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Written By: Kali Munro, M.Ed., Psychotherapist, 2002.
Have you ever noticed how conflict can get blown out of proportion online? What may begin as a small difference of opinion, or misunderstanding, becomes a major issue very quickly. Conflict can be difficult at the best of times, but what is it about online communication that seems to ignite "flaming" and make conflicts more difficult to resolve?
There are a number of reasons to explain why conflict may be heightened online. One is the absence of visual and auditory cues. When we talk to someone in person, we see their facial expressions, their body language, and hear their tone of voice. Someone can say the exact same thing in a number of different ways, and that usually effects how we respond.
For example, someone could shout and shake their finger at you, or they could speak gently and with kindness. They could stand up and tower over you, or they could sit down beside you. How you feel, interpret, and respond to someone's message often depends on how they speak to you, even when it's a difficult message to hear.
In online communications, we have no visual or auditory cues to help us to decipher the intent, meaning, and tone of the messenger. All we have are the words on a computer screen, and how we hear those words in our head. While people who know each other have a better chance at accurately understanding each others' meaning and intentions, even they can have arguments online that they would not have in-person.
Projections and Transference
While many people are convinced that how they read an email is the only way it can be read, the truth is, how we read a text, or view a work of art, often says more about ourselves than it does about the message or the messenger.
All of our communications, online and in real-time, are filled with projections. We perceive the world through our expectations, needs, desires, fantasies, and feelings, and we project those onto other people. For example, if we expect people to be critical of us, we perceive other people's communication as being critical – it sounds critical to us even though it may not be. We do the same thing online; in fact we are more likely to project when we are online precisely because we don't have the visual or auditory cues to guide us in our interpretations. How we "hear" an email or post is how we hear it in our own heads, which may or may not reflect the tone or attitude of the sender.
We usually can't know from an email or post alone whether someone is shouting, using a criticizing tone, or speaking kindly. Unless the tone is clearly and carefully communicated by the messenger, and/or we are very skilled at understanding text and human communication, we most likely hear the voice we hear, or create in our head and react to that. This is one of the reasons why controversial or potentially conflictual issues are best dealt with by using great care and explicit expressions of our tone, meaning, and intent.
Where do projections come from? They come from our life experiences – how we've been treated, how important figures in our lives have behaved, how we felt growing up, how we responded and coped, etc. All of us project or transfer our feelings and views of important figures in our lives onto other people.
To take a look at your own projections or transference with people online, think back to the last time you felt angry at someone online. What was it about them or their email that made you so angry? What did you believe that they were doing to you or someone else? How did you react internally and externally? Was your reaction to this person (whether spoken or not) influenced by someone or something from your past? While it certainly happens that people are treated with disrespect and anger online, if there are any parallels between this experience and any of your past experiences, it's likely that how you felt and responded was coloured by your past. When our past is involved, particularly when we are unaware of it happening, we invariably project and transfer old feelings onto the present situation.
Disinhibition Effect
Conflict can be heightened online by what is known as the "disinhibition effect", a phenomenon that psychologist, Dr. John Suler, has written extensively about. Suler (2002) writes,
"It's well known that people say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldn't ordinarily say or do in the face-to-face world. They loosen up, feel more uninhibited, express themselves more openly. Researchers call this the "disinhibition effect." It's a double-edged sword. Sometimes people share very personal things about themselves. They reveal secret emotions, fears, wishes. Or they show unusual acts of kindness and generosity. On the other hand, the disinhibition effect may not be so benign. Out spills rude language and harsh criticisms, anger, hatred, even threats." (Suler, 2002)
Suler (2002) explains that the disinihibition effect is caused by or heightened by the following features of online communication:
- anonymity – no one knows who you are on the net, and so you are free to say whatever you want without anyone knowing it's you who said it.
- invisibility – you don't have to worry about how you physically look or sound to other people when you say something. You don't have to worry about how others look or sound when you say something to them. "Seeing a frown, a shaking head, a sigh, a bored expression, and many other subtle and not so subtle signs of disapproval or indifference can slam the breaks on what people are willing to express." (Suler, 2002)
- delayed reactions – you can say anything you think and feel without censorship at any time, including in the middle of the night when you're most tired and upset, leave immediately without waiting for a response, and possibly never return – in the extreme this can feel to someone like an emotional "hit and run".
- the perception that the interaction is happening in your head – with the absence of visual and auditory cues you may feel as though the interaction is occurring in your head. Everyone thinks all kinds of things about other people in their minds that they would never say to someone's face – online, you can say things you'd otherwise only think.
- neutralizing of status – in face-to-face interactions, you may be intimidated to say something to someone because of their job, authority, gender, or race. Because this is not visible to you online, you feel freer to say what ever you want to anyone.
- your own personality style may be heightened online – for example, if your communication style tends to be reactive or angry, you may be more reactive or angry online.
Tips for Resolving Conflict Online
What can be done to prevent unnecessary conflict in cyberspace? The following are tips for handling conflict online with respect, sensitivity, and care:
Don't respond right away
When you feel hurt or angry about an email or post, it's best not to respond right away. You may want to write a response immediately, to get it off your chest, but don't hit send! Suler recommends waiting 24 hours before responding – sleep on it and then reread and rewrite your response the next day.
Read the post again later
Sometimes, your first reaction to a post is a lot about how you're feeling at the time. Reading it later, and sometimes a few times, can bring a new perspective. You might even experiment by reading it with different tones (matter-of-fact, gentle, non-critical) to see if it could have been written with a different tone in mind than the one you initially heard.
Discuss the situation with someone who knows you.
Ask them what they think about the post and the response you plan to send. Having input from others who are hopefully more objective can help you to step back from the situation and look at it differently. Suler recommends getting out of the medium in which the conflict occurred – in this case talking to someone in person – to gain a better perspective.
Choose whether or not you want to respond
You do have a choice, and you don't have to respond. You may be too upset to respond in the way that you would like, or it may not be worthy of a response. If the post is accusatory or inflammatory and the person's style tends to be aggressive or bullying, the best strategy is to ignore them.
Assume that people mean well, unless they have a history or pattern of aggression
Everyone has their bad days, gets triggered, reacts insensitively, and writes an email without thinking it through completely. It doesn't mean that they don't have good intentions.
On the other hand, some people pick fights no matter how kind and patient you are with them. They distort what you say, quote you out of context, and make all sorts of accusations all to vilify and antagonize you. Don't take the "bait" by engaging in a struggle with them – they'll never stop. Sometimes, the best strategy is to have nothing more to do with someone.
Clarify what was meant
We all misinterpret what we hear and read, particularly when we feel hurt or upset. It's a good idea to check out that you understood them correctly. For example, you could ask, "When you said…did you mean…or, what did you mean by…?" Or, "when you said…I heard…is that what you meant?" Often times, what we think someone said is not even close to what they meant to say. Give them the benefit of the doubt and the chance to be clear about what they meant.
Think about what you want to accomplish by your communication
Are you trying to connect with this person? Are you trying to understand them and be understood? What is the message you hope to convey? What is the tone you want to communicate? Consider how you can convey that.
Verbalize what you want to accomplish
Here are some examples, "I want to understand what you're saying." "I feel hurt by some stuff that you said. I want to talk about it in a way that we both feel heard and understood." "I want to find a way to work this out. I know we don't agree about everything and that's okay. I'd like to talk with you about how I felt reading your post." "I hope we can talk this through because I really like you. I don't want to be argumentative or blaming."
Use "I" statements when sharing your feelings or thoughts
For example, "I feel…" versus "You made me feel…"
Use strictly feeling statements
Feeling statements include saying you felt hurt, sad, scared, angry, happy, guilty, remorseful, etc. In everyday conversations, we describe our feelings differently than this. For example, we say that we felt "attacked", "threatened", "unsafe", or "punched in the stomach". When the person we're upset with is not present, or able to read our words, this is an understandable way to express the full depth of our feelings and experience. Generally though, these statements are not simply feeling statements because they contain within them unexpressed beliefs. For example, you believe that you were attacked by the person, not that it just felt that way. If you want to communicate with the person involved (or they can read your words), it is best to stick to simple feeling statements otherwise they will hear you as accusing them of attacking them and be angry or upset with you. Some people get confused why other people get upset with them when they think they are only expressing their feelings; usually in these cases there were unstated beliefs expressed which the person reacted to.
Choose your words carefully and thoughtfully, particularly when you're upset
Do your best to keep in mind that the person will read your post alone. You are not physically or virtually present with them to clarify what you meant, and they can't see the kindness in your eyes. They must rely entirely on your words to interpret your meaning, intent, and tone. This is why it's important to choose your words carefully and thoughtfully. You can still be real and honest while being selective.
Place yourself in the other person's shoes
How might they hear your message? To avoid unnecessary conflict or a lot of hurt feelings, it helps to take into account who you're writing to. One person might be able to hear you say it exactly how you think it, and another person would be threatened by that style of communication. Think about the other person when writing your email or post. Do your best to communicate in a way that is respectful, sensitive, and clear to them. People often say, to do that feels like they're being controlled and why shouldn't they just write it the way they want to. Of course you can write it any way you want, especially online, but if you want to communicate with this person and have them hear and understand what you're saying, it helps to think about how they will hear it.
Use emoticons to express your tone
In online communication, visual and auditory cues are replaced by emoticons, for example, smiles, winks, and laughter. It helps to use emoticons to convey your tone. Additionally, if you like the person, tell them! Having a conflict or misunderstanding doesn't mean you don't like the person any more, but people often forget that reality, or don't think to say it. It may be most needed during a tense interaction.
Start and end your post with positive, affirming, and validating statements
Say what you agree with, what you understand about how they feel, and any other positive statements at the beginning of your email. This helps set a positive tone. End on a positive note as well.
The Paradox of Online Communication
Handling conflict constructively is hard at the best times, and it can be even harder online. It can take a great deal of effort, care, and thoughtfulness to address differences, tensions, and conflicts online. Paradoxically, some of the same things that contribute to heightened conflict online can contribute to peaceful resolutions as well. The internet is an ideal place to practice communication and conflict resolution skills. Just as the absence of visual and auditory cues, the anonymity, invisibility, delayed reactions, and neutralizing of status free us to say what ever negative thing we want, they can also free us to try new, and more positive communication styles and to take all the time we need to do that. As with any new technology, the internet can be used to enhance our personal growth and relationships, or to alienate us from each other. It's our choice.
Suler, J. (2002). The Online Disinhibition Effect. In The Psychology of Cyberspace (orig. pub. 1996), http://www.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html (article orig. pub. 1996)
Thank you to Dr. John Suler for his valuable feedback on May 21, 2002.
Kali Munro, © 2002
All rights reserved.
You can see Kali Munro's site at http://www.kalimunro.com/


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Nearly five years ago, the nation's leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists issued a policy statement saying the time had come for oral contraception to be available without a prescription.
We wrote about it and everything.
In the intervening years, some states have changed their laws. California authorized pharmacists to distribute most types of hormonal birth control. Oregon passed a similar law covering both pills and patches.
But neither law changed the status of birth control pills from prescription to over-the-counter. Only the Food and Drug Administration can do that. And in Oregon's case, the law does not apply to people of all ages. People under 18 are still required to get their first contraceptive prescription from a doctor.
But researchers say there is no evidence that adolescents are at greater risk from birth control pills than adult women.
A review of oral contraceptive research presents the most comprehensive evidence yet that, as the authors state, "There is no scientific rationale for limiting access to a future over-the-counter oral contraceptive product by age."
"There is a growing body of evidence that the safety risks are low and benefits are large," says Krishna Upadhya, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lead author of the review, which was published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
In fact, she says, some of the potential negative side effects of oral contraception are less likely in younger people. For example, birth control pills that contain both estrogen and progestin come with an increased risk of a type of blood clot called a venous thromboembolism, but that risk is lower in teenagers than in older women.
As a result, the pill is "potentially safer the younger you are," says Upadhya.
The review also found no evidence that increased access to birth control would lead teenagers to have more sex or engage in riskier sex, a concern voiced by some critics of oral contraception access.
Teen pregnancy rates are way down in the U.S., and teenagers are using contraceptives more often. Between 2007 and 2013, the number of 15 to 19-year-olds giving birth dropped 36 percent. The abortion rate has also fallen.
"These pills are safe and effective and we should reduce barriers to using them. And teens should benefit just as adult women do," Upadhya says.
One reason more girls and women are using birth control is that the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to fully cover prescribed contraception. That includes the pill, implanted hormonal birth control and intrauterine devices.
So what would happen if oral contraception no longer required a prescription? The Affordable Care Act does not require insurance companies to cover over-the-counter birth control like condoms, sponges and spermicide. If hormonal birth control was available over the counter, it too would fall outside the law's coverage mandate.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced a bill in 2015 that would automatically amend the language of the ACA to require insurance companies to pay for any contraceptive approved for over-the-counter sale by the FDA. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., introduced a separate bill that proposed giving priority to any request from a birth control manufacturer asking the FDA to consider over-the-counter status for its drug, as long as it only applied to women over 18. Neither bill has made it out of committee.
The current Republican proposal to repeal part of the ACA would not affect mandatory coverage for prescription contraceptives, as we have reported.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued multiple statements in the past year stressing that, while the group still supports making oral contraception available without a prescription to teens as well as adults, such a change is not enough on its own for making birth control available to everyone who needs it.
"Over-the-counter contraception is not an acceptable substitute for the ACA contraceptive coverage mandate," the group wrote in a statement issued in February.
Of course, there is currently no version of the pill has been approved by the FDA for use without a prescription.
An FDA spokesperson said the agency "generally cannot confirm or deny the existence of a pending product application," so it is difficult to know whether any birth control manufacturers have requested that that their products be considered for over-the-counter status.
If a manufacturer did apply, the FDA would consider many of the same things Upadhy and her team looked at, including safety and efficacy data and potential age restrictions.
Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

subset: commoncrawl


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We specialise in design for print, web design and web site development, SEO, content management systems, online stores and e-commerce. We've a long history in both creative graphic and web design, covering more than 20 years. In house we handle design and programming and can call on our team of highly-skilled freelance staff for their specialist knowledge should we need to.
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Granger Smith Spills His Most Embarrassing Halloween Costume
Granger Smith hasn't always been proud of his Halloween costume choices — in fact, one year, he admits he really embarrassed himself. Smith recently came to the ToC Nights Studio and got real with us about that awful costume from his past.
When asked which Halloween costume is the most embarrassing he's ever worn, Smith doesn't stop to think. He immediately recalls that Elvis costume from his high school days.
"I was Elvis one time and I got the — and this was in high school — It was one of those outfits you get from the party store and they're like paper thin," the singer says, adding, " ... So that Elvis thing didn't do very good for me."
The costume wasn't just too thin in all the wrong places, it was also solid gold. So did a lady get to admire the less-than-flattering getup?
"I was probably single," he laughs.
Thankfully, the "Backroad Song" singer was also a football player, so that upped his cool status. Before signing a record deal with BBR, Smith pursued a degree at Texas A&M, dropping out early to chase his musical dreams. He did go back and graduate, however, before hitting the road yet again. Now, "Backroad Song" — his debut single on BBR's Wheelhouse imprint — is one of the hottest songs in the country and rising.
Sam Alex is the host of Taste of Country Nights radio, a syndicated night show which airs on more than 60 Townsquare Media Group stations nationwide.
Take a Tour of Earl Dibbles Jr.'s Tour Bus
Granger Smith and More of the Sexiest Country Men of 2015


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Focus: news of interest about creation and evolution
Update: Dolly dies, February 2003 (see addendum)
The scientists who cloned Dolly, the first mammal ever cloned from a single adult cell (see Hello Dolly, have discovered evidence that she is aging prematurely. They say that because Dolly, now three years old, was cloned from a six-year-old adult sheep, her cells show signs of what could be advanced aging at a genetic level. As creatures age, the tips of their chromosomes fray and shorten progressively (see The countdown to death). It appears that Dolly has inherited the 'pre-aged' genetic material of the adult from which she was cloned.
The discovery has heightened the concerns of many scientists about the risks involved in the pursuit of human cloning.
- Nature, May 27, 1999, pp. 316–317.
- New Scientist, May 29, 1999, p. 12.
Addendum: Dolly's premature death
Further to the above, in January 2002, Dolly was diagnosed with arthritis, normally found in old sheep. And on 14 February, she was put down at the age of 6 because she was suffering from progressive lung disease, again something common in older sheep. Sheep normally live to 11 or 12 years, but Dolly's premature death makes sense in the light of the above, since she was cloned from a cell of a six-year-old ewe.
Dr Patrick Dixon, an ethicist in the human cloning area, further pointed out the applications to physical problems with human cloning (even aside from the ethical ones):
'The greatest worry many scientists have is that human clones—even if they don't have monstrous abnormalities in the womb—will need hip replacements in their teenage years and perhaps develop senile dementia by their 20th birthday. This is why Dolly's health is so crucial and why scientists around the world will be waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination on her.'
- CNN, 14 February 2003
Inbuilt compass
Scientists have found that mammals, including humans, have two navigation aids in their brains like a tiny compass and map, giving them an inbuilt sense of direction —even in the dark. The researchers began by blindfolding volunteers strapped to a chair, spinning them round and then asking them to stop the chair when they thought they were facing their original direction. They consistently stopped at the right place, or close to it. Further research recording brain electronic activity revealed the presence of specialist 'place cells' that each record an image or object in a positional setting to create the equivalent of a mental map. The discovery of these place cells helps to explain why, when we get up in the night, we can find our way around without turning the light on — and without tripping up.
New Scientist, January 23, 1999, pp. 24–28.
We are indeed 'fearfully and wonderfully made' (Psalm 139:14).
'Star' burst mystery
A titanic flash of high-energy radiation — 'the most violent event ever observed in the universe' — has baffled astronomers. Even though the object was nine billion light years away, its extraordinary brightness was such that it would have been visible to anyone using ordinary binoculars who had been looking in that direction. The gamma ray burst (which also produced visible light and radio waves) was detected on 23 January 1999 by a satellite and also witnessed at an observatory. Astronomers said that if the energy of the burst went out equally in all directions, it defies explanation. The total amount emitted then would amount to the conversion into energy of two objects the size of our sun — much more than could be provided by the favoured models for gamma ray bursts, which include the collapse of a massive rotating star, or the coalescence of two neutron stars or black holes.
Science, March 26, 1999, pp. 2003–2004, 2069–2072.
Nature, April 1, 1999, pp. 368–369, 400–402.
The 'certainty' of modern theories of physics and cosmology is far from reality. (For a tantalising suggestion of how such an event closer to us might have 'reset' all radiometric 'dates', see the interview this issue with Professor of Physics Keith Wanser.)
Humans, not climate change
Humans, rather than climate change, may have driven the Australian 'giant emu' Genyornis to extinction. More than 40 Australian animals, including other giant 'megafauna', vanished at roughly the same time. The theory that people caused their extinction has received a boost from dating of Genyornis eggshell fragments.
Science, January 8, 1999, pp. 205–208.
Evolutionists believe that the first people came to Australia 50,000 years ago. There is, however, evidence consistent with a much more recent arrival, within the post-Babel time frame (Creation 15(3): 48–50, 1993). Aborigines have clear stories, unlikely to survive oral transmission for tens of thousands of years, of birds towering above men (Creation 19(1)50–51, 1996).
Chimps or chumps?
For years evolutionists have tried to blur the differences between chimpanzees and humans, stressing that chimp DNA is '98–99% the same as ours', and that they are therefore almost human. Creationists have pointed out that the percentage figures are rubbery, that even a 1.5% difference still represents huge amounts of information (something like 150 large books), and that some genes are more crucial than others, acting as 'switches' (Creation 19(1):21–22, 1996). We have also pointed out the huge differences between chimps and us.
There have been some refreshing glimmers of more sober assessments in the scientific community of late. New Scientist says that the 1.5% clearly 'counts for a lot'. It gives us 'the ability to read magazines and sing along with the car radio,' while chimps are 'climbing trees and fishing for termites with twigs.'
Also, human genes are arranged differently — compared to chimps, chunks of DNA, sometimes huge, are 'reversed' on five of the chromosome pairs.
Molecular biologist Walter Messier says, 'Not that chimps are stupid, by any means. But we're the ones that put them in cages, not the other way around.' It is becoming more respectable for evolutionists to admit (without abandoning belief in evolution) that 'we are not simply deluxe chimps'.
New Scientist, May 15, 1999, pp. 26–30.
'Towering' dinosaurs… a tall story?
New computer software shows that traditional images of the huge long-necked dinosaurs such as Diplodocus could be wrong. The largest land animals that ever lived have usually been depicted with their necks pointing skywards as they munched away on trees. Fossil experts have assumed that they took advantage of their size — some were over 100 feet (30 metres) long — to reach food in trees inaccessible to others. However, the computer modelling of how the bones in the spine moved has shown that Diplodocus usually adopted a 'head-down' position, similar to cattle when grazing. It was probably unable to lift its head much higher than its back, with the most relaxed neck posture being nearly straight or with a slight downward angle.
Science, April 30, 1999, pp. 798–800.
Noah's Ark Lampooned
America's NBC network has series, filmed in Australia and starring Jon Voight, which makes a mockery of the Genesis account of Noah and the Flood.
The series puts the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah before the Flood, and makes Lot out to be Noah's best friend. Noah's sons have their 'girlfriends' along for the ride. A band of marauding pirates and a peddler selling hats also survive the Flood.
Many have expressed concern for the series' distortion of biblical history, as well as its portrayal of God, who says to Noah about his decision to send the Flood, 'It was a difficult decision … I wanted a second opinion, but who could I ask?' Producer Robert Halmi referred to Genesis as 'almost fiction', saying, 'You can take a bit of freedom with the Old Testament, especially Genesis … who knows how it really happened?'
WORLD Magazine, May 15, 1999 [from <www.worldmag.com/world/issue/05-15-99/opening_3.asp>].
'Weird' star
One of the most famous stars in the southern night sky, Eta Carinae, has suddenly doubled in brightness in only a few months, something it was not supposed to do. 'Occasionally something happens in astronomy that is so bewildering that it makes astronomers nervous,' said Kris Davidson, a University of Minnesota astrophysicist. 'This is weird. We don't understand.'
The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 3, 1999, p. 12.
Science, June 11, 1999, p. 1748.
Apart from the well-known explosions called supernovas, normal theories have processes in stars happening over millions of years. This may be a timely reminder that 'it ain't necessarily so'.
Leading evolutionist 'confused', say evolutionists
Strong divisions between evolutionists are common. A review of leading evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould's book 'Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms' stated:
'More importantly, his [Gould's] colleagues increasingly denounce his methods. John Maynard Smith, one of the great Darwinists, states that "evolutionary biologists with whom I have discussed his work tend to see him as a man whose ideas are so confused as to be hardly worth bothering with, but as one who should not be publicly criticized because he is at least on our side against the creationists.�'
The Weekend Australian, March 20–21, 1999, Review 13.
No evidence for 'homosexual gene'
One of the biggest studies to date investigating whether there is a genetic cause of homosexuality has failed to find any evidence for the existence of a so-called 'gay gene'. The research team, led by Dr George Rice of Canada's University of Western Ontario, initiated the study.
It followed the earlier sensational claims of self-confessed homosexual Dr Dean Hamer and his team in 1993 purporting to have found a genetic link to homosexuality. Several years of frenzied research aimed at isolating the 'homosexual gene' proved fruitless.
Now Dr Rice's team, using a much larger study sample and sophisticated genetic tests, has found no evidence at all of any link between this marker and sexual orientation.
The Independent, (U.K.), April 23, 1999, p. 5.
Science, April 23, 1999, pp. 571, 665–667.
Wild and woolly
When Hussein al-Marzouqi's sheep went off its vegetarian diet it created a tricky moral dilemma for its Muslim owner. Marzouqi, who had been raising the animal for a special feast at his home in the Gulf Arab emirate of Sharjah, is now seeking guidance from an Islamic scholar over whether it is permissible to eat a sheep that has gobbled up nine chickens. (Animals which 'scavenge' are among foods banned by Islam.)
'It was always a meek and gentle creature, but now it has turned into a monster. My two daughters, aged two and five, used to play with it. Now they are scared to go near it for fear it will gobble them up too,' Marzouqi said.
CNN Custom News, June 3, 1999.
Accounts such as this of herbivores (plant-eaters) killing animals and eating meat are not uncommon. They may give us insight into the entry of carnivory (meat-eating) into the world after the Fall. Conversely, many carnivores can be trained to be vegetarian.
Mutations baffle evolutionists
Researchers have tried to measure how many damaging mutations (inherited copying mistakes) appear in the genes of each new generation of humans. However, they began by assuming that current theories of molecular evolution are true.
On this basis, they compared human DNA with that of gorillas and chimpanzees. From this, they calculated conservatively that harmful mutations occur at a rate of 1.6 mutations per person per generation.
This staggeringly high value has shocked and baffled evolutionists, because it means that theoretically humans should have become extinct by now!
Nature, January 28, 1999, pp. 293–294, 344–347.
There would seem to be only two logical conclusions: either people haven't been around for very long, or the evolutionary assumptions on which the estimate is based are wrong. We're happy to agree on both counts.
DNA challenges evolution (again)
World-wide research in DNA sequencing ('mapping the genes') continues to produce reports of the 'traditional evolutionary' view of various species being thrown into turmoil [see e.g. 'Sharks and camels … cousins?' Creation 21(1):7, 1998]. A recent comparative analysis of turtle DNA has rocked evolutionary theory because it shows turtles to be more 'advanced' [according to evolutionary thinking] than previously thought, in direct conflict with traditional paleontological [fossil-based] assumptions that turtles are 'primitive'.
Science, February 12, 1999, pp. 945–946, 998–1001.
The journal reporting these findings commented: 'It will be a challenge not only to paleontologists, … but also to molecular systematists to resolve these conflicts.'


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The warning tones for end-of-tape and low battery status ensure that no dictation is cut off. The end-of-letter index tone indicates the start of each document and number of recordings.
Professional editing via slide-switch operation
Easy and quick file editing via convenient slide-switch operation. It offers a fast response and is designed for single-handed operation.
Turbo wind for fast access to any part of the tape
The turbo wind function allows you to jump to any part of the tape within seconds and save you valuable time.
Visual indication with LED for showing record status and low battery
The status LED always shows if your battery is running low and the record status.
Voice-activation function for hands-free recording
Voice-activated recording is a convenience feature for hands-free recording. When enabled, recording will start automatically when you start speaking. Recording stops automatically after you stop speaking and restarts automatically when you start speaking again.
Search forward and skip functions for quick access to the start of the next recording
Search forward and skip functions allow quick access to the start of the next recording, making it easier to navigate through your recordings. Auto rewind allows you to save time by quickly returning to the beginning of the tape automatically.
Ergonomic foot pedal for convenient playback control
Slim, ergonomic design guarantees hands-free control of all playback functions with minimal physical strain.
Lightweight stereo headphones for enhanced wearing comfort
Lightweight under-the-chin style stereo headphones designed to deliver excellent sound quality, with soft ear cushions for enhanced wearing comfort.
Tone, speed and volume controls for crystal clear playback at all times
Variable tone, speed and volume controls guarantee crystal clear playback and provide all the necessary features for transcription accuracy.
Auto backspace pauses transcription without missing a word
The auto backspace automatically replays the last few seconds to review recorded material for transcribing confirmation and accurate and fast transcription.
Your dictation and transcription set comes with
- Pocket Memo dictation recorder LFH0488
- Transcription machine LFH0720
- 5 × 30 minute mini cassettes LFH0005
- Foot pedal LFH2210
- Transcription headphones LFH0234
- Power supply LFH0155
- 2 × AA batteries
- Wrist strap
Enter your software serial number
The VoiceTracer Speech Recognition Software only works with Philips VoiceTracer Audio Recorders. To download the installation file, enter the serial number, then click Download.
Find your serial number
The serial number can be found on the quick start guide in the product packaging.
Pocket Memo dictation recorder
- Headphone socket:
- 2.5 mm
- Microphone socket:
- 2.5 mm
- Acoustic frequency response:
- 400–4,000 Hz
- Output power:
- > 100 mW
- Product dimensions (W × D × H):
- 128 mm × 63 mm × 25 mm/ 5.0" × 2.5" × 1.0"
- Weight:
- 120 g/ 4.2 oz. (without batteries)
Desktop transcription machine
- Headphone socket:
- 3.5 mm
- Foot pedal socket:
- 3.5 mm
- Power supply socket:
- Frequency:
- 200–6.000 Hz
- Output power:
- > 600 mW
- Product dimensions:
- 135 mm × 232 mm × 50 mm/ 5.3" × 9.1" × 2.0"
- Weight:
- 1150 g/ 39 oz
- Acoustic system:
- open
- Magnet type:
- neodymium
- Sound quality:
- optimized for voice reproduction
- Impedance:
- 64 Ohm
- Maximum power input:
- 2 × 10 mW
- Sensitivity:
- 103 dB
- Speaker diameter:
- 14 mm
- System:
- dual sound system
- Cable connection:
- one-sided
- Cable length:
- 3 m/ 10 ft
- Connector:
- 3.5 mm stereo, right angled
- Connector finish:
- gold-plated
- Product dimensions (W × D × H):
- 226 mm × 130 mm × 25 mm/ 9" × 5" × 1"
- Weight:
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz
Green specifications
- Compliant to 2011/65/EU (RoHS)
- Lead-free soldered product
Package contents
- Pocket Memo dictation recorder LFH0488
- Transcription machine LFH0720
- 5 × 30 minute mini cassettes LFH0005
- Foot pedal LFH2210
- Transcription headphones LFH0234
- Power supply ACC0155
- 2 × AA batteries
- Wrist strap
- Philips telephone pickup microphone LFH9162
- Philips meeting microphone LFH9172
- Philips clip-on microphone LFH9173
- Philips rechargeable batteries LFH0153
- Philips power supply LFH0142
Software and drivers
- SpeechControl driver and configuration software
Windows, 3.3.330.08
Marketing & sales material
- Leaflet English (275 KB)
Where to buy
Find a local retailer
Recommended retailers
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text:
Portfolio Details
What is 9d VR?
It's unique successful commercial VR product. Viewers just need to wear VR glasses and then go into the world of the movies. It breaks the limit of virtual and real world and takes viewers amazing experience. It consists of three revolutionary new products :Interactive cinema with 360°rotation function, Immersive Glasses, Breakthrough VR entertainment content platform.
What is the function of three seats 9d VR?
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The moving speed of the cabin from 10mm / s to 167mm / s can be precise regulation, make you free to move in the new wonderful world.
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Rotating platform is based on a high level freely.Once advancing, turning around, you can have fully experience of the real pleasure from the spatial displacement of the new funny world .
4. Head tracking target
Built-in 9-axis sensor, 360 ° head tracking, you will feel your whole body into the world of film when turning around
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Explore every wonderful creation of our world, broadcast the moment at present, predict the future.
What is the advantage of 9d VR by Xindy?
1)9D VR cinema is a new product firstly released by Xindy in China.It's absolutely different from 5d motion cinema, 7d interactive cinema.
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4)After a year of research and development,9d VR cinema by Xindy is already a mature product.
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Complete 9D virtual reality experience pavilion
More style 9d VR seats for you to choose
Our customer cases
If you want to know more about Xindy three seats 9d virtual reality , please leave your message, we will contact you as quickly as possible. [contact-form-7 id="3620″ title="Contact form 1″]


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[caption id="attachment_4328" align="aligncenter" width="192" caption="Martian 8 - A personal project of creature/character designer Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
Like many Sci-Fi fans, creature/character designer Neville Page sat in a darkened movie theater when he was a child and watched in anticipation as the opening credits for the original Star Wars feature film began to roll. Having seen the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca, his mind wandered in a direction that would forever change his life.
"I began to wonder what people did in order to make a movie like that," recalls Page. "I didn't understand that they went to school to learn how to be creature designers, sculptors or artists for that matter, and could then go work in films. Then, however, I began to collect all sorts of Star Wars magazines - I was really addicted to the film - and in one of the magazines there was this article on [make-up artist] Rick Baker. When I saw a picture of him with a lump of clay and a sculpting tool, it suddenly occurred to me that, 'OK, people actually do this stuff,' and that's where my interest [in the craft] first began."
When he was 17, Page moved to Hollywood and, after trying his hand at acting and stand-up comedy, enrolled in the Art Center College of Design where he studied industrial design. "I did that for several years, but all along I craved to work in films," says the designer. "The more seasoned I became as an industrial designer, it became more apparent that if I wanted to make monsters and do animatronics, it would require a huge career and lifestyle change.
"At that point I thought, 'Well, that dream is dead,' but the very next day, literally, something happened that changed my mind. Colleen Atwood, who's a major costume designer, was working next door to my studio on the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report. A buddy of mine had left his keys there and she stopped by my studio to drop them off. Colleen noticed that my business partner, Scott Robertson, and I do industrial design, including helmets, and she needed a helmet for a police costume. That's when she asked, 'Hey, do you guys want to work on some film stuff?' and I haven't stopped since. You can't plan something like that. It's like sitting at a cafe and being 'discovered.' You can only hope you're in the right place at the right time, and mine was my buddy forgetting his keys.
[caption id="attachment_4331" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Squidleyflat - a personal project of Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
X2, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hulk, Cloverfield and James Cameron's Avatar are just a few of the big screen projects that Page has worked on. "With Avatar I was kind of stretching my skills at creature design," he says. "James Cameron is a very specific guy and you can just imagine how many portfolios were being thrown his way when it came to his movie. Four people were selected, myself being one of them, and I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me. There's a mistake here, because I don't have much of a portfolio.' I had a lot of industrial design stuff, but I guess that's what Jim wanted. He wanted a very different take on a creature design and I've told him many times since then how incredibly grateful and indebted I am to him because he allowed me almost a year to become educated in what he needed to be the best, well-thought out creatures in film. So he afforded us the time to really do it right.
"I'm a huge fan of doing the research and understanding the subject matter, which includes buying animal bones and things of that nature to better understand a creatures' physiology, and Jim really dug that we were coming in fully armed with all this knowledge. You can't pull the wool over his eyes. He's bright on all levels, and it was our goal to help crack the design nut. There were occasions where I would present an anatomical solution to a problem that would genuinely impress Jim. That's a good day at work! Jim is a strong man who knows what he wants, and if you're strong enough to survive that, you come out a better person and definitely a better designer, that's for sure."
While still working on Avatar, the designer took on yet another new creature challenge in J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield. "When I met with [producers] J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles to discuss Cloverfield, I knew nothing about the project other than J.J. said, 'I want to make a monster movie,'" says Page. "They explained to me that this film was a big experiment as far as how they were going to shoot it, with handheld cameras and not a whole bunch of other cameras set up for secondary or tertiary shots. They also explained that the overall budget was next to nothing.
"For whatever reason, J.J. won me over because of his passion for the work and his loveable personality. I thought, 'I don't know quite what it [the film] is either, J.J., but sign me up.' The hardest part of Cloverfield, though, was that I was also in my last five or six months of Avatar, and the last months of any project are the toughest because you have to deliver all the final elements. I told myself, 'I'm working with James Cameron and J.J. Abrams simultaneously. Am I the luckiest man in the world or what? You've got to make this work, Neville, no matter what.'"
[caption id="attachment_4332" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Up close and personal with the Cloverfield creature. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_4333" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Another angle of the Cloverfield creature. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
Clearly, Abrams was pleased with Page's contribution to Cloverfield because he subsequently asked him to provide creature effects and much more for the new Star Trek film. "I was tasked with two creatures right out of the gate, which were the ones on the ice planet Delta Vega," notes the designer. "J.J. was very specific about what he wanted; he wanted one of the creatures to be red because it would look cool and be a great contrast to the white snow. The second thing he wanted was for it to have several eyes just so it was kind of freaky and scary. J.J. also wanted the creature to have a month that was extremely off-putting, not because you'd be afraid of being bitten by it, but that it might touch or dribble on you.
"If you study enough about biology and animals you can kind of reverse engineer a number of things into a plausible organism. That's where it's helpful to have a pretty broad understanding of several different animals as well as zoology and physics, because you'll be able to take some really wacky concept and make it work by having all these other reference points. So I didn't have much trouble with the color of the red creature because there are plenty of things in the ocean that are red, such as crabs, lobsters and the Humboldt squid. The creature is actually a cross between a crab and a squid, and it wasn't necessarily that I thought of that as a means to hybridize something, but this thing just evolved to a point where it started to look like that. So I thought, 'I can reference those two animals and tap into a little bit more of their physiology.'
"There are those who question the red color, but the important thing to remember is that this creature is most comfortable in the water, much like a squid would be. It only breaks through the ice for the occasional desperate feeding. That was my rationale, and it actually does make sense; animals do occasionally breach or leave their normal habitat when they're incredibly hungry. However, there have been a lot of fans of the film that really objected to the fact that it was red, but when you know what its origins are, then it potentially makes sense.
"The fact that this creature doesn't have fur is also another [deliberate] choice. A lot of whales don't have fur, but rather excess blubber. It might sound as if I'm justifying things, but I'm trying to explain the fact that it's an alien planet, so anything should go. But we have a critical Earth audience looking at the movie, some of whom saying, 'I don't know if I'd buy that [creature] because it's red, doesn't have fur and it's skinny.' Well, crabs somehow get away with it, and so do lobsters. There's no fur on a lobster, so who's to say that this creature isn't some sort of hybrid endo-exo-skeletal thing. The most important thing for J.J. is that he just wants it to be cool for the moment so people enjoy the ride. My job is to make sure that it [the creature] is viable enough so fans and other people who may scrutinize it don't feel insulted or gypped. But I must ask, why does no one question the survivability of the passengers on a ship that leaps instantly to warp speed? It's all simply entertainment."
[caption id="attachment_4334" align="aligncenter" width="205" caption="The Polarilla creature from Star Trek XI. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
Those who saw the Star Trek film and also, coincidentally, have an aversion to insects, probably had to look away when Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) is tortured for tactical data by Captain Nero (Eric Bana) of the Romulan mining ship Narada, and forced to swallow the mind-controlling bug. Page was the brains behind the look of that particular creepy crawly.
"That little bug was kind of an homage to the earwig that was in [the second Star Trek film] The Wrath of Khan, in that something bug-like is being put inside you that's going to mess with your mind," he says. "I felt it would have been far creepier to put it into an orifice that you wouldn't normally put something in, but we were limited to orifices that were PG [rated]," jokes Page. "So ears and nostrils would have been it. I just thought that putting it in the mouth was, maybe, more like eating it, and not as unnerving.
"We did our level best to make it look upsetting, but I think most people are so bug-phobic that just having a bug near someone's mouth was frightening enough. I really did want this one to be more like an earwig, which is why I made the tail earwig-like. J.J. was very specific, though, about wanting these claws and little tentacles that would make it look as if it has the capacity, once inside the body, to engage with the spinal cord or lower brainstem.
"So the design challenge was partially just arriving at the appropriate esthetic, but on top of that, we knew that we didn't have the funds to do a full digital effect and that it had to be a practical on-set one. That meant we had to have something we could actually control animatronically, and that dictated a certain kind of body mass to fit the electronics into. A Japanese gentleman, in fact, made a robot that was tiny enough, or should I say microscopic enough, to go inside a rubber version of our bug. That's what you see on-screen, this little remote-controlled bug on the end of barbecue tongs. It was quite incredible."
Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation are well aware that its Klingons as well as Romulans looked very different from those seen in the classic Star Trek series. An effort was made in Star Trek: Enterprise to explain the change in the Klingons' appearance, and the same thing was done in the new Star Trek movie with regard to the Romulans, including Eric Bana's Nero.
"The Next Generation Romulans had the V-shaped prosthetic on their forehead, but in the original show, they had absolutely no prosthetics," explains Page. "So we had to come up with a way to justify how it is that over time, some of them developed the V and others did not. For that, I worked with Joel Harlow, who did a lot of the make-up for Pirates of the Caribbean, and was the head make-up artist for the Romulans specifically. The idea I had involved a bald head and therefore shaving it completely, but in order to convince Eric Bana of this, we needed to do a make-up test first. We didn't have the budget to hire another actor or a model for this, so I 'donated' my head to the cause. We would shave my head, Joel would then do the make-up test on me, and if J.J. liked it, we would move forward and create the look for Eric.
"As far as the concept of getting that V-shape to work, I went with tribal scarification," continues the designer. "If you scar yourself over and over again in the same place, over time it turns into a keloid mass. I thought it would be interesting if we could use that to create the natural V justification. So we put together an array of designs that Harlow sculpted to replicate that look, and we had a number of tattoo and hair ideas as well. In the end, what you see in the movie is not unlike the basic concept that I wore in our presentation to J.J. The final design, however, has more character nuances in it; there's a scar on Nero's face, because I always liked the idea of chopping his ear off to make it look like he's even half of the Romulan he used to be. Ultimately, J.J. decided to make it more of a bite that Nero probably got while he was imprisoned with the Klingons."
The original scarring went through a bit of a metamorphosis before filming began, but Abrams liked the design that Page first tested, so much so that he asked him if he would like to play a Romulan in the film. The designer wasted no time in accepting the offer. "I joke with people that that was my plan all along as a child, that I wanted to be a movie star. However, I had a whole different way of achieving that. It would be through the backdoor. I'd study design for years and work and work and then finally get my break while testing the make-up. It was a very strategic and circuitous path," he says with a laugh, "but now that I am a huge celebrity, wasn't it all worth it? Although J.J. did say, 'Keep your day job.' What could he have meant?
"Seriously, the best part about doing it was two-fold. I had to go through the make-up process many times, including having to wear full scleral contact lenses. They aren't just the small lenses that cover the iris, but the ones that extend over the eye in all directions. I can't stand the idea of contact lenses, but I thought, 'If I'm going to be designing this stuff for people, I should at least know what I'm asking them to subject themselves to.'
"So seeing the sculptors interpreting my designs and then seeing the make-up applied step-by-step was, for me, not only fun, but also a wonderful education in the hope that I do more work like it. The other get part was getting to be on the other side of the camera. I've been around long enough to know what that's like as a designer, but being 'an actor' on-set and watching them direct me and everyone else was another amazing learning experience."
[caption id="attachment_4335" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Caudal luring - a personal project of Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_4336" align="aligncenter" width="250" caption="Carnivor glow - a Mattel concept illustration. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page"][/caption]
Besides Star Trek, Page's other recent work includes Watchmen and Tron 2.0, the sequel to the 1982 Sci-Fi film Tron. "I started off designing a bit of everything [for Tron 2.0] with everyone else, but I quickly gravitated towards the costumes," he says. "From there, I ended up moving from the art department to costumes and developing the hero and specialty costumes. It's something I've always wanted to do but it's a hard thing to break into because it's a totally different department.
"I recently came back from Vancouver where I watched some of the shooting [for Tron 2.0] and, my God, it looks really good. From the last script I read, I think it's going to be an interesting film with some neat twists, and aesthetically it's looking phenomenal. It's right up there with James Cameron's Avatar in terms of delivering really fresh and new imagery on-screen. If you watch the original Tron now, it's important to note what a major achievement that it was then, and at the helm of it all was Steve Lisberger. He was the original director and conceiver of Tron and one of the producers for the new movie. Lisberger is very involved in the production and it was cool to see him and the new director, Joe Kosinski, brainstorming. It's one of the more exciting projects I've ever been on."
While some people who work in film and/or TV might take it for granted, Page sees his involvement in the business as very much the opposite. He is also happy for the chance to give back something to audiences. "When I sat watching Star Wars as a kid, my parents were going through a divorce, and the movie was an amazing escape for me," he says. "It's sad to say that R2D2 was my therapist at age 12. Having said that, whenever I meet someone who is moved by something I've done in the same way I was moved by Joe Johnston [Star Wars effects illustrator/designer] and Ralph McQuarrie [Star Wars production illustrator], that's when it really hits home that what you do is relevant. And it's such a priviledge to be able to do that."
Steve Eramo
As noted above, all photos courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!


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How does it work?
Many of you may have seen the movie 'Pay It Forward' or have read the novel of the same name, a story about a young boy who did 3 good deeds for others in need. In return, all that the child wanted was that they pass on the good deed to three other people and keep the cycle going.
One good deed might not seem like much, but if everyone did something good for someone else, then the cycle of generosity and kindness can spark us to become better people.
So how does it work?
Do between one and three good deeds for others without asking for anything in return. Instead the recipient should be instructed to pay it forward to someone else in need. Pay it Forward Cards (downloadable in the left bar of this website) can be handed to each recipient explaining what Pay it Forward is all about. There are 24 boxes on the back of the card that are ticked off as the card travels around – each box containing the potential for future good deeds as others Pay it Forward to others in need. The Pay it Forward part can be completed at each person's discretion.
The difference we can make is phenomenal 🙂
Here's some examples that might help give you some ideas
1. At a drive through, pay for the car behind's meal and give the cashier a Pay it Forward card to pass on…You could do this at the train station, at a coffee shop – anywhere you like.
2. If it is raining, give your umbrella together with a card to someone who does not have one. (it might be worth taking a spare one with you 🙂
3. Visit an elderly neighbour's house and ask them if they need to have anything they need repaired.
4. Donate some money to your favourite charity – perhaps collect some donation money from people at work.
5. Tell the manager of a restaurant how great your waiter/waitress was. This can happen in any store / business you visit. Aim at brightening someone else's day
6. Talk to parking attendants – try and get them to hand out Pay it Forward cards instead of Parking fines – wouldn't that be nice? Alternatively you could top up other people's parking metres to stop them getting a fine.
7. Cook a casserole for a new mother. Caring for newborns is tiring and draining. Mothers will appreciate the ability to eat something home-cooked without having to cook it herself.
8. Buy Lottery Scratch-Off tickets and put one in an envelope with a "Pay It Forward Card" inserted. Hand it to a receptionist on the way out of a business appointment. You just might change that person's whole life.
9. Give a homeless person some food vouchers along with a Pay it Forward card
10. If you are washing your own car or mowing your own lawn, do the same for your next door neighbor
11. At your office, thank the "little people". Everyone's part is essential and no one's job is purposeless. Thank the mail guy, the girl who orders supplies, or the door person.
12. Drive an older person in the neighborhood to the grocery store (they will love the opportunity to get out of the house, as well) or if they aren't able to go themselves, take their list and go to the store for them. If at all possible, pay for their things.
13. Be a mentor for someone who needs some support.
14.Do some work for a client or one that can't afford your services free of charge – just ask that they Pay it Forward


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The powerful influence of his family opened him a public career early in life. He was made archdeacon of Calatrava[?], and became a member of the king's council while young. In 1337 he was chosen archbishop of Toledo in succession to his uncle by the favour of the king, Alfonso XI of Castile. At the battle of Tarifa[?] he fought against a great invasion from Africa in 1340, and at the taking of Algeciras in 1344 he led the armed levy of his archbishopric.
In 1343 he had been sent to Pope Clement VI at Avignon to negotiate a grant of a tax on the revenues of the Church for the Crusade. His military and diplomatic ability became known to the pope, who made him a cardinal in 1350. Albornoz left Spain on the death of the king Alfonso XI in that year, and never returned. It has been said, but not on contemporary evidence, that he fled from fear of Peter the Cruel.
In 1353 Innocent VI sent him as a legate into Italy, with a view to the restoration of the papal authority in the states of the Church. He was recalled in 1357, but was sent again to Italy after a brief interval, and in 1362 had paved the way for the return of Urban V to Rome.
As legate, Albornoz showed himself to be an astute manager of men and effective fighter. He began by making use of Rienzi, whose release from prison at Avignon he secured. After the murder of the tribune in 1354 Albornoz pursued his task of restoring the pope's authority by intrigue and force with remarkable success. As a mark of gratitude the pope appointed him legate at Bologna in 1367, but he died at Viterbo the same year. According to his own desire his remains were carried to Toledo, where Henry of Castile caused them to be entombed with almost royal honours.
A work by Albornoz on the constitution of the Church of Rome, first printed at Jesi in 1473, is now very rare. The college of St Clement at Bologna was founded by Albornoz for the benefit of Spanish students.
See "De Vita et Rebus Gestis Aegidii Albornotii," in Sepulveda's Opera Omnia, vol. iv. (1780).
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30 copies 16th copy I. The following persons took part in the discussion about the final solution of the Jewish question which took place in Berlin, am Grossen Wannsee No. 56/58 on 20 January 1942. Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and Reichsamt- Reich Ministry for leiter Dr. Leibbrandt the Occupied Eastern territories Secretary of State Dr. Stuckart Reich Ministry for the Interior Secretary of State Neumann Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan Secretary of State Dr. Freisler Reich Ministry of Justice Secretary of State Dr. Buehler Office of the Govern- ment General Under Secretary of State Dr. Luther Foreign Office SS-Oberführer Klopfer Party Chancellery Ministerialdirektor Kritzinger Reich Chancellery SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann Race and Settlement Main Office SS-Gruppenführer Mueller Reich Main Security SS-Obersturmbannführer Eichmann Office SS-Oberführer Dr. Schoengarth Security Police and SD Chief of the Security Police and the SD in the Government General SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Lange Security Police and SD Commander of the Security Police and the SD for the General-District Latvia, as deputy of the Commander of the Security Police and the SD for the Reich Commissariat "Eastland". II. At the beginning of the discussion Chief of the Security Police and of the SD, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich, reported that the Reich Marshal had appointed him delegate for the preparations for the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe and pointed out that this discussion had been called for the purpose of clarifying fundamental questions. The wish of the Reich Marshal to have a draft sent to him concerning organizational, factual and material interests in relation to the final solution of the Jewish question in Europe makes necessary an initial common action of all central offices immediately concerned with these questions in order to bring their general activities into line. The Reichsführer-SS and the Chief of the German Police (Chief of the Security Police and the SD) was entrusted with the official central handling of the final solution of the Jewish question without regard to geographic borders. The Chief of the Security Police and the SD then gave a short report of the struggle which has been carried on thus far against this enemy, the essential points being the following: a) the expulsion of the Jews from every sphere of life of the German people, b) the expulsion of the Jews from the living space of the German people. In carrying out these efforts, an increased and planned acceleration of the emigration of the Jews from Reich territory was started, as the only possible present solution. By order of the Reich Marshal, a Reich Central Office for Jewish Emigration was set up in January 1939 and the Chief of the Security Police and SD was entrusted with the management. Its most important tasks were a) to make all necessary arrangements for the preparation for an increased emigration of the Jews, b) to direct the flow of emigration, c) to speed the procedure of emigration in each individual case. The aim of all this was to cleanse German living space of Jews in a legal manner. All the offices realized the drawbacks of such enforced accelerated emigration. For the time being they had, however, tolerated it on account of the lack of other possible solutions of the problem. The work concerned with emigration was, later on, not only a German problem, but also a problem with which the authorities of the countries to which the flow of emigrants was being directed would have to deal. Financial difficulties, such as the demand by various foreign governments for increasing sums of money to be presented at the time of the landing, the lack of shipping space, increasing restriction of entry permits, or the canceling of such, increased extraordinarily the difficulties of emigration. In spite of these difficulties, 537,000 Jews were sent out of the country between the takeover of power and the deadline of 31 October 1941. Of these approximately 360,000 were in Germany proper on 30 January 1933 approximately 147,000 were in Austria (Ostmark) on 15 March 1939 approximately 30,000 were in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia on 15 March 1939. The Jews themselves, or their Jewish political organizations, financed the emigration. In order to avoid impoverished Jews' remaining behind, the principle was followed that wealthy Jews have to finance the emigration of poor Jews; this was arranged by imposing a suitable tax, i.e., an emigration tax, which was used for financial arrangements in connection with the emigration of poor Jews and was imposed according to income. Apart from the necessary Reichsmark exchange, foreign currency had to presented at the time of landing. In order to save foreign exchange held by Germany, the foreign Jewish financial organizations were--with the help of Jewish organizations in Germany--made responsible for arranging an adequate amount of foreign currency. Up to 30 October 1941, these foreign Jews donated a total of around 9,500,000 dollars. In the meantime the Reichsführer-SS and Chief of the German Police had prohibited emigration of Jews due to the dangers of an emigration in wartime and due to the possibilities of the East. III. Another possible solution of the problem has now taken the place of emigration, i.e. the evacuation of the Jews to the East, provided that the führer gives the appropriate approval in advance. These actions are, however, only to be considered provisional, but practical experience is already being collected which is of the greatest importance in relation to the future final solution of the Jewish question. Approximately 11 million Jews will be involved in the final solution of the European Jewish question, distributed as follows among the individual countries: Country Number A. Germany proper 131,800 Austria 43,700 Eastern territories 420,000 General Government 2,284,000 Bialystok 400,000 Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia 74,200 Estonia - free of Jews - Latvia 3,500 Lithuania 34,000 Belgium 43,000 Denmark 5,600 France / occupied territory 165,000 unoccupied territory 700,000 Greece 69,600 Netherlands 160,800 Norway 1,300 B. Bulgaria 48,000 England 330,000 Finland 2,300 Ireland 4,000 Italy including Sardinia 58,000 Albania 200 Croatia 40,000 Portugal 3,000 Rumania including Bessarabia 342,000 Sweden 8,000 Switzerland 18,000 Serbia 10,000 Slovakia 88,000 Spain 6,000 Turkey (European portion) 55,500 Hungary 742,800 USSR 5,000,000 Ukraine 2,994,684 White Russia excluding Bialystok 446,484 Total over 11,000,000 The number of Jews given here for foreign countries includes, however, only those Jews who still adhere to the Jewish faith, since some countries still do not have a definition of the term "Jew" according to racial principles. The handling of the problem in the individual countries will meet with difficulties due to the attitude and outlook of the people there, especially in Hungary and Rumania. Thus, for example, even today the Jew can buy documents in Rumania that will officially prove his foreign citizenship. The influence of the Jews in all walks of life in the USSR is well known. Approximately five million Jews live in the European part of the USSR, in the Asian part scarcely 1/4 million. The breakdown of Jews residing in the European part of the USSR according to trades was approximately as follows: Agriculture 9.1 % Urban workers 14.8 % In trade 20.0 % Employed by the state 23.4 % In private occupations such as medical profession, press, theater, etc. 32. 7%
Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history.) In the course of the practical execution of the final solution, Europe will be combed through from west to east. Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, will have to be handled first due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities. The evacuated Jews will first be sent, group by group, to so-called transit ghettos, from which they will be transported to the East. SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich went on to say that an important prerequisite for the evacuation as such is the exact definition of the persons involved. It is not intended to evacuate Jews over 65 years old, but to send them to an old-age ghetto&emdash;Theresienstadt is being considered for this purpose. In addition to these age groups&emdash;of the approximately 280,000 Jews in Germany proper and Austria on 31 October 1941, approximately 30% are over 65 years old&emdash;severely wounded veterans and Jews with war decorations (Iron Cross I) will be accepted in the old-age ghettos. With this expedient solution, in one fell swoop many interventions will be prevented. The beginning of the individual larger evacuation actions will largely depend on military developments. Regarding the handling of the final solution in those European countries occupied and influenced by us, it was proposed that the appropriate expert of the Foreign Office discuss the matter with the responsible official of the Security Police and SD. In Slovakia and Croatia the matter is no longer so difficult, since the most substantial problems in this respect have already been brought near a solution. In Rumania the government has in the meantime also appointed a commissioner for Jewish affairs. In order to settle the question in Hungary, it will soon be necessary to force an adviser for Jewish questions onto the Hungarian government. With regard to taking up preparations for dealing with the problem in Italy, SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich considers it opportune to contact the chief of police with a view to these problems. In occupied and unoccupied France, the registration of Jews for evacuation will in all probability proceed without great difficulty. Under Secretary of State Luther calls attention in this matter to the fact that in some countries, such as the Scandinavian states, difficulties will arise if this problem is dealt with thoroughly and that it will therefore be advisable to defer actions in these countries. Besides, in view of the small numbers of Jews affected, this deferral will not cause any substantial limitation. The Foreign Office sees no great difficulties for southeast and western Europe. SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann plans to send an expert to Hungary from the Race and Settlement Main Office for general orientation at the time when the Chief of the Security Police and SD takes up the matter there. It was decided to assign this expert from the Race and Settlement Main Office, who will not work actively, as an assistant to the police attache. IV. In the course of the final solution plans, the Nuremberg Laws should provide a certain foundation, in which a prerequisite for the absolute solution of the problem is also the solution to the problem of mixed marriages and persons of mixed blood. The Chief of the Security Police and the SD discusses the following points, at first theoretically, in regard to a letter from the chief of the Reich chancellery: 1) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree Persons of mixed blood of the first degree will, as regards the final solution of the Jewish question, be treated as Jews. From this treatment the following exceptions will be made: a) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree married to persons of German blood if their marriage has resulted in children (persons of mixed blood of the second degree). These persons of mixed blood of the second degree are to be treated essentially as Germans. b) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree, for whom the highest offices of the Party and State have already issued exemption permits in any sphere of life. Each individual case must be examined, and it is not ruled out that the decision may be made to the detriment of the person of mixed blood. The prerequisite for any exemption must always be the personal merit of the person of mixed blood. (Not the merit of the parent or spouse of German blood.) Persons of mixed blood of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for all. Such sterilization will be voluntary. But it is required to remain in the Reich. The sterilized "person of mixed blood" is thereafter free of all restrictions to which he was previously subjected. 2) Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second Degree Persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be treated fundamentally as persons of German blood, with the exception of the following cases, in which the persons of mixed blood of the second degree will be considered as Jews: a) The person of mixed blood of the second degree was born of a marriage in which both parents are persons of mixed blood. b) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a racially especially undesirable appearance that marks him outwardly as a Jew. c) The person of mixed blood of the second degree has a particularly bad police and political record that shows that he feels and behaves like a Jew. Also in these cases exemptions should not be made if the person of mixed blood of the second degree has married a person of German blood. 3) Marriages between Full Jews and Persons of German Blood. Here it must be decided from case to case whether the Jewish partner will be evacuated or whether, with regard to the effects of such a step on the German relatives, [this mixed marriage] should be sent to an old-age ghetto. 4) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of German Blood. a) Without Children. If no children have resulted from the marriage, the person of mixed blood of the first degree will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto (same treatment as in the case of marriages between full Jews and persons of German blood, point 3.) b) With Children. If children have resulted from the marriage (persons of mixed blood of the second degree), they will, if they are to be treated as Jews, be evacuated or sent to a ghetto along with the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. If these children are to be treated as Germans (regular cases), they are exempted from evacuation as is therefore the parent of mixed blood of the first degree. 5) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree or Jews. In these marriages (including the children) all members of the family will be treated as Jews and therefore be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto. 6) Marriages between Persons of Mixed Blood of the First Degree and Persons of Mixed Blood of the Second Degree. In these marriages both partners will be evacuated or sent to an old-age ghetto without consideration of whether the marriage has produced children, since possible children will as a rule have stronger Jewish blood than the Jewish person of mixed blood of the second degree. SS-Gruppenführer Hofmann advocates the opinion that sterilization will have to be widely used, since the person of mixed blood who is given the choice whether he will be evacuated or sterilized would rather undergo sterilization. State Secretary Dr. Stuckart maintains that carrying out in practice of the just mentioned possibilities for solving the problem of mixed marriages and persons of mixed blood will create endless administrative work. In the second place, as the biological facts cannot be disregarded in any case, State Secretary Dr. Stuckart proposed proceeding to forced sterilization. Furthermore, to simplify the problem of mixed marriages possibilities must be considered with the goal of the legislator saying something like: "These marriages have been dissolved." With regard to the issue of the effect of the evacuation of Jews on the economy, State Secretary Neumann stated that Jews who are working in industries vital to the war effort, provided that no replacements are available, cannot be evacuated. SS-Obergruppenführer Heydrich indicated that these Jews would not be evacuated according to the rules he had approved for carrying out the evacuations then underway. State Secretary Dr. Buehler stated that the General Government would welcome it if the final solution of this problem could be begun in the General Government, since on the one hand transportation does not play such a large role here nor would problems of labor supply hamper this action. Jews must be removed from the territory of the General Government as quickly as possible, since it is especially here that the Jew as an epidemic carrier represents an extreme danger and on the other hand he is causing permanent chaos in the economic structure of the country through continued black market dealings. Moreover, of the approximately 2 1/2 million Jews concerned, the majority is unfit for work. State Secretary Dr. Buehler stated further that the solution to the Jewish question in the General Government is the responsibility of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD and that his efforts would be supported by the officials of the General Government. He had only one request, to solve the Jewish question in this area as quickly as possible. In conclusion the different types of possible solutions were discussed, during which discussion both Gauleiter Dr. Meyer and State Secretary Dr. Buehler took the position that certain preparatory activities for the final solution should be carried out immediately in the territories in question, in which process alarming the populace must be avoided. The meeting was closed with the request of the Chief of the Security Police and the SD to the participants that they afford him appropriate support during the carrying out of the tasks involved in the solution. The above translation by courtesy of A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997. |


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Textile and Paper Microfluidic Platforms for Electroanalytical Nucleic Acid Testing
Time: Mon 2021-10-18 14.00
Location: Kollegiesalen, Brinellvägen 8, KTH, Stockholm (English)
Subject area: Fibre and Polymer Science
Doctoral student: Shirin Khaliliazar , Fiberteknologi, KTH
Opponent: Associate Professor Firat Güder, Imperial College London
Supervisor: Universitetslektor Mahiar Hamedi, Fiberteknologi
Rapid and accurate near-patient diagnostic tests outside well-equipped laboratories are essential in the fight against outbreaks of infectious diseases, especially when these can turn into pandemics. As severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the latest but probably not the last pandemic of the 21st century. Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) identify pathogens at the molecular level by targeting specific gene sequences. NAATs are currently the gold standard of molecular diagnostics, given their reliability, sensitivity, and specificity. In addition, NAATs can provide quantitative results with a short turnaround time compared to conventional immunoassays or culturing methods. However, most NAATs necessitate centralized laboratories and trained health professionals and, to a large extend, fail to be point-of-care(POC).The biosensing field was inspired by the micro electronics revolution in the1980s, which led to the emergence of the micro-total analysis systems (μTAS)concept. μTAS was envisioned to miniaturized laboratory-based tests in single microfluidic devices. The combination of POC NAATs with μTAS can offer rapid, sensitive, and specific diagnostic tools of great importance in tackling diseases.In this thesis, we have utilized paper and textile materials as a platform for developing μTAS. These materials possess many features necessary for advanced μTAS, such as the ability to transport liquids, store reagents and embed electronic functions, making them ideal for integrating affordable, portable, and easy to manufacture μTAS for NAATs.We have specially developed NAATs with paper-based and thread-based electrochemical readout to provide quantitative responses with high sensitivity, specificity, and the possibility to connect to portable digital electronics. This work paves the way for robust sample-to-answer digital POC NAATs.


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My weekly Guardian column is published today:
This month, the United Nations accused Canberra of… potentially breaking international law… by forcibly repelling refugee boats back to Indonesia.… Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees,… said… that the international body was "concerned by any policy or practice that involved pushing asylum-seeker boats back at sea without a proper consideration of individual needs for protection." He continued: "any such approach would raise significant issues and potentially place Australia in breach of its obligations under the… 1951 refugee convention… and other international law obligations."
The comments were brushed aside as soon as they were uttered. Prime minister Tony Abbott's administration insists that its policies are… legal and safe,… and the vast bulk of Australians apparently back even… harsher methods… against asylum seekers. It is now clear who has won this battle, and it isn't the forces pushing for moderation.
After 20 years of steadily increasing cruelty towards refugees, it's time to admit that we've reached a stalemate. Simply arguing for a more humane approach has failed. Reason, international law and common sense are no match against inflammatory media reporting,… false fears… about… asylum seekers living in the community, and politicians proudly punishing the most vulnerable in the name of "deterrence."
Enter the need for a new approach, one that seriously ups the ante: sanctions against the Australian state for ignoring humanitarian law. Australia deserves nothing less. A price must be paid, in a political and economic sense, for flagrantly… breaching Australian and international conventions. This could be directed at both the multinationals such as Serco and G4S, who are administering the government's policies, and the bank accounts and assets maintained by government ministers and officials.
Australian citizens must feel this global isolation in their daily lives, and be made to realise that business as usual is a choice that will bring tough penalties.… Locking up children… on remote Pacific islands, without proper medical or psychological care, is designed for only one purpose: pain.… States opposed to these breaches must gather together and take action, regardless of the inevitable short-term bleating from the Australian government. Activists around the world and at home must have a clear target and goal: to make Canberra believe that the ramifications are simply too high to maintain the current system of a… privatised detention network.
Western state powers believe they are immune from prosecution. The idea of a senior western leader or official being charged for war crimes or abuses of power is almost unheard of. The recent news that British human rights lawyers are… pushing… for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute local military figures and politicians over serial breaches against detainees in Iraq after 2003 was an important reminder that it isn't only presidents in dictatorships that might face the wrath of The Hague.… We are surely not far away from a precedent being set with the sight of a London or Washington-based official found guilty for covering up systematic assaults against Iraqis or Afghans during the last decade.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald's book,… With Liberty and Justice for Some, explains how the US system is designed to protect the powerful at the expense of the majority. There are countless officials after 9/11 who haven't been jailed for ordering and performing waterboarding, sexual assaults, illegal interrogations, hiding prisoners in black sites and invading nations. President Barack Obama has… ferociously protected… the worst abusers, including CIA torturers, and provided immunity.
The relevance to Australia is clear. Western leaders live under the belief that they can behave as they like to the powerless and invisible. Asylum seekers are essentially voiceless,… reporters are barred… from visiting where they're warehoused in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, and the daily drumbeat of dishonest rhetoric wrongly accuses them of being "illegal".
Even the threat of sanctions against Australia would enrage the Abbott government and its backers. Australia is a democracy, they will claim. Australia's decisions are checked and approved by lawyers, they may argue. Australians can vote out recalcitrant regimes, they could state.
And yet transparency over asylum seeker policy has arguably never been… more absent. There are far too few journalists dedicated to investigating the refugee issue, media organisations prefer sending their "journalists" to junkets in Los Angeles… promoting Australian celebrities, and the result is an immigration bureaucracy that rightly believes its actions have few consequences, shielded from censure.
Sanctions against Australia would wake them up immediately – even though the usefulness of traditional sanctions are questionable. Imagine if immigration minister Scott Morrison feared leaving the country amidst threats of questioning if he landed at Heathrow airport because of the abuse of asylum seekers in his care.
The first, obvious step is rousing worldwide support to place serious pressure on Australia and make its officials and leaders uncomfortable. Ask them tough questions in global forums. Demand they explain why dumping vulnerable men, women and children in isolated prison camps doesn't warrant sanctions. Tell them that the humane treatment of asylum seekers, at a time when the globe is… struggling to cope… with millions of displaced Syrians and growing numbers of… climate refugees, is vital in a connected world.
The Australian government feels invincible, protected under America's security blanket and selling its dirty coal to the world. We are sold the myth that building remote detention camps will protect us from the "hordes" trying to enter our promised land.… It's impossible not to conclude that Australia, a colonial construction, doesn't see itself akin to Canada, the US and… Israel… as countries struggling to cope with people various officials call "infiltrators". That bubble must be burst, and the threats of sanctions will be the required shot. Until Australia and its defenders appreciate the necessity to treat asylum seekers with dignity and respect, they should feel the world's opprobrium.
Talk is no longer enough. The UN has had more than 20 years to convince Australia to abandon mandatory detention and its associated ills. Frankly, it hasn't tried hard enough. Absent of a complete overhaul of the UN system, something that is long overdue, let legitimate legal sanctions be threatened and used.
It's a price every Australian, myself included, should feel.


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"Cohesive Communities" was first written for the party's Federal Policy Committee and approved for publication as a policy development paper. But Cowley Street never showed any great enthusiasm for publishing it and it was eventually overtaken by preparations for the general election and the subsequent policy review.
But surely if FPC approves something it should be published at once?
What a sweet, innocent child you are! Run along and play.
Anyway, here are some extracts from the essay.
Simon Titley reviews this latest number in the Passports to Liberty series in Liberator 305. He makes Adrian Sanders' essay sound an enjoyable rant, and writes of "Cohesive Communities" as follows:Recent research, particularly in the USA, has pinpointed cohesive communities as the key missing ingredient to a whole range of intractable policy issues that are undermining the ability of governments and their welfare systems to struggle on. The biggest and most expensive study in the history of criminology, carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health and which reported recently, found that by far the most important influence on local crime is the willingness of neighbours to act for each other's benefit – and especially for the benefit of each other's children.
Our Liberal Democrat embrace of liberty, equality and community echoes the Jacobin slogan Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. Perhaps the idea of 'fraternity' is irredeemably sexist, but it does convey a warmth and spontaneity that are often absent from 'community' as it has been understood by governments of either Labour or Conservative. Certainly, they are absent from the idea of community held by New Labour communitarian theorists.
The increasing dependence on professionals at neighbourhood level has led both to the exhaustion of public services and the increasing powerlessness of their clients. The truth is that the successful operation of teachers, doctors, police and social services depends on working as equal partners both with clients and with their neighbours – all three have a critical part to play in any successful regeneration. This basic truth, and the resources that it represents, have been increasingly forgotten as politicians puzzle over why their spending on public services are so ineffective, and as even the community development sector finds itself expecting and achieving very little from the local population.
To order a copy of Passports to Liberty 6 send a cheque for £3.50 (payable to Liberator Publications) to: Kiron Reid, 48 Abbeygate Apartments, Wavertree Gardens, High Street, Liverpool L15 8HB.Besides outlining the problem - basically "giantism" as the enemy of local communities - the authors suggest a number of practical steps to achieve their vision. This is precisely the sort of thinking needed to put flesh on the bones of the Liberal Democrats' Meeting the Challenge policy review...
Given the fundamental importance of cohesive communities to major public concerns such as the delivery of public services and fighting crime, however, this thinking deserves to become a cornerstone of Liberal Democrat policy.
You can find details of my earlier Passports essay "Defending Families" here.