Cinderella Complex

This is an excellent book written in 1981. I was cleaning out the shelf downstairs and stumbled upon it. Thought I'd skim through it and then couldn't put it down.

Some excerpts from the book:

As Simone de Beauvoir observed so astutely over a quarter of a century ago, women accept the submissive role to "avoid the strain involved in undertaking an authentic existence." This flight from stress had become my hidden goal. I had slipped back- lounged back really, as into a large tub of tepid water- because it was easier.

Men and women students were asked to write imaginative stories based on a clue, a lead sentnece designed to get test respondents thinking and feeling along certain lines. This was a the clue for the women students: "At the end of the first term finals Anne finds herself at the top of her medical school class." (For male students the clue was the same, with "John" at the top of the class instead of Anne.) [...] Dr Horner considered it a sign that Fear of Success was operating if students made statements indicating that they expected negative consequences to follow on the heels of any outstanding academic success. Negative consequences included the fear of being socially rejected or losing one's eligibility as a date or marriage partner, and fear of becoming isolated, lonely, or unhappy as a result of succeeding.

Rather than risk a live without love, women apparently will give up a great deal-- drop out, turn their ambitions back, flee anxiously into the anonymity of the Eighty Percent... More than anything women wanted to experience themselves in relationship with another.

It was beginning to become apparent that this conflict over working is strongly related to class. In Matina Horner's studies the women who were most disturbed about the possibility of future success tended to come from middle and upper middle class homes with successful fathers - father not unlike the current Ivy League men, who want non achieving women for wives. In these homes, the mother either didn't work at all or worked in less than a fully committed, professional way.

The women who weren't so hung up on success came from lower-class home with mothers who were often better educated than their husbands and who usually worked throughout their lives. the daughters of these women didn't experience a conflict between achievement and femininity because they had grown up seeing the two happily integrated in their mothers.

The relation between class distinction and women's conflict became even more obvious when, in later studies, Horner turned up a fascinating parallel between white women and black men. Both it turns out, are notably more anxious about succeeding than white men or black women.

"This tendency we have to scale ourselves down, to step back from our natural abilities rather than risk the loss of love is what I have termed the Gender Panic- the new confusion about our feminine identity. Rather than experience the anxiety of doing, we don't do."

Horner continues her studies, now she only used as her subjects the "liberated" young women of late Sixties and early Seventies. What she found contradicted all our media formed impressions of the New Women: to wit, an even higher proportion of women were showing a Fear of Success.

Women pay a higher price for their anxiety about succeeding. Martina Horner and her co-researchers concluded that able young women often inhibit themselves from even seeking success. In mixed sex competitive situations they will do more poorly than they could and many who end up succeeding in spite of themselves try to downgrade their performance afterwards. These women are not comfortably experiencing their own power and excellence. Confused and anxious, they will lower their career aspirations rather than experience discomfort.

(After a fascinating story of Simone de Beauvoir's loss of sense of self, and self-worth after falling in love with Jean-Paul Sartre, and becoming swept up in bliss .. after a year in this state, after losing her zest for writing and idea-making, she took a teaching job far away and spent a year alone. She spent quite a bit of time going on solitary walks and treks, sometimes risking her life.) What does it mean to become ones own person? It means to take responsibility for one's own existence. To create one's own life, to devise one's own schedule. Simone de Beauvoir's hikes became both the method and the metaphor for her rebirth as an individual. "Alone I walked in the mists that hung over the summit of Sainte Victorie, and trod along the ridge of the Pilon de Roi, bracing myself against violent wind which sent my beret spinning down inro the valley below. Alone again, I got lost in a mountain ravine on the Luberon range. Such moments, with all the warmth, tenderness, and fury, belong to me, and no one else." (So beautiful!)

It is when we assume the responsibility for our own problems that the center of gravity begins to make that crucial shift from the Other to the Self. at this point something remarkable happens. More energy becomes available to us. Energy that used to get lost in the Energy Leak, as we exhausted ourselves repressing those aspects of our personalities that we felt were unacceptable or frightening.

Darkwave

This is like some kind of early 80s gothic dream.

Clan of Xymox




His hair needs to come back. Everything about this video is peaceful, like early hours of the morning peaceful, coming back from the airport peaceful, new jersey streaks across the newark sky peaceful.

Amazing french coldwave from around the same time. - Opéra de nuit

Section 25 - Looking from a Hilltop

Ahead of its time.

Visage - In the year 2525

Do you think this could happen? :)



In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Can't tell the truth, can't tell no lies
Everything you think, do, or say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Won't need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got not nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Won't need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your sons, pick your daughters too
From the bottom of a long glass tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through the eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

Gary Numan - Down in the Park

This guy is fascinating. I love the peculiarity to the way he moves. Synthpop tends to really shadow how dark lyrics can be. It's interesting. Synthpop makes me ultra happy, ultra ridiculous. That's why I've been all over it lately.



down in the park
where the chant is death, death, death
until the sun crise morning
down in the park with friends of mine

Left in the dark

I am enjoying this new book I am reading called "Left in the Dark", a hypothesis on human evolution, the left-right brain, and how humans were affected by early diets based primarily on fruit.

Notes

- he speaks about left brain dominance in our culture. it is usually responsible for concepts like time, sequence, speech and language

- the right brain is know for creativity, spatial awareness and pattern recognition

- e.a. serafetinides administered lsd-25 to patients w/o a right brain and they did not experience hallucinations or mind expanded states. this was not true in participants w/o a left brain. => so are these experiences controlled by the right brain?

- autistic savants often are males whose over production of testosterone has damaged parts of the left brain. a nine year old boy because a genius mechanic after a bullet went thru his left brian. there are other examples of this. => does damage to the left brain "free" up the right brain?

- betty edwards in "drawing on the right side of the brain" : "the dominant left verbal hemisphere doesnt want too much information about the things it percieve - just enough to recognize and categorize. the left brain, in this sense, learns to take a quick look and says 'right thats a chair'. because the brain is overloaded most of the time with incoming info, it seems that one of its function is to screen out a large proportion of incoming perceptions"

- when right hemi is damaged speech is usually monotone and female or male voices becomes impossible to discern

- sleep is less needed by right hemi than left, so after sleeplessness, one becomes more ambidextrous and the right hemi becomes more dominant

- no right hemi leads to low memory, mechanistic, unemotional behavior, monotone voice, processing of a bit of information linearly at a time. do not appreciate subtly, take things literally, do not understand jokes, bad facial recognition, low spatial orientation, bad shape matching. they experience 'left side neglect' and ignore the left side of their body exists, like forgetting to shave left side of face or not eating from the left side of their plate, or denying its existence. if looking at a picture of snow, they have a hard time saying its winter until they are told its January. so they categorize & classify well.

- no left hemi leads to reduction of vocabulary. gestures preferred; no right side neglect; names forgotten but faces recognized; respond appropriately in emotional situations; lost ability to assign verbal name to visual symbol

- scizophrenia = hearing voices, breaking down sense of I, no time consciousness, disintegration of body feeling; more activity in right hemi and more time between switching of hemi. use

- hypnotized female asked to go back to a happy time in childhood but instead goes back to a traumatizing time... she was told the birth of a sibling would be happy but instead her mother experienced great pain and needed to get taken away by an ambulance. her right brain stored true emotions, her left brain stored info that this was categorically a happy time

- "the inhibiting effect of the left hemisphere is illustrated clearly when we awaken from sleep and promptly forget our dreams. we may have a fleeting sense of dreaming something but when the left brain clicks in, the dream images are largely lost. the left on waking reestablishes dominance. the dreams are lost because they did not happen there." when it comes to dream remembering, the harder we try the less we remember.. our rational brain kicks in. we need to not think but engage our _visual memory_.

- "as we age there is a tendency to talk more, to become less imaginative and more fearful.. all indicative of left hemi dominance"

- NLP originators said: "it would be easier to do therapy in a foreign language.. that way you would not have the illusion that the words you heard had the same meaning for the person who uttered them as they have for you. and believe me it is an illusion." ; words are the most disconnected way of expressing our direct experience; we re-energize spending time away from the left brain while on silent retreats

- people tend to choose the right most object in a sequence.. i remember i did this recently with a deck of wisdom cards.. i got the prince of clouds which was told to me to be about the logical mind... so interesting that it was my logical mind (left hemi) that was gravitating me in that direction

- remote viewing by hal puthoff & russell targ.. do we have the ability to accurately imagine scenes? the most important condition but 'a relaxed playful atmosphere & attitude'

- left hemi interference can be accomplished getting out of speech mode, reducing mind chatter....!

- fruit bats, parrots, and primates which all eat fruit have larger brain to body ratios. the former are sometimes called honorary primates because they can grasp concepts & categorize much like primates

- skeletons in forest climates are not easily perserved

- left hemi dominance is characterized by loads of self - denial. when people are asked to choose an attractive face which is swapped for an unattractive one, they justify this choice they did not make. right hemi missing people will have grossly exaggerated defense mechanisms to account for some wrong thing or will lie. they have surreal logic. called anosognosia and not present when left hemi is damaged

- left hemi creates a model, ego, a storyline and defend it. right hemi detect anomalies and tell the left - theory by ramachandran

- one reason we might have developed hairlessness was to capture more vitamin D while under the forest canopy. and did steroid suppressing chemicals in fruit inhibit the absorption of vit d and make direct absorption more essential?

- female hyenas have more testosterone than males and are the dominant and agressive sex

- early agrarian societies show people that had anemia, lived shorter, and were sicker that their ancestors

- lack of plant material in the fossil record results in an overemphasizing of meat eating

- australopithecus robustus teeth fall into fruit eating category; and ramapithecus; homo habilis has smooth enamel like chimps

- wild fruit has more protein than what we eat today

- humans very efficient at processing vegetable fiber from dicotyledenous sources... flowering plants... but not so much monocotyledens... grasses and cereals

- food going through a carnivores gut takes 7 to 26 hours but in a human it takes 40 to 60 hours... meat hanging around in there is toxic

- vit C is the main antioxidant in the blood; it concentrates in the brain area which is mainly unsaturated fat so it is more likely to need extra electrons to prevent oxidizing. it is in the cerebral spinal fluid to the blood by a ratio of 10:1

- if monkeys need 55mg of Vit C a day, humans would need 3,850 mg but we are told we only need 45 mg. great apes eat between 2 to 6 grams of Vit C a day

- we cannot synthesize Vit C but can do Vit D... so why would we depend on meat for it? its not very bioavailable

- unlike starches from grains, sugar has a lower glycemic index and are digested more slowly... avoiding glucose rush... chemicals in fruit also reduce sex hormones.. they are diametrically opposed to the effect of refined cereals which results in an excess of male hormones and acne

- humans have small teeth and cannot chase meat well; carnivore saliva is acid, humans saliva is alkaline where enzymes like amylase can break down starch

- sugar in wild fruit - glucose & fructose but in commercial fruit, it is bred for more sucrose content

- appleton central alt charter high studied behavior changes when they got rid of all junk foods in their schools

PS. I find this to be a pretty neat chart comparing Humans to Herbivores, Omnivores, and Carnivores :-)



Steroids
- steroids are fat-soluble organic compounds that occur naturally in plants & animals and are transformed in the body after a few steps into specific hormones. ie cholesterol which turns into testosterone, estrogen or progesterone in the reproductive system by the enzymes that lie there. or it becomes cortisol which is secreted by the outer layer of the adrenal glands in response to stress.

- steroids pass into the nucleus of a cell and regulate transcription that creates enzymes (chemicals that run cells actions) and proteins (which are for structure)

- hormones alter cellular operations - they change the types or quantities of important enzymes and proteins; they can also turn enzymes on or off;

- steroid hormones are an integral part of the mechanism that reads dna and dictates the structure and chemistry of what is built and how it works

- Example: when a person has a Y chromosome, it initiates the production of a protein called 'testes determining factor' which induces neutral gonadal cells to create a testes. once this has occurred, continued gender development is determined by the testes not the Y chromosome. the testes releases hormones like one that inhibits the development of a female reproductive tract.

-Dna = code or book; ribosome = reading equipment; hormones = tell ribosomes what to read

- taking different hormones can completely effect a process, regardless of what is written in the dna

- neuroendrocrinology - the brain regulates the glands in what hormones they produce. the neuroendocrine system is modified by the mothers system in the womb at birth, hypothesizes the author. and this affects the next gen. this lays down their hormone concoctions

- flavonoid rich diet severely inhibits the neo natal testosterone surge

- beta carbolines are produced in pineal gland; if taken in large doses are hallucinogenic; they inhibit steroids and fine-tune transmitter activity; prevent monoamine oxidase from breaking down seratonin & noradrenaline; the build up of these neurotransmitter at synapses allows greater neural activity.. causing hallucinations at some pt

- harmala alkaloids are beta carbolines in ayahuasca, assyrian rue, and passion flower in small quantities

- flavanoids inhibit MAO

- melatonin slows arrival of puberty and development of repro. hormones

- success rate matings:conception 5% in humans, 95% in animals

- bioflavanoids strengthen capillaries line uterus

- physical castration (or chemical) of sex offenders and serial murders reduced chance of reoffending by 20

- reducing testosterone levels reduces crime almost totally

- melatonin for contraception?

- DMT, derived from tryptophan, is quickly absorbed across the brain blood barrier and broken down by MAOs

- every neurotransmitter in the brain is in the gut too. gut uses 95% of bodies seratonin.

- for every one msg sent from the brain to the gut, 9 are sent from the gut to the brain

- melatonin protects from ulceration of gut by its antioxidant properties.

I read much of the book, skimmed over the rest. Overall, I would say it poses a lot of interesting questions which it leaves unanswered. It's ok to do that. My criticism is that his hypothesizes seem too far fetched without more data. It would be better to pose a list of them as what-ifs. I need more perspective from the other side to really understand if he is not cherry-picking information that suits his theories. Anyway, I learned quite a few interesting things overall. More things to study deeper into one day... :]

Gary Numan - This Wreckage

Another one! Quite neat.

OMD - Messages

Brilliance.

Sisters of Mercy

I've been really into Sisters of Mercy lately, but I can only get into their album Floodland. It's the perfect mix between goth, synthpop, 80s, tacky, ridiculous, self-absorbed, excessive, etc.

warpy img

Gene Loves Jezebel

=)

botany

Overall, I was not too impressed with Botany in a Day because it was way too dry with only black & white pictures. I couldn't do much mental mapping to what the flowers would actually look like. Perhaps its for someone more advanced. But I'm going to turn it in for a more colorful book.

On the plus side, I've learned about some cool plants. Like the Monkshood, which might be the most poisonous plant in the States.

It belongs to the Buttercup family. It is a well known poison, and in older times in Europe, warriors would put it at the end of their spears. It also is used in crimes.

Also, Anemone, another in the buttercup family.

And, the Columbine flower

Some interesting things I did make note of were the components of a plant. What we consider "medicinal" properties of a plant, are also conversely "poisonous". This is when we are treating disease with another complementary disease.

• Carbohydrates

• Monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose)

• Disaccharides (two sugars, ie Sucrose = glucose+fructose; Maltose = glucose + glucose)

• Polysaccharides (many sugars; we often cannot digest these, proving our reliance on simple sugars )

• Cellulose is a structural component of plants. white paper and cotton are nearly pure cellulose

• Starches also fall in here which are a group that can be broken down by enzymes called amylases which we have some of)

• Inulin is an indigestible carbohydrate that often feeds our gut bacteria, thus creating lots of gas. it is usually in a plants roots or seeds. but it can be converted to fructose by extended heating. I am against eating this as it seems clear our bodies are not designed to eat this. Common sources are dandelion, wild yam, jerusalem artichoke, chicory, jicama, chicory, burdock, mugwort, onion, garlic, agave ... generally roots.

• Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) have essentially the same effects as inulin, as they are similar in structure. Read more about why these substances feed intestinal bacteria and damage your gut.

• Mucilage is a thick, gluey substance found in aloe vera, cacti, okra, chia, flax seeds, and psyllium. These substances are often labelled demulcents. They are said to "soothe" mucous membranes as they coat them and relieve inflammation. But as inflammation is a healing process, they also can be seen as suffocating the membranes and creating a breeding & feeding ground for bacteria.

• Pectin is found in the cell walls of plants, and is generally safe and goes through the digestive system intact. During ripening, it is degraded down within the fruit.

• Gums are used as binding, thickening, or adhesive agents and are found in the woody parts of a plant or in seed coatings. Ie Agar agar or gum arabic or guar gum. Not parts of the plant humans typically eat.

On Starch and Glycogen

Starch is used by plants to store long chains of glucose, and its analogue in humans and animals is called glycogen. We do not store starch within ourselves. We break down any starch we may eat into simple sugars, and then store it as glycogen.

There are two ways humans store energy - fat and glycogen.

Glycogen is less compact than fat, but can be more quickly mobilized. It is a more immediate source of energy. It is stored in the liver and muscles.

When the body eats sugar or carbs, the blood absorbs glucose which then travels through the portal vein from the intestines to the liver. The pancreas secretes insulin into the blood and thus informs the liver cells to start building glycogen, which are enormously long chains of glucose.

After the meal, as insulin and glucose levels decrease, the creation of glycogen stops. For the next 8-12 hours, glycogen is the primary source of blood glucose used by the body for fuel.

Muscle cells also store a bit of glucose for their own internal use. They do not release glucose back into the blood as that is the function of the liver.

Similar to us, plants do not want to store glucose as is. It is soluble in water and thus binds to it, and takes up much space. Instead, starch is insoluble in water and is compact. Similar to glycogen, they are bound by easily hydrolyzed alpha bonds.

• Glycosides are molecules in which a sugar (glycone) is bound to a non-carbohydrate moiety (a-glycone). Plants use this form to store chemicals (a-glycone) and thereby making them inactive. This is also a way to stabilize a poison. Animals and humans add sugars to poisons (a-glycone) and then eliminate them. The a-glycone must be separated from the sugar to become active. Crushing the plant in warm water is often enough. (Its own enzymes come into play). Generally the plant releases these if attacked or ground by a predators teeth.

• Alcoholic - ie Salicin found in willow bark, which gets converted in the body to salicylic acid, closely related to aspirin - anti-inflammatory

• Anthraquinone - Senna, rhubarb, aloe. laxative effect, "griping" effect on the bowels. often fat-soluble and digested by bile and expelled by large intestine.

• Coumarin - found in the roots of the Angelica plants. can dilate the coronary arteries and block calcium absorption. found in sweet clover, indian breadroot, and many members of the parsley family. When coagulants they destroy vitamin K, reducing blood clotting; excessive consumption causes internal bleeding. Used in rat poison. Other types can make skin sensitive to sunlight (celery leaves).

• Cyanogenic - contains a cyanide group. Reacts with the enzyme cytochrome oxidase which normally links oxygen to individual cells. The cyanide interrupts this and causes the cells to asphyxiate. The body can handle trace amounts by adding a molecule of sulfur to create thiocyanate. But is a poison in excess.

  Ie Amygdalin which is found in crushed apricot pits. The metabolism of which produces hydrogen cyanide, a potent toxin.

• Flavonoid - the a-glycogen is a flavonoid. They are all known as anti-oxidants but have complicated interactions. ie Hesperidin in citrus fruits is anti-inflammatory and might act on the opioid receptors. Naringin gives grapefruit its bitter taste. Rutin is also found in citrus, asparagus, buckwheat, mulberries, etc. They are often used as dyes and are the reason for the changing color of the leaves. (flavonoids hidden by chlorophyll until the fall). They are toxic to mico-organisms and plants use them to fight infection.

  Anti-oxidants are chemicals that supply ample negative charge to cells which are in dearth of it. Free radicals are these cells that try to neutralize themselves by taking a negative charge from the oxygen molecules within the cells.

  Rich in fruits and vegetables.

• Simple Phenol - ie Arbutin from bearberry. Used as a skin-lightener because it inhibits tyrosinase and so prevents melanin from forming. sounds fundamentally risky.

• Cardiac - stimulate heart contractions. Digitalis of the Figwort family; Convallaria of Lily family; Helleborus and Adonis from the Buttercup family. Have a diuretic effect because through increased heart function, poisons release more easily. Very dangerous.

• Saponin - these substances cause the rupturing of red blood cells. A poison that is not usually absorbed. Found in spinach, beans and tomatoes. Breaks down with prolonged cooking. Can be used instead of soap. Good at wiping off dirt but not oils; such as yucca root, buckbrush, snowberries, bouncing bet..) In licorice, ginseng too.

• Steviol - responsible for "sweet" taste in the Stevia plant.

• Thioglycosides - contain nitrogen and sulfur. Are acrid and irritating to the area applied, stimulating circulation there. Ie stimulating digestion. Are responsible for pungent taste of mustard plant. It is the result of crushing the plant, indicating that this is a possible defensive mechanism of the plant.

• Tannins - Polyphenol that binds to proteins, amino acids, and alkaloids. Most common reason for the astringent taste. You run out of saliva because your tissues constrict and reject the food. Then after eating, one gets a diuretic effect. Occurs after the consumption of unripe fruit or red wine.

  There are two types - Hydrolyzable Tannins (Tannic Acid) and Non-Hydrolyzable. The former is broken down by water and is used in tanning leather. Commonly found in oak bark and heartwood. The heartwood is susceptible to bacterial invasion so tannins are toxins that prevent it from this. The tree uses the newer wood, which lies on the outer rims of the trunk (think of how the rims indicate age) to transport water and nutrients, leaving the inside mainly for structure. Both types are stored carefully in the plant to not hurt itself.

  The latter is found in tea, pomegranate seeds, grape seeds and skins. This we are more likely to ingest. These end up in wine.

  They "inhibit herbivore digestion by binding to consumed plant proteins and making them more difficult for animals to digest, and by interfering with protein absorption and digestive enzymes (for more on that topic, see plant defense against herbivory)."

  They are often in unripe fruit, but disappear once the fruit is ripe. They exist in nuts that can be eaten raw such as hazelnuts, walnuts, and pecans and are the reason we cannot eat raw acorns. They are present in various spices like cloves, tarragon, vanilla, cinnamon, cumin and thyme.

  They are generally known to be anti-nutritional and symptoms of overdose are ataxia (poor muscle coordination) and shortness of breath. They can inhibit the absorption of minerals, particularly iron. Thus it is recommended to drink tea or coffee between meals. Foods rich in Vitamin C can help counterbalance this effect on iron absorption.

• Acids
• Tannic Acid - see Tannins
• Oxalic Acid - most plants that are rich in oxalic acid are also rich in calcium. They bind together in the digestive tract and are excreted. Though oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of calcium, calcium can also be seen as protecting the oxalic acid from being absorbed. Generally this is an irritating substance which stimulates digestive secretions.
• Citric and Tartaric Acid - the former is found in citrus, fruits of members of the Rose family, and raspberries. Both cleanse the mouth and reduce bacterial infection.
• Formic Acid - a defense mechanism used by ants and stinging nettles. Irritant when injected under the skin.
  
  
• Acrids - in mustard, radish, horseradish. Have a bitter, hot sensation when eaten.

• Latex is "found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms). It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins, and gums that coagulates on exposure to air."

  Latex is used as a defensive mechanism of plants. "Other evidence is that latex contains 50–1000 higher concentrations of defense substances than other plant tissues. These toxins include ones that are also toxic to the plant and consist of a diverse range of chemicals that are either poisonous or "antinutritive"."

  It should be noted that latex though latex is released when the bark is lightly cut, it is not the same as sap. "The sap runs deeper inside the tree, beneath the cambium. Latex runs in the latex ducts which are in a layer immediately outside the cambium."

  It can be made into rubber with vulcanization or by mixtures with substances like morning glory seeds. (This is how the ancient mayans made bouncy balls.)

• Alkaloids - nitrogen containing molecules that have a very basic pH. When going through accelerated growth, the plant produces more alkaloids which are all throughout the plant, particularly in the sap. There are over 5,000 types known. Many produce a strong reaction in the nervous system.
  
  
• Indole alkaloids
• Quinoline alkaloids
• Isoquinoline alkaloids
• Purine alkaloids
• Pyrrolidine and Tropane alkaloids
• Pyridine and Piperdine alkaloids
• Pyrrolizidine and Quinolizidine alkaloids
• Terpenoid alkaloids
  
  
• Volatile or Essential Oils
  
  
• Alcohol
• Aldehydes
• Coumarins
• Esters
• Ethers
• Ketones
• Oxides
• Phenols
• Sulfurs
• Terpenes
• Resins
• Bitters
• Gelatin
  

Eeck! I will have to finish the rest another time :)

whispers by visage

by Visage (you've heard them from "Fade to Grey") This video is so neat.

wood sculptures by paul sivell

I thoroughly enjoy these wood sculptures

send me an angel

Yeah, I would like one :-).

I love the weird stuff...

fillings

This is scary. This is perhaps the stupidest thing in the world. Who would think of putting mercury in one's mouth, so that you always carry it with you - although it is one of the most toxic elements known to man, and can't even be disposed of in a waste basket? I am getting these removed from my mouth asap. Ugh, can't believe they put these in me as a kid. Where's the common sense in science these days?

Anubis or a lion-pharaoh?

This is a super cool article, making the case that the new head on the Sphinx is not a lion but Anubis, Guardian of the Necropolis. So, so cool! I want this book.

fruitarianism

I recently wrote to a friend with resources about fruitarianism. I'd like to share them here.

First off, read "80/10/10" by Dr Douglas Graham. This is sort of, the foundational text.

I began off by reading the works of early Natural Hygienists. Famous ones like Arnold Ehret died suspiciously making some believe that he was killed rather than prove the health benefits of this diet. Some articles are here: www.rawfoodexplained.com/science.html. This is an absolutely excellent resource. I haven't read through everything, but I particularly liked the way they explained fermented and cooked food as pre-rotted for you, and no longer living.

I enjoy the videos of Freelee & Durianrider who run the online forum www.30bananasaday.com/ (aka 30bad) which I frequent often. They're very in your face but they're passionate about what they believe in. Don't let it put you off if you don't dig it though.

Michael Arnstein is a competitive runner who feels the diet has lead to great improvements in his performance.

David Klein is a Hygienic Doctor and PhD who uses this diet to cure Colitis and Crohns. He has some great books and an inspiring personal story as well.

I'm sure there are a lot of other great resources out there. These are the ones that did it for me.