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Showing posts from May, 2019

Week Three: Physics

Blog assignments for this week: * What evidence can you find for synchronicity Best answer I've found so far for this question (and I agree with) comes from Roger Paul Neyman of the Wilmette Institute: "By the nature of the phenomenon, any evidence for synchronicity must be anecdotal and subjective. This is because you cannot set up an experimental context for meaningfulness and an acausal connectedness. Thus, I suspect that synchronicity will always remain beyond the outskirts of natural science." * Based on what you know, how would you explain connectivity? I think connectivity has to do with resonant frequencies.  I can't give a ton of explanation beyond that, but 5 element theory is based on a similar assumption.  An example: I'm a student in a Physics class.  The teacher posts an assignment to explain connectivity.  I am now thinking about this assignment, which the teacher has already thought about and we may assume continue to think about....

Week 3d Chemistry (further thoughts on "Farmers in Connecticut Looking to Extract Dollars from Leftover Food" class discussion)

(original article here ) So I think the actual compost is more important than the energy we might be able to produce from it.  But I like the concept of the anaerobic digester and wonder if it could be applied to plastics instead of food waste. Here's a couple articles promoting thoughts in that direction. http://theconversation.com/new-plastic-munching-bacteria-could-fuel-a-recycling-revolution-55961 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/plastic-eating-enzyme-pollution-solution-waste-bottles-bacteria-portsmouth-a8307371.html

Week 3c Chemistry Comment on Ms. Lee Says "Are you Eating Monsanto weed killer for breakfast." post (wasn't able to comment on her page for some reason)

I don't have that article in front of me at the moment so I'm going purely off your post here.  For an "organic" label to be applied to chicken eggs, the chickens have to be fed organic feed.  So the issue with the organic label here is that cross-over from nearby grain farms is so intense the so-called organic feed was that contaminated, or the producer of these organic eggs also produces non-organic chicken eggs and feeds the chickens the same grain for both when the "certified organic" inspector isn't looking, which is the majority of the time.

Week 3b Chemistry - Copper

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Copper (Cu) Copper's atomic number is 29.  Like Cr, it's electron configuration is one of the "exceptions" to the general rule ( hund's rule , actually).  Cu's electron configuration is written 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 6 4s 1 3d 10 instead of 1s 2 2s 2 2p 6 3s 2 3p 6 4s 2 3d 9 . Here's a great tutorial that explains why. Pure Copper is orange-red in color Copper is in Group 11 of the periodic table, and is a d level element.  It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal.  Ductility is a measure of a material's plasticity, so Cu is described as being highly plastic.  Humans have been using Cu in one way or another for over 10,000 years, and it was essential to the Bronze Age (copper + tin = bronze).  Nowadays, it plays a dominant role in the electrical wire industry (Cu is highly conductive). Cu is an essential trace element in our biology, and plays an important role in proper liver function.  Wilson's disease is a rare genetic disorder in w...

Week 3a Chemistry

I followed the Green Chemistry link and read the article "Mating Disruption as a Pest Management Tool in California's Wine Industry".  Field-testing was conducted to see if a pheromone spray would effectively control a vine mealybug infestation.  The results were promising because of two observations.  The vine mealybugs mating pattern was disrupted and natural predators were attracted to the pheromone. Eradication isn't accomplished with this method.  The method works by maintaining an ecological balance of controls, ie diminished pest populations and healthy predator populations.  A food source and ecosystem has to be maintained for the predators to stick around. Previous to the unruly infestation, a method of control was being tested with the use of a pheromone applied to sticky traps.  The idea here is to eradicate the pest population entirely - the pheromone attracts the male vine mealybug to an untimely sticky demise. Truth be told, I was just o...

Week Two: Physics

I wanted to research a bit deeper into the Bohr-Einstein debate, spurred on by our own debate over the use (in my opinion, misuse) of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in Kristina Wirtz's dissertation preface, Speaking a Sacred World: Discursive Practices of Skepticism and Faith in Cuban Santeria.  Simply put, the act of observation influences the things we observe.  I'm not sure how Wirtz continued to invoke the Heisenberg uncertainty principle throughout the rest of her paper, but the act of my reading her preface somehow influenced it. Anyways...the Bohr-Einstein debate wasn't just about proving or disproving quantum theory.  It questioned whether or not consciousness has "a role to play at the material level of reality", and if quantum physics is the science of mysticism. Here's the best of what I've dug up so far. https://www.academia.edu/260503/_Mysticism_in_quantum_mechanics_the_forgotten_controversy_

Week Two: Chemistry

The last question on yesterday's quiz concerned the research of "active ingredients" and whether or not the research of Chinese Herbology in this way actually benefits CM.  I answered that it didn't, making a distinction between the medicine itself and possible side-benefits like influencing public opinion as to the efficacy of CM.  I think "active ingredient" research is a product of Western medicine, serving to benefit it's interests, and promote it's own perspective as to how we go about exploiting the chemistry of plants and other things 'useful' in nature. Anyways, at the end of class the question came up again, and it was clear Larry was interested in the aspect of "active ingredient" being something that is isolated and thus "controlled".  This sparked a quick conversation about the FDA's role in regulating Chinese Medicine, as well as the ma huang debacle, to which I recommended this qiological podcast with ...

Week One

This week in Chemistry the theme was "The Cultural Influence of Chemistry" and in Physics we revolved around the concept of the "Meaning of Time".  One of the handouts summarized Hall's Description on M-time versus P-time , which also refers back to this notion of cultural influence, in this case within our space-time frameworks. Synthesizing these two themes, I was reminded of an article by Nathan Sivin which offers insight as to how the Chinese alchemists', through the process of fire phasing, created time manipulations representative of cosmic cycles (4320 years) in their elixir making so that the resultant substance was appropriately transformed. Check it out here .

Intentions

This semester I'm taking classes in Physics and Chemistry, so my posts will adhere (or try to at least) to both lenses.  I have a particular interest in Pao Zhi and Chinese Alchemy , so I'm most likely going to segue into those topics frequently.  I'll also be branching out into concepts of Biomimicry , how the concept relates to the above-mentioned sciences (as they are presented throughout the courses), and how it might inform aspects of CM and other healing modalities. 

Bio

I guess the family business is medicine.  My dad and my sister are doctors.  My mother has her nursing degree (my folks met while teaching a sex education course, go figure).  My grandmother was a WWII army nurse.  My great grandmother was a traditional folk healer.   In any case, I started practicing herbal medicine about twenty years ago.  My focus has mostly been western folk and hermetic traditions, but I had been introduced to a decent amount of TCM, Ayurveda, and other indigenous healing systems as well.  So, being an unabashedly devoted plant person, last year was my time to take the plunge and apply to the MSTCM program, and now I'm in my third trimester.