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One of the most frightening things about melting from a normal, Solid, ego-based lifestyle, to a more Liquid, dynamic, spiritual one is that some concepts that you always assumed to be sound and good and true, start to lose their solidity. The very glue that holds together this solid, stable world begins to lose its cohesion. For example, take the simple concept of “self-control.” You have control of yourself. You are in charge of your Destiny, the Captain of your Fate, the Master of your Mind…

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Beyond these words lies madness. Madness to the Ego - Danger to the Me Story that you hold so dear. The very foundation of the dam is starting to crack. Do you really wish to stress it more? To destroy the dam will free the River of your Soul, but the dam, once in ruin, can never be rebuilt.

Control. A simple enough concept, but let us look a little closer, let us brush away the dust and cobwebs from this ancient box. Let us lift the lid and peer inside. Let us find the secrets hidden within. Let us look closely at an assumption that is as old as the hills - the assumption of self-control.

Why do you continue reading? Before proceeding, answer this question truly. Why are you reading this article?

What controls your actions, not “re-actions,” but conscious, “I decided to do this” actions? Without a thought you answer, “I do.” Now thousands of philosophers have tried to deconstruct the “I” in “I do.” So let us not waste our time with that old, and ineffective argument. Let us take a more direct approach. Let us simply watch our thought process. First - Remember a decision you recently made. You chose “A” over “B”. Take your time and remember it. It may have been a difficult decision, you may have had a number of arguments for each side of the problem, but if you look closely, you’ll realize you decided to pick “A” over “B” because… you wanted to. Something in you “felt” this was the best decision. Simple as that. All the practical reasons, all the logic, all the rational arguments were used by your mind to make yourself “feel” better about “A” than about “B”. You chose “A” because you liked that option better than “B”.

Why are you reading this article? In your answer, were there the words, “I want”?

Desire. Desire IS Life. It is what motivates the body, mind, and soul. Without desire, we would just watch - there would be no reason to do anything. I want. I want. I want. Desire drives the mind. Desire drives the body. Desire is the captain of our soul.

Behind your eyes, behind your thoughts, behind your desires, your hopes and your dreams, there lies a stillness, an awareness, an opening. Still, aware and open - no action, no trying, no doing - no wanting. Within this stillness there lies only… a Watching.

Decisions are made because they feel right. They feel right because you were raised with certain values, you have certain lusts, you have compassion and selfishness and anger and envy. Can you help what you want? Do you control what you love? Can you make yourself happy while watching an animal suffer? Desires arise from our primal nature - filtered through our value system they drive our emotions and thoughts. Desires are uncontrollable. We may think we control our actions, but all we are doing is satisfying one desire in lieu of another.

I want a relationship and I want my independence. I want to eat chocolate and I want to lose weight. I want to live the good life and I want to quit my job. Desire pulls, desire motivates, desire inspires - Desire controls. I want to be responsible and I want to be carefree. I want to make my family happy and I want to be alone. I want to be selfish and I want to be compassionate. I want, I want, I want.

As difficult as it may be to hear, every decision you have ever made, you chose the option that felt better. Even the most horrible, awful, painful decisions - you chose “A” over “B” because “A” made a part of you (the compassionate, loving part?) feel better than choosing “B”. Look at any decision you have made. Look at any reaction you have experienced. Look at every movement of your body. All movement, all actions, all Life, is driven by a desire for something better.

You’re not in control. Nor is your neighbor, or boss, or lover, or your dog or the driver cutting you off in traffic. All creatures act on an inner pull, the tug of their desires. We cannot help the way we feel - we cannot help our urges. Our minds rebel, our egos fight, but these, of course, are just more desires.

What controls your actions? What controls your thoughts? What controls your deepest emotions?

I want, I want, I want - The Blessing of Life. The Foundation of the Ego. The ripples upon the still and Ethereal Lake.

Can you watch the natural desires arise? Can you see them twitching the strings of your life? They pull a string and you turn left. Another and you buy a house. Another and you sit upon your meditation cushion. They are not you, they are what happens to your body - to your story. They are not you, they are the life that You experience. They are the ripples upon Your lake.

Watching the desires arise, the sage relinquishes control and, like an autumn leaf upon a forest stream, floats happily upon the gentle currents of his worldly life.

Wayne Wirs is the photographer and author of Fading Toward Enlightenment - Life between the Ego and the Ethereal. For more information about Wayne, his writings or his photography, please visit
http://FadingTowardEnlightenment.com

Despite adamant claims to the contrary, racism continues to plague many peoples around the world. The first step toward resolving issues of racial intolerance and prejudice is to develop an understanding of the underlying concepts and their labels.

This (rather long) article touches on the following topics:

• Stereotypes, Race, and Racism
• Culture and Cultural Imperialism
• Nationalism and National Imaginary

I hope you find this article helpful.

Stereotypes
According to Stroebe and Insko (1989), the term ’stereoptype’ originated in 1798 to describe a printing process that involved casts of pages of type. The term was first used in relation to the social and political arena in 1922 by Walter Lippman, referring to our perception of different groups.

Since then, the meaning of the term has been vigorously debated. Stereotyping was considered by some as the oversimplified, biased cognitive representations of “undesirable rigidity, permanence, and lack of variability from application to application” (ibid, 1989, p.4). Others, such as Brown (1965), considered it a natural fact of life like any other generalisation; “many generalisations acquired by heresay are true and useful” (cited in Stroebe & Insko, 1989, p.5).

Stroebe and Insko (1989) settle on a simple definition which sits somewhere in between these two schools of thought. They define a stereotype as the “set of beliefs about the personal attributes of a group of people” (p.5). They obviously accept that stereotypes are not necessarily rigid, permanent, or invariable, but they do still distinguish between stereotypes and other categories, claiming that stereotypes are characterised by a bias towards the ingroup and away from the outgroup (p.5).

Yzerbyt, et al (1997) attempt to explain the existence of stereotypes, suggesting that stereotypes provide not only a set of (often unjustified) attributes to describe a group, but also a rationale for maintaining that set of attributes. This allows people to “integrate incoming information according to their specific views” (p.21).

Race
When used in everyday speech in relation to multiculturalism, the term ‘race’ has come to mean any of the following:

• nationality (geographically determined) - e.g. the Italian race
• ethnicity (culturally determined, sometimes in combination with geography) - e.g. the Italian race
• skin colour - e.g. the white race

The common usage of ‘race’ is problematic because it is esoteric, and because it implies what Bell (1986) calls “biological certainty” (p.29). When we talk about race, there is always a common understanding that we are also talking about common genetic characteristics that are passed from generation to generation. The concept of nationality is generally not so heavily tarred with the genetics brush. Likewise, ethnicity allows for, and gives equal weight to, causes other than genetics; race does not. Skin colour is just a description of physical appearance; race is not. The concept of race may masquerade as a mere substitution for these terms, but in actual fact, it is a reconstruction.

Further, there is the question of degree. Are you black if you had a black grandmother? Are you black if you grew up in a black neighbourhood? Are you black sometimes, but not others? Who makes these decisions?

Racism
Having established the problems associated with the term ‘race’, we can now discuss how these problems contribute to issues of racism.

Jakubowicz et al (1994) define racism as “the set of values and behaviours associated with groups of people in conflict over physical appearances, genealogy, or cultural differences. It contains an intellectual/ideological framework of explanation, a negative orientation towards ‘the Other’, and a commitment to a set of actions that put these values into practice.” (p.27)

What this definition fails to address is the framework of explanation. Perhaps it should say “…framework of explanation based on various notions of race and racial stereotypes…”. This would bring us back to our discussion of the concept of race.

Because race is almost impossible to define, racial stereotypes are even more inappropriate than other kinds of stereotypes. Racism is an infuriating phenomenon because, irrespective of this, behaviour is still explained, and actions are still performed, based on these racial categorisations.

Culture
“Culture” is a term we’re all familiar with, but what does it mean? Does it reflect your nationality? Does it reflect your race? Does it reflect your colour, your accent, your social group?

Kress (1988) defines culture as “the domain of meaningful human activity and of its effects and resultant objects” (p.2). This definition is very broad, and not particularly meaningful unless analysed in context. Lull (1995) talks of culture as “a complex and dynamic ecology of people, things, world views, activities, and settings that fundamentally endures but is also changed in routine communication and social interaction. Culture is context.” (p.66)

As with other categorisation techniques, however, cultural labels are inherently innaccurate when applied at the individual level. No society is comprised of a single culture only. There are multitudes of sub-cultures which form due to different living conditions, places of birth, upbringing, etc. The concept of culture is useful because it differentiates between different groups of people on the basis of learned characteristics rather than genetic characteristics. It “implies that no culture is inherently superior to any other and that cultural richness by no means derives from economic standing” (Lull, 1995, p.66).

This last may be one reason behind the so-called “intellectual aversion to the idea of culture” (Carey, 1989, p.19) that has been encounted in America (probably the West in general, and, I would say, definitely in Australia). Other reasons suggested are individualism, Puratinism, and the isolation of science from culture.

Cultural Imperialism
In 1971, Johan Galtung published a landmark paper called “A Structural Theory of Imperialism”. Galtung conceptualises the world as a system of centres and peripheries in which the centres exploit the peripheries by extracting raw materials, processing these materials, and selling the processed products back to the peripheries. Because the processed goods are bought at a far greater cost than the raw materials, the periphery finds it extremely difficult to find enough capital to develop the infrastructure necessary to process its own raw materials. Therefore, it is always running at a loss.

Galtung’s model is not limited to the trade of raw materials such as coal, metals, oil, etc. To the contrary, it is designed to incorporate the transformation of any raw value (such as natural disasters, violence, death, cultural difference) into a valuable processed product (such as a news story, or a tourism industry).

Galtung’s approach is inherently problematic, however, because it superimposes a centre-periphery relationship onto a world where no such relationship actually physically exists. In other words, it is a model which attempts to make sense of the intricate relationships between cultures, but by the very fact that it is a model, it is limiting. Admittedly, all theories are necessarily models, or constructions, of reality, but Galtung’s is potentially harmful because:

a) it positions underdeveloped countries and their cultures in the periphery. In order for such countries/cultures to try to change their position, they must first acknowledge their position as peripheral; and

b) it implies that the world will always contain imperialistic centre-periphery relationships; “A Centre country may slip into the Periphery, and vice versa” (Galtung &Vincent, 1992, p.49), but no allowance is made for the possibility of a world without imperialism. Therefore, if a country/culture wishes to change its position it must become an imperialistic centre.

In recent times, the term ‘Cultural Imperialism’ has come to mean the cultural effects of Galtung’s imperialism, rather than the process of imperialism as he sees it. For example, Mowlana (1997) argues that cultural imperialism occurs when “the dominant center overwhelms the underdeveloped peripheries, stimulating rapid and unorganized cultural and social change (Westernization), which is arguably detrimental” (p.142).

The issue of language decline due to imbalances in media structures and flow is often claimed to be the result of cultural imperialism. Browne (1996) theorises that
“the rapid rise of the electronic media during the twentieth century, along with their dominance by the majority culture, have posed a tremendous challenge to the continuing integrity, and even the very existence, of indigenous minority languages… (p.60)”
He suggests that indiginous languages decline because:

• new indigenous terminology takes longer to be devised, and may be more difficult to use, thus ‘majority’ terminology tends to be used;
• media monopolies have historically determined acceptable language usage;
• schools have historically promoted the use of the ‘majority’ language;
• indigenous populations around the world tend to rely quite heavily on electronic media because they have greater literacy problems. As a result, they are more heavily influenced by the ‘majority’ language than they realise;
• the electronic media are inappropriate for communication in many indigenous languages because many such languages employ pauses as signs, and the electronic media remove pauses because they are regarded as “time wasted and as an indication of lack of professionalism” (Browne, p.61); and
• television reinforces majority culture visual conventions, such as direct eye contact.

Similarly, Wardhaugh (1987) discusses how the majority of medical and scientific articles are published in English. “While English does not completely monopolize the scientific literature, it is difficult to understand how a scientist who cannot read English can hope to keep up with current scientific activity.” (p.136) More books are published in English than any other language, and

“much of higher education in the world is carried out in English or requires some knowledge of English, and the educational systems of many countries acknowledge that students should be given some instruction in English if they are to be adequately prepared to meet the needs of the late twentieth century.”
(Wardhaugh, 1987, p.137)

There are definitely uncounted instances of one culture suffering at the hands of another, but there are still problems with explaining this in terms of Cultural Imperialism. In addition to those outlined above with relation to Galtung, there are a number of other problems. The Cultural Imperialism approach:

• does not allow for the appropriation or select cultural values by the ‘minority’ culture in order to empower, or in some other way, benefit, that culture;

• presupposes some degree of natural change, it does not discuss where the line between natural change and imperialism can be drawn. (When is the change a necessary part of the compromise of living in a multicultural society?); and

• overlooks the changes to ‘dominant’ cultures which necessarily occur as it learns about the ’subordinate’ culture.

Atal (1997) asserts that “[f]orces of change, impinging from the outside, have not succeeded in transforming the [non-West] cultures into look-alike societies. Cultures have shown their resilience and have survived the onslaught of technological changes.” (p.24) Robertson (1994) talks of Glocalisation, with the local being seen as an aspect of the global, not as its opposite. For example, we can see “the construction of increasingly differentiated consumers… To put it very simply, diversity sells” (p.37). It is his contention that “we should not equate the communicative and interactive connecting of… cultures with the notion of homogenisation of all cultures” (p.39).

This article does not suggest that we should be complacent about the effects cultures may have on each other. Rather, it suggests Cultural Imperialism is somewhat flawed as a tool for cultural and social criticism and change. Instead, each problem should be identified as an individual problem, not as a part of an overall phenomenon called cultural imperialism.

Nationalism
In his discussion of culture and identity, Singer (1987) argues that nationalism is a relatively modern phenomenon which started with the French and American revolutions. Singer asserts that “[a]s the number and importance of identity groups that individuals share rise, the more likely they are to have a higher degree of group identity” (p.43). Using this premise, he suggests that nationalism is a very powerful identity because it combines a host of other identities, such as “language, ethnicity, religion, and long-shared historic memory as one people attached to a particular piece of land” (p.51).

It’s not surprising then, that Microsoft’s Encarta Online (1998) defines nationalism as a “movement in which the nation-state is regarded as the most important force for the realization of social, economic, and cultural aspirations of a people.”

National “imaginary”
Anne Hamilton (1990) defines national imaginary as

“the means by which contemporary social orders are able to produce not merely images of themselves but images of themselves against others. An image of the self implies at once an image of another, against which it can be distinguished (p.16)”

She argues that it can be conceptualised as looking in a mirror and thinking we see someone else. By this, she means that a social order transplants its own (particularly bad) traits onto another social group. In this way, the social order can view itself in a positive way, serving to “unite the collectivity and maintain its sense of cohesion against outsiders” (Hamilton, 1990, p.16).

It seems, however, that the process can also work in the reverse direction. Hamilton suggests that in the case of Australia, there is a lack of images of the self. She asserts that the social order has appropriated aspects of Aboriginal culture as a result. In terms of the mirror analogy, this would be the self looking at another and thinking it sees itself.

References
Atal, Y., (1997) “One World, Multiple Centres” in Media & politics in transition: cultural identity in the age of globalization, ED. Servaes, J., & Lie, R., (pp.19-28), Belgium: Uitgeverij Acco.

Bell, P., (1986) “Race, Ethnicity: Meanings and Media”, in Multicultural Societies, ED. Bell, R., (pp.26-36).

Browne, D.R., (1996) Electronic Media and Indigenous Peoples, Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Galtung, J., (1971) “A Structural Theory of Imperialism” in Journal of Peace Research (8:2, pp.81-117).

Galtung, J., & Vincent, R.C. (1992) Global Glasnost, Hamptom Press, USA.

Hamilton, A., (1990) “Fear and Desire: Aborigines, Asians and the National Imaginary” in Australian Perceptions of Asia (No.9, pp.14-35).

Jakubowicz, A., Goodall, H., Martin, J., Mitchell, T., Randall, L., & Seneviratne, K. (1994) Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.

Kress, G., (1989) Communication and Culture: An Introduction, New South Wales University Press, Australia.

Lull, J., (1995) Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach. Polity Press.

Mowlana, H., (1997) Global Information and World Communication: New Frontiers in International Relations, Sage Publications Ltd.

Robertson, R., (1994) “Glocalisation” in The Journal of International Communication, 1,1, (pp.32-52).

Singer, M.R., (1987) Intercultural Communication: A Perceptual Approach, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Stroebe, W., & Insko, C..A., (1989) “Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination: Changing Conceptions in Theory and Research” in Stereotyping and Prejudice: Changing Conceptions, ED. Bar-Tal, D., Graumann, C.F., Kruglanski, A.W., Stroebe, W., (pp.3-34), Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

Wardhaugh, R., (1987), Languages in Competition: Dominance, Diversity, and Decline, Basil Blackwell Ltd., Oxford, UK.

Yzerbyt, V., Rocher, S., & Schadron, G., (1997) “Stereotypes as Explanations: A Subjective Essentialistic View of Group Perception” in The Social Psychology of Stereotyping and Group Life, ED. Spears, R., Oakes, P.J., Ellemers, N., & Haslam, S.A., (pp.20-50), Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

* Glenn Murray is a website copywriter, SEO copywriter, and article submission and article PR specialist. He is a director of article PR company Article PR and also of copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit www.DivineWrite.com or www.ArticlePR.com for further details, more FREE articles, or to download his FREE SEO e-book.

Lomonosov porcelain was originated by Dmitry (Ivanovich) Vinogradov,
who was born approximately1720 (exact date is unknown) in the Russian city of Suzdal, an Orthodox-church center , at which his father was a priest.

Both Dmitry and his brother, Yakov, were educated at the school of Zaikonospassky monaster, Moscow.

At the end of 1735 both brothers were sent to the
Petersburg school of Academy of Sciences of the Russian Empire because they showed great potential in science.
In 1736, the Academy of Science chose a few young persons
to be honoured abroad with an education in Chemistry and Metals.

Those few turned to be :

# - Michail Lomonosov, Russian scientist, who created the Periodical table of Chemical Elements, wrote well-known books on physiology, and created the modern Russian vodka recipe. Also, Lomonosov is believed to have been the illegitimate son of Czar Peter The Great.

# - Hustav Ulrich Raizer

# - Dmitry Vinogradov, who was just 16 years old at the time.

All three were sent to Europe for education.

All three were reported to the Russian crown as persons who were somewhat unruly, but they did not forget about their education, so they progressed far their studies.

Once they returned, Dmitry Vinogradov was given rank of captain, and he wanted to be Marksheider.

However, Russian Czarina Elizabeth, great lover of China, had different ideas and immediately changed the order and ordered Vinogradov to create the first Russian porcelain.

At that time, the German “arcanist” (from Latin “arcanum” - one who holds the hidden truth), Gunger, tried to obtain porcelain for the Russian court, at the newly - established porcelain manufacturer
(the modern Lomonosov factory).

But he was not successfull, thus Czarina decided to replace him.
The secret of Porcelain was unknown to Vinogradov, but He began his job.

For a few years he tried different ways and obtained many results, but still no good china.

Vinogradov’s complex personality, chaotic way of life, and his slavery-like job all contributed to his drinking problem.
The Russian court decided to force Vinogradov to find the way to make this special procelain.

First he was arrested and forced to remain at the factory (near where the porcelain was fired) night and day.
He was told that he could not return home until the desired porcelain was produced.

He did His job 24 hours per day, even to the point of sleeping at the factory. Finally he created the first Russian porcelain.
Even this was not enough for Czarina. She decided that the porcelain secret should be guarded jealously from foreigners.
As if that were not enough, she demanded that the porcelain even should be made much better.

Vinogradov demanded to be allowed to live at home.
But they chained Him into a circuit. He was not allowed even to step from where the porcelain was fired.

The Porcelain was improved upon; in fact, by the end of the 18th century it was the best porcelain in Europe.

Unfortunately, Dmitry Vinogradov did not survive the harsh conditions.

He died on August 22, 1758, a young man, in chains,
right at the factory, very near the great china he created.

Article provided by Lomonosov porcelain internet shop

http://www.rus-sell.com

There are many kind of lace-work arts in Italy, such as in many other Europe countries. But some of them are quite on the way to disappear.

In the central portion of Italy the great town of Bologna -one of the richest town in Italy, important university and medical research center- in the early 900s, during the two world wars, this town was protagonist of an economic miracle called “aemilia ars”.

Aemilia ars was the name given to the local decorative art nouveau style (also called “liberty”)and it was also the name given to the Bologna needle-lace, born thanks to the Cavazza family.

Countess Lina Cavazza in particular, besides devoting herself to numerous charitable works, committed herself to generating a female industry which could guarantee well-paid work to women and at the same time affirm social and human values.

Despite wars, natural calamities, earthquakes and serious economic crises, Bologna lace survived and helped whole families to survive, too.

for more info: www.lacemadeinitaly.com or www.artigianocreativo.com
let me have your comments/suggestions/questions:
info@lacemadeinitaly.com,info@artigianocreativo.com

The European lottery was to begin with set up by the national lotteries of Spain, the UK and France and was unveiled in Feb 04. The starting lotto draw was on Feb 13th 04 in Paris. The UK, France and Spain were the only nations partaking in the beginning but lotteries from Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, the Republic of Ireland and Luxembourg also got engaged in October-04.

The Euromillions lottery or the Euro Lottery, as it’s usually known, gathers the ticket revenues of the nine partaking European countries awarding a enormous Euromillions jack-pot. With the sum of countries joining the EU on the increase, that will without a doubt lead to more countries participating in the European lotto. An increase in the amount of people partaking in the Euromillions Lottery will lead to a lasting growth of the already huge Euro Millions “jackpots”.

Q. How To Play The euro millions Lottery

Every player must pick out five main numbers from 1 to 50 plus two Lucky-star numbers from 1 to 9. During the lotto draw, five primary plus two “lucky-star” numbers are then chosen at random from two draw machines containing numbered balls.

Euromillions Prizes

The chances of scooping the Euro Millions “jackpot” is a far-off one : seventy-six million but the prospect of winning a money prize is a fairly decent 1 : twenty-four. When the “jackpot” is not won on a given week, it is carried forward to the following lotto draw which results in an ever increasing “jackpot” value. New regulations added on the 9/02/2007 restrict the amount of consecutive rollovers to eleven, with the jackpot rolled down to lower value levels succeeding the 11th lottery draw if the prize is not won.

The new regulations also initiated European Lottery “Super Draw” which go on twice each year and offer “jackpots” in the region of £100 million. The difference with Super-Draws is that the jack-pot must be collected during the calendar week of the lotto draw; as a result, when there is no lottery ticket matching, all the drawn numbers then the top prize will then be distributed to the lotto ticket bearer(s) in the succeeding winning prize tier.

Procuring the right fishing supplies is an extremely important thing to remember when your are considering your forthcoming fishing trip. You need to permit yourself the finest supplies to get into the “frame of mind” and receive the best benefits of fishing. Obtaining the right fishing items will assist you in numerous different ways. As you may well be aware, the more fishing supplies you acquire the more exciting fishing will be. One of the vital questions you ought to ask is, do you possess all that you require previous to you heading out on your fishing excursion? To be successful you would be wise to ensure that your fishing excursion begins with procuring the correct fishing tools. There are more than a few kinds of fishing tools & it usually depends on sort of location that you will be fishing in, what kind of fish you are seeking and the breed of fishing that you crave. Find great offers on rugby shorts online today.

There are more than a few types & styles of fishing reels that carry a selection of prices. If you are hoping to join in professional fishing you would be recommended to make certain that your fishing equipment is planed for that sort of purpose. Professional fishing demands considerably more robust supplies. Because professional fishing supplies demands 2 to three times the use they fatigue much sooner. This absolutely makes it much more wise to pay put the extra money straight up. There are a range of items so that you can make a decision based on wishes on top of what you can realistically afford.

The specific type of fishing rod is also another crucial part of the tackle that you will need. You may perhaps need to evaluate what type of rod that you will need for your fishing trip. Just as there are an assortment of reels there is a range of fishing rods also. It is recommended to base your verdict on the sort of fish that you are aiming to catch.

The preservation of human life is the ultimate value, a pillar of ethics and the foundation of all morality. This held true in most cultures and societies throughout history.

On first impression, the last sentence sounds patently wrong. We all know about human collectives that regarded human lives as dispensable, that murdered and tortured, that cleansed and annihilated whole populations in recurrent genocides. Surely, these defy the aforementioned statement?

Liberal philosophies claim that human life was treated as a prime value throughout the ages. Authoritarian regimes do not contest the over-riding importance of this value. Life is sacred, valuable, to be cherished and preserved. But, in totalitarian societies, it can be deferred, subsumed, subjected to higher goals, quantized, and, therefore, applied with differential rigor in the following circumstances:

1.. Quantitative - when a lesser evil prevents a greater one. Sacrificing the lives of the few to save the lives of the many is a principle enshrined and embedded in activities such as war and medicinal care. All cultures, no matter how steeped (or rooted) in liberal lore accept it. They all send soldiers to die to save the more numerous civilian population. Medical doctors sacrifice lives daily, to save others.

It is boils down to a quantitative assessment (”the numerical ratio between those saved and those sacrificed”), and to questions of quality (”are there privileged lives whose saving or preservation is worth the sacrifice of others’ lives?”) and of evaluation (no one can safely predict the results of such moral dilemmas - will lives be saved as the result of the sacrifice?).

2.. Temporal - when sacrificing life (voluntarily or not) in the present secures a better life for others in the future. These future lives need not be more numerous than the lives sacrificed. A life in the future immediately acquires the connotation of youth in need of protection. It is the old sacrificed for the sake of the new, a trade off between those who already had their share of life - and those who hadn’t. It is the bloody equivalent of a savings plan: one defers present consumption to the future.

The mirror image of this temporal argument belongs to the third group (see next), the qualitative one. It prefers to sacrifice a life in the present so that another life, also in the present, will continue to exist in the future. Abortion is an instance of this approach: the life of the child is sacrificed to secure the future well-being of the mother. In Judaism, it is forbidden to kill a female bird. Better to kill its off-spring. The mother has the potential to compensate for this loss of life by bringing giving birth to other chicks.

3.. Qualitative - This is an especially vicious variant because it purports to endow subjective notions and views with “scientific” objectivity. People are judged to belong to different qualitative groups (classified by race, skin color, birth, gender, age, wealth, or other arbitrary parameters). The result of this immoral taxonomy is that the lives of the “lesser” brands of humans are considered less “weighty” and worthy than the lives of the upper grades of humanity. The former are therefore sacrificed to benefit the latter. The Jews in Nazi occupied Europe, the black slaves in America, the aborigines in Australia are three examples of such pernicious thinking.

4.. Utilitarian - When the sacrifice of one life brings another person material or other benefits. This is the thinking (and action) which characterizes psychopaths and sociopathic criminals, for instance. For them, life is a tradable commodity and it can be exchanged against inanimate goods and services. Money and drugs are bartered for life.

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

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com

Stylish Collegiate Hoods

A collegiate hood is a cover that is put on a car to advertise or symbolize something. For example, one can request that the label of the bulldog team be placed on the bonnet of a car or at the side of the car. That portrait is what is known as the hood. There are various types of hoods, colors to suite ones car as well as shapes and sizes.

Whether a person is supporting tigers, longhorns, gators or even the bulldogs show the support for a team in style. Thecollegiate hood is a revolution made of very high tech fabric said to be secure and safe even at very high speeds at the highways. They are also used to protect the car from debris of the road, gravel, dirt as well as not being able to be scratched.

The collegiate hood is installed with less than five minutes; the fabric that it is made from has UV protection, machine washable as well as water resistance. This hoods feature wrap around styles that give a person’s car a modern day look. However, there are those hoods that need drilling and others do not. The hoods can easily be found online, types, colors, location where to get one and prices. Collegiate hoods are generally for college going students who use them to show support for their various college sport teams.

A great benefit of Chamonix Haute Savoie France is its short distance to Geneva airport. One can easily depart England in the late morning and be snowboarding by the afternoon. The popularity of Flybe and budget flights has resulted in cheaper air fares furthermore with just an hour taxi ride time between Chamonix and Geneva a skiing weekend is today within the price range of anyone; moreover all the luxury catered ski chalets are free from Thursday until Sunday which allows one to enjoy cheap flights and empty runs. Immediately on arrival at Geneva airport right up until collecting the group’s ski tickets awaiting for the group arrive in the chalet; every detail is planned to insure that everyone endures min. time journeying and the maximum of your snowboarding holidays on the slopes.

A weekend in Chamonix France can be an excellent holiday only if one arrange the finer details correctly so that the group can take pleasure in your precious time. Of course that means arranging the air flights transfer and accommodation just right and taking the group onto the mountains as quickly as we can. The aim is to provide you the maximum period of time skiing with the least hassle this is coupled with our standard high standards of relaxation cuisine and concierge service. With this in mind we provide speedy transfers fantastic lodging fantastic food and we are happy to recommend and reserve guides and snowboarding instructors.

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