Do I continue with the decor to-do list?
If so, do I run errands for necessary supplies?
Or do I finish everything that doesn't require a doodad to complete it?
Do I spend time in my studio?
Do I write this coming week's newsletter?
Maybe I should work on my marketing copy?
Or tackle this big ol' stack of books on my desk?
Oh wait, I should probably do a bit of bookkeeping...
...Maybe I should just start by taking the dog for a walk?

Gah! It shouldn't be this hard to figure out how to have some fun today... I mean, it's Saturday - it's not about productivity...

I think I'm having trouble leaving the office at the office...

You want me strong lion
Fairy deer and lamb
But what about you

Love is not a quarrel
What a loss time
Thinking I was a pupil
Thinking you were above

You're just in me
Giving me strength and pain
8 times fallen
9 times stand in

That's right
I'm caught by the net
I know this is there
You came
Not what you created
Or maybe
You had to come here
Love brought you

Underneath the most
Visible skylight
You came there
Without being seen
Like a myth comes true

You want an immortal muse
Gentle sister and mother
But what about me

You want warm desire
Tenderness and gloves
And what about me

I'm not against you
I'm searching with you
I awoke
And you make me want to live

But you want me strong
And I'm so weak
You want me worthy
The lie reveal itself

I feel this love
You gave it to me
By a sight
A voice
Some sentences
In the right space
At the real time

I feel this love
That woke up
A darkened-half shadow
To see if it exists
If one seeks for...

That was not the point
Of the stars
First
There were ne chee-game
Right?
No master nor pupil
No images
No suppositions
Nor spades

Because that was not the point
Of here
The huge cooking-pot's scheme
Of the whole human consciousness

Some centuries ago
Hermit could have been foolish
For this
But we finally found
An equilibrium
Though we don't master it

We're like two young
Chemical brothers
In a bathroom
Cheering our glasses
After an "Eureka"
And then doubting it
To some new questions

As ebb and flow
Natural as seasons pass by
From cold to warm
And wet to dry

Gratitude
And never forgotten our goal
Are not always
As a sunrise
For days
The sky is clouds

That was not the point of the stars
First
You came alive
Amongst the dead

~ Ktsophia ~

so i took Lumix (my camera) into The Shop four-and-a-half weeks ago, and ever since, i've been coping with separation anxiety.

i adore this camera.  i'm not the kind of person who sends her marred graduation gifts into The Shop every day, but i was hoping to revive it, give it new life!

being the second and most-capable camera i've ever owned, Lumix has a special place in my heart.  he's been with me since senior prom, capturing colorful gowns and beautiful smiles with a handy little flash that doesn't "wash out" fair skin (amen!).  he was with me in k'auai, venturing through secret beach trails and freezing perfectly-exposed frames of the north shore on morning katamaran rides. he's been with me ever since i started at cal poly, blessing me with the most crisp & up-close photos of my projects.

so a month without Lumix around has been kind of depressing. during Dale's wedding, i defaulted to Karly's canon whatever shot thing, and as I sat near that beautifully-lit alter i sighed, "what a shame."

C'est la vie,
Chappie

Why Disasters Are Getting Worse  -- TIME  -- by Amanda Ripley   "We are getting more vulnerable to weather mostly because of where we live, not just how we live."

All right - come on now - I have written about the natural barriers that will keep destructive elements at bay.  Please see August 28th, 2008 entry - Better Follow Through - Needed  + other older entries.

I keep saying it -- duh.  Think of all the trees that use to keep the rain from pouring over into the streets -- think of that river that use to be huge and mighty that would acquire the rain fall.  Here is something interesting too -- let's examine this.  Major hurricanes are following corridors WE HAVE MADE.  Yup, it's true.  Examine the trees that lay on either side of a major interstate - the path of a hurricane follows it right to the major city it intersects with.  Kind of neat. 

Disrupt the natural course = Destructive natural force. 

You can prevent it - It can be a safe environment.  Umm... Yes it can.  Restore the balance.  Take that parking lot and turn it back into a place where trees use to grow.  That's one idea -- Use the data that is there and continues to prove everything I have said in this blog and turn things around.  Yes.  Destructive elements are going to happen -- climate change is still going to happen.  We just might survive a little easier if action is taken and followed through though --

Since history repeats itself - a stand is needed to make sure survival is guaranteed and not just for our species though we caused it to accelerate.  Write history out to show that betterment was done and followed through to prove it can be done BUT IMPROVED ON.

With this diagram I am eating a considerable amount of my previous work with the icons as well as a few concepts.  The first row is the interrogatives (problems).  The second row are my rearranged icons.  The third row are my Greek terms for the solutions.  The fourth row are Einstein's solutions.

But it all comes down to what is the easiest route. Now don't get me wrong--I've never been one to look for the path of least resistance; I'm a (recovering, I hope) perfectionist and challenge-seeker. This is all good and well, but it does not work for starting a business. It results in a lot of thinking, dipping my toes in the water, and not a lot of completed efforts.

This week I've been thinking about what I learned at that workshop in May. In my opinion, the key is to learn one small step but not another until you've completed the first. So I'm returning to the basics:

1. Brainstorm ideas.
2. Match your ideas with markets.
3. Write query letters.
4. Follow-up with those query letters. Resubmit until your ideas find a home.

We can get nit-picky with the details of each step, but it boils down to finding an appropriate idea for the correct market and getting that idea out there. It does no good to think of ideas if you don't find a magazine for them and write the query letters. Likewise, you can look at all the magazines in the world and through each listing in Writer's Market, but unless you pitch an idea to the editor, you may as well not do anything.

This is why so many freelance writers recommend:

1. Keep it simple, Stupid.
2. Don't reinvent the wheel.

ABD'de yayımlanan Time dergisi, Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül'ün Ermenistan'ı ziyaretine vesile olan Türkiye-Ermenistan maçının iki ülkede çok sayıda kişi tarafından buzların erimesine yardımcı olacak bir fırsat şeklinde görüldüğünü yazdı.

"Futbol, Türkiye-Ermenistan Çatlağını İyileştirebilir mi?" başlığı altında Andrew Purvis imzasıyla yayımlanan makalede, "Uluslararası Futbol Federasyonları Birliğinin (FIFA) Dünya Kupası eleme grubu kura çekimlerinde tarihi husumet ya da jeopolitik kavgaya kulak asmadığı" belirtilerek, "Türkiye ve Ermenistan'daki çok sayıda insan, milli takımlarının Erivan'daki karşılaşmasını, iki ülke arasında buzların erimesine yardımcı olacak bir fırsat olarak görüyor" ifadesi kullanıldı.

Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül ve Ermenistan Cumhurbaşkanı Serj Sarkisyan'ın da maçı izleyenler arasında olacağı kaydedilen makalede, iki ülkenin ortak sınırının, Dağlık-Karabağ sorununda karşıt tarafları destekledikleri için 1993 yılında kapatıldığı ve iki ülkenin diplomatik ilişkilerinin bulunmadığı hatırlatıldı.

AB dönem başkanı Fransa'nın da Cumhurbaşkanı Gül'ün Ermenistan gezisini "tarihi ve oldukça sembolik" olarak niteleyerek, memnuniyetle karşıladığı belirtilen makalede, Sarkisyan'ın bu hafta ülkesinin diplomatlarına hitaben, "Geçmişi unutmadan, geleceğe bakmalıyız. Eğer diyalog olursa, tüm sorunları, hatta en zor sorunları bile tartışabiliriz. Karşılıklı olarak faydalı bir gündem şekillendirmeliyiz ve ön şartsız olarak temaslara başlamalıyız" dediğini aktarıldı.

Makalede, siyasi gözlemcilerin ziyareti "tarihi" bulmakla birlikte, sadece bir "ilk adım" olarak nitelediği de belirtildi.

I remember a time when I felt that time passed conspicuously slow and how hard it was to accept my fathers theory of time + age = accelaration. In the mind of a 13 year old it just didn't make much sense how time could elapse any different depending on what age one was.

Now, years later, I understand the notion of time beng elusive. What I wonder now is exactly how fast does time pass for a man nearing his 70's when I (at 26) already feels there aren't enough hours to the day?! Hopefully at his age I've learnt the art of multi-tasking. ;) 

A man nearing his 70's...

It's every childs fear isn't it? The thought of their parents mortality. My father's much too young at heart and mind to be of that age! I truly can't picture a world without any of them (or just one of them)... and until I name their age as such, I don't. Ignorance is bliss. ;)

Back to the point though, I've estimated that on weekdays I've about an hour to do with as I please. With hobbies like laying puzzles that doesn't give me very much time for enjoyment. Especially when I have to clean up after myself to make sure the cats don't get to them. And this without a job or extra curriculars, as I thought I'd stay away from it this year (which btw, is going to be my economical downfall).

I agree with the Bear that as a student one never gets the free time one gets with a steady job. Once the lectures are over, we have to deal with the group works, the reading up, the studying for the next exam. (Then again, being the workaholic I am, I'll probably find a way to make sure work takes over more aspects of my life tin the future as well.) I guess I just have to learn to find the time, just like one does with the training.

As you can probably tell, I've never learnt the art of cramming every activity between heaven an hell into the 24 hours we have each day like some people have the ability of doing. They're either heavy-dosage drug users or they're such social butterflies that they enjoy the thought of doing things, constantly, with others. For me, I need to be doing things, constantly, but only about 25% of it with others. None the less, I've always been jealous of these talented little artísts of life, but I guess it's a part of who one is, what one's comfortable with. In the end, I really enjoy the feeling of me-time. It's the time of day I get to "varva ner" as they say in swedish, and not loose myself in the kaos of being liked by other, of being fun, enjoyable and spunky. (But then again, during about two months of the year I need people so I don't loose myself in the kaos of not liking myself, of paranoia, angst, and depression. So I'm not completely autonomous. ;)

Sweet kisses to all and I leave you this rainy Saturday with this photo to put a smile on your faces. :)

I swear we didn't place him there! :)

How to pass the time in dunya ('Waqt guzar jae ga (New year resolutions) ' translated from a lecture by Dr. Farhat Hashmi)

GOAL: GETTING TO JANNAH AND BE AWARE OF AKHIRAH
GUIDELINES TO MANAGE YOUR DAY TO GET CLOSER TO JANNAH:
1.    Complete your obligations
2.   Organize your day
3.    Attach one item/action to each salaat
4.    Guard each moment
a.    Remove waste of time
b.    Upgrade the use of your each moment
c.    Enhance each moment with preparing for Akhirah
d.    Ideal investment of time is for jannah
5.    Dhikr, verbal, or quiet at every moment with action or without. Take a simple act and take it into an ibadah by performing that action with Dhikr.
6.    Earn Ilm (knowledge of Deen)
7.    Actualize the ilm we have (live it, act on it)
8.   Make our goals and attach them to our action
9.    Execute our actions
10.    Examine our roles (eg mine)
a.    Muslim Woman
b.    Wife
c.    Mother’
d.    Physician
e.    Blogger
f.    Friend
11.    Review my ibadaat, plan the time for each, evaluate what is the closest method of doing it according to Sunnah, examine the act and finesse it according to the Sunnah.
Salaat: develop skills, tips and talent so that it is as close to the Sunnah as possible.
12.    Many a time we have so many elaborate plans based on our fertile ideas, our desires for goodness. Examine the reason why we cannot bring these to fruition.
13.    For every dua we do we have to make the endeavor to fulfill it.

WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN THOUGHT, KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION?
1.    Lack of priorities
2.    Lack of Planning
3.    Procrastination
4.    Lack of support systems and skills
5.    Lack of confidence
6.    Waiting to do it some day when we are better and more qualified
7.    Following inspirations without planning
8.    Not respecting time: Watawasu bil Haqq (surah Asr)
9.    We need to involve those that we live with and interact with everyday

WHAT SHOULD WE DO AND HOW SHOULD WE DO IT?

1.How should we do it depends on the problem
Solution: Check out the Hadith and ascertain how did Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did each action, how did he solve problems, how did he tackle procrastination, lack of confidence and lack of support systems and more (i.e. study the Sunnah on a continuous basis)
2.    What ever we do in Deen, we should check how did RasoolAllah (PBUH) with all his time and place and people constraints tackle this? How did he do it? What was the basis of his planning and execution? (i.e. study the Sunnah in detail)
LEARNING FROM PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S (PBUH) HIKMAH……HIS TIME MANAGEMENT
He had many roles:
Nabi
General
Judge
Ruler
Father
Husband
Slave to Allah

3,  Organize and follow through, and seek (Ham & huzn se panha), protection from sadness and depression)
The challenges are :Ajaz, kasal, bukhal, kahar rejaal (family and society pressure), maal ke mushkelaat (difficulties related to money and material goods).

THE GOAL: Develop yourself into: Al mumin Qawi (A strong/impregnable Momin).

How to do that?
Strengthen all aspects in ourselves
Education
Technology
Make Goals for strengthening us in:
Iradah (commitment
Ilm’ (Knowledge of Deen)
Imaan (faith)
Control Nafs (Purification of the Heart)
Resulting in:
Sabr, ibadah, istiqamah, consistent ibadah

An Example:

Ibn Jawzi wrote one thousand books.
He did not waste one minute. His pencil shavings were enough to make a small hill.

It s a pity those who waste time and sit and watch people in the bazaar (or watch people in TV) and discuss politics of the rise and fall of the political leaders, Each moment of the life of a momin is valuable.

What are some of the Time wasters?
*Telephone calls (15-20 min)
*Personal reasons, our personal problems our psychological make up to worry about trifles, desires, worries, boredom, moody, nafs
*Wasting other people’s time, we involve other people and may interrupt their time and waste their time or leave our obligations and cry about our desires.
*Lack of self-restraint
*New experiments flitting from one thing to another, looking into other peoples work and activities.
* Desire for Popularity (her dil aziz)
* Perfectionist (desire to be) spend more time than is needed on a project or action. Superfluous and excess use of time for one thing and other things fall by the way side
*Insisting on doing it my way:
*Thinking that I am indispensable
*Delay, procrastination, susti (laziness)
Wise people do not put things off for tomorrow and do not have “tomorrow “ in their dictionary
* Cultural limitations: time wasters: weddings are late; visiting is late, going to a funeral sitting and talking about wasteful topics

Time should be used usefully ….Ask yourself: How? How is this waiting time getting me closer to Jannah?

At a wedding or other get togethers after asking about the family, then do Dhikr quietly to fill the “gossip “ time.

LIST YOUR PRIORITIES
Which acts I must do, which are obligations which will be useful for me in my Akhirah
Aims and objectives….tie them to a time and deadlines.
Your 24-hour planning Guide
8 hrs: sleep, eat and meet
8 hrs:  ibadah
8hrs: work
Make a timetable for actions, acts to be done weekly, monthly, and yearly.
Evaluate your outcome
Planning action and evaluation

Sometimes when things are difficult and tough we drop our focus, we must ask for Allah’s help.

Make Dua for removing fikr (worries) and loan
(Huzn ki dua)

Don’t go for perfection, do your best but do not obsess.

Force yourself to do what is important prepare your mind (nose to the grind for tough subjects)
Leave the business of “look busy do nothing” i.e. spinning your wheels
Be moderate in action; do not swing from fast to famine.
What ever we are doing focus on it!
For some quality works Concentrate and Continue with unbroken attention (salaat)
Do not take peoples words very seriously do not obsess on others words
Do not look for hidden meanings, take words at face value.
Smile and overlook unpleasant words, do not repeat or obsess about them.
In Summary:
1.    Make a plan,
2.    Learn how our Prophet (PBUH) juggled all his roles in the same number of hours that we have.
3.    Act on your plan.

End lecture

Dua: May Allah’s help be only as far away as the dua on your lips.

How do you pass the time?

Incidentally, time also creates more wounds so it has something to do when it finishes the ones it's healing. Time is a window installer with rocks in his pockets.

At Home In The Universe is a landmark piece of thinking by Stuart Kauffman from the Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics at the University of Calgary, Canada.  Stuart through the application of Boolean networks, chaos theory, biology and biochemistry makes a profound hypothesis:  Life is a higher level of order achieved though a natural phase change.  In otherwords, the "observer" that Einstein kept out of his equations belongs there as every living thing exists as another state in the equation.  The observer is part of the cosmic system.

There were two things that I considered a crucial flaw in Stuarts work.  First, he talked about a three state system:

1. The chaotic state
2. The edge of chaotic state
3. The ordered state

but he always looked at it as a two state system with the edge of chaotic state balancing on the singularity of the phase change between chaos and order.  This slavishness to a Boolean networks keeps him from seeing another, what I consider, obvious possibility.  Stuart's light bulb metaphor should have trinary bulbs not binary bulbs--a trinary network.  Like a gas, liquid and solid--the three states of matter-- there is a chaotic, ordered and inert state with life residing in the ordered state between two phase transitions (I wonder about how chaos theory would explain the plasma state).  I don't know if his use of Boolean rules ever provided for this possibility.  It would have resolved many of the challenges he faced and documented in his book.

The second thing I wondered about is he regarded a tightly coupled system as chaotic and a loosely coupled system as ordered.  The logic seems backwards to me.  Is not a solid tightly coupled and orderly and a gaseous system loosely coupled and chaotic?  I will have to delve more deeply into the concepts of chaos theory before I agree.

As a final thought, we could take the six interrogatives and turn them into a new equation:

L * E = O * M * c ^ 2

Where L is Logic, E is Energy, O is Observer, M is Mass and c is the distance (d) light travels over time (t).

Logic would be defined as the rules that correctly describe the cosmic system.  Einstein referred to this logic as "The Old One".  My hypothesis is our understanding of these rules, the logic of the observer, is a state as well.

Pada bulan Desember 2006, National of Health Institute menghentikan 2 uji klinis sunat pada pria setelah kajian awal data menunjukkan bahwa prosedur ini secara dramatis menurunkan penyebaran HIV. Awal tahun 2007, detil studi itu dipublikasikan di dalam Lancet. Kedua uji teracak yang melibatkan 7.780 pria HIV negatif di Rakai, Uganda dan Kisimu, Kenya, para penelit menemukan bahwa secara medis sunat pada pria paling sedikit 51% lebih kecil mendapat HIV dibandingkan pria tanpa sunat. Editor Lancet mengatakan penemuan ini ‘sebuah era baru bagi pencegahan HIV’. Para ilmuwan tidak mengetahui apakah sunat pada pria juga memeberikan proteksi bagi teman wanitanya, sebuah studi tentang hipotesis ini akan muncul tahun 2008.

1. Uji kanker payudara metastatik

Para dokter bedah saat ini punya cara lebih cepat untuk menguji apakah kanker payudara telah menyebar, terima kasih atas disetujuinya uji molekular pertama oleh FDA untuk kanker payudara metastatik. Selama menjalani lumpektomi dan mastektomi, para dokter bedah secara tradisional menguji nodus limfa dekat payudara (nodus sentinel) untuk tanda-tanda metastasis. Jika jaringan diuji segera dan sel-sel tumor ditemukan, nodus limfa tambahan dikeluarkan, tapi biasanya, lebih lanjut dan pengujian mikroskopik ekstensif diperlukan untuk mengkonfirmasi kanker telah menyebar. Masalahnya adalah hasil laboratorium memerlukan waktu sampai 2 hari, yang membuat para wanita bingung sebelum menghadapi pembedahan yang kedua.

1. Vaksin manusia pertama untuk flu burung

Pada tahun 2007, ancaman pandemi flu burung menyebabkan kengerian. Penyakit mematikan ini telah membunuh 207 orang di seluruh dunia dan menginfeksi 336 sejak 2003. Sementar hanya sedikit kasus yang terlacak disebarkan dari manusia ke manusia, badan-badan kesehatan publik khawatir ini hanya soal waktu sebelum virus bermutasi menjadi bentuk yang lebih mudah disebarkan dan berdampak global. Dengan harapan menghapuskan skenario terjelek tadi, tahun 2007 FDA menyetujui vaksin manusia pertama untuk melawan flu burung. Dihasilkan dari strain virus manusia, vaksin diberikan menjadi 2 suntikan pada otot. Tapi jangan meminta dokter untuk ini. Vaksin tidak dijual secara komersil. Namun demikian, pemerintah menyimpan stok sebagai persiapan bila terjadi krisis nasional.

1. Bantuan untuk yang menjalani diet : Alli

Perlu bantuan menghilangkan berat akibat libur panjang ? Orang dewasa yang kelebihan berata badan saat ini mempunyai senjata untuk melawan lemak : Alli, obat penurun berat badan yang disetujui FDA pertama kalinya untuk dijual bebas. Alli (orlistat) bekerja dengan mirp enzim lipase tubuh yang memecah dan mencerna lemak dalam makanan. Satu dosis Alli sebelum makan akan memblok kemampuan tubuh menyerap lemak sekitar 30%. Namun pabrik pembuat Alli, GlaxoSmithKline, menegaskan bahwa obat ini bukan peluru magis dan merekomendasikan penggunaannya hanya sebagai tambahan bersama diet rendah lemak dan banyak latihan. Diet rendah lemak membantu mengurangi efek samping umum dan tidak menyenangkan dari Alli, seperti kram, diare, keluar gas dan kotoran berlemak.

1. Gen-gen diabetes baru

Punya orangtua dengan diabetes tipe 2 akan meningkatkan kemungkinan terjadinya penyakit, tapi mengapa beberapa anggota keluarga kena sedangkan yang lain tidak ? Jawabannya terletak di dalam kode genetik Anda dan tahun 2007 membawa para ilmuwan mendekatai pemecahannya. Tim peneliti dari Amerika Serikat dan Finlandia membuka 4 variasi kode genetik berkaitan dengan peningkatan risiko diabetes, yang diderita oleh sekitar 170 juta orang di seluruh dunia. Gabungan dengan 6 varian yang telah ditemukan para ilmuwan sebelumnya, total menjadi 10. Temuan ini akan membantu para ahli menunjukkan dengan tepat mereka yang berisiko terbesar terkena diabetes tipe 2.

1. Tidak ada lagi periode

Perempuan yang ingin menghindari gangguan menstruasi bulanannya dapat beralih sekarang pada Lybrel, obat kontrol kelahiran yang digunakan kontinyu yang pertama kali disetujui oleh FDA. Kontrasepsi baru ini mirip dengan pil kontrasepsi konvensional, tanpa plasebo. Secara khusus, pil-pil KB bulanan mengandung 4 sampai 7 pil plasebo, yang memicu menstruasi. Pada Lybrel, pil kosong digantikan dengan dosis hormon harian yang menghilangkan menstruasi keseluruhan. Kebanyakan perempuan akan mendapatkan beberapa pendarahan sedikit atau banyak, khususnya selama tahun pertama penggunaan.

1. Terbebas dari fibromialgia : Lyrica

Orang-orang yang menderita kelelahan kronik, nyeri otot dan kekakuan akibat fibromialgia akhirnya mendapat obat untuk menyembuhkannya. Tahun 2007 FDA telah menyetuji obat Lyrica (pregabalin) sebagai penanganan untuk fibromialgia. Berita yang ditunggu lama oleh 3-6 juta orang Amerika, kebanyakan para wanita, yang menderita kondisi kompleks dan membuat frustasi ini. Nyeri fibromialgia itu unik dan karenanya tidak merespon penghilang nyeri konvensional. Dalam penelitian, Lyrica tidak hanya menghilangkan nyeri fibromialgia, tapi juga secara bermakna meningkatkan kualitas hidup pasien. Lyrica telah mendapat persetujuan FDA untuk penanganan epilepsi, ketidaknyamanan akibat shingles dan retinopati atau nyeri saraf yang disebabkan oleh diabetes.

1. Uji tahap awal untuk kanker paru-paru

Kanker paru-paru adalah pembunuh utama akibat kanker di Amerika dan bertanggung jawab untuk lebih banyak kematian dibandingkan 3 jenis kanker yang umum yaitu kanker kolon, payudara dan prostat. Satu alasan kanker paru-paru sangat mematikan adalah pada saat tumor didiagnosis, biasanya hasil gejala-gelaj fisik seperti batuk darah, kanker seringkali telah berkembang dan sulit ditangani. Tapi, sebuah uji darah baru dapat meningkatkan kemungkinan mengetahui penyakit ini lebih awal, pada tahap yang lebih mudah diobat. Disebut LC Detect, pengujian mengukur kadar suatu protein dalam darah yang muncul pada semua tahap kanker, tapi jarang terlihat pada orang sehat. Sementara uji ini sendiri tidak dapat mengkonfirmasi suatu diagnosis kanker paru-paru, ia dapat digunakan bersamaan dengan uji sinar-X dada, CT scan dan teknologi pencitraan lain untuk menemukan tumor pada tahap-tahap awal.

1. Sumber baru sel punca

Tahun 2007 merupakan tahun penelitian sel punca. Tapi, satu kemajuan yang berkaitan dengan hal ini adalah penemuan sel punca dalam cairan ketuban. Para peneliti percaya bahwa sel-sel punca berasal dari cairan ketuban (amniotic fluid-derived ítem cells/AFS) mempunyai potensi meningkatkan kebanyakan, tapi tidak semua, dari 220 jenis sel khusus yang ditemukan di dalam tubuh. Hal ini menempatkan potensi penggunaan sel-sel AFS diantara sel punca dewasa dan embrionik.Yang terbaik dari semua, sel-sel AFS mudah diperoleh, sangat banyak di dalam cairan spesimen dari amniosentesis, suatu prosedur kehamilan umum yang mengembil cairan ketuban untuk pengetesan gangguan genetika. Salah satu sumber sel-sel AFS tersedia saat melahirkan, yaitu jaringan dari ibu yang baru melahirkan. Mengingat banyaknya kelahiran setiap tahun di seluruh dunia, sel-sel AFS lebih yakini untuk penelitian masa depan.

1. Manfaat vitamin

Para peneliti telah lama mengetahui bahwa vitamin ”sinar matahari” dapat meningkatkan kekuatan     tulang setelah tubuh menyerap kalsium. Tapi, beberapa studi yang baru dipublikasikan tahun 2007 menjelaskan bahwa vitamin ini memiliki manfaat lain : diet tinggi vitamin D mencegah diabetes, penyakit gusi dan multiple scerosis dan kemungkinan kanker. Dari beberapa temuan yang mengaitkan vitamin D dan kanker yang manfaatnya masih dipertanyakan, beritanya terhadap kanker kolon sangat menjanjikan. Dalam 1 uji skala besar, pria yang ikut Health Professionals Follow-Up Study dan wanita yang ikut Nurse’ Health Study dengan kadar vitamin D dalam darah tertinggi mempunyai hampir setengah kemungkinan mengalami kanker kolon dibandingkan mereka yang kadar vitamin D kurang dalam darah. Untuk mendapatkan manfaat vitamin D paling banyak, gunakan suplemen sebanyak 1.000 IU tiap hari.

Sumber : www.time.com

*...But as I am writing it now, I've modified it significantly so as to blend better with current thought, and also to incorporate recent concepts when relevant...*

As I explained in Playing the Victim, one of my co-workers was suffering from acute depression, and asked for advice. The solution I gave her was *obviously* to stop "playing the victim", and accept responsibility for her life - thus empowering herself and providing the psychological leverage needed to deal with the other issues, and begin progressing with life again. Although this solution is logically valid, I've become to realize more and more how much truth cannot be logically justified -so, for lack of better feelings, I should  "be more considerate of her feelings"- for lack of better phrasing - So this depression needs to be handled more gradually, using "gentler" methods :P

Due to the ever-constant chaos already eminent in her life, dealing with it logically would be impossible, because logic has already become irrelevant. I assured her that I would see what I could do in finding a [irony alert!] more *reasonable* solution, and fortunately, I think I've found one. Well, from the looks of things the *best* solution is a work-in-progress, but at the very least it's something to work off of. Of course the solution has nothing to do with drugs. I was medicated for several years in the past, and although I definitely had, and *have* the illnesses I was diagnosed with, I found I did far better without them. Come to think of it, the several different medications I was given did little more than sedate me. As far as I can tell, that was about it. Don't ask why, I have know clue :P

As I mentioned in that same post ("Playing the Victim") I was able to deal with my psychological issues best (by an overwhelming margin) without medication; if anything the medication just made things worse. So although I cannot speak for anyone else, From my person experiences I would definitely recommend against the ingestion of psychological drugs of any kind. Treatment is frequently contrasted with "Cure", being only a temporary/partial solution (i.e. to minimize symptoms)- Cures are permanent.

I think the fact that medication only minimizes symptoms is particularly interesting- after all, "Symptoms" are the proof that the body/mind/etc. is fighting against the disease/etc. If the symptoms disappear, that doesn't mean the person is better. In fact, if the disease/etc. still exist despite symptoms, that should be considered a bad thing, since the immune system is essentially being suppressed, allowing the disease freely roam, resulting in far worse [in this case] mental health. Well, that's just speculation on my part, but such an opinion is also implied in "I Never Promised you Roses". In the cases of depression, the "cure" might well be to deal with the problem as described in "Playing the Victim"- however, for now, a temporary solution [*treatment*] should suffice.

Among many-- more minor illnesses, I have Bipolar- previously known as "manic-depressive" disorder. The previous name is much more descriptive, but I guess they're trying to be more politically correct :P I regularly go through cycles- between depressive and more manic states; I maintain a more "normal" demeanor in-between. The upside and downside of Bipolar is the same: the cycles are predictable. That is- I only get depressed or manic "when I'm supposed to"- this makes cycles very predictable, and I can schedule accordingly, since it works like clockwork. But of course, no one likes getting depressed-- well, I'm sure plenty of people like getting manic though :P Then again, I don't ever get anxious (for certain reasons that I'll cover in later posts) so I don't have to deal with that part of the manic cycle...but for whatever its worth, that's the downside.

A while ago I realized that I could completely thwart the depression cycles (although the manic isn't so bad) by making a habit of automatically rejecting the logical validity of all negative thoughts. Although I did not realize it then, I had already been doing such a thing for a few years now. But I have also realized that, in accordance with balance, to disregard any emotion logically, I had to lose my emotions; this is because to logically get rid of emotions, one must believe any previous emotions to never have existed- this is necessary because emotions are the backbone of passion and desire- no decision can follow through without one's emotions backing it.

Getting back to habits though, as I detailed in [insert post], it's possible to force oneself to change the perception of anything you want, even if it is the exact opposite of the original and natural perception. In that experiment, as I was walking in the freezing cold (of last winter, to be exact) I decided to imagine the pain as being pleasure, and concentrated on the cold being a good thing, setting aside all "common sense" in favor of this perception. The result was a bit surprising- by concentrating the pain completely went away- it was very exciting seeing how perceptions can be manipulated this way.

The only thing lacking with this is that one must concentrate to experience the conversion. That's where habits come in. The purpose of habits is to keep of memory of thing that are done often, and usually require a degree of concentration. It is an adaptation that allows us to perform tasks better the more that we do it, because those things we've already concentrated on a lot are stored in our "cache", which frees up our "memory" to focus on the finer details, or other tasks. Although perhaps I'm a bit partial due to my hobbies, I think that the human brain is strikingly similar to the computer- or, even more likely, the other way around.

As a result of these habits, I have not felt depressed for a few years now.

*Note "felt"- "depression can mean more than one thing; "felt" meaning that I have not had any sad or depressing thoughts for a while. In retrospect BTW this is not a good thing- to accomplish this required "unbreacheable" psychological walls to be put up, resulting in an almost completely nonchalant perspective towards everything; the root meaning of depression ("to slow down"/ "fall" / "be undone" /etc) is still true even now- the depression just does not include the emotional components (i.e. sadness/melancholy/etc.)*

There was one brief period a while back (see Self-Awareness post ) but that only last half an hour. I was thrust into a terrible depression, due to not being able to prepare a decent resume (I had no work experience at the time). But, seeing that I needed it to get done, I forcibly moved myself forward, and was able to pull off what had appeared to be impossible, thus effectively ending that "episode". Recalling this incident has also played a key role in determining another, more "reasonable" solution to my coworker's problem.

All of "today" (*see top*), as expected, I experienced the usual wave of depression. Well, I say depressed, but (as explained above) the only symptom I still experience is a complete lack of motivation to do anything productive. On these days I might normally do nothing but watch anime- and in WCS even lack the motivation to play games. But even when I have such days, going to work is not a problem. Actually, on these days going to work is actually more of a vacation, anyway. Much of the reason for this is explained in Opportunity- that is, working each day with the awareness that half my pay is not in the salary, but in the opportunity to work. As I've discovered over time, the reason why working can be so fulfilling- is because of expectations- knowing that our coworkers and supervisors expect us to do the job well, and fullfilling those expectations, fills us with a wonderful sense of pride. The way I see it, this is "running away from ourselves"- here's why:

Who we are- that which we perceive ourselves to be, and also who and that which we perceive others to be, is dependent on memory, which also means that we can only see ourselves and other people as we were in the past. That is because we are contantly changing and growing, clarifying and building upon who we are every second, although the changes may not be noticed for years. Because of that, the person we perceive ourselves to be, is actually the past, and is not entirely accurate. The irony (and amusement) of this, is that we are able to change in the first place for this same reason. See, to move forward and grow, we must leave our past behind us, which I believe is a necessity due to balance. Interestingly enough, it is also a central theme for reincarnation. So "running away" from ourself in essence means "leaving behind the past" to move towards a better future. So perhaps a more optimistic phrasing would be "running to" (although that would totally kill the visual)

Since I am a restless individual, lacking in patience (although I have aquired a significant patience these past few months, in recognition of the need) I first dealt with my lack of motivation by being confrontational (i.e. a complete ass) with my roommates. Thinking about it now, that initial approach is strikingly similar to Linkin Park's song "Breaking the Habit". From what I can tell, this journey I'm going through has an extremely close likeness that the journey that Linkin Park depicts in their music, so I often listen to the words of their songs for guidance. As the contributers (of that song) in Linkin Park did though, I realized that there were better ways of dealing with it, that I needed to 'break the habit'.

So I started settling down, and played games with them instead. Here I realized another way of self-treating depression. Summing it all up, a person's psychological health is primarily dependent on one factor- pride. This is why it's important to not play the victim- depression is caused by insecurity. The opposite of insecurity is self-control. Taking control of a situation is an active way of alleviating insecurity (and thus depression), but it's likely that in most cases of depression, the person's state-of-mind renders them incapable of taking the initiative- thus a passive response is necessary. By playing games with my roommates that I knew I would win, and by following through with that expectation, I am able to alleviate my insecurity in a passive manner. That is, it required no initiative, because they already wanted to play- I only had to say "yes". Thus, one of the best ways to alleviate depression passively, without initiative, is to put oneself in an environment where we will succeed, and have the expectations of others to drive and support that success.

With both the resume incident and the days that I played games to relieve depression, the key factor is power. In one way or another, empowering oneself plays a vital role in allowing us to move on. To put in another way, the most efficient way to get over depression is to "pet your ego" by showing off your strengths to others. Pride is, after all, one of our greatest needs as humans, making this a reliable "quick fix" for depression

a) yet completely AlcoholEDU (which must be done by the 8th of September),
b) packed my dorm necessities (and I'm leaving in a week),
c) put all the pre-carpet boxes of stuff back in their appropriate locations (it's been three weeks),
d) visited friends at the local state university despite my month-old promises to do so,
e) studied for the infamously difficult math class that awaits me (my brain has been vacation-ing for so long that I fear that it has deteriorated to half its original size),
f) read the three required summer reading books,
g) decided whether I'm going to audition for chamber music, the symphony, or neither (the audition is on the 22nd),
h) contacted my old violin teacher, which I've been meaning to do for over a month now,
i) written letters to any of my out-of-state friends, despite my promises to keep in touch by post,
j) returned board games to a friend who left them at my house at the beginning of August (but now she's in Boston, so I guess I'll have to wait until Winter Break),
k) lost the pre-college fifteen pounds that are inevitably going to be followed by freshman fifteen, which will then be followed by the holiday weight-gain hell,
l) etc.

In other words, I've been procrastinating. Yay. But really, this is ridiculous. I mean, it's summer! What could I possibly be doing instead of doing any or all of the above? And if I'm already procrastinating now, then what am I going to do when school begins and I can no longer afford to spend so much time dilly-dallying my way through life?

•  The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
• "By His Bootstraps" by Robert A. Heinlein
• "A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
• "--All You Zombies--" by Robert A. Heinlein
• The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
• Time and Again by Jack Finney
• Timescape by Gregory Benford
• Replay by Ken Grimwood
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Now don't jump over to Google and start reading reviews of The Little Book - too many reviewers have given way too much away, and I'll work hard not to do that here.  This is a first novel for Selden Edwards and it took him thirty years to write.  I highly recommend buying the audio book edition narrated by Jeff Woodman to get the full affect of this dazzling yarn.  Listening will keep you from reading too fast and rushing through the story, and Woodman gives excellent voice and feelings to the characters.

The Little Book is about travel to Vienna in 1897, and if you are up on your history you might guess what famous historical personages make guest appearances.  After reading this novel I hunger to to read about Vienna and many of its famous citizens, and even research some of the books and people that I assume are products of Edwards imagination, but feel so real in the story.  I want to believe that Arnauld Esterhazy, the prep school history teacher, was at least based on someone real.

Like The Time Traveler's Wife, The Little Book is a love story, about a man, Wheeler from 1988 who falls for a 1897 lady, Weezie.  Unlike the Niffenegger book, Edwards style is less serious, if not zany, which leads to the major weakness of the novel.  The story is meant to be deadly serious and realistic, but sometimes the sparkling prose comes across too light, making it seem more like a fable or tall tale, giving the feeling that Edwards is highly amused as he manipulates us readers.

If I had written this book I would have had all the main characters narrate their stories in the first person, switching between each in a round robin style that conveyed the cyclic nature of time travel.

But I am nitpicking here.  Selden Edwards writes in a unique voice that is entertaining and full of fascinating details.  He constructs his characters so they go through numerous changes that surprised me the reader.  I especially loved the cross generational communications because Edwards really does make us feel that each generation has a different voice and mindset.  Jumping back to 1897 Vienna goes to explain how Freud changed our awareness of the inner landscape of our minds.  Characters before Freud need to be mentally different.

The Little Book is a little book and goes much too quickly.  I don't like getting trapped in long books, but this one could have been two, three or even four times the length and I think I'd still hate for it to end.  Edwards stays close to the core plot and characters, whereas he could have meandered though 1897 more, and when you come to the end, you might be like me and wished the story was longer, giving all the details between 1897 and 1988.

I love geometric plots, and this one is supposed to be a Möbius strip, but in the end, Edwards cuts the loop leaving the plot linear.  I would have jumbled scenes so the narrator juggled the plot, like Niffenegger played with her storyline.  Edwards focuses on building literary characters rather than designing literary plots, but I think time travel seems to beg for twisty elements.

I don't think The Little Book is a great novel, but it's very entertaining, and adds to the evolution of time travel stories.  I'm pretty sure if you loved Time and Again or The Time Traveler's Wife, you will probably love The Little Book.  Time travel novels tend to be short, so I'm wondering when someone will write the Lord of the Rings epic size time travel fantasy.  I know romantic novelists like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series are epic in size, but I haven't read it.  It appears less about time travel and more historical romance to me.  Not my cup of tea, although most good time travel stories involve romances.

There are plenty of science fiction series built around time travel, but they are mostly adventures.  The books in my list above play with time philosophically.   Books that explore changing the paths of events are less interesting now than books that use time travel to change the development of characters.  Few stories about time travel reflects the true inner impact that I think time traveling would have on a person.  I think Heinlein and Niffenegger went the furthest with this, but I expect new writers to go further.

Jim

Gym class for me means changing, listening to the "coach" (although he's really not a coach) mumble through whatever we're doing that day (the more he talks the more stupid he looks, yet he keeps on talking) and then i stand around with my freinds for the whole period.  sometimes when we play football we just walk around on the field.  i mean, you'd think we sound like losers, the gym class nerds, but we're not alone.

i'm a senior in high school so i've completed three years of (actual) gym class.  i can't honestly say i've sweet once.  i've come back in soaking wet, because according to the teacher, a little rain never hurt anybody.  i guess according to the gym teacher there's no such thing as chafing. 

not only do they make us go to gym class, but my school makes it a graduation requirment!   they try to pass of that excuse for a class as something useful, like i'm getting something out of it.  like learning the rules of football is so important that i can't graduate without it.

people laugh at the ones who fail gym.  "how can you fail gym?" obviously it istn' hard, based on what i've already written, but the truth is, your grade depends on your willingness to bring, and change into, gym clothes.  if you forget to bring them five times, you fail.  you have to take gym in the summer.  so first they tell us that gym is a graduation requirment, pretending that we get something usefull out of it, but then they say, really the only thing you have to do in gym is change into a pair of shorts.  seems a little hypicrytical to me.

the sad thing is, when budget cuts come around, the first programs to get cut are music, drama, art, bassically anything that requires creative thinking.  because running around a track is more important.  put the crayons away, turn your brain off, practice hard ss oyou can become a professionaly athlete and earn millions and millions of dollars that you don't deserve. (sure, you agree they shouldn't get paid so much, but you don't turn them off.  i told my dad i'd boycott professional sports because i don't agree with the amount they get paid, he said, "yeah me neither"  obviously not, mr. 'i have to watch my game every sunday and if you annoy me i'll ground you for a year,' yeah, you agree with me.)

Gym is hurtful to a lot of people too.  the fat ones.  the ones who have to take off they're baggy clothes to tell the whole world they're a few pounds over weight.  i guarentee gym is not helping them lose those pounds.  it's just making them feel bad about them, it lowers their self esteem. 

i just hate it so much that not only is gym such a joke, but it's a joke that's a graduation requirment, while creative thinking classes are thrown out.  they're implying that physical activity is more important than engaging your mind.  that if your over wieght, it's a problem you have to fix or you'll lose out.  "stop engaging your mind and rund around the track, because if you're fat, you're worthless."  and that is why i refuse to take any gym class, gym teacher, or athletic program seriously.

and i WON'T watch professional sports.

into something hoping to give it life
hoping it will give life

only to find
most of the time

it remains as dead
as
the words on this page.

I am finding it very hard to go backward in terms of teaching. I've covered the chalkboard, erased it, and written over it again. So much wasted time. Each class is in a different room so I have to rewrite the same thing. I certainly am not going to write a long paragraph on the board.

I may have to  resort to buying transparencies so that at least I can show some items- about $1.50 per transparency. I may use up my pay for the courses just in transparencies.

I need  technology for my classroom so that I can spend more time teaching and less time writing on the chalkboard.

I remembered how Jesus constantly used the statement, "This is not yet the hour..." Theological exegesis would have given us a definition of what he meant. But personal hermeneutics would tell me, Jesus took one day at a time in fulfilling God's will. There were the elements of time, effort and love in becoming the crucified, glorified jesus.

Just as we engage into something, time, effort and love must be present to craft out the best produce. A tree, stong, tall and beautiful, does not grow overnight. A traveler cannot travel far with a heavy backpack on him. Our dreams and our skills will be honed one day at a time. if it is the hour, then it is the hour. But the hour is not ours to tell. We take one day at a time.