Executive Protection Services – Follow Up on This Company Assessment in Regards to Executive Security Services.

Executive defense provides executives with all the tools to escape and survive a kidnap attempt using brutally simple and easy effective techniques. The purpose of executive defense would be to escape, not to fight the kidnappers. The ideal method of executive defense is always to know how kidnap situations develop as well as avoid them. If, however, the kidnap situation is unavoidable, then using easy physical techniques provides you with the advantage necessary to escape. Proficiency during these techniques enables increased safety by disabling a kidnapper for a couple seconds to make an escape to an established safe haven. Whether it becomes necessary, why wait? An improved chance for escape may never come; a strategy quickly executed now surpasses a perfect plan next week.

If prevention fails, the general logic is if attacked, escape. And when trapped, stay alive. Use only executive defense for self-defense. Attack the eye area, nose groin or throat. Try to memorize details to ensure the kidnappers can later be delivered to justice. Attract help at all possible.

When walking keep the hands free. Only carry what you need within your pockets. Be ready for all circumstances. Keep a mental note of safe havens including police stations, fire stations, embassies, hotels and hospitals. This book has trained anyone to notice the kidnap threat because it develops, maintaining high quantities of situational awareness to behave immediately to improve your odds of not learning to be a victim. When you are caught unawares, the kidnappers have got all the advantage, as well as the situation has escalated beyond the control. For this reason recognizing early indicators are of the utmost importance.

Executive defense will be the last layered approach for anti-kidnapping; it concentrates on maintaining a defense posture to avoid from potential unanticipated threats. It’s a planned organized resistance to protect against close encounter kidnap threats – immediate self-defense action and readiness. Your first defense priority can be your ability to observe and get away from pre-kidnap threats through pre-kidnap surveillance recognition. Activate your early warning radar, swiftly denying the kidnapper’s strategic and operational objectives by maximizing your environmental awareness and control.

Kidnappings are seldom surprises, particularly for executives who may have put a great deal of effort into learning how to avoid kidnap situations in the first place. Risks are minimized through awareness, recognition and avoidance. Trust your instincts as well as your anti-kidnap training; evacuate the location to generate a clean getaway from potential trouble you observe. Avoid talking with strangers on the street, and when a driver pulls up alongside of you, run from the opposite direction of execut1ve vehicle. If you see someone or something that is seems suspicious, react immediately. Identify safe havens along your routes for your workplace, hotel or residence. Notify the authorities if appropriate. Consult a security alarm professional when a kidnap attempt has occurred.

Executive defense is only one more aspect which should go into working on your personal safety and anti-kidnapping plan. It’s your resolve for defend yourself against injury and capture. All executives should train to secure themselves while identifying pre-kidnap stages and methods of avoidance. Executive defense provides executives together with the understanding, purpose, direction and ability for escape, providing executives with the “tools” needed to defend themselves when dealing with confrontation or possibly a kidnap attempt. Remember, really the only escape window is throughout the initial kidnap effort. Avoidance and escape will be the main goals, not using physical force to protect yourself against abductions.

However, these defense tactics, techniques and procedures are for emergency use and really should be applied in case a kidnapper has brought too close. Resisting kidnappers works in creating an opening for the escape. Executive defense response choices are executive protection service depending on:

1. Creating a fast and clear escape

2. Mitigating as much risk as possible from being captured

3. Rapidly exploiting targets and openings for escape

4. Employing your strengths and exploiting kidnappers’ vulnerabilities

5. Countermeasures as “last ditch efforts” only.

Target Areas

Avoid what exactly is strong and strike exactly what is weak. Executives are best best for hit-and-escape tactics. Good targets will be the eyes, nose, throat and groin. Trouble for any one of these brilliant organs can greatly reduce the strength of a kidnapping attempt. What this means is utilizing the best defense tools that permit for rapid implementation against kidnap threats, focusing on probably the most vulnerable targets available and setting up a safe escape.

1. Eyes

The eyes are soft tissue targets. A hard strike or gouge may cause involuntary watering, closing from the eyes, distorted vision or permanent eye damage. Kidnappers will automatically protect their eyes from attack, allowing vital seconds to get a quick escape.

2. Nose

The nose is quite sensitive, and nasal bones are easily broken. From your hard strike the mucous membrane lining from the nose usually tears, causing nosebleed, teary eyes, distorted vision and dizziness.

3. Throat

A hard strike to the trachea can cause difficulty breathing, wheezing and coughing, closing of the airway and unconsciousness, which can temporarily immobilize the kidnapper and enable someone to make a clean getaway.

4. Groin

Because the groin does not have the safety of muscles and bones, it’s quicker to be struck, hit or kicked. A difficult strike can produce severe pain, bruising, swelling or blood flow from the injury, resulting in the kidnapper to double over. Kidnappers will automatically protect their groin from attack, permitting critical seconds to have an escape.

Personal Weapons

There are many personal weapons a professional can utilize in a close encounter by using a kidnapper (elbows, kicks, etc.). However, executive defense concentrates only on fist strikes and eye gouges. Kicking techniques can deteriorate an executive’s stance, causing reduction in balance as well as a fall to the ground. Being in a prone position decreases the executive’s chances for escape. Your stance during a confrontation should let you move instantly in virtually any direction, making you competent at launching the most effective strike to fulfill existing situation for escape purposes only.

The Goal of Executive Defense

Just strike the kidnapper nearest you as hard as you possibly can, and obtain away as fast as possible to acquire vital seconds that result in added safety. Attain speed, power and accuracy from practice at the gym and thru executive conflict avoidance training. Acquire open targets for multi-strike capability as well as maximize the distance through the kidnap attempt location.

These are generally defensive techniques employed to support quick escape capability to seize the initiative. These matter of moments help you in managing an escape, getting you later on from danger to your safe haven and avoiding capture. Executive defense takes a firm persistence for improving escape capabilities during “unexpected” kidnap attempts, should it become necessary. The immediate purpose is usually to create conditions and regain the initiative for escape only – to achieve a position of advantage regarding safety important to overcome the kidnapper’s power to capture you.

When practicing executive defensive techniques, usually have the mindset to make use of maximum force on the decisive a chance to produce the conditions to have an effective escape. These weapons should be used when you find yourself in imminent danger. They are not “pretty” or “nice” and so are only to be used when confronted with situations where the stakes could mean “life or death.” Don’t second-guess yourself, and don’t hesitate – escape.

1. Fist

To create a proper fist, the fingers needs to be curled tightly to the palm. The thumbs should lay tightly on top of the fingers, and the fist should remain tight. Attack vital parts of the kidnapper’s body together with the weight of the body behind the blow. Your aim should be to temporarily immobilize the kidnapper with a couple of quick strikes making an escape.

2. Hammer Fist

The hand is created into a proper fist. With the bottom of the fist just as if holding a hammer, strike the kidnapper around the bridge of your nose in the downward motion with the weight of the body behind it. This would stun the kidnapper momentarily that you can evade attack and try to escape.

3. Palm Heel

The palm faces forward as well as the hand is bent using the fingers curled under. The strike utilizes the heel of your palm in an upward motion aimed up and beneath the nose of your kidnapper. This ought to daze the kidnapper to get a second, that is lots of time to escape.

4. Eye Gouge

The thumbs of both of your hands are brought up in a rapid motion from outside the kidnapper’s field of vision. Place both palms on the side of the kidnapper’s face with your thumbs directly over his eyes. Press in, penetrating the corneas. The structure of your face and eyes is well best for this sort of defensive technique; however, the aspect of surprise is needed. This should cause blurred vision and bleeding from your eyes and eyelids, creating the opportunity to escape from your dangerous position.

5. Biting

Your executive defense arsenal needs to include biting, which can inflict considerable damage when targeting soft tissue (Arms and hands are excellent targets). Vary the angle and pressure from the bite to generate maximum pain and a quick escape.

6. Groin Strikes

The groin area can be a soft tissue location and it is not protected by natural protection. Groin shots, for instance a knee for the groin, can produce severe pain, inducing the kidnapper to panic and double over. Once the kidnapper is momentarily stunned, incapacitated or immobilized, this will generate an escape opportunity.

Beat Kidnappers at Their Own Personal Game

Executive defense techniques are pretty straight forward, effective and shown to are employed in kidnap attempt situations as they are modeled around two critical areas – surprise and escape. Now you have the tools to defeat kidnappers at their particular game. However, you have to practice with all the with the knowledge that the conclusion of executive defense is always to protect yourself and make a rapid escape. A good escape through the scene of any kidnapping is the most frequently ignored a part of an executive defense plan. Generally have an exit strategy resolved upfront. Run as fast as you can to some safe haven, and seek police assistance immediately. The subsequent chapter discusses executive escape strategies in detail. Keep safe on the market and God Speed.


Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

Raised by her haughty Aunt Reed, Jane Eyre grows up knowing nothing other than a rigid harshness from both her distant relatives and the strict Lowood Charity School. Even through her rough childhood, Jane manages to maintain her integrity and spirit with the secret wish that things can only get better from here.

When she is hired as a governess by the dark and brooding Mr. Rochester, Jane finds her life taking a turn, for the better, worse, or both is unknown. Driven by her inner, unspoken desire for wider and richer love than Victorian society traditionally allowed, Jane must struggle between her own longing and moral standards in an attempt to find the best of both.

Excuse the heavily influenced Goodreads description, but WOW!

This is my new favorite classic book. Unlike many other classic books in which many chapters go on with nothing actually happening, Jane Eyre is beautifully paced with a well though-out plot and memorable characters.

The beginning was not exactly slow, but a little confusing as to how it fits in with the rest of the story. It makes sense later, it sets up a lot of inner struggle further on in the story.

The writing style made me think very much of Emily Bronte, their tastes in guys was evident. There were also several parts in which I wondered if Dickens had co-authored in several of the brilliant, diabolical scheming scenes.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5

Violence: 3/10 (there was only maybe three short parts which are very creepy; I wish I could say why, but that would ruin the entire story!)

Language: 1/10

Inappropriateness/Romance: 3/10 (hello! This is a romantic classic, although nothing inappropriate ever actually happens)

Audience: Ages 14 and up, mostly just for the more difficult reading level.

Now excuse me while I go watch the movie……

The Beduin’s Gazelle, by Frances Temple

In the year 1302, in the Middle East, Atiyah and Halima, cousins, have been betrothed since birth. They are nearly old enough to marry; however, Atiyah has been taken by his uncle to the city to learn to study and learn to read. Both are very attached to each other and miss each other very much while he is away.

While Atiyah is away, Halima is lost from the tribe in a sandstorm. The ‘sand sea’ shows no mercy, and her parents give her up as lost. But when Atiyah hears of her disappearance, he sets out to find her along with his French friend, Ettiene. Can Atiyah find Halima before the sheikh of another tribe persuades her to marry him?

This book seemed a little flaky to me. Atiyah and Halima’s feelings, the author said, were true, but I never felt it. They felt more like two friends, so it is not as much of a romance as you would expect.

While poetic at times, the characters felt distant and everything that happened to them was too brief. For example, Halima does not seem very scared when she is lost, and is found like three paragraphs after she realizes she has been separated from her parents. Atiyah also had a ‘walk on water’ feeling; nothing ever stopped him, and everything just seemed to fall into place for him, including the brief and unexplained ending,

The fact that the sheikh wants to marry Halima does make it a little awkward. He is relatively kind to her, otherwise, and does not force the marriage on her.

Their Islamic beliefs and myths are talked about in the book, which is interesting to hear about, and occurs often throughout the book, just as a side note.

All in all, I felt like the book fell a little short of what it could have been. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the author died the day she finished it, or just in that I didn’t care for the romance-that-wasn’t-a-romance. They never gave the exact age of the two, but I get the impression that they are pretty young.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Violence: 1/10

Language: 0/10 (unless you count references to their gods)

Inappropriateness/Romance: 4/10

Audience: Probably girls, Ages 10 and up


Celebration of loneliness -3 Painting
Click on painting to enlarge or view in room below.

Celebration of loneliness -3 Painting

Medium: Oil on Canvas
Painted in (year): 2000
Category: still-life paintings

More details

$2500 USD

Erna Dolmazova
Erna Dolmazova

Celebration Of Loneliness -3 is an original, one-of-a-kind still-life painting signed by artist Erna Dolmazova. This piece of art was created in 2000 and the painter used oil on canvas. It measures 20" x 24" inch (50 x 60 cm) and is available for sale online for 2500 USD.

In the Celebration of Loneliness-3 painting, one gets the feeling that the artist has accepted their current fate as someone who lives a solitary life and has decided to embrace it. This painting uses the image of bridges that have not fully been crossed, symbolizing a failed attempt to connect with the world. In the foreground is a large black bottle, one that might symbolize sadness or depression and the confinement that one might feel when experiencing loneliness. Still, the sun shines against the black bottle and casts its light upon everything in the painting, supporting the idea that hope should never be abandoned.


Plant species in the woodland

Cumberland Plain Woodland typically has a canopy of gum trees, species of Eucalyptus, 10-20 m high with a grassy and herbaceous understorey. There may be scattered clumps or thickets of shrubs. The woodland contains many different organisms but plants are the biggest and most obvious. A few species are trees but most are groundlayer plants, which make up about 90% of the flora. They are not big showy plants like the Banksias and Grevilleas of the sandstone areas, but small delicate creatures that need a careful eye to distinguish between them. Modern photography allows us to really appreciate their delicate beauty.

Our remnant woodlands at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan contain about 130 native plant species, as well as about 80 exotic weed species that have naturalised (i.e. spread into various habitats).
The predominant plant family is the Grass family Poaceae with 40 species (25 native and 15 exotic) followed by the Daisies - Asteraceae with 33 species (20 native and 13 exotic) the Peas - Fabaceae with 16 species (11 native and 5 exotic) and Chenopods - Chenopodiaceae with 7 species (all native). Most of the other families are represented by only a few species. There are four fern species.

The woodland flora has most affinities with dry country areas, and many of the species also grow in drier inland NSW. Mount Annan, with an average annual rainfall of 825 mm, is part of the driest part of Sydney, and most of the native woodland plants are adapted to periodic droughts and dry conditions.

Many of the exotic species were introduced and spread around by domestic stock in the 19th and 20th centuries when the land was used for grazing and agriculture. A few of the exotic species are horticultural or ornamental plants that have run wild, notably African Olive *Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata, Cotton Bush *Gomphocarpus fruticosus, Paddys Lucerne *Sida rhombifolia and Heliotrope *Heliotropium amplexicaule.


Welcome to the inner thoughts of my sick mind:
I finally know the answer to the question that has been haunting me since I started working in this office:
Question: Which toilet is used least, in the ladies room??

Answer: The second from the right.

Why: Because at 09:30 this morning the lid was still up. No woman in their right mind would put the lid up after peeing. If they do, they are in the wrong bathroom. It is an underwritten rule (in the world of germ-o-phobes) that in a ladies bathroom, when the lid is still up, your seat has been freshly cleaned.
Of course I have been secretly keeping track of which stall receives the least amount of traffic. The last and first stalls are the most popular - always occupied. It is rare to see the second and third stalls filled – so I was debating between the two. Well, after 10 months of internal note taking, I have my answer.

So. Pecking order of stalls from most traffic to least traffic:
1. first stall
2. last stall
3. third stall
4. second stall

P.S. Don’t everyone start using that second stall. Its mine.


 EMPIRE TOURS - Tours Operator for Czech Republic and Central Europe

Salzburg is known especially as a town, where Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. It is a town in Austria.

Salzburg means “salt castle”. It was named after salt mines which we can find its area. History of Salzburg started in the year 15 B.C.The Roman Empire merged the settlements into one city. At this time, the city was called "Juvavum" and was awarded the status of a Roman municipium in 45 AD. In 739 was founded in Salzburg bishopric, the city became the seat of the bishop. In 774, the first Salzburg Cathedral was built.

Salzburg is joined mainly with the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was born in 1756 in Salzburg and was from the year 1769 to 1781 in the service of the Prince Archbishop. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous composers in the World. His “A Little Night Music” is a unique music arts.

Salzburg is quite small town with a very nice art soul. You can feel music and 18th century everywhere.

Salzburg is known by its famous type of praline, named “Mozart Balls”. It was originally created by the Salzburg confectioner Paul Fürstem in 1890. The praline is a ball of pistachio marzipan, coated in a chocolate. The praline has been and still remains a handle made product, protected by a trademark. In honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the pralines was named after him.

You could stroll the streets of the Old Town Salzburg, visit the Old Residence of the Prince Archbishops, contemplate in Salzburg Dom (Cathedral), enjoy the Fortress Hohen Salzburg or in your mind hear the Sound of Music in Mirabell Palace Gardens.

Your trip will be set up by your individual needs.

©2004-2017 Empire Tours


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Rinad Temirbekov: Government and NGOs must learn to report about changes in society

17 Марта 2017 Almaty. March 17. KazTAG - Vladimir Radionov. One of the latest trends in the non-governmental sector of Kazakhstan is the fact that the Government tends to pay for the NGOs services, while the number of grants from the international organizations has been going down replaced by the state order.
Executive Director of the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (EFCA) Rinad Temirbekov believes the Government has different criteria  of NGOs selection for cooperation, while the public should learn to report not on the money spent, but on the changes achieved as a result of their work.
However, the process of changes must be reciprocal: state bodies also need to learn how to make a long-term analysis of NGOs work, as the real effectiveness of various projects can be seen in 2-3 years of their implementation.
Our talk with R. Temirbekov will focus on the professional level of Kazakhstani NGOs, opportunities of their cooperation with the state bodies and  public usefulness of this cooperation.

- Rinad, if we talk about the work of NGOs, we should make clear, in your opinion what is their professional level? Sometimes it seems that most of our public figures are trying to play on emotions.

- If we take the total number of the registered NGOs (including quasi-NGOs, existing only on paper), then the percentage of really working and useful ones won't be high. But if you look at those organizations that work, the overall level of their development is getting higher and higher. Many NGOs have already activated business processes from the point of view of the management. NGOs are not the entities isolated from society and living out of time: the society is developing - the organizations are developing as well. Among them there are formed, experienced, authoritative organizations.

In fact, conditionally NGOs are divided into the categories according to their specialization. There are some that work on the level of state bodies, when they can make proposals on equal terms with the Government members, develop bills, procedures, standards and defend them. That is, they are engaged in the development of "rules of the game" at the macro level.

There are NGOs which were originally created to work at the level of an ordinary citizen, they often represent the interests and protect the rights of socially vulnerable groups of people. So to say they provide legal aid. Although the right for accessible legal aid was announced in our country, the mechanisms do not function to the full. Therefore, there are always categories of people for whom certain services are not available - as lawyers do not aspire to go to the villages.

I believe that if someone wants to be a full-fledged member of the dialogue at one level or another, he must be competent, he is supposed to present information objectively, and not emotionally, to be a professional. NGOs sometimes need to look at themselves from the outside and see new opportunities of mutual benefit for each other, to learn from each other. There is no competition, the practice of the NGOs shows there will be no progress if the society is based on yesterday's stereotypes.

An NGO can continuously build progressive projects up to the state level, but if the population does not feel the need for them, if there is inertia and dependency sentiments there will be no progress. Therefore, the most effective projects are those which are aimed at the interests of the community, so you need the ability to catch this mood and mobilize, to make an effort. You can scold the Government for as long as you like, but if you cannot do gymnastics in the morning or clean your yard - what has it to do with the Government?

- You are talking about the welfare mentality in the society. And if you look at the other side, one can say about the NGOs the same way - "grants eaters" that work for their own profit. And such sentiments prevail. Why is this happening?

- Because there is a reason to think so. There are NGOs created solely to attract grants. Perhaps they are excellent guys and think that they are useful. But if you only aim to get a grant and work it out,  such an organization will not go far, you need a mission, goals, vision of your achievement, consistency and systematic work to progress.
There are organizations that work systematically in one direction and achieve results- they change processes, and life changes in that group of people for whose interests the organizations work.

As for the improvement of work, life itself makes corrections. Lately there have been less classical sources of funding for NGOs - from the international organizations, etc. - they say, Kazakhstan is already a developed country, and the volume of aid is reduced. At the same time, financing is increasing within the state order and from the private sector - from various corporations.
The Government has developed its own centralized funding mechanism. On one hand, it's good as with an appropriate control everything will be systematic and transparent. But if transparency suffers and people do not understand the priorities of selection for funding - there will be restrictions.

Now I see more advantages. Therefore, the challenge concerning sustainability of NGOs is deep, and this aspect - whether it is financial sustainability or a program - is least developed.

What is "program sustainability"? This is a management case in which if an organization has to leave the area of work for some time, then for the previous period it should accumulate the potential partners, followers, to carry out the task, to have a chance to receive substitute support from the partner organizations. If others believe in the value of what the organization does, which is vital, then the work goes in the correct way.

Financial sustainability is also not only the balance  of the debit with a credit, but it is also an ability to accumulate resources for development - to attend conferences, engage in scientific work, and conduct research.

- Since we've mentioned the state order for NGOs, I cannot help remembering the cautious attitude of the majority of public figures to it. They said that there was an intention to put them on a "short leash" this way. What do you think?

-  Dialogue and balance should dominate in the priorities definition. The Government has the right to "order music" - it is also a beneficiary, state bodies in this case are interested party, they have their own vision on how to develop further. The same thing concerns NGOs - they may have the idea about pressure points and prospects. And if the work of the NGO is focused on changing, say, a whole public cluster, interaction with the state is inevitable: it can concern the changes in the legislation, normative-legal acts and etc.

And today I can see positive trends in the activity of the state body responsible for the state order. According to the results of the second tender (they were announced recently), a third of the lots of the state order concerned the research in order to identify the needs. This is the right approach: in order to determine the focus for future work, it is necessary to collect objective information. The next stages will be the result of joint research and analytical work of NGOs and state bodies.

The second problem is monitoring of effectiveness of projects implemented for the account of the budget. We need a certain mechanism that will clearly define the following parameters: an organization got funding, it performed the work, what is the result? Social projects  are long-term, they need time. It takes a year or two to make the mechanism work. Monitoring standards are also being developed. In general, I am optimistic about this experience.

But speaking in medical language, one organ cannot be healthy, when the whole organism is prone to systemic failures from time to time: if blood circulation is broken - all the organs will suffer. And if we consider the NGOs development within the framework of the system development of the state and society - we are aware about the problems which exist. This is corruption, and the lack of systematic approaches in assessing the programs' effectiveness. New projects are being developed - national, business projects, etc., and after a while, even the deputies ask the questions: we open factories, but which of them keep on operating in 2-4 years’ time?

Is the objective information available anywhere: like for a certain period of time this number of new industries was launched, of them a certain number was closed for various reasons, while a certain number of enterprises reached the production capacities and etc.? This information should be collected by grains. So the system problems will affect the effectiveness of public organizations.

- Another problem of state order: the inconsistency of the allocated finances for the project with the tasks that it is supposed to resolve. The representatives of the non-governmental sector also speak much about it. Does the state save at the expense of quality?

- I do not want to say that there is some evil intent. At this moment you need to look at this from two sides, every medal has two sides.

I will not deny that on the one hand there are certain drawbacks in the planning of cost and volumes of work. But, on the other hand, no one forces to take this money. We often tell our partners: if you see initially that a particular  project is unrealistic - do not participate in the tender. And if all the NGOs said at once that it would not work that way and withdrew their applications, maybe it would be good too. Most likely, the life of quasi-NGOs would facilitate, which were originally created in order to take money. But this is the ethical side of the matter.

When the first tender within the framework of the new mechanism of social partnership between the state and NGOs was announced, there was such a situation: there were programs that seemed interesting to us, but when we looked at the total cost, we immediately realized that expenses would not be covered. And we did not participate, but we gave a recommendation: operating expenses must be planned to cover trainings, high-quality analytics, and etc. And more time was needed.

The position "do not want - do not take it" does not mean that NGOs should lay down their hands and do nothing. If you and the society believe that your activity is necessary, there will certainly be people ready to support this activity. The work of NGOs is socially oriented services. The methods of administration and management are the same in the NGOs and in the business structures. Sources of funding should be different. People will buy valuable services. And due to this you can provide the same service for free to a certain group of people. It is necessary to approach it in a balanced way.
Despite my critical attitude,  I have a hope that the state procurement mechanism is a good idea, but time will show what it will be like in the future.

Does the Government see partners but not "influence agents" in the NGOs now?

- If sane people work in the state bodies, they know that NGOs can be good sources, for instance, for expertise, that NGOs can do part of the work at their own expense. There is understanding of the role of NGOs - not so long ago the Prime Minister spoke about this. So there is general understanding of partnership.

But the devil lies in the details - in the implementation, as it all happens in reality. Here there are often a lot of questions. If an official has a formal approach to this (if he needs to gather 10 NGOs in the public council - he invites those who hang upon his lips), then the result allegedly done work will be formal. But at the same time, there are agencies that understand the need to transfer as many functions as possible to the public organizations, there are examples in the regions.

Another thing is that it should be turned into the national rule, so that the best practices spread as quickly as possible, so that was a troubleshooting mechanism. We lack the system of approaches: analysis, consistency, continuity. And we do not have continuity at the highest levels: new heads in the Ministries forget what their predecessors did on this post, they try to present their vision as something new, completely without relying on the experience that had been accumulated.

For instance, about five years ago we attended one Ministry where officials told us about creation of a business incubator as an innovation. In turn, we reminded them that in 2003 the Government had already issued a decree on business incubators creation. They could have done an analysis why the idea didn't work to avoid further mistakes.

In this respect, I like the Chinese approach: they never spit in their history. Even about Mao Zedong they said that  30% of its activities were wrong, and 30% were correct. They give adequate assessment to all that happened and try to learn from the past. With this analysis they rapidly progress.

We also need to introduce as many assessments of influence as possible. Not in terms of  "where the money was spent" but to report what happened, whether the mechanism is effective and how the situation changes in 2-3 years. We don't have much of it in the Government and in non-Governmental sector.

- Thank you for the interview!


Purveyor of Pleasure

Category: Discourse (Page 4 of 4)

Semantics Sunday: Gender Galaxy

One of the terms I have in my lexicon but also something that I could expound upon for quite some time. I was talking with someone recently about my idea of the gender galaxy and she said something about liking femininity, not wanting to give it up. I kind of balked at her and asked how that was what I was saying at all. I find it so ridiculous that people assume that taking gender off of a binary means that femininity must go away.

On one hand, it makes sense, because a lot of the work of the feminist movement has been, basically, to do the same work as patriarchy and discredit femininity only from the other side of it, discrediting it from the inside, because it’s constructed. One thing I love about the idea of performativity is that it names everything as a performance, the constructed nature about the way we think about gender, but it doesn’t mean that we all don’t have some sort of pull toward one or many types of gender expression.

But, I digress. The term “gender galaxy” first appeared in Expanding Gender and Expanding the Law: Toward a Social and Legal Conceptualization of Gender that is More Inclusive of Transgender People by Dylan Vade, published in 2005 in the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law. He says:

I suggest a non-linear alternative conceptualization, which I call the gender galaxy. The gender galaxy is a three-dimensional non-linear space in which every gender has a location that may or may not be fixed. For instance, butch woman is one particular gender location. Feminine FTM is another gender location. These are two different valid gender locations that are not linearly related.

The article is fascinating, and I highly encourage you to read it as well, for further information of his explanations. He mentions that generally when we try to go away from the two options of (he uses male and female but to me those are sex categories rather than gender, and so I would say masculine and feminine) gender we move it onto a spectrum instead of just a one-or-the-other option. However, moving it onto a spectrum means it is still grounded in that binary, and his idea of a gender galaxy is moving away from that, as mentioned in the quote above.

Gender galaxy is a term that Sinclair of SugarButch has written about and defines, and I highly encourage all you who haven’t to look at his brilliant writings on the subject. One of the best examples of his writing about the gender galaxy comes from his telling of his journey of learning how to navigate within the gender galaxy and finding his identity as butch:

I’m working on a post of my own personal galaxy map to femme, how I’ve gotten here, what it means to me, and I’m hoping to be done with that soon. In the meantime, you have Sinclair’s to reference and my ideas of gender galaxy to ponder, as follows.

Basically I see the gender galaxy as having lots of little solar systems, with the sun or focal point of that solar system being a certain gender identity. There are some people who stay in orbit around one sun. Some are closer than others, like the difference between Mercury and Jupiter, and some are farther away and have irregular courses like Neptune. Still others are asteroids or comets, moving around multiple solar systems, moving through the gender galaxy itself without one focal point or another. Some people may inhabit two planets or three or four. The beauty of the gender galaxy is the limitless amount of possibilities.

Obviously, as my own gender identity includes femme and therefore includes femininity (or, femmeininity) I am not anti-femininity, nor do I believe that gender should be abolished or that the gender galaxy is getting rid of gender, on the contrary. Gender is even more emphasized in some ways in the gender galaxy, except instead of confining it the gender galaxy makes gender overly available. Opening up gender from a gender binary or even a gender continuum to a gender galaxy makes it so that there are no expressions of gender that are considered incorrect. We would no longer be able to fail at gender, either, as there is no set limits as to what gender is or could be.

Another Slight Semantic Difference

So I, basically, shun the word “slave” as many of you may know, and yet I still use the term Master. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and the more I think about it the less I like the term “Master.” It implies some of the same things that “slave” does, only from the other end of it, my problem thus far as been the lack of a better term.

The terms Sir and Lord just are not that appealing to me either. I can appreciate the appeal, but I just don’t have a strong tie to either of them, so they don’t do much for me. While I can understand the desire for either, neither of them click with me, they don’t seem quite fitting. I hear Sir flung around like crazy online, and Lord just seems like a little much.

I like the term Owner, it’s a little more neutral than Master, though has similar connotations, not all of them bad, however. Owner is closer to what I want than Master is, but it’s still not quite right. It sounds strange to call someone Owner, such as “Owner just said something funny,” it doesn’t quite work the same way Master does, it just sounds a little funny.

I like the term Dominus as well, technically it means both Lord and Master, and doesn’t have all the same connotations as Master or even Owner does. I talked extensively about my use of the term Domina just last Sunday, and I feel similarly with the term Dominus, it’s regal and delicious. I left the post by asking about why people don’t use the term Dominus, and maybe I will begin to. The problem with Dominus is similar to Owner, “Dominus just said something funny,” sounds strange as well. Perhaps I just need to either shift my perspective on it, or choose one.

The biggest component of this, really, is how Master/Owner/Dominus feels about it. I haven’t really talked to him about it, but I plan on it. I like referring to him by a title, as he is the only one which I do call by a title. It takes a lot for me to call someone by a title, just as it takes a lot for me to say anything which I mean and which could make me in the least bit vulnerable. He is one of the few people that I have ever called Master, and possibly the last.

Semantics Sunday: Domina

Semantics Sunday is the day for me to write my own definition of a word, how I feel about a word, and how it relates to me personally and my own identities. This could be anything sexual, gender, bdsm, and poly/relationship oriented, or anything else I feel like throwing in. This is simply my definition and understanding of the word, and not meant to be the only definition that is or could be. If you have an alternate definition, if you agree with my interpretation, or if you have something to add which I left out or which needs correcting, feel free to let me know in the comments!

For my first Semantics Sunday I figured I should use a word that is near and dear to my heart. Since I have already given my lengthy definition of cuntpet I decided I should focus on the other of my identities: Domina.

I recently created a new channel on irc.bondage.com, where I am quite frequently, called #Fiery_Dominas. This is the first channel with Domina in the channel name, which is part of the reason why I started it, however it has inspired comments such as “What is dominas? Dommes plural?” which is relatively ridiculous considering for one thing, Dommes is Domme plural, and for another thing Domina is a fantastic and real Latin word, unlike Domme, which is a slang term.

Now, on one hand, I feel there is nothing wrong with slang terms, and think that they should be used and incorporated, and Domme basically incorporates Dom and Femme (as in french for female, not queer femme), which is not horrible in general, and is rather logical. However, now that I have discovered and embraced Domina, Domme sounds silly to me, it is nowhere near as linguistically luscious or regal-sounding as Domina is, and it doesn’t inspire the same awe. I also feel that Domina is a much more feminine term than Domme, which is partly why I’m so partial to it as well.

Basically, Domina comes from the Latin root dom- found in other such words as dominate, domify, domicile, and domestic, as well as domin- such as dominant and dominus. From various sources I find that “dom-” actually relates to a household or realm, and the actual Latin translation of Domina or Dominus (the male counterpart), is “Lady or Lord of the house/realm.” This makes sense, considering dom- relating also to words such as domicile and domestic. The prefix domin- alone (supposedly) indicates regal status, such as Lady/Lord, or Mistress/Master, which is why Domina is the feminine and Dominus is the masculine (the suffix -a being feminine, and the suffix -us being masculine).

This brings us to the question, if we use Dom and not Dominus, why should we use Domina and not Domme? Well, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t ever use Domme, I’m just saying that I don’t want to use Domme, and furthermore, we could use Dominus as well, should a male dominant desire to be called that. I’m not going to condemn others for using the term Domme, but I do not identify with the term and will not be using it for myself or for others unless specifically requested.

Labels: Useful but Often Problematic

I posted much of this (though not all of it) on my BDSM Theory group on FetLife last night. The post is here though I believe you have to be logged in to read it. On to the ideas.

I believe that labels are like nearly everything else: they have a purpose, but they are often used incorrectly. When thought of as finite and static they lose their purpose. The purpose of labels is to define someone at one particular moment in time.

We are ever-changing and ever-growing creatures. As is said: the only thing constant is change. Most contemporary psychological personality theory centers around the fact that personality changes over time and through different experiences and situations. There may or may not be some basic tenets to the personality and there may or may not be a biological component (as is debated often ad nauseam). However, just about everyone agrees that there are significant changes which happen over time in personality.

So, why would we want to think of ourselves in static finite terms? We wouldn’t! What fun would that be, to box ourselves in to one term or another, and yet we do it all the time. What are labels but nouns and adjectives? What are roles that we subscribe to but labels? The trap of labels is to believe that they are finite and never-changing, this is true of nearly any label.

The idea that we so often miss is that labels are a category, but not a be all and end all of what one person is or is not.

An example: you order a burger at a restaurant. While this is a burger, it could be made of beef, turkey, chicken, soy, vegetables, black beans, or something else entirely. It could come with: lettuce, tomato, onion, mushrooms, pickles, garlic, pastrami, bacon, swiss cheese, cheddar, pepper jack, provolone, smoked gouda, or any number of toppings. It could also have: mayo, mustard, ketchup, ranch, hummus, barbecue sauce, or any number of sauces. It could be served on: whole wheat, white, sesame seed, rosetta… I think you get my point. These combinations create an almost infinite number of variations under the common label of “burger.” So it is with any label.

Just because someone adopts the label of “queer,” for instance, or “slave” it does not mean that anyone else who inhabits these labels looks at all like this person. This queer slave could be male, female, transgendered, transsexual, masculine, feminine, genderqueer, etc. and may be a service slave, a sexual slave, both service and sexual, a brat, part-time, 24/7, a pro slave, live-in, or some combination thereof. This person could have various fetishes such as humiliation, force, objectification, boots, heels, non-sexual service, rope bondage, metal bondage, pain, or anything else. This person in other aspects of life could be a CEO, an artist, an auto mechanic, a teacher, a writer, a sys admin, a starship captain, or anything else.

I think you see my point with that as well. Labels are good for describing generic categories which someone is part of or embraces, but are not good for getting a specific idea of what the person is like, or even what they think, do, or feel. They give a general idea about one general area of a person, but everything else is up for grabs.

While I think we all know this to an extent, it is hard to get away from automatic categorization and stereotyping. I will be the first to admit that I often fall prey to stereotypes, though I have been working to train myself to ignore them, they are so ingrained in us that it is nearly impossible to get out of them. If we were to see someone was a 20 year old straight female slave, for example, I’m sure just from those four descriptors most everyone who read them formed an idea of the person. Even I did.

I think that labels are useful and necessary, and I definitely have a sort of OCD tendency to nitpick my own labels (so far as I have created my own label for myself as well) in order to best explain and express myself to the world, just as you said.

My point is that labels are often attached to other labels, when that may not always be the case, such as the thinking that if someone is x, y, and z, therefore they must also be a, b, and c.

Empowerment and Submission

Some days I have very little to say D/s wise, and on these days I’m quiet.

I’m working on a paper for my Queer Theory class exploring BDSM, which should be interesting. I’m having a very hard time narrowing down a concept. I’m thinking of exploring gender, using Venus in Furs and Secretary, or possibly Venus in Furs and a scene which I will describe. Another option is marriage and BDSM, I know quite a few Dommes and male subs who won’t participate in it due to the misogyny associated with it, and since it pretty much goes the opposite of their roles, similarly, in ViF Wanda asserts that she could never marry someone who was subordinate to her, if she was to marry it would be to a Dominant man. I also know many female subs who want to get married to their Dom. And then there’s me…

Other than that… marriage would be easy to do, but I’m not sure if I could write twelve pages on it, though… possibly. I may add marriage into a paper on gender, and I could add something on gender supremacy within BDSM and also some things I’ve already talked about in here.

My Prof. agreed that basically at this point the hardest part for me will be narrowing down a topic. I think I just need to choose one and run with it, but there is so much that I would like to explore. Whatever I do I’ll end up posting it here, to be sure. It’s two weeks from the end of the semester, so I may be quite absent these next two weeks.

(3) “degraded – Definitions from Dictionary.com

Rhetorical Gymnastics

Postmodernism is “ultimately meaningless rhetorical gymnastics” according to some.

Yes, yes it is. And I love it.

This was posted on another site, apparently this is what it used to say before a rewrite?
“Postmodernism’s proponents are often criticised for a tendency to indulge in exhausting, verbose stretches of rhetorical gymnastics, which critics feel sound important but are ultimately meaningless. (Some postmodernists may argue that this is precisely the point). calum, from wikepedia, Feb 19,2005”

Power Drag

What does it mean?

Why is it important?

Gender drag is to Gender as Power drag is to Power?

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Thailand is the most popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia. You can find almost anything here: shopping places, great food, thick jungle, crystal blue beaches, cheap beach front bungalows and some of the best luxury hotels in the world. There is something for every interest and every budget. And despite the heavy flow of tourism, Thailand retains its quintessential identity with its own unique culture and history and a carefree people famed for their smiles.

Ko Tarutao
Ko Tarutao is one of the 51 islands that belong to the Tarutao National Marine Park archipelago in southern Thailand. One of Tarutao's greatest attraction is its wildlife: sea turtles, whales, monitor lizards, crab-eating macaques, mouse deer and more all call the island and its surrounding waters home. Compared to other Andaman islands the waters of Ko Tarutao are to murky to snorkel, but for most, the unspoilt beaches, waterfalls, great hiking and views more than compensate for this.

Ayuthaya was founded in 1350 AD by King U Thong as the second capital of Siam after Sukhothai. Throughout the centuries, the ideal location between China, India and the Malay Archipelago made Ayutthaya the trading capital of Asia. By 1700 Ayutthaya had become one of the largest cities in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants. In 1767 the city was destroyed by the Burmese army, resulting in the collapse of the kingdom. The city was re-founded a few kilometers to the east of the ruins, which now form the Ayutthaya historical park. Most of the remains are temples and palaces, as those were the only buildings made of stone at that time.

Ko Chang
Located near the border with Cambodia, Ko Chang is the second largest island in Thailand and the biggest in the Ko Chang Marine Park archipelago. Ko Chang is one of Thailand's most beautiful islands with several waterfalls, thriving coral reefs, rainforests and long white sandy beaches. The island is also home to a wide range of wildlife, including birds, snakes, deer and a number of elephants. Only very recently, in less than ten years, Ko Chang has turned itself in to a major tourist destination in Thailand, and while still far quieter than islands like Phuket or Ko Samui, it's probably better to go now than later.

Grand Palace

Similan Islands

Chiang Mai Walking Street

Phang Nga Bay
Located just over 95 km (60 miles) from the island of Phuket, Phang Nga Bay is one of the top attractions in Thailand and one of most scenic areas in the country. It consists of beautiful caves, aquatic grottoes and limestone islands. The most famous island in the bay is a sea stack called Ko Ping Kan (more commonly known as James Bond Island) which was featured in the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun". A popular way of visiting Phang Nga Bay is by sea kayak as they are the only way to get inside the grottoes and sea caves.

Koh Tao
Koh Tao, literally Turtle Island, is a small island located near the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Around 7000 new divers get certified on Koh Tao each year making it one of the most popular destinations in the world to learn to dive. Diving around the island reefs is easy and fun and you can see an impressive variety of marine species such as coral, turtles, lots of small fish, barracudas and there is a very small chance of seeing a whale shark. The average visibility is around 15-20 meters.

Ko Phi Phi
o Phi Phi is a small archipelago in the Krabi Province in Southern Thailand. Ko Phi Phi Don is the largest island of the group, and is the only island with permanent inhabitants while the smaller Ko Phi Phi Leh is very popular as a beach or dive excursion. Tourism on Ko Phi Phi has exploded only very recently, especially after Ko Phi Phi Leh was used as a location for the 2000 movie The Beach. As a result of the masses of tourists Ko Phi Phi is becoming less and less attractive but for now it is still a very beautiful place to visit.

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Шаблон к прошоу

Allows for the strength of leveling to be adjusted as needed, or even disabled. Blu-ray output can be accessed from the Publish menu, the toolbar in the Publish view, or the Publishing Formats pane. Alignment controls which direction the text expands in when additional lines of text are added. New categories make it easy to find specific profiles for common uses, like mobile devices, online services, and disc-based formats.

Скачать: Метод рекомендації 11 (А5).pdf

Похожие записи:


Efficiently keeping an optimal stripification over a CLOD mesh

Porcu M. B. , Sanna N., Scateni R.

In this paper we present an algorithm of simple implementation but very effective that guarantees to keep an optimal stripification (in term of frames per seconds) over a progressive mesh. The algorithm builds on-the-fly the stripification on a mesh at a selected level-of-details (LOD) using the stripifications built, during a pre-processing stage, at the lowest and highest LODs. To reach this goal the algorithm uses two different operations on the dual graph of the mesh: when the user changes the mesh resolution the mesh+strips local configuration is looked up in a table and, after a vertex split operation, the strips are rearranged accordingly, immediately after a sequence of special topological operation called “tunneling” with short tunnel length are started till the number of isolated triangles in the mesh get under 10% of the total number of strips. Moreover, when the user select a relevant LOD it can trigger a tunnelling with higher tunnel length to optimize the stripification. Using these operations we are able to keep the progressive mesh stripified in a time of the same order of magnitude of the time needed to change the resolution and, only if required, to perform a time-demanding optimization. Only the stripifications generated by explicit user requests are stored to serve as optimal starting points for further inspection. In this way we can always feed the graphics board with a triangle strip representation of the mesh at any LOD.
The results we present demonstrate that we can tightly couple each sequence of vertex splits used to increase the resolution of the progressive mesh with: a simple rearrangement of the strips followed by a very cheap stripification search with a predetermined strategy. A strong feature of the method is that the local rearrangement leads to an implementation that keeps almost constant the execution time. The results of the visualization benchmarks are very good: comparing the rendering of the stripified (using this strategy) and the non stripified meshes we can, on average, double the frames per seconds rate.


pgmabel [-help] [-axis axis] [-factor factor] [-pixsize pixsize]
[-left | -right] [-verbose] [filespec]

This program is part of Netpbm.

pgmabel reads as input a PGM image, which it assumes to be an image of
a rotational symmetric transparent object. The image must have a ver-
tical symmetry axis. pgmabel produces as output an image of a cross-
section of the image.

pgmabel does the calculation by performing the Abel Integration for
Deconvolution of an axial-symmetrical image by solving the system of
linear equations.

After integration, pgmabel weights all gray-values of one side by the
surface area of the calculated ring in square pixels divided by 4*fac-
tor multiplied by the size of one pixel (pixsize). With the -verbose
option, pgmabel prints the weighting factors.

Where the caculation generates a negative result, the output is black.

The computation is unstable against periodic structures with size 2 in
the vertical direction.

You can abbreviate any option to its shortest unique prefix.

-help Prints a help message.

-axis axis

-factor factor

-pixsize pixsize

-left Calculate only the left side of the image. You cannot specify

-right Analogous to -left.

Rotate a PGM image to get an image with a vertical axis of symmetry,
then calculate the cross section:

pnmrotate 90 file.pgm | pgmabel -axis 140 >cross_section.pgm

pnmrotate, pgm,

This program was added to Netpbm in Release 10.3 (June 2002).

Volker Schmidt (lefti@voyager.boerde.de)

Copyright (C) 1997-2002 German Aerospace research establishment


Did you know that Ayurveda only became a popular health system in India in modern times? And, that it was predominantly used in an allopathic context- that is, using herbs and treatments to minimise symptoms?

Interesting, huh?

It interests me a lot, as the foundation of Ayurveda is all about understanding and harmonising our life with the laws of material nature, so we can lead a lifestyle that is conducive to spirituality. AND, one of the biggest key factors of the Ayurvedic approach to health is that it is a PREVENTATIVE health care system.
It’s interesting that the roots of Ayurveda have been somewhat dissolved in it’s own mother country.

So what does this mean for Ayurveda in modern times?

Well, it means that there is a need for people to step into the gap, and become an important part of Ayurveda as it’s taught in modern medical history.

It means there is an exciting opportunity to learn and pass on the essential teachings of Ayurveda, from which people become empowered to take ownership of their healing journey, living life in a way that promotes optimal wellbeing, not just the absence of disease.

There is a VAST amount of knowledge making up the foundations of Ayurveda. Of which treatment is second to. Herbs and treatments are an important limb of Ayurveda, but they are not ‘Ayurveda’ in its complete sense. Just as asanas (physical postures) are not ‘yoga’, but a technique used on the path of yoga.

So! Back to being excited!

…‘Ayurveda’ may not be the far out technical medicinal system that you think it is.

Yes Ayurvedic practices include Pancakarma, self-care, herbology, cooking, shirodhara, surgery, astrology AND MORE (awesome, right?).

However, the foundational teachings that make up Ayurveda are something that EVERYONE can learn and apply to their life, and have little to do with the limbs of treatment.

Commonly known as ‘right living’, lasting healing takes place when an individual understands and takes ownership for their life through living life properly – i.e healthy eating, exercise, meditation, sleeping well, etc. Without this, we can easily get caught on loop, going from treatment to treatment, without getting to the root cause of the problem. This ‘right living’ approach to health enables people to have some control over their own health/healing process.

This means engaging in daily activities that promote health and vitality.
This means not handing over their problems to a therapist; rather using therapies as part of their healing process.
This means not expecting that herbs alone will solve their problems; rather integrating herbs as medicine to assist in their healing process.
This also means, taking responsibility for their state of mind and seeking a pathway to managing their senses, energy channels and mental processes; as opposed to relying solely on a substance or therapist to relieve stress or anxiety.

Ayurveda promotes powerful transformation and healing, through nurturing people to discover themselves; to contemplate; to understand how their environment and lifestyle affects them; to truly know who they are; and live a life that prioritises health, happiness and spirituality.
I 100% believe that EVERYONE can learn Ayurveda.
And that EVERYONE can benefit from Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is a powerful method for true, holistic transformation.
I have seen people come off drugs, let go of eating disordered behaviours, depression, and more, simply by applying the fundamental principals of Ayurveda.

Without NLP.
Without positive thinking and affirmations.
Without ‘manifesting’.
Without additional substances or herbs.
Without Pancakarma, heavy detoxing, or strict dieting.
And best of all, without force.

I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is the kind of system that once you ‘get it’, you’re changed forever. You don’t wrestle with dogmatic or strict guidelines. You simply know and understand, develop your awareness, and move through life with a clearer consciousness.

And THAT’S exciting.

Because when you’re not bound up thinking about your bodily struggles or mental health issues, you have time, space and energy to contemplate and act upon what’s REALLY exciting: living for you higher purpose. Imagine the influence that would have on society as a whole?

Exciting, right?!

Let’s do this together.
Walk the path of knowledge and understanding.
While we empower others to do the same
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Register your interest via the button below to receive the course outline (which will be released in 3 days!), MASSIVE discounts, and a complimentary consult!

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Training Faulty Brains to Work Better

New treatments may help schizophrenics.

Whenever I speak to educators and interested laypeople about neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult brain to change in function and structure—one of the questions I often get is whether neuroplasticity can be tapped to treat truly devastating brain diseases such as Alzheimer's or schizophrenia. After all, neuroplasticity has been used to treat stroke, depression, dyslexia, and other diseases or injuries of the brain. The jury is still out on Alzheimer's (though since this disease involves massive neuronal death, my bet is that the answer will, sadly, be no). But to my surprise, the answer to schizophrenia might just be yes.

In schizophrenia, which affects about 1.1 percent of American adults, patients suffer from visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, an absence of emotion, and cognitive deficits. All told, that seemed to be just too much for an approach based on neuroplasticity, which involves retraining the brain, to handle.

But it turns out that at least some of the symptoms of schizophrenia can be lifted with brain training. In a study published in the July issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, scientists led by Sophia Vinogradov of the University of California, San Francisco, describe what they call "neuroplasticity-based auditory training" to improve memory in people with schizophrenia. Basically, what they did was assign 55 patients with schizophrenia to receive a cognitive-training program developed by Posit Science or to play a computer game that required just as much time and concentration. The Posit program, similar to one the company developed to improve memory in the elderly, emphasizes basic auditory and speech perception; participants used it one hour a day, five days a week, for 10 weeks. The better they got, the harder the program got: it automatically adjusts the level of difficulty to keep the patients' performance at a constant level so they stay engaged.

Fisher and her colleagues found that the brain-trained group showed noticeably bigger improvements in cognition and verbal working memory than the game-playing control group. A better memory would give people with schizophrenia a better chance of doing the little tasks of daily life—remembering what and when to eat, how to dress, how to behave in public—that make them more likely to hold a job and live independently.

The emphasis on auditory training reflects the belief of UCSF's Michael Merzenich, a pioneer in neuroplasticity and cofounder of Posit, that this is the portal to improved memory and, possibly, cognition. The idea is that if you hear more clearly, then your brain makes fewer errors in encoding the information contained in speech. As Michael Green of UCLA put it in an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry the Posit Science approach "is unusual in that it rests heavily on neuroplasticity models ... that emphasize the consequences of a poor signal-to-noise ratio" in hearing, "which leads to errors and poor performance as they are fed forward for cognitive … operations."

It's hard to argue with even preliminary success, odd as it seems that merely hearing better could bring about such improvements in memory (and not just memory for heard words; it improves memory for seen words as well). "This emphasis on perceptual processes is a critical insight of the Posit Science approach and a clear distinction from other cognitive-training programs," says Green. The significance of the new study, he says, is that "it addresses cognitive training at a more basic neurobiological level than any previous strategy. We can hope that the dramatic effects they have reported will prove to be replicable and durable and that they will extend to meaningful effects for patients' lives."

Hope is all well and good. But schizophrenia is notable not only for its severity, but for the yawning gap between what's known to be effective and what treatments patients actually receive. Green asks rhetorically, "if cognitive training [for schizophrenia] worked, would we not all know it by now?" In fact, researchers do know it, and some clinicians know it, but by one estimate fewer than 15 percent of schizophrenics get it (or other treatments, rehabilitation and support that would let them live independently). In fact, in a paper earlier this year in Schizophrenia Bulletin, scientists led by Robert S. Kern of the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, were quite upbeat in their assessment of treatments for schizophrenia—none of them the problematic antipsychotic medications that in too many cases are all that people with schizophrenia receive.

Take cognitive-behavior therapy. Its basic premise is that people can be taught to think about their thoughts differently. It is effective in depression (where people are taught to think about their tendency to catastrophize—"I had a bad date; no one will ever love me because I am worthless and unlovable"). But in something as serious as schizophrenia? Yes, Kern and his colleagues find. It turns out that, with cognitive-behavior therapy, patients who hear voices and feel persecuted can learn to see these symptoms as almost normal (in that many people experience them when, say, they are sleep deprived, under extreme stress, drunk or stoned) or as "just" the manifestations of a neurobiological glitch and not real. The approach is surprisingly effective, a 2008 review found.

Similarly, exercises to improve attention, learning and memory, reasoning and problem solving—which 90 percent of people with schizophrenia have problems with—also help, as this study found, and make a meaningful difference in whether the person can live independently and hold a job. The tragedy is that—due to an overburdened medical system, inadequate insurance and an inability to pay, as well as simply ignorance about how to find help—few patients with schizophrenia receive what works. The upside is that even schizophrenia might be treated by approaches that exploit the brain's ability to change in fundamental ways.


Smart Tips For Uncovering Businesses

Here’s How Your Organization Can Benefit From a Digital Transformation Digital transformation refers to the use of digital technologies by an organization to reinvent itself. In this digital age, it has become imperative for today’s companies to adapt to the newest technological trends. There are a number of benefits that come with a digital transformation, most notably improved efficiency and productivity. Let’s take a more detailed looked at some of those benefits below: Greater efficiency Consider some of the things that slow your business processes down, such as manual data entry. Manual data entry means the systems within your businesses aren’t connected to each other, which means having to waste a lot of time to get things going. There may be some process bottlenecks for some organizations. One such example is when a report has to go through the IT department, leading to unnecessary delays. A proper digital strategy could be exactly what’s needed to improve operational efficiency in your organization. With the help of a digital strategy agency, many of these bottlenecks can be eliminated by automating tasks and workflow wherever possible.
How I Achieved Maximum Success with Consultants
Enhanced decision-making
The Path To Finding Better Services
As a decision maker, having access to more data can help you make better decisions. However, many organizations do not utilize this data because they do not have the tools and processes needed to process the data into meaning information. This is the reason your organization should be digitally-driven. By making use of the latest business intelligence tools, you may process the data and obtain important insights in an instant. These insights may be vital to making the best decisions for your business. Greater customer satisfaction Today’s customers’ expectations are much higher than in the past. They want to be able to access services or information at any time, with whatever device they have. Plus, they expect simplicity. So what would happen if your business is not able to provide the simplicity they’ve all come to expect? What happens when your customers get a difficult, out-of-date experience? They are quite likely to move on and look for a better experience elsewhere. On the other hand, if you can meet or even exceed the expectations of your customers, the increased customer satisfaction will ensure you’re rewarded with greater loyalty and increased productivity. Wider reach What if your clients and process could, from wherever they are and at any time, access information about your businesses and make purchases? With the rise of mobile technology, you can now put your products and services right at the fingertips of your potential customers. A digital transformation helps you to reach out to as many prospects as possible, wherever they may be. Provided you business website and applications are accessible on mobile devices, your company will be visible to prospects at all times.


Islamic Montessori

Islamic Montessori

We understand the concerns of Muslim families and our primary objective is to provide a solid foundation in Islamic studies and reinforce Islamic values in a nurturing environment. Our mission is to provide a developmentally-appropriate program based on the principles and philosophy of Dr. Maria Montessori and the recommendations of the latest research in early childhood education encapsulated within an Islamic atmosphere. The program incorporates Arabic language instruction and bilingual “hands on” English/Arabic interactive materials plus Islamic Studies and a beginner’s Quran recitation with Tajweed instruction designed for young children.

Grace and Courtesy: The essence of the “Grace & Courtesy” exercises are to teach a child politeness control of their body (walking around circle gracefully), waiting turns patiently and proper manners.

Practical life: The goal of Practical life exercises is to develop in a child order, coordination, and concentration, and independence. These exercises are simply various kinds of everyday household activities such as pouring water, scrubbing a table, polishing silver, sorting, lock boxes, jars and lids matching, etc.

Sensorial: Sensorial lessons appeal to the five senses of sound, taste, touch, smell, and sight. Children learn about shape, color, weight, size, sound, smell, and texture through concrete, hands-on experiences. This sets the basis within a child for grasping abstract ideas later on in life.

Language: Children learn language through phonics as well as sight word vocabulary through labels in the classroom and easy-to-read books. The language materials include objects and pictures to be named, labeled, and classified to aid vocabulary development. Textured letters allow the child to feel and see the alphabet. Phonics and the “moveable alphabet” lead the child toward reading.

Mathematics: Montessori math work involves the children working with concrete materials to gain a solid understanding of abstract concepts. The whole math experience is very visual and kinesthetic. Children begin with hands-on pre-math work and progress in a sequential order, learning the concepts of numeration, addition, multiplication, division, subtraction, and problem solving.

Social Studies/Science: History, geography, botany, and zoology are introduced to the children in interactive and enriching ways. Students learn about our universe and our planet through maps, globes, puzzles, and other materials.

Arabic: The Arabic curriculum is designed to give the children impressive working knowledge of the language. The program is designed to be conversational, interesting and useful. Students learn shapes, colors and the fundamentals of the language.

Qur’an: Students will Insha’Allah learn 13-15 short Surahs from the Holy Quran.