AMERICAN STONEHENGE

HE STRANGEST MONUMENT in America looms over a barren knoll in northeastern Georgia. Five massive slabs of polished granite rise out of the earth in a star pattern. The rocks are each 16 feet tall, with four of them weighing more than 20 tons apiece. Together they support a 25,000-pound capstone. Approaching the edifice, it’s hard not to think immediately of England’s Stonehenge or possibly the ominous monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Built in 1980, these pale gray rocks are quietly awaiting the end of the world as we know it. Called the Georgia Guidestones, the monument is a mystery—nobody knows exactly who commissioned it or why. The only clues to its origin are on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gives the dimensions and explains a series of intricate notches and holes that correspond to the movements of the sun and stars—and the “guides” themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appear in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflect a peculiar New Age ideology. Some are vaguely eugenic (guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity); others prescribe standard-issue hippie mysticism (prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite). What’s most widely agreed upon—based on the evidence available—is that the Guidestones are meant to instruct the dazed survivors of some impending apocalypse as they attempt to reconstitute civilization. Not everyone is comfortable with this notion. A few days before I visited, the stones had been splattered with polyurethane and spray-painted with graffiti, including slogans like “Death to the new world order.” This defacement was the first serious act of vandalism in the Guidestones’ history, but it was hardly the first objection to their existence. In fact, for more than three decades this uncanny structure in the heart of the Bible Belt has been generating responses that range from enchantment to horror. Supporters (notable among them Yoko Ono) have praised the messages as a stirring call to rational thinking, akin to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason. Opponents have attacked them as the Ten Commandments of the Antichrist. Whoever the anonymous architects of the Guidestones were, they knew what they were doing: The monument is a highly engineered structure that flawlessly tracks the sun. It also manages to engender endless fascination, thanks to a carefully orchestrated aura of mystery. And the stones have attracted plenty of devotees to defend against folks who would like them destroyed. Clearly, whoever had the monument placed here understood one thing very well: People prize what they don’t understand at least as much as what they do. THE STORY OF THE GEORGIA GUIDESTONESbegan on a Friday afternoon in June 1979, when an elegant gray-haired gentleman showed up in Elbert County, made his way to the offices of Elberton Granite Finishing, and introduced himself as Robert C. Christian. He claimed to represent “a small group of loyal Americans” who had been planning the installation of an unusually large and complex stone monument. Christian had come to Elberton—the county seat and the granite capital of the world—because he believed its quarries produced the finest stone on the planet. Joe Fendley, Elberton Granite’s president, nodded absently, distracted by the rush to complete his weekly payroll. But when Christian began to describe the monument he had in mind, Fendley stopped what he was doing. Not only was the man asking for stones larger than any that had been quarried in the county, he also wanted them cut, finished, and assembled into some kind of enormous astronomical instrument. What in the world would it be for? Fendley asked. Christian explained that the structure he had in mind would serve as a compass, calendar, and clock. It would also need to be engraved with a set of guides written in eight of the world’s major languages. And it had to be capable of withstanding the most catastrophic events, so that the shattered remnants of humanity would be able to use those guides to reestablish a better civilization than the one that was about to destroy itself.

MONUMENTAL PRECISION

Built to survive the apocalypse, the Georgia Guidestones are not merely instructions for the future—the massive granite slabs also function as a clock, calendar, and compass.

The monument sits at the highest point in Elbert County and is oriented to track the sun’s east-west migration year-round.

On an equinox or solstice, visitors who stand at the west side of the “mail slot” are positioned to see the sun rise on the horizon.

An eye-level hole drilled into the center support stone allows stargazers on the south side to locate Polaris, the North Star.

A 7/8-inch hole drilled through the capstone focuses a sunbeam on the center column and at noon pinpoints the day of the year.

Text: Erik Malinowski; illustration: Steve Sanford Fendley is now deceased, but shortly after the Guidestones went up, an Atlanta television reporter asked what he was thinking when he first heard Christian’s plan. “I was thinking, ‘I got a nut in here now. How am I going get him out?'” Fendley said. He attempted to discourage the man by quoting him a price several times higher than for any project commissioned there before. The job would require special tools, heavy equipment, and paid consultants, Fendley explained. But Christian merely nodded and asked how long it would take. Fendley didn’t rightly know—six months, at least. He wouldn’t be able to even consider such an undertaking, he added, until he knew it could be paid for. When Christian asked whether there was a banker in town he considered trustworthy, Fendley saw his chance to unload the strange man and sent him to look for Wyatt Martin, president of the Granite City Bank. The tall and courtly Martin—the only man in Elberton besides Fendley known to have met R. C. Christian face-to-face—is now 78. “Fendley called me and said, ‘A kook over here wants some kind of crazy monument,'” Martin says. “But when this fella showed up he was wearing a very nice, expensive suit, which made me take him a little more seriously. And he was well-spoken, obviously an educated person.” Martin was naturally taken aback when the man told him straight out that R. C. Christian was a pseudonym. He added that his group had been planning this secretly for 20 years and wanted to remain anonymous forever. “And when he told me what it was he and this group wanted to do, I just about fell over,” Martin says. “I told him, ‘I believe you’d be just as well off to take the money and throw it out in the street into the gutters.’ He just sort of looked at me and shook his head, like he felt kinda sorry for me, and said, ‘You don’t understand.'” Martin led Christian down the street to the town square, where the city had commissioned a towering Bicentennial Memorial Fountain, which included a ring of 13 granite panels, each roughly 2 by 3 feet, signifying the original colonies. “I told him that was about the biggest project ever undertaken around here, and it was nothing compared to what he was talking about,” Martin says. “That didn’t seem to bother him at all.” Promising to return on Monday, the man went off to charter a plane and spend the weekend scouting locations from the air. “By then I half believed him,” Martin says. When Christian came back to the bank Monday, Martin explained that he could not proceed unless he could verify the man’s true identity and “get some assurance you can pay for this thing.” Eventually, the two negotiated an agreement: Christian would reveal his real name on the condition that Martin promise to serve as his sole intermediary, sign a confidentiality agreement pledging never to disclose the information to another living soul, and agree to destroy all documents and records related to the project when it was finished. “He said he was going to send the money from different banks across the country,” Martin says, “because he wanted to make sure it couldn’t be traced. He made it clear that he was very serious about secrecy.” Before leaving town, Christian met again with Fendley and presented the contractor with a shoe box containing a wooden model of the monument he wanted, plus 10 or so pages of detailed specifications. Fendley accepted the model and instructions but remained skeptical until Martin phoned the following Friday to say he had just received a $10,000 deposit. After that, Fendley stopped questioning and started working. “My daddy loved a challenge,” says Fendley’s daughter, Melissa Fendley Caruso, “and he said this was the most challenging project in the history of Elbert County.”CONSTRUCTION OF THE Guidestones got under way later that summer. Fendley’s company lovingly documented the progress of the work in hundreds of photographs. Jackhammers were used to gouge 114 feet into the rock at Pyramid Quarry, searching for hunks of granite big enough to yield the final stones. Fendley and his crew held their breath when the first 28-ton slab was lifted to the surface, wondering if their derricks would buckle under the weight. A special burner (essentially a narrowly focused rocket motor used to cut and finish large blocks of granite) was trucked to Elberton to clean and size the stones, and a pair of master stonecutters was hired to smooth them. Fendley and Martin helped Christian find a suitable site for the Guidestones in Elbert County: a flat-topped hill rising above the pastures of the Double 7 Farms, with vistas in all directions. For $5,000, owner Wayne Mullinex signed over a 5-acre plot. In addition to the payment, Christian granted lifetime cattle-grazing rights to Mullinex and his children, and Mullinex’s construction company got to lay the foundation for the Guidestones. With the purchase of the land, the Guidestones’ future was set. Christian said good-bye to Fendley at the granite company office, adding, “You’ll never see me again.” Christian then turned and walked out the door—without so much as a handshake. From then on, Christian communicated solely through Martin, writing a few weeks later to ask that ownership of the land and monument be transferred to Elbert County, which still holds it. Christian reasoned that civic pride would protect it over time. “All of Mr. Christian’s correspondence came from different cities around the country,” Martin says. “He never sent anything from the same place twice.” 

Daybreak: A carefully cut slot in the Guidestones’ center column frames the sunrise on solstices and equinoxes.Photo: Dan Winters

The astrological specifications for the Guidestones were so complex that Fendley had to retain the services of an astronomer from the University of Georgia to help implement the design. The four outer stones were to be oriented based on the limits of the sun’s yearly migration. The center column needed two precisely calibrated features: a hole through which the North Star would be visible at all times, and a slot that was to align with the position of the rising sun during the solstices and equinoxes. The principal component of the capstone was a 7\8-inch aperture through which a beam of sunlight would pass at noon each day, shining on the center stone to indicate the day of the year. The main feature of the monument, though, would be the 10 dictates carved into both faces of the outer stones, in eight languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, and Swahili. A mission statement of sorts (let these be guidestones to an age of reason) was also to be engraved on the sides of the capstone in Egyptian hieroglyphics, classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Babylonian cuneiform. The United Nations provided some of the translations (including those for the dead languages), which were stenciled onto the stones and etched with a sandblaster. By early 1980, a bulldozer was scraping the Double 7 hilltop to bedrock, where five granite slabs serving as a foundation were laid out in a paddle-wheel design. A 100-foot-tall crane was used to lift the stones into place. Each of the outer rocks was 16 feet 4 inches high, 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 1 foot 7 inches thick. The center column was the same (except only half the width), and the capstone measured 9 feet 8 inches long, 6 feet 6 inches wide, and 1 foot 7 inches thick. Including the foundation stones, the monument’s total weight was almost 240,000 pounds. Covered with sheets of black plastic in preparation for an unveiling on the vernal equinox, the Guidestones towered over the cattle that continued to graze beneath it at the approach of winter’s end. The monument ignited controversy before it was even finished. The first rumor began among members of the Elberton Granite Association, jealous of the attention being showered on one of their own: Fendley was behind the whole thing, they said, aided by his friend Martin, the banker. The gossip became so poisonous that the two men agreed to take a lie detector test at the Elberton Civic Center. The scandal withered when The Elberton Star reported that they had both passed convincingly, but the publicity brought a new wave of complaints. As word of what was being inscribed spread, Martin recalls, even people he considered friends asked him why he was doing the devil’s work. A local minister, James Travenstead, predicted that “occult groups” would flock to the Guidestones, warning that “someday a sacrifice will take place here.” Those inclined to agree were hardly discouraged by Charlie Clamp, the sandblaster charged with carving each of the 4,000-plus characters on the stones: During the hundreds of hours he spent etching the guides, Clamp said, he had been constantly distracted by “strange music and disjointed voices.” 

The team that built the Guidestones didn’t know who was financing the project—just that it was the biggest monument in county history. Local banker Wyatt Martin inspects the English lettering with sandblaster Charlie Clamp before the 1980 unveiling. Photo: Courtesy of Fendley Enterprises Inc.

THE UNVEILING ON MARCH 22, 1980, was a community celebration. Congressmember Doug Barnard, whose district contained Elberton, addressed a crowd of 400 that flowed down the hillside and included television news crews from Atlanta. Soon Joe Fendley was the most famous Elbertonian since Daniel Tucker, the 18th-century minister memorialized in the folk song “Old Dan Tucker.” Bounded by the Savannah and Broad rivers but miles from the nearest interstate—”as rural as rural can be,” in the words of current Star publisher Gary Jones—Elberton was suddenly a tourist destination, with visitors from all over the world showing up to see the Guidestones. “We’d have people from Japan and China and India and everywhere wanting to go up and see the monument,” Martin says. And Fendley’s boast that he had “put Elberton on the map” was affirmed literally in spring 2005, when National Geographic Traveler listed the Guidestones as a feature in its Geotourism MapGuide to Appalachia. But many who read what was written on the stones were unsettled. Guide number one was, of course, the real stopper: maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature. There were already 4.5 billion people on the planet, meaning eight out of nine had to go (today it would be closer to 12 out of 13). This instruction was echoed and expanded by tenet number two: guide reproduction wisely—improving fitness and diversity. It didn’t take a great deal of imagination to draw an analogy to the practices of, among others, the Nazis. Guide number three instructed readers to unite humanity with a living new language. This sent a shiver up the spine of local ministers who knew that the Book of Revelations warned of a common tongue and a one-world government as the accomplishments of the Antichrist. Guide number four—rule passion—faith—tradition—and all things with tempered reason—was similarly threatening to Christians committed to the primacy of faith over all. The last six guides were homiletic by comparison. protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts. let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court. avoid petty laws and useless officials. balance personal rights with social duties. prize truth—beauty—love—seeking harmony with the infinite. be not a cancer on the earth—leave room for nature—leave room for nature. Even as locals debated the relative merits of these commandments, the dire predictions of Travenstead seemed to be coming true. Within a few months, a coven of witches from Atlanta adopted the Guidestones as their home away from home, making weekend pilgrimages to Elberton to stage various pagan rites (“dancing and chanting and all that kind of thing,” Martin says) and at least one warlock-witch marriage ceremony. No humans were sacrificed on the altar of the stones, but there are rumors that several chickens were beheaded. A 1981 article in the monthly magazine UFO Report cited Naunie Batchelder (identified in the story as “a noted Atlanta psychic”) as predicting that the true purpose of the guides would be revealed “within the next 30 years.” Viewed from directly overhead, the Guidestones formed an X, the piece in UFO Report observed, making for a perfect landing site. Visitors kept coming, but after several failed investigations into the identity of R. C. Christian, the media lost interest. Curiosity flared again briefly in 1993, when Yoko Ono contributed a track called “Georgia Stone” to a tribute album for avant-garde composer John Cage, with Ono chanting the 10th and final guide nearly verbatim: “Be not a cancer on Earth—leave room for nature—leave room for nature.” A decade later, however, when comedienne Roseanne Barr tried to work a bit on the Guidestones into her comeback tour, nobody seemed to care. Christian kept in touch with Martin, writing the banker so regularly that they became pen pals. Occasionally, Christian would call from a pay phone at the Atlanta airport to say he was in the area, and the two would rendezvous for dinner in the college town of Athens, a 40-mile drive west of Elberton. By this time, Martin no longer questioned Christian’s secrecy. The older man had successfully deflected Martin’s curiosity when the two first met, by quoting Henry James’ observations of Stonehenge: “You may put a hundred questions to these rough-hewn giants as they bend in grim contemplation of their fallen companions, but your curiosity falls dead in the vast sunny stillness that enshrouds them.” Christian “never would tell me a thing about this group he belonged to,” Martin says. The banker received his last letter from Christian right around the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and assumes the man—who would have been in his mid-eighties—has since passed away. 

Joe Fendley of Elberton Granite Finishing posing with his masterpiece. Photo: Courtesy of Fendley Enterprises Inc.

THE MYSTERIOUS STORY of R. C. Christian and the absence of information about the true meaning of the Guidestones was bound to become an irresistible draw for conspiracy theorists and “investigators” of all kinds. Not surprisingly, three decades later there is no shortage of observers rushing to fill the void with all sorts of explanations. Among them is an activist named Mark Dice, author of a book called The Resistance Manifesto. In 2005, Dice (who was using a pseudonym of his own—”John Conner”—appropriated from the Terminator franchise’s main character) began to demand that the Guidestones be “smashed into a million pieces.” He claims that the monument has “a deep Satanic origin,” a stance that has earned him plenty of coverage, both in print and on the Web. According to Dice, Christian was a high-ranking member of “a Luciferian secret society” at the forefront of the New World Order. “The elite are planning to develop successful life-extension technology in the next few decades that will nearly stop the aging process,” Dice says, “and they fear that with the current population of Earth so high, the masses will be using resources that the elite want for themselves. The Guidestones are the New World Order’s Ten Commandments. They’re also a way for the elite to get a laugh at the expense of the uninformed masses, as their agenda stands as clear as day and the zombies don’t even notice it.” Ironically, Dice’s message has mainly produced greater publicity for the Guidestones. This, in turn, has brought fresh visitors to the monument and made Elbert County officials even less inclined to remove the area’s only major tourist attraction. Phyllis Brooks, who runs the Elbert County Chamber of Commerce, pronounced herself aghast last November when the Guidestones were attacked by vandals for the first time ever. While Dice denies any involvement in the assault, he seems to have inspired it: Spray-painted on the stones were messages like “Jesus will beat u satanist” and “No one world government.” Other defacements asserted that the Council on Foreign Relations is “ran by the devil,” that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job, and that President Obama is a Muslim. The vandals also splashed the Guidestones with polyurethane, which is much more difficult to remove than paint. Despite the graffiti’s alignment with his views, Dice says he disapproves of the acts. “A lot of people were glad such a thing happened and saw it as standing up against the New World Order,” Dice says, “while others who are unhappy with the stones saw the actions as counterproductive and inappropriate.” Martin winces every time he hears Dice’s “Luciferian secret society” take on the Guidestones. But while he disagrees, he also admits that he doesn’t know for sure. “All I can tell you is that Mr. Christian always seemed a very decent and sincere fella to me.” 

A worker uses a special burner to finish a slab of Pyramid Blue granite. Photo: Courtesy of Fendley Enterprises Inc.

Dice, of course, is far from the only person with a theory about the Guidestones. Jay Weidner, a former Seattle radio commentator turned erudite conspiracy hunter, has heavily invested time and energy into one of the most popular hypotheses. He argues that Christian and his associates were Rosicrucians, followers of the Order of the Rosy Cross, a secret society of mystics that originated in late medieval Germany and claim understanding of esoteric truths about nature, the universe, and the spiritual realm that have been concealed from ordinary people. Weidner considers the name R. C. Christian an homage to the legendary 14th-century founder of the Rosicrucians, a man first identified as Frater C.R.C. and later as Christian Rosenkreuz. Secrecy, Weidner notes, has been a hallmark of the Rosicrucians, a group that announced itself to the world in the early 17th century with a pair of anonymous manifestos that created a huge stir across Europe, despite the fact that no one was ever able to identify a single member. While the guides on the Georgia stones fly in the face of orthodox Christian eschatology, they conform quite well to the tenets of Rosicrucianism, which stress reason and endorse a harmonic relationship with nature. Weidner also has a theory about the purpose of the Guidestones. An authority on the hermetic and alchemical traditions that spawned the Rosicrucians, he believes that for generations the group has been passing down knowledge of a solar cycle that climaxes every 13,000 years. During this culmination, outsize coronal mass ejections are supposed to devastate Earth. Meanwhile, the shadowy organization behind the Guidestones is now orchestrating a “planetary chaos,” Weidner believes, that began with the recent collapse of the US financial system and will result eventually in major disruptions of oil and food supplies, mass riots, and ethnic wars worldwide, all leading up to the Big Event on December 21, 2012. “They want to get the population down,” Weidner says, “and this is what they think will do it. The Guidestones are there to instruct the survivors.” On hearing Weidner’s ideas, Martin shakes his head and says it’s “the sort of thing that makes me want to tell people everything I know.” Martin has long since retired from banking and no longer lives in Elberton, yet he’s still the Guidestones’ official—and only—secret-keeper. “But I can’t tell,” the old man quickly adds. “I made a promise.” Martin also made a promise to destroy all the records of his dealings with Christian, though he hasn’t kept that one—at least not yet. In the back of his garage is a large plastic bin (actually, the hard-sided case of an IBM computer he bought back in 1983) stuffed with every document connected to the Guidestones that ever came into his possession, including the letters from Christian. For years Martin thought he might write a book, but now he knows he probably won’t. What he also won’t do is allow me to look through the papers. When I ask whether he’s prepared to take what he knows to his grave, Martin replies that Christian would want him to do just that: “All along, he said that who he was and where he came from had to be kept a secret. He said mysteries work that way. If you want to keep people interested, you can let them know only so much.” The rest is enshrouded in the vast sunny stillness. Randall Sullivan (randysul@aol.com) wrote about the electric-vehicle company ZAP in issue 16.04. Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.

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Yogapoo

What is Yogapoo well it's a way of picking up your 🐕 mess whilst striking a yoga pose.The person behind it is Rob Braddock who lives in Westward Ho Devon who came up with the concept as a fun way to keep fit  and pick up your dog's  poo.If you visit Westward Ho you will see a sign please start bending over and pick up your 🐕poo with a picture of a 🚺 doing a the yoga pose near some 🐕poo  ,so come and do yogapoo.

Sepsis information via nhs

Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Help with accessibility Go to NHS.UK homepage Enter a search term Menu Home Health A-Z Sepsis Causes Sepsis Overview Causes Treatment Page contents Sources of infection What causes the symptoms of sepsis? People at risk Causes Sepsis can be triggered by an infection in any part of the body. The most common sites of infection leading to sepsis are the lungs, urinary tract, tummy (abdomen) and pelvis. Sepsis may develop when you're already in hospital. For example, you're more likely to develop sepsis if: you've recently had surgery you've had a urinary catheter fitted you have to stay in hospital for a long time Sources of infection Types of infection associated with sepsis include: lung infection (pneumonia) appendicitis an infection of the thin layer of tissue that lines the inside of the abdomen (peritonitis) an infection of the bladder, urethra or kidneys (urinary tract infection) an infection of the gallbladder (cholecystitis) or bile ducts (cholangitis) skin infections, such as cellulitis – this can be caused by an intravenous catheter that's been inserted through the skin to give fluids or medication infections after surgery infections of the brain and nervous system – such as meningitis or encephalitis flu (in some cases) bone infection (osteomyelitis) heart infection (endocarditis) Sometimes the specific infection and source of sepsis can't be identified. What causes the symptoms of sepsis? Usually, your immune system keeps an infection limited to one place. This is known as a localised infection. Your body produces white blood cells, which travel to the site of the infection to destroy the germs causing infection. A series of biological processes occur, such as tissue swelling, which helps fight the infection and prevents it spreading. This process is known as inflammation. If your immune system is weak or an infection is particularly severe, it can quickly spread through the blood into other parts of the body. This causes the immune system to go into overdrive, and the inflammation affects the entire body. This can cause more problems than the initial infection, as widespread inflammation damages tissue and interferes with blood flow. The interruption in blood flow leads to a dangerous drop in blood pressure, which stops oxygen reaching your organs and tissues. People at risk Everybody is potentially at risk of developing sepsis from minor infections. However, some people are more vulnerable, including people who: have a medical condition that weakens their immune system – such as HIV or leukaemia are receiving medical treatment that weakens their immune system – such as chemotherapy or long-term steroids are very young or very old are pregnant have a long-term health condition – such as diabetes have just had surgery, or have wounds or injuries as a result of an accident are on mechanical ventilation – where a machine is used to help you breathe have drips or catheters attached to their skin are genetically prone to infections Sepsis is a particular risk for people already in hospital because of another serious illness. Bacterial infections that can be caught in hospital, such as MRSA, tend to be more serious, as these bacteria have often developed a resistance to many commonly used antibiotics. Page last reviewed: 24/02/2016 Next review due: 24/02/2019 Next page: Treatment Previous page: Overview NHS sites About us Contact us Sitemap Accessibility Our policies © Crown Copyright

Downs Syndrome

I have a nephew who has Downs Syndrome and I have dealt with people who were in special needs who had downs as well to me they are just people.Down syndrome (DS or DNS), also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disordercaused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21.^[2] It is typically associated with physical growth delays, characteristic facial featuresand mild to moderate intellectual disability.^[1] The average IQ of a young adult with Down syndrome is 50, equivalent to the mental ability of an 8- or 9-year-old child, but this can vary widely.^{[7]Read more}

Morphine for pain relief

About morphine

Type of medicine	Strong opioid painkiller
Used for	Pain relief
Also called	Filnarine®; Morphgesic®; MST Continus®; MXL®; Oramorph®; Sevredol®; Zomorph®
Available as	Tablets, slow-release tablets and capsules, oral liquid medicine, sachets, and injection

Strong opioids are medicines used to treat severe or long-term (chronic) pain. Although there are many types of strong opioids (sometimes called opiates), morphine is the most commonly used. It works on your nervous system and brain to reduce the amount of pain you feel.

Morphine can be taken as a liquid by mouth, as quick-acting tablets, or as slow-release tablets and capsules. It is also available as an injection. Morphine is commonly given by injection in hospitals following surgical operations. Oral preparations of morphine come with various different brand names, and not all brands are absorbed by your body in the same way. Once you have started taking one brand, you should continue to take the same brand unless your doctor tells you to switch to another....Read more

How Makaton works

Most communication is through speaking to others.  However, some people have difficulty with using speech and they need to use different ways to communicate, like using Makaton symbols and signs.

When we speak, we often use extra tools to help the person we are communicating with understand what we are saying.  For example, if we are asked for directions, we might point (gesture) or draw a picture.  These are clues to help provide more information.

Makaton uses speech with signs (gestures) and symbols (pictures) to help people communicate.  We also use facial expression, eye contact and body language to give as much information as possible.

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Where (sign)

Where (symbol)

Signs and symbols give extra information which can be seen.  Research has shown that signs and gestures are easier to learn than spoken words.  This makes sense.  Babies use gestures before they can speak, to tell us what they want.  For example, they might point at the biscuit tin or hold out their arms to be lifted up.  Children and adults can use Makaton to let others know what they want, make choices, share information and understand more.  This helps build and develop important communication and language skills.

Top tips

• Using Makaton is fun!
• Use signs and symbols as much and as often as you can.
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law enforcement training -ground fighting.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #1: DROP THE COMBAT SPORTS MINDSET

The self-defense system known as Controlled FORCE is designed to fit the needs of law-enforcement officers. As such, it views ground fighting from a combat perspective instead of a sport perspective. The differences are obvious: Practitioners of martial sports like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling and judo need not worry about groin strikes, eye gouges or dynamic pressure on their joints. Their goal is to work toward a pin or submission while fending off their opponent’s “fair” techniques. In contrast, your goal in the real world is to protect your vital areas, get to your feet and neutralize the threat using any tool that’s available.

The first lesson: Dump that combat sports mindset right now. Forget about those submissions. In a violent situation, your goal is to work toward an outside position to minimize your opponent’s attack zone and increase your ability to gain control of him or to disengage and change tactics. Controlled FORCE accomplishes this by teaching counterstrike drills that combine protecting techniques and disruption techniques that will prepare you to rapidly recover and regain control when a fight goes beyond the initial surprise attack. If the assailant is too close for you to use other control techniques, you can rely on hand techniques and body locks to gain an advantageous position.

During Self-Defense Training: Although your main goal should be to remain standing, you must be prepared to fight on the ground. Again, your objective is not to get comfortable there but to learn effective techniques for fending off the attack, minimizing damage and getting back to your feet. Spar with that in mind.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #2: EMPLOY A COLLAPSING DEFENSE

Controlled FORCE advocates an approach called “collapsing defense.” If you go down, you should establish a ground-defense safety zone and keep the assailant at bay by attacking his feet and shins while he remains standing. As he closes the gap, assume an active position from which you can shift from side to side with one leg ready to kick and your free hand ready to protect your face. That orientation is intended to create distance so you can get back on your feet or transition to other defensive tools.

If you’re in law enforcement, practice this while wearing a holster and training firearm so you can draw your weapon. Once you land on the ground, you must remember that your opponent can present a knife, gun or other weapon. At that point, you can use your firearm and engage him with deadly force.

During Self-Defense Training: If you carry a gun, make sure you practice drawing it from a seated or grounded position. Keep the muzzle pointed away from your body. After you simulate shooting, your opponent should continue his attack in some repetitions of the drill to keep you from developing a mindset in which he always stops after being shot.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #3: REGAIN CONTROL

If the assailant breaches your defenses and gets close enough to start throwing punches, you can integrate skills taught in Controlled FORCE’s counterstrike drills. If he becomes frustrated with your defenses and tries to stand up to overtake you, use leverage techniques to shift his momentum so you can maneuver into a dominant position. If he manages to defeat all your preliminary defenses, you’re in a fight for your life. You must focus on regaining a position of advantage and re-establishing situational control.

During Self-Defense Training: Make sure your ground-fighting drills start with you in a bad position. That forces you to switch into survival mode. Controlled FORCE teaches a drill in which you start on the ground while your opponent grabs your holstered weapon. You have 30 seconds to retain your side arm and gain a position of advantage. After 30 seconds, a second attacker jumps in. After another 30 seconds, a third attacker joins the melee. The drill drives home the importance of getting to your feet as quickly as possible. Don’t focus on grappling with one opponent, or you’ll pay the price.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #4: PROTECT YOUR FACE

To further enhance your ground survivability, devise drills that place you in the worst possible predicament—for example, you’re mounted and your foe is working toward an even better position. Your first mission should be to prevent him from landing a blow to your face. Constantly move your head and use your arms as barriers in front of your face. At the same time, continue moving your body, especially your hips, to keep him off-balance.

During Self-Defense Training: Lie on your back and have your partner straddle you in the mount with one knee off the ground. The drill begins the moment he drops his other knee—that way, you won’t program yourself to feel comfortable when you’re mounted. He then initiates a series of punches aimed at your face. (If he’s not wearing boxing gloves, make sure he knows that he’s supposed to miss, but also be sure you’re on a mat so he doesn’t break his hand if he hits the floor.)

While moving and protecting your head, scoot your body upward (in the direction of your head) and squirm from side to side as if you’re doing side abdominal crunches. The movement will force him to focus on trying to keep his balance instead of bashing in your face.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #5: GET TO YOUR FEET

Your next step in a fight is to get your attacker off you—preferably by bucking him off with your hips. If he’s experienced at ground fighting, the task might prove difficult, in which case a groin strike can distract him long enough to break his balance. Once he’s displaced, get back to your feet and transition to better tools such as head strikes or a weapon.

During Self-Defense Training:Start with your partner mounted on you. After you protect your face and move up and side to side, thrust your hips upward at a 45-degree angle toward either of your shoulders. Avoid bucking him in the direction of your head because he might end up with his knees in your armpits, which can pin your arms in a useless position.

If you buck him partway off and he braces himself by posting an arm, wrap the limb with your arm and trap his ankle with your foot. Then roll him in the direction of the trap. You’re now in position to apply a Controlled FORCE Mechanical Advantage Control Hold and roll him off. All the MACH techniques are designed to function in a variety of positions, which means there are fewer techniques you must learn.

Even though he’s been thrown off, you might find yourself in his guard. Don’t stop moving. Unleash a series of groin strikes and pry his legs apart with your elbows digging into his inner thighs, then scramble to your feet.

During Self-Defense Training: Make sure you do this drill—and all the others—while wearing your duty belt and a holstered training firearm. Otherwise, you run the risk of creeping back toward sport training. Instruct your partner to go for your gun when the opportunity presents itself. If possible, arrange for another partner to serve as a second attacker.

GROUND FIGHTING TIP #6: PREPARE FOR STRESS

Adding stressors can make any training more realistic. A stressor is a condition that has the potential to distract or limit you, thus making the drills more challenging. They include:

• Training on gravel, in a stairwell or in a narrow hallway
• Doing calisthenics or a 15-second sprint beforehand to simulate a foot pursuit
• Partially obscuring your vision with a blindfold or goggles covered with tape
• Turning down the lights to simulate a night fight.

The bottom line is to keep the drills as realistic and challenging as possible so you’ll be better prepared to deal with an altercation that goes to the ground. Short review: The concepts that must be hammered into your brain are the need to protect yourself, the benefits of constantly moving, the need to retain your weapon and the urgency of getting back to your feet.

(Tony Cortina is a Southern California-based combatives instructor and law-enforcement officer with 14 years of experience, 10 of which have been with his unit’s SWAT team.)

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ARCHAEOPTERYX

 
 
 
 
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A winged dinosaur widely regarded as the first bird flew like a pheasant, scientists have discovered.

The Jurassic dinobird Archaeopteryx flapped its wings but was not capable of long distance active flight.

Nor could it glide and soar, like modern-day birds of prey.

Instead, Archaeopteryx probably made short bursts of limited low-level flight to escape danger, scientists believe

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-5495967/Archaeopteryx-flew-like-pheasant-say-scientists.html#ixzz59pOTeyRx
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Holsworthy mark show talking about British Wrestling Episode 165

Holsworthy mark show talking about British Wrestling Episode 165

IN MEMORY OF JIM BOWEN

When I was younger I watched a game show presented by Jim Bowen called Bullseye a quiz and darts skill in which the finalists would win or not win prizes like a speedboat or caravan also darts players of the era would go on to win for charity.           
James Whittaker^[2] (20 August 1937 – 14 March 2018)^[3] born Peter Williamsand known professionally as Jim Bowen, was an English stand-up comedianand TV personality, after an earlier career as a schoolteacher...https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bowen....In memory of Jim Bowen