgies with U.S. Congressmen, U.S. Senators, at least one top official in the White House, and other public officials.

These same children were also used in an organized child kidnapping/sex slave operation that facilitated the abduction of yet other children from playgrounds and off the street, who were then used in child porn and snuff films or sold into slavery. "Sales" of abducted young American children to foreigners was common.

A 10-13 year old blue-eyed blonde child could be auctioned off for more than $50,000, near an air strip close to Las Vegas or Toronto and then placed on an unmarked plane, never be seen or heard from again. One of those planes was identified as a DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration) plane.
Of the 80 children who originally came forward, only four were willing to sign statements.

Two of the four later recanted, but the remaining two, Alisha Owen and Paul Bonacci, refused to recant and held fast to their allegations. Criminal charges were filed against both of them. Owen was convicted of perjury before a grand jury and spent two years in solitary confinement. Six months after refusing to recant and prior to her perjury trial, Alisha's brother, Aaron Owens, committed 'suicide' in a correction center cell.

Overlaying the Franklin Cover-Up case is a CIA front operation, called The Finders. Gunderson outlined the mission of The Finders in a description included in his 1993 report, "Child Kidnapping in America; The CIA Connection" thus:

"CIA Front established in the 1960's, kidnapping and torture-programming of young children throughout the U.S. They use a fleet of unmarked vans to grab targetted children from parks and school yards. In doing so, they use children within their organization as decoys to attract the victims close to the vans where they are grabbed by the adults. They then drug the children and transport them to a series of safe houses for keeping.

They are then used in their ceremonies, for body parts, sex slaves, and some are auctioned off at various locations in the northern hemisphere. In the past, they have been auctioned off at locations near Las Vegas, Nevada and Toronto, Canada. Marion David Pettie, a leader of the cult, is an identified homosexual, pedophile, and CIA officer. His son was an employee of Air America, which was notorious for smuggling drugs destined for the U.S., out of the Golden Triangle into Saigon during the Viet Nam War."

In Gunderson's report on The Finders, he included copies of letters containing allegations and supporting documentation sent in 1992 to the Nebraska Attorney General, Dan Stenberg, the Nebraska FBI, the Director of the FBI, William Sessions, the Governor of Nebraska, and the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, among others.

JH – these people are about in the UK, I could name some locations and while the finger is pointed at showcase paedophiles who are a problem, not playing that down one bit, the drugs and child abductions/prostitution is the province of Them, the suited ones and the female power dressers. I know some of these people personally, I used to move in their circles.

Many victims of satanic ritual abuse and government sponsored mind control technologies have come forward in recent years with books describing their experiences. Cathy O'Brien, a 'presidential model' mind control victim reveals, in Trance Formation in America (1994), about conditioning, using ritual terrorization of her and her daughter, Kelly.

Brice Taylor's 1999 book, Thanks for the Memories, goes even farther than Cathy O'Brien's book in its revelations of known celebrities and insiders such as Bob Hope.

Gunderson's former comrades in the FBI have long ago turned their back on and shunned him. If readers are interested in reaching Ted Gunderson, you can mail him at: Finder of Missing Persons 2118 Wilshire Blvd. #422 Santa Monica, CA 90403 tel. 310-364-2280

4* It is Luciferian, and they teach their followers that their roots go back to the ancient mystery religions of Babylon, Egypt, and Celtic druidism. They have taken what they consider the "best" of each, the foundational practices, and joined them together into a strongly occult discipline. Many groups at the local level worship ancient deities such as "El", "Baal", and "Ashtarte", as well as "Isis and Osiris" and "Set".

These are NOT nice people and they use and manipulate others viciously. They cut their eye teeth on status, power, and money.

a. The Celtic branch of spiritual believes that power is passed at the moment between life and death. They will do rituals with children, or even older adherents, where the person is tied down, and an animal is bled to death on top of them. The belief is that the person receives power from the departing spirit, which "enters" the person. It is also highly traumatizing and horrible to have an animal go through its death throes on top of you. Throw in a few threats that "this will happen to you if you ever tell," and a quite strong impression is made on small children.

b. Opening portals and dimensions: I know, this sounds like stuff from a sci-fi film, but these people really believe that there are other spiritual dimensions, and that to pass into them, first a major sacrifice is done to "open a portal", usually several animals. I have also seen animal sacrifices done to protect from the demonic, or blood used to "close a circle" so the demonic cannot penetrate it.

c. Sacrifices are also done on high holy days. I have also seen human sacrifice, but these were very rare (I believe I have seen two or three real ones in my life, the rest were set-ups). They really don't want to kill off their children, they want a new generation to grow up and continue the practices. More often, I saw animals used in sacrifices and rituals.

d. Other loss of life, rare but horrible, I saw as a head trainer because of my job. Rarely, a trainer would push a person too far, and didn't check for signs of stress. Especially with some of the newer medications used to create trance states, their meds covered the more obvious signs of trauma and stress (elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, tremors, pupil size changing), or blunted them and they NEVER COME BACK. They become a vegetable, or worse, they scream and scream for hours without end.

5* The gold or bronze statue of Baal is in a holy grove on a large private estate between Quebec and Montreal. Since I was only 12 years old when I went there, the details aren't quite as clear. But the ceremonies there were full of people in white gowns, lots of flowers and fruits and votive offerings, singing, then the final sacrifice in the arms of the statue.

Why isn't child pornography stopped? We have the evidence, law enforcement knows it exists, yet it is a multi-billion dollar industry. HOW do these people "hide" from justice and capture? Why don't the police stop them? Because these people aren't stupid. They work under secrecy. They change locations frequently, and kill those who talk to law enforcement. Bribes and other means are used to cover their tracks, and they hire excellent lawyers.

It is always hard for me to go back into this, it seems that no matter how many years go by, it is still very painful. There was trauma done in the form of being stuck with pins and needles, being burned, hung by my feet - sometimes to crosses, spun, dropped off a table as an infant, near drowning, sexual abuse and orgies, being drugged, food and sleep deprivation, and then adding to that when I was around five, was all of the military mind control that was done with instrumentation and chairs and electroshock ... That was all done to create a shattered psyche that I believe was used later for all these different personalities that were created for the mind control purpose.

I was taken to military bases in Long Beach, California as a child where they used means of light and sound combined with electroshock and drugs and all sorts of torture and hypnosis.

What I understood was that they were planning a complete and utter economic collapse of the nations that would make the Depression of 1929 look like child's play and through that, bringing people financially to their knees, they would then come in and control them, and bring in whatever other measures they would want to in the guise of rescue - when it certainly wouldn't be that at all.

JH – don’t forget that this last piece was written over ten years ago, so the collapse was well known about then.

This is the legacy of Old Nick, as Sonus so euphemizingly portrays him – human desolation, misery and despair. Great legacy.

Motifs of the satanic

JC said you’d know them by their fruits, so here are some of the fruits:

* Secrecy and non-transparency in real terms whilst espousing these aims publicly

* Dualism, of which the peace symbol is a perfect example. Creating a construct that the dark and the light are interwoven and must be balanced, the idea is that you can do anything bad you like, as long as you balance it with a good deed.

Thus you run a multi-billion dollar corporation and screw people but at the same time are known as an international philanthopist who goes to church on Sundays and passes round the collection plate.

Dualism is merely a channel to the gradual abandonment of all decency and succumbing to one’s base instincts, especially sexually, the Satanist Bible’s ‘do as thou will’. Doing good is only a smoke screen.

* Lies. Just that. A perfect example was when Blair was asked if he’d attended a Bilderberger Conference and denied it, which was a pity because his name was on the guest list which got out. Brown has mastered the technique as well, with a smile on his face.

* They take something good, like early feminism or the green movement to conserve our resources and not rape the earth, they hijack these, corrupt and pervert them for their own ends, to the point where people hate feminists and greenies, which was their plan in the first place, to prevent any real progress being made or to have it explode in the faces of people who pursue good causes.

* Treason – they’ll stab you in the back and then climb over you.

* They ape good. Anything fine in the world is aped, masses become black masses, the lightbearer, JC, becomes the lightbearer, Lucifer. He has and they have no imagination – they’re automatons of the state. As creative people, he and his legion make good destroyers.

* Militarization of the organs of state, e.g. arming of the police

* Increased security, ID cards,curfews etc.

* Increased restrictions on the free movement of people and their right of association

* Encouragement of the population to inform on neighbours

* State mentoring of children

* Criminalization of the ordinary person so that it is impossible to go through the day without having committed some breach they can haul you in for.

* Sticklers for the letter of the law in your case while they bend the rules, sticklers for legitimacy in law, even when the need for it has now passed

* Destruction of the institution of marriage and encouragement of divisive philosophies and social movements to separate people on gender grounds, ratcheting up natural differences which result in more and more people opting to live alone, making them prime targets

* Invocation of financial crises to bankrupt the common man and lead him into economic and social slavery [credit cards help in this]

* Working towards a global dream – the Grand Plan

* Flowery and arcane language, steeped in mysteries which always have as their root the leader, the loyal elite and the plebs, the sheep, e.g.

He drew himself up then and began to declaim, as if he were making a speech long rehearsed. "The Elder Days are gone. The Middle Days are passing. The Younger Days are beginning … Our time is at hand: the world of Men, which we must rule. But we must have Power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see. [Tolkien, Lof the R]

* Jaundiced view of humans and the little people, along with their codes of conduct:

Hitler also believed that the new humanity would be free of "the dirty and degrading chimera called conscience and morality," as well as "the burden of free will" and "personal responsibility" which should rightly be borne only by the few with the fortitude to make the awful decisions necessary for the good of humanity. (Sklar, p.58)

The Nazi sacred symbols and concepts - the swastika or "gamma cross", the eagle, the red/black/white color scheme, and ancient Nordic runes (one of which became the insignia of the SS) - were all adopted from occult traditions going back centuries, shared by Brahmins, Scottish Masons, Rosicrucians, Manichaeans and others. (Angeberts gives detailed histories, p. 194-200)

Finally

There was neither the room nor the time, in these articles, to go into the eye of Horus, the Bilderbergers, Tavistock, Common Purpose, Morgan, the Fed, the Thirteen families, the CFR, the world psychiatric community and so on and so on.

I had to stop somewhere.

Sonus is a fine chap, sharp and astute and yet he need not concern himself over niceties like the confusion between Lucifer and Satan, while Rome burns before him. It’s time to act on this entity who portrays himself as his former self, Lucifer, when in reality, he has become a fat, bloated, gnarled, bitter parody of the days when he stood straight and tall, wearing super-cool gear and kicking butt.

What hope for us?

As Mr. White said: ‘The first thing you must understand is that we have people everywhere. Am I right?’

My answer would be: ‘You’re right, Mr. White but we also have people everywhere, far more than you do. Every little person has that kernel of good inside him/her, plus the ability to quickly associate and all it needs is for us to reconnect with our Maker and you lot are gone. All we need is the self-belief that it’s possible, to overcome our fear and embarrassment and you lot end up on your own Molochian funeral pyres.

Coals of fire, Lucifer, to give you your respected title, coals of fire.