Coming Clean About Prolonged Fuel Poverty

There are many things in this world that we simply take for granted. When you can hardly afford food, then heating is not on top of the list during winter…Regardless how cold it may get. When I first began to compose my Masters dissertation, I barely made it through Christmas. Working was hardly an option after losing three jobs over not having hot water. At the time, a friend sat me down and gave me a talk about “self-respect”. With food and heating, he was only one of many to look down on me for not having the basic essentials. The cold had hardened me to the degree where I couldn’t have cared less about what we was saying. For him, fuel poverty was me punishing myself. He still does not realise fuel poverty has nothing to do with self-harming. Trust me, there are more effective ways, but it’s not like anyone actually cares about the reality of the poor. As a palliative care professional, I’ve seen many homes that were too expensive for the elderly to even contemplate heating. They couldn’t get out of bed to make a cup of tea, and countless carers just get orders to talk it through with them. Not help them. Not relocate them. Just have a talk about how they plan to change their situation… That disgusts me as much as it did then. Mainly, because they had no support or other options than to prepare for the inevitable. Their position was reduced to that of our ancestors, whom we abandoned when they were unable to withstand the extreme temperatures or could no longer continue with the nomadic lifestyle of the tribe. It was an honour for them to be left behind, sacrificing their lives so that their offsprings had a better chance at survival. Nowadays, it is no longer optional. We expect them to take one for the team, even if that means dying alone. Regardless of how old they are, they do not stand a chance in a time, when young people suffer the same ordeal.

The colder it gets, the more people feel a sense of peace and tranquility. Many don’t know that it is simply their bodies sharing information with the brain in a way that prepares them for whatever may come. Winter after winter, I tried to work from within the system to help, but then tragedy struck me. In many ways, it was poetic justice for my inability to do anything that would save lives. During the coldest of nights, when the temperatures dropped to -15C and I was struggling with extreme hypothermia, the thought that the end was nigh crept up at me. Believe it or not, I didn’t care. The cold does that… When all the heat was gone, as my head began to feel as light as cottonwool, I felt at peace. I wasn’t even 25 years old, but I had made my choice to study, when no one believed that I could, even if it would kill me. At least, I would die the way that I lived…without regrets for learnt lessons.
Before I lost consciousness that night, I prayed and then there was just a huge cut to black. I awoke in hospital, they couldn’t keep me for longer than a couple hours after I’d warmed up a little. So, they sent me on my merry way. After dragging myself back across town, whatever heat I had gained was fading fast. My stomach was empty and the only thing keeping me conscious was searing pain. A part of me knew that if the pain faded, I may lose consciousness and not wake up again.

By the time I actually turned 25, I had almost died three times. Once by knife. The second time, I almost drowned. And the third, through freezing. Near-death experiences at that point seemed more painful than actual death. Each time I was on the brink, someone would bring me back…and I was stuck to do it all over again. After all, I’m still very grateful for the help I received, but I just wanted it to be over. There was no improvement or compassion. The homeless and the poor rarely receive that. The higher echelons of society just view them as wastes of space, no matter how much they have contributed or how much they could still contribute given half a chance.

Last Words…

This winter is supposed to be much worse than the last three winters combined. With every winter, it becomes harder as much as my body acclimatises. The temperatures dropped close to zero before the end of October. Without being too melodramatic, every winter has become a chance for rebirth, for each winter could be my last. That’s the reality of fuel poverty… It is life or death for millions.

Despite all of this, I still work for people that the system has equally abandoned without payment for my services. There are days, even weeks, when simply walking or moving becomes excruciating, but except painkillers there’s nothing anyone can do. I’m no saint, nor am I a martyr, but for what it’s worth, I prefer to feel the pain, instead of taking the risk to spend my last moments dosed up, not knowing where up or down is… In the cold, a conscious death is not easy, but it is surprisingly peaceful. Like when you fall asleep in the snow, there comes a point, when you don’t feel your body anymore…you don’t want to think or move. Aacceptance is all there is. So, if you’re in a similar situation, don’t be afraid. Whatever happens, it is not the end for either of us.

This is probably the last thing that I’ll post for quite a while. I’m not writing this to scare anyone, I simply wish that when you read these paragraphs, it will inspire you to take a moment out of your busy schedule and celebrate your life. Many don’t get that opportunity before the ground shatters underneath their feet, so seize the present moment… All that we have can disappear in the blink of an eye without ever getting it back.

I hope you have a blissful winter. May the Great Spirit watch over you and keep you safe from harm.

All my love…

When Is It Rational To Fear Mass Migration?

Political correctness is neither honest nor kind. It is even unnecessary and heavily damaging in times, when the absolute is truth called for.

It is rational to be weary of mass migration

Logically thinking, it signals awareness that we do not produce a sufficient quantity of resources to feed, home and clothe our own, so how can we become an idyllic multi-cultural society that provides for everyone?

In recent history, each mass migration from the Middle-East has brought disease, violence and religious conflict. What evidence is there that supports it will be different this time? Apostates across the United Kingdom fear the return of the enforcement of Sharia Law on them. For genuine refugees from Middle-Eastern countries that have integrated in the Western world, mass migration is a sign of impending conflict and war. They fear that which they left behind is coming to get them, and with every denial that anything is wrong, we are showing them that their fears are justified.

When does mass migration become an invasion? Firstly, when they display hostile intent on entry (en masse). This is well illustrated by many border incidents, where individuals were holding signs saying “let us in or die.” Secondly, the fanatical obsessions of migrants in Calais to enter the United Kingdom (when they are already in safe territory) is a tactical manoeuvre that indicates they’re aiming to distribute themselves equally across Europe and maintain a solid presence in every country that is willing to grant them asylum. Thirdly, once a minority expands at such a fast rate that it will become a majority in its host country within a period of 5 years, then mass migration will alter the socio-cultural environment of said country beyond recognition.

We need freedom from the control system that has become religion, not more religious conflict, based on our unique interpretations of reality or our beliefs… Religion used to stand for the divine aspect of man. The fact that if we work hard enough, anything is possible. Religion used to be a science of our relationship with the cosmos, filled with meditation, deep contemplation and consciousness development that yielded great accomplishments, which we still rely upon. Now, religion has become a shadow of its former self. New great followings emerge that are led by the average person, inspired only by their deep faith. Economic migrants police the streets with Sharia, as we attempt to reinforce our Christian rule. With every day, the belief that a clash of cultures is inevitable spreads a little further. With each lie, with each broken promise and with each violent attack, we build more walls to fortify ourselves.

Unfortunately, Merkel opened Pandora’s box. She allowed the Trojan Horse to pass through the gates of Troy, accompanied by armed troops with hostile intent, slaughtering hundreds…Yet, she’s still throwing her entire body-weight into keeping those gates open. In the times of Ancient Greece, she would have been labelled a traitor for her humanitarian, if not self-destructive tendencies…but for what its worth, if Socrates was alive today, he would have been institutionalised as a schizophrenic with multiple personality disorder.

Back to the point, there are no more walls to be built that can protect us from this change. However, statistically, to embrace this level of socio-cultural change will invariably lead to the enforcement of Sharia Law on the major towns and cities in Britain, such as London, Brimingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Lincolnshire etc.
Conversely, if we do not accept their religious laws, religious conflict will be waged in an attempt to enforce their laws. Whichever path we choose from this point forward will incur more blood-shed.

When there is a need enforce foreign customs on others, mass migration becomes invasive.
When there is an agenda behind mass migration, mass migration becomes an invasion.

It’s Not About Colour, It’s About Freedom & Equality

“Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.” (Lao Tzu)

We are a diverse, multi-cultural world. We are all a part of a global community that we all help shape…We are one people that cannot be separated by religion, colour, creed or race.
You may worship as you choose, but as soon as you infringe on the religious freedom of others, there’s hell to pay… Equality is a two-sided coin. That means Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims have to respect each other with equal measure. There is no ‘one true religion’…There are only paths to self-realisation. Paths that we should be able to choose freely ourselves, according to what resonates deep within us.

Islam does not differentiate. Like the Christians of old or the Sith…Islamics deal only in absolutes. Since the religious system abandoned concepts that allow critical thinking and independent judgement, it has become a religion of genocide. An archaic, outdated system that still strives to take all things for themselves and rewrite our history to make it theirs.

How long can a religion based on femicide last? How long until there’s only a few hundred thousand women? How long until there’s just a handful? In every religious state, women are prized possessions. Yet, in those that view them as second class citizens, a large majority of women are kills before they even reach the end of puberty. In more civilised areas, they are given to suitors as children and are simply discarded or divorced once they are too old for their acquired tastes. Generally, this happens between the age of 15-16. Approx. 4-6 years after they were forced into a sexual relationship.

In 2013, men outnumbered women on the planet by roughly 58 million, according to the World Bank. In January 2015, men outnumbered women by 60 million. In fact, China has around 50 million more men than women, and India 43 million. This accounts for 76% of the male surplus worldwide. Russia have it totals up as a global excess of 60 million. Countries in the Arabian peninsula are the most unbalanced. (Qatar was is of the most extreme examples, with women making up less than one in four of the population)

Only one year later, this dynamic has radically changed. One year later, men now outnumber women by approx. 110 million, as a result of millions of unnecessary deaths, involving women. (Due to the lack of statistical data in certain countries, this number represents a gross estimate of how the global population has changed from the end of 2015 to the beginning of 2016) This radical shift has many contributing reasons, such as the preference of men over women, which leads to gender selective abortions and female infanticide. However, the root cause behind this worsening gender imbalance, as a whole, is femicide (which includes honour killings, executions, massacres, stonings, beheadings etc.)
In Arab countries, men heavily outnumber women as a control factor. The protocols that women are not permitted to leave their homes unaccompanied were originally intended for the use of religious scripture during wartime. It has no use outside of the Jihad, which leads us to my next point. During an Islamic takeover, women represent the future generations of the enemy. The customs of radical Islam is to rape and kill or force women to breed in captivity. Regardless of their skin-colour or country of origin, the freedom of women is at great risk with the rising influence of Islam over the West.

Before the migrant crisis, every second murder of a woman (in Germany) was committed by a spouse. Every fourth women is suffering from or experienced domestic violence… The migrant crisis is bringing all of this to light by showing us where we are headed, if we do not get our priorities straight. Yes, women have equality in the West, but we still earn less…Our vote is ignored just as intently as that of a man. Worse yet, we are abandoned even by our gender.
Each time we stand up for the religious freedom of Islam, as women, we are betraying our own kind. In other words, we dishonour and disrespect the heritage of every woman, who has come before us. Women, such as Curie and Nightingale, made astonishingly great strikes for womankind, and how have we repaid them? By taking all the freedom that we have fought for, and using it to abolish our democratic rights!

How many women have died to protect the freedom of all women? Not as many as are about to once again.

Historically, each time men outnumber women across the globe, there are socio-economic repercussions. What accounts for this current growing imbalance is the surplus of young, unmarried male migrants. Not to mention that Islamic leaders across the world are encouraging 4+ children. Countries, in which contraception and childlessness are punishable offences, greatly contribute to this massive population growth by adding to numbers that are already unsustainable.

Hypothetical: A friend of mine asked me about a week ago, “what would happen if radical Islam were to take over the planet?” The global number of women would be significantly reduced within less than a year. During the first year of a religious takeover, the casualties would be extremely high. Millions, if not billions would easily lose their lives for being outnumbered from the beginning. In the second, there would be a period of coercing conformity. Again, millions would die for either failing to do so, being unable to and from general maltreatment. Religious commitment can be very much like a compulsion… It wouldn’t matter if they knew that they’d be killing the last woman on Earth, they wouldn’t be able to help themselves. It’s that obsessive compulsive nature and lack of forethought, which could drive the number of (men and) women down to less than a million in very short time. Not to mention the global institutionalisation of peadophilia as well as underage marriage that’d contribute to the death of billions annually. If that level of femicide continued unchecked on a global scale, in less than 3 generations, there would only be a handful of women left…until the point where the majority of men could spend an entire lifetime without ever having laid eyes on a woman.

As stated in one of my earliest posts, an overwhelming majority of women under Sharia Law do not reach the end of puberty. Often they do not reach an age, at which their body can handle pregnancy. Simply because some women menstruate at a younger age does not mean their bodies are equipped to deal with pregnancy. Maturing is a complex process for men and women alike. In fact, the rate of complications is astoundingly high. That notwithstanding, the earliest age to facilitate a pregnancy with a manageable success-rate is 14, but the death-toll in medically unequipped countries is considerable in comparison to the West. As a side-note, in a rape culture, medical services are more equipped to deal with underage pregnancy. Considering the number of 14 year olds that abort or carry the child to term in the United Kingdom is the highest in Europe already without an unrestricted migrant flow.

Benefits Fraud: All over the world, pensioners receive payments without the need to attend the. Jobcentre or Welfare offices on a weekly basis. As decent as that may be for an elderly lady with only one decent working hip, there’s only one problem: Anyone can sneak in, dispose of the body and keep cashing the checks…And this is exactly what has been happening few and far between. Contrary to popular belief in Western societies, as the age of a sex offender goes down the age of the victim goes up. This often does not apply to crimes of opportunity.

Child Abduction: Since the surge of economic migrants, the number of attempted and actual abductions on playgrounds, school properties and the open road have risen exponentially. Do not let your child or teenager go out on their own! And even if you accompany them, anticipate trouble. The current locations to beware of are playgrounds, schools, swimming pools, beaches, hiking paths, mountain walkways and other family destinations.

Younger and older generations need to pull together avert more hate crimes aimed towards women. We are mothers, wives, sisters and daughters…and we need to stand together, because deserve the right to be safe inside our homes and step outside our front door without fear of victimisation…without becoming a target of cultural gender-bias.

The Assassination of Jo Cox

“In politics, if something doesn’t go the way you want, shoot someone. It works every time. Just like it did with the London Riots…Just like it’s working now. As long as there’s a patsy, no one cares who’s actually behind it all.”

How To Defend Against Multiple Attackers – Part 2

What you are about to read is highly controversial and disturbing. This blog does not take any legal responsibility for your actions, so if you try any of what you’re about to read, it is at your own risk!

Sex Attack

Don’t die for your possessions. As long as you’re looking at a simple mugging, just hand over your wallet. If they’re after more, however, you have every right to defend yourself. Bear in mind, there is the possibility that you are confronted by only a fraction or half the group, while the others lie in wait for an opportune moment to reveal themselves. In the case of 1 against 30 combat-trained assailants, only the most skilled martial artists walks away unscathed, so be realistic.
Every woman should have a basic knowledge of self-defence, the will and ability to apply it in life-threatening situations. Without the ability to act in self-defence, all the skill and force of will are of limited use. For many women that have never taken a punch to the face, it renders them completely immobile. Many self-defence classes do not advertise the fact that when anyone takes a punch, they have to force themselves to bounce back. To push through any haziness and let the adrenaline kick in. If need be, they force the mind to compensate for the pain and run on auto-pilot for a second, but they do whatever they need to do to stay conscious. They know on every level that if they go down after the first punch, they are not going to get a second opportunity. They may wake up restrained or tied down or they may wake up during or after rape. More importantly, they are going to be at the mercy of their captor(s), which means that they may die at their hands.
This may be much to take in, but it’s vital that women understand that a sex attack is not just 5 minutes and afterwards they’re thrown into the streets out of a van like in an 90’s crime thriller. The migrant crisis has shifted the entire dynamic of rape. Whereas it was statistically more likely to survive, that is no longer the case. Every other day, young girls, teenagers and women are left barely alive after 24-72 hour sex-sessions with 5-50 men and only one or two female participants. The younger the victim, the more likely the internal organ damage is going to be fatal…Regardless of how many participants. Under the age of 10, for example, repeated force can easily result in major blood-loss. It may take hours until the blood-loss results in the loss of unconsciousness, but inevitably the damage done is irreparable.

On a related note, the sexually transmitted diseases in survivors are yet to become a public issue, as none of them are officially “curable”. Despite the fact that corporations profit from every single tragedy without alleviating any suffering whatsoever, survivors do not have to cope with the situation by themselves. Their grief is openly disenfranchised, but that does not mean it is unnatural. In a rape culture, where society prefers to turn a blind eye, women have to look after themselves and one another to heal after such an ordeal. There are many support networks for men, women and children that have experienced all kinds of abuse.

Side-Note: Instead of going out to meet a rapefugee, go out and meet the homeless or unfortunate in your area. Volunteer to support survivors of the migrant sex attacks or speak to an apostate of Islam. In other words, inform yourself without putting yourself in harms way. Don’t take any unnecessary risks…Many women that have insisted they’ll gather evidence to support Islam is a peaceful religion have been raped and killed.

Now that we’ve reviewed what happens on average during one of these attacks, here are a few tricks that were not covered in the previous post:

• Sex-Attacks happen when you least expect them (i.e. jogging, shopping, way to or from work, the nursery, the gym or any other publicly accessible location)
• The only way to take punches is to get punched.
• The body has to become desensitised to the experience of taking a hit in order to stay standing and conscious
• When about to be hit and you cannot step out the way, relax and soften your body.
• Brace for and absorb the impact, then let it to fuel your momentum to strike back.
• The hits that you don’t expect or see coming are often said to be the most painful.
• The goal to anticipate, brace and block every strike is only achievable with a small number of opponents, incl. a few years of highly dedicated training.

For Women

• When faced with an opponent superior in height and strength, use your intelligence
• There are no rules: Push your thumbs into their eyes, kneecap them, sink your teeth in their necks, close your eyes and rip or use those heels as lethal weapons.
• Whatever gets you out alive, regardless how psychotic (unless you are fully prepared to die or accept the consequences of what surviving such an attack may mean)
• If guns are legal, where you are. Get two, purchase several clips and boxes of ammo. One gun and box of ammo solely for the handbag. The other can be carried on your person in a concealed manner.
• Sex attacks limits your use of weapons, whereas home invasions are a morally grey area. Even in England, where knife-bans are being implemented in specific regions on a trial basis…If you are attacked in the kitchen, a chef blade (and frying pan for defence against the knife-wielding sort) is legally justifiable.
• The ultimate goal of self-defence is not being required to use it.
• Whatever weapon of self-defence is legal to use, ensure you have it ready in hand before confronted by any attackers. The chance is you won’t have any time to do so otherwise.
• The more time to train, the more prepared you’ll be for the real thing
• Other than getting punched in the head or face, there’s no way to learn not to pass out. Attend a boxing gym. The body learns to adjust to punches that would otherwise cause you pass out fairly quickly, when the circumstances demand it.
• If you have one, give your reinforced (motorcycle) helmet a dual purpose and use it to shield your head when you know an attack is imminent

Home Invasion

A home invasion allows you to control the situation through preparation. Be creative. There are an infinite number of ways to make a window entrance into a hidden trap. For what it’s worth, I once cared for an elderly woman, whose house was broken into by a burglar that climbed through the window and instantaneously fell through the floor-boards onto the concrete cellar steps. Unsurprisingly, he remained unconscious in the locked cellar until the authorities arrived, but things could have looked very differently. So, here’s what you can do pre-emptively:

• Install Reinforced Locks, Doors and Windows
• Screw Dense, Reinforced Metal Bars To Windows
• Reinforce All Entrances with Wooden or Metal Barricades
• Obtain Firearm Licence and Training
• Attend a Dojo or Take Private Martial Arts Lessons
• Join The Neighbourhood Watch
• Build Non-Lethal Booby-Traps for Burglars (please be ensure that they can’t be accidentally set off and don’t just let it sit there unmaintained or unchecked until used months later)

Imagine that one that dark night, you awaken to a massive thud at the front door. From that moment, dependent on the size of your residence, you have under 60 seconds to prepare. For families, the sleeping arrangements often allow children to seek refuge in their parents bedroom in case of an emergency, but that implies there is a brace-period of some kind in-between the break-in and any physical confrontation. In other words, without a brace-period, just rolling over to grab your weapon of choice and get out of bed will things cut very close… Too close. By the time that a group or a few individuals have made it to the bedroom, you’ve lost. You have one room left to the defend, from which you’re most likely not going to get out of.

Exit Strategy: Unless you possess the skills and equipment to withstand a home invasion, perpetrated by a group of 15+, you must learn to assess the situation. Know when it is best to quietly sneak away and how you can do so. If you sleep on the second floor, make sure that you have more than one emergency exit, but ensure that its not visible from the outside. If the bedroom is large enough and somewhat obscured from other windows, you may have the space to store a ladder to climb out the window. Conversely, if you live in an apartment building, you may have access to a fire escape. Dependent on where you live and the tools you have at your disposal, the escape route you design has to be laid out carefully to suit your strengths.

Migrant home invasions may seem opportunistic, due to the weapons used for the break-in and inability to get a confession. At least with a lock-pick, the justice system would be able to evidence the premeditated nature of these attacks, but as they use less sophisticated means to gain entry, it becomes hard to prove. As stated earlier, home invasions are a grey zone. It is your constitutional right to defend your family and yourself in your own home.

The purpose of these random, premeditated attacks on women is to send the message that no one is safe. Not even in their own homes or bodies. That’s why they call it terrorism, because even when they are doing nothing…the uncertainty and fear they’ve created continues. Since Orlando, people have much to be afraid of. Governments across the globe are turning against their people…And that can scare anyone out of their minds. It makes us not only vulnerable to attack, but also defenceless. Or would you dial 999, after almost getting raped, only to most likely be fined for using pepper-spray or prosecuted for unreasonable force when you were clearly outnumbered? No, most people move in with each other or just arrange emergency contacts to help them. They turn their back on the law, when it no longer serves to protect them from harm and serves to imprison them instead. We are one step from returning to a time, when having trusted friends to dispose of bodies wasn’t commonplace but a regular occurrence that went unspoken.

Force Through Freezing: Whatever you choose, I urge you to think carefully. Every decision we make has its moral repercussions, even if we are never prosecuted for any crime committed. When the mind is paralysed with fear, we can’t be pre-occupied with philosophical debate. We freeze, we die.
A soldier would say that you are dead already the moment they break through the door, therefore you have nothing to lose. A monk would say that you were never born and that you can never die, because you are infinite consciousness, which equally implies you have nothing to lose. This universe may be an accident. It may be a glitch, a test or a holomovement, but whatever it is…unless we try protect those we love from suffering, none of this is of any consequence.
The reasons why people freeze are simple, but uniquely diverse. Some are afraid and do not truly wish to hurt anyone, others are pre-occupied thinking about what might happen. All of these reasons have one thing in common: The situation is bringing up all this unprocessed content, while the mind is scrambling to find a way out. (1) Failing to find any suitable behaviour, often due to lack of combat training, they freeze. (2) They know what to do but are hesitant, inexperienced first-timers, causing them to freeze (3) They have not decided how or whether to defend themselves. More often than not, they don’t know how far they are willing to go, which can either be a disadvantage or lead to psychotic violence and/or extreme overkill.

Combat & Invasion Tactics

The first question you must ask yourself, are you prepared to take a life in self-defence? If not, create a strategy that immobilises as many attackers as possible without inflicting fatal injuries. In any case, you have to render multiple attackers completely useless in a very short period of time. For that you need to understand, every battle has its physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual aspects. The first strike does not just serve to defend yourself. It is an open statement that allows your opponent to assess your skill, strength and determination. If the attack is feeble, they are more likely to overpower you in a group. If there is a pause or hesitation between one strike and the next, they may gain the upper hand. Therefore, your defensive strategy has to be conducted in one fluid movement. The least time between attacks, the more protected you will be. The ideal timespan between strikes should be one second, leaving just enough time for one strike per assailant. So, make it count. Educate yourself in basic anatomy and physiology!

Study the anatomical weaknesses of the human body. Learn how to maximise the potential of your attack with minimal effort. Use the momentum of their attack against them. First of all, when an oncoming attack is imminent and multiple attackers are charging towards you, you’ll feel the desire to step backwards. Remember, any ground, you give, is ground that you’ll have to fight for with tooth and nails. Hence, soldiers are desensitised, so that they are able to stand still and blankly stare at an attacking force, waiting move through them without hesitation, once they get close enough.

As they charge, they are vulnerable from a distance. The more you render immobile through non-fatal means, before they can get to you the better. Apart from an automatic pepper-solution dispersal system at the front door, or other high-tech security measures, the selection of choice is generally limited by technical skill or accessible long-distance weaponry. (Cross-bow, nail gun etc.)
(On a related note, Home Alone offers some creative ways to use basic everyday objects for self defence, but in case things don’t go according to plan, anything can be used as a weapon, if you’re creative enough)

The easiest means to defend yourself is to make it almost impossible to get to you. If there’s only 3 perpetrators, your preventative measure should hit them hard enough that they can’t get far. Every window, every door and every weak spot is a possible entrance point from which people can converge on the residence, so ensure that you have all your bases covered.

Warning: Booby-Traps aren’t just explosive charges, they can be made of anything that slows down an attacker in a camouflaged manner. Although not all are lethal, they’re heavily regulated. Take some additional time to study the law and follow it to the letter. Obtain the expertise and licences necessary to use them, dependent on where you live. If you have an understanding, pro-survival attorney or friend in the legal industry, inform them of your plans and discuss possible legal concerns. They’ll most likely remind you that any trap can be potentially lethal, if all goes wrong.

Trip Wire: A trip wire should be as thin and invisible as possible. If it serves multiple functions, I’d recommend the kind of transparent carbon-fibre, which is sharp enough to inflict small lacerations around the ankles or calves. With multiple attackers, this can out one of out commission, plus however many the mechanism at the end of the trip-wire can take care of. Whereas some prefer to use the trip-wire as an intruder alert, it’s often counter-productive. Unless you’re looking at a highly sophisticated set of economic criminals, you’ll be awakened by the noise of a window or front/back-door breaking. Anyhow, you’d be better off connecting that wire to something capable of disabling 1-5 people or seal off the path to the communal areas.

Under the Floor: Concealed traps hidden under wooden floor-boards at a door or window serve as another suitable means maim a burglar. For the more technologically equipped, a pressure sensor can be used, but that’s just one idea. Defence in the home is limited by creativity and perhaps madness. The only limits that exist are in the mind. Contrary to popular belief, the more creative you can be, the less or more lethal you can be. For example, electrical charges sufficient enough to stun, tase or even kill could easily be installed through miniature holes in the floorboards with something to direct the current that can be raised and lowered manually. However, this is highly controversial, legally grey territory and should not be tried at a whim. (Just please take into account that family members could accidentally stumble onto any trap implemented before its time, if they’re not equally educated on arming and disarming it. Beware teenagers and general ignorance!)

As stated before, there are an infinite number of variations, when it comes down to booby-traps. If we won’t be able to avert a Third World War, it may be useful to know that the Geneva convention will most likely be thrown out fairly quickly…It’s one of the fastest means to escalate a war to its peak in the shortest period of time available. For those that don’t know much about the Geneva convention, it prohibits the use of excessively torturous weapons, such as spring-bullets and depleted uranium rounds etc. (and unofficially, directed frequency weapons…)

Door-To-Door Massacres

For those worried about a door-to-door massacre, the objective during such an is to delay the attackers and deny them entrance into the property. For a massacre, fire is on or the most useful weapons, as long as you keep in mind to use top-grade chemical fire retardants to prevent the spread into living areas. Few attackers will step through a pit of fire too large to leap over…They’ll either divert more manpower and resource, which is useless against a napalm-based fire. It’d easily melt the asphalt or concrete at the front of the house in a short while, but if done properly…Most do not have the skill or materials to put it out until the fire brigade arrives.

Warning: When playing with fire, expect the worst. Keep it away from your house, but in-between you and the attacking force. That means lay it on pathways, your front and back garden…but use it to seal every available entrance. Hell, if possible, you could even enclose the property in a ring of fire wide enough that no Olympian Medallist would be able to jump through. More importantly, expect that any fire may still grow out of control, no matter how many precautions you take, so ensure that you have a contingency plan, if it does spread to the house or neighbourhood. Gas masks can also be a very useful thing to have, if an attacking force attempts to burn you out of your home or aim to use the fire you’ve laid against you. It should be noted that this cannot be done with napalm. In the military, as soon as an infantry is confronted with Napalm, the objective is to get around it. When all paths to all entrances and ground floor windows are cut off, this is not an option, as long as the fire is laid wide enough. However, that often doesn’t stop an attacking group from converging on the only resisting force. – In videos of refugee centres and blocks, you’ll often notice a lot of rubbish lying around…Seemingly chucked on the floor at random, but if you look more closely, they connect burnable pieces of cardboard, newspaper, mixed in with bits of plastic to create a trail along the walking path and over the patches of grass. One match and the entire entrance to the apartment block is inaccessible to law enforcement until the fire brigade arrives.

Physical Conflict

A physical confrontation should be avoid at all cost, especially when vastly outnumbered and outgunned. However, its advantageous to consider how to defend yourself should the need arise. Contrary to popular belief belief, attackers are rarely unarmed. The more attackers are coming up against resistance, the more they’ll utilise firearms and knives to gain instant co-operation out of fear. (Mind you, in some of my more gruesome case studies, there was a significant percentage of convicted offenders that exhibited the desire to carve new orifices to penetrate. So, it is truly a matter of gauging the extent of your attackers likely intentions) Although knife fights can last up to 10-15 minutes in Hollywood, in reality, they last under 30 seconds. Often the first to deliver a successful strike walks away.

In all honesty, snuff film footage of amateurs against experienced attackers is highly depressing. After 3 hours of ‘block’, ‘slash’, ‘dead’ in almost every possible variation, (including even the Prometheus school of running), I decided to approach to the situation from a different angle.

Size Matters: The longer the reach of your weapon, the better. You’ll either want to be as far away from the attacker as possible, or so in their personal space that they cannot attack until it’s far too late. (Throw knives as primary and back-up weapons may also be useful. Just be sure to practice)
Ideally, you should be carrying separate weapons, equipped for long-distance and close combat, when facing multiple attackers. Without the legal use of firearms, the situation becomes rather violent and bloody. Without any form of long-distance weaponry, there is only one way to confront and subdue multiple attackers: From the first strike onwards, your defence tactic has to frighten even the most combat-hardened attacker. It has to be gruesome, but preferably non-lethal, unless you are truly fighting for your life.

Protective Clothing: If all fails, a stab vest, chainmail, kevlar or any form of armour can be of extreme use. Even if they’d manage to deliver an otherwise fatal blow, the worse they could do is fracture a rib or two or cause moderate trauma to the chest.

Tips & Tricks For Women

Muscle may weigh more, but it also takes more nutritionally-dense food and regular exercise to maintain. Also, it is a great psychological disincentive when a woman has more muscle than her attackers and knows how to use it. Not to mention, the tactical advantages of strength as well as skill in a neat, sexy package, disguised by appearance.

When attackers prey on fear, call their bluff. Be confident. If they are going to try to rape and kill you, they’ll have do over your dead body. Whatever they are going to do to you is nothing compared to the moral consequences of their actions. Just concern yourself with your own survival and that of those under your care, failing that…I personally wouldn’t want to be taken alive, but I’d fight until my last breath. This is a decision that should never be taken lightly, but it is one every woman has to make for herself. Particularly for single-mothers with young daughters. Many women can easily be driven to the degree of desperation, when killing one’s offsprings to save them from harm may seem justifiable, but investing all that energy in self-defence can be much more powerful. The miraculous feats we are capable of to shield our children from harm should be enough evidence of that. If we have the strength to lift a car during pregnancy, we have access to the same amount of strength to defend our children after birth. We just have to make up for with intelligence, where brute force will not do.

When an opponent is taller, there many advantages and disadvantages. However, it is often an unspoken truth that the shorter one is, the more one vicious and agile one has to be from the first strike onwards. Throw away any inhibitions, they’ll only slow you down in a fight. When the adrenaline surges, don’t resist it. Simply go with the flow. Let your actions be fuelled by whatever you feel in that moment, but don’t allow yourself to be overpowered by emotions…Channel them through your body and throw your entire weight into it.
On a related note, the sex attacks across Europe have shown that the attackers objective is to knock women out and restrain them, while almost fatally injuring any man present.

Game Over: An old friend once gave me a piece of advice, he said that it is more important to know when the game is over. Women have to consider the brutal reality of what will happen to them, if they are captured and even imprisoned for breeding purposes. In some ancient societies, it was a custom to put the children to sleep and then administer a fatal dose of whatever compound was available at the time. However, other societies operated far differently. For example, Norse communities would prefer to slit their throats, whereas in Japan, women were educated to slide a short blade up behind the solar plexus to pierce the heart. Although euthanasia or ritual suicide in these cases should never be an option, it can be a more compassionate solution to seemingly endless suffering.

Related:

How To Defend Against Multiple – Part 1

The Power of the Anglosphere in Eurosceptical thought

 

 

 

 

The idea of the Anglosphere is an important element of British Euroscepticism. Ben Wellings and Helen Baxendale show that calls for unity of purpose between English-speaking peoples offer Eurosceptics an alternative political community to the European Union, and one that aligns history, culture and politics more closely than does Britain’s membership of the EU. Although the Anglosphere does not yet constitute a viable political alternative to Britain’s EU membership, articulating it helps Eurosceptics imagine a UK outside the European Union.

The rise in Euroscepticism within the Conservative Party after 2010 was preceded by a decade of discussion about the existence of the so-called ‘Anglosphere’ as a viable alternative to the UK’s membership of the European Union. Amidst all the searching for Swiss or Norwegian models for Britain’s relationship with the EU, some Eurosceptics advanced the Anglosphere in response to criticisms about the lack of an alternative vision to European integration.

Euroscepticism and the Anglosphere

Speaking in the debate on the Maastricht treaty in 1992, the Conservative Minister for Europe, Tristan Garel-Jones posed the question that always caused some awkward silences amongst British Eurosceptics: ‘Can the anti-federalists, the Euro-sceptics and little Englanders offer a positive alternative?’

Reflecting on this in The Spectator, Tim Congdon floated a response: the English-speaking peoples or what was increasingly being referred to as the ‘Anglosphere’. From the late 1990s, exponents of the ‘Anglosphere’ idea argued that the English-speaking nations are distinguished by a set of institutions and characteristics that the other advanced nations of Europe ultimately lack: a common law tradition, respect for private property, continuous representative government, and a culture that nurtures civil society and entrepreneurial enterprise.

Emerging in the late 1990s, the Anglosphere idea is, in essence, a proposal for an international organisation that accommodates and celebrates the history, culture and institutions that many hard Eurosceptics believe make Britain different from the continent. It is, in short, a mutual political association that variously includes the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, the English-speaking Caribbean islands and Singapore, all dedicated to free trade and greater military and security cooperation that could constitute, in Robert Conquest’s words, ‘a centre of hope in the world … around which peace, cooperation, and democracy can develop’.

The Anglosphere idea has proven attractive to prominent British Eurosceptics. Margaret Thatcher, David Willetts, John Redwood, Daniel Hannan, David Davis, Norman Lamont, Liam Fox, Bill Cash, Michael Howard, and William Rees-Mogg all wrote or spoke in support of increased cooperation across the Anglosphere, with their ideas often published or promoted in Conrad Black’s and Rupert Murdoch’s media outlets.

Britain, Europe and the English-speaking Peoples

Although sentimental ties to the Commonwealth and the wider English-speaking world never went away, the Commonwealth could not provide a viable alternative to Europe in the mid-1970s. But this context changed. As such, Eurosceptics in Britain have questioned Britain’s accession to the Common Market.

Writing from Melbourne in 2013, Boris Johnson spoke of the ‘historic and strategic decision that this country took in 1973’ in which ‘we betrayed our relationships with Commonwealth countries such as Australia and New Zealand’. This betrayal was the product of specific historical circumstances – domestic, European and global – that no longer pertained. Johnson argued that:

When Britain joined the Common Market, it was at a time when the establishment was defeatist, declinist and obsessed with the idea that we were being left out of the most powerful economic club in the world. In those days – when olive oil and garlic had barely appeared on the dining tables of Britain – it was assumed that in order to be “internationalist” it was enough to be European. Well, it is now perfectly obvious that that is no longer enough – and that we need to seek a wider destiny for our country.

The attraction of such arguments was that they appeared to make historic and cultural sense. The Anglosphere suggested that progress could be reconciled with the restitution of a historical wrong and a future for Britain outside the EU imagined amongst a community of English-speaking peoples sanctioned by the past relationships and shared culture. Thus a political choice that seemed expansive in 1973 was perceived as parochial forty years later.

A renewed emphasis on long-standing and stable (if somewhat taken-for-granted) political relations with Commonwealth countries chimed with calls for a political re-orientation away from Europe after 2010. For example, speaking in Sydney only days before David Cameron’s Bloomberg speech on the EU in London, William Hague argued for closer political cooperation between Britain and Australia, exemplified by the on-going ‘five eyes’ intelligence cooperation, the regular ministerial-level meetings inaugurated in 2006 under the name of AUKMIN and the diplomatic and consular cooperation in emerging countries that were already well established.

European Integration and the Anglo-British Past

The strong sense of British difference from the continent that animated many Eurosceptics and Anglosphere enthusiasts was firmly rooted in a particular understanding of Britain’s past, making the Anglosphere the other side of the Eurosceptic coin. John Redwood neatly encapsulated the centrality of this history to hard Eurosceptic thought:

Britain is at peace with its past in a way that many continental countries could never be… We do not have to live down the shame that many French people feel regarding the events of 1940-44. We do not have to live…with the collective guilt that Germany feels about the Holocaust… We do not wake up every morning like Italians to wonder who might be in government today and which government ministers might be charged with corruption tomorrow.

Such a rendering of the past is redolent of the dominant British historiography of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which uncritically celebrated Britain’s constitutional and imperial achievements and the collective exceptionalism of the English-speaking peoples to be found in David Cameron’s ‘favourite book,’ Our Island Story, by Henrietta Marshall.

In this understanding of the past, the unique British inheritance that makes further integration into Europe undesirable to hard Eurosceptics is the very same inheritance that unites the Anglophone world, rendering deeper cooperation and closer association not only eminently possible but highly desirable. In this way, with the ‘Special Relationship’ at its core, the Anglosphere’s proponents contend it would constitute a more authentic and robust standard-bearer for Western values than a weak and crisis-ridden EU could ever hope to be.

Conclusion

Even advocates of the Anglosphere Association are happy for it to remain just an idea: a gratifyingly provocative retort to the likes of Tristan Garel Jones. An institutionalised Anglosphere Association is unlikely to be realised anytime soon. But the practicalities and prospects of the Anglosphere as a functional entity are not really the main point of interest here. Anglosphere enthusiasm is significant first and foremost for what it says about a certain strand of hard British Euroscepticism and its conception of Britain’s identity and place in the world.

Source: The power of the Anglosphere in Eurosceptical thought

After Brexit: The Eurosceptic vision of an Anglosphere Future

Eurosceptics fantasies about an alliance of the Anglosphere may be implausible, but they show the need for a positive vision.

Now that the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has published the proposed reforms to the relationship between the UK and the EU, and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has endorsed them as the basis for the UK’s continued membership of the union, the starting gun has effectively been fired in the referendum campaign. A central challenge for Eurosceptic supporters of Brexit is how to articulate a prosperous, optimistic future for the UK outside the EU. Conversely, supporters of staying-in need to show why Britain is stronger inside the union, and why leaving it would be risky. Much of this hangs on bread-and-butter questions about jobs and living standards, and the extent to which the Prime Minister’s reform package addresses public concerns about immigration and democratic control over EU institutions. But bigger questions about Britain’s identity and place in the world loom large too.

In the last couple of decades, eurosceptics have developed the idea that Britain’s future lies with a group of “Anglosphere” countries, not with a union of European states. At the core of this Anglosphere are the “five eyes” countries (so-called because of intelligence cooperation) of the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Each, it is argued, share a common history, language and political culture: liberal, protestant, free market, democratic and English-speaking. Sometimes the net is cast wider, to encompass Commonwealth countries and former British colonies, such as India, Singapore and Hong Kong. But the emotional and political heart of the project resides in the five eyes nations.

As this lineage suggests, the roots of the Anglosphere concept lie in 19th century imperialist discourses, and more specifically in the idea of an Imperial Federation, which gained ground in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as the British Empire came under pressure from rising nationalist and anti-colonialist forces. Federation, with an Imperial Parliament governing foreign, defence and trade policy, seemed an ideal solution for keeping dominions and colonies happily inside the empire. The First World War put paid to this ambition but the idea lived on in the concept of the Commonwealth.

As Professor Michael Kenny and I set out in an essay for the New Statesman, the Anglosphere returned as a central concept in eurosceptic thinking in the 1980s, when Europhilia started to wane in the Conservative Party and Thatcherism was its ascendancy. On the right of the Conservative Party, we argued:

“…American ideas were a major influence, especially following the emergence of a powerful set of foundations, think tanks and intellectuals in the UK that propounded arguments and ideas that were associated with the fledgling “New Right”. In this climate, the Anglosphere came back to life as an alternative ambition, advanced by a powerful alliance of global media moguls (Conrad Black, in particular), outspoken politicians, well-known commentators and intellectual outriders, who all shared an insurgent ideological agenda and a strong sense of disgruntlement with the direction and character of mainstream conservatism.

In his major work Reflections on a Ravaged Century, the historian Robert Conquest argued that the political arrangements of the west were all increasingly deficient, the EU included. The answer was “a more fruitful unity” between the Anglosphere nations. And, in a speech to the English-Speaking Union in New York in 1999, Margaret Thatcher endorsed Conquest’s vision, noting how such an alliance would “redefine the political landscape”. What appealed most was the prospect of the UK finding an alliance founded upon deep, shared values, the antithesis of the position it faced in Europe.”

The idea of the Anglosphere as an alternative to the European Union gained ground amongst conservatives in their New Labour wildnerness years, when transatlantic dialogue and trips down under kept their hopes of ideological revival alive. It was given further oxygen by the neo-conservative coalition of the willing stitched together for the invasion of Iraq, which seemed to demonstrate the Anglosphere’s potency as an geo-political organizing ideal, in contrast to mainstream hostility to the war in Europe. By the time of the 2010 election, the Anglosphere had become common currency in conservative circles, name checked by leading centre-right thinkers like David Willetts, as well as eurosceptic luminaries, such as Dan Hannan MEP, who devoted a book and numerous blogs to the subject.

As Foreign Secretary, William Hague, sought to strengthen ties between the Anglosphere countries, despite the indifference shown by the Obama presidency to the idea. After leaving the cabinet, the leading eurosceptic Owen Patterson gave a lengthy speech in the US on the subject of an Anglospheric global alliance for free trade and security; he could expect a sympathetic hearing in Republican circles, if not the White House. And in its 2015 election Manifesto, UKIP praised the Anglosphere as a “global community” of which the UK was a key part.

These geo-political claims are met with derision in centrist political circles. For international relations realists, the idea of an Anglosphere barely merits a straight face, let alone serious consideration. And it is unquestionable that the US and Canada, let alone India, would view a geo-political alliance of English-speaking as an alternative to existing global structures as fanciful; indeed, they question why the UK should be entertaining leaving the EU at all.

But the Anglosphere’s potency is ideological, not geo-political. It functions as an imaginary horizon for a eurosceptic worldview of Britain after Brexit, uniting the UK with a global trading future as well as a sceptered isle past. It registers nostalgia, but also energy: Britain would be liberated to march on the world stage again, freed from sclerotic, conformist Europe and reanimated by the animal spirits that once gave it an empire. Thus it defends the eurosceptic flank where it is most vulnerable – rebutting the charge that it wants to take Britain back to the 1950s by delving even deeper into our island story and casting it forward into the 21st century.

This should give pro-Europeans pause for thought. The “Remain” campaign is currently premised largely on the risks of Brexit (or “Project Fear” as it is known to its detractors). It needs an optimistic account of Britain’s future in the world – one which passes through the European Union, not past it. Yet globalization currently has a bad press, and in the face of insecurity and inequality, a New Labour formula of “globalization plus good schools” doesn’t cut much ice with working class voters. Developing its own version of Britain’s identity and role in the world, beyond the fact of EU membership alone, is therefore a pressing task.

Source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/nick-pearce/after-brexit-eurosceptic-vision-of-anglosphere-future

http://blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/2016/02/02/after-brexit-the-eurosceptic-vision-of-an-anglosphere-future/

Cannabis Behind The Wheel

 

The dominos are beginning to fall…State after state, country after country is slowly and gradually legalising cannabis and hemp for industrial, recreational and medical use. Long-term, high functioning cannabis users all over the world have confessed to their penchant for the lush green plant. Concurrently, many people have begun wonder about the potential benefits and side-effects of this endeavour.Interestingly, just as I was illustrating sudden death prevention strategies for motor-vehicle accidents (for a chapter in my upcoming book, detailing some of my current post-doctoral research), I received a message from Michelle, wishing for someone to explain how to prevent car accidents as a result of cannabis inebriation.
In my personal opinion, what we do to our body is our own responsibility, however, we surrender that privilege to the law when we endanger others behind the wheel. More often than not, for good reason. The question, therefore, is how likely is substance use to impact on the lives of others, when driving?
First of all, that depends on the user and amount consumed. In the United Kingdom and the United States, the majority of road accidents involve young adults, excluding incidences of grand theft auto committed by a bunch of teenagers. As the leading cause of death in those under 30 are motor-vehicle crashes (MVC), an effective prevention strategy is necessary to commence with the legalisation of cannabis.

Although the furthest, most stoners I know, are willing to travel is the fridge, many functioning cannabis users do not have a choice when their working life comes calling… So, how does cannabis affect driving skills as well as behaviour? Studies indicate that as soon as any other form of narcotic is introduced into the mix, the effects of cannabis are overridden and/or negated. Protective behavioural mechanisms and inhibitions go out the window. The extensive physiological effects of cannabis on the road remain yet to be determined by the development of a more detailed medical testing methodology. However, a number of studies indicate the sole use of cannabis does not impair driving skills as severely as presumed by authorities:
“In summary, laboratory tests and driving studies show that cannabis may acutely impair several driving-related skills in a dose-related fashion, but that the effects between individuals vary more than they do with alcohol because of tolerance, differences in smoking technique, and different absorptions of THC. Driving and simulator studies show that detrimental effects vary in a dose-related fashion, and are more pronounced with highly automatic driving functions, but more complex tasks that require conscious control are less affected, which is the opposite pattern from that seen with alcohol. Because of both this and an increased awareness that they are impaired, marijuana smokers tend to compensate effectively for their impairment by utilising a variety of behavioural strategies such as driving more slowly, passing less, and leaving more space between themselves and cars in front of them. Combining marijuana with alcohol eliminates the ability to use such strategies effectively, however, and results in impairment even at doses that would be insignificant were they of either drug alone.” (NCBI)
Cannabis As a Cause of Motor-Vehicle Crashes

But what are the leading causes of MVC around the globe? Most studies hint to the fact that car accidents happen for three reasons: Firstly, when we are on autopilot… When we are not paying attention to what we are doing, either because we are mentally pre-occupied, multi-tasking or inebriated. Secondly, MVC occur as a result of slow reaction time and/or ineffective intervention strategies. Thirdly, MVC are triggered by the occurrence of unexpected events, such as the car at front, slowing down too quickly, the sudden appearance of a pedestrian as the car turns the corner or sudden, mechanical failure.

First, let’s have a look on what being on autopilot means…Have you ever snapped out of whatever you were thinking of as you pulled into your driveway, wondering how the hell did I get here? You may remember driving home, on some level, but your mind was a thousand miles away. Since you have probably taken the same route for a long time, your mind switches from manual to automatic, as it may. In other words, your unconscious mind takes over the wheel. More often than not, you’ll arrive at your destination safe and sound. Maybe, with the occasional fender-bender. However, the risk that you won’t the thousandth time you make the trip is quite high. Being drunk, stoned and/or tired merely quadruples the certainty of such an event. Truth be told, it is only a matter of time before accidents happen, if we don’t take precautions. More importantly, in certain circumstances, all the precautions and preparation in the world is of no use…Therefore, it is up to each and every single one of us to make the road a safe place.

In conclusion, out of all substance users, experienced cannabis users are the only control group that is more likely to drive at a reduced speed, taking additional precautions when under the influence:
“Surprisingly, given the alarming results of cognitive studies, most marijuana-intoxicated drivers show only modest impairments on actual road tests. Experienced smokers who drive on a set course show almost no functional impairment under the influence of marijuana, except when it is combined with alcohol.”(NCBI)

Driving inebriated is never a solution, especially when we are desperate and out of time. For example, when I was working in outreach home-care, a former colleague of mine was running late for work. Tired and exhausted from a late night, she rushed into the house to see to the personal care of an elderly woman. After half an hour, she came outside and found a police officer, standing by her vehicle, which she had parked in an almost straight line, blocking the entire road. She could have sworn she left it in a parking spot, but she was so sleep deprived, pre-occupied and possibly still slightly intoxicated/hungover. Although no one was hurt, she was summoned to court and rightfully fined. This is not an uncommon occurrence, when discussing alcohol-related driving incidents. That being said, it would require a massive amount of (only) cannabis to impair general functioning to achieve a similar effects. “Extreme Ice-boxing”, extreme cannabis use in an enclosed space, such as one’s car, would impair driving for a short period of time. Hence, it is advised by experienced smokers to take a walk, breathe deeply or eat, before even thinking of driving inebriated.
The mere fact that half of all drivers are statistically deemed to fail retaking an official driving test indicates that the average road user does very little to develop their driving skills. Inevitably, every driver will develop habits over the years, however, only a selective number of those habits are designed to reinforce road-safety. Believe it or not, a study conducted by the NCBI confirmed that functional cannabis users are more likely to develop behavioural strategies to prevent their involvement in car crashes. Nonetheless, accidents can happen. Each and every driver has to pay greater attention to their speed, even when they’re running late for the PTA, dance recital or staff meeting

Experienced cannabis users, similar to functional addicts, often develop behavioural strategies that ensure their safety on the road, but even stoners can be distracted, occupied or begin to develop bad habits. Road safety is a collective effort and in countries, where it is legal or illegal, we have ensure that we do not use a car when under the influence, unless medically necessary. For example, in the event that it prevents stress-prone seizures, which is a common occurrence, driving under the influence of medically prescribed marijuana may be an interesting court debate.

“Experimental studies could focus on measuring blood levels consistently or developing more accurate methods of measuring THC levels in the CNS, as well as examining residual effects that persist for more than one hour after smoking. This would permit construction of a better dose-impairment curve for THC. It would also be interesting to know whether the improved performance of experienced users is because of physiological tolerance or because of behavioural strategies that can be taught to infrequent users.”

Road safety is known to rank highly among important issues the public would like addressed by government (Lyons et al., 2008; p. 106). Safety when travelling is part of the Department for Transport’s third aim and objectives: ‘To contribute to better safety, security and health and longer life-expectancy through reducing the risk of death, injury or illness arising from transport, and promoting travel modes that are beneficial to health’
Conclusively, various studies suggest that the consumption of alcohol is medically more harmful and more dangerous behind the wheel than cannabis. To recap, once any other drug is introduced along with marijuana, general behavioural expectations fly out the window. The driver no longer exhibits the same behaviour. Conversely, speeding is more common in 30mph zones, particularly under the influence of a mixture of substances. As the medicinal value of cannabis outdates countless modern cultures, the issue of driving inebriated is bound to arise, involving the young and elderly. This does not change the fact that unless medically necessary, or for therapeutic/spiritual purposes, it is advised to avoid using cannabis before or whilst driving. Besides, you may never know the car may grow wings, take off and fly to the moon.

Dedicated to @YoursTruly_27

 

UK police spend $85,000 on cardboard cutout ‘gimmick’ – RT News

More than 750 cutouts of policemen have been bought by UK forces at a cost of more than $85,000. The 2D police constable cutouts are aimed at deterring shoplifters who would mistake them for real officers from afar…but no one knows if they really work.

Police forces across England have purchased a collective 782 cutouts. At the same time, some 10,000 jobs have been cut, according to a recent report released by Mail Online. 

Twenty-one police forces have forked out £53,940 (more than US$85,000), meaning nearly half of all the UK’s police forces have “invested” in what a campaign group has termed a “gimmick.” 

“Until it’s shown that these actually work, this seems to be a gimmick that will take money away from essential front-line services,” Andy Silvester, campaign manager for the Taxpayer’s Alliance, told the Daily Mail on Saturday.

 

Image from gmp.police.uk

 

“The public want the thin blue line to be made of police officers, not cardboard. No cut-out, to my knowledge, has ever slapped handcuffs on a criminal,” Silvester said. 

Some of the pretend policemen have even fallen victim to the actions of criminals themselves, with several having been stolen by thieves and jokers, or destroyed by vandals. 

Gwent Police in South Wales purchased 52 cutouts at a cost of £13,260 (nearly $22,500), meaning £255 ($432) was spent on each one. 

Other police forces across the country spent between £2,745 ($4,657) and £11,280 ($19,137) on the figures. 

The two-dimensional figures first caused a stir in 2009, prompting some forces to issue statements on their usage. Some £20,000 ($34,000) was spent. 

Earlier in 2014, a man sized one of the cutouts from a petrol station, and was shown kicking it to smithereens on CCTV. He was issued a fine of £90 – more than the cost of each figure in some areas – after his license plate number was also recorded. 

The incident took place in Essex, southeast England, and had shortly followed statements that the figures would be removed because of how ineffective they were. The cutouts were deployed in Essex with the intention of preventing drivers from speeding off without paying for fuel. 

In November 2013, more than 50 cardboard cutouts of the same police officer were produced for Gwent, at a cost of £13,000 ($22,000). 

South Yorkshire police released figures saying that the figures cut crime by 35 percent. However, no other police forces have cited such figures.

– RT News