Before the spin cycle
/Mind Control Techniques, Covert Hypnosis, and Reading Body Language - The Psychology Behind Cults/Religion
Cults maintain their following by putting members through a cycle of ups and downs. There is a psychology behind these tactics and it is to exploit the the members and keep them dependent on the cult. This brainwashing is very effective and it is important for people to understand how it works.
Brainwashing or thought reform is the technique that all cults use to keep and recruit new members. The goal is to modify the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of a recruit so that it conforms to the attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs of all of the members. Let me be clear that this can happen in a variety of situations. It does NOT require an isolated environment, physical abuse, or require complete control of a recruit. These tactics do help to make the brainwashing more effective, however, they are not a necessity.
The important feature about brainwashing is that it is done over and over again to achieve the desired goal. When people stop thinking independently for themselves, when they stop questioning their own personal sense of right and wrong, and when they refuse to listen to information that conflicts with their own beliefs… then they have been effectively brainwashed.
I think the head gasket's gone, mate
/Man uses tow truck, cable to kill self
A bystander called 911 at 4:27 a.m. to report a tow truck driving erratically through...neighboring parking lots along a commercial area off Illinois 116 near its junction with old Route 66. The truck careened through the S&R parking lot and adjacent Superior Gyros parking lot eastward, then struck a sign and crossed old Route 66. It went down an embankment and came to rest behind a business on the other side of the road.When police arrived they found a body in the truck but no head. The head was back at the repair shop, having been sliced off by the driver in a bizarre suicide.
Dershowitz is personally opposed to torture
/Unspeak - Personally
Alan Dershowitz. I wouldn't personally attach the electrodes to his bollocks but I can understand that there might well be a special situation in the future where someone else could be justified in doing so.
Alan Dershowitz. I wouldn't personally attach the electrodes to his bollocks but I can understand that there might well be a special situation in the future where someone else could be justified in doing so.
3D Guru
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Sorry, you can't come in without a tie
/Security staff employed illegally
The Home Office has admitted illegal immigrants have been mistakenly cleared for jobs as security staff. Ministers have ordered new checks to be carried out on hundreds of thousands of people vetted by the Security Industry Authority over the past three years. The Home Office says the SIA did not check applicants were entitled to work in the UK before granting licences. According to the Sunday Mirror, illegal immigrants are working at airports, ports and the Metropolitan Police. The newspaper claimed 5,000 illegal immigrants were estimated to have been employed in posts such as security guards and bouncers.This isn't just about entitlement to work. What kind of investigations can possibly be carried out on people who have entered the country illegally? How can references be checked and relied upon? How is it remotely possible to ensure they are not criminals? And yet when I was considering doing some voluntary work recently I faced extensive enquiries into my life, my entire work history, my family background and an enhanced police check going back 45 years.
Millions fought on the Western Front - only one survives, aged 109
/The Last Tommy
You lived in fear and counted the hours. You saw the sun rise, hopefully you'd see it set. If you saw it set, you hoped to see it rise. Some men would, some wouldn't.
Then the war, for me, suddenly came to an end. We were crossing open ground at Pilckem Ridge on September 22. In my mind, I can still see the shell explosion that took three of my pals and nearly did for me too. I wasn't told until later that the three behind me had been blown to pieces. My reaction was terrible and it's still difficult to explain. It was like losing part of my life. The friendship you have during a war, it's almost like love.
It was because of those three men that I did not speak about the war for most of my life. It was too painful. Today I have forgiven the men who killed them - they were in the same position as us. I find it harder, though, to forgive the politicians.
Pajamas falling down?
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Dennis The Peasant checks out the stats for the Pajamas Media Crowd: Yep. Pajamasmedia.com's page views trending downwards, and for all four pajamasmedia affiliated sites, (instapundit.com, littlegreenfootballs.com, michellemalkin.com and rogerlsimon.com.) page views per day have declined since the inception of pajamasmedia.comAnd this, in spite of a huge expansion in people using the web. As Dennis points out it's not quite "coalescing the Internet's brightest minds and most compelling content into a single source that will, in turn, redefine journalism in the 21st century and beyond", is it?
Look what I've bought
/Shoeboxed Heads Into Social Shopping
I'm really not much into the 'social' side of social software but I can see that for a lot of people (mostly much younger than I am) it's an important part of the way they organize their lives. But why the fuck would anyone want to log, list, collate, photograph and post the details of what they buy and display the results to friends and the 'wider social community'? Is this a woman thing? I just don't get it. Jeez, I must be getting old.Receipt organization service Shoeboxed has moved into social shopping with a relaunched site that introduces the concept of “receipt flaunting.” At the basic level, Shoeboxed allows users to organize all their e-mail and paper receipts, providing a cut-down accounting style package for those looking for basic spend-tracking as opposed to a full blown accounting program such as Quicken. With the new release, users can now organize the items contained in their receipts, add photos to those items, and share them with Shoeboxed’s community of shoppers. Embracing the social side of shopping, users can now give feedback to other users about their items.
'Zionists say Theft is Property!'
/RandomPottins: Bringing it home to Brent:
Fancy a villa in the West Bank? Looking for exciting investment opportunities in some really 'hot' real estate? Then the place to go is Brent Town Hall, in Wembley, this weekend, when Israeli property companies will be exhibiting among the canned goods and bric a brac at a trade fair organised by the Zionist Federation.Via JSF
The Israeli Defence Forces are securing more properties for development, and we are assured that whatever you may have heard in the media, this process won't be affected by any international negotiations - quite the opposite. Yes, when we say Two States we mean you can settle in both of 'em!
You can rely on the Israeli Defence Forces to secure your investment, and remove any nuisance neighbours who spoil the view. Settlers enjoy separate roads and transport - you can go where you like, and do what you want, no need to worry about checkpoints; and if you've heard about Palestinian villages being short of drinking water, don't worry, it won't affect your swimming pool!
