Friday, October 21, 2016

Basics for fall 2017 | 24hur.tk

It’s already here. The temperature is going down and fall has arrived. Again, so quickly and making us miss summer already. But the fact that we have to change wardrobe doesn’t mean we have to quit our style and our chicness in order to have a little bit more clothes on. Personally, fall is one of my favorite seasons of the year. I love creating outfits based on layers and have the opportunity to add cool accessories to my looks. Gloves, scarfs, hats… not the much practical thing, but it is fun for sure!
And of course, every season has its trends. Some of them are going to be with us for the whole year (that means you can keep your bomber jacket, your high waist jeans, and your bodysuits), but some others are meant to keep us warm for a while and a small group is making a comeback from last fall, so hopefully you didn’t throw them out just yet. Let’s see what we have!

Velvet........

Ok, here is where I start having some problems. I’m not a fan of this fabric or any look that you can get out of it. My business partner, though, she hates it. She wants to eliminate all velvet from earth. Not kidding, all of it. But it looks like this year the world turned against her and put this material back on the map. And let’s face it since it is warm it can be really helpful in cold weather. And you can wear on any piece, from top to skirts to chokers or shoes, depending on the level of the risk you want to take. If you really want to stand out, wear a velvet dress, but mix the texture with some other fabric, never use it head to toe and keep the accessories simple.

 

Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Defense Cascade | 24hur.tk

In recent times there's been a lot of increasing emphasis on the emotional and psychological aspects of conflict management, self defense and combat.
The industry of self defense and combative and even some progressive martial arts schools have emerged themselves in the psychological and emotional aspects of violence to give their students a much more realistic training experience and most of all understanding about the basic defensive instincts that are embedded into our brain and neural responses.
A couple decades ago you could shout the term "Fight or Flight response" and an entire gym could fall quiet and look at you like you spoke some ancient dialect.
Nowadays most the self defense and combative instructors can give you a proper in depth definition of the term.
Although this development can only be applauded, there's still a lot of knowledge that's left untouched by the mainstream self defense training.
This article will delve into this knowledge that will expose advanced psychological theories and research done by the most accomplished parapsychologists and psychotherapists as well as my own experiences, study and research in the field of combative psychology, neural functions and 



Determining the main functions of defensive instincts is as easy as can be.
They are there to defend and protect us in the face of threatening, dangerous and stressful situations and help our bodies and minds thrive to deal with the situation.
Every living being has the primal and instinctive will to survive, however understanding and defining the inner workings of these responses and their functions requires a deep look into human neural responses, instincts and stress induced behavior.
First we need to take a look at the neural and physical responses and their functions under stress.

Let's say you're walking down the street and you see a group of loud, seemingly intoxicated youths heading your way. You see them shouting, harassing and provoking other pedestrians and are now coming closer and closer to you.
In this phase the Alameda, a small component of our brain based underneath the thalamus and in front of the hippo campus that plays an essential part in emotional learning, reactions and instincts, will perceive the situation as threatening and will send signals to the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, which will in turn trigger the adrenal response and prepares our body to deal with the situation.
I can write an entire article on this event alone but for the purpose of this article I've summarized it to what it practically comes down to. The following effects or physical responses might be experienced at this point:

-        Tunnel vision
-        Sweaty/shaky hands and legs
-        Increased pulse rate
-        Shorter breaths
-        Auditory exclusion
-        Decrease in fine motor skills
-        Decrease in cognitive thinking capacity
-        Feeling heavy or slow
-        Urge to empty bowels or bladder
-        Change in voice tonality
-        Inability to speak
-        Inability to move

Overall this is what is often referred to as the fight or flight response. How we react in the face of danger or violence depends for a large part on our training, instincts, background, mindset and previous experiences with similar situations.
This is where it gets interesting. While most training, research and education is primarily focused on the actions of "fight" of "flight", there is another response category that is often overlooked but happens much more often than most people realist and that is what we refer to as the "freeze" response.
These responses of paralysis, disconnection and immobility are a crucial part of the Defense Cascade and vary in their manifestations and triggers.
We will discuss these variations and responses in depth in the next chapter.

For now it is important to understand that the definition "Fight or Flight response" is incomplete and therefore outdated when addressing topics such as fear, adrenal management, combative psychology and human instinctive defensive responses.
Human nature and its many mechanisms are astonishing and incredibly profound.
One of our strongest instinctive urges is to survive and prolong our lives, so our body, mind and spirit will do whatever they can to help us do just that.
Although fight or flight are preferable options in comparison with freezing they might not always be our natural trigger responses when confronted with a certain threatening or violent situation or possible for some people to perform. 
The following example I'm about to give you is based on an actual case that I studied some years back.

Let's say a young woman is at a party through the invitation of one of her friends. She goes to the party and finds out she's one of the only women there.
She sees that there's a lot of alcohol and other substances flowing around and that most of the young men are intoxicated. By the end of the evening she's the only woman left and is getting a lot of attention from the men who insist she goes with them to the basement where more liquor is stocked.
She doesn't want to be a buzz kill or provoke the guys so she comes with them. After feeding her more alcohol then is good for the guys start to pin her down to the floor and try to have their way with her.
Now here is where the definition "Fight, Flight or FREEZE Response" comes into play.
The girl can't fight because one she's intoxicated and two she doesn't know how to fight.
Her brain has no programmed answers or reflexes for this situation.
The girl also can't flee because she's got the weight of two strong and athletic young males on top of her in the middle of a cold and dark basement.
Her body becomes numb and she experiences a state of paralysis in which her emotion and connection with the present seem to have vanished.
In this case the young woman actually experienced a freezing or paralyzing response.
The authorities gave this woman a hard time because they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that this woman didn't resist the acts of sexual violence committed against her. This is a phenomenon which we refer to as "Secondary Victimization".
These situations happen a lot unfortunately and are due to the lack of relevant and advanced training and conservative views on social dynamics between men and women (the "if she didn't fought back she must have wanted it" sort of mindset) by authority figures and specialists working or dealing with victims of sexual violence.
This is exactly why it is of paramount importance to educate professionals on the Defense Cascade and human instinctive defensive responses in the face of danger and violence.
With this example I've showed you that the so called freeze response is a legitimate instinctive defensive response and one that should be studied if we want to continue to unravel the mysteries of human actions under stress and danger.



Instinctive Defensive Actions and Responses:


Now that we know the primary fundamentals and functions of instinctive defensive responses we can move on to the actual Defense Cascade which can be seen as a variety of instinctive defensive responses to help us survive and deal with a dangerous or threatening situation.
Before we take a deeper look into these actions and responses I must note that what kind of response manifests itself depends on the person and the situation.
A person that has spent a considerable amount of time training martial arts, self defense or combative under emotionally stressful conditions is much less likely to freeze as someone who's been abused by her husband for the past twenty years and has suffered severe physical, psychological and emotional trauma in the process.
So our reaction pattern depends on our mindset, training, background and past experiences. The last one is of great importance.
If we reacted to a certain situation in a certain way (such as freezing, fighting or fleeing) in the past, it is almost certain that we will react in the same way in the future if no substantial steps have been made to create a different instinctive reaction pattern.
Now that we've cleared that up we can take a look at the Defense Cascade layout.

The following responses and actions make up our overall Defense Cascade:

Anxiety: We'll start with the first and most basic response in the Defense Cascade which is the anxious and shock response we experience when perceiving a threat, danger or other stimuli that can affect our physical and emotional well being.
This is what you can refer to as a kind of "selection" phase of a threatening situation. Anxiety triggers the fight, flight or freeze response and prepares our body to deal with the threatening situation. When our brain is confronted with certain stimuli it needs time to process that information.
The Alameda perceives it as threatening or dangerous and will set the fight, flight or freeze response in motion.
Often times people practicing self defense refer to this response as the freeze response, however in my opinion this title is a bit misplaced for this response, as it is based on a very logical and usual processing response for the brain.
However in the face of violence or danger the shock or anxiety factor might be much higher. But it is not the "freeze" response illustrated in this article as the effects of immobility and paralysis are not part of this particular response.



Resistance: In broad terms this response might be seen as part of the so called "fight" response which we will illustrate later in this article; however there are some important differences between the two.
You can resist a violent situation for example without resorting to violence yourself by shouting, commanding or trying to communicate.
Many people who are confronted by a violent or dangerous situation will first use their verbal assets to defuse the danger before undertaking any combative or physical action.
In practise this fits in perfectly with the self protection methodology of using violence as a last resort and relying on communication and conflict management skills to DE-escalate the situation.
However in many cases as soon as the situation escalates and violence is inflicted on the person they can't properly cope with it and either submit or transfer into a state of immobility.
Both responses will be discussed in depth shortly.
Another example might be someone in a violent encounter who is trying to duck, cover or fend off any violent actions but fails to do anything about the threat or person violating him.
This individual is resisting but he isn't fighting back.
These kind of responses come out more than most people realize.
It's a much overlooked response and often misplaced as a "fighting" or "combative" response. Although many traits can be considered similar as you can see there are some important differences between the two.

Fight: The fight response in itself is a very straightforward response. However the way people are fighting back might be more interesting to look at in this stage.
Whatever kind of physical action or combative action of a certain individual under stress is based on their background, training, neural programming, past experiences and finally the stimuli they need to deal with.
A dedicated practitioner of b-lan crag, martial arts or self defense most likely as a large variety of responses for a large variety of aggressive actions, that if trained properly under the right emotional conditions will come out instinctively under stress.
Then there's the untrained person who hasn't got extensive combative training, but has thought about the possibility of an assault thoroughly and selected an appropriate response if such a situation was about to happen.

One of those response people often select for themselves is shouting loudly for help while slapping, punching or kicking wildly at their assailant.
Let's say the kind of situation these people rehearsed in their head was about to happen, it can be reasonable to assume that such a response or anything like it will come out.
But if a violent situation happens outside the context that these individuals have rehearsed inside their heads, the chances are higher that such a response wouldn't come out at all because the mind can't find an appropriate memory or response.
The last example is someone who's never even considered the possibility of violence coming upon them.
When violence strikes them these are the kinds of people that are most likely to freeze or submit without any combative or physical action other than basic resistance.
These are often people that fear violence and don't have the mindset in place to deal with it properly.
Or they've suppressed memories or possibilities of violence due to traumatic experiences in the past.
So as you can see there are many ways in which people generally fight back. What comes out will for a good part be determined by their mindset, training and neural programming.


Flight: Contrary to the fight response, the flight response is selected to get oneself out of a dangerous situation as fast as possible.
The adrenal response is triggered to help us either "fight" or "flight" as it prepares the body for immediate action.
For many people this is the desired option in the face of violence and danger, definitely those without martial or combative prowess because they assume they have more chance of survival by fleeing than through fighting.
Human beings are always likely to pick the path which according to their perspective will give them the best chances of survival and damage control.
These choices, as illustrated before are greatly influenced by the background, mindset, training and past experiences of similar kind of these individuals.
The flight response fits in quite nicely with the self defense methodology of evading potential conflicts whenever possible.
However one should never rely only on the option of flight but prepare himself for physical action.


Submission: This is another response which is often neglected by the mainstream students of self defense and combative psychology.
But those of us that have studied this topic intensively will realist that they've seen it happen quite often in cases of violence and conflict.
Some people believe or have programmed themselves by using submission as a tool to minimize damage and believe that by submitting themselves to their assailant's will they won't get hurt or get hurt less.
This response can be seen a lot in cases of sexual violence were women often submit because they think fighting is useless or because they believe it will minimize damage.
The reason why this response is seen more often by women than by men is because most women in society are groomed to be ladylike, soft and directly or indirectly submissive to their male counterparts.
Even in western society this is still often the case.
Which means that in cases of assault the submissive responses are more instinctive for many females because that's in line with the way society has groomed them.
Again, background, neural programming and past experiences set the scene for which response we use under stress.
If the assailant is quite intimidating or dominant it might only reinforce this response by some people.
Another example might be a submissive response in a fight.
Sometimes people opt to fight the threat they're confronted with only to submit during the endeavor.
Again self preservation is the key here.
If they're on the losing end of the fight they might fear that more damage might be caused to them if they continue to fight or resist, therefore they submit in the hopes of preventing any more pain or damage.
Regardless of whether this kind of response is recommendable as a tactic of self protection or self defense, it's the perspective some people posses.
Therefore training people without a combative mindset takes knowledge of the various responses people generally posses.


Tonic Immobility: This response can be addressed as a response that fits in the "freeze" category. Tonic immobility often occurs when a person is overwhelmed by fear and shock and instead of fighting or fleeing goes into a state of paralysis, inaction, and cut off from the outside world.
This doesn't necessarily mean that the person would simply freeze and collapse to the ground, in the case of tonic immobility it might be much more subtle than that. The person might shut down vocally, goes pale and becomes disconnected; also dissociation and even depersonalize are possible effects of tonic immobility. There are various aspects that can help in triggering this kind of response.
The first is being overwhelmed by the powerful sensations triggered by a dangerous or violent situation and the adrenal response. Many people don't know the mechanisms of the adrenal response and thus can get overwhelmed by it when it happens.
The term "knowledge is power" is very applicable here.
This is reinforced by the DE-motivational and fear stimulated thoughts that enter or head when we are under stress and intimidation.
Some people can get so overwhelmed by these responses that they lose control over their bodily functions and find it difficult or even impossible to do anything at all or enter a state of mental withdrawal in which they disconnect with themselves and the world around them.
This is mainly caused by the decline of our cognitive thinking process under stress.
That means that we have to rely on our instinct and per-programmed reflexes and responses. If a person has none for this situation and gets the load of fear and the adrenal response on top of that, the person might experience such a response under the pressure.

That's why learning how to deal with fear, intimidation and the adrenal response is such a vital component of a proper, reality-based self defense curriculum.
Another example might be a person who's not or no longer able to fight or flight, like the situation of the young women we discussed previously.
She was unable to fight back because she was pinned down and didn't know how to fight back. She couldn't flee because she was trapped, so she basically shut down to the point in which she could no longer feel or use her body, disconnected herself from the outside world and went into mental withdrawal.
This reaction is very common in cases of sexual assault. Tonic immobility in cases of sexual assault is often referred to as Rape Induced Paralysis.
The last trigger I want to discuss is past experiences, more particularly people with a certain trauma such as POTSDAM.
Whenever people with a certain trauma find themselves in a similar situation that has created their trauma in the first place. This can lead to severe panic attacks or mental withdrawal and might also induce a state of tonic immobility.
Tonic Immobility is by no means a reaction were we just fall down and freeze. It's a much more complicated reaction which causes a mental withdrawal, disconnection and inability to access certain functions.
Other cases of immobility such as collapsed immobility might be far easier to identify due to more physical signs and effects, tonic immobility mostly takes place inside someone's head, which makes it harder to identify.


Collapsed Immobility: Often confused with tonic immobility, collapsed immobility has one important feature which tonic immobility doesn't necessarily have. That's the feature of physically collapsing to the ground.
Although many triggers and circumstances for tonic immobility and collapsed immobility are the same, collapsed immobility sets itself apart in the physical collapse of the individual.
Collapsed immobility is often referred to as fear induced fainting.
People that experience collapsed immobility will shut down and literally collapse where they stand, which isn't necessarily an aspect of tonic immobility.
During collapsed immobility signals from the brain stem are interrupted that normally maintain muscle tone.
Unconsciousness might go accompanied with this response but isn't always the case.
Past experiences, being overwhelmed by shock and anxiety and inability to fight or flight remain primary triggers for this response.
But the drastic collapsing response might indicate that some psychological or emotional instability or trauma is often the main trigger for such a response.


Quiescent Immobility: The last of the so called "freeze" responses is quiescent immobility. This response is often triggered as a result of severe pain, damage or injury.
Its objectives are to help the person deal with the pain and trauma and to aid physical healing.
This doesn't necessarily go accompanied with collapsing or paralysis, however many people describe responses like not eating, resting excessively and not moving much or at all.
Many of the effects can be compared with induced comas but obviously less drastic.
In terms of conflict situations this response isn't necessarily relevant for the conflict or situation itself but must be seen as a potential aspect of the aftermath. Like I said before the mind, body and spirit are all geared towards protecting us and help us survive.

Seven Ways to Improve Your Life with Augmented Reality | 24hur.tk

Augmented reality has always been considered a futuristic idea, but its roots date back to the 20th century, when the "father of virtual reality", Morton Height, patented a new device known as Sensory Simulator. The researcher called the device "The Experimental Theater". This item was a starting point for the further development of applications that use computer-generated images, which are overlaid on the real surrounding to produce the desired effect. Since the time of the first introduction, the technology has affected different spheres of human activity. Let's talk now about seven ways to improve the quality of your life with augmented reality.

1.    City Exploration

Do you find yourself in a strange surrounding somewhere abroad and do not know where to go? AR apps may help you find your way. These applications may show you where to go and what objects are found around you.

2.    Museums

Are you in a museum? Depending on its location, you may benefit from uploading and using special augmented reality applications that will give you a hint on what paintings or objects to pay attention to. This may sound unreal, but such applications already exist, although, they may not be so widespread and popular as three-dimensional programs.

3.    Shopping

Augmented reality can make it possible to look through the interactive virtual catalogues of apparel and accessories offered by the world-famous brands. In some cases, it is even possible to wander through the virtual shops or make purchases there. According to the representative of the Gold run Company, Vivian Rosaleen, "augmented reality can notably improve the whole perception of commerce and shopping by changing habitual places like parks and airports into real trade centers".

4.    History, Education and Traveling

If you are looking for a cheap travel offer or just wish to have good time during the weekend, augmented reality offers a perfect option as well! Using the technology, you can "virtually build", let's say, the Eiffel Tower or the Tower of Pisa, and organize a virtual excursion around these objects. This is a nice way to have good time and find out more interesting facts about the world popular places of interest. This is also a nice educational tool for the kids.  Such AR apps can be used at home and at school. Teachers can make use of them to improve the knowledge of pupils, making the material both entertaining and easy to remember.

5.    Customer Support Servicing

No one likes to call to customer support centers, because this is often a waste of time and effort. You have to wait for the attention of a specialist for a long time just to be left without an answer to your question. Using AR apps, you can get standard instructions on how to behave in a situation you find yourself in. These instructions may come with virtual support of experts to improve the effect.

6.     Safety and Rescue Operations

The efficacy and value of augmented reality applications may go far beyond entertainment or everyday activities. These apps may be developed to help specialists save human lives during the rescue operations. Rescuers often find themselves in chaotic situations, facing urgent necessity to find the right route to get to people in the shortest time possible. Isn't that crucial to have virtual maps of an object with all the surrounding details in those locations they are in? As of today, such technologies are not widespread, but their implementation in the field is of vital importance and may help save human lives.

7.    Home Interior Design

There is nothing worse than purchasing new furnishings to find out that there is not enough place for them in your dwelling. Meanwhile, such situations are not rare and people face lots of problems associated with them. Now, imagine the situation, when you are given a chance to design your home interior long before you actually go shopping or start the remodeling process. Such brands as IKEA have already started experimenting with augmented reality applications and ways of their implementation in the manufacturing process.
To some extent, the opportunities mentioned above seem unreal, but many companies have already started developing them. Hopefully, the technology will be available in different fields in the nearest future, changing the quality of our life for the better.


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