The official Tor browser for iOS is free to use | Ars Technica

Posted on by

J.M. Porup (UK) - Jan 9, 2017 1:42 pm UTC

Techno Fishy

When Mike Tigas first created the Onion Browser app for iOS in 2012, he never expected it to become popular. He was working as a newsroom Web developer at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, at the time, and wanted a Tor browser app for himself and his colleagues. Expecting little interest, he then put Onion Browser on the Apple App Store at just $0.99/0.69, the lowest non-zero price that Apple allows.

Fast forward to 2016, and Tigas found himself living in New York City, working as a developer and investigative journalist at ProPublica, while earning upwards of $2,000 a month from the appand worrying that charging for it was keeping anonymous browsing out of the hands of people who needed it.

"Given recent events, many believe it's more important than ever to exercise and support freedom of speech, privacy rights, and digital security," he wrote in a blog post. "I think now is as good a time as ever to make Onion Browser more accessible to everyone."

Global concerns also influenced his decision. "Iran is not technically a country where you can get an iPhone, but on the grey market you can," he told Ars. "People over there can't get apps you have to pay for, because you have to have a credit card that Apple actually accepts," he added, noting that economic sanctions forbid Apple from selling to Iranian iOS users.

Onion Browser is the leading, community-supported Tor Web browser for iOS, but it lacks some of the features available for Tor Browser (Linux, MacOS, Windows) and OrFox (Android), due to technical roadblocks peculiar to iOS. (The Tor Project has so far declined to officially endorse an app for iOS.)

Onion Browser for iOS.

Onion Browser settings

The two biggest challenges Tor developers on iOS face, as Tigas outlined in this blog post on the Tor Project website, are Apple's requirement that all browsers use the iOS WebKit rendering engine, and the inability to run Tor as a system-wide service or daemon on iOS.

Developers have found workarounds to both problems, and iOS users can soon expect to see a new, improved Onion Browser, as well as a Tor VPN that routes all device traffic over Torprobably in the first quarter of 2017.

Unlike the Tor or OrFox, Onion Browser is not based on the Firefox Gecko rendering engine. This is goodOnion Browser is not vulnerable to Firefox exploitsbut also bad, because code cannot be reused.

A further challenge, Tigas said, is that Apples WebKit APIs "dont allow a lot of control over the rendering and execution of Web pages, making a Tor Browser-style security slider very difficult to implement."

Many of iOS's multimedia features don't use the browser's network stack, making it difficult to ensure the native video player does not leak traffic outside of Tor.

"Onion Browser tries to provide some functionality to block JavaScript and multimedia, but these features arent yet as robust as on other platforms," Tigas wrote.

Moreover, it doesn't support tabbed browsing, and the UX is pretty basic, but Tigas is working on a rewrite based on Endless. "It adds a lot of important features over the existing Onion Browser, he said, like a nicer user-interface with tabbed browsing, HTTPS Everywhere, and HSTS Preloading. Theres a new version of Onion Browser in the works thats based on Endless that will hopefully enter beta testing this month."

Continued here:

The official Tor browser for iOS is free to use | Ars Technica

US Army’s Chief Futurist Says Russia Will Have Surpassed …

Posted on by

Our enemies have not remained static, warns Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, the Armys charismatic chief futurist. One assessment says that Russia will have surpassed US forces in three of 10 key areas of combat by 2030, reached parity in six, and remain behind in only one. On the US side, the current M1 Abrams heavy tank and M2 Bradley armed transport have been upgraded so many times already that theyre close to maxed out, McMaster told an Association of the US Army conference yesterday. But at the same time, he said, we have tremendous opportunities, associated with technologies at a high level of maturity that can be incorporated into a new generation combat vehicle.

Next Generation combat vehicle(s) by 2035

The US Army wants its Next Generation Combat Vehicle to serve as pack master to a swarm of crawling and flying robots. It wants lighter weapons with heavier firepower, able to aim almost straight up to shoot drones out of the sky and hit rooftop snipers. It wants miniaturized missile defenses to shoot down incoming anti-tank weapons. It wants suspension, underbody, and crew compartments designed from the ground up (literally) to resist landmines and roadside bombs. It wants diesel-electric engines like a giant Prius or other advanced motors that can power an array of jammers, sensors, and drone-killing lasers.

To take full advantage of the new technologies, he said, you need to build a new vehicle designed around them.

The factor that drives armored vehicle design, more than any other, is volume under armor. The bigger the gun, the bigger the engine, and above all the bigger the crew, the more armor you have to wrap around them to achieve any given level of protection, and, of course, the more armor, the more weight. The M1 is built to handle the recoil of a 120 mm smoothbore cannon and to accommodate a four-man crew: commander, driver, gunner, and loader. If you replace the 120 with a lighter weapon that uses more powerful energetics i.e. warhead and gunpowder to get the same effect, then redesign the turret around the smaller weapon, each pound saved on the gun itself saves you multiple pounds of armor on the vehicle overall. If you replace the human loader with a mechanical autoloader unreliable gadgets back in the 1970s but mature today you can save even more weight and possibly take the crew out of the turret entirely (as on the new Russian T-14 Armata).

The goal isnt just to build a better Bradley or Abrams, Wesley said. We need to think more broadly, (e.g.) manned-unmanned teaming, he said, referring to humans and robots working closely together. The unmanned systems scout ahead and, potentially, carry weapons, acting as expendable skirmishers and spear-carriers for manned vehicle, which is the only one that needs full-up armor. If Ive got a remotely piloted or tethered vehicle with zero humans inside to protect now I can really reduce weight, Wesley said.

The Armys overly ambitious Future Combat Systems program was cancelled in 2009.

Whats different? To start with, the Army literally boxed itself in on FCS, trying to build vehicles as powerful as a 70-ton M1 that could fit in an Air Force C-130, which can carry a maximum of 19 tons. The Next Generation Combat Vehicle isnt constrained by weight, although lighter than the M1 is clearly a goal; air-deployable firepower is being provided by a completely different program, the Mobile Protected Firepower (MPF) light tank, which isnt expected to take on the hardest targets. To meet its weight limits, FCS tried to use Active Protection Systems instead of heavy armor; the current approach is to layer APS on top of heavy armor, a much more reliable approach.

SOURCE - Breaking Defense

Read more:

US Army's Chief Futurist Says Russia Will Have Surpassed ...

What is the Zeitgeist Movement

Posted on by

If you are new to this site, or to the movement and are not fully aware as to exactly who and what the Zeitgeist Movement is, then please allow us to take a moment to introduce ourselves to you. Zeitgeist means "the spirit of the age and its society". It describes the intellectual, cultural, ethical, political and spiritual climate, ambience and morals of an era or also a trend.

The International Canadian Zeitgeist Movement is a chapter arm of a global social network in the thousands all across the planet. We have a common goal and advocate a possible alternative solution to our current failing social experiment 'the monetary system'. People from all walks of life are awakening and joining together forming the biggest 'conscious army' of light and love the world has ever seen. We are remembering who we really are and what our purpose is here, you are welcome to join because you are family, the door is open...

The Zeitgeist Movement, is NOT a Political Movement, we do not recognize Nations, Races, Religions, Governments, Legal, Religious or Corporate Institutions, Social or Financial Class or Power of Position or the Monetary System. Our understandings conclude that these are false, outdated distinctions which are far from positive factors for true collective human growth and potential. Their basis is in power division and stratification, not unity and equality, which is our goal. We recognize and stand for Humanity, Compassion, Fairness, Peace, Abundance and Intelligent Advancement through Co-operation, Education, Nature, Science, Technology which leads us on our path of Spiritual Oneness.

The Zeitgeist Movement aims to make everyone understand that the integrity of human beings and the integrity of the Earth are directly related. Human creativity creates technology that makes our lives progress. The system based on money, religion and politics is outdated and must come to an end. The Zeitgeist Movement offers awareness in ways that will allow us to achieve a social system which functions without politics or money. The old system will phase itself out and education will flourish allowing for the transformation of a RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY.

No human being can understand everything completely. The Zeitgeist Movement is not here to tell you what to believe. It may appear challenging to replace a system of distorted values which is currently running our lives but it must be started somehow. Any single person can do their part in shaping this vision. Education is the most important step and connecting with others at a local level is the next. This Canadian site lists all local chapters active in towns and cities across Canada. If there is not one near you, then please see our Starting a chapter section, and see how easy it is to start a chapter in your area. The Zeitgeist Movement will provide you with materials to help you along.

FOR ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT THE VENUS PROJECT

Continue reading here:

What is the Zeitgeist Movement

Top Five Zeitgeist: The Movie Myths! | Peter Joseph

Posted on by

Top Five Zeitgeist The Movie Myths!

1) The Zeitgeist Movement is all about support of Zeitgeist: The Movie!

Actually, as per my experience over the past 6 years, most within The Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) do not subscribe or agree with this film in general, although mixed reactions are most common. Zeitgeist: The Movie was created years before TZM was formed. TZM was created originally to support Jacque Frescos Venus Project (TVP). After TVP and TZM split three years later, TZM became a self-propelling institution with its own body of work. The text The Zeitgeist Movement Defined is the core source of Movement interests and expresses what TZM is about clearly.

As of 2015, any ongoing association with TZM and Zeitgeist: The Movie is often perpetuated by those merely with malicious intent. As the rest of this list will express, Zeitgeist: The Movie has been a point of extreme attack and bigoted reactions since its inception. Having been seen by literally hundreds of millions of people, it is no surprise so many in vehement disagreement rise to the top. I wish I counted the number of death threats and the amount of cyber stalking I have personally endured. I have spent upwards of $20,000 in legal fees fighting constant defamation by those offended by that film.

As an aside, many have suggested that a simple name change (remove Zeitgeist) would have solved the problem. Yet, if a name change alone is that persuasive, isnt that actually indicative of a deep lack of critical thought? Where a mere superficial title changes peoples sense of association? I find this troubling if so. But regardless, the genie cannot go back in the bottle. Love it or hate it, Zeitgeist: The Movie isnt going anywhere and its content/implications 8 years later seem to only get stronger and more validated. According to my online distributor, it is one of the most popular docs on Netflix, now in many languages/regions there.

2) Its all been debunked!

The term debunked has become a mantra of sorts by the anti-ztm crowd. You also see this kind of overly zealous absolutism in other communities as well, such as the atheist community. As an atheist myself, I have learned that compassion is much more powerful than ridicule and if the goal of any communication is to change minds, taking a condescending and absolute approach does nothing but inflate the initiators ego not help educate others.

In that, many interpreted the first section of Zeitgeist: The Movie as an attack on religion. I would say it is providing a contrary view of its history and it does so in a non-derisive way. It is very academic in its presentation and to call it an attack is without merit.

That noted, Zeitgeist: The Movie was an art piece first and foremost and a great deal of liberty was taken in its expression. In the very first edition, I had a section with John F. Kennedy talking about the grand conspiracy of Communism and overlaid it onto his assassination footage. I knew what I was doing and did so because it was an amazing artistic effect. It wasnt until the film was grossly misinterpreted in its mixed genre style and artistic license that I later went back and made such editorial changes to conform it to a more documentary form.

I was sad to have to do this, in fact but It seems it was too advanced a piece for common culture and people were not ready to be critical of such liberties; understand the context. Zeitgeist: The Movie was the ultimate expression of demanding critical thought. It wasnt made to declare, it was made to challenge.Same goes for the long held up cry of manipulative filmmaking, such as when footage of the Madrid subway bombing was used to introduce a section on the 7/7 London Bombings. How dare I show a different explosion!

In 2010, I cleaned it up to conform to a more traditional documentary form and produced a free 220 booklet to support the literally 100s of claims made in the work. To date, no one has addressed this text. I would also add that while points made in the film from the origins of religion, to the events of Sept 11th, to the history of war for profit and social manipulation by financial interests are subject to interpretation and could perhaps be wrong, no single opposing claim or group of contradictions debunks the whole film. As the filmmaker, I will state that even I am not sure about some of the claims as far as what the absolute truth is. But again, that isnt the purpose of this work.

3) There are no sources!

I have seen this claim posted in reviews constantly. Zeitgeist: The Movie is likely the most sourced film in documentary history. I know of no other work that has painstakingly shown where the content came from. Again, one can argue about the truth of any given idea, but to say it is made up is beyond absurd. Companion Source Guide : http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/Zeitgeist,%20The%20Movie-%20Companion%20Guide%20PDF.pdf

4) Its anti-semitic!

This one really took me by surprise when I starting hear about it, especially since I end the film with one of the most heart warming/human unity quotes of all time by Carl Sagan. It appears to have started with a woman named Michelle Goldberg. She essentially stated that my use of a 1941 anti-war speech by Charles A. Lindbergh implied this, as Lindbergh was supposedly anti-semitic.

In the opening section of part 3 of the film, she claims Charles A. Lindbergh was talking about the jews when describing warring interests trying to bring American into WWII. This is just about as wrong and irresponsible as it comes. Sadly, this theme has carried forward through history as the echo of pro-war/pro establishment media propaganda redefines reality. Long story short, Charles A Lindbergh was a famous American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist. He was the son of Congressman Charles Lindbergh Sr. who was extremely outspoken against the banking system a generation prior, writing texts on the Money Trust, referring to the financial system and its power. (He too was often called anti-semitic with no validation as a means of personal attack.) Charles A. Lindbergh deeply opposed US involve in WWII. He was an isolationist. In this crusade, he was attacked as anti-semitic in order to pollute his message. (sound familiar?) Its that simple. To his discredit, his speaking skills were poor and he often spoke primitively about groups. He held some bad science views that were very common of the time and its easy to look back on such un-informed issues and find false relationships. Yet, his non-racist stance is very clear to those paying attention.

For example, he once stated: I am not attacking either the Jewish or the British people. Both races, I admire. But I am saying that the leaders of both the British and the Jewish races, for reasons which are as understandable from their viewpoint as they are inadvisable from ours, for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war. We cannot blame them for looking out for what they believe to be their own interests, but we also must look out for ours. We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other peoples to lead our country to destruction This was a political statement, not a racist one but the press at the time ran that it was anti-semitic, which, again, is a good ploy if you want people to distrust someone. We see this technique being used today, constantly. Here are the last lines of the speech used in Zeitgeist: The Movie (that was called anti-semitic), along with the next sentence, not included in the film (in bold):

Our theaters soon became filled with plays portraying the glory of war. Newsreels lost all semblance of objectivity. Newspapers and magazines began to lose advertising if they carried anti-war articles. A smear campaign was instituted against individuals who opposed intervention. The terms fifth columnist, traitor, Nazi, anti-Semitic were thrown ceaselessly at any one who dared to suggest that it was not to the best interests of the United States to enter the war. Men lost their jobs if they were frankly anti-war. Many others dared no longer speak.

Later in the speech he then states: No person with a sense of the dignity of mankind can condone the persecution of the Jewish race in Germany.

Does this sound like a racist to you? In a book written by his wife, she states: His prewar isolationist speeches were given in all sincerity for what he thought was the good of the country and the worldHe was accused of being anti-semetic, but in the 45 years I lived with him I never heard him make a remark against the jews, not a crack or joke, and neither did any of our children. So what we have is a victim of the media culture, glamorized through history with the vile horror of hindsight given the horrors/persecutions around WWII. Lindbergh might not have been the smartest and most strategic in his manner of activism and communication but there is no evidence he was a racist.

5) Its an anti-New World Order Conspiracy Film!

Proponents who talk about the New World Order, (long before Zeitgeist The Movie) have always agitated me. I have never supported this bizarre and esoteric body of assumptions and, to this day, can honestly say I have no idea how the current ideas even came about given the origin of the original term. New World Order is a term put forward by H. G. Wells in his book of the same title. In this, he speaks about the world unifying as one for the better. Since that time, however, the term has been skyrocketed into bizarro land.The only times I have ever sympathized with anyone who does have this pop culture belief was when I tried and get behind it and talk about root causes of human behavior and power abuse. And yet, even the current Wikipedia entry on Zeitgeist: The Movie says it is about New World Order forces But then again its Wikipedia the encyclopedia that lets random opinion and select news sources serve as historical fact.

Anyway, while the very original version of the film did talk about global government run by corporate power as an Orwellian 1984 type assumption for the future, this was artistically presented and deduced as a result of global financial power and the tendency to constantly concentrate this power. I later removed this section entirely (in 2010) as I was disgusted by the constant misinterpretations.

Likewise, the notion of a Conspiracy film is equally as misguided. This is simply derision by categorical association. No different than how the term communist was used to force people to shy away from any information or ideas that were against the status quo during the Mcarthy Era in the 1950s.

Zeitgeist: The Movie takes three subjects and bridges them within the context of social myth. This context is then evidenced to show how people become biased and can be manipulated based upon those dominant shared (bogus) beliefs (hence the term zeitgeist itself).

In the context of the real world, power abuse is obvious since the nature of our economy supports massive class division and the movement of power and money to a small group. This isnt conspiracy it is a system reality. We live in a war system and massive gaming for personal/group self-interest is happening at every moment.

Thats enough for now.

~Peter Joseph, Feb 22nd 2015

Go here to see the original:

Top Five Zeitgeist: The Movie Myths! | Peter Joseph

ZMCA Homepage

Posted on by

Welcome to the official California chapter of The Zeitgeist Movement

The term Zeitgeist can be defined as: The intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era. The term "movement" implies motion or change. The Zeitgeist Movement is thus a social aim that urges change in the intellectual, moral and cultural climate of the time. Specifically, to values and practices that would better serve the well-being of the whole of humanity.

What TZM advocates, in short, can be phrased as: "The application of the Scientific Method for social concern", which is currently not done since the main modes of social problem-solving are through monetary economics and politics.

If you are new to The Movement or ZMCA, we highly recommend viewing Zeitgeist: Moving Forward or reading our new book - TZM Defined - to accurately understand this social direction.

Be sure to sign up for our Newsletter!

(Site registration only needed for Forum posting and accessing our meeting content.

Once you login new menu items will appear)

Go here to read the rest:

ZMCA Homepage

Hate Speech on Campus | American Civil Liberties Union

Posted on by

In recent years, a rise in verbal abuse and violence directed at people of color, lesbians and gay men, and other historically persecuted groups has plagued the United States. Among the settings of these expressions of intolerance are college and university campuses, where bias incidents have occurred sporadically since the mid-1980s. Outrage, indignation and demands for change have greeted such incidents -- understandably, given the lack of racial and social diversity among students, faculty and administrators on most campuses.

Many universities, under pressure to respond to the concerns of those who are the objects of hate, have adopted codes or policies prohibiting speech that offends any group based on race, gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

That's the wrong response, well-meaning or not. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects speech no matter how offensive its content. Speech codes adopted by government-financed state colleges and universities amount to government censorship, in violation of the Constitution. And the ACLU believes that all campuses should adhere to First Amendment principles because academic freedom is a bedrock of education in a free society.

How much we value the right of free speech is put to its severest test when the speaker is someone we disagree with most. Speech that deeply offends our morality or is hostile to our way of life warrants the same constitutional protection as other speech because the right of free speech is indivisible: When one of us is denied this right, all of us are denied. Since its founding in 1920, the ACLU has fought for the free expression of all ideas, popular or unpopular. That's the constitutional mandate.

Where racist, sexist and homophobic speech is concerned, the ACLU believes that more speech -- not less -- is the best revenge. This is particularly true at universities, whose mission is to facilitate learning through open debate and study, and to enlighten. Speech codes are not the way to go on campuses, where all views are entitled to be heard, explored, supported or refuted. Besides, when hate is out in the open, people can see the problem. Then they can organize effectively to counter bad attitudes, possibly change them, and forge solidarity against the forces of intolerance.

College administrators may find speech codes attractive as a quick fix, but as one critic put it: "Verbal purity is not social change." Codes that punish bigoted speech treat only the symptom: The problem itself is bigotry. The ACLU believes that instead of opting for gestures that only appear to cure the disease, universities have to do the hard work of recruitment to increase faculty and student diversity; counseling to raise awareness about bigotry and its history, and changing curricula to institutionalize more inclusive approaches to all subject matter.

A: Free speech rights are indivisible. Restricting the speech of one group or individual jeopardizes everyone's rights because the same laws or regulations used to silence bigots can be used to silence you. Conversely, laws that defend free speech for bigots can be used to defend the rights of civil rights workers, anti-war protesters, lesbian and gay activists and others fighting for justice. For example, in the 1949 case of Terminiello v. Chicago, the ACLU successfully defended an ex-Catholic priest who had delivered a racist and anti-semitic speech. The precedent set in that case became the basis for the ACLU's successful defense of civil rights demonstrators in the 1960s and '70s.

The indivisibility principle was also illustrated in the case of Neo-Nazis whose right to march in Skokie, Illinois in 1979 was successfully defended by the ACLU. At the time, then ACLU Executive Director Aryeh Neier, whose relatives died in Hitler's concentration camps during World War II, commented: "Keeping a few Nazis off the streets of Skokie will serve Jews poorly if it means that the freedoms to speak, publish or assemble any place in the United States are thereby weakened."

A: Not so. Only a handful of the several thousand cases litigated by the national ACLU and its affiliates every year involves offensive speech. Most of the litigation, advocacy and public education work we do preserves or advances the constitutional rights of ordinary people. But it's important to understand that the fraction of our work that does involve people who've engaged in bigoted and hurtful speech is very important:

Defending First Amendment rights for the enemies of civil liberties and civil rights means defending it for you and me.

A: The U.S. Supreme Court did rule in 1942, in a case calledChaplinsky v. New Hampshire, that intimidating speech directed at a specific individual in a face-to-face confrontation amounts to "fighting words," and that the person engaging in such speech can be punished if "by their very utterance [the words] inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace." Say, a white student stops a black student on campus and utters a racial slur. In that one-on-one confrontation, which could easily come to blows, the offending student could be disciplined under the "fighting words" doctrine for racial harassment.

Over the past 50 years, however, the Court hasn't found the "fighting words" doctrine applicable in any of the hate speech cases that have come before it, since the incidents involved didn't meet the narrow criteria stated above. Ignoring that history, the folks who advocate campus speech codes try to stretch the doctrine's application to fit words or symbols that cause discomfort, offense or emotional pain.

A: Symbols of hate are constitutionally protected if they're worn or displayed before a general audience in a public place -- say, in a march or at a rally in a public park. But the First Amendment doesn't protect the use of nonverbal symbols to encroach upon, or desecrate, private property, such as burning a cross on someone's lawn or spray-painting a swastika on the wall of a synagogue or dorm.

In its 1992 decision inR.A.V. v. St. Paul, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a city ordinance that prohibited cross-burnings based on their symbolism, which the ordinance said makes many people feel "anger, alarm or resentment." Instead of prosecuting the cross-burner for the content of his act, the city government could have rightfully tried him under criminal trespass and/or harassment laws.

The Supreme Court has ruled that symbolic expression, whether swastikas, burning crosses or, for that matter, peace signs, is protected by the First Amendment because it's "closely akin to 'pure speech.'" That phrase comes from a landmark 1969 decision in which the Court held that public school students could wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War. And in another landmark ruling, in 1989, the Court upheld the right of an individual to burn the American flag in public as a symbolic expression of disagreement with government policies.

A: Historically, defamation laws or codes have proven ineffective at best and counter-productive at worst. For one thing, depending on how they're interpreted and enforced, they can actually work against the interests of the people they were ostensibly created to protect. Why? Because the ultimate power to decide what speech is offensive and to whom rests with the authorities -- the government or a college administration -- not with those who are the alleged victims of hate speech.

In Great Britain, for example, a Racial Relations Act was adopted in 1965 to outlaw racist defamation. But throughout its existence, the Act has largely been used to persecute activists of color, trade unionists and anti-nuclear protesters, while the racists -- often white members of Parliament -- have gone unpunished.

Similarly, under a speech code in effect at the University of Michigan for 18 months, white students in 20 cases charged black students with offensive speech. One of the cases resulted in the punishment of a black student for using the term "white trash" in conversation with a white student. The code was struck down as unconstitutional in 1989 and, to date, the ACLU has brought successful legal challenges against speech codes at the Universities of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin.

These examples demonstrate that speech codes don't really serve the interests of persecuted groups. The First Amendment does. As one African American educator observed: "I have always felt as a minority person that we have to protect the rights of all because if we infringe on the rights of any persons, we'll be next."

A: Bigoted speech is symptomatic of a huge problem in our country; it is not the problem itself. Everybody, when they come to college, brings with them the values, biases and assumptions they learned while growing up in society, so it's unrealistic to think that punishing speech is going to rid campuses of the attitudes that gave rise to the speech in the first place. Banning bigoted speech won't end bigotry, even if it might chill some of the crudest expressions. The mindset that produced the speech lives on and may even reassert itself in more virulent forms.

Speech codes, by simply deterring students from saying out loud what they will continue to think in private, merely drive biases underground where they can't be addressed. In 1990, when Brown University expelled a student for shouting racist epithets one night on the campus, the institution accomplished nothing in the way of exposing the bankruptcy of racist ideas.

A: Yes. The ACLU believes that hate speech stops being just speech and becomes conduct when it targets a particular individual, and when it forms a pattern of behavior that interferes with a student's ability to exercise his or her right to participate fully in the life of the university.

The ACLU isn't opposed to regulations that penalize acts of violence, harassment or intimidation, and invasions of privacy. On the contrary, we believe that kind of conduct should be punished. Furthermore, the ACLU recognizes that the mere presence of speech as one element in an act of violence, harassment, intimidation or privacy invasion doesn't immunize that act from punishment. For example, threatening, bias-inspired phone calls to a student's dorm room, or white students shouting racist epithets at a woman of color as they follow her across campus -- these are clearly punishable acts.

Several universities have initiated policies that both support free speech and counter discriminatory conduct. Arizona State, for example, formed a "Campus Environment Team" that acts as an education, information and referral service. The team of specially trained faculty, students and administrators works to foster an environment in which discriminatory harassment is less likely to occur, while also safeguarding academic freedom and freedom of speech.

A: The ACLU believes that the best way to combat hate speech on campus is through an educational approach that includes counter-speech, workshops on bigotry and its role in American and world history, and real -- not superficial -- institutional change.

Universities are obligated to create an environment that fosters tolerance and mutual respect among members of the campus community, an environment in which all students can exercise their right to participate fully in campus life without being discriminated against. Campus administrators on the highest level should, therefore,

ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser stated, in a speech at the City College of New York: "There is no clash between the constitutional right of free speech and equality. Both are crucial to society. Universities ought to stop restricting speech and start teaching."

See the rest here:

Hate Speech on Campus | American Civil Liberties Union

Human Genetics | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Posted on by

The Department of Human Genetics is dedicated to basic scientific research in human genetics and genetic disease, as well as the training of the next generation of scientists and health care providers.

Our faculty explore three broad areas of human genetics: molecular genetics, genetic disease, and statistical/population genetics. Within molecular genetics, research groups study DNA repair and recombination, genome instability, gene function and regulation, epigenetics, RNA modification and control, and genomic systems. Research in human genetic disease emphasizes the genetics of development, neurogenetics, stem cell biology, medical genetics, reproductive sciences, and the genetics of cancer. Evolutionary and population genetics research includes statistical tools for genetics, genetic epidemiology, and genetic mapping of complex traits and diseases.

We invite you to explore our faculty, students, graduate programs, courses, and events/seminars.

Shukla A, Upadhyai P, Shah J, Neethukrishna K, Bielas S, Girisha KM. Autosomalrecessive spinocerebellar ataxia 20: Report of a new patient and review ofliterature. Eur J Med Genet. 2016 Nov 29. pii: S1769-7212(16)30338-X. doi:10.1016/j.ejmg.2016.11.006. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 27913285.

Oprescu SN, Griffin LB, Beg AA, Antonellis A. Predicting the pathogenicity of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase mutations. Methods. 2016 Nov 20. pii:S1046-2023(16)30454-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2016.11.013. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PubMed PMID: 27876679.

Garay PM, Wallner MA, Iwase S. Yin-yang actions of histone methylationregulatory complexes in the brain. Epigenomics. 2016 Dec;8(12):1689-1708. PubMed PMID: 27855486.

Gopinath C, Law WD, Rodrguez-Molina JF, Prasad AB, Song L, Crawford GE,Mullikin JC, Svaren J, Antonellis A. Stringent comparative sequence analysisreveals SOX10 as a putative inhibitor of glial cell differentiation. BMCGenomics. 2016 Nov 7;17(1):887. PubMed PMID: 27821050; PubMed Central PMCID:PMC5100263.

Ren YY, Koch LG, Britton SL, Qi NR, Treutelaar MK, Burant CF, Li JZ.Selection-, age-, and exercise-dependence of skeletal muscle gene expressionpatterns in a rat model of metabolic fitness. Physiol Genomics. 2016 Nov1;48(11):816-825. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00118.2015. PubMed PMID: 27637250.

Wu R, Zhai Y, Kuick R, Karnezis AN, Garcia P, Naseem A, Hu TC, Fearon ER, ChoKR. Impact of oviductal versus ovarian epithelial cell of origin on ovarianendometrioid carcinoma phenotype in the mouse. J Pathol. 2016 Nov;240(3):341-351.doi: 10.1002/path.4783. PubMed PMID: 27538791; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5071155.

Continue reading here:

Human Genetics | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

What Is a Liberal – What Is Liberal Bias

Posted on by

The most familiar and influential national party for liberals in the US is the Democratic party.

A few definitions from dictionary.com for the term liberal include:

You'll recall that conservatives favor tradition and generally suspect things that that fall outside traditional views of "normal." You could say, then, that a liberal view (also called a progressive view) is one that is open to re-defining "normal" as we become more worldly and aware of other cultures.

continue reading below our video

What are the Seven Wonders of the World

Liberals favor government-funded programs that address inequalities that they view as having derived from historical discrimination. Liberals believe that prejudice and stereotyping in society can hamper the opportunities for some citizens.

Some people would see liberal bias in an article or book that seems sympathetic to and appears to lend support to government programs that assist poor and minority populations.

Terms such as "bleeding hearts" and "tax and spenders" refer to progressives support of public policies that are designed to address perceived unfair access to health care, housing, and jobs.

If you read an article that seems sympathetic to historic unfairness, there could be a liberal bias.

If you read an article that seems critical of the notion of historical unfairness, there could be a conservative bias.

How do you know if a media presentation or book has a liberal bias?

When critics claim that the press is too liberal, they are often basing the claim on the belief that the press is voicing a view that is too far outside outside traditional views (remember that conservatives value tradition) or they are supporting policy that is based on the idea of "fixing" an injustice.

Today some liberal thinkers prefer to call themselves progressives. Progressive movements are those that address injustice to a group that is in the minority. Liberals would say that the Civil Rights Movement was a progressive movement, for example. However, support for Civil Rights legislation was, in fact, mixed when it came to party affiliation.

As you may know, many people were not in favor of granting equal rights to African Americans during the Civil Rights demonstrations in the sixties, possibly because they feared that equal rights would bring about too much change. Resistance to that change wrought violence. During this tumultuous time of change, many pro-Civil Rights Republicans were criticized for being too "liberal" in their views and many Democrats (like John F. Kennedy) were accused of being too conservative when it came to accepting change.

Child labor laws provide another example. It may be hard to believe, but many people in industry resisted the laws and other restrictions that prevented them from putting young children to work in dangerous factories for long hours. Progressive thinkers changed those laws. In fact, the U.S. was undergoing a "Progressive Era" at this time of reform. This Progressive Era led to reforms in industry to make foods safer, to make factories safer, and to make many aspects of life more "fair."

The Progressive Era was one time when government played a large role in the U.S. by interfering with business on behalf of people. Today, some people think the government should play a large role as protector, while others believe that the government should refrain from taking a role. It is important to know that progressive thinking can come from either political party.

Conservatives lean toward the belief that the government should stay out of the business of individuals as much as possible, and that includes staying out of the individual's pocket book. This means they prefer to limit taxes.

Liberals stress that a well-functioning government has a responsibility to maintain law and order, and that doing this is costly. Liberals would lean toward the opinion that taxes are necessary for providing police and courts, ensuring safe transportation by building safe roads, promoting education by providing public schools, and protecting society in general by providing protections to those being exploited by industries.

Conservative thinkers might see bias in an article that expresses a favorable view to taxes or to increasing government spending for initiatives like those mentioned above.

For more information on liberal or progressive values, go to Liberal Politics.

Continued here:

What Is a Liberal - What Is Liberal Bias

Caribbean Cruises | Caribbean Vacation Packages | Norwegian …

Posted on by

Cue the calypso music and cruise to the Caribbean. Book one of our Caribbean cruise deals aboard our award-winning fleet sailing these crystal blue waters. Choose from ten ships, including Norwegian Breakaway, Norwegian Getaway and our newest ship, Norwegian Escape, seven convenient departure ports, and itineraries that offer island time in paradise for Southern, Eastern and Western Caribbean Cruises. And with all the choices and flexibility that come with Freestyle Cruising, it's no wonder Norwegian Cruise Line is the 2016 World Travel Awards winner for "Caribbean's Leading Cruise Line" for the fourth consecutive year.

Make your Caribbean vacation even better with our award winning fleet. Climb a waterfall in Ocho Rios, ride horseback along the pristine coastline in Aruba, or just grab a mojito with friends at Sugarcane Mojito Bar. Whether you thirst for natural beauty, fascinating history, or just Caribbean rum, theres something for everybody on our cruises. Come see why we are "Caribbean's Leading Cruise Line."

Sail year round from sun soaked Miami to the calm waters of The Caribbean on our newest and most modern ships: Norwegian Getaway and Norwegian Escape. Breathe in the fresh ocean air on The Waterfront, dine at Cagneys where perfect steak is the standard, be dazzled by spectacular entertainment, then unwind at the Mandara Spa. Our ships will have you relaxed like the Caribbean breeze.

A Variety of Caribbean Excursion Choices

We know the destinations you'll be visiting and what there is to see, do and experience. We offer you a variety of excursions to choose from, in every port you'll visit.

This tour was awarded Trip Advisors Certificate of Excellen...

Relax and enjoy your time at Tiki Beach, situated on Grand C...

Enjoy a countryside drive along the coast to one of the most...

Dennis Conner's America's Cup winning Stars & Stripes, Canad...

Find the perfect Caribbean Island for you!

Quit searchin' for your lost shaker of salt, its right here in the first-ever Jimmy Buffetts Margaritaville at Sea.

Explore one of our most popular destinations with these new itineraries.

Don't miss out on these Specialty Restaurant favorites on your Caribbean cruise.

Need Help Planning the Perfect Cruise Vacation?...

1.866.234.7350

See more here:

Caribbean Cruises | Caribbean Vacation Packages | Norwegian ...

Caribbean – New World Encyclopedia

Posted on by

The Caribbean (also known as the West Indies) is a region of the Americas consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands, and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of North America, east of Central America, and to the northwest of South America. The islands of the Caribbean are sorted into three main island groups, The Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the area comprises more than seven thousand islands, islets, reefs, and cays. Geopolitically, the West Indies is usually regarded as a sub-region of North America and is organized into 28 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies.

The Caribbean is a favorite destination for vacationers because of its beautiful beaches and tropical climate, as well as the exceptionally diverse ecosystems, ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus scrublands.

History reveals the significant role these islands played in the colonial struggles of the European powers between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, as well as in the twentieth century Cold War era. Most islands at some point were, or still are, colonies of European nations.

The name "Caribbean" is named after the Caribs, one of the dominant Amerindian groups in the region at the time of European contact during the late fifteenth century.

The term "West Indies" originates from Christopher Columbus's idea that he had landed in the Indies (then meaning all of southeast Asia, particularly India) when he had actually reached the Americas.

The Spanish term Antillas was commonly assigned to the newly discovered lands; stemming from this, "Sea of the Antilles" is a common alternate name for the Caribbean Sea in various European languages.

In the English-speaking Caribbean, someone from the Caribbean is usually referred to as a "West Indian," although the rather cumbersome phrase "Caribbean person" is sometimes used. The use of the words "Caribbean" and "Caribbeans" to refer to a West Indian or West Indians is largely known in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Spanish-speaking Caribbeans do not like to be called Hispanics or Latins due to the significant differences between the South and Central American countries. Spanish-speaking Caribbeans not only have different native origins but they also have different histories, (Spanish) dialects, cultures, traditions, food, and moral and religious beliefs. They relate more easily to fellow Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, specifically Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba due to similar culture, history and Spanish dialect.

The islands of the Caribbean are sorted into three main island groups: The Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles consists of Cuba, Jamaica, the island of Hispaniola (composed of Haiti on the west side and the Dominican Republic on the east side) and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles consists of all the other islands in the Caribbean that are not a part of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles or an island belonging to a continental nation. The Lesser Antilles are further grouped into the Windward and Leeward Islands.

The Leeward Islands are the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles and consist of The Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saba (Netherlands Antilles), St. Eustatius (Netherlands Antilles), St. Barthlemy, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, and Dominica. The Windward Islands are the Southern portion of the Lesser Antilles and consist of Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies from one place to another. Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. Such islands include Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, and Anguilla. Others possess rugged, towering mountain ranges like the islands of Cuba, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Antigua, and Trinidad.

The climate of the region mainly ranges between sub-tropical to tropical and depends a great deal upon location in proximity to the tradewinds from the Atlantic. The Tradewinds blow towards the Eastern Caribbean Islands and head northwest up the chain of Windward Islands. There are no sharply marked changes between winter and summer in the West Indies. Average January temperatures range between 71F to 77F (22C to 25C), and average July temperatures range from 77F to 84F (25C to 29C). Climate can vary widely, especially on larger islands, where high mountains can give rise to variations from coastal weather patterns. The main difference between seasons is the amount of rainfall.

Hurricane season plays a large role in bringing rainfall to the Caribbean. However, on the larger islands the mountains have a strong effect on weather patterns and causes relief rainfall.

The Puerto Rico Trench located on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea just to the north of the island of Puerto Rico is said to be the deepest point in the entire Atlantic Ocean. In the waters of the Caribbean Sea, coral reef formations and large migratory schools of fish and turtles can be found.

The Caribbean Islands support exceptionally diverse ecosystems, ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus scrublands. These ecosystems have been devastated by deforestation and human encroachment. The hotspot has dozens of highly threatened species, including two species of solenodon (giant shrews) and the Cuban crocodile. The hotspot is also remarkable for the diminutive nature of much of its fauna.

The Caribbean is home to 6,550 native plants, 41 native mammals, 163 native birds, 469 native reptiles, 170 native amphibians and 65 native freshwater fish. Many islands are home to their own species of native plants and animals, particularly Cuba, which is home to more than half the region's native plants.

The history of the Caribbean reveals the significant role the region played in the colonial struggles of the European powers between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the twentieth century the Caribbean was again important during World War II, in the decolonization wave in the post-war period, and in the tension between Communist Cuba and the United States. Genocide, slavery, immigration, and rivalry between world powers have given Caribbean history an impact disproportionate to the size of this small region.

The oldest evidence of humans in the Caribbean is in southern Trinidad at Banwari Trace, where remains have been found from seven thousand years ago. These pre-ceramic sites, which belong to the Archaic (pre-ceramic) age, have been termed Ortoiroid. The earliest archaeological evidence of human settlement in Hispaniola dates to about 3600 B.C.E., but the reliability of these finds is questioned. Consistent dates of 3100 B.C.E. appear in Cuba. The earliest dates in the Lesser Antilles are from 2000 B.C.E. in Antigua. A lack of pre-ceramic sites in the Windward Islands and differences in technology suggest that these Archaic settlers may have Central American origins. Whether an Ortoiroid colonization of the islands took place is uncertain, but there is little evidence of one.

Between 400 B.C.E. and 200 B.C.E. the first ceramic-using agriculturalists, the Saladoid culture, entered Trinidad from South America. They expanded up the Orinoco River to Trinidad, and then spread rapidly up the islands of the Caribbean. Some time after 250 C.E. another group, the Barancoid, entered Trinidad. The Barancoid society collapsed along the Orinoco around 650 C.E. and another group, the Arauquinoid, expanded into these areas and up the Caribbean chain. Around 1300 C.E. a new group, the Mayoid, entered Trinidad and remained the dominant culture until Spanish settlement.

At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Tano in the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and the Leeward Islands, the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands, and the Ciboney in western Cuba. The Tanos are subdivided into Classic Tanos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Western Tanos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamian archipelago, and the Eastern Tanos, who occupied the Leeward Islands. Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib speaking and Arawak-speaking groups.

Soon after Christopher Columbus came to the Caribbean, both Portuguese and Spanish explorers began claiming territories in Central and South America. These early colonies brought gold to Europe; most specifically England, the Netherlands, and France. These nations hoped to establish profitable colonies in the Caribbean. Colonial rivalries made the Caribbean a cockpit for European wars for centuries.

During the first voyage of the explorer Christopher Columbus (mandated by the Spanish crown), contact was made with the Lucayans in the Bahamas and the Tano in Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola, and a few of the native people were taken back to Spain. Small amounts of gold were found in their personal ornaments and other objects such as masks and belts. The Spanish, who came seeking wealth, enslaved the native population and rapidly drove them to near-extinction. To supplement the Amerindian labor, the Spanish later began bringing African slaves to their colonies. Although Spain claimed the entire Caribbean, they settled only the larger islands of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Trinidad.

After the Spanish Empire declined, in part due to the reduced native population of the area from diseases carried from Europe, to which the native peoples had no natural resistance, other European powers established a presence in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean region was war-torn throughout much of its colonial history, but the wars were often based in Europe, with only minor battles fought in the Caribbean. Some wars, however, were born of political turmoil in the Caribbean itself. The wars fought in the Caribbean included:

Haiti, the former French colony of St. Domingue on Hispaniola, was the first Caribbean nation to gain independence from European powers when, in 1791, a slave rebellion of the Black Jacobins led by Toussaint l'Ouverture started the Haitian Revolution, establishing Haiti as a free, black republic by 1804. Haiti became the world's oldest black republic, and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States. The remaining two-thirds of Hispaniola were conquered by Haitian forces in 1821. In 1844, the newly-formed Dominican Republic declared its independence from Haiti.

Some Caribbean nations gained independence from European powers in the nineteenth century. Some smaller states are still dependencies of European powers today. Cuba remained a Spanish colony until the Spanish American War.

Between 1958 and 1962 most of the British-controlled Caribbean became the West Indies Federation before they separated into many separate nations.

Since the Monroe Doctrine, the United States gained a major influence on most Caribbean nations. In the early part of the twentieth century this influence was extended by participation in The Banana Wars. Areas outside British or French control became known in Europe as "America's tropical empire."

Victory in the Spanish-American War and the signing of the Platt Amendment in 1901 ensured that the United States would have the right to interfere in Cuban political and economic affairs, militarily if necessary. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, relations deteriorated rapidly leading to the Bay of Pigs venture, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and successive U.S. attempts to destabilize the island, based upon Cold War fears of the Soviet threat. The U.S. invaded and occupied Hispaniola for 19 years (19151934), subsequently dominating the Haitian economy through aid and loan repayments. The U.S. invaded Haiti again in 1994 and in 2004 were accused by CARICOM of arranging a coup d'tat to remove elected Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

In 1965 23,000 U.S. troops were sent to the Dominican Republic to quash a local uprising against military rule. President Lyndon Johnson had ordered the invasion to stem what he deemed to be a "Communist threat." However, the mission appeared ambiguous and was roundly condemned throughout the hemisphere as a return to gunboat diplomacy. In 1983 the U.S. invaded Grenada to remove populist left-wing leader Maurice Bishop. The U.S. maintains a naval military base in Cuba at Guantanamo Bay. The base is one of five unified commands whose "area of responsibility" is Latin America and the Caribbean. The command is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Most islands at some point were, or still are, colonies of European nations:

The British West Indies were formerly united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation. The independent countries which were once a part of the British West Indies still have a unified composite cricket team that successfully competes in test matches and one-day internationals. The West Indian cricket team includes the South American nation of Guyana, the only former British colony on that continent.

In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas, and resident tutors in other contributing territories.

The nations of Belize and Guyana, although on the mainland of Central America and South America respectively, are former British colonies and maintain many cultural ties to the Caribbean and are members of CARICOM (Caribbean Community). Guyana participates in West Indies cricket tournaments and many players from Guyana have been in the West Indies Test cricket team. The Turneffe Islands (and many other islands and reefs) are part of Belize and lie in the Caribbean Sea. The nation of Suriname, on the mainland of South America, is a former Dutch colony and also a member of CARICOM.

Some of the bodies that several islands share in collaboration include:

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Read more:

Caribbean - New World Encyclopedia

Holidays to the Caribbean 2016 / 2017 | loveholidays.com

Posted on by

Top Hotels Caribbean Treasures

Think Caribbean and you think beach holiday. And you certainly wont find a better destination for lounging in the sand, preferably with something rum-based nearby. That isnt nearly all that these islands have to offer though. Rain forests and mountains for starters; distinctive island cultures that only have providing a good time in common; and exciting towns and cities with some fascinating history.

Youve got a picture of the perfect Caribbean island in your head already the palm tree-fringed, white-sand beach, the funky little beach bar under the trees, yachts sailing by on the deep blue sea. The good news is that youve got it just right; the Caribbean more than lives up to the most demanding expectations.

You might want to replace that tin-shack bar in your fantasy with a big, luxurious, all-inclusive resort hotel. And thats easily enough done. The islands of the Caribbean are very used to welcoming guests, and they do it style. High quality customer service and endless pampering is top of the agenda here.

But if youre worried about the effect all that good living is going to have on the beach body you spent months working to perfect, you can throw in a very healthy dose of activities while youre at it. The islands all have excellent water sports on tap. Divings a particular favourite because the underwater picture here is as colourful as the one above the waves. There are also inland adventures to be had, from off-roading or zip-wiring through unspoiled jungle to climbing extinct volcanoes and canyoning in mountain streams.

The Caribbeans far from being one-dimensional. There are more than 7,000 islands in the group. Though only 13 of them are inhabited island nations, they are a colourful cocktail of distinctive cultures, unique environments, and long, storied histories.

The Dominican Republic is the most popular island with visitors. Its a perfect mix of beach resort luxury, tropical rainforest paradise, and pretty colonial towns. Trinidad is the capital of carnival, where a party of some sort is never far from breaking out. To Jamaicas beautiful beaches are added a super-laid-back attitude and the rich musical culture. Antigua fits the desert island dream to a tee.

Cuba just opening up to America again is the Caribbeans biggest, most populated island, an intriguing cultural stew of cuisines, cultures and rhythms that along with the rum will leave you intoxicated.

As holiday destinations the islands of the Caribbean offer something for everyone. Theyre a brilliant family destination with loads of attractions and days out for kids. For romantic souls theres nothing like a Caribbean sunset to tick the box. You might want to return for your honeymoon or even to get married on the beach. But if a beach towel, a book and a planters punch is all you need, youll never find anywhere better to lie back and soak in relaxation.

What a lot of choices this diverse little box of treasures hold. The beaches and resort hotels at the likes of Punta Cana are all-inclusive paradises. Kick off your sandals for a pair of boots and you could be hiking through rain forest or up Pico Duarte, the Caribbeans tallest mountain. Historic rum factories are uncorked around Puerto Plata. Santo Domingo, the islands capital, was the first port of call for Christopher Columbus on his way to the New World and is a beautiful UNESCO-protected historic town.

The Dominican Republic is made for family or his-and-her beach breaks, with big resort hotels offering brilliant value and all-inclusive facilities with perfect sands and crystal-clear waters.

Jungle tumbles down the dramatic mountains in the interior. Head for the hills and get ready to explore an unspoiled new world and release your inner Bear Grylls with rainforest adventure sports.

Get ready to change your desert island preconceptions in beautiful Santo Domingo, where modern high rises stand side-by-side with the oldest European buildings in the Caribbean. Its lively, laid-back, and enormous fun.

Food is an obsession with the Dominican locals, and if youre a visitor you should be no different. Super-fresh fish, spicy meat stews, straight-from-the-tree fruit juice and some of the best rum and coffee in the world are highlights.

The big beach resorts around Punta Cana, La Romana, Samana and Puerto Plata offer great value all-inclusive access to some of the best beaches in the world.

Santo Domingo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 16th-century churches, plazas and forts, standing over a beautiful port. There are good museums to explain the islands place in world history too.

Theres more UNESCO protection for the pristine Eastern National Park (Parque Nacional del Este), an internationally important land and sea wildlife reserve full of colourful species from pelicans to dolphins.

With its long-established British links, Jamaicas a top destination for UK sun seekers. Theyve got good reason to love it. The beaches are classically Caribbean with white sand, palm trees, coral reefs and blue waters. Then there are the forests, mountains, waterfalls and banana plantations pure beauty. Finally, the people, the music, the food, the culture; theyre all as wonderful, welcoming and worth exploring as youve been led to believe.

Lying back on a perfect island beach. Seven Mile Beach in Negril has room to spread out. Montego Bay is busy with beach bars and water sports. You can surf at Boston Bay Beach in Port Antonio, or lose yourself on Winnifred Beach, a favourite with the locals as well as seclusion-seeking visitors.

Climbing the Blue Mountain Peak is just one inland adventure to experience on this stunningly beautiful island. The Blue Hole springs at Ocho Rios, the Dunns River Falls, the cliffs at Negril - Jamaica is packed with natural wonders to discover.

Dancing the night away is expected in the home of reggae. Theres more to Jamaican musical and party culture than Bob Marley though. But from African-inspired folk songs or church gospel to booming dancehall beats and street sound systems, everythings got passion and rhythm.

Eating like royalty is every Jamaicans birth right! The cuisine is spicy and international mixing African, European and Latin American flavours. With fantastic local produce yam, plantain, fish, goat, fruit to conjure with, Jamaican food is as rich and diverse as the islands landscapes.

From jumping Montego Bay to fashionable Seven Mile Beach or isolated Treasure Beach, Jamaicas coastline is one of the best for sun and sand in the world. And guess what youll find at Reggae Beach?

Jamaica has a proud cultural heritage with music just the best known of its exports. Historic houses and capital-city museums celebrate everyone from Noel Coward to Bob Marley. The best way to understand it all is just to dive in and immerse yourself.

The twin islands of Antigua and smaller Barbuda are as beautiful as any in the Caribbean. The reefs around the shore make the islands diving really rewarding. Smaller and less-developed than some of the islands but with 365 beaches, Antigua has room for everyone on its sands.

Everything that makes the Caribbean great a good choice of top-quality resorts; party people; beaches and jungles; a beautiful historic capital can be found in spades in Barbados. Bridgetown has UNESCO World Heritage Status, but the beaches and wild interior dont need any certification to confirm their timeless beauty.

The times are changing in Cuba. But its the years of time standing relatively still that give the crumbling, colourful facades and classic American motors of Havana much of its charm. Elsewhere there are resorts and beaches to match any in the region, and a rum, a cigar and some Afro-Cuban beats are the icing on a colourful cake.

Trinidad (busy and relatively built up) and Tobago (chilled and empty) are a beautiful contrast. Party in Port of Spain or zip wire through Tobagos protected forests before lying back on the pink tinged sands.

St Lucia is a supremely romantic island, its mountains and waterfalls stealing the hearts of many a visitor. Brilliant beach-front resorts include the famous Sandals brand. A party can always be found in Gros Islet, and peace and quiet is the hallmark or Choc Bay.

Link:

Holidays to the Caribbean 2016 / 2017 | loveholidays.com

Caribbean Information Office

Posted on by

The Top Site for Caribbean Resort Reservations and Villas Caribbean Information Office is a travel wholesaler. We are authorized by the hotels and resorts, villas and cruise lines to act as their reservations agent. There are no service charges nor any booking fees for our reservations services. We are one of the few agencies in the United States that can book these tropical destinations at a lower prices than advertised. We'll save your vacation dollars by finding the lowest airfare and reserving the nicest cruise cabin, hotel room or villa as a package deal. We can also include meal options for you or your family to take advantage of as well. We are proud to promote Caribbean vacations for the past 44 years. Clicks on the links on the side or the top of this page for information about the Caribbean islands and places to stay. Contact us to plan your customized Caribbean vacation and enjoy personalized, professional reservation services. We can take you anywhere in the Caribbean that you'd like to go!

View post:

Caribbean Information Office

What is Ascension? Energetic Synthesis

Posted on by

This is a basic Primer to review the basic meaning and mechanics of the "Ascension" and discuss the various awakening symptoms that we as humans may encounter in our consciousness evolution process. I have many articles and tools on the website that will help support your awareness to investigate and explore the impacts this has upon human beings, our planet and all of consciousness. It is important to develop strong discernment of the energetic signatures that we interact with, while learning how to distinguish personal resonance to help guide you forward, so only take in what feels right for your personal journey and discard the rest.

Humanity is undergoing a consciousness shift which requires a re-education of valuesand change of priorities in lifestyle, of which much of this information on this website is a guideline to support those awakening and being guided towards stewardship or leadership in order to help others move through the transitional impacts this creates on the planet. It is also important to share this information with others in order to not feel a sense of isolation and fear from a myriad of possible unusual consciousness experiences that can result from the integration of our higher light-energy bodies that happens during our Ascension process. My desire to share this information comes from my very personal and frightening physical awakening process that dismantled my entire reality and ego in a very short period of time. During intense spiritual awakening phases in which we undergo ego dismantling, is called the Dark Night of the Soul. I share my experiences with anyone who may need this information as I have had many unusual, mystical manifestations appear in my life since my spontaneous kundalini release many years ago. Those of us undergoing the first wave of awakening will be Ascension Guides for the balance of humanity who have not yet experienced a direct spiritual awakening or extra-dimensional contact. This website is dedicated to the Starseeds, and those endeavoring to evolve as Guardian Stewards in order to help participate and build the required consciousness structures this planet and humanity will require in the coming Age.

It is important to share this information in order to not feel a sense of isolation and fear from a myriad of possible unusual consciousnessexperiences that can result from the integration of our higher light-energy bodies that happens during the Planetary Ascension cycle. My desire to share this information comes from my very personal and frightening physical awakening process that dismantled my entire reality and ego in a very short period of time. It made functioning in life in the 3D reality extremely painful, isolating and difficult to navigate. I share my experiences with anyone who may need this information to develop better discernment, as I had many unusual, mystical and unexplainable manifestations appear in my life since my spontaneous kundalini release many years ago. As I had no guru, teacher or mentor to explain it to me, my personality/ego was terrified that I was losing my mind along with my identity in the life I had known up to that point. Who does one call upon during mutidimensional awakening experiences and when sick with the kundalini flu? Who on Earth do you talk to when you are introduced to other interdimensional beings of every shade of light, grey and darkness and then begin to perceive an organized spiritual hierarchy of otherworldly human and non human entities? Why are some of these dark entities attacking people that are awakening? Further, I had many physical ailments show up during these times when the spiritual light force was greatly increased and activated from within me to build my aura. At the time, I was most blessed and had teams of Angels (Light Beings) and Extradimensional Ascended Masters around me, I was emotionally devastated and physically ill, as my state was exacerbated from my lack of comprehension of what was transpiring in my consciousness body. No one told me that spiritual awakening and rising kundalini forces can not only be devastating, but that there are many dark forces on the earth that will start targeting you for energetic harrassment to stop your forward progress.

Now I want to share my direct awakening experiences to assist anyone who may need this information so that having this knowledge can eradicate the fear of facing the unknown mysteries lying within. Once we go into and are spiritually initiated into these mysteries of God, there is no turning back. During these times since the planet is accelerating so quickly into higher frequency patterns, many more people will experience spontaneous awakening and consciousness altering experiences, that may feel to be scary without proper context. Many of these people will not be in spiritual or metaphysical settings when this consciousness shift occurs to them, it will be the office professional, the banker, the average person in the level of the current mass consciousness. Spiritual awakening is not a disease to be labeled by the medical community so people are medicated, it is a natural biological process for expanding human consciousness. The ultimate liberation of our Soul-Spirit comes through this blessing and humans must embrace and prepare themselves for this consciousness change that will forever alter the way we perceive and interact with reality. This process is the divine destiny of all humankind and our beautiful planet that is the heart principle of the Universe. We are in an accelerated consciousness evolution timeline and it is time to prepare. Many people have been suppressed and mind controlled to reject the spiritual-energetic reality of which the planet and humanity is undergoing and facing now. The Controllers do not want Planetary Ascension information given nor many other topics for disclosure given to the masses as common knowledge, because they can control and herd people easier when they are scared and dumbed down. Those awakening now are the forerunners and the Mapmakers of the future planetary changes to shift the timelines. In order to be effective and clear, self mastery over mental and emotional states, as well as having proper evolutionary context, and an awareness of the hidden extraterrestrial agendas, is required for Integrated Spiritual Ascension and future Stewardship roles.

The Mechanics of the Shift

First, let us review the meaning of "Ascension" and why we, as humans, will experience physical, emotional and mental symptoms and changes.

Currently we are in a phase transition of expansion into the realms of experiencing higher consciousness as multidimensional human beings living on this planet. During this phase of the Ascension cycle, we as human beings will experience many varied physical symptoms as we shift our cells into higher frequency patterns.

Ascension is about the bringing of layers of light, the force existing within the levels of our spiritual bodies (our Multidimensional God Selves) by descending these layers into matter and anchoring them into the physical plane of reality. Simultaneously, Ascension is a shift in energetic frequency patterns held in a dimensional space which, when absorbed and activated into the layers of the planetary and human bio-energetic field, activates its DNA template instruction set. This catalyzes a chain of events that creates a complete transformation and transmutation of various patterns and programs held in the energetic templates of the Human Souls journey within a cycle of evolutionary time. When activated, these patterns begin to shift, re-emerge and clear from the layers of experiences coded into every cell and memory pattern held as an energetic vibration within the bodies.

The Ascension process is about moving the consciousness from one reality to another and the awareness of possible multiple realities existing simultaneously. Since a reality is a dimension, what we are undertaking is, in essence, a complete dimensional shift. A dimensional reality is held in place by a complex layer of coded energetic grids to create the illusion of time and space for the consciousness to perceive and to participate in its own experience within the broadband widths of that particular range of frequency. As the dimensional grids shift its frequency and its magnetic attributes change, all things existing within that broadband reality will also shift and change in a myriad of ways. The natural laws governing that time and space as we know them will change. This also means the perception of our spatial awareness, our relationship to time and space will also change rather dramatically.

Thus, to go through this shift one must prepare and adjust one's way of thinking and being to that which is in alignment with the soul purpose and true divine essence. Surrender and Acceptance are two main characteristics we will need to allow to permeate through us to facilitate an easier time. In order to shift the old behaviors and thought patterns not serving the soul purpose, we will become aware of the beliefs and behaviors that exist as imbalances within us and we must take the appropriate steps to integrate or clear them. This process will bring our deepest fears, beliefs of limitation and old pain patterns to the surface through events that trigger them into our awareness so that we can consciously acknowledge, resolve and heal them. Some of these issues are ancestral or inherited in their nature and may feel rather odd yet familiar when they are is brought to your awareness. It is important to remember that we are not only clearing our own individual mind grid, but also the karmic mind implications and collective (un)consciousness implications on this planet from the last evolutionary cycle. This way you can reframe the circumstance in your mind to be that which is impersonal and detached from identifying with the specific issue that has risen to the surface to be cleared within your bodies. Appreciate and acknowledge your light being for accepting the assignment for this clearing rather than claiming it as belonging to you. By doing this repeatedly, we clear our emotional and energy bodies of the long held traumas, beliefs and fears that have impeded our ability to experience our true being and bring more joy into our lives. Once the emotional body is resolved and cleared of an old pain or trauma, the physical body then is enabled to clear its equivalent of that block.

All of this happens simultaneously within all of the layers of the bio-energetic field when each healing is cleared. In effect, it is a full clearing and release of these painful events held as patterns in the bodies from the souls record and cellular memory. And that is pretty awe inspiring when you realize how this will impact the human experience as we move forward!

Also, as these painful patterns are removed from the soul record, the clearing recodes our DNA so it can hold more light, thus sustaining our new frequency and a state of increasing higher consciousness and multidimensionality. As we hold this greater light and advanced genetic package in our bio-energy field, it enables others, through the principle of resonance, to vibrate at the increased frequency rate and activate their own inner potential and divine inheritance towards Ascension.

Emotional clearing is the main process we will experience and be acutely aware of as we shift through the Ascension. Since emotional pain and imbalances are responsible for our states of "dis-ease" many of us will experience illness or physical releases of pain clearing from our bodies. Some of this clearing is for your karmic, genetic or ancestral soul lineage. Some of us, as lightworkers, have chosen to clear states of imbalances for the collective or for a specific group and will feel this movement of energy transmute through us, as our energetic being is acting as a cosmic filtration system for the greater whole.

The goal of this information is to inform you of these dynamics that we are currently experiencing, and as the energies accelerate to prepare you even further by clearly discussing the various possible physical symptoms from a position of having a neutral association. Utilizing what works for you personally by cultivating intuitive discernment with an informed awareness is the intended support of offering this discussion.

This is to not alarm you, but is used as a tool to keep you informed in order to be self accountable and self sovereign in all of your upcoming choices. We will not be given anything we cannot handle. Much of this can be avoided by being self-aware and taking the time to heal through emotional clearing and listening to your body when it requests other healing techniques. Spirit has given us many tools for our Ascension toolkit to assist and support our evolution in the easiest possible way. Ask for assistance with a pure heart and it will be given!

Transmutational Symptoms

During theAscensionprocess as we accrete frequency and light we may undergo a variety of ascension symptoms, physical, mental, emotional or spiritual-energetic.

These transmutational symptoms can be extreme. The12D Shieldis helpful to harmonize the body through many ascension symptoms. Many of the ascension symptoms are vague to describe and inexpressible in linear thought and language. When people go to doctors, they are being told to take drugs or they are being instructed to seek professional psychological help.This site is not professing to be giving any medical advice. It may be beneficial for some of us to seek out medical or psychological treatment during our process. We must follow our own inner guidance on how to proceed with what is occurring within our physical and energy body systems at this unprecedented time of acceleration.

Certain symptoms are now becoming more apparent and when we know this as a process and that many others are feeling the same things, a certain serenity can be brought into the mind. Many can rest in the knowledge that they are being transformed in ways that may feel extremely hard on the physical body.

Some of the most common symptoms reported include:

Also, our bodies often experience a rush of heat and energy bursts that are not comfortable. Our bodies are being shifted in thermodynamic ways and with so much light entering the fields of the body, some of the "symptoms" we experience are actually preventing our physical vehicles from bursting with the intensity of light. We may experience a "triad" sleep pattern (waking up every 3 hours) or interrupted sleep as we are being recalibrated and worked on energetically at night. This adds to our being restless and tired in the morning.

Remember to be gentle with your hearts and being and only allow others within your boundaries of inner sanctum that treat you the same. This can be an extremely vulnerable time emotionally. We need to release the fear of asking for help and investing in ourselves to feel balanced and healthy. Massage, Bodywork, Hydration, Supplementation, Energy Work, Spiritual Counsel

If I could impart anything to our it would be to emphasize how humans are so deeply loved and appreciated by God's Spirit, The Krystal Star and Law of One Light Hierarchies, The Planetary Logos, from all those of whom we serve as One. The impact of our collective consciousness work during this evolutionary time cycle to shift future timelines is generally beyond the comprehension of the human mind.

As we move forward only those of you that can feel the inner resonance are aware if you are apart of the soul groups of Starseeds and Indigos that agreed to be the Light stewardship and Ascension Guides for the changing reality structure. Humans are expanding consciousness to become increasingly multidimensional, and being in Love is only one part of the human equation. Clearing ego and emotional wounds, learning to discern ego from higher self intelligence, as well as reclaiming and healing spiritual light-bodies, and evicting Imposter Spirit parasites, is a part of having an accurate assessment of the requirements of our changing earth. Our earth needs new ethical guidance and humanitarian stewardship. The Galactic community, those in communication with enlightened intelligence fields and higher dimensions, are the first ascending waves to meet those challenges of building structures that support humanity as multidimensional spiritual beings. Our community is the repository of building and supporting the integrated ascension path, as well as cultivating self leadership in order to lead and support humanity through personal example.

Lightworkers, Starseeds, Gridworkers and Ascension Stewards,Thank you and with deep gratitude for all of your amazing work!

Stay in the luminosity of your Avatar heart and Christos-Sophia path! We are here to reunite the Holy Mother and Holy Father and reclaim the Christos Diamond Sun body for all!

Lisa Renee, http://www.EnergeticSynthesis.com

View post:

What is Ascension? Energetic Synthesis

What is Ascension | Sandra Walter – Creative Evolution

Posted on by

Ascension is a conscious choice to engage in Evolution.

Ascension is not about leaving the planet, getting rescued by off-world ETsor flying up into heaven. It is not about watching the Shift unfold online, or waiting for the external world to provide evidence of inner change. Ascension is a conscious choice to engage in evolution.

I teach the Christic path of Ascension which leads to embodiment of the Solar Cosmic Christ; a template for the Solar logos in form. Everything from Universes, Galaxies, Solar Systems, Gaia (Earth) and HUman formare based on this model/template/logos of Source (God/Creator) beingness.The Solar Cosmic Christ is not a man, it is a force which reflects pure Source consciousness, and re-unifies the lower consciousness with its multidimensional Self, and ultimately with Source. I have written extensively about the Christ (Krysthl or Crytalline) consciousness on this site. HUman DNA holds the possibility to fully embody the Christed state of beingness; it is my act of Divine Service to teach this path during the dimensional shift upon Gaia.

When consciously activated, the Ascension process affects every aspect, level and layer of a persons beingness. The physical, emotional, mental, egoic and spiritual structures undergo acute transformation, evolving to meet the demands of a higher level of consciousness.

The Awakening Phenomenon is one of the more impressive effects of the Shift. Amidst the external changes political, social, financial, spiritual, solar and planetary people encounter profound internal change due to the ascending frequencies. This heightened awareness returns wisdom, knowledge and a connection to divine aspects of the Self which had been dormant for thousands of years.

Planetary Ascension is a change in frequency

Dimensions are based on vibration. Each dimension has a range of frequencies which create the reality or experience within that dimension. Anything living on a planet must resonate with the vibrational level of that planet (or higher) or it cannot exist in that reality. As the frequency of the Earth changes, everything on her surface is affected by this increase in frequency.

Ascension Guidance for activation, integration and acceleration

Integration is vital to achieving a permanent state of higher consciousness. In the Ascension process, it is essential to clear and retrain the lower emotional, egoic and mental constructs which block higher states of consciousness. This frees the true Self to do what it came here to do; awaken and embody a unique expression of Source.

Reliance on external modalities, channels and old paradigm New Age methods has limited the awakening process for quite a few people. Many are now ready to take on the task of Self-empowerment, REactivate their Divine HUman state and achieve Crystalline consciousness.

Incredible possibilities for Earth and HUmanity

The Shift, jump time, evolutionary upgrades in consciousness and the ascension process have been discussed for years in spiritual circles, and for millennia in ancient cultures. Waves of unique cosmic energy have been surging through our galaxy for decades, and the window of amplification has arrived.

It isnt the end of the world. It is the beginning of a new paradigm, and big change is typically rough. The Shift is a shift in consciousness; a dramatic change in the parameters by which we experience reality. The physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and dimensional changes which are occurring here have never been experienced before. It is a fantastic time to be here and experience evolution first-hand.

How do I ascend? Wont it happen to me anyway?

Each dimension has a range of frequencies which create the structure for experiencing a certain kind of reality. Third dimensional reality is the lowest density (frequency) which a human expression of consciousness may experience. There are many side effects of the old 3D reality, including the illusion of linear time, the inability to perceive higher dimensions, and spiritual amnesia where the memory of past lives, experiences in other dimensions, and connection to the rest of the Universe is forgotten. All of that is changing during the Shift. This is why the phenomenon of awakening is so widespread; we are waking up from the amnesia of 3D and reconnecting with higher dimensional consciousness.

Apocalypse and the planet

Anything which desires to experience life on a planet must resonate with the vibrational level of that planet in order to exist within the parameters of that reality. The frequency of the Earth has been increasing, and continues to rise, which means everything in, on and around her surface is affected. Higher frequency always overpowers the lower vibrations.

As the parameters for 4D reality dissolve, the planet supports the experience of a higher dimension. This change in dimensional structure is becoming very apparent to the awakened. Apocalypse means lifting of the veil the unveiling of higher dimensions which were once hidden by the density of 3D reality.

The HUman Ascension process

HUmans are unique; our DNA hold the codes for all life in this Universe, an expression of Creator consciousness embodied (Creator-in-carnate) in HUman (God-man) expression. Your primary responsibility in this game of amnesia is to wake up and remember who you are as a divine HUman. The Ascension process is the transformation of the physical body, light body and the consciousness which animates it, in order to hold a higher vibrational state. Your higher self is merging with your lower dimensional self after a very long separation in the 3D experience.

In order for your body to be capable of holding that higher frequency, it must transform into a crystalline-based cellular structure. DNA which has been dormant must be activated. Our consciousness must be expanded beyond the boundaries of habitual 3D/4D existence. It is physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually challenging, and it is quite amazing. Medical impossibilities are popping up all over the globe. Not everyone has chosen to awaken in this lifetime, nor do they have to awaken. There are many factors involved in experiencing the Ascension process, and we are all here to play out the Shift in our own way.

The changes will affect your lifestream

Severe weather and climate change are imminent due to the drastic reduction of the magnetosphere and magnetic shifts in the Earth itself. Global warming is simply an affect of the collapse of the astral planes of consciousness as we go through the Shift. There is less protection between us and the Sun, and that is fine.

Gaia is a very patient conscious entity with a long and diverse history. It is her destiny to become a Spiritual Sun; a more Solar beingness to host a collective of Solar Cosmic Christed HUmans.This window of evolution coincides with many galactic alignments, some of which only occur in million and billion year cycles. Galactic cycles are very long, and the experiences of other off-world races, systems and galaxies depend upon the raising of Earths frequency. Its a bit like being the weakest link other games cannot be played until this density is upgraded.

Gaiais constantly balancing magnetics as 3D dissolves from the collective reality. The doom timeline a complete destruction of everything on her surface has been eliminated thanks to the amount of awakened consciousness on the planet. She is heavily influenced by the collective consciousness, and millions have been connecting with her to smooth the transition during the Shift.

It is a process which requires participation.

The dimensional split between a 3D/4D version of Earth and an ascending 5D version (the New Earth) began in August of 2011. Our planet ascended to 5D on December 12, 2012. This means a platform for the new experience of the return to the true HUman genome is provided. Kindwhile, HUmanity is able to merge with their 5D and above aspects, while the veils are down, and bring Heaven (5D+) to Earth, merging these realities. Lower vibrational systems, programs, entities and belief systems dissolve in the New Light sometimes with ease, sometimes with resistance.Eventually, the lower 4D expression of Earth will drop out of existence.

We now have a holographic platform for a 4D experience as the collective awakens. Many are choosing to fully embody a 5D consciousness of Unconditional Love right here in this reality, as an act of Divine service to raise the collective vibration into peace, harmony and compassion. Some are choosing to embody a Christed Consciousness, which enables a conscious connection to 5D 12D expressions of the Self. We do not know how long the 4D platform will be available. Whether it is 2 years or 200 years does not matter, the inevitable Shift is well underway.

Evolution is evolution; the entire planet and all of her residents are experiencing the Shift, regardless of their awareness of it. Ascension is a conscious process which requires a choice to engage with the unknown, in order to experience something brand new. It is a remarkable, challenging and rewarding process which frees the Self from perceived limitations.

Open up to all that you truly are, beloved. For clarity on the Ascension process and the how-to embody your unique expression of the Christed state, participate in theAscension Path online training.

Read more:

What is Ascension | Sandra Walter - Creative Evolution

Virtual Reality Toronto – VRTO – Virtual Reality, Toronto

Posted on by

Welcome to the official site for the VRTO Meetup Virtual Reality, Toronto.

VRTO is an event producer and productivity-oriented think tank, meetup and discovery group for innovators, developers, inventors, storytellers, content producers, entrepreneurs, hackers, modders, programmers, pioneers, ontologists and adventurers in virtual, augmented and blended reality technologies, content and their development.

Peddling wonder to the optimistically dispossessed.

VRTO Meetups include practical, actionable, explorational, philosophical and technical discussions as well as content demos about contemporary virtual and augmented reality, opportunities and threats, blue sky and resource swapping.

Created in April of 2015 by founder Keram Malicki-Sanchez, the meetup has quickly grown into a variety of initiatives, community outreach, networks, festivals and conferences including the FIVARS VR/AR International Stories festival and competition and the VRTO Virtual & Augmented Reality World Conference & Expo.

VRTO puts on public-facing events in undercovered areas of the market; in 2015 this included:

Toronto is a powerhouse for independent games development, technology and filmmaking and arts and culture. This meetup is targeted towards drawing the brightest and best, the curious and motivated, the adventurous and courageous together with the aim of pushing this paradigm-shifting new medium towards its best and upper limits.

Read more:

Virtual Reality Toronto - VRTO - Virtual Reality, Toronto

Dash (cryptocurrency) – Wikipedia

Posted on by

Dash

Official Dash logo

Dash (formerly known as Darkcoin and XCoin) is an open source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that offers instant transactions (InstantSend),[1] private transactions (PrivateSend)[2] and token fungibility. It was rebranded from "Darkcoin" to "Dash" on March 25, 2015, a portmanteau of "Digital Cash".[3]

Dash operates a decentralized governance and budgeting system, making it the first decentralized autonomous organization.[4]

Dash uses a chained hashing algorithm called X11 for the proof-of-work. Instead of using the SHA-256 (from well-known Secure Hash Algorithm family) or scrypt it uses 11 rounds of different hashing functions.[5]

As of 2016, Dash is among the top-7 most popular cryptocurrencies.[6]

Main website is http://www.dash.org

PrivateSend is a coin-mixing service originally based on CoinJoin. Later iterations used a more advanced method of pre-mixing denominations built into the user's wallet. The implementation of PrivateSend also allows masternodes to submit the transactions using special network code called DSTX,[7] this provides additional privacy to users due to the deadchange issue present in other CoinJoin based implementations such as DarkWallet and CoinShuffle.[8]

DarkSend rebranded to PrivateSend June 2016.

In its current implementation it adds privacy to transactions by combining identical inputs from multiple users into a single transaction with several outputs. Due to the identical inputs, transactions usually cannot be directly traced, obfuscating the flow of funds. PrivateSend makes Dash "Fungible"[9] by mixing the coins in the same denomination with other wallets, ensuring that all coins are of the same value.

PrivateSend's mixing is performed by Masternodes, servers operating on a decentralized network which have the responsibility of signing the transactions. For each round of PrivateSend, the user selects two to eight (or even more) rounds of mixing which vary the degree of anonymity achieved. Random Masternodes are then elected to perform the coin mixing. Masternodes are trust-less cryptographic technology, in the sense that they cannot steal user coins, and the combination of multiple Masternodes ensures that no single node has full knowledge of both inputs and outputs in the transaction process.

To avoid the possibility of sybil attack, a process where a peer-to-peer network is overtaken by "bad actors", collateral requirements have been added to the process of joining the Masternode network second tier. These are presently 1000 DASH [10] and allow secure network communication in via signed messages. As an incentive for operating a Masternode, chosen nodes currently earn 45% of the mining rewards.[11]

InstantSend is a service that allows for near-instant transactions. Through this system, inputs can be locked to only specific transactions and verified by consensus of the Masternode network. Conflicting transactions and blocks are rejected. If a consensus cannot be reached, validation of the transaction occurs through standard block confirmation. InstantSend purportedly solves the double-spending problem without the longer confirmation times of other cryptocurriencies such as Bitcoin.[12]

InstantX rebranded to InstantSend June 2016.

X11 is a hashing algorithm created by Dash core developer Evan Duffield. X11's chained hashing algorithm approach utilizes a sequence of eleven cryptographic hashing algorithms for the proof-of-work. This is so that the processing distribution is fair and coins will be distributed in much the same way Bitcoin's were originally.[citation needed]

With chained hashing, high end CPUs give an average return similar to that of GPUs. Another side effect of the algorithm is that GPUs run at about 30% less electrical power than scrypt and 30% to 50% cooler, putting less stress on the computing setup and ensuring lower energy bills for miners.[13]

Dark Gravity Wave (DGW) is a mining difficulty adjustment algorithm created by Dash core developer Evan Duffield to address flaws in Kimoto's Gravity Well. It uses multiple exponential moving averages and a simple moving average to smoothly adjust the difficulty, which is re-targeted every block. The block reward is not adjusted strictly by block number, but instead uses a formula controlled by Moore's law: 2222222/((Difficulty+2600)/9)2.[14][15]

Dash is the first decentralized autonomous organization powered by a Sybil proof decentralized governance and funding system.[16] DGBB or Decentralized Governance By Blockchain as it's called is a decentralized process by which the network determines where money is spent. Each Masternode operator is given the ability to use 1 vote on each governance proposal, which is a completely open and decentralized process.[17] Community interaction with proposal submitters is done usually through community driven websites, like DashWhale.[18] These websites allow proposal submitters to provide multiple drafts, then lobby for community support before finally submitting their project to the network for a vote. After the submitter has enough support, the network will automatically pay out the required funds in the next super block, which happen monthly.

Although, only in use a few months, the funding system has seen growth of its month revenue, from originally ~$14 thousands in September 2015, to nearly $30 thousands in March 2016.[19] Eventually the budget system can theoretically scale to $9M per month at a market cap of $500M.[20]

Since its inception, the project has used the system for important assets like acquiring dash.org,[21] adoption into the Lamassu ATM[22][23] and the Dash N' Drink instant soda machine,[24] along with funding many public events.[25][26][27][28]

Masternodes utilize a cryptographic bond model, which results a supply and demand market between the interest rate Masternodes are paid and the risk of holding the underlying asset. Early on in the history of the asset, the high return caused a massive uptake of Masternodes, starting from about 500 in Oct 2014 and increasing to 3650 in March 2016.[29]

Dash was originally released as XCoin (XCO) on January 18, 2014. On February 28, the name was changed to "Darkcoin". On March 25, 2015, Darkcoin was rebranded as "Dash".[3]

I discovered Bitcoin in mid 2010 and was obsessed ever since. After a couple of years in 2012 I started really thinking about how to add anonymity to Bitcoin. I came up with maybe 10 ways of doing this, but I soon realized that Bitcoin would never add my code. The developers really want the core protocol to stay the same for the most part and everything else to be implemented on the top of it. This was the birth of the concept of Darkcoin. I implemented X11 in a weekend and found it worked pretty well and it would give a completely fair start to the currency. What I really was aiming for with X11 is a similar development curve where miners would fight to create small advantages much like the early start of Bitcoin. I think this a requirement to create a healthy ecosystem.

[30]

Within the first hour of launch, approximately 500,000 coins were mined, followed by another 1,000,000 coins in the next 7 hours and finally another 400,000 in 36 hours. All told 1.9 million coins were mined in 48 hours, or approximately 32% of the current supply (as of October 2015) of approximately 5.9 million,[31][32] generating controversy regarding the initial distribution of coins. According to Duffield, this was the result of an error in the code "which incorrectly converted the difficulty, then tried using a corrupt value to calculate the subsidy, causing the instamine".[33] At the time, Duffield was working a full-time job and coding for Dash on the side, so its not surprising that there were errors in the initial code.[33] Duffield claims in the official bitcointalk.org thread (mirrored) that "Dash has no premine and was fairly and transparently launched".[34]

At the time Dash (then called Xcoin) was launched, the cryptocurrency space was riddled with scams. People were creating new currencies, hyping their value, then dumping them and abandoning the project. Many likely feared the same for Dash. However, since Dash's launch, there has been over two years of development, leading to a cryptocurrency that has over 50 volunteers and has solved such vexing issues as slow confirmation times, block size increases, decentralized governance, and a self-funding development budget.

According to CoinMarketCap, in August 2016 the daily trade volume of Dash was ~1% of the total trade of all cryptocurrencies,[35] and the market capitalization of Dash was ~80 millions of US dollars.[36] Since then, Dash has become the most active community on BitcoinTalk reaching more than 6000 pages, 122k replies, 6.6M reads.

Zerocoin, Cloakcoin and DarkNet also have built in the mixing services as a part of their blockchain network.[37]

The Dark Wallet client software for bitcoin was built to natively mix transactions between users.[38]

Monero_(cryptocurrency) is a cryptocurrency based on the CryptoNote protocol. It has gained attention recently for being adopted by dark net market AlphaBay.[39]

Read more:

Dash (cryptocurrency) - Wikipedia

The Federalist #51 – Constitution Society

Posted on by

Independent Journal Wednesday, February 6, 1788 [James Madison] To the People of the State of New York:

TO WHAT expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. Without presuming to undertake a full development of this important idea, I will hazard a few general observations, which may perhaps place it in a clearer light, and enable us to form a more correct judgment of the principles and structure of the government planned by the convention.

In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another. Perhaps such a plan of constructing the several departments would be less difficult in practice than it may in contemplation appear. Some difficulties, however, and some additional expense would attend the execution of it. Some deviations, therefore, from the principle must be admitted. In the constitution of the judiciary department in particular, it might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on the principle: first, because peculiar qualifications being essential in the members, the primary consideration ought to be to select that mode of choice which best secures these qualifications; secondly, because the permanent tenure by which the appointments are held in that department, must soon destroy all sense of dependence on the authority conferring them.

It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal.

But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.

This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public. We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other -- that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights. These inventions of prudence cannot be less requisite in the distribution of the supreme powers of the State.

But it is not possible to give to each department an equal power of self-defense. In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions. As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified. An absolute negative on the legislature appears, at first view, to be the natural defense with which the executive magistrate should be armed. But perhaps it would be neither altogether safe nor alone sufficient. On ordinary occasions it might not be exerted with the requisite firmness, and on extraordinary occasions it might be perfidiously abused. May not this defect of an absolute negative be supplied by some qualified connection between this weaker department and the weaker branch of the stronger department, by which the latter may be led to support the constitutional rights of the former, without being too much detached from the rights of its own department?

If the principles on which these observations are founded be just, as I persuade myself they are, and they be applied as a criterion to the several State constitutions, and to the federal Constitution it will be found that if the latter does not perfectly correspond with them, the former are infinitely less able to bear such a test.

There are, moreover, two considerations particularly applicable to the federal system of America, which place that system in a very interesting point of view.

First. In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.

Second. It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this evil: the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority -- that is, of the society itself; the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable. The first method prevails in all governments possessing an hereditary or self-appointed authority. This, at best, is but a precarious security; because a power independent of the society may as well espouse the unjust views of the major, as the rightful interests of the minor party, and may possibly be turned against both parties. The second method will be exemplified in the federal republic of the United States. Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority. In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government. This view of the subject must particularly recommend a proper federal system to all the sincere and considerate friends of republican government, since it shows that in exact proportion as the territory of the Union may be formed into more circumscribed Confederacies, or States oppressive combinations of a majority will be facilitated: the best security, under the republican forms, for the rights of every class of citizens, will be diminished: and consequently the stability and independence of some member of the government, the only other security, must be proportionately increased. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves; so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions or parties be gradnally induced, by a like motive, to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful. It can be little doubted that if the State of Rhode Island was separated from the Confederacy and left to itself, the insecurity of rights under the popular form of government within such narrow limits would be displayed by such reiterated oppressions of factious majorities that some power altogether independent of the people would soon be called for by the voice of the very factions whose misrule had proved the necessity of it. In the extended republic of the United States, and among the great variety of interests, parties, and sects which it embraces, a coalition of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place on any other principles than those of justice and the general good; whilst there being thus less danger to a minor from the will of a major party, there must be less pretext, also, to provide for the security of the former, by introducing into the government a will not dependent on the latter, or, in other words, a will independent of the society itself. It is no less certain than it is important, notwithstanding the contrary opinions which have been entertained, that the larger the society, provided it lie within a practical sphere, the more duly capable it will be of self-government. And happily for the republican cause, the practicable sphere may be carried to a very great extent, by a judicious modification and mixture of the federal principle.

PUBLIUS

See the rest here:

The Federalist #51 - Constitution Society

Victimless Crime Constitutes 86% of The Federal Prison …

Posted on by

When we talk about the war on drugs, which is increasingly turning into areal war, we often overlook the fact that the criminals involved in the drug trade arent actually violating anyones rights. When a drug dealer is hauled before a judge, there is no victim standing behind the prosecutor claiming damages. Everyone participating in the drug trade does so voluntarily.However, there area lot more crimesfor which this is also true. Millions upon millions of Americans have been thrown into cages without a victim ever claiming damages. It is important to look at the burden this mass level of incarceration places upon our society.

In light of that, let us review some statistics which demonstrate just how destructive the mass incarceration of victimless criminals has become to our society.The 2011 federal prison population consisted of:

Drug offenses are self-explanatory as being victimless, but so too are public-order offenses, which also fall under the victimless crimes category. Public order offenses include such things as immigration, weapons charges, publicdrunkenness,selling lemonade without a license,dancing in public,feeding the homeless without a permitetc..

The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world. Presently756 per 100,000of the national population is behind bars. This is in contrast to an average world per-capita prison population rate of145 per 100,000(158 per 100,000 if set against a world prison population of 10.65 million), based on 2008 U.N. population data. In other words, the U.S. incarcerates its citizens at a rate that is 5 times the world average.

In 2008, according to the Department of Justice, there were 7,308,200 persons in the US corrections system, of whom 4,270,917 were on probation, 828,169 were on parole, 785,556 were in jails, and 1,518,559 were in state and federal prisons. This means that the U.S. alone is responsible for holding roughly 15% of all the prisoners in the world.

In other words, 1 in 42 Americans is under correctional supervision. This constitutes over 2% of the entire U.S. population. That percentage jumps up drastically if we limit the comparison to working aged adult males, of which there are around 100 million. Over 5% of the adult male population is under some form of correctional supervision, alternatively stated, 1 in 20 adult males are under correctional supervision in the U.S.

According to 2006 statistics, 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men are behind bars, as are 1 in 15 adult black men. If we limit the data to black males between the ages 20 to 34,1 in 9 are behind bars. Keep in mind that 86% of those men in federal prisons are there for victimless crimes. They have not stolen any property, damaged any property or harmed anyone directly by their actions. Of course, if you are reading this and live in the US, you are paying for all those people to subsist on a daily basis. Roughly34% of all prisoners in the U.S. are incarcerated for victimless crimes.

In California in 2009 it cost an average of $47,102 a year to incarcerate an inmate in state prison. In 2005 it cost an average of $23,876 per state prisoner nationally. In 2007, $228 billion was spent on police, corrections and the judiciary. That constitutes around 1.6% of total U.S. GDP.

Of course, being the good economists that we are, we must not just look at the cost to incarcerate and police, but also at the opportunity cost to society that putting all those able-bodied men behind bars creates. When a man is put behind bars he is obviously incapable of contributing anything to society. He becomes a complete burden to society while producing nothing in return for the expenses he creates. He becomes a black void of resource destruction. Its important to remember that moneys value is directly related to the consumer goods that a society produces. If a society produces nothing of value, the money it uses will also be worth nothing of value. If a huge portion of able bodied workers is locked behind bars, society is effectively penalized twice once for the resources that are diverted into the prison industry and it is penalized again for the opportunity cost of the lost labor of those prisoners.

I find some dark humor in the fact that those who engage in victimless crime dont create any real victims until they are put behind bars, at which point they cause the State to steal $47,000 a year from the tax paying public. In our justice system today, victims are victimized twice; once by the perpetrator of the crime against them, and the other by the State which then forces the victim to pay for the punishment of their assailant. Clearly our societys notion of justice is logically ridiculous. Its apparently not OK for someone to steal from you, but its perfectly acceptable for the State to steal from you if the State is going to use that money to punish the person who stole from you. what kind of asinine system of justice is that?

What is justice? Isnt justice making a victim whole once again? Isnt justice punishing a criminal for the damages he imposed upon his victims?I propose that the only real justice that can be enacted in a free society is monetary punishment in the form of taking the perpetrators property and handing it to their victim, or ostracism by defamation of character.

I know some people will cry that under such a system violent criminals will be left free to roam the streets, but isnt that what our system is doing now? Consider that if a man commits a violent crime today, he is put behind bars for some arbitrary length of time with hundreds of other violent criminals, after which he is released back on to the streets. Do you think that criminal is going to be more dangerous to society after spending years locked in a cage with other violent criminals or less dangerous? Numerous studiesshow that prison eitherincreases, or has no impact on, recidivism. Thus, it all comes down to punishment. Isnt being branded a criminal, along with monetary punishment to make a victim whole once again, enough? How difficult do you think your life would be if you were convicted of murder, everyone knew about it and half your assets and income were being handed to your victims family? The rest of your life would be a living hell.

Putting people behind bars does nothing but squander resources. It deprives society of able-bodied workers and costs society massive amounts of resources which are stolen from the general public through the coercive theft of taxation. Consider how much richer American society would be today if it had an additional 5% of the male population working to produce goods and services in the private sector labor force.

Economist David Friedman has put together a fantastic presentation on how society could be organized in such a way as to eliminate all victimless crime while simultaneously eliminating the necessity of the State to steal from the victims of crimes to pay for their assailants punishment. After youre done watching Friedmanspresentation, check out thisfantastic comicput together by the Real Cost of Prisons project.

If you are interested in learning more about private law and private defense, listen to thisseries of essaysby economist Robert Murphy andthis lectureby economist Hans Hoppe.

The statistics cited in this article can be verified atDrug War Facts.org

Read the original here:

Victimless Crime Constitutes 86% of The Federal Prison ...

Personal Empowerment Program : World Youth

Posted on by

Are you looking for an opportunity to be inspired?

Are you wanting to be part of a community of like-minded people who are committed to making a difference in the world?

Are you ready to feel more empowered in your day-to-day life, relationships and career?

Then look no further. WYI's Personal Empowerment Program (PEP) is for you!

What is PEP?

When is PEP?

The next Personal Empowerment Program will be held on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoriafrom Friday 2nd December to Monday 5th December, 2016.

All participants are responsible for making their way to Melbourne city, transfers to the venue will be arranged if needed. We recommend arriving in the Melbourne city the night before the program begins and departing late in the evening of the final day (or the following morning, if possible). Further details will be provided on acceptance of your registration.

REGISTER ONLINE

How much does it cost?

Entry to the Personal Empowerment Program is subsidised for recently returned WYI program participants*. The full fee for the four-day program is $950.

All participants are required to pay a $200 registration bond on acceptance of their registration to secure their place at PEP. This bond is non-refundable if a participant cancels their attendance after 1st November 2016. For more information please contact the PEP Coordinator at pep@worldyouth.org.au

* If your WYI Overseas Program ended in July 2016 or later your subsidised fee for PEP is the $200 Registration Bond. If your WYI Overseas Program ended in June 2016 or prior and you have not attended PEP your Registration Bond of $200 will be refunded to you after your completion of the program. As of 2017 all WYI participants will be required to pay a minimum of $200 to attend PEP.

What is included?

Three nights accommodation, all meals and all activities will be covered during program. This includes all course materials and access to qualified coaching professionals and trained PEP staff. Attendees will need to arrange their own transport to and from Melbourne city, transfers to and from the venue from Melbourne city will be provided if needed.

So what you waiting for? Places are limited, complete the online registration to reserve your place now!

It will be the best investment you make for yourself all year.

Register Online

Please contact the PEP Coordinator at pep@worldyouth.org.au if you have any questions.

Testimonials

Glenda Fraser, PEP Participant 2015

"I appreciated so much my opportunity to come to PEP. I was more than amazed by the program. it was such a privilege being amongst so many volunteers and being in an environment where our only purpose was to bring the best out of and acknowledge the best in everyone. I found the universality of the power of good alive and well at PEP, where true and enduring values were the overwhelming theme, and much love and acceptance was generated, It was a powerful experience, one I hope never to forget.

Thank you PEP and WYI. - Glenda Fraser, PEP Participant 2015"

Caitlin Murphy, Past Participant 2011

"PEP was a powerful force: a process of waking up and returning to authentic connections. It was a meeting of so many incredible people with energy and drive that kick-started an inner fire in many of us. There was such openness and potential in everyone, and a creative element to the program that was very special. read more

I now feel much more peaceful, balanced and healthy; I feel ready to live passionately and bravely. I can start to trust the way I want to live. I now feel more comfortable in my own skin. I feel I respect myself more, and I respect others' development. I now feel I have the potential to act and to engage freely with others. I now feel part of a powerful movement of change, and take comfort in the fact that many others are driven by the same conviction. I feel resilient and alive.

Sarah Abrahamse, Past Participant 2010

To be honest I spent a great deal of the weekend being overwhelmed about what was going on around me. I tried my hardest to soak up all I could in terms of ideas, stories, experiences and lessons learnt from others by relating or comparing them to my own. I found that the gathering of like minds allowed incredible growth in a very subtle way. I truly believe that together we created a powerful force, a force that is hard to explain, a force that can really only be felt, a force that despite distance, despite the immensity of issues of the world we were considering, despite the unclear solutions, despite it all, a force that remains. What occurred within those four days will always be evident; our force will continue to develop as we continue to feel empowered. It is through this force that I find hope. I find comfort in the fact that our legacy is not over. I find comfort in the idea that I believe in the people I met, I believe they are powerful, and the fact is that through these beliefs I find strength which enables me to also believe in myself.

One of the most beautiful things I took away from this experience was the ability to embrace diversity. We all entered at different stages on our journey, throughout our time together we experienced different emotions, had our own realisations and dealt with things in our own way. People are unique. So often we forget how imperative that concept is. I found myself in the company of like minded people yet I still felt like my own person. I was on my own journey, but I was not alone. This idea highlighted that we all need each other in our simplest form in order to exist. The program highlighted my favourite concept from Africa, 'Ubuntu'- I am what I am, because of who we all are, I am because we are. We affirm our humanity when we acknowledge that of others. My humanity is caught up and inextricably bound in yours. I feel so privileged to have been a part of this program, to be apart of a family, a force, a movement that ignites my passions and gives me hope."

Aimee Pitt, Past Participant 2010

"Friendship, challenge, love, fear, liberation: such small words that bring forth such intense memories of my time at PEP. I went simply because I wanted to catch up with like-minded people and learn some leadership skills. Surpassing all expectations, these things were only two of the many things I gained. I wasn't prepared for the soul battering experience I received, and for that I am blessed. Although only lasting for several days, WYI's Personal Empowerment Program is the climax to the most life changing journey I have ever been on. All the lessons I learnt about myself on my OAP were tested and solidified. Things that I had "known" for years were finally given meaning and understood. Self doubts that I'd been living with since I was a child were brought to the surface and eliminated. There were tears, there was laughter and above all there was empowerment. I am now in a position to take charge of my life and overcome fear- the cage that binds us all. I now fully realise that challenges are what helps the soul grow. The more vulnerabilities and dreams I make public, the more I inspire others to push their own boundaries and discover hidden strengths. I am responsible, I am powerful; I am the change. And so are you. Led by the most inspiring, generous people I have ever met, the Personal Empowerment Program is an opportunity you don't want to miss."

Read more:

Personal Empowerment Program : World Youth

radKIDS.org – The national leader in children’s safety

Posted on by

Building a Network of Quality Caring Community Based Instructors

radKIDS, Inc. is the national leader in children's safety, with headquarters based in South Dennis, Massachusetts. The radKIDS curriculum is brought to children and parents by the training and development of nationally certified instructors drawn from their own communities. By empowering a community with certified local instructors, the radKIDS Personal Empowerment Safety Education program is not just a program but a true gift to the community. The radKIDS curriculum meets, and in many cases exceeds, the foundational education standards for elementary physical education and health in all 50 states.

radKIDS does not tell your child what we hope they will do, we actually teach, train and empower children with real skills so they can recognize, avoid, resist, and if necessary escape violence or harm in their lives. Education is the only thing that can change fear into power and radKIDS can and does give children opportunity and power to live safer in our world today.

Since its inception in 2000, radKIDS, Inc. has been committed to providing education that enhances the ability of children and parents to utilize knowledge, skills, and power to protect themselves from violence and harm. Read On...

Read this article:

radKIDS.org - The national leader in children's safety