Researchers find neural switch that turns dreams on and off

October 15, 2015, University of California - Berkeley
When a laser triggers an optogenetic switch in neurons in the medulla of a sleeping mouse, the animal goes from non-REM sleep (NREM) into REM or dream sleep. The axons of these neurons (green) reach into distant parts of the primitive brain, such as the hypothalamus, broadly affecting brain function. Credit: Franz Weber/UC Berkeley

At the flip of a switch, University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientists can send a sleeping mouse into dreamland.

The researchers inserted an optogenetic switch into a group of nerve cells located in the ancient part of the brain called the medulla, allowing them to activate or inactivate the neurons with laser light.

When the neurons were activated, sleeping mice entered REM sleep within seconds. REM sleep, characterized by rapid eye movements, is the dream state in mammals accompanied by activation of the cortex and total paralysis of the skeletal muscles, presumably so that we don't act out the dreams flashing through our mind.

Inactivating the neurons reduced or even eliminated a mouse's ability to enter REM sleep.

"People used to think that this region of the medulla was only involved in the paralysis of skeletal muscles during REM sleep," said lead author Yang Dan, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. "What we showed is that these neurons triggered all aspects of REM sleep, including muscle paralysis and the typical cortical activation that makes the brain look more awake than in non-REM sleep."

While other types of neurons in the brainstem and hypothalamus have been shown to influence REM sleep, Dan said, "Because of the strong induction of REM sleep - in 94 percent of the recorded trials our mice entered REM sleep within seconds of activating the neurons - we think this might be a critical node of a relatively small network that makes the decision whether you go into dream sleep or not."

The UC Berkeley team reported their results in the Oct. 15 print issue of the British journal Nature, and the paper was posted online Oct. 7.

The discovery will not only help researchers better understand the complex control of sleep and dreaming in the brain, the researchers said, but will allow scientists to stop and start dreaming at will in mice to learn why we dream.

"Many psychiatric disorders, especially mood disorders, are correlated with changes in REM sleep, and some widely used drugs affect REM sleep, so it seems to be a sensitive indicator of mental and emotional health," said first author Franz Weber, a UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow. "We are hoping that studying the sleep circuit might lead us to new insights into these disorders as well as neurological diseases that affect sleep, like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases."

Eating and dreaming

The researchers also found that activating these brain cells while the mice were awake had no effect on wakefulness, but did make them eat more. In normal mice, these neurons - a subset of nerve cells that release the neurotransmitter gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), and so are called GABAergic neurons - are most active during waking periods when the mice are eating or grooming, two highly pleasurable activities.

Dan suspects that these GABAergic neurons in the medulla have the opposite effect of stress neurons, such as the noradrenergic neurons in the pons, another ancient part of the brain. Noradrenergic neurons release the transmitter noradrenalin, a cousin of adrenalin.

"Other people have found that noradrenergic neurons, which are active when you are running, shut down when eating or grooming. So it seems like when you are relaxed and enjoying yourself, the noradrenergic neurons switch off and these GABAergic neurons in the medulla turn on," she said.

The GABAergic neurons project from the ventral part of the medulla, which sits at the top of the spinal cord, into many regions of the brainstem and hypothalamus, and thus are able to affect many bodily functions. These regions - more primitive than the brain's cortex, the center of thinking and reasoning - are the seat of emotions and many innate behaviors as well as the control centers for muscles and automatic functions such as breathing.

Optical brain state switching

Dan, Weber and their colleagues chose a powerful technique called optogenetics to study these REM-related GABAergic neurons in the medulla. The technique involves inserting a light-sensitive ion channel into specific types of neurons by means of a virus. To target the virus to GABAergic neurons, the researchers used a genetically engineered mouse line that expresses a marker protein in these specific neurons only. Once present, the ion channel can turn on the activity of neurons when stimulated by laser light through an optical fiber inserted in the brain. Alternatively, inserting an inhibitory ion pump into the GABAergic neurons allowed the researchers to turn off the activity of these neurons through laser stimulation.

Using this genetically engineered strain of mice, the researchers mapped the activity of these neurons in the medulla and then recorded how activating or inactivating the neurons for brief periods affected sleep and waking behavior.

They also used a drug to inactivate the same set of neurons and found a reduction of REM sleep, though not as immediate and lasting for a longer period of time, since the drug required about half an hour to take effect and wore off slowly.

They also inserted the light-sensitive ion channels into a different set of neurons in the medulla: glutamatergic neurons, which release the neurotransmitter glutamate. Activating these neurons immediately awakened the animals, the opposite effect of activating the GABAergic neurons.

Dan is continuing her studies of the that affect not only REM sleep, but also non-REM sleep.

Explore further: Team identifies neurons important for induction of natural REM sleep

Related Stories

Team identifies neurons important for induction of natural REM sleep

February 3, 2015
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have added another piece to the complex puzzle of how the brain controls one of the most essential functions - sleep. In ...

Researchers use optogenetics to trigger REM sleep in mice

December 30, 2014
Getting enough of the right kind of sleep is crucial for keeping both body and mind healthy. Now a team of researchers at MIT has moved a step closer to being able to produce natural sleep patterns.

Inducing non-REM sleep in mice by novel optogenetical control technique

July 20, 2011
Recently, optogenetics, which controls the activity of neuron using the light-activated protein, has been getting a lot of attention. This light-activated protein works like a switch of neurons by sensing specific color of ...

Forget Freud, research on dream imagery may help us understand consciousness

August 13, 2015
Rapid eye movements (REMs) during sleep may contribute to the visual part of our dreams by acting as a switch from image to image, researchers have found. The study, which measured the activity of individual cells in the ...

Study suggests REM sleep helps the brain capture snapshots of dream images

August 12, 2015
When we sleep, we experience our most vivid dreams and vigorous brain activity during the rapid eye movement, or REM phase. Although scientists have long suspected that our eyes flicker in response to what our unconscious ...

Study identifies how muscles are paralyzed during sleep

July 11, 2012

Recommended for you

Protein droplets keep neurons at the ready and immune system in balance

August 15, 2018
Inside cells, where DNA is packed tightly in the nucleus and rigid proteins keep intricate transport systems on track, some molecules have a simpler way of establishing order. They can self-organize, find one another in crowded ...

Self-control develops gradually in adolescent brain

August 15, 2018

Research reveals that what we see is not always what we get

August 15, 2018
Researchers are helping to explain why some people anticipate and react to fast-moving objects much quicker than others.

New approach to treating chronic itch

August 15, 2018

Immune cells in the brain have surprising influence on sexual behavior

August 14, 2018

Scientists pinpoint brain networks responsible for naming objects

August 14, 2018

Click here to reset your password.


Driving Disqualification: Mutual Recognition

Legal Guidance, Driving offences

Published: February 2010

The Law

With effect from 28 January 2010 mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland came into force. This was done under the framework of the European Convention on Driving Disqualifications of 17 June 1998 ("the Convention "). The purpose of the Convention is to prevent drivers disqualified from driving in a Member State of the European Union (EU), other than their own, from escaping the consequences when they return home. Although the Convention enters into force only when all signatory Member States have adopted it, it allows Member States to apply its terms early. The Governments of the UK and Ireland have exercised this option, enabling mutual recognition of driving disqualifications between their respective jurisdictions.

The primary legislation to give effect to the Convention in the UK was introduced through the Crime (International Cooperation) Act 2003 (CICA) and Regulations to bring the agreement into law in Great Britain (GB) were laid before the House on 25 November 2008, with similar Regulations being laid in Northern Ireland (NI).

Effects of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications with Ireland

If a driver resident in the UK is disqualified from driving in Ireland, the disqualification will also apply in the UK. The driver will be informed of any remaining period of disqualification due to be served in the UK; the driving licence must be surrendered until the disqualification period has been served in full and it will be an offence to drive in the UK during that period.

Likewise, if a driver resident in Ireland is disqualified in the UK, the disqualification will also be applied in Ireland by the Irish authorities.

Application of the arrangements in the UK

If Ireland disqualifies a driver resident in the UK, and if the driver has been given an adequate opportunity to defend himself within the laws of Ireland, the UK will impose the disqualification here.

The offence must have resulted from conduct defined in the Convention. The arrangements cover 6 categories of driver behaviour or conduct:

1. Reckless or dangerous driving;
2. Hit and run driving;
3. Driving whilst under the influence of alcohol/drugs (and refusal to submit to a test);
4. Speeding;
5. Driving whilst disqualified;
6. Other road traffic offences resulting in a disqualification period of 6 months or more.

Conduct which gives rise to the disqualification may be covered by the Convention and therefore by the arrangements, even if the offence committed is not an offence in the UK.

Disqualifications as a result of accumulating penalty points ("totting up") are not included in the arrangements, for the time being, as this gives rise to additional complications and would require further primary legislation.

In Great Britain, the driver will be notified by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and in Northern Ireland by the DVA (NI) , that the disqualification has been recognised and of the period of disqualification due to be served in the UK.

The UK will not recognise a disqualification imposed by Ireland unless the right of appeal has already been exhausted in Ireland.

The driver has a right of appeal in the UK against the disqualification being imposed in the UK, through the magistrates' courts in England and Wales, the court of summary jurisdiction in Northern Ireland and through Sheriff Courts in Scotland. The original reasons for the disqualification cannot be reopened, since the opportunity to appeal should have already been exercised or exhausted in Ireland. However, there may be limited grounds, for a further UK appeal, if the driver believes the circumstances set out in section 56 of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 (CICA) do not apply, for example, if the driver had not been notified of the proceedings in Ireland.

Any period of the disqualification already served in Ireland will be taken into account.

Corresponding conditions imposed

When an Irish Court imposes a disqualification with a "re-test" condition before the disqualification period is lifted, the UK will similarly require the driver to re-sit their driving test and apply a "re-test" condition here. It is rare for the Irish Courts to impose any other conditions, but if they did, then the UK will only impose the disqualification period without any conditions.

Irish residents who commit driving offences in the UK

The DVLA will notify the Irish authorities of anyone resident in Ireland, regardless of nationality, disqualified by the UK courts for any driving offence which falls in category 1 - 5 above. For offences falling within category 6, notification will be sent to the Irish authorities if the disqualification period is for 6 months or more.

No notification will be sent by the DVLA to the Irish authorities until the driver's right to appeal against the UK court's decision has been exhausted.

The Irish authorities are responsible for arrangements for recognising the disqualification in Ireland.

Calculation by the DVLA/DVA of the remaining period of time to be served by a UK resident for a disqualification recognised as a result of an offence committed in Ireland

It is important that there is prompt administrative action for the application of the disqualification in the UK and that length of disqualification served here is not unnecessarily shortened by the method of calculation of the due period.

The UK will generally apply a "same end date" approach so when the disqualification period ends in Ireland the disqualification in the UK will end on the same date.

An example for illustrative purposes:

Driver is convicted and sentenced for drink driving in Ireland on 1 January 2011 for 12 months. Disqualification is due to end in Ireland on 31 December 2011.

Ireland notifies the UK. DVLA or DVA writes to driver on 1 February 2011. Disqualification takes effect 21 days (plus, for example 2 days for service) later (to allow for the 21 day CICA right of appeal which exists in the UK).

Period served in the UK is between 24 February 2011 to 31 December 2011.

In the UK, if we recognise a disqualification incurred in Ireland, the disqualification cannot take effect in the UK until notice has been served on the driver. The notice under section 57 of CICA must state when the disqualification starts and ends in the UK. In practice we are deeming as having been served any period of time from the date the disqualification starts in Ireland to the time it takes effect in the UK.

It is important to ensure that administration time is kept to a minimum as the driver may otherwise serve a significantly shortened period of time.

A delay may arise from:

  • time taken in administrative systems e.g. from courts to licensing authorities
  • time taken to send the notification details between Ireland and the UK
  • time taken to recognise the disqualification e.g. DVLA sending notice to the driver in the UK or Irish licensing authorities arranging a court date in Ireland.

Every effort will be made to ensure that administrative delays are minimised and this will be kept under review after the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications with Ireland is implemented.

Exception to the "same end" date approach within the UK

If the driver lodges an appeal against the disqualification being recognised in the UK under section 59 of CICA, the UK courts have discretion pending appeal to suspend the disqualification being applied in the UK. If the disqualification is suspended and later reinstated because the appeal is unsuccessful, the disqualification period in the UK will end later than it ends in Ireland.

An example to illustrate this:

Ireland notifies the UK. DVLA writes to driver on 1 February 2011. Disqualification takes effect 21 days, plus 2 days, later on 24 February 2011. Driver lodges an appeal and court agrees to suspend disqualification in the UK.

Appeal heard on 1 May 2011 and disqualification reinstated.

Disqualification ends in the UK 91 days later than in Ireland (that is the period between 24 February 2011 - 1 May 2011).

Surrender of licence

UK courts are already advised to ask disqualified drivers to surrender their licence to the court (sections 7(1) and 27 Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 [RTOA] in Great Britain). This means that any licences surrendered by Irish resident drivers to the court will subsequently be forwarded on to DVLA. When DVLA notifies Ireland it will attach any Irish licence surrendered. The driver will have to ask the Irish authorities (Department of Transport/Road Safety Authority [DoT/RSA]) for its return for any period when the driver is not disqualified e.g. the time taken to arrange a hearing date with the Irish courts.

Questions And Answers

This guidance has been supplied by Department for Transport (DfT).

Application of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications in the UK

What is the effect of a UK driver being disqualified by an Irish court?

DVLA or DVA will send a letter to the driver to inform him/her:

  • that notification from Ireland of a disqualification has been received;
  • the dates disqualification takes effect from and to in the UK and;
  • the need to surrender the licence, if it has not already been surrendered to the Irish courts. Even if the licence is not given up by the driver, the DVLA or DVA database will be amended to record the disqualification.

If the driver does not appeal within 21 days, the driver's licence is endorsed for 4 years.

Do courts have to take an Irish endorsement into account if the driver is sentenced in court for another offence committed in the UK?

There is no mutual recognition of penalty points between the jurisdictions, so the UK court cannot add on Irish penalty points, for totting up purposes. However, the court has a wide discretion, in considering whether to impose discretionary disqualifications in the UK, to consider all mitigating or aggravating factors. The court therefore may consider the driver's licence history generally.

Application of mutual recognition of driving disqualifications in Ireland

How does mutual recognition apply to Irish residents who offend and are disqualified in the UK?

If a driver resident in Ireland commits an offence in the UK which falls under the Convention's categories of conduct and is disqualified, and if the appeal process in the UK against the original disqualification has been exhausted, the UK will notify the Irish authorities. The Irish authorities are then responsible for arrangements to recognise the disqualification in Ireland.

How do the Irish authorities take follow up action when the driver returns to Ireland?

The Irish have adopted a slightly different mechanism from the UK in giving effect to a disqualification. DVLA or DVA will notify the Irish Department for Transport. There are 28 regional licensing authorities in Ireland and the Department sends details to the relevant region. They make arrangements with the local Irish court for the case to be heard before the judge. It is the court who decides how the disqualification will be applied in Ireland.

When arrangements are live, is the date of conviction or the date of the offence used to determine if the driver falls within the arrangements?

The date of conviction will be used, regardless of when the offence was committed.

How long will an endorsement remain on the licence and the record?

Four years from date of conviction in Ireland.

NB: The following answers relate to Great Britain, because they are referable to GB legislation. Different legislation applies in Northern Ireland.

Could a UK driver convicted of a drink driving offence in Ireland be subject, where appropriate, to the UK's High Risk Offenders (HRO) scheme?

Not at present. However, we shall be working with the Irish authorities to consider applying the HRO scheme to such drivers.

Can drivers resident in Ireland go on the UK rehabilitation course if convicted for drink/driving in the UK?

Mutual recognition makes no difference to present arrangements. Any driver convicted in Great Britain of drink driving may be referred by a court to an approved drink drive rehabilitation course. A non GB resident would have to be prepared to attend and complete a DfT-approved course.

If a driver continues to drive when disqualified under the terms of the mutual recognition of driving disqualifications what happens?

If a driver who is disqualified in the UK as a result of the recognition of an Irish disqualification continues to drive in the UK and is caught by the police, then he/she is committing the offence of "driving whilst disqualified" (s.103(1)(b) Road Traffic Act 1988). If the driver has not returned the licence to DVLA by the expiry of the 21 day period in the s.57 notice, there is also a further offence of failing to deliver the licence (see s.63, s.64 and s.65 CICA).

Offence Codes allocated on a driving licence

What offence codes will be allocated on a driving licence to disqualifications imposed as a result of a disqualification in Ireland?

The categories and the offence codes DVLA will use for each category are shown below.

  • Reckless or dangerous driving (whether or not resulting in death, injury or serious risk) - MR09
  • Wilful failure to carry out the obligation placed on drivers after being involved in road accidents (hit and run) - MR19
  • Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or other substance affecting or diminishing the mental and physical abilities of the driver - MR29
  • Driving a vehicle faster than permitted speed - MR39
  • Driving a vehicle whilst disqualified - MR49
  • Other conduct constituting an offence for which a driving disqualification has been imposed by the State of offence of a duration of 6 months or more - MR59

EU Member States other than the UK and Ireland

Why is there no mutual recognition of disqualifications with other EU Member States?

We agree in principle that cooperation over disqualifications between Member States other than with Ireland is desirable. Any EU Member State may wish to enter into similar arrangements with us in the future. At this stage we have no expectation of any other Member State doing this. If they did we would need further Regulations in the UK and, if changes in arrangements were contemplated, further public consultation would be needed. The arrangements with Ireland will provide us with practical experience in advance of possible future approaches from other Member States.

How does mutual recognition of driving disqualifications affect driving licence holders from other EEA Member States?

The mutual recognition arrangements apply to residents of Ireland and the UK, regardless of nationality or the origin of the driving licence. It is possible that persons normally resident in UK or Ireland may be licence holders of other EEA (i.e. any EU Member States or Norway, Liechtenstein or Iceland). Whilst such a licence holder would be disqualified from driving in UK or Ireland, this would not affect their right to drive elsewhere in the EEA. Sections 65 (4) (5) and (6) of CICA cover this situation.

How does mutual recognition of driving disqualifications affect driving licence holders from countries which are not other EEA Member States?

As in the answer to the previous question, if the non EEA licence holder is normally resident in UK or Ireland, mutual recognition will apply, disqualifying that person from driving in either jurisdiction. However, if that licence holder is a UK resident who was disqualified in Ireland, there is no requirement to surrender their licence to DVLA or DVA following receipt of the section 57 notification.

Further reading


IT Help Desk - Hardware/Mobility

Job ID:
Mooresville, NC
Information Technology, Telecommunications, Array
$15.00 per year
Zip Code:

Job Description:

1 year+ contract possible right to hire for an IT Help desk specialist.

Candidates must have 1-4 years IT help desk experience.

AAS Degree or A+, Net + certification.

Help desk hours cover from 6am-10pm. Candidates will be assigned a 10 hour shift to include a weekend day.

Duties include:

Provide routine IT support on hardware and software utilized by the organization.

This will entail maintaining PCs, troubleshooting network connectivity, setting up new employee/
contractor, and providing prompt customer service.

Take initial telephone or e-mail inquiries and troubleshoot appropriately.

Manage relatively simple hardware, software, or network problems that can be resolved within 5 minutes.

Troubleshoot wireless devices such as iphone, ipads, wireless connectivity issues, etc.

Basic Knowledge of Unix/Linux highly desired

Basic Knowledge of Cisco Routers/Switches highly desired

Knowledge of hardware printer, laptops, PC's, network Servers, etc.

Log call activity, Resolve more complex issues requiring detailed systems and applications knowledge.

These issues may require 5 to 15 minutes to settle.

Use judgment and decision making skills to generate a work order ticket for issues that cannot be resolved via telephone or e-mail and will require an on-site visit to the user's PC or Workstation. Must have basic knowledge of PC hardware, MS Office, basic printer troubleshooting skills, ghosting software, and knowledge of web browsers.

Local candidates only - Must be able to pass 20 year criminal background check.

Company Info
CRG Inc.


Communications of the Association for Information Systems

One of the main challenges of exchanging patient care records between heterogeneous systems is the difficulty in overcoming semantic differences between them. This is further exacerbated by the lack of standardization in messaging protocols. As a solution to this problem, multiple ideas and standards have been proposed for exchanging clinical and administrative data in the healthcare area. However, most of these methods place some restrictions on the platform, standard or format, of the data. This paper proposes a context-specific, mediating schema-based architecture that enhances the transfer of electronic patient care records between healthcare information systems by using a reusable and portable model. The main contribution of this approach is its adaptability to a variety of schemas for the source and target systems.


Introdueix el codi per accedir a l'àrea de clients:

Joan Massós Duran

Joan Massós Duran was the co-founder of ‘Industrial Bolsera’ which had just over 120 employees in the mid 30’s in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

Enric Massós Valls

Enric Massós Valls took over the company becoming the C.E.O. & shareholder of ‘Industrial Bolsera until 1964 when he founded Carabela. He invented and developed paper machinery and at the same time represented various brands throughout the country.

Enric Massós Naval

Enric Massós Naval established Carabela in the national market for 40 years enhancing the variety of stationery items as well as the number of clients. Currently involved in the company as the C.F.O.

Enric Massós Alsina

Enric Massós Alsina currently in charge of Carabela Papers S.C., has been able to put the name of the company in the European market. Over a 100 stationery items are manufactured & delivered with clear intentions of creating a lot more in the upcoming future.


2015-10-19 11:57:51 | 编辑: 环球教育 | 有434人参与 | 来自: 环球教育

Some people think that older school children should learn a wide range of subjects and develop knowledge. But other people think that they should only learn a small number of subjects in detail.

Discuss both views and give your opinion.

The debate of whether quantity or quality in education is best suited for pupils has created a split between educators and this issue has continually intrigued curriculum makers. There are valid merits of both methods, nonetheless their practical benefits ought to be assessed based on individual pupil preferences and learning styles.

Having access to a large variety of course materials will enable students to become well-rounded, allowing them to understand various aspects of life and society. As the proverb goes, “Variety is the spice of life” and by being exposed to a broad quantity of subjects, excitement and satisfaction will be added to their academic lives. Through being educated in a range of topics, it also provides students with the opportunity to access new ideas and concepts, giving them greater selection regarding career prospects.

Nevertheless, students specializing in a particular field brings about the benefit of being able to develop expertise and complete proficiency, which is a valuable for certain professions. Moreover, when pupils have an excellent grasp of one or a few subjects, they will be able to make innovative contributions to that field in the future. These innovations are what drive societal and technological advancement, generally resulting from acquiring heaps of knowledge in specific domains and being able to thoroughly comprehend and apply it.

In my view, not all students are created equal whereby pupils are individually unique, having various learning capacities and methods that differ from their peers. As a result, educating students from a broad-based approach or focusing on a few areas of study would heavily depend on their career requirements and aspirations for the future.

270 words


Caretaker service

Caretaker keeps the outside areas clean and tidy all year round. His duties include cleaning the leaves, flying debris removal, emptying bins in front of stairwells, lawn mowing and maintenance, maintenance of plants and shrubs, planting flowers in spring, flag-raising, hedge trimming, waste disposal management, snow and ice control.
Vaata meie tutvustust


Seth Perkins is a product lead and technologist complemented by extensive sales, marketing, and business development experience and an education including an MBA and undergrad in Computer Science. Currently based in Seattle, Washington, his passion is finding great ideas, and getting them off the ground collaborating with a close-knit, cross-functional team. His particular areas of interest include B2C mobile/web, gaming, multimedia and causes to benefit society.

A track-record of success building product and technology strategies for the first million in revenue.

A focus on simplicity, scalability, and best-practices providing a groundwork for innovation.

A focus on the crucial cultural changes to enable continuous integration, continuous delivery, and continuous operation.

Team Building

Driving the success of the team through recruitment, delegation, constructive feedback, empowerment, communication, and trust.

Product Management

History of creating market-driven solutions and championing their implementation across functions focused on time, budget, and MVP.

Business Development

History of building turnkey solutions and distribution channels leveraging vertical partnerships and being the account rep closing the initial sales to jumpstart revenue .

Connect with Seth on LinkedIn

  • …one of those individuals who can balance technical excellence with a strong understanding of business context.

    Laura Trumbull via LinkedIn

Seth has complimentary loves of world cultures and poetry. is his YouTube channel. Its mission is to disseminate the study of humanity through the exploration of classical and contemporary poetry and prose. Pieces include works from masters, world leaders and emerging artists.

Visit on YouTube

Seth finds lively interest in weird things. He has an admitted obsession with alleyways, utility lines, and streetlights. He will often stop in his tracks to double back and examine an obscure object or photograph a set of orange trees because the oranges look like lanterns amid a nighttime landscape. Seth has been an active member of several photography clubs between NYC and Philadelphia.

I Hate Zombies

IH8Zombies ("I Hate Zombies") is a game designed by Seth.  It mashes elements of survival-horror with elements of Looney Tunes and Afro Samurai.  The game has been through several rounds of design and cross-platform technology demoes.

Seth is a consummate student of music history, theory, and performance. His primary instrument was originally percussion with emphasis on the timpani, but migrated to the piano. Seth has love of many genres but particular interest in classical, blues, jazz, hiphop, Native American flute, and various world chant styles.

Reach out and make a friend


Dawes Act Of 1887 Essay Format

How would you feel if the government confiscated your land, sold it to someone else, and tried to force you to change your way of life, all the while telling you it’s for your own good? That’s what Congress did to Indian tribes 125 years ago today, with devastating results, when it passed the Dawes Act.

During the 1800s, white settlers moved west by the tens of thousands, and the US cavalry went with them, battling Indian tribes along the way. One by one, tribes were forced to relinquish their homelands (on which they had lived for centuries) and relocate to reservations, often hundreds of miles away. By the late 1800s, some three hundred reservations had been created.

The purpose of the reservation system was, for the most part, to remove land from the Indians and to separate the Indians from the settlers. Reservations were usually created on lands not (yet) coveted by non-Indians. By the late 1800s, however, settlers were nearly everywhere, and Congress needed to develop a new strategy to prevent further bloodshed.

The government decided that instead of separating Indians from white society, Indians should be assimilated into white society. Assimilation of the Indians and the destruction of their reservations became the new federal goal.

Two very different social forces helped shaped this new policy: greed and humanitarianism. Many whites wanted Indian land and knew that they would have an easier time obtaining it if Indian tribes disappeared. This greed prompted Congress to pass the Dawes Act, also known as the General Allotment Act, in February 1887. The Dawes Act was also favored by many non-Indian social reformers who were aware that Indians were suffering unmercifully under the government’s existing reservation policies, and they sincerely believed that the best way to help Indians overcome their plight and their poverty was by encouraging assimilation. Although their motives differed, both groups pressured Congress to pass the Dawes Act. The objectives of the Act, as the US Supreme Court has noted, “were simple and clear cut: to extinguish tribal sovereignty, erase reservation boundaries, and force the assimilation of Indians into the society at large.” Indian tribes had no say in the matter and were not even consulted.

Most Indian tribes had no concept of private land ownership. Rather, land was communally owned and everyone worked together to gather what they could from the land and shared its bounty. In order to compel assimilation of the Indians, a scheme was developed that would undermine Indian life and culture at its core: individual Indians would be forced to own land for private use. Indians would be converted into capitalists.

To accomplish the new policy of assimilation, the Dawes Act authorized the President of the United States to divide communally-held tribal lands into separate parcels (“allotments”). Each tribal member was to be assigned an allotment and, after a twenty-five-year “trust” period, would be issued a deed to it, allowing the owner to sell it. Once the allotments were issued, the remaining tribal land (the “surplus” land) would be sold to non-Indian farmers and ranchers. Congress hoped that by allowing non-Indians to live on Indian reservations, the goals of the settlers and those of the humanitarian social reformers could both be satisfied: land would become available for non-Indian settlement within Indian reservations, and Indian poverty would be eliminated once Indians accepted the Anglo-American concept of private ownership and saw and emulated the farming and ranching habits of their new neighbors. “Within a generation or two, it was thought, the tribes would dissolve, their reservations would disappear, and individual Indians would be absorbed into the larger community of white settlers.”

The first goal — opening large portions of Indian reservations to white settlement — was a huge success. During the next fifty years, nearly two-thirds of the 150 million acres of land that Indian tribes owned in 1887 was sold to non-Indians. The second goal, however, was a dismal failure. Rather than assist Indians improve their lives and overcome poverty, the General Allotment Act made their condition worse. For one thing, many allotments were unsuitable for small-scale agriculture, and even those that were suitable required money for the purchase of equipment, cattle, or seeds that few Indians had. Moreover, many Indians didn’t want to become farmers and ranchers, and viewed such a lifestyle as distasteful. It simply was naïve and unrealistic — if not callous and racist — to think that Indian life would be improved by a method that forcibly confiscated tribal land and allowed outsiders to live on Indian reservations.

Congress passed a law in 1934 that ended the allotment process, and no further parcels of land were allotted to Indians. But the damage had been done. Indeed, today, more non-Indians live on some Indian reservations than Indians, and Indian life has been changed dramatically. The 125th anniversary of the Dawes Act is not, for Indians, a cause for celebration.

Headline image credit: Map of Indian Territory (Oklahoma), 1885. National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the General Land Office, Record Group 49.

What is the Dawes Act?

Adopted by Congress in 1887, the Dawes Severalty Act was authorized by the Executive branch of the Federal Government to survey Indian tribal land. The Dawes Act emphasized severalty and the delivery of individual rights to Native Americans.

 The premise was to divide the land into allotments for individual Native Americans. Sponsored by Massachusetts Senator, Henry L. Dawes, the stated objective of the Dawes Severalty Act was to propel the assimilation of Indians into American society. The Federal government believed that individual land ownership was the starting point for assimilation; if reservations were divided among individual Native Americans, a seamless assimilation into American society would follow naturally.

From 1870 to 1900, the Federal policy towards Native Americans shifted from previous policies that revolved around removal, the development of reservations and war. A shift towards a compassionate and egalitarian policy focused on disbanding reservations through the distribution of land allotments to Native Americans and their tribes.

The Dawes Severalty Act manifested from an American sentiment: if a land owner adopted “white culture”, he would gradually assimilate into the greater population. Following this assimilation, it would then no longer be necessary for the federal government to overseen Indian welfare, including the delivery of meager annuities that seemingly kept the Indian tribes toiling in poverty.

Why was the Dawes Act Passed?

The United States federal government, during the 1850’s, attempted to seize control over Native American land. The arrival of European settlers on the eastern coast of the United States (region that was heavily populated by Native Americans) perpetuated a federal fear involving widespread conflict. This “Indian Problem” stemmed from the inability of the racial societies to coexist with one another in the same community.

In response to the “Indian Problem” the United States’ Federal Government and William Medill (the commissioner of Indian Affairs) promoted the idea of establishing “reservations. The lands would be exclusively-owned and inhabited by the Native Americans. In essence, this idea was an archaic form of gentrification—the government wanted to uproot the Native Americans from their current positions and force them westward, in turn, offering a new area for the white settlers, while protecting them from conflict with the Natives.

This policy, which concentrated on keeping Native Americans away from European settlers, propagated suffering among the natives, for they were incessantly driven to areas that were less desirable. This widespread suffering promoted distaste and irreverence among the native population; ultimately this uprising led to a violent rebellion.

Following numerous conflicts, the Native Americans eventually gave-in to the dominant American fighting force.  Through a series of negotiated treatments, the Native Americans, tired of fighting, relocated to their reservations. The migration left the Natives with roughly 160 million acres of landing ranging from suitable agricultural landscapes to arid deserts.

Although far from ideal, the reservation system allotted each tribe significant liberties and freedoms. The native tribes had protection over their territories, the right to govern themselves (the government was only allowed to intervene through a negotiation of treaties) and a claim over their tribal lands. The reservation system thus enabled the Natives to practice their beliefs and hold onto their traditions.

These tribal organizations were in essence, separate societies. They were highly organized (led by a Chief) and individualistic. Because of this uniqueness, and the individual strength of their members, white settlers began to fear Native tribes. The settlers objected to the Native’s lack of “Euroamerican” culture and yearned for a reformation of the tribes.

During the late 1880s, the United States government, Christian reform groups, congressional leaders and military officials formed a unanimous belief that Native American assimilation into white culture was paramount. The settlers and the larger “white” culture wanted the natives to disbar their reservations, traditions and their Indian identities. The settlers wanted to eliminate the “Indian problem”; they wanted to transform their uncivilized and impoverished counterparts to independent Americanized Christian land owners. To promote this assimilation and to develop this cooperating agricultural society, the Dawes Allotment Act was created on February 8. 1887.

What were the Specific Goals of the Dawes Act?

Created by a slew of public officials and religious leaders, the Dawes Severalty Act hoped to achieve the following six accomplishments: Break up native American tribes to rid them of their social dynamic and individualism, progress Native farmers and the agricultural community, reduce the cost of welfare given to natives, secure large chunks of the reserved land, and open the remainder of the reservations to white settlers for profit.

The Dawes Sevaralty Act ultimately hastened the fate of the Native Americans; the natives were forced to undergo attempts of assimilation and become “Euro-Americanized.” The unity and passion that existed in Native American tribes was tied-into their religious beliefs and the land in which they lived. Their grounds were sacred; the land and the earth were the foundation of their beliefs and traditions. They did not see land as an economic vehicle, only as an embodiment of their existence. This contrast in beliefs and the weighty interpretative difference of the earth ultimately amplified the discord among natives and white settlers.

Although land was sacred to them, the Natives believed that in order to survive they would have to succumb and surrender to the progressive movement. They were forced to adopt the values of the majority and view land as real estate and not sacred grounds. The Natives were taught how to use their land efficiently to promote profit and sound economic values. While being inducted as citizens of the majority, the Natives were forced to shed their ideologies and exchange their traditions for an industrious sentiment. This transition ultimately separated the Natives from the United States Government’s welfare and supervision programs.

Important Provisions of the Dawes Act:

The provisions of the Dawes Severalty Act were as follows:

• The Dawes Act stated that the head of family shall receive 160, while single persons or orphans under the age of 18 were granted 80 acres. Lastly, natives under the age of 18 would receive 40 acres each

• The Dawes Act stipulated that the allotments of land would be held in trust by the Government for 25 years

• Eligible natives had four years to choose their allotments. If this time exhausted, the selection would be initiated for them by the Secretary of the Interior

• Citizenship to the United States would be conferred upon only for natives who abandoned their tribes and assimilated into white culture.

Effects of the Dawes Act:

The provisions of the Dawes Severalty Act were not upheld by the United States government—the amount of land allotted to the natives depleted from roughly 150 million acres to 78 million acres in 1900. The 50% depletion was regarded as a surplus and usurped by the government. In turn, the government sold the 75+ million acres to not-natives as well as corporations. The Dawes Act strayed from legislating private native land ownership to bolstering the national economy and satisfying the white population’s demand for land.

By dividing land into privately owned parcels, the United States government hoped to fulfill the assimilation process by destroying the native’s sense of community. After the dissolvent, the government hoped to impose Western values and principles related to economic dependency within these small family units. This goal ultimately failed as the land granted to the natives was neither sufficient nor economical viable to sustain assimilation. Furthermore, when the native’s died, the government would repossess the land, effectively augmented fractionalization.

The majority of allotted land was eventually sold to white settlers or the wealthy at reduced prices–this land was added to the already deemed “surplus”. The Dawes Severalty Act, over the course of 50 years, ironically promoted the loss of 90 million acres of land for Natives—a figured that left almost 100,000 Native Americans landless.

The Text of the Dawes Act:

• To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section;

Approved, February, 8, 1887.

0 thoughts on “Dawes Act Of 1887 Essay Format”

Leave a Comment


Medical, Technology, Medical Technology

Technology in MedicalThe market for medical units traditionally has been dominated by large-ticket physician choice items” such as synthetic joints, spinal implants, and cardiac pacemakers. They’re speculated to devour all that data, consider it in context of the latest medical findings and the affected person’s history, and determine if something’s fallacious. In at this time’s world, expertise performs an vital position in every trade as well as in our personal lives.

When the magnetic subject acts on the protons current in the hydrogen atoms and aligns them in its path, one other magnetic area – Radio Frequency is turned on. The protons soak up slightly quantity of energy from this second magnetic discipline, Then, the second magnetic discipline is turned off.

This submit will tell you why we must always choose Palm PDA (Private Digital Assistant) know-how for medical purposes. A number of systematic evaluations associated to well being information technology have been finished. There have been studies that Canada is a late adopter of superior medical applied sciences.

This was actually thrilling reading and I ended up using the present accepted theory on how we study and bear in mind , how the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus play a key function in working reminiscence and long run memory respectively as an introduction to the talk on how we can stay up to date with medical literature and keep away from getting drowned.

This genome-modifying expertise has taken the scientific world by storm with its breakneck pace of development: The strategy was first shown to work in mouse and human cells lower than three years in the past and has already been utilized to a range of organic systems and illness areas.

  • Partner links


[Skip to Content]
[Skip to Content Landing]
June 1985

Therapist Success and Its Determinants

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1985;42(6):602-611. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1985.01790290084010

• This study examined the relatively unexplored contribution of the therapist's performance in determining outcomes of treatment. Nine therapists were studied: three performed supportive-expressive psychotherapy; three, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy; and three, drug counseling. Profound differences were discovered in the therapists' success with the patients in their case loads. Four potential determinants of these differences were explored: (1) patient factors; (2) therapist factors; (3) patient-therapist relationship factors; and (4) therapy factors. Results showed that (1) patient characteristics within each case load (after random assignments) were similar and disclosed no differences that would have explained the differences in success; (2) therapist's personal qualities were correlated with outcomes but not significantly (mean r=.32); (3) an early-in-treatment measure of the patienttherapist relationship, the Helping Alliance Questionnaire, yielded significant correlations with outcomes (mean r=.65); (4) among the therapy techniques, "purity" provided significant correlations with outcomes (mean r=.44), both across therapists and within each therapist's case load. The three therapist-related factors were moderately associated with each other.


Is Loyalty A Type Of Private Prejudice?

Magnetism and the Lunar Eclipse

Being away from home and in a very difficult environment, I have had the opportunity to be mesmerised by the many loving and genuine young people that I have met, so peaceful and kind with some of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever heard. It is wonderful to see the awe in their eyes when I explained to them some of the upcoming events that our galaxy is offering. On Friday the 27th of July at 8.15pm, we will have the chance to witness the Lunar Eclipse begin, reaching full eclipse by 10.30pm and often known as ‘blood moon’ (it will go a deep burnt red due to refraction of light from our atmosphere much like a sunset) that will be the longest lunar eclipse of the century. In addition, the planet Mars will be at opposition when it will be at its most brightest and nearing its closest to earth in 15 years, accompanied with the International Space Station passing on what will be a clear summer’s evening that I will be spending on the rooftop of this dilapidated building in the heart of the Middle East. While light pollution is a significant issue, everyone will get a chance to witness naked eye these phenomenal galactic events that gives them a glimpse into a series of astronomical narratives that will no doubt provoke questions about our planet, orbits and space. These events arrive at the same time I hear the amazing news that my program working with refugees and asylum seekers back home in Australia will be funded, where I will take disadvantaged girls and young women out on hikes, camping and viewings over my telescope where I will teach them about stargazing. It has given me inspiration on my only afternoon off for the week to write this blog post!

I was asked today, “how does all this happen?” and I attempted – albeit due to language barriers rather awfully! – a brief explanation of the moon crossing the ecliptic where the Earth, Sun and Moon are aligned when the moon orbits through the shadow of Earth. Planets orbit around the sun, the gravity pulling and keeping them in orbit and gravity acts as a powerful force between two objects with a mass. You can read more on the eclipse in a previous blog post that I wrote. Magnetism is an entirely separate force despite similarities and it depends more on particular properties rather than simply mass, such as electrons and can both push and pull. Magnetism is present throughout the universe and we can experience it in many ways; when I am out hiking, my compass explains the pressure of magnetism and direction with the movement of the needle as it is attracted by the force.

There are a number of properties and varieties of magnetic forces that explain invisible fields that applies a force that influence objects or material from the magnetism. There are rules that confirm magnetic fields are dipolar and just like earth has both a north and south magnetic pole and the ‘magnetic flux’ explains how the force and attraction between the poles – usually represented by lines as visible in the image below – that can be averaged by the magnetic field and the perpendicular area the field infiltrates. Measurements of the force is determined by the mathematical formula F= qvB (Lorentz Force Law), which is the magnetic force, the charge, the velocity and the magnetic field and the unit of these field are measured in terms of Standard International (SI) units known as tesla.

Earth’s magnetic field is known as a geomagnetic field and magnetosphere the predominate reason for the magnetic field is the liquid iron core surrounding the solid inner core is the source of this phenomenon, the very ‘magnet’ where the electric currents produced by the flow of iron and other metals including nickel cause convection currents from the inertial force of the Coriolis Effect that ultimately splits the field into a surrounding force that envelops Earth and aligns back into the same direction. The changes in temperature and composition of the liquid core creating the currents that rise or sink matter all play a part in Earths magnetic field, that can be captured visually when solar winds collide with it (usually where the magnetic force is much stronger near the north and south poles) and the charged particles trapped by the magnetic field produce the aurora borealis or the aurora australis.

The picture explains the rotational poles but that their alignment geographically differs from our north and south poles on earth, whereby the magnetic south poles resides further north of Antarctic’ South Pole and quite close to the south of Australia while the north magnetic pole is closer to northern Canada and thus south of the North Pole. The magnetic lines explain the streamlined flow of the magnetic field that makes it easier to ascertain the process mathematically. Jupiter has a number of powerful toroidal magnetic fields where the intensity is said to have formed from the dynamic movements of the metallic hydrogen within; the field on the surface of the clouds is almost ten times stronger than earth’s. The Milky Way also has magnetic fields as do galaxies and the universe contains some colossal magnetic fields, where observations of galaxy clusters have found magnetic fields extending millions of light years!

The magnetic force is the attraction or the repulsion (as you experience when attempting to connect two magnets with equal poles) occurs from the magnetic field. The properties of electrical fields (pole) with a positive and negative charge differ with that of magnetic fields (dipole) despite a close correlation, because electromagnetism involves a magnetic dipole producing an electric field as it moves and conversely an electric field can produce a magnetic field meaning the difference is an elementary change in the field. A magnet does not have an electric charge as two separate poles, while a dipole interacts as a charge as visualised in the following image. What this means is that the electrical force itself behaves on a charged particle in the direction of the field and does not need motion while a magnetic force requires this motion and acts perpendicular to the magnetic field.

Gravitational fields also acts as force fields for mass and the gravitational force itself depends on the mass and the mass experiences the gravitational force. The gravitational field has a place in every direction and point in space and known by the formula g = F/m where F is the force of gravity. While this may be a brief example of the difference between magnetism and gravitational fields, it will be a wonderful experience with the full lunar eclipse and Mars showcasing the marvels of the universe over a hot, clear night here in Jerusalem!

Further Reading:

Maurizio Gasperini, Theory of Gravitational Interactions, Springer (2016) 115
Stephen Blundell, Magnetism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford (2012) 106
Anupam Garg, Classical Electromagnetism in a Nutshell, Princeton University Press (2012) 83

Israeli Nation-State Law: Legalising Discrimination

Australia will always be my home. My professional ambition is to work in the field of human rights by completing short-term contracts where I report as a program specialist on program fidelity and consult on M&E assurance in the field of education for children and young people. But home is where I am building a stronghold of friends and family, where I love my job and have a stable routine, where I get the chance to go for weekends away hiking and camping, where I feel secure and free. I used to feel trapped in a dead-end job, living with people I did not really get along with and so I would imagine ideas of escape to somewhere else, but it was my life that I needed to change and not my location and right now I can say that Australia is a wonderful place.

I am currently visiting Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem working with young people and exploring and developing my skills, but the restriction to my movements, the fear of even going for a long walk on my own, the sight of teenagers holding weapons and toddlers roaming the streets on their own barefoot in dirty clothing sends shivers down my spine. Only this morning, a young boy was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers in the neighboring Dheisheh refugee camp. Unfortunately, I had a meeting at the Walled Off Hotel with a friend and on my way back I turned the corner to find young people protesting the fatal attack and were throwing stones at the Israeli Sniper Tower in Bethlehem, one hitting my arm by accident as it ricocheted off the wall from the building beside me as I suddenly found myself caught in between the clashes.

My visit to the camp has given me direct access to see how unfortunate the circumstances are for these young boys and girls, all of whom have very limited opportunity to find work or to study, their movements curtailed because they have no money and are confined behind restrictions of the Israeli occupation, continuously belittled and degraded and where their chances of exploring their creativity or other skills remains extremely narrow. To escape that feeling of powerlessness, many turn to crime and form attachments to religious and political ideologies that give them a sense of purpose such as becoming a shahid or martyr dying for their faith, which enables an escape from their unhappy situation by imagining themselves a part of something bigger.

It is whole populations being imprisoned within extreme socioeconomic conditions, internally displaced from their homes and feeling the tension of the constant threat of attack, with overcrowding, poor infrastructure and restricted access to food and water. 42.5% of the population of Palestine are refugees, with UNRWA figures showing a total of 5,340,443 (2017) registered Palestinian refugees across Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, the total increasing when considering worldwide refugees located in other countries. Since 1948 when Israeli forces expelled and displaced Palestinians from their homes known as the al-Nakbah and further perpetuating totals following the 1967 war that ultimately led to occupation of regions in the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinians remain the longest and one of the largest displaced refugees in the world.

Article 12 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights discusses freedom of movement both internally and the ability to leave, where one shall not be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country. Further to this, the right to self-determination is enshrined in principle within Art 1 (2) of the United Nations Charter, whereby previous to this in the Atlantic Charter by Roosevelt and Churchill, it claimed that “[N]o territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned.” The charter itself in addition to this right clarifies how the principle of self-determination also concerns other territories that assume responsibility to ensure that measures are taken to assist and promote international peace and security so that the interests of the inhabitants are recognised or enabled (Art 73). Israel, on the other hand, has set aside their obligation and indeed continues to disable the conditions necessary for Palestinian self-determination.

Benjamin Netanyahu, who I see as a leader who has done nothing but destroy the remaining prospect for any two-state solution in the region, is chairman of the right-wing Likud Party and current Prime Minister of Israel and the party while supportive of improved Arab-Israeli relations has a strong opposition to Palestinian statehood. The party continuously undermines any potential peace settlements as seen with Netanyahu’ clear and unambiguous statement that Israel will remain in the West Bank with or without a peace deal that unnervingly clarifies an indefinite occupation in the region. The Oslo Accords divided the West Bank into three administrative divisions of A, which is effectively controlled by the Palestinian Authority and is comprised of about 18% of the territory and are separated by Israeli controlled checkpoints that Palestinians would need to travel through to get to other areas even within Area A. Refusal to pass is common as is the constant humiliation and treatment given to Palestinians at these checkpoints. Area B is even more complex, with limited Palestinian control and more exclusivity to Israeli security forces over Palestinian authorities, and Area C is under full control by Israel making up almost 60% of the West Bank’ territories. Palestinians living in Area C are often mistreated and have limited – if any – access to drinking water, and any Palestinian homes built in areas controlled by Israel are demolished. Even within that, Hebron is further divided into H1 controlled by PA and H2 by Israel where within 20% of the city are illegally built Israeli settlements. Palestinians control a small percentage of the land with a much higher population density and limited resources, comparatively to Israeli occupied territories making up the largest with the smallest population of Israeli settlements.

Criticism of Israeli policy and government is not anti-Semitism and it should not be a tool to assist solidarity and easily dismiss facts. I am not against Israel as a State, on the contrary, but the facts are that there have been continuous attacks and a blatant disregard to international law that clearly showcase Israeli discrimination against the Palestinians, largely confirmed by the recent legislative changes that now sanction discrimination as constitutionally acceptable. The Nation-State Law is not only dangerously discriminatory and intentionally alienates the Arab community of Israel, but any sensible person can see that it is in contravention of basic human rights and has clear ideological roots that borders an almost radical ultra-nationalism in the political spectrum. For instance:

1 (c) – The actualisation of the right of national self-determination in the state of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.

This ridiculous statement claims that only Jewish people have the right to self-determination in the region and is characterised as forcible suppression of Palestinian rights.

3 – The unified and complete city of Jerusalem is the capital of Israel

This remains a contentious issue since Palestinians also claim Jerusalem to be their political capital and the division between East and West Jerusalem is clarity of the ongoing issues. Donald Trump’ recent move to transfer the US Embassy into the region caused widespread protests as it became a reference to the ownership of Jerusalem by Israel. Since the UK originally declared Jerusalem to be an international zone, the west of Jerusalem was taken in 1948 during the war and the east in 1967.

4 (a) Hebrew is the language of the state.

The Arabic language will be removed as an official language and regulated, though afforded “special status” that really means nothing.

This promotes the already highly disputed issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, something Netanyahu has eagerly promoted. Prior to the development of Israel as a State, questions about what Israel would actually look like given the largely diverse Jewish communities across Europe – particularly Russia and Poland – where religion is heavily involved in state affairs or conversely to be more secular as promoted by mainly those from the United States continues even today. It is an unanswered civil question that can almost be seen between the residents of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The illegal settlements built in occupied territories in contravention of International Law perpetuate feelings of antagonism and hostility that the Israelis themselves are creating and members of revisionist Zionism continues to remain skeptical to any concessions with Palestine, the assassination of Israeli leader Yitzak Rabin clarity of this deeply hostile Othering that almost suggests that the history and pain from a very long and terrible past continues to be present and unresolved today. Have Israeli citizens found forgiveness for what they have experienced in the past, or do they still believe and fear that everyone is and will always be against them and willing to destroy them? The fear and hostility, the aggression and political adaptation of a far-right nexus are all suggestive of a collective pathology that needs to be addressed, but in saying that when states like Iran scream nuclear annihilation it only enables and justifies Israeli hostility. Everyone deserves to protect themselves. However, the religious or biblical justifications that mobilise such authority in the region where Rabbi’s have recently initiated confirmation of this privileged position by mobilising over 1,000 Israeli settlers to try enter into Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem in yet another blatant disregard to the cultural identity of Islam to the Palestinian people.

To focus on what reconciliation looks like following a history of violence that included genocide against the Jewish people and the psychological effects from such a long history of discrimination and violence has to current political affairs may contribute to a better understanding of how to promote and build peace. Laws that segregate communities and isolate diversity only perpetuate the problem as it reinforces and encourages illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied territories of Palestine. In addition to this, to promote peace and non-violence amongst the Palestinians who themselves have faced a recent history of violence, occupation and other gross violations of their human rights need to also find forgiveness in order to repair and sustain a state strong enough to build the framework for self-determination. What this forgiveness looks like is difficult to see right now, but I am confident to never give up hope that there will be peace.

Twenty-Four Hours: On Erotic Love and Long Haul Flights

With transit in Saigon and Paris, my flight time reaching Tel Aviv is exactly twenty-four hours.

The transition is not merely countries, but I will be leaving the peaceful safety of my home and into the occupied territories, where armed soldiers freely walk with AK47s and are at liberty to interrogate and take what they want from me, where people are killed by snipers from long distances and where one can be detained without charge. Am I afraid? From the world’s most liveable city to a refugee camp, from the freedom of my life in Australia into the restricted and immobile space where I am at a much higher risk of being killed? Of course I am scared.

It is in moments like this where you are confronted with guilt or with regret, where you find yourself wishing you could have said something that you buried within, or even reminisce on love and all that is beautiful and sad. Who are you and what have you done with your life? Who do you love, your family, friends? We can all imagine ourselves to be as honest as St. Augustine, but the truth is that most of us are – either intentionally or unintentionally – liars, especially when things are comfortable. We sometimes knowingly deceive and try to keep up appearances despite the utter exhaustion and anxiety doing this, and other times we are genuinely unaware of what we or others are doing. The long-haul flight has me thinking about the past, present and future, sometimes the echoes of the pointlessness of my existence and the futility in everything that I do, but mostly I think about what it is that I want in life.

The Past: Erotic Love

As I meander through Ho Chi Minh airport waiting in transit, the endless supply of lollies and souvenirs compelled me to crunch down some freeze-dried durian crisps, despite the empty calories. I am an extreme minimalist although I am a great cook, eating what is necessary as Dozer from The Matrix would approve given the sludge they ate: “It’s a single-celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs.” These delicious pieces of dried fruit are not what the body needs neither was the disgusting airline food, so I do feel guilty. I then remind myself that it is a much deserved delight given the next twelve hours will be spent flying into Paris and the anxiety of having to sit in close proximity beside a stranger is too difficult to digest, so let me digest something sweet!

It initiates thoughts leading to this confession. I am not going to deny it, but despite all that I do – from my profession to my creative pursuits, or hiking and travelling – it seems that only one man has occupied my thoughts for a long time. I will admit that over the last three and a half years, I have thought about him everyday and I oscillate between love and anger, hope and hopelessness, the latter becoming more and more ever since he made it abundantly clear when he recently refused to even say hello despite seeing me. I think the reason he never left my thoughts was because my heart was unsettled, because he never allowed me to speak or to retrieve the answers I needed to lay things to rest.

The truth is, I did love him. There, I said it! Although it is completely insane, that is what I felt and I was embarrassed to admit that for a number of reasons, claiming it was brotherly love. It wasn’t. I was compelled by erotic love. Everything about him was wrong, reason and logic told me something completely different because he behaved like a moron and his lifestyle remains far from anything that I would admire or respect, but I still felt something. It was terribly confusing. It is like my intuition spoke to me without words and told me he was the one and that has never happened to me before, not with anyone. It was everything else that was sensible and logical telling me to run the other direction, to push him away and indeed all his wrongdoing created the silly things that occurred between us.

I often asked myself what did he want as I hated all the games and feeling like I needed to lie just to communicate with him – which was why I was compelled to confront him physically as though saying ‘here I am’ with my presence – but then I realised the question I should be asking is what do I want? He once said to me that his girlfriend controls him and he has no idea how, which I guess is not that surprising. I cannot be with a man who doesn’t know what he wants, where I would have to manipulate and indirectly convince him to stay with me. I want a man to want me and for him to clearly articulate that, as an equal, someone who feels a strong desire to be my friend and admires me for what I do and how I think. The question what do I want? was enough to make me stop chasing a ghost and to really think about the value of my own personhood and I guess in some respects I should thank him for that.

I can write about everything wrong about him, but the reality is that I loved him and he doesn’t know neither did he reciprocate any feelings, that I have traditional standards of male/female courting and that I am someone that a man needs to earn and fight for, a challenge he refused. An unrequited love story really, nothing spectacular. It feels great admitting that I really did have feelings for him rather than trying to make excuses or attack him or deny my feelings as I have been doing for quite sometime. I felt something real and it was very powerful.

I have left the possibility of encountering him in public with the hope he may be encouraged to say something to me, I have moved far away and intentionally disconnected from the online forum where his ghost haunted me and what originally compelled me to return. I don’t mind indulging in the hope that he may one day find the courage to sit with me and talk as two adults and two friends, something I would have been deeply grateful for and perhaps the reason for my activities the last year. But sometimes you have no choice but to live with the scar. I smile at my now healthy, plump 59kg body that is no longer starved as I was several years ago, of how I am no longer sad and heartbroken as I was when flying out to Italy in 2015. I am rested,  my soul at peace today. My voluptuously athletic womanhood is a testament to the improvement of my mental health and I look forward to meeting someone else who has the courage the person I fell for lacked, to find a man that is not vain and who does not tolerate the things I find intolerable. I am eager to fall in love again as the new me.

The Present: Me

It was only a few hours before I landed in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to pass the horrible time flying for almost twelve hours that I watched Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander who was refreshing for her honest and powerful appearance and I suddenly understood what envy can feel like.

I want adventure!

And here I am on my way to make a documentary. Suddenly, I am overcome by the dread that I will ruin everything because of my lack of experience, especially with audio. As said by George Lucas:

“I feel that sound is half the experience… filmmakers should focus on making sure the soundtracks are really the best they can possibly be because in terms of an investment, sound is where you get the most bang for your buck.”

My thoughts seemed to be occupied by the fear I am going to ruin the whole experience because I am not that confident in my audio skills. I have a Takstar SGC-598 Shotgun Microphone that I will use on a Panasonic GH4 and I have tested it and it works perfectly well. It is directional, however, and in the case of filming groups of people in a room, the audio will clearly need to done more adequately. I could not afford wireless lavalier mics to attach on the main people, although I do have one Rode wired lavalier with an extension cord that I can connect to the DSLR and great for any one person interview I might do. To manage the group thing, I needed a condenser microphone that I could attach to a boom, but the costs of anything good and the weight it would add to my pack made it an issue for me given that I am completely broke. I instead purchased a Tascam DR-40 that I believe works really well in concert environments and any echoes can be removed in post. I may try and attach the Tascam to a boom pole with some duct tape if I have trouble feeding the voices into the inbuilt mics. I wish there were inflatable boom operators slash audio experts I could take with me!

Take a deep breath, I think to myself, and remember this is just something small, something so many others have done before me. I am learning, experiencing, going on an adventure both morally and mentally. And I am excited.

The Future: My Family

I open the window to see the sunrise before we land in Tel Aviv and such is the beauty! The slithers of pastel pink and purple wave over the tidal sky like sand underwater, burnt orange shattering the horizon that blinded me from the screen in front of me that played the pianist Shoshana MichelA Prelude to A Dream, perfect for this moment between me and the stunning sunrise high above the clouds. The contrails left from the planes tear across the skyscape like a sword slicing through fog, the lid of grey mushrooms below was blinded by the glare until suddenly the light came together and awakened the view.

It is nice to stretch the legs after such a long flight where I was trapped in the window isle for twelve hours and I feel dystrophic. This exhaustion is aligned with my somewhat indifference to Paris and I am glad that I am leaving, despite the nationwide celebrations for winning the world cup. I am not a tourist, I like to get lost in cities walking around and visiting strange and quiet places, including gardeans and galleries. While I am happy for the country and intrigued by the politics behind sports that is reminiscent of the Roman Empire, it is not the time to feel like a mouse among millions of drunk people and the garbage they seem to produce.

I think that my attitude is telling of how I am as a person, that while I am happy for others and what they choose to do with their life, I much prefer the quiet solitude of home. A home has always been what I wanted, for someone to actually love me where together we can provide for one another. It is funny, for most people that is normal, a given, but it is something I have never had and that safety and togetherness is what I long for. It is probably the reason why I feel a little glad that I am navigating back to my parents and have begun communication with them, building a new relationship and a new way of living. Despite the difficulties of a past of wrongdoing, my focus is only on the future and only strengthening our bond. To get to know them as they are or the people that they are and not because they are my parents.

My mother has changed considerably, she is showing more affection and is responsive and happy, something that she never was before. My father has changed too, he is calm and we can have some great conversations about history and politics. He seems to have bonded well with my sister’s husband, Mark, who is American and I think he admires how he treats my sister and their daughter. He told me that I am the only person who he feared to hurt and always wanted my blessing and approval as I would always respond and fight back as a child, leaving home when I was very young because I disapproved of his behaviour toward my mothers, the violence culturally embedded and normalised.

While I admit that it is strange to have started a relationship with my parents, they still remain somewhat alien to me. I am not Turkish, I am not drawn to the culture at all and feel no connection to it. I felt more at home in Tel Aviv then I did trawling through the streets of Istanbul. I feel no emotional love for anything it offers other than the experience a tourist would have. It makes me understand them better and why we never connected or formed a bond. My siblings are a different story, there is still some work that needs to be done with them because they are not excused for their behaviour given that we were raised in the same environment and I was never as cruel as they had become. I was belittled for a considerable amount of time by most of them that I lost the opportunity to learn about my own identity.

My respect is something earned, however if I remove those expectations that I have in others and take a relativistic approach, that if I remove the emotions I feel for a negative history and instead try to understand who they are from a sociological and psychoanalytical method, I can work through the emotions that I feel and I simply love that challenge. It is navigating and creating a better future, a positive one.

My Journey Into Documentary Filmmaking

It is not that I am talented in so many different fields from philosophy to law, politics to astronomy neither am I genius, far from it. Actually, I would say that I am probably one of the most stupidest people I know. I have absolutely no idea how to be social for a start, probably because I have a nobullshit policy. That is not some flamboyant dismissal due to an arrogant indifference to others, but a very simple, unassuming honesty. Men find me attractive, for instance, but how come I don’t know about it? Because they never say to me ‘I really like you’ or ‘I would love to take you out for coffee’ and instead I get men batting their eyelashes and giving me long, affectionate stares. What am I supposed to do with that? Do they behave that way because they are nervous and fear rejection, or are they nervous because their conscience is aware that they are being deceitful, the same kind of nervous someone feels before stealing?

I have long been intrigued by this inauthentic mental state that enables one to become immersed in their own imagination, creating this physical duplicate of themselves where consciousness becomes symbiotically absorbed into an illusion. It is like watching a movie or reading a fiction novel but dreamily imagining that emotional responses to this fictional reality is characteristic of something actually real. Someone who believes in their own lies. I never trust such men because they simply use women to imagine something exciting, an object where he can have one or two weeks of secretive lovemaking to escape the terrible boredom of his own life and by creating this fictional world, this duplicate existence, his consciousness becomes absorbed into the fiction that enables him to forget reality. It is only when actual reality sobers his perceptions that suddenly he tries to escape any responsibility, create excuses and justifications, even lie or slander. It would be no different for me to interact with a drunkard. They do not want to be responsible for their own actions and over and over again, repeat themselves in this cycle rather than change the source that is causing them to behave that way in the first place, whatever is going on in reality that they are trying to escape from.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

People seem to understand one another using this indirect language and are comforted by meandering communication to prevent self-defence mechanisms from being provoked. People are fictional. In the movie V for Vendetta, Evie said: “Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up.” I have been quarantined from this imagined landscape and so all I see are zombies playing strange games with one another.

This leads to my flare for the theatrical – burning bridges, causing trouble, that sort of thing – because I am that artist who enjoys provoking the ego in order to expose the truth, a quiet part of me that creates the exhibition because the irrational reactions that others have in an attempt to cover the truth up verifies my position on the subject. I find myself trying to figure out what language I can speak to such people who are evidently sleepwalking, how I can ‘wake them up’ from their existential lethargy.

So, it is not that I am talented. The real problem lies in the mental energy that people exert thinking about bullshit, giving all their cognitive space to this secondary layer of reality, this unwritten and yet largely understood social identity. The constant continuity given to pointless thoughts like what other people are wearing, how they look, how they appear to others, material goods, even to the importance of how many likes one can get on Instagram or Facebook, all that takes up most of their mental energy and time, all of which are mindboggingly pointless to me.

I understand fiction. Storytelling has given me the opportunity to find that point between these two worlds, creativity breaking the barriers through this dichotomy between the real and unreal, the imagined and the actual. I have access to a way of expressing the truth using film as a medium without forcing people to decide or make them think what I want them to think, unlike Hollywood or especially contemporary Asian cinema that has a hidden political agenda within the plot to subtly coerce an opinion. Documentary film is simply as it is.

My History in Film

My first ever degree that I was accepted into was the Bachelor of Film and Television at Swinburne University. I did Studio Arts as a subject during high school and was permitted to do film, making a number of short videos predominantly of a comedic nature. To name one, Lowered Expectations, a mockumentary about a Muslim man hoping to find an obedient wife but who accidentally exposes his desire for blonde women with big breasts. This was before the September 11 attacks at a school filled with wogs or kids from an ethnic background and we instantly became a hit. No one took offence back then when Semiha borrowed her dads Muslim gear and a girl with a fake moustache played a Muslim man. Copies of the mockumentary were distributed on VHS and parents would identify us at the local shops and remark at how funny we were. It continued, a horror mockumentary called The Reebok Killer that involved Lisa’s pigeon-toe feet sprawling around school killing people, and another about a soul-searching Kung Fu expedition Triple Dragon involving violence, witches and dangerous flips off the school roof. The funniest bit was the fight scene between me and my best friend Sureyya, where I provoked her in agitation to attack me by screaming “come on!” repeatedly while ripping my clothes off as she awkwardly stared at me, until with one punch I was down. I was the funniest person in school and everyone wanted to be cast in my videos, to hang out with us spending most of our days mucking around and getting kicked out of class. I had the best time because we had a video camera.

My main project was a folio on Luis Bunuel and that introduced the movie The Obscure Object of Desire to me, which is predominately about the sexual frustration of a middle aged man. What Bunuel did, however, is challenge the symmetrical idea I had of film and his surrealism expressed through human emotions like desperation and the grotesque made me think about the diversity and opportunity I had to express myself.

Sadly, I could not undertake the degree because I could not afford the costs. For someone living independently the $2000 per semester price-tag was excessive. I could barely make ends meet, working at Hudson’s Coffee and KFC at $6-8 per hour, sometimes both on the same day where I would make coffee from 5am-1pm with a short break as I make my way to sell fried chicken from 2pm-10pm. The pleasures of having nothing, but by the time I turned eighteen I had managed to save $800 to buy my first car, a brown, beaten-up 1983 model Toyota Cressida. What a car! It was the best thing that happened to me and my friends, enabling us to travel around Melbourne and watch movies most weekends from mindless action films at Hoyts to my favourite classic at the Astor. I spent most of my late teens and early twenties in a cinema rather than a nightclub, with Yul Brynner rather than a boyfriend.

My favourite actor of all time Yul Brynner. Give me John Wayne, Orson Welles and Steve McQueen over anyone!

I decided to pursue studies in politics and international relations instead and moved into other areas of thought including human rights law, literature and philosophy. Things started to change with my friends as I was the only one studying and our interests, well, we just became different people. It was emotionally difficult for me as I became more and more aware of how different I was and that made me feel more and more isolated. So I decided to enrol myself into a small media and film group at Latrobe University at the time and made short films as a way to interact with like minded students. It was a strange time for me. I was away from everything that I was familiar with and I could not really connect with the other students and so I expressed myself in those films in ways I did not entirely understand, trying to regulate the emotional stress of all the changes that were occurring in my life at the time. You could see the confusion through the short films that I did or the screenplays that I wrote.

It was until I took a subject in my final year with Richard Freadman called Writing Autobiography that gave me a chance to recognise that I had buried deep within me something I did not completely understand. It was clear because I was unable to write autobiography, indeed anything at all about me. I needed to fictionalise my life because whenever I thought about my reality, a feeling of anxiety and neuroticism would manifest. I could escape those feelings through fiction or when I focused on scientific facts and figures. I admitted my predicament to him after nervously reading my short story in his tiny office with other students in the class and he said that I write like a cross between Simone de Beauvoir and Voltaire, which remains the greatest compliment I have ever received. While people often assume that tortured artists are geniuses, the fact is that they are unable to adequately piece together their own story, that their creativity is really their search for an answer, but often in all the wrong ways.

While I found peace in science and where politics and philosophy satisfied my intellectual needs, hidden deep within me remained the creative pangs of a venture I had not been able to undertake. Until only a few years ago when my story within, when all that pain that I had buried finally released and I was forced to face my demons. I had to learn how to write autobiography and slowly I started to speak about my father and my mother, about my siblings and a childhood of constant belittling and harassment, to recognise that esteem, my identity and self-hood until I finally found that peace within myself. To understand how to film a documentary is to piece together a narrative, to form a person on camera and explain an identity, something that cannot be achieved without first being able to tell your own autobiography.

It seems that most of my decisions in life ended up looping in one cycle back to the very beginning, as though all the effort I made learning about so many different interests was to broaden my knowledge and understanding so I could reach this point in my life. It just suddenly made sense, my passion for justice, human rights and peace, my difficulties and overcoming them, writing autobiography, my philosophical obsession with authenticity in our thoughts and who we are, my work with children and education, all the way to what is now my creative pursuit in making honest documentaries and telling real stories.

My Panasonic GH4

As a hiker, I get the chance to meet some amazing people and luckily met a friend who was a professional in the industry where we discussed our interest in film. It was one of those moments where – without prejudice or assumptions interfering – we just both comfortably connected and talked openly about movies and cinema, about equipment and my decision to learn video and documentary as a creative pursuit on the side of my professional desires. I am already in a job that is perfect for me doing community work with children and I was recently promoted into a senior role. I feel comfortable in my job and so many people in my community know me and respect me. It seemed the right time to renew my creative side that was abandoned so many years ago. I began that process by purchasing a Panasonic GH4 that is capable enough for my amateur beginnings.

My amazing experience as an intern at Tel Aviv University and my visit to Bethlehem enabled me to form a strong partnership with a small school at a refugee camp nearby that teaches children non-violent expression through creativity and the arts, including dance, theatre, and music where talented people from all over the world come and teach the children there. My friend Phil from the United States is coming to teach children painting, and Ray from Australia is directing a play with the children. While I will be teaching women about human rights law, I will also be spending most of my time documenting the play and filming it on my Panasonic GH4, telling the story of several young students who are starring in that play. I have no political agenda, no fiction to add to the story but want to give others the opportunity to witness the real. Authenticity and honesty, love and peacefulness, human rights and justice, everything that I am is being expressed through this documentary.

I am one week away from my journey and I will write more about this in the coming weeks.

On Forgiveness: The Individual Represents The State

The Individual

The State

To Fight The Good Fight


Are Shares worth keeping?

Sup pubbers?

I bought some shares in some graphene mining companies and a medical marijuana company back in 2015. They probably consist of 10% of my overall portfolio and have done alright as far as traditional markets go.

Is it worth holding onto the shares or should I swap them over to crypto?

Keep them.
You should diversify your portfolio with shares, crypto, real estate etc…
Never keep all your eggs in the same basket.

Even with the looming threat of hyperinflation?

Stocks are kind of shaky right now I heard. I don’t follow what’s going on with them that much so I am not the one to take advice from.

There’s always the looming threat of hyperinflation. Sure they raised interest rates a smidge but I would not get to hasty yet. Just my personal opinion and each stock is different.

Sounds like if a company isn’t using or relating themselves to cryptocurrency then the average person won’t invest in them.


[Cite This]

Famous Authors

Picture of Famous Authors

The Ability to Write

What Famous Authors have in Common

All the famous authors have a few characteristics in common that led them to become known as the best writers of all time.

For one thing, most of them had to deal with all sorts of obstacles and rejection in the beginning. Indeed, Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight Series received a response from only one of the 15 agencies she had applied in. The first barrier these authors overcame was a personal one. It was a promise to ensure that their passion to accomplish something was not to fade in the face of rejection or disapproval of others. Moreover, most of these authors did not set out to achieve commercial success. Instead they wrote because it is what they loved to do and in the process earned success and fame.

The Impact that has been Made

The contribution that Famous Authors have made to literature is incalculable. Each and every author on the list of FamousAuthors.org has in his or her own way made an impact in the world, leaving their mark on society. Their spirit lives on in the works that they produced in the course of their lives. This work can include biographical accounts of the finest writers such as the Diary of Anne Frank or fictional books like those of R.L Stine.

One is enabled to view the world through the perspectives of writers from different parts of the world and different walks of life in terms of religion, culture and society. It allows us to gain comprehension and insight into the workings of their minds.

The famous authors have gained acclaim for their ability to express themselves in prose in such a way that stirs and evokes strong emotions in the reader be it sadness, happiness, amusement or just something that provokes your thought process, so on and so forth.

It is interesting to note that many of the authors on FamousAuthors.org‘s list were inspired to write upon reading the works of other famous authors. Hence, these authors provide inspiration to aspiring authors to write encouraging future work of art.

Famous Books

Write About Famous Authors


Voters in Los Angeles on Tuesday will to get to vote on a program that has been called alternately as a solar power booster and a power grab for the local utility and City Council.

There has been no shortage of passionate debates about Measure B., which would require the Los Angles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to install 400 megawatts worth of solar panels on commercial and institutional rooftops and other spaces within the LA basin by 2014.

The sticking point is the ballot language that would give LADWP the authority to "install, operate, maintain and repair and/or

The utility worker's union supports Measure B, so does Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The California League of Conservation Voters said Measure B would speed up solar energy developments in the city, which is generating 13 megawatts of solar power – less than 1 percent of the city's electricity supply. The Sierra Club also supports the measure.

The Los Angeles Times's editorial board urged voters to say no to Measure B, saying the city can and has been working on efforts to generate 900 megawatts worth of solar energy without seeking voters' approval. So why do so now?