David Custis Kimball - blog

"he and his girlfriend, Vickey Teters, see the animals like their kids and often take them for rides"

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:08:10 -0400

“he and his girlfriend, Vickey Teters, see the animals like their kids and often take them for...

"The system itself is corrupt, but worse, it’s utterly corrupting. That’s the true moral of this..."

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:06:00 -0400

“The system itself is corrupt, but worse, it’s utterly corrupting. That’s the true moral of...

Science, Design, Art, Mathematics, Physics, Psychophysics,...

Sat, 19 May 2012 17:33:43 -0400

Science, Design, Art, Mathematics, Physics, Psychophysics, BEC

The key is to design an experiment, where what is measured can be experienced, seen, detected and another day, repeated. Once this happens, as in 1995, BECs were proven, then laws can be formed. Does creating a BEC harm anyone? If so, can it be controlled to only defend someone?

And so we go from what we know to feeling safe about knowing it.

itsachen:

The essence of science explained in 63 seconds by Feynman.

"David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Hebron, said Jewish history begins in Hebron;..."

Sat, 19 May 2012 10:08:16 -0400

“David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Hebron, said Jewish history begins in Hebron;...

"Human milk contains nutrients, antibodies, and immunemodulating substances that are not present in..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 22:55:00 -0400

“Human milk contains nutrients, antibodies, and immunemodulating substances that are not...

"National Review’s Katrina Trinko has reported that sections of Warren’s 2006 book “All Your Worth:..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 22:19:00 -0400

“National Review’s Katrina Trinko has reported that sections of Warren’s 2006 book “All Your...

"Twelve years later, however, the Dystel of Acton & Dystel was busy promoting Obama’s new book,..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:37:00 -0400

“Twelve years later, however, the Dystel of Acton & Dystel was busy promoting Obama’s new...

History, Food, Real Estate, Humor That’s how it was in...

Fri, 18 May 2012 09:07:11 -0400

History, Food, Real Estate, Humor

That’s how it was in Eden, except for that bitchin’ snake in the apple tree. The other important thing to remember is to keep all edibles together, or conversely: don’t put toxic plants in with the edible group, esp. ‘just ‘cause it’s so pretty.’

ediblegardensla:

In the school gardens, making bouquets with african basil, bachelor buttons, sweet peas and more.

"Gezari and her colleagues estimated, based on the properties of the flare and the physical..."

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:32:27 -0400

“Gezari and her colleagues estimated, based on the properties of the flare and the physical...

Real Estate, Design, Hazard Mitigation One of the advantages of...

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:32:00 -0400

Real Estate, Design, Hazard Mitigation

One of the advantages of using space flexibly is that you must build a structurally secure movable system, here seen as a the Murphy bed on one side and the dishes and storage on the Kitchen side. There are many variants of this concept; it’s valid and would be a good retrofit for a place where wood or smooth floors are in place or where Epicore ribbed ceilings are parallel to the sliding vector, so the structure could be hung, making it not as important to keep the floor materials flat. I know there’s only hangers, but a rolling design could be made without compromising the beam strength.

"Robert Horvitz, a biologist who worked out the molecular details of how cells kill themselves,..."

Wed, 16 May 2012 17:47:11 -0400

“Robert Horvitz, a biologist who worked out the molecular details of how cells kill...

"We were expecting to find modulation between the different words- and perhaps a heightened reaction..."

Sun, 13 May 2012 14:55:00 -0400

“We were expecting to find modulation between the different words- and perhaps a heightened...

Medicine, Uncommonsense, Psychophysics I couldn’t verify...

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:39:00 -0400

Medicine, Uncommonsense, Psychophysics

I couldn’t verify that these are based on studies or is it uncommonsense working its way to differential Common Sense? I was particularly intrigued with the 2. Overreacting. Do you think that’s overreacting? I remain calm and resolute not to get to excited about it, or about anything. Is that like too much Yin/Yang all at once, but the opposite of sex, in that it has a negative feeling, like a parking ticket, jury summons, etc.?

scinerds:

expose-the-light:

Top 10 Biggest Brain Damaging Habits

1. No Breakfast

People who do not take breakfast are going to have a lower blood sugar level.This leads to an insufficient supply of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Overreacting

It causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. Smoking

It causes multiple brain shrinkage and may lead to Alzheimer disease.

4. High Sugar consumption

Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development.

5. Air Pollution

The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation

Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain

7. Head covered while sleeping

Sleeping with the head covered, increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decrease concentration of oxygen that may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness

Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain as well as damage the brain.

9. Talking Rarely

Intellectual conversations will promote the efficiency of the brain.

10. Lacking in stimulating thoughts

Thinking is the best way to train our brain, lacking in brain stimulation thoughts may cause brain shrinkage.

"Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official national holiday in the early 1900s to..."

Sat, 12 May 2012 17:41:08 -0400

“Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official national holiday in the early 1900s...

Environment, Science, Technology, History This appears to be a...

Sat, 12 May 2012 11:24:14 -0400

Environment, Science, Technology, History

This appears to be a giant sea slug (GSS), stretched out about one foot thick by about 6 feet in diameter, but able to ungulate into various tube-like configurations and inflate interior ‘balloon’ like efflurescent cavities.

It would appear to be a male, attracted to the lights of the camera inspecting the long pipe from the surface. The lights induced the GSS to show its lighting ability and proceeded in a kind of mating ritual and dance, but the dimming of the lights in the last sequence, after GSS displayed his ‘junk’, including at least a 2 foot long penis, that was glowing, as well as the pods attached in a kind of scrotal area, caused the GSS to sink from the frame, as if rejected.

I’d like to play Sinead O’Connor’s ‘nothing Compares 2 U’, written by Prince, which would possibly indicate that these GSS’s are hermaphroditic, slightly more complicated than monosexual, or as confused as most humans are.

This reminds me of a story in the mid 1980’s my wife and I went to Miami Beach, and out on the southern most beach, were the water to the East was about 3 to 4 feet deep going out almost a mile, near to shore a few 8 year old kids were tossing this big handful of a caramel brown mass out into the water, about a good 10 foot toss. They were all laughing and splashing…. when I noticed that this Blob would swim back to them, rather randomly and they would toss it out again. This Sea Slug was playing Catch-Fetch with himself as both the Catchee and the Fetchee. I waded into the water to get a closer look, and one of the kids handed me ‘Blob’; I turned him over, but couldn’t see any distinguishing features. I think I tossed him, after getting permission from the kids, and they were all pretty relaxed about it. Amazing…

Environment, Science, Psychophysics Bravo! A great...

Sat, 12 May 2012 09:38:52 -0400

Environment, Science, Psychophysics

Bravo! A great read.

marineknowledge:

MY WORK EXPERIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

On the plane to South Africa I was excited but apprehensive of the adventure I knew was to come. I had no idea what to expect of the two weeks I was spending there.  Was I furthering my scientific knowledge and making myself part of a cutting edge research program, or was I hurtling towards a shark infested, watery death.

In February 2011 I had contacted a personal hero of mine, Michael Rutzen, an ex-fisherman who lives and works in the tiny South African town of Gansbaai: the Great White Shark capital of the world. I had only ever met Mike through late night surfing the Discovery channel.  He is world famous for being one of the few people alive who free dive with Great White Sharks.  He owns one of the most successful shark diving companies in the world.  Its success, no one will dispute, relies on his fame and expertise. The reason I contacted Mike was because he uses the money made from his business to fund research projects on the sharks. Having a keen interest in the natural world and hoping to study marine biology in future I was eager to see whether it would be possible to shadow someone, as work experience for a short period during the summer.

My reply came quickly from a woman named Sara Andreotti, a PHD student at Stellenbosch University studying genetics and population dynamics of Great White Sharks. Mike had forwarded her my email and she said that she’d be happy to take me on. She works alongside Mike, taking advantage of his remarkable local knowledge and experience. She told me that I’d be helping her with her PHD project by taking photographs of the dorsal fins of sharks for photo-identification.  Each shark’s dorsal fin is unique, like a fingerprint.

My photos would be a small part in her original research project - identifying individual sharks and logging their movements over several years.

On my first day in South Africa I was ken to get out on the water. But Sara wanted me to relax and get used to a new place.  Besides the weather was bad so we couldn’t. She took me shopping to Hermanus, the closest town, for a few boat essentials like gum boots and a good jacket. In the car she quizzed me on what I already knew of sharks and I told her all that my paralysing nerves and limited knowledge would allow. She seemed satisfied with my answers and reassured me. She said that she wanted to teach me something and would be disappointed if I already knew everything.  She was kind, calm, fiercely intelligent and I was instantly an admirer. She explained to me the importance of her work.  Very little is known about the great White Shark; how long it lives, where it mates and how, whether it migrates,  and if so alone, or moves in groups or pairs.  There are many beliefs, spread by poor research on the internet and TV – that  sharks are solitary and can live for 60 years and that they do not migrate (to name a few).   The purpose of Sara’s project is to find out the truth about how Great White Sharks actually live.

In 2002 scientists analysed the mitochondria DNA of two groups of Great Whites, one from Sydney and one from False bay, South Africa to find out whether they ever mixed.

Mitochondria DNA is very conservative and mutates much more rarely than nuclear DNA. This means that if one group’s DNA is different from the other group – they do not meet and have not met for generations. The study showed that the Mitochondria DNA of the groups was sufficiently different to prove that sharks did not mate between the two groups. This suggested that sharks do not migrate.  Or at least that the females from one group did not mate with the males of the other.

However, in 2005 another study took place. This study satellite-tagged thirty five great white sharks in the Gansbaai area of South Africa.  Contrary to the findings of the previous study a female shark was found to travel all the way to Australia, and back.

Sara told me that this was one of the many mysteries she plans to solve in the making of her PHD. I was hooked and we hadn’t even reached the shops yet.

I was picked up at six every morning in a big black jeep that belonged to Jan, Sara’s boyfriend, who also worked at SDU.  Although he was young he was completely bald and had a long ginger beard. He always seemed to have a soggy looking, stale cigarette lolling, unlit and unhappy from his lips. He would joke with me, complaining about the traffic and pretending to mouth off at non-existent drivers.  Gansbaai was deserted at the busiest of times.  It was in every way a shark town.

The research boat was smaller than the diving boat and only Sara (Biologist), Mike (local expert), Tsunda (skipper)  and I (overenthusiastic apprentice,) would go aboard.  We were on the boat for two reasons. The first, to get photo IDs of as many sharks as possible. If they’re already in the data base, we can enter the GPS of where we found them and if not, if they’re new to us, we can add a new shark to the database.   The second task was to get a DNA sample to add to the profile of each individual shark.

Once on the boat, what we did was simple. We’d “chum” the water (throw in a putrid concoction of rotting fish guts and sea water) and wait for the sharks. When they came we tried to take a good clear picture of their dorsal fin. Once we had the photo ID we collected the DNA of the animal. There’s a huge hurry as either Sara or I shout that we have the ID and Mike grabs a long pole with a screw at the end, a crude but efficient tool for sample collection. With the pole he jabs at the water, piercing the animal’s side and retrieving small pieces of tissue that are put in alcohol until they are analysed.

Suddenly Mike looks at one of the sharks, a large female, gliding slowly and calculatingly through the water. “She’s a player,” he says calmly. A player is what Mike calls a shark that demonstrates extreme curiosity and caution. Players are the type of shark with which Mike dives.  He has studied their behaviour and developed ways of swimming safely in their midst.  The shark swims up to the surface and tilts on its side, with one side of its face and an eye out of the water. “She’s interested in the shadow we’re making on the water, she’s checking us out.” Mike says.

“They’re incredibly intelligent animals,” he explains  “they have ‘regional endothermy’ which means they can heat their brains eight to fifteen degrees higher than the temperature of the water.” Tuna fish can do a very similar thing and scientists interpret this as evidence that they have superior neurological power compared to other bony-fish.  Somehow this has been overlooked for the Great White and they’re still classified as stupid.

In an apparently casual and half hearted attempt to go for the bait, the shark slowly lifts the top of its nose out of the water. For the first time I see clearly the Ampullae of Lorenzine. These are tiny pits on the tip of the nose used to sense electromagnetic movements in the water. If you’re swimming next to them they can sense every electrical impulse in your body. Mike moves the bait out of the way of the shark and leans forward quickly trying to tickle the top of the nose but he isn’t quick enough. The shark is already underwater. “The idea is to tickle the nose not the teeth,” he says with a little laugh.  If you tickle the top of a shark’s nose effectively it creates a sensory overload and the brain secretes serotonin. This puts  the shark into a state known as tonic immobility, where they are momentarily still, until contact is lost and then swim away happily and unharmed. Scientists have used this method on smaller sharks to examine them and even operate on them.  It’s like casting a momentary anaesthetic spell on them but Mike is just playing.

Back at the office all the data is logged in Sara’s computer. The filing system is meticulous and fool proof. Making a mistake is punishable by death.  Before Sara logs a new shark in the data base, she will cross check its unique fin with every other shark in the data base (all 350 of them) to make sure it’s not just a “re-sight” her term for one she’s seen before.  One picture showed a fin with a huge chunk bitten out of it. On careful matching the serrated edge of the remaining fin matched one she had photographed last year. So we knew this one was the same shark, but had been in the wars.

On one of the days I went out on the boat with just Mike and some photographers. We were trying to see if we could make a shark breach, or jump fully out of the water the way they do while hunting seals.  We towed a life size seal replica behind us, trained our cameras on it and waited. I stood next to Mike and had a chance to talk to him. He was gruff, unpredictable, stern most of the time.  But sometimes he would break out into raucus laughter. He said the more people he meets, the more he likes sharks. I didn’t take it personally.

Yes, sharks can be dangerous like lions, tigers, hippos and dogs but I understand why he loves them.

Today, it’s thought there are less than 1000 Great White Sharks left in the world,. Mike is sure the figure is closer to 600 and fears they have only another forty years on our planet. I was shocked. These magnificent animals have been with us for sixteen million years, and now with only forty left to go, we know almost nothing about them.

Sharks are killed every day. The fins and jaw of a great white shark can fetch over £100,000 on the black market. The future of these beautiful animals is bleak. The research is expensive but as Mike says, ‘money can always be found, what we really need is a little more time with the animals on earth.”

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) "Lookin' down the barrel"

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:10:02 -0400

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) "Lookin' down the barrel": Science, Physics, Environment, Humor If the...

"Auntie Zeituni, I have a tip for you, one author to another. Always seek out your core audience. The..."

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:27:08 -0400

“Auntie Zeituni, I have a tip for you, one author to another. Always seek out your core...

"1- Enter the Cell: One unique feature of a plant cell is the chloroplast, the engine of..."

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:18:05 -0400

“1- Enter the Cell: One unique feature of a plant cell is the chloroplast, the engine of...

Parenting, Medicine, Humor, History This video featuring Dr....

Thu, 10 May 2012 13:30:00 -0400

Parenting, Medicine, Humor, History

This video featuring Dr. Sears’ ‘Attachment Parenting’ might just be tipping the scale in reaction to the nanny and formula mindset for many women who see a career as their real choice; the kid is the obligatory ‘issue’ for the extension of their very well feed ego, self worth and all that rot.

An interesting interview with the May 12, 2012 Time mag. cover breastfeeding mom and son, Jamie Lynne Grumet.

Regarding the breastfeeding: well that’s great and according to my dad, one of the co-founding advisors to the LaLeche League and 4th recipient of ‘The Founders’ Award’, their highest honor, breastfeeding is ok until the toddler brings home a friend and offers his mother as a snack. The maximum for LaLeche mothers is around 5.

Please review my dad’s book on Amazon, ‘Parents in Positive Control’, published by me, with some strong editing. He was a practicing Pediatrician and Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern Medical School. He also founded in 1963 Easy-K Foundation, Inc. a rural residential facility for challenged children and adults.

Sleeping with the infant: we didn’t do it. We had a King sized bed and thought that we might roll over or somehow would harm the baby and that worry being real, we opted for the bassinet near the bed for the first 4 months or so, and then the crib went into her own room. The secret to the success was reading to her before bed and then the moment that she began crying in the middle of the night, around 1 am, I as dad would get up, change the diaper, and happily carry her and later him (4 years later) into mom, who would wake up and happily relieve her breasts of their magic nourishment, anti-earache (both never got them) medicine, and advanced neurological medicine which advanced their early walking 12 mo. for her and 10 mo. for him, early speech; 6 mo. for both.

I want to stress the magic it was for me to get up, spend 5 minutes with my infant, bonding and securing her and his safety and my love, and then sharing that love with the greatest nourishment center, ever. For a dad, it is the best, and as a husband I it ranks up there. So the total time of sleep missed was about 25 minutes per night, 10 for me and about 15 for mom, including taking her back to her crib, where she was safe, secure and could remember over and over how loved and well nourished she and he were.

Our daughter breastfed for 2.5 years and son lasted 1 year because he was a little nippy. Our daughter asked if mom had any apple juice in there. And that was it: ‘Nope, it’s in the fridge’, or as she would say ‘frigibidator’. Oh, and getting up at night only lasted until about 9 mos. When they start walking, it was an easy transition to a bed. We lived on the second floor, and there were accordian gates at the top of the stairs and into the living room. We had oak wood stairs, and tile and rugs downstairs.

In Florida, it was too hot keeping a baby strapped to you; we tried it and it worked for a while in the Winter, but the pool was great; learned ‘endothermic’ at a young age, using Arm&Hammer Baking Soda, not the commercial brand, to buffer the water. But the Chlorine and CaCl2 was only ‘dad’s’ domain. They were ‘tools’, like the stove, oven, tablesaw, drills, hammers, heater, and my privates. She asked at 1-1/2 as I was coming out of the shower, but forgot a towel so was going for the nearest one; she was going for me full steam… until I said ‘No’. She stopped, looked up at me and asked with a straight face, ‘Tool?’ A ‘Eureka’ moment for both of us, to be sure, Archimedes.

So ‘Attachment Parenting’ has a lot of risks. The doctor Sears and his wife both had traumatic early childhoods, so they may be overcompensating. One of my dad’s main arguments for his ‘environmentation’ was to introduce independence to the infant without trauma, but without too much intimacy. The child grows up to think for him/herself and his studies, yet to be published, but analyzed by Northwestern Medical School’s computers showed that fewer accidents, more success in later years were generally achieved with breastfeeding, playpens and gated rooms for at least part of the day. It was a bit Victorian, as my dad was born in 1909, and Skinnerian, although Dr. Skinner wrote a letter correcting my dad’s use of his ideas.

Both our parents and we as parents were in our late 30’s to 40’s when we faced infants head on.

Both my wife and I came from 1st and only married parents. I almost died having untied myself from the ‘bear cage’ and rolled down the stairs, saved by a half Cherokee woman, who happened to be a trusted member of our extended family for about 18 years; my mom’s mom also lived with us; my dad made housecalls well into the 1970’s and into his late 60’s. His office was add and became part of our home, an old farmhouse adjacent the forest preserve in Glenview, IL, so live-in was more of a necessity than a luxury. We also boarded horses, I milked a cow and sold raw milk for a couple of years, and I did all the lawn care as well.

Even formulas are better today than with my children; perhaps lawsuits, like the one I participated in against a hospital where they allowed infant formula to contain over 20,000 bacteria per milliter, helped correct the stupid arrogance. I’ve heard there’s a German powdered formula that’s cheaper and better than anything USA makes. But its expensive and if the mother has a good diet, plenty of calcium, etc., breastfeeding is so far superior, I’m sorry I mentioned formula.

Also mistakes happen; but even the smallest cruelty if it becomes a habit, is devastating to the early infant. It is those first 3 years where personality, and attitude develop; there’s a reason you remember little about it; you are forming pathways and triggers and hopes of how to remember. Dashing the spirit of anyone, especially an infant cannot be tolerated as a habit; it must be confronted, corrected or the source removed. The adage ‘Familiarity breeds contempt’ can be true if you let something wear you down. ‘Charity begins at home’ is another; so be kind to yourself. If you enjoy ‘attachment’ attach. If you need a break, use something else like a playpen, gated room for part of the day, and even like my wife had when she was alone, tape recordings lasting several hours on a reel to reel machine that would tell stories and give instructions between and just before it was over, even to shut it off. It worked, she didn’t feel abandoned, but amused.

And if my dad could see the May 21, 2012 Time magazine cover, he would be glad. Like the ‘Breast Pocket Calendar’ from ‘Fast Buck Freddy’s’ , a different breast for each month, when I gave it to him for his birthday, he smiled and went through the months giving me the Latin names for the type of breast pictured. Impressive.