Develop Psychic Powers Magic

Ramalan Bintang | Ramalan Cinta | Ramalan jodoh - If ever an art received a bum rap, it’s that of magick. You’ll notice the spelling of magick is different from the traditional spelling magic. There’s a reason for this. Magic is a performance and illusion. Magick is the art and science of causing a change to occur due to the persons will. Magick is a belief system and method of controlling the power of the body and spirit. While most people don’t consider something as simple as walking across the street magick, by definition it is. Will, or intention is the cause. Most people look at the supernatural and believe it is the only place magick exists, but everyday life holds magickal events. Things you decide to do, and then make them happen. True magicians step back and see where they’re at and what they want. They use the power of attraction to bring the magick to them. Today, many people use goal setting and don’t realize, in many ways, that’s magick.

Some people believe that you simply cast a spell and everything you want falls immediately into your lap. Perhaps that’s true about the practiced magician but not necessarily the novice. The practiced magician doesn’t focus on a specific item to bring happiness. He decides what he wants first. If you want money, don’t focus on winning the lottery simply focus on the amount of money you need. You may not receive it all at once but suddenly you’ll start to see bits of money coming into your life unexpectedly. Maybe you’ll find money in an old jacket pocket, coins on the street, a loan repaid you forgot about or even a raise at work. When this happens, you need to be thankful and understand that this is part of the process of achieving your desire.

You can use incantations, magical dust, candles or any type of ritual to perform magic. If you include body movement, it also stimulates all the cells to remember the spell, but they are indeed just props. Like writing a goal, these are ways to cement the action into your mind. The incantation and ritual also helps the mind of the practitioner to form a visual of the action and confirm the process with the belief system. The use of meditation, yoga or any other method that allows your mind to focus allows you to quiet the mind and meet the Holy Guardian Angel, in New Age thinking, the higher self. Just as in all art forms from Tai Chi to Yoga, the higher self has contact with the universe and infinite information and power.

While some say that the spells only work because the recipient of the spell changes their thinking and actions, not all results come from people that know of the spell. This is because the information goes into the universal mind that connects all people. Many of the actions of the practice use methods and beliefs closely related to those of other belief systems created thousands of miles away in civilizations that never had contact with the creators of magick. It makes you stop and think a bit. Has scientific knowledge wiped out our ability to use energy we’ve always possessed? Have we always had the power, but because of poor choices, lack of belief or asking for the wrong thing, not been able to access it?

Magick varies from the ultimate good to the black arts. Black magick isn’t for the good of humanity. This powerful tool brings only unhappiness and bad luck to the person that receives the stinging end of the spell and frequently to those that cast the spell. Remember, like attracts like, so if your intent is harmful, it may return seven fold. Somewhere between the two is the happy medium, the grey arts. This uses magick for self-improvement of physical circumstance.

Regardless of the method used, whether high physical activity while focusing on the goal or meditation, the ritual is only important as a prop and method of achieving that focus. The ability to perform miracles in your life is available to all that believe and ask.

Google Advertising

Google In China, Undoubtedly, Google is the most used search engine over the Internet, and everyday over 300 million people use Google for different purposes. Because of its vast popularity and huge usability, it does not serve as a mere search engine but has also become a huge advertising platform for the businesses. In fact, any person who is looking for a product or service of any kind uses Google advertising tools to find out the best offers in the market. With the technology of using Google adwords, any Internet professional or website owner can get all the required facilities to manage and handle the overall website and thus increase its revenues to a large extent. With proper Internet marketing training, you will be able to know how to make the best use of the online marketing tools. With practical sessions, you will go much beyond a bookish knowledge and a verbatim heard over the net.

The entire procedure of Google advertising is quite simple and you are given the authority of making your own advertisement and building on the key phrases and adwords as per your own capacities, requirements and preferences. You can also get your ads customized so that you can decide where they should be placed. With pay per click advertising, you will need to pay only for the clicks on your ads and not for placing the advertisements which may or may not be clicked by your potential customers. It is a fact that if a visitor clicks on your online advertisement, he or she is really interested in the product or service you are providing and thus has more probabilities of turning into a customer from a mere visitor.

Under marketing education, you will learn about refining the whole process of targeting the adwords and how they should be related with the optimized content of your website. You will also come to know about the steps that should be taken for increasing your ROI and decreasing the rate of CPC of your website. If you are a business owner who believes in purchasing expensive advertisements over the Internet and ends up with a failed advertising campaign for most of the times, these Internet marketing training sessions will tell you how to advertise in the most effective manner with least budget possible. This will not only save you a lot of money on unnecessary advertisements but will also increase your revenues and sales manifolds.

Happy New Year Fans

Blackberry Gemini, Just because Artvoice takes one week off per year, doesn’t mean that you, dear readers, have to go without the sage advice of Free Will Astrologer Rob Brezsny. Here’s what he sees in the stars for you this week. Pick up your free print version of Artvoice as usual every Thursday, starting again on January 7. Happy New Year!

ARIES (March 21-April 19): One of my favorite landscape painters makes a livable wage from selling her art. She has had many gallery showings and has garnered much critical acclaim. That’s the good news. The bad news is that she feels obligated to keep churning out more landscape paintings — even when her muse nudges her to take a detour into, say, abstract expressionism or surrealistic portraits. Galleries don’t want anything from her except the stuff that has made her semi-famous. “Sometimes I fantasize about creating a series of ‘Sock Puppet Monkeys Playing Poker,’” she told me. If she were an Aries, I’d advise her to do what I think you should do in 2010: Listen to what your version of the sock puppet monkeys are urging you to do.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My Taurus friend Jill had a dream in which she stopped by a blackberry bush on a summer afternoon. All the ripe blackberries were too high on the bush, just out of reach. She stood there gazing longingly up at them for a long time. Finally three people in medieval garb came by, as if having stepped out of a deck of Tarot cards — a warrior, magician, and priestess. “I really want those blackberries,” she said to them. “Could you give me a boost?” They stooped down to make their backs available. She climbed up, but still couldn’t reach the berries. “Oh well, we tried,” she said. “Follow us,” said the priestess, and she did. After a while they came to another bush whose blackberries were lower and easy to pluck. Then the four shared the feast. After analyzing the omens for 2010, Taurus, I’ve come to the conclusion that Jill’s dream is an apt metaphor for your best possible destiny in 2010.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “We should not think of our past as definitely settled, for we are not a stone or a tree,” wrote poet Czeslaw Milosz. “My past changes every minute according to the meaning given it now, in this moment.” I suggest you make abundant use of this wisdom in 2010. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you will have unprecedented power to re-vision and reinterpret your past. Keep the following question in mind as you go about your work: “How can I recreate my history so as to make my willpower stronger, my love of life more intense, and my future more interesting?”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I think everyone should always have an improbable quest playing at the edges of their imagination — you know, some heroic task that provokes deep thoughts and rouses noble passions even if it also incites smoldering torment. I’m talking about an extravagant dream that’s perhaps a bit farfetched but not entirely insane; a goal that constantly rouses you to stretch your possibilities and open your mind further; a wild hope whose pursuit makes you smarter and stronger even if you never fully accomplish it. The coming year would be an excellent time to keep such an adventure at the forefront of your awareness.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A guy who goes by the name of “Winter” has made it his goal to visit every Starbucks in the world. According to his website, he has thus far ordered drinks in 9,874 stores. His project contrasts dramatically with an acquaintance of mine who calls herself “Indian Summer.” She is in the midst of a global pilgrimage to the hundreds of sites listed in Colin Wilson’s book The Atlas of Holy Places and Sacred Sites, including cave paintings, dolmens, medicine wheels, and temples. Guess which of these two explorers I’m nominating to be one of your inspirational heroes in 2010.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Scientific studies have proved what we all knew already: A person who’s only mildly interesting to you will probably become more attractive if you drink a couple of pints of beer. What if I told you, Virgo, that in 2010 you could regularly create the same effect without drinking the beer? I have it on good astrological authority that this will be the case. Due to fundamental shifts in your relationship with the life force, and having nothing to do with how much alcohol you consume, the entire world will often be at least 25 percent more attractive to you than it ever was before.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Your limitations will be among your greatest assets in 2010. Yes, you heard me right, Libra; I’m not speaking ironically or sarcastically. During the coming months, you will be able to benefit from circumstances that you might otherwise imagine would prevent you from operating with maximum freedom. It might require you to look at the world upside-down, or work in reverse to your habitual thought patterns, but you could actually generate interesting opportunities, vital teachings, and maybe even financial gain by capitalizing on your so-called liabilities.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Dear Rob: I sure don’t like so much God stuff mixed into my horoscopes. Can you cut it out, please? I understand it’s common for the masses to believe in an Ultra Being, but you? Pul-lease. You’re smarter than that. I just can’t abide all the ‘Divine Wow’ this and ‘Cackling Goddess’ nonsense that you dispense; it doesn’t jibe with the practical, sensible, unsuperstitious, non-mushy world I hold dear. -Sally Scorpio.” Dear Sally: I predict that many Scorpios will have sensational, ongoing, up-close and personal communion with the Divine Wow in 2010. You’re free, of course, to call it something else, like an unprecedented eruption of creative energy or a breakthrough in your ability to access your own higher powers.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You Sagittarians may wander farther and wider than the other signs of the zodiac, and you may get itchier when required to stay in one place too long, but you still need a sense of belonging. Whether that comes from having a certain building where you feel comfortable or a wilderness that evokes your beloved adventurousness or a tribe that gives you a sense of community, you thrive when you’re in regular touch with a homing signal that keeps you grounded. According to my analysis, 2010 will be prime time for you to find or create or renew your connection to a source that serves this purpose well.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles,” said American politician Everett Dirksen, “the first of which is to be flexible at all times.” That’s the kind of playful and resilient spirit I urge you to aspire to in 2010, Capricorn. I think you’re most likely to have a successful year if you regularly explore the joys of improvisation. The more empirical and less theory-bound you’re willing to be, the better you’ll feel. Practicing the art of compromise doesn’t have to be galling, I promise you; it may even turn out to be more fun and educational than you imagined possible.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Who and what do you hold most dear, Aquarius? I encourage you to get clear about that. Once you do, I hope you’ll make a vow to bestow extra care and attention on them in 2010 — I mean literally write out a one-page oath in which you describe the inner states you will cultivate in yourself while you’re in their presence and the specific actions you’re going to take to help them thrive. Nothing else you do will be more important to your success in 2010.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The philosopher Nietzsche said there was no middle ground: You either said “yes” to life or you said “no.” You either celebrated your vitality, enjoyed your power, and thrived on challenges, or else you practiced constant self-denial, hemmed yourself in with deluded rationalizations, and tormented yourself with indecision. I’m not so sure it’s always as clear-cut as that. While I’m usually in the “yes to life” camp,” I’ve gone through “no to life” phases, as well as some extended “maybe to life” times. What about you, Pisces? Whatever you’ve done in the past, I hope that in 2010 you will take maximum advantage of the cosmic rhythms, which will be encouraging you to give life a big, resounding, ongoing YES.

Politicians And Celebrities

Jennifer Lopez, Film Star Prepares Cleveland Schools’ Students for Future Performances. Otis Sallid, a choreographer and director, is offering Cleveland Schools ’ students a chance to gain from classes in dance and acting. The classes are in cooperation with the Ohio Theatre, which is using the classes as a way to recruit for its upcoming productions. The classes will be held at the studios in the Playhouse Square.

Sallid is well qualified to teach these classes. He is a winner of the Bob Fosse L.A. Choreographers Dance Award, whose film credits include Spike Lee’s School Daze, Do the Right Thing, and Malcolm X, and Disney’s Sister Act II. Sallid has also done work for several television sitcoms like, Living Single, For Your Love, and Suddenly Susan. The Cleveland Schools’ Director of Performing Arts endorses the classes fully.

Cleveland Browns Wide Receiver Joe Jurevicius Gives Cleveland Schools’ Students a Lesson in Financial Responsibility

At Cleveland Schools’ South High School, students were able to learn about how to manage money for the future as part of the VISA, NFL and PLAYERS INC., “Financial Football” Program. This program teaches students about money management. The class will be taught by Cleveland Browns wide receiver Joe Jurevicius and Jason Alderman, director of Visa USA. The program is centered around the interactive computer game “Financial Football”, an educational program that teaches about value and use of money. Cleveland Schools is one of seventeen school districts from across the country chosen to host the program.

Politicians Support the Cleveland Schools’ 3R’s Program

The Cleveland Schools’ 3R’s Program Rights, Responsibilities and Realities is cooperation between the Cleveland Bar Association and the Cleveland Schools. This program has over 600 local attorneys, judges and law students to help offer support and advice to students about their future. This volunteer program aims to help tenth grade students in the Cleveland Schools increase their success rates on the Ohio Graduation Test by improving their understanding and respect for the rule of law and our Constitution and to provide practical career counseling to focus students on their potential beyond high school.

This is accomplished by teams visiting tenth grade social studies classes in twenty-one Cleveland Schools’ high schools each month. The Ohio Graduation Test is only one part of the program, the volunteers will also help students make decisions about their future, help them set goals, prepare them for pre-college testing, guide them to resources for financial assistance and coach them in developing a strong resume. The first session of the 3Rs program was held Friday, September 22. Prior to the first session a rally was held to kick off the program. Key speakers at this rally were: Dr. Eugene Sanders, CEO, Cleveland Schools; Hugh McKay, President, Cleveland Bar Association; Lawrence Davis, Chairman, Cleveland Board of Education; Robert Triozzi, Director of Law, City of Cleveland; Louis Stokes, former U.S. Congressman; The Honorable Patricia Hemann, U.S. Magistrate Judge; and Joanne DeMarco, President, Cleveland Teachers Union. Cleveland Schools’ John Marshall High School marching band and Cleveland School of the Arts choral singers, John F. Kennedy High School cheerleaders cheering on 3Rs and a dramatic presentation of the Constitution by students from various schools was the entertainment for the rally.

Timeline: San Diego earthquakes

Eureka Earthquake,@ 500 years ago @ 1510 AD the active Coronado Fault of the active Rose Canyon Fault Zone (RCFZ) caused vertical and lateral displacement in San Diego Bay. This is the same exact active fault that Maddafer declared has not moved since the prehistoric time of the dinosaurs when he and the City Council approved the Master Plan for the Navy Broadway Complex. This is the same active fault that San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager ruled is not a seismic hazard.

At least the City of Coronado follows the law when during planning stages for the onshore Coronado Island portion of the same active fault in engineering plans for the planned Coronado Tunnel and redesign of the planned Hotel Del Coronado extension away from the same active fault.

Recent earthquakes noted in the San Diego region (2000 - present)

June 15, 2004: A magnitude 5.2 earthquake, the largest quake felt in San Diego in nearly two decades strikes off the coast of Baja California. There are no reports of injuries or significant damage.

April 12, 2005: A magnitude 3.9 temblor centered in Jamul was felt all over the county shortly after 4 a.m., but caused little damage.

June 12, 2005: A magnitude 5.6 earthquake centered six miles southeast of Anza, a town about nine miles north of the San Diego County line, shakes Southern California and cracks the wall and foundation of a North County fire station.

June 14, 2005: A 7.2-magnitude earthquake strikes about 90 miles off the coast of Northern California, briefly prompting a tsunami warning along the Pacific coast.

May 24, 2006: A magnitude 5.0 earthquake rocked northern Baja California, about 25 miles south of Mexicali, amid a swarm of other tremors.

Feb. 8, 2007: A magnitude 4.3 earthquake rattled the desert five miles northwest of Ocotillo Wells. The quake site was 13 miles southeast of Borrego Springs and was felt in Ramona.

April 21, 2007: A 3.2-magnitude temblor centered 6 miles southwest of Ocotillo, about 80 miles east of San Diego, rattled the area but there were no reports of damage or injuries.

April 28, 2007: A magnitude 3.5 temblor struck at 7:55 a.m. about 5 1/2 miles east of Julian.

Aug. 30, 2007: A magnitude 3.4 earthquake struck at 2:53 a.m. centered off the coast of La Jolla.

Sept. 2, 2007: A 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 10:29 a.m. near Lake Elsinore, about 70 miles north of San Diego. It was followed by a A magnitude 3.4 quake at 8:16 a.m. Sept. 5. The larger Elsinore quake was felt by some residents in San Diego.

Sept. 4, 2007: A 4.0 magnitude earthquake struck at 7:47 a.m. off the coast of La Jolla.

Sept. 7, 2007: A magnitude 3.2 earthquake struck at 12:10 p.m. off the coast of La Jolla.

Sept. 8, 2007: A 3.9 magnitude earthquake struck at 7:34 p.m. southwest of Camp Pendleton.

Sept. 8, 2007: A magnitude 4.0 quake centered in the ocean 26 miles southwest of Camp Pendleton was felt at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station but that it had no effect on the power plant's operation.

Sept. 9, 2007: A magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck at 6:11 a.m. off the coast of La Jolla.

Sept. 23, 2007: A small 3.5 earthquake shook a corner of San Diego and Imperial counties at 1:13 a.m. The epicenter was located about five miles southwest of Ocotillo and nine miles northeast of Jacumba.

Sept. 30, 2007: A earthquake struck at 2:14 a.m. and had a magnitude of 3.0. Its epicenter was near Coronado but it was felt in San Diego, Chula Vista and El Cajon.

Nov. 25, 2007: A 3.3-magnitude earthquake centered 6 miles northeast of Julian struck the Julian area at 8:40 p.m.

Feb. 2008: A swarm of almost 500 small earthquakes and aftershocks disrupted life in Mexicali, but did not cause major structural damage or injury. The strongest were felt as far as San Diego 100 miles away.

April 30, 2008: A magnitude 4.2 earthquake rattled the desert 14 miles north-northwest of Borrego Springs.

May 4, 2008: A small earthquake centered near Lake Henshaw rattled the county at 11:16 a.m. It had a magnitude of 3.7.

June 3, 2008: Small earthquake struck an area east of San Diego at 4:51 a.m. The quake registered 3.0 and was centered outside El Centro.

July 29, 2008: A 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck 3 miles southwest of Chino at 11:41 a.m. The shaking was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego and slightly in Las Vegas.

July 11, 2009: A 3.9 magnitude earthquake centered about 20 miles offshore was felt from from El Cajon to Ocean Beach. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Dec. 30, 2009: A 5.9 magnitude earthquake at 10:48 a.m., centered 23 miles south of Calexico, about 100 miles east of San Diego, was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego to Las Vegas. Other earthquakes, a 2.6 at 9:57 a.m. and a 4.9 at 10:53 a.m. were also felt.
Major San Diego quakes

This is an incomplete list of major earthquakes that have shaken the San Diego area over the past two centuries. Many of the largest quakes were centered elsewhere, but still felt in the region.

Nov. 22, 1800: The first recorded earthquake struck the San Diego Region. The quake, believed to have a 6.5 magnitude, occurred on the Rose Canyon fault offshore from Oceanside. It cracked adobe walls at the missions of San Diego de Alcala and San Juan Capistrano.

May 25, 1803: An earthquake damaged the San Diego Mission church.

Dec. 8, 1812: A large earthquake hit Southern California. The quake, estimated at having a magnitude 6.9 or larger destroyed a church, killing forty people attending services at the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

March 21, 1859: The Herald reported a severe earthquake was felt in San Diego at 5:20 a.m.

May 27, 1862: A magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit the San Diego region centered on the Rose Canyon or Coronado Band faults. The quake cracked adobe buildings in Old Town and damaged the Point Loma lighthouse.

Oct. 23, 1894: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.75 hit east of San Diego in the backcountry of what was then a sparsely populated county.

April 18, 1906: An 8.3-magnitude earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed much of San Francisco. The quake, one of the biggest ever to hit California, was felt all the way to San Diego.

June 22, 1915: Two large earthquakes (estimated at a magnitude of 5.9 to 6.3) about an hour apart, killed six people and caused $1 million in damage in the Imperial Valley region.

March 10 1933: The Long Beach earthquake, estimated magnitude 6.4, killed 120 or more in Southern California. No deaths or damage reported in San Diego.

Dec. 31, 1934: A 7.1 quake centered in the Colorado River delta rocked buildings in San Diego. No damage was recorded.

May 18, 1940: A 7.1 earthquake centered in Imperial Valley left 9 people dead and caused $6 million in property damage.

Feb. 9, 1956: A magnitude 6.8 earthquake centered east of Ensenada rocked San Diego. It is the strongest shock felt in the area since 1940. Minor damage, but no injuries were reported in the county.

Feb. 9, 1971: The San Fernando earquake, measured at magnitude 6.6, was felt throughout southern California and into western Arizona and southern Nevada. Centered in a sparsely populated area of the San Gabriel Mountains near San Fernando it took 65 lives, injured more than 2,000 and caused an estimated $505 million in property damage.

July 8, 1986: A magnitude 6.0 earthquake centered in Palm Springs shook the area. Largest to hit vicinity since 1971.

July 13, 1986: The strongest earthquake known to strike San Diego County hits, registering 5.4 on the Richter scale. It is centered off the coast of Oceanside on the Coronado Bank Fault.

Oct. 29, 1986: A 4.7 magnitude earthquake is centered five miles southeast of downtown San Diego. It was the largest of a cluster occurring around San Diego Bay in 1985 and 1986.

Oct. 1, 1987: A 7:42 a.m., a 5.9 earthquake, centered the Whittier Fault near Pasadena, killed eight people and inflicted more than $350 million damage. In San Diego County, the quake shook buildings and startled residents, but there were no reports of damage.

Nov. 23, 1987: A 6.2 earthquake jolted San Diegans at 5:54 p.m. It was followed by a 6.3 quake at 5:16 the next morning. The Superstition Hills quakes, centered about 14 miles west of the Imperial County town of Westmoreland, are blamed for the deaths of two people.

Oct. 17, 1989: Loma Prieta Earthquake (7.1); 63 deaths and 3,757 injuries are attributed to the Northern California temblor, which was felt all the way to San Diego.

June 28, 1992: 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake killed one and caused an estimated $100 million in damage.

Jan. 17, 1994: The 6.6 Northridge earthquake rocked Southern California, collapsing freeways in Los Angeles, killing at least 61 people and causing $20 billion in damage. Compiled by Staff Librarians Michelle Gilchrist and Merrie Monteagudo.

SOURCES: U.S. Geological Survey; Union-Tribune archives

Britain paralysed

London Snow Commuters and holidaymakers faced travel chaos as snow and ice shut airports, caused gridlock on the roads and led to scores of delayed and cancelled rail services.

Thousands of children were sent home as schools across Scotland and northern England were forced to close amid sub-zero temperatures.
Forecasters warned that the snow and arctic conditions are set to continue into the weekend, while southern England is braced to be the “crucible” of the severe weather later today.

The renewed wave of bitter weather comes as experts predicted that Britain is facing the coldest winter in 100 years.

The prolonged cold snap has also led to fears that Britain could be confronted with a shortage of gas after the National Grid warned supplies to reduce use of the fuel.

It was the second time ever that the move has been taken and came after a 30 per cent rise on normal seasonal demand.

The concerns caused natural gas prices to jump to their highest level in 10 months, touching 45p a therm.

Ice and snow forced Manchester Airport and Liverpool John Lennon Airport to close, causing scores of delays and cancellations. Leeds Bradford was also beset by problems, causing disruption to hundreds of passengers, while delays were experienced at most other airports across the country.

On the roads, heavy snow caused a section of the A66 to be shut in both directions in Cumbria and a succession of accidents added to drivers' misery.

A lorry driver was killed when his vehicle collided with another truck on the M60 near Bredbury, Greater Manchester, at 10am.

Traffic on numerous other routes, including the M6 and the M62, also ground to a halt due to incidents caused by the snow.

Several East Coast Main Line rail services between London and Leeds were among the train journeys which had to be axed today.

Trains to Glasgow were also forced to terminate and start from Edinburgh due to the snow.

All schools in Aberdeenshire, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway closed due to the weather, giving thousands of youngsters a day off to play in the snow.

The north of England, which is expected to receive more than 6 ins of fresh snow by the end of the day, also saw hundreds of schools shut.

In North Yorkshire, around 140 schools were closed this morning, more than 250 shut their doors in West Yorkshire and 140 closed in Cumbria.

Several major cities were also hit with 93 school closures in Manchester, and scores more in Leeds.

Scotland and northern England have so far borne the brunt of the fresh snowfalls, but forecasters warned that the south will be heavily hit this evening.

The Met Office said central southern England would be the "crucible" of the wintry weather tonight as an Arctic blast of snow and cold weather from the north meets wet weather driven up from the Bay of Biscay.

The collision of the two fronts is likely to bring more than 6 ins of snow in many areas within a matter of hours from around 8pm tonight.

A Met Office spokesman said: “People need to wrap up warm and be very careful on the roads because this cold weather and snow is set to stay into the weekend and possibly beyond.

“southern areas will be the crucible tonight as wet weather from the south meets the cold air coming down from the north.

“We could see up to 15cm (6ins) or more in some parts of Hampshire and Dorset.”

Stephen Davenport, senior meteorologist at MeteoGroup, added: "So entrenched is this cold-weather pattern that it seems only a major upheaval in the atmosphere will bring a return to something milder.

"Should conditions continue in a similar vein then by March we might just be looking back at one of the coldest winters of the last 100 years."

Meanwhile, supermarkets saw a surge in panic buying as shoppers stocked up on essential items, as well as antifreeze products, boots and thermal underwear.

Temperatures fell beyond 14F (-10C) in parts of Britain overnight, with no end in sight to the freezing weather.

The lowest temperature was recorded in Strathallan in Scotland where the mercury plunged to 13.82F (-10.1C). Despite most of England did not see quite such extreme temperatures, Bournemouth came a close second at 14F (-10C).

Grit stocks in England are holding up according to the Highways Agency, but Fife council in Scotland had to have several hundred tonnes of salt and grit delivered by the Scottish Government after supplies ran low.

A Scottish Government spokesman said Fife Council received 250 tonnes of salt and grit yesterday following a delivery of 50 tonnes the day before.

Highland Council also said it had used 30,000 tonnes of salt over the past three weeks – more than the total it used during 2006/7.

In the north London borough of Harrow, council chiefs said it had 650 tonnes of salt left – enough for four days at the heaviest rate of spreading, or more than a fortnight at a lighter rate.

Susan Hall, Harrow Council's portfolio holder for the environment, said: "We had ordered 1,000 tonnes of extra salt for this month but the supplier has so far not come up with it, which has basically left us high and dry.

"We'll do what we can, but if salt suppliers don't honour their obligations, it doesn't leave us much room for manoeuvre."

Bookmaker Paddy Power has cut the odds on this being the coldest January on record from 5/1 to 7/4.

More snow is forecast to fall tomorrow with south east England being worst affected, while Scotland and northern areas will see lighter showers.

Temperatures will remain cold, barely rising above freezing across the entire country and dipping to 14F (-10C) in parts of Scotland overnight.

Aditjondro menantang Pansus

Buku Gurita Cikeas George Junus Aditjondro menantang panitia khusus (Pansus) DPR soal bailout Bank Century untuk menelisik lebih jauh. Terutama keterkaitan Budi Sampoerna selaku salah seorang deposan besar Bank Century yang mengalirkan sejumlah dananya ke beberapa pihak.

”Menulis soal korupsi itu tidak bisa sepintas lalu. Saya mengambil spesialisasi penulisan korupsi kepresidenan. Kebetulan ada momentum masalah Century. Tapi penting dicatat, tidak betul saya mengarah langsung ke SBY dan keluarga,” tegasnya, Rabu (30/12) pagi tadi.

Buku Membongkar Gurita Cikeas memang banyak membahas kedekatan deposan besar Bank Century, Budi Sampoerna dan Hartati Murdaya, terkait dengan proses bailout Bank Century. George juga menantang mereka yang tidak setuju dengan isi bukunya untuk menuliskan data. Ia pun meragukan kemenangan Partai Demokrat yang meraih suara tiga kali lipat dalam pemilu 2009 lalu dibanding pemilu 2004.

Metodologi penyusunan buku ini, melalui studi kepustakaan soal korupsi kepresidenan, praktik korupsi di masa lalu pada era Soeharto, Marcos, dan sebagainya. Selebihnya melalui penelusuran data di internet maupun publikasi lembaga yang disoroti terutama enam yayasan yang diulas dalam buku.

George menegaskan ada perbedaan mendasar antara pengumpul data dan peneliti. Interpretasi data itulah yang membantu proses penulisan selama ini. Di sisi lain, ia menggunakan juga metode wawancara dari sumber-sumber yang diakuinya terpercaya. ”Kalau ada yang bilang isinya sampah, tolong bersihkan sumber data sampah itu,” tandasnya kemudian.

Buku tandingan
Sejumlah tokoh minta agar pemerintah dalam hal ini Kejaksaan Agung tidak mengeluarkan larangan atas beredarnya buku Membongkar Gurita Cikeas karya George Junus Aditjondro. Kalau hal itu dilakukan, justru akan memberi kesan bahwa buku itu benar. Lebih baik pihak yang keberatan atas buku itu membuat buku tandingan sebagai bantahannya.

’’Jangan membuat larangan atau menarik peredaran buku itu. Apalagi sampai ada teror kepada penulis, penerbit dan penjualnya. Tindakan itu tidak demokratis,’’kata mantan Ketua PP Muhammadiyah, Syafii Ma’arif di sela-sela Ulang Tahun KPK, Selasa kemarin.

Safii Ma’arif juga mengimbau pihak-pihak yang disebutkan dalam buku agar tidak panik. Apalagi sampai menarik peredaran buku ataupun teror. Hal itu justru menunjukkan bukti ketidak demokratisan pemerintah terhadap kebebasan berpendapat dan kritik. Menurutnya, tindakan yang ideal adalah membuat buku tandingan.

Lebih jauh Ma"rif mengatakan segala sesuatunya serahkan saja kepada pembacanya. Para pembacalah yang akhirnya memberikan penilaian terhadap tudingan-tudingan seperti dalam isi buku tersebut. Segala konsekuensi logis terhadap keabsahan fakta-fakta tersebut, katanya, akan diterima oleh si penulis sendiri.

Permintaan serupa juga dilontarkan oleh Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia (Komnas HAM). Menurut anggota subkomisi Pendidikan dan Penyuluhan Komnas HAM, Yosep Adi Prasetyo, para distributor buku agar jangan takut berjualan.

Komnas HAM sendiri telah melakukan pemantauan ke sejumlah toko buku. Menurutnya, mereka tidak mendapatkan tekanan dan intimidasi atas penjualan buku George. Namun, kata Yosep, bayang-bayang trauma masa lalu bahwa kalau ada buku yang kontroversial yang tidak ditarik dari display maka mereka akan didatangi aparat.

Menurut Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK) Mahfud MD, sepanjang buku itu objektif, benar, dan tidak bernada penghinaan tentu harus dilindungi. Tetapi kalau tendensius, pidana, dan fitnah itu juga bisa dipidanakan. "Jadi, jangan disalahkan orang yang mau memproses hukum terhadap orang yang memfitnah. Itu hukum juga," ucap Mahfud.

Mahfud melihat sekarang ini ada kegenitan. Jika pemerintah yang bertindak dikira otoriter, tapi kalau rakyat melakukan protes dilindungi. Kalau ini terus dibiarkan yang terjadi adalah tindakan anarkis.

Menurutnya, proses demokrasi harus seimbang. Kalau ada orang yang menulis dan berpendapat seenaknya yang menimbulkan fitnah, juga harus diproses secara hukum. Jika tidak, negara ini akan anarkis dan justru tidak demokratis.

Kejaksaan sendiri mengakui sampai saat ini pihaknya masih mempelajari buku tersebut, sehingga belum mengeluarkan pelarangan atas peredaran buku itu.

"Belum ada larangan. Kita baru sebatas mempelajarinya,"kata Kapuspenkum Kejakgung Didiek Darmanto. Karenaya dia meminta kepada semua kalangan untuk tidak berasumsi negarif lebih dulu kepada Kejakgung.

Penerbit Galangpress menyatakan siap menghadapi gugatan berbagai pihak yang tak sepakat dengan data yang dilansir dalam buku "Gurita Cikeas, Di Balik Skandal Bank Century" karya Dr George Junus Aditjondro. Pun, telah menyiapkan diri dengan menunjuk seorang pengacara