I don’t know about you - but my daughter is quite the little techno whiz! She might only be 13 but she knows her way around a computer much more than either I or her dad does. Of course I monitor her usage and check she isn’t getting involved in anything dodgy online, but she loves her facebook page and keeping up to date with all her school friends.

She recently started moaning that her computer was out of date and slow and she wanted something more up to date. I was not sure what our wages would be able to afford, especially with the cut backs we have to make with the credit crunch looming over our heads.

However my husband and I decided that if we could, we would look at getting her a computer for her 13th birthday (which was last June). Anyway, one day while she was at school I decided to look online and see what I could find.

Some how (and I don’t know how) I came across this website Discount Shopping UK. It must be a really easy website to find and use because even I managed it!

Anyway, I found their laptop section which promised up to 25% off laptops. Now of course I was dubious but basically you shop at your new computer shop online but enter the code they give you - this code gives you a discount off the product you are buying - I know it sounds too good to be true, but it really works. And the best part is that Katie loved her new pink laptop!

It seems that nothing can stop the runaway success of Internet telephony. Driven by increasingly widely available low cost broadband Internet telephony has become one of the fastest-growing applications on the net. But apart from cheap calls in the UK, there are other factors which have contributed to this hugely popular way of making calls. There is clearly a trend toward more innovative and more mobile services and this looks likely to ensure that demand for Internet telephony continues to grow. It is estimated that there are already around four million VoIP users in the UK, not including business subscriptions.
Industry insiders point to the proliferation of ADSL broadband connections that do not require line rental for a conventional phone line (naked ADSL), and number portability between conventional and IP phone services as the two key things that will bring raise the profile of VoIP to new levels.

In fact the effect VoIP has had has been so pronounced that some have suggested that it may not be long before users can dispose of their traditional landline telephones completely in favour of a internet phone.

Taking a more pragmatic view, there are problems that will need to be addressed before that can happen. In the United Kingdom VoIP providers like Vonage or VoIPTalk will have to review both security and ease of use, as well as continue to deliver a convenient and financially attractive service. They certainly offer cheap calls already but, what else do they need to do to ensure a safe future for VoIP?
As the Internet is a huge public space the VoIP traffic is no more immune from attack than any other data. Security is an issue for many users, particularly in the business community and the means to develop security for users would be a welcome step in securing the long-term future of VoIP.

The ease of use issue may not remain an obstacle to progress now that handsets that work on mobile networks and, via WiFi or Bluetooth links, over VoIP are now taking their place in the shops. This raises the prospect of using low-cost VoIP services at home, in the office or at a WiFi hotspot, but still retaining the flexibility of mobile coverage when out and about.

Some VoIP companies are now selling these handsets, and have set up joint arrangements with wireless hotspots so that their subscribers can make and receive calls when out and about without the need for a PC.

It’s likely that some of the restrictions of such handsets i.e. difficulties in hotspots that use web pages for authentication to be addressed in the near future.

The advance of newer networking technologies will further decrease the gap between fixed, mobile and VoIP services. Wireless broadband services, in particular WiMax, could create city-wide wireless hotspots, making it possible to make mobile VoIP calls in much wider areas.

The mobile phone, a development that has now been around for and existing for years. Its found the skills develop & move forward from something that was only & effortlessly only a telephone, to something outstanding which comes with an MP3 or perhaps a camera or in fact both. This is what the new generations of today are probing for. The more electrifying gadgets which are built in along with it the even more you yourself desire it. The recent most fashionable phone available at the minute seems to be the astonishing iphone. Created by Apple, this is top of the line, its an iPod & a phone. Therefore if you’re a follower of technology then this is absolutely the correct mobile phone for you. Compare Mobile Phones and Deals with MobileShop.

The cellular hand-set is also called a wireless or possibly a cellular phone. Although cell telephones have taken over our current society they have been everywhere for some decades, in some style or another. The cellular handset industry continues to climb and get bigger by leaps and bounds as it has in the past few months. Even though it went underway little more than 20 years ago. Manufacturers have created lots of new gizmos that keep mobile telephone users returning back for extra. They continue each and every year to escalate the collections of capabilities & services to receive the increasing desires of what nowadays, on the go customers crave.

There are also numerous different networks. The current best & most preferred types are Orange, T-Mobile, & Vodafone. These days you can decide on whether you wish for to take your cell contract on pay as you go or perhaps on an actual contract. Contract hand sets are on average the most sought after sort of deal and with this it means the best part of the time you do not take to pay for a state of the art new phone, it typically comes free within the package. Mobile cell on contract give you the most flexible selection in regards to how people utilize it, there is a big array within the style of deals attainable to you yourself. It makes it especially uncomplicated for you to choose a contract that are suitable for one’s requests & how you handle it.

There are some real scum out there in the academic field who will try to debunk bona fide scientific work and research by calling them Ambiguous Groups, as if to label their years of research as anomalies or flukes? As if such research by a few scientific groups, which have repeatable results are not worthy of academic thought.

Beware of anyone who calls a top scientific university or research group an Ambiguous Group only to purport their version of some theory. And if someone attempts to debunk in this way, ask them straight up to state their case and theory, as this maybe a clear indication of their true motives. Recently some scoundrel attempted such a debunking in an online think tank and stated:

“If we lend ourselves to blindly accept whatever conclusions are handed out by ambiguous groups, how does this affect our abilities to rationalizing our own beliefs?”

When this person was unable to produce a theory or even utter word one of any sort of opposite conclusion, I had to lay down the letter of the law; “With all due respect and total consideration of your feelings on this subject and your beliefs; I think you are full of sh_t.”

Let’s show the academic fraudsters and debunkers of true research and science the door once and for all. We should not have to put up with the bull crap they purport or listen to their half-baked BS claims without any research of their own to back them up. Bull Sh-t walks and it must continue to in the world of science otherwise we risk the future of mankind and the forward progression of the species. The only thing Ambiguous is the BS that these fraudsters purport. Consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Router is a computer device that receives or forwards data packets to and from the Internet towards a destination in the process called routing. Router is the essential component of the computer networking that enables any sent data to arrive at the right destination.

As an illustration, imagine that the Internet is the world and one computer is one household. Other computers connected through the Internet are households around the world. Say one household will send a letter to another household in any part of the world. The letter has an address right? And that address would determine the destination of the letter. But without one reading the address, the letter would not arrive to the right receiver. The letter also would not be able to reach the intended receiver if there is not medium. This medium would be the courier. And the courier of the computer data is the router.

A router (broadband router) is also a device that enables two or more computer to receive data packets from the Internet under one IP address at the same time.

Remember that to be able to connect to the Internet, a computer must have an IP address unique from the rest of the computers. Therefore, every computer connected to the Internet has it own IP address. It is like having a fingerprint or ID as an access pass to be able to enter the web. With the presence of the router, this “fingerprint” or “ID” could be shared by two or more computer at the same time.

In simplest form, a router makes two or more computer use the Internet at the same with one access pass.

One more thing: a computer with cable modem could also be considered as a router. In this, the computer would do the process of routing like normal routers do. Other computers are then connected to the computer with Internet connection that would give it with the Internet connection. The computer with cable modem has the direct contact with the Internet and the ones connected to it are sharing the connection.

Why would anyone need a router?

For households with two or more computers who would want to have Internet connection to every computers they have, taking subscription for each would be too much. The solution is to buy a router that would enable every computer in the house to have an Internet connection. In the definition above, the broadband router would act as a hub to the existing Internet connection.

If the router is comparable to a hub, would it affect the Internet speed?

It should be taken into consideration that once a single Internet connection is divided, the connection speed is affected. But there are some broadband routers that would bring minimal slowdown to the Internet speed and the effect might not even be big.

Internet speed would also depend on the type of application used in a router. While some would inflict little effect on the speed like online games, others would terribly slowdown your connection and even hinder you to use the Internet at all.

Usually, offices use a more sophisticated router to redirect Internet connections to the large number of computers. These routers would give better data packeting compared to a typical router used at home that results to faster Internet speed.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides router resources on www.about-routers.info.

Ever wonder what someones handwriting or signature might reveal about them? Just like a scale reports weight, a persons handwriting tells a story about the health and traits of the writer. You’ve probably seen handwriting that is full of loops and circles and thought it seems soft and maybe feminine. And you’ve seen knotted sharp handwriting that is not only hard to read but it looks like an angry statement.

Over the years the analysis of handwriting has advanced. There’s much that can be learned from the slant, the style and the pressure of the written note or the signature on the page. You probably can tell when someone seems happy, or upset or getting angry. Those same expressions of emotion and character are revealed by handwriting. Wouldn’t it be fun to know what handwriting tells us? Some people do, and they use that information to make better decisions about people and actions.

RESOURCE GUIDE: http://meaning-of-handwriting.5×1.net

Your handwriting tells people about you. And it tells much more about you than merely the words you have written might convey. I was always curious about this myself but never found anything that could help me learn and better understand what a persons signature or handwriting was really telling me. It’s a bit like not being able to understand the full message. With a little time and fun, I’ve found that understanding handwriting is a bit like having x-ray vision. You get to see into other people more fully. Sometimes that’s good news and other times it gives pause. Words alone don’t tell the whole story. Understanding the message of the handwriting adds another level of meaning. Is it worth it? If you like to know the truth, if you like to understand who you’re dealing with, it sure is.

(c) 2006

The author writes on a variety of health and personality topics. See http://meaning-of-handwriting.5×1.net for more information.

There are names in many languages and cultures or even within each culture, separate cults with different names for ‘forces of nature’. Allies, guides, elementals, fairies, elves, gnomes, leprechauns and so the list would grow into the thousands. How many different dimensions or M-branes we might interact with at some level of our ‘cosmic soup’ is part of the question? There are different ways to access and varied levels or degrees of access. Not all are reliably replicable by the same techniques. Some element of consciousness exists in these ethereal forces which chooses not to communicate according to factors beyond the control of the soul or human who wishes such contact. Certain times are more propitious for such contact according to most beliefs that seek to relate with these forces. The differing brain wavelengths of people make separate variations of ritualistic methods necessary. A medium, sensitive, or psychic will have their own biorhythm to control and ‘center’ or ‘fix’ if they want to commune with any of these endless variations of force. At one level or dimension a force might appear a certain way but it too may be impacted by forces from another dimension. The shamanic ‘Tree of Yggdrasil’ has similar ethnic relatives such as the Hebraic ‘Tree of Life’ and though this universal ‘tree’ is more than the simple primary forces that constitute ‘allies’ it is necessary perhaps to know a lot more in order to see the nature of forces in general. We have the words of a ‘practical guide’ that uses few ritualistic or cultish prerogatives to guide us a little in this trek beyond the world we see that seems so important.

“According to some shamanic traditions of the northern peoples, the Upper, Middle and Lower ‘worlds’ comprised nine realms of existence and these could be indicated on the Tree of Yggdrasil.

At the top of the vertical column was a ‘heavenly’ realm, sometimes called Asgard, where celestial beings existed. Below it was the ‘Place of Enlightenment’ - the realm of the Mind, the Abode of Thought, and the fertile birthplace of Ideas. In the middle was the realm of material manifestation which was conditioned by Time, the Home of the personality self and of ego-consciousness {With conditioning galore and little ease of escape to find the essence of other more inclusive ‘realities’.}. Below was a subterranean realm, related to subconscious activity, where shapes were formed from thought patterns…

{N.B.-creativity and hallucination are closely connected. Right Thought or integrating the purpose of the creator with the created is part of the dynamic.} In the matter of using the primary forces with their North, South, East and West locations and Wind, Fire, Water, Earth expressions we must remember our perceptual starting point may limit these forces ability to allow their conscious reality to meld with our INTENT! Nothing is more important than intent to a practitioner of what has been known as ‘black arts’ to those who priests sought to keep ignorant of their own use thereof.}.

At the base of the column was a realm of inertia - the Place of Potential. It was sometimes referred to as ‘Hel’ - a Germanic word meaning ‘covering’, because it covered the deepest areas of the unconscious. It had none of the associations attributed to the fiery ‘Hell’ of the myths of later religions. {Plagiarizers and ridiculing epithet hurlers.}

On the horizontal plane were other aspects of being and of experience, which similarly formed part of the ‘hidden’ knowledge of the shamans.

The Runic shamans of the ancient northern peoples acquired ‘hidden’ {Trans. ‘occult’} knowledge by the use of angular symbols (Runes) which could easily be carved on wood or chiselled into stone. Contrary to modern belief (based on the conjecture of some anthropologists), Runes were not simply a secret code whose characters were used as substitutes for letters of the common alphabet. It is likely that the majority of Runic shamans could not read or write their own language, or Latin, which became the language of the scholar after the Roman influence. Runes actually represented patterns of manifestation and the laws responsible for shaping forms {N.B.AGAIN!} into which energies could find expression. They were - and are - symbols of a Cosmic language, and are valid on all levels of existence.

In the Runic ‘alphabet’, known as the Elder Futhark because it is considered the oldest of known Runic systems {Divinatory systems have been around since man first thought. The sticks of the I Ching and the black and white painted sides of coconut shells used by ‘Orisha’ worshippers such as voudou and Santeria, are probably far older than any European hominid, and certainly any white man.} and because the word ‘f- u-th-a-r-k’ is made up of its first six characters, there are twenty-four Runes. There are also just twenty-four possible paths between the nine realms indicated on the Tree of Yggdrasil. So the Runes can serve also as ‘travel permits’, enabling the Runic shaman to explore Inner Space, and as ‘passports’ to these other realms of existence within the Cosmic Web.

Shamans of Britain and Northern Europe were thus aware that the Cosmos functions at different levels of existence, and that these broadly correspond to various aspects of the mind. Such a concept was fairly widespread among indigenous peoples, and can be seen represented on certain tribal artefacts, such as the totem poles of the red-skinned Indians of western North America {Actually not red-skinned but’-the use of ochre as a spiritual protection among the Beothuk of Labrador led Europeans to ridicule all Indians in this manner. The same can be said for how the Kelts were portrayed as tattooed ’savages’ by Caesar.} and the brown-skinned Maoris of New Zealand, {Who with British help in the 19th century wiped out the last Kelts on the Chatham Islands.} or the specially carved crystal wands used by some American Indian shamans. {The sceptres of European royalty and popery.} These artefacts often depicted three principal ’spirits’ on top of one another, supported by an animal-like figure at the bottom. On a totem pole the top figure usually had wings to suggest an ability to travel far and wide. These figures could be used to symbolize aspects of the human being, of principal levels of awareness, and of conscious, subconscious, superconscious and even unconscious aspects of the mind.

Although these various states of the mind were not recognized by modern psychology until the end of the nineteenth century, shamans had personified them as ’spirits’ {Or aspects.} for hundreds of years. Kahuna shamans of Hawaii (once part of a mighty prehistoric continent called Mu, which disappeared under the Pacific Ocean during an ecological disaster when the Earth was pulled into a new and slightly longer orbit of the Sun) likened the subconscious to a ‘hidden’ spirit within the human entity which although it was not able to talk, experienced emotion and secretly and silently served the consciousness of the individual to whom it was attached.” (4)

There are many flaws in the argument or assertions about the lost continent or continental polar shift and ecologic or cataclysmic events. We shall deal with them later but at this juncture it is worth noting that the Mungo Man and other evidences of great antiquity to support Churchward’s theories of Mu have been proven archaeologically. He does an excellent job of deciphering the totem poles of the Haida nation in his book ‘The Lost Continent of Mu and I have found a stele at Chichen Itza that supports his Greek to Cara-Maya story of the destruction of Mu. There are many statues and artistic works in the area to support it as well as other esoteric symbols on the stele. My efforts almost landed me in a Mexican prison with no ‘rights’ as a Canadian or American resident. The author of this particular piece is right to focus on Hawaii and he might be amazed to know that the highest ‘northern’ (Hyperborean according to ancient Greek scholars) shamans, or the Druids have their most adept members in Hawaii. This was from a credible source, I trust. So just because he tried to make sense of the facts and made many mistakes does not diminish my respect for the passion and courage of Col. James Churchward. He tried to give mankind a truer picture of his roots and cultural footing. We must try to establish what relevance our past immoral behavior has for people of the future.

“The inspirational and creative level of the mind which operated at a higher state of consciousness was recognized as the province of a ‘higher spirit’ - a ‘High’ Self - which was immortal and which motivated the individual towards spiritual aspirations and noble deeds. It was considered to guide and inspire the ‘human’ self, for it had divine-like qualities…

Among shamans of northern traditions, however, was an oral teaching {The Bardic Tradition of the Bairds by which my genes do instruct.} that recognized a fourth intelligence - an instinctive and automative one which controlled and maintained the physical body, and which was responsible for its protection and survival. This intelligence operated at deep levels of unconscious activity {Partially, perhaps, the ‘history book’ of our genes according to Dr. Collins the head of the Human Genome Project.} and was likened to an animal spirit because its action seemed largely instinctive. Since it normally disappeared when the human being suffered death it was not regarded in the same way as the other ’spirits’…

Each technique has been effective within its own culture, but has derived from an earlier universal system of prehistory. By recognizing the parallels and integrating the principles into a single harmonic system in the spirit of the travelling shamans. I hope not only to get closer to the original system, but also to provide modern people with a clear path to the Cosmos of the shaman, thus securing a firm foundation from which Inner Space may be explored and the benefits shared.

Travelling shamans who went beyond the limitations of their own tribal customs recognized that no single group possessed all Truth {Thus the Kelts were into ‘Brotherhood’ rather than racial purity or ethnic ascendancy.}, and so journeyed from tribe to tribe and place to place seeking knowledge, gaining new insights, weaving what they learned into what they already knew, and imparting wisdom.” (5)

It is good to see that there are many people in every age who see that Inner Space and travel offer much insight. Despite the prevailing attitudes of the last 5,000 years that have sought to homogenize, enslave or create class hierarchies, and manage us for their benefit, the shaman’s road has borne wondrous fruit. In recent times the quantum (once derided as ‘atom-mysticists’) physicists and people like Lovelock, Campbell, Chopra etc., are our adept cells. The past had the De Danaan or their ‘brothers’ of the race of hominids we have just found near Lake Mungo.

“The Pre Ragnarok Viking Gods.

This section was inspired by Erik Linklater and the legends of the Orkney Islands, guided by Thor, and tested in meditation. It contains no material of German origin. Written 1989.

The Sagas were written by shamans and other leaders to define the social, spiritual and psychic objectives of the race. Where an image produced inspires Man and is acceptable to spirit guides, then those spirit guides will use the image as an interface and bring it to life, thus creating an archetypal God. The fossilised Gods of monotheism on the other hand are just political, mental or psychic control mechanisms stuck in time until dismantled. Spirit guides do not have a brain and need you to do their thinking and meditation for them. If one serves the Gods, then they will serve you. There are no free lunches. (Note written February 2000.)

When man can generate enough energy and responsibility for his actions, he will no longer need God or Gods. Until such time he needs a first rate energy source. The Viking Gods provide a first class source of energy, suitable for propelling man through enlightenment (as in Zen). They will help conquer the Zodiac and the Akashic Elements (Fire, Air, Water and Earth), and other Frost Giants of emotion.” (6)

These wise people were often called ‘messengers’ among the natives of North America and ‘gods’ among lesser ethnic groups who sought to create Olympians or other gods they could interpret for. When the last Mungo Man went to whatever planet or end they sought, we do not know. Was it when the genetic viruses took all the large animals like Mammoths and saber cats? No, because there were still mammoths on Wrangle Island 4,000 years ago. I don’t think the more advanced humans of the Mungo strain would have allowed US to do what we’ve done to our native ‘brothers’ and our own mothers and sisters. Perhaps I’m a dreamer or an idealist, maybe I’m like Heraclitus of Ephesus who shunned his position and power for the pursuit of some ludicrous and intangible ‘knowledge’. Maybe I’m an extreme individual and ‘neurotic’ or just a naive cultist of some kind. I’ve been called many different names or labeled a witch, agnostic, atheist, alchemist, and other things I probably am, as well. It would be difficult to put me alongside many others in a pursuit because I value and respect so many different people and approaches. Krishnamurti (sans Theosophists), Yogananda before he reached out to normative religion and even as the ecumenicist, Jung and the philosophers of ‘cell diffusion’ like Campbell. I hope you put me alongside these people or simply with those who wore my name so proudly in pre-Christian times - BAIRDS! These are my ancestral ‘allies’ or ‘guides’.

About the Author

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
World-Mysteries.com guest writer

Animation…

Terry Dashner…..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013

Animation is giving life or motion to something. Think about this: running, motion, and being planted. What do these three states of being have in common? Listen up, please.

There are only two things that will make a person run. The first thing is a desire to condition one’s body, either for health reasons or competitive sports. The other thing is this: fear. Peopleyou and Iusually run away from scary situations rather than face them. Is that a bad thing? Well, you tell me.

What are you running away from? What event, situation, relationship, or commitment has you running away because you fear it? May I share a simple truth that I’ve learned over the years? You will never succeed and become what you are designed to become by God’s grace unless you stop running away from your fears and start facing them. That’s a fact.

So, does fear have you running and exhausted? Would you like to change the running regiment to benefit you? You can. Here’s how. Listen up.

Tell me, is it possible to collect one pound of fear and wrap it up to go? No, of course not; it’s impossible. As a matter of fact, fear doesn’t exist outside your mind. Your perception of things will impact your life, either positively or negatively.

So to overcome fear you must change your perception. Is that possible? Yes, knowledge with a greater understanding of God is powerful.

I want to share another thing about motion. The difference between a landscape painting and the viewing of the real thing is motion. I looked at a huge tree this morning from my living room window. It looked out of “sync” because there was no movement of its large, green canopy. I sensed something simple, yet profound. From my view and perception the fact that the tree leaves had no motion gave it the illusion of a serene, landscape-painting.

And then this came to mind. There is no movement of its canopy because there is no wind blowing against it. The wind moves the green canopy in a swaying motion. Interesting. No wind, no movement. But something else is needed for the swaying motion. It needs to be planted. Crazy you say? Unless the tree is rooted in the soil by its root system, there can be no resistance against the heavy winds which cause its canopy to sway back and forth.

If you are animated today, it’s because God is moving upon you by His Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit is like the wind. If you are animated today, it’s because you are rooted in something. You see if you are not rooted, grounded, or standing for justice you only resemble what life could be.

If you do not anchor to God, you may eventually give way to the wind’s push and find yourself helplessly askew and forever lost. However, if you stand planted in the confidence of God, His wind will give you living motion. Think about this, and then ask God to plant you in His promises and to breathe upon you daily by His Spirit….Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming soon. We are moving toward that day. Pastor T.

About the Author

Pastors a small church of one hundred beautiful souls in Broken Arrow, OK. U.S. Navy veteran of the Viet Nam era and retired from the City of Tulsa as a municipal police officer. Father of three grown children and grandfather of two; one rests in the arms of Jesus in heaven above.

Sometimes the victim comes to crave pain - very much as self-mutilators do - because it is a proof and a reminder of his individuated existence otherwise blurred by the incessant torture. Pain shields the sufferer from disintegration and capitulation. It preserves the veracity of his unthinkable and unspeakable experiences.

This dual process of the victim’s alienation and addiction to anguish complements the perpetrator’s view of his quarry as “inhuman”, or “subhuman”. The torturer assumes the position of the sole authority, the exclusive fount of meaning and interpretation, the source of both evil and good.

Torture is about reprogramming the victim to succumb to an alternative exegesis of the world, proffered by the abuser. It is an act of deep, indelible, traumatic indoctrination. The abused also swallows whole and assimilates the torturer’s negative view of him and often, as a result, is rendered suicidal, self-destructive, or self-defeating.

Thus, torture has no cut-off date. The sounds, the voices, the smells, the sensations reverberate long after the episode has ended - both in nightmares and in waking moments. The victim’s ability to trust other people - i.e., to assume that their motives are at least rational, if not necessarily benign - has been irrevocably undermined. Social institutions are perceived as precariously poised on the verge of an ominous, Kafkaesque mutation. Nothing is either safe, or credible anymore.

Victims typically react by undulating between emotional numbing and increased arousal: insomnia, irritability, restlessness, and attention deficits. Recollections of the traumatic events intrude in the form of dreams, night terrors, flashbacks, and distressing associations.

The tortured develop compulsive rituals to fend off obsessive thoughts. Other psychological sequelae reported include cognitive impairment, reduced capacity to learn, memory disorders, sexual dysfunction, social withdrawal, inability to maintain long-term relationships, or even mere intimacy, phobias, ideas of reference and superstitions, delusions, hallucinations, psychotic microepisodes, and emotional flatness.

Depression and anxiety are very common. These are forms and manifestations of self-directed aggression. The sufferer rages at his own victimhood and resulting multiple dysfunction. He feels shamed by his new disabilities and responsible, or even guilty, somehow, for his predicament and the dire consequences borne by his nearest and dearest. His sense of self-worth and self-esteem are crippled.

In a nutshell, torture victims suffer from a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their strong feelings of anxiety, guilt, and shame are also typical of victims of childhood abuse, domestic violence, and rape. They feel anxious because the perpetrator’s behavior is seemingly arbitrary and unpredictable - or mechanically and inhumanly regular.

They feel guilty and disgraced because, to restore a semblance of order to their shattered world and a modicum of dominion over their chaotic life, they need to transform themselves into the cause of their own degradation and the accomplices of their tormentors.

The CIA, in its “Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual - 1983″ (reprinted in the April 1997 issue of Harper’s Magazine), summed up the theory of coercion thus:

“The purpose of all coercive techniques is to induce psychological regression in the subject by bringing a superior outside force to bear on his will to resist. Regression is basically a loss of autonomy, a reversion to an earlier behavioral level. As the subject regresses, his learned personality traits fall away in reverse chronological order. He begins to lose the capacity to carry out the highest creative activities, to deal with complex situations, or to cope with stressful interpersonal relationships or repeated frustrations.”

Inevitably, in the aftermath of torture, its victims feel helpless and powerless. This loss of control over one’s life and body is manifested physically in impotence, attention deficits, and insomnia. This is often exacerbated by the disbelief many torture victims encounter, especially if they are unable to produce scars, or other “objective” proof of their ordeal. Language cannot communicate such an intensely private experience as pain.

Spitz makes the following observation:

“Pain is also unsharable in that it is resistant to language… All our interior states of consciousness: emotional, perceptual, cognitive and somatic can be described as having an object in the external world… This affirms our capacity to move beyond the boundaries of our body into the external, sharable world. This is the space in which we interact and communicate with our environment. But when we explore the interior state of physical pain we find that there is no object ‘out there’ - no external, referential content. Pain is not of, or for, anything. Pain is. And it draws us away from the space of interaction, the sharable world, inwards. It draws us into the boundaries of our body.”

Bystanders resent the tortured because they make them feel guilty and ashamed for having done nothing to prevent the atrocity. The victims threaten their sense of security and their much-needed belief in predictability, justice, and rule of law. The victims, on their part, do not believe that it is possible to effectively communicate to “outsiders” what they have been through. The torture chambers are “another galaxy”. This is how Auschwitz was described by the author K. Zetnik in his testimony in the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem in 1961.

Kenneth Pope in “Torture”, a chapter he wrote for the “Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender”, quotes Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman:

“It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering.”

But, more often, continued attempts to repress fearful memories result in psychosomatic illnesses (conversion). The victim wishes to forget the torture, to avoid re-experiencing the often life threatening abuse and to shield his human environment from the horrors. In conjunction with the victim’s pervasive distrust, this is frequently interpreted as hypervigilance, or even paranoia. It seems that the victims can’t win. Torture is forever.

Note - Why Do People Torture?

We should distinguish functional torture from the sadistic variety. The former is calculated to extract information from the tortured or to punish them. It is measured, impersonal, efficient, and disinterested.

The latter - the sadistic variety - fulfils the emotional needs of the perpetrator.

People who find themselves caught up in anomic states - for instance, soldiers in war or incarcerated inmates - tend to feel helpless and alienated. They experience a partial or total loss of control. They have been rendered vulnerable, powerless, and defenseless by events and circumstances beyond their influence.

Torture amounts to exerting an absolute and all-pervasive domination of the victim’s existence. It is a coping strategy employed by torturers who wish to reassert control over their lives and, thus, to re-establish their mastery and superiority. By subjugating the tortured - they regain their self-confidence and regulate their sense of self-worth.

Other tormentors channel their negative emotions - pent up aggression, humiliation, rage, envy, diffuse hatred - and displace them. The victim becomes a symbol of everything that’s wrong in the torturer’s life and the situation he finds himself caught in. The act of torture amounts to misplaced and violent venting.

Many perpetrate heinous acts out of a wish to conform. Torturing others is their way of demonstrating obsequious obeisance to authority, group affiliation, colleagueship, and adherence to the same ethical code of conduct and common values. They bask in the praise that is heaped on them by their superiors, fellow workers, associates, team mates, or collaborators. Their need to belong is so strong that it overpowers ethical, moral, or legal considerations.

Many offenders derive pleasure and satisfaction from sadistic acts of humiliation. To these, inflicting pain is fun. They lack empathy and so their victim’s agonized reactions are merely cause for much hilarity.

Moreover, sadism is rooted in deviant sexuality. The torture inflicted by sadists is bound to involve perverted sex (rape, homosexual rape, voyeurism, exhibitionism, pedophilia, fetishism, and other paraphilias). Aberrant sex, unlimited power, excruciating pain - these are the intoxicating ingredients of the sadistic variant of torture.

Still, torture rarely occurs where it does not have the sanction and blessing of the authorities, whether local or national. A permissive environment is sine qua non. The more abnormal the circumstances, the less normative the milieu, the further the scene of the crime is from public scrutiny - the more is egregious torture likely to occur. This is especially true in totalitarian societies where the use of physical force to discipline or eliminate dissent is an acceptable practice.

About the Author

Sam Vaknin ( http://samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Central Europe Review, PopMatters, and eBookWeb , and Bellaonline, and as a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent. He is the the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

PC Based Oscilloscopes are a great way to display your electronic measurements on to your computer screen. They offer all of the same functions that a traditional bench top Oscilloscope offers, except that they allow you to display your waveforms and readings on a computer instead of a CRT. Now what would you think if I told you that not only are these new Technological wonders very affordable, but now you can build one of these PC Oscilloscopes yourself. Many of us think of Electronic Kit building as a thing of the past, and certainly the thought of building something like an Oscilloscope just doesn’t seem possible these days.

Well think again, because now there are PC Oscilloscope kits available that offer the same great functions as manufactured PC Oscilloscopes. Features like Step markers for voltage, time and frequency, digital displays, data storage, portability and more. They make a great additional to any Electronic Technicians or Engineers tool box, and there is nothing that gives you more pleasure than knowing that you have created something with your own hands.

Building these PC Oscilloscope kits is actually quite easy and these kits don’t require you to be an expert to build. If you have a basic knowledge of Electronics, soldering and the ability to identify Electronic components, you can build one of these kits. Step by step instructions are included taking you through every step of the building process. You will also find all of the necessary components and other parts required to build the kit. The only thing you will need to supply is your time.

If building a PC Oscilloscope is something that you are considering then you should make sure that you have these basic tools on hand before you start your project: A 25 watt Soldering Iron, a Solder Sucker, Needle Nose Pliers, Solder, a Work Light with magnifier and Cutters. A nice set of Precision Screwdrivers would be helpful as well.

Make sure you have a work space that allows you ample space to lay your parts our and give you enough room to work on your kit. Having adequate lighting to work on your project is a must especially when working with small parts. Take into consideration where you decide to work on your project as well. A kit of this size is something that you will most likely not finish in one evening. So make sure your work area will be safe and out of the way from high traffic areas.

PC Oscilloscope Kits are a great way for anyone to learn about Electronics. They not only provide hours of enjoyment , but offer great hands on learning about electricity, Ohms Law, resistors, capacitors, current, voltage, sensors, IC’s and more. Best of all they give you the confidence and satisfaction of knowing you created something yourself.

Mark Boehm is the president of M-B Electronics He has over 25 years of experience in the Audio Visual and Electronics Industry. You can contact him toll free at 800-872-9456 or at:etbinc@comcast.net

For more information on this subject:http://www.mbelectronics.com/view.aspx?id=372