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With a sigh and a shrug of her shoulders, she gazed down at her hands, her right index finger tracing circles on one of her jeans-clad thighs. Slouched in the overstuffed chair opposite my own, she suddenly jerked her head up and said. "But I've tried everything, and I still can't find the perfect man for me…he just doesn't exist!" As she looked right at me, her eyes, imploring me for help, were filled with fear, sadness, anger, despair, and hope.
What I was seeing and hearing in front of me was not unusual in my hypnotherapy practice. Heather* was typical of most individuals who came to me, desperate to understand how they could create change in their lives. Certainly, I, myself, was not immune to the same quandary, but I had learned some truths about working through obstacles in order to move ahead.
In the last few years, many people, by watching The Secret and/or by reading books on manifestation and the Law of Attraction and/or by listening to speakers on the topic, have discovered keys to bring about some desired change. Most writers agree that one key is setting an intention about what you seek; another key is "revving-up" the intention with emotion; and the final key is actually accepting what you asked for. A process that is simple…until it is not. Throughout the manifestation process, trouble arises when the beliefs that are often hidden beneath our desires/intentions intersect at a crossroads and create cross purposes, a subject not often discussed in depth. Before I can explain these conflicts of beliefs, I must first clarify what a belief is and is not.
The Nature of Beliefs
So, what are beliefs? They are interpretations, translations, and assessments of Reality, but are not Reality Itself. Because of the nature of our usual perceptual ability, which comprises the five senses, no perception/perspective/interpretation/translation/ assessment, even if it is positive and furthers our agenda, can capture the whole of Reality, which is infinitely multifaceted, frustrating any attempts to encompass it. Thus any belief is only one angle by which to perceive Reality. While that angle or vantage point is valid as far as it goes—that is, it does indeed capture some aspect of Reality—nevertheless, it inevitably distorts what it captures since what it records is only part of a whole it cannot ascertain.
Think here about the conundrum of several blind men who meet an elephant for the first time: one, touching the elephant's trunk, declares it to be snake-like. Another, touching its huge ear, argues that the creature is shaped like an enormous wing. Still another, touching one of its massive legs, insists that his compatriots are fools in not perceiving that the animal has an affinity with trees. Each man's physical blindness is, however, less important than its psychological counterpart; for each is blind to the fact that his version of the reality, while seemingly valid in its limited scope, does not encompass the whole. As a result, each man inadvertently creates a misrepresentation of both the part and the whole, believing the part to be the whole; and each, if he believes the stakes are high enough, might actually fight to the death to defend his perception, believing it is the Truth, rather than only an imprecise and limited aspect of It.
Like the blind men, many of us do not actually see most of our beliefs or acknowledge them as such. Think about when you could not find your car keys, only to notice, finally, that they were in one of your hands under the package you were also holding. Or remember the last time you were looking all over your desk for a particular envelope that you ultimately found right in front of you. Or what about your glasses that, strangely enough, were on top of your head the entire time you were frantically searching for them. Why couldn't you notice these items? The answer is that your limiting beliefs about where they could be literally blinded you to the "obvious" whereabouts of these artifacts. For instance, you might have believed that you left your keys somewhere in one of the places you looked for them—in no way could you believe you were holding them in virtually plain sight. As for the envelope, well, you believed, knew without a doubt, that the envelope was the brown, 9" X 11" type. As you scanned your workplace with this belief, this template of perception, the white, business-size envelope right in front of you did not fit this template and so was literally not seen. And those glasses—well, you never, ever place them on the top of your head; and thus that location isn't part of the search, even though part of your scalp is actually feeling the pressure from the clinging temples. Such beliefs actually keep us from seeing all that is before us, including the very existence of the beliefs as such. In the examples above, it never occurs to you that you are searching for things through a limiting belief, one that filters out what does not fit its parameters. You simply know that you are open to everything around you—to think otherwise is just plain crazy….uh huh!
Moreover, we very often do not recognize any one belief as an interpretation of reality because each one is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because the belief allows us to perceive only that which it focuses on, what it focuses on validates the belief as the Truth, rather than just a perspective on the Truth. You see what you believe, and then believe what you see. With its subjective, inadequate spotlight, the belief does not illuminate any data that would disconfirm its validity as the Truth. So the young lady in my office complaining about not finding "the perfect man" is actually telling her truth; for her limiting beliefs—about what such a man would be like or how able she is to attract him—never allow her to see him, even if he were to sit beside her on a park bench. Her reality comprises only that which her limiting beliefs allow her to perceive. Like one of the blind men adamant about his conception of the elephant, she is, in effect, trapped in that portion of Reality framed by her beliefs. And thus her beliefs are so constantly reinforced/validated that she would be thoroughly shocked to discover that Reality is quite different from what she thought It was.
Ontological Shock and Disconfirmed Beliefs
In fact, the shock might be so great that she refuses, momentarily or permanently, to accept the disconfirmation. In such a case, to accept that Reality is so substantially dissimilar from what she has held as the Truth would necessitate a complete reconfiguration, a change of identity, of both self and the world. Other people, when faced with an even greater disconfirmation, might fear losing their sanity if what they deem sane is identified by an authoritative other as a limiting belief. In Passport to the Cosmos, one of two books he wrote on alien encounters and abductions, John E. Mack, M.D, the late Harvard psychiatrist, uses the term "ontological shock" to describe the experience that many abductees go through at the moment when they can no longer deny that what they have undergone is in some way real" (p. 52). He goes on to note that "A worldview….is a source of security and a compass to guide us. For an individual it holds the psyche together. To destroy someone's worldview is virtually to destroy that person….People who present ideas that seriously challenge a worldview are punished—by death for heresy in the past and now by ridicule, debunking, and efforts to destroy their reputation" (p. 34).
While most of us do not have to face this particular encounter with a much more complex reality, nevertheless, such psyche-altering situations happen quite frequently to us in a vast array of physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually traumatic situations. Even the normal transitions between life stages, such as adolescence, mid-life, and old age, can trigger huge shocks that may or may not result in positive transformations. The ontological shock is such because the worldview, often called a paradigm, is not just one belief, but rather a series of layered/interlocking beliefs that govern most of what we experience. Thus, these intertwined beliefs are mutually reinforcing and create a seemingly impenetrable thicket or matrix, which is fiercely defended. No wonder some of my hypnotherapy clients react with a degree of hostility to my efforts to show them that their limiting beliefs about identity and Reality frustrate their getting what they say they want.
Such was the case with Heather, who had cast herself as the all-suffering victim of some outside force that refused to bring her what she consciously, seriously thought was her greatest desire. Even after I actively, empathically listened to her account of innumerable strategies she had employed to seek out her beloved, she reacted with narrowed eyes, slightly clenched fists and even an air of condescension to my wondering if she was missing something in her analysis. For hadn't she just provided me with unassailable proof that what she said she wanted was actually what she wanted?
The Multi-Dimensional Self: "Parts-of-Me" vs. "I"
What I had next to do was to explain, gently, the notion of the multi-dimensional self, the idea that the self is not unitary, but rather a gathering of many aspects that sometimes function in unison and sometimes not. Using common examples—from her trying to decide what type of ice cream she wants today to choosing what educational institution she wants to attend—I demonstrated to Heather how all of us constantly make choices between one wish, inclination, or desire and at least one other. The fact that we have to choose so often between two or more directions strongly suggests that there are competing yearnings and therefore competing parts of the psyche, each of which has its own structure of beliefs. Unfortunately, when Heather (or anyone else) tends to speak with "I" as the subject of her sentences, she fosters the illusion that she is univocal and that, therefore, there could be no inner conflict. When I asked her to speak instead with "part-of-me" as the subject, she at first resisted and then complied, sensing that that construction was more accurate. She reluctantly came to understand that there might be other inner perspectives not totally in alignment with that part she labeled "I."
To illustrate more concretely what I was suggesting to her, I told her the story of a young man who came to me many years ago when I was a traditional therapist. A vibrant, good-looking man of 32, Jerry* had been divorced about a year and a half before he came to see me. He was managing fairly well as a single father of two boys, 8 and 10, though sometimes felt overwhelmed. What Jerry was not managing well was his love life. Feeling ready to begin dating again, he described himself as "quite horny," but could not find anyone with whom to begin a relationship. Just after his divorce was final, in order to help himself get grounded and focused, Jerry committed to a church which he really enjoyed, except for one thing: there was a prohibition on pre-marital sex. A conundrum of the highest order, to say the least!
As I listened, I wondered what this conflict of yearnings and the beliefs that sustained them would bring to him. A week later Jerry announced that he had met an incredibly beautiful woman—a picture he showed me of her underlined that fact—who was very sexy and wanting to make love to him. He might have succumbed to her charms, except for one problem; she belonged to the same church that frowned on premarital dalliances! After a while, the sexual/spiritual tension was too great, and they split up. A couple of weeks later Jerry proclaimed that he had met another woman, who was nearly as attractive as the first woman, who was ready to have sex, and who did not belong to that church. Once again he might have chosen sex over his religious affiliation, but—you guessed it!—another problem arose when she disclosed to him that she was a single mother of three boys. The thought of managing five boys was more than overwhelming, and Jerry said goodbye to her also.
Had all of these occurrences not been so painful to Jerry, I would have shared my amusement with him. What happened to him was a perfect illustration of the Law of Attraction: you get what you focus on. Since he focused on both celibacy and sexual attraction, he received in his experience with each woman a combination of both desires/beliefs.
This un-integrated, unresolved combination of conflicting wishes/beliefs caused Jerry much anguish; he felt victimized, extremely frustrated and overrun by something he could not understand. But, with some gentle prompting from me, he soon began to discern his competing needs and beliefs; still, we both sensed something else lying beneath this conflict of desires. As we turned our focus to how he felt about his divorce, it was not long before Jerry realized that he had felt so blown away by his wife's betrayal in having an affair for several years that he made a half-conscious decision not to get close to another woman again, fearing a repetition of the infidelity. Hence the conflict between sex and celibacy served Jerry's underlying belief that he should not get deeply involved with a woman again. When we explored further his near-phobia of intimacy, we found still more global, limiting and obstructing beliefs, such as the "fact" that all women (including his mother) betray men, the "fact" that all women (like his other girlfriends) use sex for control, and the "fact" that all men (including his father and uncle) eventually fall victim to women's machinations. Though I do not recall if we checked for the influence of beliefs he may have imported from one or more past lives, they would certainly be another source of relevant, limiting beliefs, such as the idea that the world is not a safe place.
Despite his initial bewilderment, once he became more open, Jerry saw that it was relatively easy to find those conflicting beliefs that prevented him from getting what he consciously said he wanted. As Jane Roberts' Seth repeatedly says in his dictated books, for the most part, these beliefs are not deeply hidden in the subconscious, but are instead mostly conscious and relatively easy to access if we learn to step back, change focus and have the courage to ask what inner perspective may be getting in the way of our getting what we say we want. However, such access will not seem easy if we refuse to believe that opposing beliefs exist—how can they exist if we believe the self is univocal? Operating from the belief that the self has one voice, Jerry, at the outset, did not even look for a competing belief/self.
Nor are we likely to see these beliefs if they are self-reinforcing (as explained above) or if we see through them as though they were glasses. Those of us who wear glasses often forget we have them on, even if they are tinted sunglasses! All glasses distort the world we see, either to allow us to perceive something we would not otherwise see as with prescription lenses; or to appear "cool" or to hide; or to protect our eyes from sunlight; or to give a "color," tone, mood to what we observe. In each case, the distortion serves a purpose just as all beliefs serve purposes that seem positive until they are not. Even when the distortions that are beliefs serve a useful purpose, problems inevitably arise when we forget we are deliberately distorting reality or seeing only one aspect of it. What we need is the reminder that the right side mirror on most vehicles provides. Inscribed on the mirror itself is the caution: "Objects are closer than they appear." In order to provide the driver with a greater field of vision, the mirror is shaped to show objects farther away than they are; but, to prevent an accident, the mirror reminds us that the useful distortion is still a distortion.
So, in summary, we often do not notice those beliefs that obstruct our getting what we say we want because: 1) We say that what we perceive is reality and not just a perspective on reality; 2) We see only what the belief allows us to see, and thus it is self-reinforcing and blinds us to disconfirming data; 3) Beliefs interlock with one another and become woven into our identity, which we do not want to change; 4) Many of us tend to think of the self as one-dimensional, instead of multi-faceted and thus use "I" when "part of me" is often a more accurate subject of many sentences we say about ourselves; 5) Many of us are sure that, if there are, indeed, competing beliefs, they are beyond reach in the deep subconscious; 6) Even when we are aware that beliefs may distort Reality, we usually eventually forget that fact.
We Create Our Own Reality (Even Our Not Getting What We Say We Want)
The biggest obstacle to getting what we say we want is, however, not knowing or not being willing to know (and function from) the fact that we create our own reality. Seth has said that this fact is one of three statements he has made that is not in any way distorted by Jane Roberts' channeling, and is, therefore, not really a belief, but rather a true reflection of All That Is. Seth calls it a "primary" or "basic" reality, one operative in every system of reality/consciousness. Whether we open to this fact consciously or not, we still create every bit of what we experience, even our not getting what we say we want. At every moment, we walk into the materialization of our thoughts, beliefs and emotions, whether they are in alignment with each other or not, and explore them, consciously or not, from the inside. Becoming fully aware of this truth enables us to be totally conscious creators of our worlds. To accept the fact that we create our own reality with no exceptions is deeply empowering; it allows us immediately to understand that, notwithstanding what we consciously intend, what comes to us is always, at the very least, the co-creation of all of our inner selves that are in or not in alignment with each other.
Yet, even those individuals open to the fact of self-creation often hedge here or there, thinking and acting as if some areas of our experience are not designed and generated by us. To hedge like this is to disempower ourselves in many ways, including limiting our ability to see all the other obstacles listed above that get in the way of what we say we want. Sometimes we show our hedging in the way we discuss how our intentions operate. For instance, a short while ago, a beloved soul companion said something to me that I have heard often from others: "What if what we put out there is not what is supposed to happen? Then what happens?" Implied in this sentence construction, whether the speaker intended it or not, is the notion that there is something like God or the Soul, that ultimately "calls the shots." In one of Jane Roberts' ESP classes in the '70s, Seth said:
You form the reality that you know, not esoterically, not symbolically, and not philosophically. Some great over soul doesn't form it for you- you cannot put the burden there, either. You have in the past, collectively and individually, blamed a god or a fate for the nature of your personal realities – those aspects, indeed that you did not like.
The personality is given the greatest gift of all; you get exactly what you want to get. You create from nothing the experience that is your own. If you do not like your experience, then look within yourself and change it. But realize also that you are responsible for your joys and triumphs, and that the energy to create any of these realities comes from the inner self. What you do with it is up to the individual personality.
In saying that the inner self (i.e., the Soul, the Divine aspect of each of us) provides the personality with a flow of energy for creation, Seth is declaring that that flow may have a general direction, but it is ultimately directed by the personality (with its many parts/egos), who may even direct the flow against the flow. Thus the Divine or Soul aspect does not hold the trump card. And that is so because the personality has free will! If we did not have free will, our personality self(ves) would be robotic and learn absolutely nothing to develop the Soul and contribute to the Divine. The Divine aspect of who we are needs our personality self(ves) to be free-will explorers at the edge of what is known by the Soul; thus, even "detours" from the main line of development facilitated by the Soul aspect can provide knowledge, including, at the very least, information about why that route is not entirely useful to pursue.
In a rough analogy, the Soul is like the voice in my GPS that offers me the most expeditious route to my destination, given the time of day, one-way streets, the traffic situation and other parameters at that particular moment. (Some GPS systems, like the one on the Apple iPhone present "equifinality," giving three possible routes, each with the same outcome, but with a different experience, e.g., most scenic route, one that is quickest, or one that bypasses something.) As the driver, no matter my reason (including just being "defiant" as I sometimes am!), I have the freedom to ignore the GPS voice, which, however, will continue to offer me new opportunities to reach my goal in the quickest, least problematic way. Again, any so-called detour will always provide some new experience even if it might be relatively more onerous and takes longer to achieve the goal. The Soul acts in just this way vis-à-vis the personality, though it does not give up after a while, as does the GPS voice!
Knowing What We Want: The First Step to Getting What We Want
Given the information about the nature of beliefs, the multi-dimensional self, and the fact that we create our own reality, how do we intentionally bring to us what we want? The first step, as I noted early in this post, is to set the intention; but to do that, we have to know clearly, unequivocally, what we want. And such knowing is not as easy as some people might think. For, as I have shown with the case of Jerry, when we are searching for what we want, often several parts of us vie for dominance in choosing what is desired. In fact, if we are not getting what we think we want, there is no doubt that an inner interplay of conflicting, obstructing forces is operating.
There are several hypnotic processes that can facilitate awareness and resolution of this kind of conflict. One is past-life regression during which the individual's subconscious is asked to take the person's awareness back to a time when some vow or decision (even about the degree of ones worthiness or about whether ones actions in a prior life can be forgiven) was made that now, in the present incarnation, if the vow is accepted by the current personality, inhibits action/intention in a certain conscious direction. For instance, an individual who believes he wants to set up a practice as a psychic recalls a vow never to do so, a determination made at the end of a lifetime in which he misused his psychic gifts or was murdered for speaking of esoteric truths. Or a woman who desires a career as a gymnast recalls a past life in which, as a child swinging joyously on tree limbs, she slips and falls, breaking many bones in her body. In each case, to bring that part of the individual that is still fearful or doubtful into alignment with the aspiring part requires a new perspective, e.g., the individual may simply acknowledge that circumstances in the present life are far more advantageous and thus limiting vows are no longer needed; or may alter the outcome of the past life to a much more positive, less inhibiting ending; or may change the fearful part's role from anticipating terror to prescribing caution.
A related process is to go back to the Interlife when plans were being made by the personality with or without other personalities for the upcoming life. At least two primary modalities are possible here: the first is Michael Newton's Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy, a thorough, but very long process that allows the individual in trance to examine not only the pre-conception contract, but also many other aspects of the Interlife. A much briefer, though still effective process developed by David Quigley, the creator of Alchemical Hypnotherapy, leads the individual in trance directly to the contract he or she made with another individual or with God/Higher Self, a contract that has proved exceedingly burdensome and inhibiting of progress toward what the individual now wants. When the contract is with another individual or small group, the person seeking a change in the contract needs to "clean up" what caused the contract to be made in the first place; he or she then does a replay of the contracting experience more in keeping with what the person presently wants. The person, in trance, then communicates the new contract to the other individual who may or may not accept it; if the new contract is not accepted, the person who desires change will either renegotiate or completely end the contract. If the contract is made with God or the Higher Self, the petitioner, in trance, engages that Entity in a dialogue, hoping to end or at least mitigate the terms of the contract, especially if most of the lessons have been learned or if the purpose of the contract can be served in less painful and inhibiting ways.
Another hypnotic process to facilitate clear intention is what NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) practitioners do every time they assist an individual to sumount blocks to achievement: they ask the subconscious if every part of it agrees to the change. This is called "checking ecology" (the degree of integration of parts in the psychic environment) in such NLP modalities as 6-Step Reframe. A part that disagrees is summoned to image itself in the individual's inner world in a symbolic way that reflects what/who it is. The part is then asked what its positive intention is in frustrating the forward movement of the individual. Always framing the intention as positive allows the part to feel heard and respected. The individual is then asked to summon his or her creative part to help the inhibiting part to accomplish its intention for the psyche without the present negative side effects. If the inhibiting part accepts the new way of accomplishing its goal, the individual then once again checks the ecology of his inner world of parts until there are no objections.
Negotiating with inner parts/subpersonalities to achieve an agreed-upon intention is the overall object of various other parts therapies, such as Assagioli's Psychosynthesis, Gestalt therapy, Hal Stone & Sidra Winkelman's Voice Dialogue, and David Quigley's Conference Room. Each of these therapies emphasizes some inner dynamics over others, e.g., Gestalt's focus on Top Dog/Under Dog, Voice Dialogue's concentration on the Inner Critic, and Quigley's spotlight on the Inner Child. But all of these modalities agree that the psyche is multi-dimensional and thus all aspects/parts/subpersonalities must be in alignment for the person to consciously set an unequivocal intention for what he or she truly wants. (Byron Katie's modality, called "The Work," while not a form of parts therapy, is also useful in questioning the validity of limiting beliefs, in effect deconstructing them so that room is left for other, more expansive beliefs to emerge.)
Emotionalizing What We Want: The Second Step to Getting What We Want
Once all the parts agree with each other as to what the intended outcome is to be, that intention requires some "juice," which is accomplished by adding emotion to the mix. No matter how clear the intention, without our emotionalizing it, the intention loses its power to materialize. While some individuals might think such a prerequisite is onerous, they might pause a moment to reflect on what would happen if this requirement were not operating: in that case, every thought and whim, with or without emotion, would be immediately materialized, creating infinite chaos.
As Seth has said many times in his books, every thought, no matter how small or insignificant, has an electromagnetic reality. Thoughts, then, are "things" of greater or lesser substantiality or energy. If every thought were amped up and materialized to the same degree, it would be impossible to have any meaningful experience on the Earth plane because of lack of discrimination, prioritization, and overall organization. When we are outside of this plane, our creations are instantaneous, but not substantial in the way manifestations show up on this plane; in the Other World, then, we are better equipped to deal with such creations. However, we cannot learn in the Other World what we can learn here, where creation is slowed down so we can become much more aware of and responsible for what we bring into being. Here we have time to think twice or thrice about our choices; fortunately, for most of us, wanting to "kill" someone who has hurt you does not immediately translate into action as you cool down and understand your emotions. In a less dramatic scenario, for instance, my client, Heather, has time to thwart her growing desire to "swear off" men before she becomes an emotional hermit.
However, if Heather keeps repeating to herself that she wants to "swear off" men, then what amounts to a hypnotic auto-suggestion becomes more potent, more emotionalized through that repetition. Repetition is a key way to emotionalize and energize, for it produces a trance, a framework of beliefs, that is self-reinforcing because of the aforementioned nature of beliefs to blind one to disconfirming data. In Heather's case, her emotionalizing and energizing her limiting beliefs is mostly unconscious and productive of misery. Yet, if she was aware of emotionalizing and energizing a more expansive belief about her possibilities with men, she would more likely get what she says she wants. Moreover, if her emotionalizing is accompanied by her concretely imagining with all of her senses what she wants (what Neuro-Linguistic Programming calls "future pacing") she will truly experience herself as a conscious co-creator with All That Is.
Still, if we have to add emotion and energy to our intention, that effort implies that we did not do as good a job as we could have in seeking the input of all of our parts about our intended outcome. If all of the parts had agreed, the emotionalizing and energizing of the intention would have been automatic because at least one or more of the parts would amp up intentions. In doing "parts work," we often overlook one or more parts who may be afraid to exercise their powers (for fear of some retribution), or may be hiding to gain and exercise power behind the scenes, or are being repressed by other parts who speak louder and more insistently.
To rectify this situation, we must go back to any of the modalities outlined above, e.g., past-life regression, contract work with others or with God/Higher Self, Gestalt therapy, Voice Dialogue, NLP ecology work, Psychosynthesis, or the Conference Room. In parts therapies, we must ask directly, "Is there anyone here who objects to giving energy to this intention?" As when we are asking about the intention itself, parts may reveal themselves and "speak" through body sensations (e.g., itches, sharp or dull pain, stomach rumblings, sudden desire to sneeze or cough, curious smell) or through images that suddenly surface in the mind's eye. We then dialogue with the part, which may respond with further images, body sensations, inner voices or automatic writing. Once again, some negotiating needs to take place with the help of other parts to bring the dissenting part on board. Occasionally, in doing such dialoguing, a spontaneous regression to a past life or the past in this life (or even to the future or the Interlife) may occur as a response demonstrating the part's objection. One can also ask the part directly when it was "born," when it came into being a dissenter. For instance, in the case of Jerry, the part that objects to intimacy with a woman may have been born in this life, when he saw the effects on his father of his mother's infidelity. Or that part may have been born in response to a past life in which his female past-life persona was the "other woman" in a marriage.
Receiving What We Want: The Third and Final Step to Getting What We Want
So let's say that your intention is clear and energized, and you focus on it repeatedly. That should do it, right? Uh, no, those conditions are not enough for complete manifestation of your desire. You need to be open fully to receive what you asked for. Many of us are not. The adage, "Be careful what you ask for—you may get it!" is operative here. Whenever I discuss this part of the manifestation process with clients, I often get looks of utter shock, of profound disbelief that I could say something so…stupid! "Why wouldn't I want it?" says the typical doubter with annoyed condescension. When I broached this perspective with Heather, her narrowed eyes and tight lips told me she was containing her anger, concluding that I am downright crazy.
But I am not (at least not in that way!). Yet, I can understand how Heather could wonder about my mental stability, given how much time, effort, and tears she expended to create what she says she wants. When she came down from her haughty perch, however, I reminded her of the phenomenon of ontological shock, which I first discussed relative to ones finding out that the universe is far more complex than one had thought. Now, in this final phase of the manifestation process, ontological shock may emerge once again when some part of the individual realizes that a great deal may have to change in his or her environment and in himself or herself–even his/her identity!–if the manifestation is truly embraced. For instance, Heather would have to see herself as an empowered woman instead of as a victim, as someone honestly open to intimacy instead of someone pursuing what she is also secretly afraid of because it is so foreign. We tend to stay with our old, even painful limiting beliefs because they are frequently more "comfortable" than the more expansive ones that nevertheless often seem very strange, if not downright alien to our usual way of showing up in the world. Remember what Hamlet said, "Our present fears are less than horrible imaginings." Or recall the saying, "The Devil I know is better than the Devil I don't know!"
Unfortunately, many individuals like Heather will not believe my warning until they have a real chance of getting what they want. Then, suddenly, they don't have the time to receive something new because of an impending physical relocation for a job, a sudden illness, or, as in Heather's situation, the reemergence of an old, but toxic lover. What has really happened is that still another part of the psyche has been ignored, not adequately seen or consulted, or downright repressed. What needs to be heard is that part's beliefs about the internal and external changes likely to occur if the individual gets what she/he says she wants.
Once again, to make contact with the part that holds off acceptance requires doing some of the same parts work I outlined for the other two steps of the manifestation protocol, and/or doing contract renegotiation, and/or investigating past-life (and future-life) situations. In doing past-life regression, for instance, Heather may discover that she is hesitant in this life to embrace full intimacy because, in a past-life, her soul-mate may have died soon after she married him, or because she may have experienced a conflict between marrying someone and an opportunity to travel the world experiencing multiple, very different relationships that made her feel immensely and exotically desired. Whatever part is objecting to embracing what the person wants and receives must be respected and dialogued with if there is to be total alignment of all the aspects of the individual.
Only then is the manifestation process complete. Only then at the crossroads of beliefs is the traffic managed properly and thus allowed to flow without obstruction.
*Names are changed to protect privacy.


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JCPenney Responds to Homophobic Boycott Calls with Gay Father's Day Ad
In what appears to be a direct response to the failed boycott campaign of anti-gay group One Million Moms, JCPenney yesterday unveiled a new Father's Day ad featuring a same-sex couple playing with their children.
According to the company, the two men who appear in the ad are "real-life dads Todd Koch and Cooper Smith," and the jubilant children are their kids, Claire and Mason.
"First Pals: What makes Dad so cool?" reads the ad's copy. "He's the swim coach, tent maker, best friend, bike fixer and hug giver - all rolled into one. Or two."
Back in February, the department store chain faced criticism from the American Family Association's One Million Moms project for its hiring of Ellen DeGeneres to be the company's new spokesperson. JCPenney refused to submit to the group's bullying, and stuck by DeGeneres.

subset: commoncrawl


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FAST: Faceted Application of Subject Terminology: Principles and Application by Lois Mai Chan and Edward T. O'Neill is due to be published soon.
While The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) is perhaps the best known bibliographic control system in existence, it is cumbersome and not always user friendly. Faceted Application of Subject Terminology (or FAST) is designed to rework LCSH's authority rules, so that they are easier to use, understand, and apply. The result is a schema designed to handle a large volume of materials with less effort and cost. To this end, two members of the original design team have put together numerous examples of FAST-driven projects including traditional monographs, special collections (archives, business records), electronic resources, and web sites. The result is a prototype designed to be used not just by experienced catalogers but people with minimal training and experience.


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The Cure
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|Erik (Renfro), the neighborhood bad kid, befriends Dexter (Mazzello), a boy with AIDS. As Dexter's health weakens, Erik decides they must go on a quest for a cure, Huck Finn style, by floating along the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Despite film's preposterous plot, the performances of the two young leads do inspire a level of sentiment.
|Directed by:
|Peter Horton
|Mark Burg, Eric Eisner, Todd Baker, Bill Borden, Island World Productions, Universal City Studios.
|Renee Humphrey, Brad Renfro, Joseph Mazzello, Annabella Sciorra, Diana Scarwid, Bruce Davison


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What's Your House Style?
Consider age and character—the house's and your own—when picking out the house that's right for you.
You want to live someplace special that conveys a sense of the past. But before you take the plunge, here are some points to consider:
Know Yourself. Choose a house based on who you are, not who you want to be. Budget conscious twenty-somethings are fixing up 1950s ranch houses. It sounds like so much fun to spend weekends trawling the flea markets for vintage Eames chairs. But if you've amassed a collection of bulky and ornate Victorian furniture, a ranch house might not be your best fit. Likewise the mansard studio; it's time to give up that fantasy if your knees say no stairs. Stick to renting An American in Paris from Netflix. Consider, too, your stamina for mess, noise, and unexpected expenses (there will be lots of those).
Know Your Bank Account. First, you buy the house. Next come the contractor and his squad of plumbers, electricians, and painters. You might need a place to live when the renovation is in full swing. And don't forget the small things, like all the restaurant bills you'll run up when you're too frazzled to cook or choking on dust.
Location. The before and after pictures are startling. In one: decayed houses with weed-choked yards. In the other: a vibrant community of pretty bungalows with manicured lawns. The pioneers who revitalize poor neighborhoods often reap a financial benefit, thanks to the increased property values. But moving to an up-and-coming place is not always a fulfilling adventure. Mediocre schools, badly lit streets, and midnight gunfire are among the problems you might encounter. If comfort and security are essential—or if you simply want to live close to Trader Joe's—move to an established neighborhood.
The Big Why. Why do you want to own a historic house? For some, it's all about the house. No effort is too great to restore it to its original condition. Such people recount long drives to out-of-state salvage yards in search of the perfect newel post. Once all the work is finished, they often experience dissatisfaction and the desire to move on to a new project.
For others, what counts is the life they will have in the house. This is where they will raise their children or build their business. The overpowering obsession with historic precision is absent. If that describes you, stay away from anything that is historically or architecturally important. That means choosing the Cape Cod or Foursquare instead of the one that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright's disciple. You'll derive more joy and comfort from a house that does not require regular contact with the local landmarks society.


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Facebook is revamping its photo album functionality, letting members store images with a much higher resolution, simplifying the tagging process and improving the performance of the upload tool.
Facebook is increasing the maximum size of photos from 720 pixels to 2,048 pixels, a setting that yields "print quality, high resolution" images, the company said on Thursday.
Facebook also said it has made it simpler to assign the same tags to multiple photos of the same event or person. The photo viewer got a makeover: it pops up in the middle of the screen, as opposed to in a separate page, and flipping through the images is faster.
The photo uploader has been rebuilt with "the latest Flash technology" so it's faster, easier and less error prone to transfer images to one's account, especially large amounts at once.
Facebook will roll out the improvements to all members in the coming month.
The announcement comes less than two months after Facebook improved photo browsing by increasing the number of album thumbnail images displayed on a single page from 20 to 200. Facebook also made thumbnails bigger.
Facebook members have uploaded tens of billions of images to the social network. In July, Facebook ranked as the largest photo sharing site in the U.S. with 98.5 million unique visitors to its photo sections, way ahead of Photobucket, which ranked second with 27.4 million, according to comScore.


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When I first heard about this book, I was sure it wasn't for me. A teen pregnancy book is just plain scary to the mother of a teenage girl! But when I read Heather's review over at Book Addiction, I got the impression that there was more here than met the eye and that this could possibly be a very complex and deep book that would ultimately make me think. The book did a lot more than that. It was snarky and funny without being offensive, and the revelations toward the end had me on the edge of my seat with with heartfelt urgency and more than a little astonishment. It was an unexpected book, and one that I enjoyed a lot.
Elly isn't your average bad teen. It's obvious that a lot of her behavior is in response to her parents' disregard for raising their own daughter and choosing to pour their hearts into other children who they assume need them more. When the book opens, Elly reveals that she's pregnant and that she is set to marry Lam, though she's not really sure that's what she wants. Elly is smart and sassy and holds no illusions that Lam will be the perfect father or husband. It's almost as if her marriage to Lam is the result of a contest of wills that she didn't really want to win. Lam is a very obnoxious character, and irresponsible is only the tip of the iceberg with this guy. As a reader, I knew Elly was making a mistake hitching her star to him, but it also became clear that her options were limited. As Lam and Elly's marriage begins, Lam becomes even more irresponsible and obnoxious, and though Elly is forgiving and laid back about his issues, it's clear that she and Lam will not have an illustrious future.
The camp where Elly and Lam have become counselors was a very interesting place for this drama to unfold. Here are kids who are struggling with their weight and self-image, and as Elly discovers, a lot of these kids have issues similar to her own. The campers run the gamut of snide and snotty to wounded and anxious, and Elly finds a way to deal with them all on her terms, and in ways that are unconventional but get results. Elly's dealings with one camper begin to turn into a project of sorts to assist her in becoming more sure of herself and to gain the acceptance of the others around her. As Elly finds her niche among the campers, there's more than a little drama on the Lam front, and a new forerunner for her attentions causes problems as well. This is all intricately arranged into a neat little bundle of intrigue that will manage to ensnare adult readers as well as teens.
The most interesting aspect of this book was the way that different members of both families hoped to take Elly's baby for themselves. For most of the book Elly waffles about giving up her baby, never really deciding if she wants to or not. What was interesting to me was the way that these people seemed to only care for the life Elly was carrying and not for Elly herself. This is no revelation though, as Elly can see this for herself as clear as day. I found each side to be incredibly manipulative, as did Elly, and her frank assessment of these people delighted but also saddened me. When things come down to the wire, the stakes grow higher and the fighting family members truly revert to type in a downright disgusting display of behavior. It's impossible not to be moved by what occurs during the last third of the book, and I was alternately shaking with rage and wiping away tears of confusion.
I didn't expect this book to be as moving and penetrating as it ultimately was, and I ripped through it in one afternoon. Nolan manages to capture the feelings of her characters precisely and to engage her readers in Elly's plight from the first moment she opens her mouth. Smart, funny and brash, this is a great example of YA that shouldn't go unnoticed. It had all the moving parts to suggest that Nolan is an author to be taken seriously, and I loved it. A very touching read. Highly recommended.
This book was provided as a complimentary review copy.


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In the past year, America has witnessed the true face of organized labor and the thuggery and mob tactics that typify it. This behavior is no less than what national labor union figureheads have been promoting for decades – but in truth, they desire to see much worse. These fixtures of the Democratic political machine commonly push their followers into committing acts of criminality and brutish intimidation, while inciting hatred toward union enemies and free-market capitalism. Greed and an obsession with power have spawned a syndicalist culture that bears a striking resemblance to another well-known crooked subculture: that of organized crime. Frontpage's new series of articles, "Union Gangsters," will illuminate these very commonalities. Below, investigative reporter Matthew Vadum provides our first profile, featuring Craig Becker, Big Labor consigliere and Obama appointee.
There are union thugs and then there are those who try to give union thugs intellectual respectability.
Labor radical Craig Becker, now a member of the powerful National Labor Relations Board, is not a union thug per se. He's more of a consigliere to union thugs.
In the spirit of Rules for Radicals author Saul Alinsky, Becker supports doing whatever needs to be done in order to advance the cause. Lying, cheating, and using violence are all fair game.
Becker advocates a strange, authoritarian version of syndicalism in which no one would have the right not to join a union; individuals would only get to choose which union to join. This labor fascist believes that "employers should have no role in the unionization process," according to Brian Johnson, former executive director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom.
Free market capitalism is an impediment to social justice in Becker's eyes. In a 1987 Harvard Law Review article, he explained how Big Labor should shiv industry.
"The right to engage in concerted activity that is enshrined in the Wagner Act – even when construed in strictly contractual terms – implicitly entails legal restraint of the freedom of capital," he wrote. "What threatens to eviscerate labor's collective legal rights, therefore, is less the common law principle of individual liberty than the mobility of capital, which courts have held immune from popular control."
Of course there is no such thing as a collective right. Rights are possessed only by individuals, at least in the Anglo-American legal tradition. Becker would overthrow all of that in order to move the ball forward for unions, giving collective bargaining units the power to dictate to employers.
"If you cut through all the academic speak here, in effect, what he's saying is collective bargaining and the Wagner Act doesn't set up a system of collective bargaining. It sets up a guaranteed outcome," according to Bill Wilson, president of Americans for Limited Government. "What he's saying here is labor unions can't possibly succeed unless you guarantee their success. In his reading of the law, any notion of workers who choose to collectively bargain sitting down with their employer and working out a deal is gone."
Although leftists like Becker talk a good game about democracy, they don't support it in the unionization process. Desperate to boost the anemic ranks of union members in the private sector, they support the thuggish "card check" method. Currently, workers vote in a federally supervised secret-ballot election, but under card check, if more than 50 percent of employees at a particular facility sign a card, the government certifies the union without a proper vote. Union goons would be free to intimidate workers into signing the cards, which is just fine by organized labor (and President Obama). Labor leaders would be delighted if the NLRB would simply abolish secret ballots by administrative fiat.
Becker would love to oblige them.
Becker may have played a role in drafting a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) manual that explained how union organizers could intimidate businesses into taking away the secret ballot from workers. The "Contract Campaign Manual" surfaced during a racketeering lawsuit filed against SEIU by the food and facilities management company Sodexo Inc. The company alleged that SEIU ran an "illegal campaign of extortion."
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said the manual tells union members how to undermine the reputation of an employer and its management by hurting the employer's relationship with customers and suppliers. It urges union members to break laws and dig up dirt on individual managers and publicize it in order to weaken management's bargaining position in contract negotiations.
"[O]utside pressure can involve jeopardizing relationships between the employer and lenders, investors, stockholders, customers, clients, patients, tenants, politicians, or others on whom the employer depends for funds," the Alinskyite vade mecum explains. Legal and regulatory pressure may be brought to bear in order to "threaten the employer with costly action by government agencies or the courts."
The manual urges using community groups to "damage an employer's public image and ties with community leaders and organizations." It recommends targeting senior managers personally, long a favorite tactic of ACORN, SEIU's community organizing doppelgänger.
When questioned by Hatch about his involvement in unions' corporate campaigns, Becker said very little, often invoking attorney-client privilege in order to avoid answering. But he did acknowledge that, as associate general counsel to SEIU, his duties "included providing advice concerning organizing and contract campaigns."
According to labor lawyer F. Vincent Vernuccio, this shows "at the very least" that Becker knew about the manual "and probably used it."
Becker appears to make a habit of bending the truth to suit his political objectives.
As I report in my new book, Subversion Inc., at his nomination hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked Becker this straightforward question: "Do you perform work for and provide advice to ACORN or ACORN-affiliated groups while employed by your current employers or on a volunteer basis?"
Becker decided to take advantage of the confusion that surrounds ACORN's byzantine organizational structure. He responded, "Senator McCain, I have never done so."
But that answer—that Becker "never" provided advice "to ACORN or ACORN-affiliated groups"—is demonstrably false.
Becker gave advice to SEIU Local 880 in Illinois, which was part and parcel of ACORN, before it merged with another SEIU bargaining unit. As the Wall Street Journal noted, Becker acknowledged previously that he had "worked with and provided advice" to Local 880. And in a blog post, ACORN founder Wade Rathke couldn't help bragging about Becker's NLRB nomination, calling it "a big win no matter how you shake and bake it."
In March 2010, Becker became a member of the National Labor Relations Board, itself a socialist anachronism left over from the New Deal. He received a recess appointment from President Obama the month after Senate Democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster of his nomination.
Before, Becker was an activist and a lawyer.
Now, he has the might of the United States government behind him.


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New in Tech
Connect Azure to Power BI: A Comprehensive Guide
In this era, data is an essence of upgraded businesses, and we are creating more of it as compared to previous times. However, an amazing volume of a digital set of info is not that much usable – if companies were not enough capable to make this data in use. This is the point where the Business-Intelligence (BI) software arrives. Are you interested in getting connected to Azure to Power Business Intelligence (BI) and then imagine your data of the Azure data?
Power BI is the topmost renowned tool of BI within the industry. In general, it's an MS product, so it is offering a straight connector for the Azure. As soon as you are combining the services of Azure along with Power BI; you can make your handling of data in dashboards and reports. On the other side of the coin, it is offering you the actual time understandings of your business. Here in this blog, it would bring up those steps – which link the Azure to the Power Business Intelligence thoroughly.
Introduction to Microsoft Azure
MS Azure is such a kind of service that is based on a cloud which assists your company to overwhelm with business challenges. A person who owns Azure administration certification, can generate, control, and organize your apps on the framework of Azure. It is supporting all of the languages, as well as frameworks. Moreover, it is ensuring that your data is secured and back up properly.
Introduction to Power BI
MS Power Business Intelligence is such a kind of business-analytics service. It is providing BI abilities and collaborative visualizations for data. It is also assisting you to generate dashboards and reports to obtain enhanced understandings of your data. Power Business Intelligence also supports customize visualization by making use of customized S-D-K. Power Business Intelligence is accessible as Power BI-Mobile, Power BI-Desktop, and Power BI-Service.
Power BI-Desktop is free of cost offering that encompasses customize transformation, publication, and visualization of your data. The cost of Power BI for experts who have an experience like Azure DevOps engineer certification and training is around $9.99 for each user on monthly basis, while the cost of Power BI Premium is nearly $4857 monthly on a devoted cloud.
Connect Azure to Power BI
Here, we thoroughly discuss a few of them:
- Azure Analysis Service Database: It's an automatic P-a-a-S that offers an enterprise-grade framework on the cloud.
- Azure S-Q-L Data Warehouse: It is a petabyte-scale M-P-P warehouse made on S-Q-L Server, whereas it is running on the Azure cloud-computing framework.
- Azure S-Q-L Database: It's a flexible, consistent, and safe social database made on the cloud. It is offering the features of Artificial Intelligence on an entirely automated framework.
In this mode, one would connect the Power Business Intelligence to Azure S-Q-L database and Azure Analysis-Service Database thoroughly. Now we highlight the phases where a person would connect the framework:
Stages to Connect the Azure Analytics-Service Database to the Power BI
- Check out the Azure portal, and then move to "Server," that pick "Overview" from the panel of the left side – then makes a copy of the server name.
- Going to Power Business Intelligence Desktop, pick "Get Data" from the home tab. Pick "Azure" from your left-hand side, after, that connects the "Azure Analysis-Services Database." Hit it off "Connect."
- In the panel of Server, write down the database and server name. Connect to the "Connect Live" and then press "OK."
- Once you prompted, offer your identifications and press "Connect." In case every single thing is appropriate, so your data would be loaded effectively in Power Business Intelligence for imagining.
So, here you are ready to make use of your required aspects for the visualization.
What Does Power BI Do?
However, Power B-I is utilized to keep running the reports, as well as surface insights relying on the data of a company. Power B-I would be connected to the extensive range of sets of data and organizes information it is provided for, so in such a scenario, it would be understood and digested in a better way. However, the visuals and reports created from this kind of data would be shared with other consumers.
Power Business Intelligence assists the consumers to check what is occurred in the previous times what is occurring at this time, as well as what will be happened in the upcoming time. It's filled with the abilities of machine learning, it refers to the fact that it would spot the designs in data and then utilize such patterns to take up-to-date assumptions and also running "what if" situations. These predictions are allowing the consumers to make predictions, and get them ready to fulfill upcoming time demand as well as different major metrics.
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The Top Best Laptops For Working From Home
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, many businesses are pushing employees to work from home. So, they require high-quality laptops for the home office. Although this new working method has proven surprisingly effective, workers should select the best laptop for working from home. A powerful CPU is required for creative activities such as graphic design, but remote workers who instruct or engage in frequent virtual meetings should consider the webcam's quality. So, following are the few best laptop to work from home.
MacBook Pro by Apple
The new MacBook Pro is the best-performing computer for working from home if you want a top-of-the-line laptop that can handle almost anything. It's Apple's most powerful notebook with a big Retina display, quick computing speed, and all the features you'll need to get done. (And then some). The 16-inch MacBook Pro comes in five configurations, each with a different processor, SSD storage, and GPU. The Apple MacBook Pro is an excellent choice for visual artists, video editors, and a few creative employees looking for a powerful yet user-friendly device.
ZenBook 14 by ASUS
The Asus Zenbook 14 is a fashionable and cheap 14-inch laptop with an aluminium metal frame and ultra-thin screen bezels. The ergo-life mechanism raises the keyboard to improve ventilation, and the trackpad serves as an LED numeric pad for fast calculations. It does not, however, have an audio jack and needs a dongle to link to connected headphones or networks. Asus offers a USB Type-C adapter with a 3.5mm headphone socket.
The Dell XPS 13
The Dell XPS 13 is a long-time favourite due to its size, weight, speed, and general excellent looks. Dell made the XPS 13 smaller and lighter for 2022, maintained the sub-$999 starting price, and added the newest 12th-generation Intel processors. So, try this laptop, it is one of the best laptop to work from home. The design is still excellent (though there is no earphone port; instead, a USB-C adapter gets included), and the battery life is impressive.
HP ENVY 13-ba1018TX Laptop
If you want to work from home, laptops can help you keep your workplace or personal items organised. HP Envy is the finest option for meeting all of your needs. It integrates with cutting-edge technology and the i7 method to increase output. Many laptop users agree that this is the finest work-from-home laptop in terms of longevity. It has the best designs and is lightweight in comparison to other computers. The latest iteration of laptops never has any issues operating or exporting any application. You must have this dream job if you are a coder or film editor.
Xiaomi Mi Notebook Ultra
The Mi Notebook Ultra has a 15.6-inch 3K anti-glare monitor with a frame rate of 90Hz. It is driven by an 11th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD, enabling you to work. It has a large touchpad and a biometric reader. It comes preloaded with Windows 10 Home. It can run for up to 12 hours on a single charge and supports 65W charging.
Dell Inspiron 16 Plus (7610)
The Dell Inspiron 16 Plus gets a laptop perfect for multitasking and managing applications. It has an 11th-generation Intel i7 CPU with eight cores, up to 16GB RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 3060 graphics card, a backlit keypad, and plenty of storage choices.
This laptop also has an excellent battery life of more than 11 hours, making it the best option for those who need to get creative while on the go.
Lenovo Flex 5 Chromebook
Lenovo's Chromebook Flex 5 features a 13-inch Full HD touchscreen display. It is a reliable choice for those looking for the finest laptop for working from home for under $500. This Chromebook is powered by an Intel 10th generation i3 CPU, making it the finest laptop for working from home on a budget. It includes an Intel UHD GPU with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. The battery on this Chromebook is strong. The Flex 5 has a 10-hour energy life.
The Apple Air M2
It offers superb speed, a long battery life, and ridiculous portability for a portion of the price of the MacBook Pro. If you're searching for a long-lasting notebook, this is one to consider. Most home tasks require an Apple M2 chip and 8GB of RAM. Whatever you do, chances are you'll breeze through chores. The only exceptions are time-consuming activities such as film editing and CAD tools.
New in Tech
What is the difference between black hat SEO and White hat SEO?
If you are looking for a search engine optimization company to do some SEO work on your website, make sure that you choose the right color cap. There are a large number of companies that take swift and unethical approaches to SEO, known as black hat SEO, while there are a handful of companies that do ethical SEO work, known as white hat SEO. The key to choosing the right color, having a clear white color.
Before you consider hiring a search engine optimization company, the first thing to do is go shopping around and see what's on the market. If you're looking to buy a new computer, the same principles apply. You'll see several models, prices, and what each model has to offer. If an SEO Company offers you top quality assurance services, they have a very good chance of wearing a black hat. No SEO company can guarantee a top position as they do not have direct control over search engines and their ranking algorithms. However, they may point out that the top positions are most likely achieved due to their previous success with other clients.
Want to work with a Sydney SEO agency to deliver real results for your business? We get it; Finding a reliable digital marketing company is nearly impossible. SEO is dominated by mining and burning companies that claim there is a secret source of success in the Sydney market. Google claims to be quickly leading in an industry plagued by 'experts' and 'experts' – how do you find SEO consultants who invest in your business?
Be sure to check out the company's portfolio page (if they have one on their website or just ask them) and do some research on their clients. This can be done by looking at the performance of the client's website in the search engines for the chosen keywords that are optimized for them. Another good idea is to write a polite email to a client asking for a referral from an SEO company to optimize their website.
The most important gift of a black hat SEO company is that they will describe their services. If a company cannot go into the details of how it conducts its business (i.e. they are very vague) and it involves justifying every step of their work, it is best to avoid their services. A suitable SEO company will be happy to explain their services in detail and explain their reasons for employing such strategies. If you don't understand the techniques they use, don't forget to do some internet research and read SEO articles that explain each strategy. If you find that their work aligns with your field of study and is all in line with ethics, then they are a company that should be on your list.
Digital search engine optimization is managed by a small, dedicated team of professionals. We work with small to large businesses for an organic approach to data-driven SEO solutions Sydney. Our SEO experts don't dive into Google ads or Facebook marketing – we do SEO and we do it really well. We'll only work with your business if we believe we can get you on the front page of Google for relevant, revenue-generating search terms.
One last point to mention, a company should emphasize the phrase 'Patience is the key to success with SEO'. If a company claims that it can achieve results very quickly, it's time to start running. Theoretically, it can take a while for a website to start showing properly implemented SEO results (in most cases it could be 3 to 6 months but more).
Want to know what can happen to your website if you hire a black hat SEO company no matter how big or small your website is in terms of brand recognition? An example might be the story of the BMW Germany website. They hired a black hat SEO company to do some work on their website and as a result, their site got banned from Google rankings. So it is best to do your research on SEO by reading such articles and questioning the company's approach to search engine optimization. This will ensure that you have chosen a clean white hat and that your website will not be tarnished by the black color.
New in Tech
Quick and Easy Tips for Improving Your Printing Quality
Whether you run a business or work as an individual, clear and sharp printing can make all the difference in your professional life. But if you're not familiar with the field, getting professional-grade printouts is easier said than done.
Luckily, it doesn't require a degree in graphic design or a complicated setup. With a few simple tips, you can get the quality printing you need without too much hassle. In this article, we'll lay down some simple and easy tips that will help you improve your printing quality and get that perfect finish every time. So grab your favorite pen and let's get started!
Preparing Your Printer and Print Settings:
Print quality starts with your printer. To make sure you get the prints you want, take the time to check the settings of your printer and make sure it's configured for your desired output.
Here are a few things to remember:
- Always use genuine inks and toners, which help ensure clear, vibrant colors on all types of paper.
- Make sure the paper in your tray is replenished regularly and free from dust or other material that could cause smudges.
- Check the print settings to make sure they align with what type of paper you have (glossy, matte, coated, etc.) and set the optimal resolution needed for a high-quality result.
Keep in mind that different types of the print job require different settings and levels of attention to detail. For example, if you're printing photos or complex images, experiment with a few different setting combinations until you find the one that works best for you. Print previews can also be a useful tool to preview how an image will look before committing it to paper.
Choose the Right Paper:
When setting out to print the perfect document, make sure you choose the right paper for the job. While general printing paper is a suitable option for most documents, there are other paper types available that offer a better look and feel—or even improve its performance in certain environments or projects.
For example, glossy paper creates sharp and vibrant visuals that are great for printing photographs. But if you are looking to preserve your document for a longer time, acid-free paper is more resistant to discoloration or deterioration due to environmental changes. If you plan on mailing your documents, card stock is ideal because it provides extra strength and durability.
Consider what kind of project you are doing and the desired outcome before deciding on a paper type. The amount of time and effort you put into selecting the right one will pay off in terms of improved printing quality—not to mention fewer headaches down the road when it comes to dealing with problems like fading or smudging of prints.
Determine the Right Resolution:
It can be tricky to determine the right resolution for whatever project you're printing. Generally, if you want to maintain high image quality with any printed material, then you should use at least a 300 dpi resolution. This will ensure that the sharpness and clarity of the image remain intact.
The higher the dpi, the sharper and more detailed the image will be — however, this also means that it takes longer to print and requires more file size (not to mention higher ink costs). Consider what type of product you're printing and what kind of finish it might require — glossy paper or matte paper, for instance — before deciding on the optimal dpi for your project.
For a standard photo print, 150-300 dpi is generally considered a good starting point; for documents such as brochures or posters, try to stick with 300-400 dpi or higher. If you're printing a small format such as business cards or postcards, anything between 200-300 dpi should suffice. It might be worth considering a professional printer who can guide you through this process to get professional results with your prints.
Mastering Color Profiles:
Getting the colors just right in your printed piece is key to making an impact. What you see on your computer screen is likely not what's going to show up on paper. That's why it's important to use a color profile that fits the media you're printing on.
Here are some tips for mastering color profiles:
- Use a quality monitor and adjust its settings regularly: You may want to consider investing in a good-quality monitor, which will make it easier to accurately define colors on your display. Additionally, keep your monitor clean and adjust its settings as you print with different substrates or paper stocks.
- Create custom profiles: If you have access to accurate ICC profiles for the media you are using, you can create custom profiles that will give you consistent results every time. You can also tweak these custom profiles during the proofing process to get the best results for the final print job.
- Get advice from professionals: If you're unsure about which color profile is best or how to create accurate ICC profiles, seek help from experienced professionals who specialize in printer setup and calibration. They can also provide valuable advice about which substrates or coated stocks will work best for your job.
By taking these steps, you can ensure that your printed piece looks exactly as it should in terms of color accuracy and consistency—giving it the greatest chance of making an impact with potential customers!
Simple Troubleshooting Tips:
If you're having trouble getting your prints to look perfect, there are a few simple troubleshooting steps you can take to help. Before reaching out to technical support, try these quick and easy tips to get your printing quality back on track.
Check the Ink Cartridges:
Make sure you're using the right cartridges with your printer. Many printers will not print correctly without original brand cartridges, so double-check which ones you need and make sure they're installed correctly.
Clean the Printer Heads
Clogged printer heads can cause problems with print quality, so if it's been a while since you cleaned them, take a few minutes to do it now. You can find instructions on how to clean printer heads in the printer's manual or online from the manufacturer's website.
Run a test page:
Print out a test page to see what areas of your printing could use improvement. You may also be able to adjust settings in the print menu such as resolution or paper type which might help improve quality.
Troubleshooting your printing issues doesn't have to be complicated. By following these few simple steps and adjusting any settings where needed, you're sure to get better printing results in no time.
How to Utilize Printing Services:
If you're looking for professional printing services, research your options and find a company that offers quality printing at a good price. A great way to do this is to get quotes from different companies and compare their services. Once you've found the best printing service for your needs, here are some tips for utilizing them efficiently:
Ask questions:
It's important to ask any questions you may have about the services offered by your chosen printer. Get all the details about the printing process, materials used, and costs upfront so there are no surprises later on.
Be specific:
When placing an order with a printer, make sure to include details like size, specifications, paper type, quantity needed and so on. The more detailed you are, the better off you'll be in terms of getting exactly what you want in terms of quality and quantity.
Check proofs carefully:
It's essential that proofs of your work are checked carefully before sending them off to be printed—mistakes may be hard (or even impossible) to correct further down the line. Make sure all text is accurate and double-check any images or graphics before sending them off or you could end up with costly errors in your final prints.
Utilizing printing services can help take your project from good to great—it just takes the right combination of preparation and attention to detail. With these simple tips, you can get high-quality prints quickly and easily!
In conclusion, there are a few simple printing tips you can do to make sure your printed material stands out. Start by setting up your printer correctly, making sure you're using the right paper and ink and adjusting your settings to optimize your printing quality.
It's also important to use the appropriate file format and resolutions and consider reducing the size of your images to ensure they look their best. Finally, make sure you're properly calibrating your colors, and you'll have the perfect piece of printed material in no time. With these tips in mind, you'll be able to create the perfect, professional-looking prints.
New in Tech
Get Creative With Designs.ai's Videomaker Now!
Are you looking to create amazing videos to engage your audience but don't have the time or resources? Well, Designs.ai has the perfect tool for you! Our video editor, Videomaker, comes with millions of assets so users can create stunning videos in a snap. Not only will you have access to millions of assets, but we also provide voiceovers in ten different languages and support for customized export dimensions. Plus, our intuitive smart video editor will make your creative process even easier! So if you're trying to level up your video projects, let us introduce you to Videomaker and help get your creative juices flowing!
Introduction to Designs.ai's Videomaker:
Are you looking for an easy and efficient way to create videos? Look no further than Designs.ai's Videomaker! Race through the editing process with a library packed full of millions of assets including videos, images, and audio clips. Its ever-expanding library ensures that you have everything you need to create high-quality designs.
In addition to its vast asset library, Videomaker supports voiceover in more than 10 different languages, giving you the power to create videos tailored for your international audience across Spanish, French, Chinese, and many more! Furthermore, you can choose from different dimension exports like landscape, portrait, and square shapes—talk about versatility! Still not convinced? Just take it from us: Videomaker's smart video editor will make your job so much easier.
So what are you waiting for? Get creative with Designs.ai's Videomaker now and make stunning videos in no time!
Millions of Assets to Create High-Quality Designs:
Are you looking for something to spice up your brand's visuals? With Designs.ai's Videomaker, you can create high-quality designs with millions of assets at your disposal! View its ever-expanding library of videos, images, and audio clips to make sure you have everything you need to give your brand visuals that stand out from the crowd.
But why stop there? Videomaker has voiceovers in more than 10 different languages so that you can create videos for an even wider base of international customers. Whether it's Spanish, French, Chinese, or any other language — whatever caters to your target audience is there. Plus, with the ability to export in different dimensions like landscape, portrait, and square — you can make sure that every video fits your brand's needs perfectly.
And lastly but definitely not leastly: the smart video editor! It simplifies the entire editing process into a few easy steps so that anyone can create engaging video content quickly and easily. So what are you waiting for? Get creative with Designs.ai's Videomaker now!
Easily Export in Different Dimensions:
Another great thing about Designs.ai's Videomaker is that you can easily export your videos in different dimensions and share them on any platform. Whether it's portrait, landscape, or square, Designs.ai has got you covered.
It's a cinch to select the right dimensions you need for your brand so you can show off your amazing designs and reach more viewers. And if you're targeting an international audience, even better! Videomaker offers voice-overs in more than 10 different languages like Spanish, French, Chinese, and many more!
To make things even simpler, Videomaker also provides millions of assets so you don't have to search elsewhere for videos, images and audio clips — everything you need is there with the click of a button. With this ever-expanding library at your fingertips, you'll have no trouble creating high-quality designs with ease.
Smart Video Editor to Make Productions Effortless:
Bringing your videos to the next level is easy with Designs.ai's Videomaker. This video editor comes with a smart video editor that makes producing content effortless!
Intelligent Features:
Instead of spending hours scouring tutorials on film-making, the Videomaker's built-in AI understands and anticipates your needs and makes recommendations so you don't have to worry about getting the perfect shots and edits. For instance, it can detect low-quality footage and alert you accordingly.
Smart Assembler:
Do you ever struggle to keep track of your clips during post-production? No worries! With the Smart Assembler feature, you can easily merge different elements of your video together in one go and instantly preview it in real-time — no need to manually search for each element to assemble them together!
No matter what type of video you're making, the Videomaker has got it all sorted. With an array of intelligent features like this, the Videomaker is designed to help you save time and create high-quality productions effortlessly!
Voiceovers in More Than 10 Languages:
Ever wanted to create a video that caters to your international audience? Well, now you can with Designs.ai's Videomaker, which has voiceovers in more than 10 different languages! That's right — from Spanish and French to Chinese and more, you can now localize your content for maximum reach and engagement.
So how does it work? You start off by selecting the language you want the audio to be. Once that's done, you can easily choose from our ever-expanding library of videos, images, audio clips, and other assets to customize a unique experience for your viewers! With Videomaker, creating a global video couldn't be easier.
And if that wasn't enough, you also get the added benefit of being able to export your creation in different dimensions — landscape, portrait or square — so you can be sure that your message gets out there in whatever format it needs to be seen. So don't wait any longer — get creative with Designs.ai's Videomaker now!
Enjoy Hassle-Free Sharing With Our Videomaker:
One of the great things about using Designs.ai's Videomaker is that it makes sharing your work incredibly easy. There are a few different ways to share, so you can pick the one that works best for you.
Share Directly with Others:
Through our Videomaker, you can share videos directly with others through a personalized link or by downloading and sending them to a colleague or friend. You'll also have the option to download your video in various different formats, so if you need your design in HD or 4K for editing speakers, for example, it's totally achievable.
With Designs.ai's Videomaker, you have everything you need to create high-quality, professional-looking videos in a fraction of the time it would take with traditional video editors. From millions of assets to smart video editing tools and voice-overs in 10+ languages, you can rest assured that you have everything you need to create videos that will capture the attention of your target audience. So, what are you waiting for? Get creative with Designs.ai's Videomaker now and reap the rewards of more efficient video editing!
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New in Tech
How SEO Strategies Can Help Attorneys
Becoming a lawyer and running your own practice is a professional dream for many people. When you are an attorney, being able to find new clients continues to be an important part of your business. One of the ways that you can find and attract more clients to your practice is by having a quality website that uses search engine optimization as a development strategy. SEO for attorneys is important and can benefit your firm in various ways.
Why is SEO Important for Attorneys?
There are various reasons why SEO is very important for attorneys. When you have a quality SEO plan in place, it will help you show up higher on the main search engines when someone looks for services that you provide. As many people will begin their search for an attorney online, this can make it easier for you to connect with clients. It is often considered a more effective marketing strategy than other options, such as having paid ads.
SEO Tips for Attorneys
A quality SEO program can be very helpful for any attorney that is looking to attract more clients. However, many attorneys may not know where to begin when developing one of these plans. There are various SEO tips for attorneys that should be followed, which could help improve your website and show up higher on search results pages.
Have the Right Keywords
While SEO strategies have continued to evolve, having a quality keyword in your website has continued to be important. For attorneys, it is important to have keywords placed naturally throughout your page that help to describe your services and will be phrases commonly looked up by potential clients. As many people will want to have a local attorney, you should also focus on a location-SEO strategy, which will incorporate your city and state into the keywords.
Have Quality Content
Another way that you can show up higher on the major search engines is by having quality content. When you have a nice website that is full of recent content, it will improve your positioning. You should have a website and blog that is full of relevant posts that relate to the services that you provide. Not only will this help you rank higher, but it will help to promote your business and it will show that you are knowledgeable about the type of law you practice.
Incorporate Links
Any website today should also have plenty of quality links. An internal link is one that can take someone to other parts and pages of your website, while an external link will take you to outside sources. Both of these strategies and the use of links will help you show up higher on the search results. It is important to check the links regularly to ensure they are still active. If there are broken links, it can negatively impact the ranking of your website.
Have Contact Information Available Online
It is also important that you have all of your firm's contact information on your website. This should include the address and phone number of your office and email addresses for any attorneys. This can also help with local SEO search results.
When you are looking to grow your legal business, having a strong online presence is important. You should always focus on having a website that is filled with quality SEO content. There are various tips that you can follow that will help to improve your website and allow you to show up higher on search results pages. This can lead to more clients and opportunities for your firm.
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Pens win 7th straight as Tomas Vokoun halts Sens
OTTAWA -- The Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak and put a dent in the Ottawa Senators' playoff hopes.
Tomas Vokoun made 34 saves to earn his 300th career win, and Dustin Jeffrey had a goal and an assist to lead the Penguins to their seventh straight victory, 3-1 over the Senators on Monday night.
With the loss, the Senators dropped into eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
"They were better than we were from start to finish," Senators coach Paul MacLean said bluntly. "They were harder at the nets ... at both nets than we were and executed way better than we did."
Jarome Iginla and Tyler Kennedy also scored, and Brenden Morrow had two assists for the Penguins, who have already clinched first place in the Eastern Conference.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma gave credit to his 36-year-old backup goalie's milestone performance.
"The numbers are significant. I think he's the 28th guy to get to 300 wins, and those are very impressive numbers as a goaltender. I thought he was very good in the net tonight and he was strong," said Bylsma, who also reached a milestone with his 200th NHL victory.
"When you look at career wins for coaches, I'm not sure where 200 wins is. It's a long way to go to some of the other good coaches, but certainly I'm happy to have gotten it and I got the puck."
Matt Cooke added an assist in his first game against Ottawa since his skate blade sliced the Achilles tendon of Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson on Feb 13. Karlsson was expected to miss the rest of the season following surgery, but the defending Norris Trophy winner is back practicing and could return to the Ottawa lineup soon.
Patrick Wiercioch scored and Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots for the Senators (23-16-6), who have dropped two straight.
Ottawa started the night in seventh place in the conference and could have leaped over the sixth-place New York Islanders. Instead, the Senators are now eighth, tied on points with the seventh-place New York Rangers.
The Penguins, who have already clinched first overall in the Eastern Conference, were without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, because of injuries and illness, while No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was in Pittsburgh with his wife expecting their first child.
"I don't know why we started that way. We weren't taking them lightly," Senators defenseman Marc Methot said. "We're well aware (Pittsburgh) has a deep hockey squad, despite all their injuries. They capitalized on a couple of opportunities, and that was the difference."
The Senators didn't get any help from ninth-place Winnipeg, which beat Buffalo 2-1 and now trails the Senators and Rangers by just a single point, but both New York and Ottawa have a game in hand.
Winnipeg plays at Washington on Tuesday night, while the Rangers visit Florida. The Senators are off until Thursday's road game against the Capitals.
Although there was talk of revenge on Cooke for the Karlsson injury, not much came of it other than his refusal to fight Ottawa's Chris Neil in the opening minutes. The only rough treatment Cooke received was booing from fans every time he touched the puck.
"We're leaving here with two points and putting pressure on Chicago for first overall. I'm not even (thinking) about (the Karlsson injury) anymore," said Cooke, who added he's glad the game has come and gone. "It was a freak accident, and there was nothing I could have done to change it. It's an unfortunate part of this game. I'm happy he's having a great recovery, and hopefully he's playing soon."
Game notes
Karlsson is back practicing with the Senators and could return to the lineup before the end of the regular season. ... The Penguins were first in the NHL with 3.34 goals per game heading into Monday. The Senators were second in goals against, allowing just 2.09 per game, just slightly more than Chicago. ... The Penguins (19-0-0) are one of just three teams (Rangers, Blue Jackets) that have not lost a game this season when leading after two periods. ... The Penguins are 22-3 against the seven other East teams currently occupying a playoff position. ... Crosby continues to lead the NHL in scoring despite having played nine fewer games than his closest pursuer. ... Senators D Chris Phillips is one assist shy of 200 for his career.
Regular Season Series
PIT Wins 3-0
Game Information
- Referees:
- Ian Walsh
- Linesmen:
- Greg Devorski
- Jean Morin


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Table of Contents
Apply Today for FIRE's 2013 Summer Internships
Attention undergraduates and law students! FIRE is now accepting applications to our summer internship programs for 2013. FIRE internships are ideal for students who want to spend their summer doing important, substantive work for student and faculty rights.
The FIRE Summer Internship Program offers current undergraduates the chance to join FIRE's Philadelphia office for an eight-week, paid internship. Over the summer, FIRE interns support our work and mission by conducting independent research, writing about FIRE cases and issues, and developing strategies for promoting free speech on their own campuses. Interns also participate in weekly seminars with FIRE staff and prominent experts on civil liberties, and help plan FIRE's annual student conference. The Summer 2013 internship is open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors, and will run from Monday, June 10 to Friday, August 2. Undergraduate interns will receive a stipend of $2,200.
FIRE's Legal Internship Program invites rising 2L and 3L law students to work with FIRE attorneys to work on behalf of civil rights, liberty, and individual dignity. Legal interns perform vital research and write memoranda about recent developments in constitutional law; assist FIRE's Individual Rights Defense Program with cases involving the abuse of civil liberties at colleges and universities across the country; and explore policy reform involving students' freedoms of association, speech, conscience, and religion. Legal internships may be paid or unpaid, depending on individual students' particular needs. Pursuit of independent funding and public interest fellowships is encouraged.
The deadline for the undergraduate internship is March 15, 2013. FIRE considers applications for legal internships year-round and on a rolling basis.
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Vertical Blind Alternatives - Shades, Blinds and Drapery
- Ideal for big windows and sliding glass doors
- Coordinates with other window treatments
- Glides smoothly and quietly along a track or rod
- Unique appeal with many fabric choices
- Energy efficient, insulating and light filtering options
For a different look and to complement other window treatments in your home, you have alternatives to vertical blinds for for patio doors and large windows that need a special touch. Vertical cellular shades, custom drapery, sheer vertical blinds and panel track blinds are all a decorative and fresh alternative to vertical blinds. Whether you need extra insulation or a more elegant window treatment that operates smoothly and quietly, you will find a quality selection of woven woods, bamboo, solar screen material and custom fabrics in lots of patterns and textures. Add a decorative touch and high style to patio doors and large windows that deserve special attention.
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Customizeback to products
Size24" x 36"
Your selections also include:
- Curtains & Custom Drapes
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- Blindsgalore
- Beige / Neutral
- Black
- Blue
- Brown
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- Green
- Multi-colored
- Purple
- Red / Pink
- White / Off-White
- Yellow / Cream
- Bedroom
- Home Theater
- Kids Room
- Fabric
- Large Windows
- Patio / Sliding Doors
- Designer Series
customer reviews for vertical blind alternatives
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