The Hidden Messages in Water
I just picked up this book, the New York Times bestseller and featured in that movie What the Bleep? That movie left something to be desired, but the book is great.
A Japanese scientist took photos of water from mountain springs, and found that it formed crystals. Water from the tap forms no crystals.
He found that water exposed to the words "thank you" form lovely crystals, but water exposed to the word "Satan" forms an ugly, curdled pattern. Same for angry words.
His point is that because human beings are 70 percent water, we are directly affected on a physical level by what we say to each other.
A nice message about giving each other pats on the back.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
Tesla
Tesla
I joined a blog group on Myspace called Tesla Tech.
At Burning Man in the year 2000, I saw a man use Tesla Technology by jumping up between a bolt of electricity between two Tesla coils, wearing a metal suit, and having the electricity hit him.
Apparently Tesla invented a source of free energy in the early part of the 20th century, which would not use nonrenewable resources. But his idea was shut down because nobody could make money off of it.
I'm having trouble believing that his idea actually works. Why are there no blueprints we can replicate? Can someone elaborate?
I joined a blog group on Myspace called Tesla Tech.
At Burning Man in the year 2000, I saw a man use Tesla Technology by jumping up between a bolt of electricity between two Tesla coils, wearing a metal suit, and having the electricity hit him.
Apparently Tesla invented a source of free energy in the early part of the 20th century, which would not use nonrenewable resources. But his idea was shut down because nobody could make money off of it.
I'm having trouble believing that his idea actually works. Why are there no blueprints we can replicate? Can someone elaborate?
Thursday, July 12, 2007
How water boils
A pot of water is held in the shape of a pot because the surface of the pot is solid and the water is liquid. Liquid takes the form of an empty solid.
The water begins almost entirely as liquid.
The temperature rises slowly, aggravating the H20 molecules to bounce around more quickly.
When any part of the water reaches 100 degrees Celsius, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the hydrogen and oxygen atoms begin to split, and the substance becomes an expansive air. Tiny bubbles on the surface of the water, within the water, and between the surface of the water and the pot, appear.
The bubbles rise because they weigh less than the water, and the force of gravity doesn't pull on them as much. They are round because the air inside the bubbles is pushing out due to heat expansion, while the denser pressure of the water pushes in and holds its shape. The bubbles rise despite the water on top wanting to push down on them.
As the water continues to boil, more and more bubbles appear, rising to the surface and popping. The bubbles pop because the surface of the water on top of a bubble at the top of a boiling pot of water is much weaker than the heat expansion of the air inside, and the heat wins and pops the bubbles.
More and more bubbles appear, transferring the H20 into oxygen and hydrogen, until all the water is gone. I don't know where the hydrogen goes.
The water begins almost entirely as liquid.
The temperature rises slowly, aggravating the H20 molecules to bounce around more quickly.
When any part of the water reaches 100 degrees Celsius, 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the hydrogen and oxygen atoms begin to split, and the substance becomes an expansive air. Tiny bubbles on the surface of the water, within the water, and between the surface of the water and the pot, appear.
The bubbles rise because they weigh less than the water, and the force of gravity doesn't pull on them as much. They are round because the air inside the bubbles is pushing out due to heat expansion, while the denser pressure of the water pushes in and holds its shape. The bubbles rise despite the water on top wanting to push down on them.
As the water continues to boil, more and more bubbles appear, rising to the surface and popping. The bubbles pop because the surface of the water on top of a bubble at the top of a boiling pot of water is much weaker than the heat expansion of the air inside, and the heat wins and pops the bubbles.
More and more bubbles appear, transferring the H20 into oxygen and hydrogen, until all the water is gone. I don't know where the hydrogen goes.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Suze Orman, the famous financial expert, advocates giving away a little bit of money each month in order to keep the money flowing in.
It's not a bad idea, and I'm going to try doing it, maybe just $5 a month to various organizations. I'm leaning towards health care, and I recently made a donation to Planned Parenthood, the wonderful organization that combats unwanted pregnancy and STDs among the young, the poor and the uninsured.
I am also leaning towards the local mental health center, and Doctors Without Borders, an international organization that provides volunteer medical services.
I can't wait to see Sicko, the new Michael Moore film. There is a scene in which the audience finds out that the U.S. ranks 37th in the world for health care. That's about what it feels like.
It's these nonprofit organizations that save so many people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford health care.
It's not a bad idea, and I'm going to try doing it, maybe just $5 a month to various organizations. I'm leaning towards health care, and I recently made a donation to Planned Parenthood, the wonderful organization that combats unwanted pregnancy and STDs among the young, the poor and the uninsured.
I am also leaning towards the local mental health center, and Doctors Without Borders, an international organization that provides volunteer medical services.
I can't wait to see Sicko, the new Michael Moore film. There is a scene in which the audience finds out that the U.S. ranks 37th in the world for health care. That's about what it feels like.
It's these nonprofit organizations that save so many people who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford health care.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Movies and Masculinity
I was talking to my friend the other day who said that high school movies and romantic comedies from the 80's and 90's influenced the way Gen X men think about dating.
Say Anything, Better Off Dead, Can't Hardly Wait and the Wedding Singer all follow the story of sweet, sensitive men down on their luck and striving after a really pretty girl. The women are usually dating some sort of jockish, jerky dude, and then at the end of the movie, they fall for the sensitive one.
So men have been programmed to think that if they just act as the sympathetic friend with the listening ear, they'll win the girl.
But that's not how women work, my friend pointed out. These movies delude because women are more often going for men with spines. Sad but true.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the Westerns and other movies from the 40's and 50's. These usually feature some dude who's so dominant that he's kind of a jerk. But the women go for him anyway.
These movies present masculinity in a way that seems almost exotic today, because it's not featured in the media.
Last night, I saw the Magnificent Seven. When the young gun first meets the Mexican girl, he picks her up, throws her over his shoulder, and demands to know where the other girls are. These old movies feature a kind of brutality that you don't really see today. It might not even be permitted in the movies today.
Duel at Sunset, another Western, features the same type of character. Gary Cooper won't marry the girl, won't take her seriously, but she loves him anyway, then at the end of the movie, they shoot each other to death.
Old Westerns are fascinating to watch if you want to get into the psyche of the female mind.
Say Anything, Better Off Dead, Can't Hardly Wait and the Wedding Singer all follow the story of sweet, sensitive men down on their luck and striving after a really pretty girl. The women are usually dating some sort of jockish, jerky dude, and then at the end of the movie, they fall for the sensitive one.
So men have been programmed to think that if they just act as the sympathetic friend with the listening ear, they'll win the girl.
But that's not how women work, my friend pointed out. These movies delude because women are more often going for men with spines. Sad but true.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have the Westerns and other movies from the 40's and 50's. These usually feature some dude who's so dominant that he's kind of a jerk. But the women go for him anyway.
These movies present masculinity in a way that seems almost exotic today, because it's not featured in the media.
Last night, I saw the Magnificent Seven. When the young gun first meets the Mexican girl, he picks her up, throws her over his shoulder, and demands to know where the other girls are. These old movies feature a kind of brutality that you don't really see today. It might not even be permitted in the movies today.
Duel at Sunset, another Western, features the same type of character. Gary Cooper won't marry the girl, won't take her seriously, but she loves him anyway, then at the end of the movie, they shoot each other to death.
Old Westerns are fascinating to watch if you want to get into the psyche of the female mind.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Press releases
Every week, I slog through 100 press releases or so.
As an editorial assistant, I write briefs for each issue that look like this:
InfoPrint Solutions Co., the Boulder-based joint venture printing company announced earlier this year by IBM Corp. and Ricoh, has begun operations with 1,200 employees around the world. The company was formerly IBM's Printing Systems Division.
If you want to get through to newspapers, study exactly how their news looks, and format your releases accordingly, or sign up for PR Newswire. Too many people try and do it by themselves, to disastrous effects:
(made up example)
Hundreds of thousands of old people die alone. 50 percent of old women have only their cats to keep them company. 75 percent of Baby Boomers will be divorced by the time they are 60.
Nonprofit X works to help old people transition from a life of solitude to one of great joy by connecting them with elephants that know sign language. Since its founding in 1998, Nonprofit X has appeared at 200 senior center functions, bringing elephants for the seniors to talk to.
(many paragraphs later)
By the way, we hired a new executive director.
By far the best person who sends my newspaper press releases is Boulder's Best Organics, a company that puts together organic gift collections. They write just one or two sentences, because they understand that we have a section of briefs that are just one or two sentences long.
If you want to get through to people like me, make it really easy for us to understand the information in just a few seconds.
As an editorial assistant, I write briefs for each issue that look like this:
InfoPrint Solutions Co., the Boulder-based joint venture printing company announced earlier this year by IBM Corp. and Ricoh, has begun operations with 1,200 employees around the world. The company was formerly IBM's Printing Systems Division.
If you want to get through to newspapers, study exactly how their news looks, and format your releases accordingly, or sign up for PR Newswire. Too many people try and do it by themselves, to disastrous effects:
(made up example)
Hundreds of thousands of old people die alone. 50 percent of old women have only their cats to keep them company. 75 percent of Baby Boomers will be divorced by the time they are 60.
Nonprofit X works to help old people transition from a life of solitude to one of great joy by connecting them with elephants that know sign language. Since its founding in 1998, Nonprofit X has appeared at 200 senior center functions, bringing elephants for the seniors to talk to.
(many paragraphs later)
By the way, we hired a new executive director.
By far the best person who sends my newspaper press releases is Boulder's Best Organics, a company that puts together organic gift collections. They write just one or two sentences, because they understand that we have a section of briefs that are just one or two sentences long.
If you want to get through to people like me, make it really easy for us to understand the information in just a few seconds.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Data harvesting
The Central Penn Business Journal, a Harrisburg, Pa. publication, conducts a quarterly survey of businesspeople in the area, gathering their thoughts on the state of the economy. Then, they send the results to economists who analyze their opinions.
They use the same basic data tool that my newspaper uses, a tool that dozens of business journals across the country use. But most of us just collect facts--revenues, names, e-mail addresses. This was a brilliant use by Central Penn of a customizable survey format to collect the nuances of public opinion, and create economic indicators out of that.
Data services is, I think, a fairly new field, and the other companies in my area who do it, Umbria and Collective Intellect use complicated math to monitor blogs and other new media, and sell public opinion on trends for a high price.
Our surveying format has nothing to do with math. But it makes me realize that with a little effort, you can also collect public opinion and turn it into statistics.
They use the same basic data tool that my newspaper uses, a tool that dozens of business journals across the country use. But most of us just collect facts--revenues, names, e-mail addresses. This was a brilliant use by Central Penn of a customizable survey format to collect the nuances of public opinion, and create economic indicators out of that.
Data services is, I think, a fairly new field, and the other companies in my area who do it, Umbria and Collective Intellect use complicated math to monitor blogs and other new media, and sell public opinion on trends for a high price.
Our surveying format has nothing to do with math. But it makes me realize that with a little effort, you can also collect public opinion and turn it into statistics.
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