November 29, 2013

Water Works

   As we traverse the galaxy investing in change, we find that we have to leave some things behind.  Memories have a weigh of shifting into what we wish to remember instead of total recall.  As we move further from the point of delusion, we hope to find happiness, joy and love.  The baggage that we carry brings fear and loathing and we must slip out of that mindset completely before we tarry forth.

   Doc enjoyed writing the water series and will be developing a few more essays on mechanics and properties of structured water.  The idea of water being the controlling influence on earth makes sense from a chemistry perspective - there are more molecules of water interacting with each other than any other substance, by far.  It seems that when we allow our water to go into auto-pilot, it sets our levels of metabolism and we feel well to act rather than just to be.

   There are patterns that flow between order and chaos that allow development of new pathways and journeys.  Letting go of the illusion means withdrawing from attachments - people attach themselves to their personal lifestyle and fall into routine and patterns that become their definition of us.  Large groups of people bring common tension.  Anger directed at anything is a focus of energy that deflects from the sources of unity and keeps chaos frothy.  Unity is resonance - coming together at a common wavelength for meaningful work.

   What is work.  It is not the chains of society granting you fulfillment.  It is not just the day to day routine of paying your way under somebody else's standards.  It is not the exchange of time for money.  It is the calling that brings you here to accomplish a task over many lifetimes - learning how to evolve into the flow of light.  The antenna of darkness is being lifted - nothing is sacred.  Cannite's Krue started as a D&D cadre of RPGers - the new game starts for real, now, as the illusion dematerializes.  What used to pay the way will no longer work - there are no meaningful vertical hierarchies.

   Equity and fairness starts with the light of love - the sweeping away of current systems should bring rejoice, not fear.  Let the old media go - tap into your cognition and allow your water to coexist with other waters of the world.  Every time we honor water, with love and intention, things get better.  Be here, now.  Be grateful and be accepting of the water : always carry the weigh and evaluate the situation before actions take you into the flow.  Check size, scope and scale; then trust your judgment. Water provides your intuition.

   Namaste' ...  doc

November 28, 2013

A Brief Prayer of Thanks

   Blessings to everyone everywhere : enjoy today in peace and joy, with cranberry sauce for all.  Calm your tensions, let things go.  This is a day to appreciate the spectacle of solar-comet activity, to make it memorable.  Things are changing fast and embracing change leaves us better off than resisting.  
   As things appear to spin howdt of control : know deep that the changes are for the best and we will individually benefit by releasing our attachment to those things - staying in the now, to appreciate whatever happens.  Allow it all to flow, with gratitude.  We share holiday blessings whirledwide.  
   We are all one and we are each one.  I appreciate being able to enlighten and share resonance with you.  

Namaste' ... doc

November 26, 2013

Brain Myst

seem to be funkified
soul emissions
reflected back
symmetrically
cancel waves howdt

lemme howdt  cc 2013

Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Mean Ratio


   A bit more than a half-hour - very good information.

November 25, 2013

Sports as a Learning Tool

   Every so often, I find myself intrigued again by professional sports.  It is not like hero worship - it's just the one place where the focus on getting better is statistically supported by objective evidence that is measured over the duration of a season.  Baseball with 162 games per year takes the cake - the 100+ year history makes the records significant over a large period - very small standard deviation in individual performance.  Basketball with 81 games also has enough juice for good prediction.  Football and 16 games is not enough - thus the best teams often don't get anywhere near the Super Bowl in a given season.  Each comes down to one game at the end - just different amounts of stuffing in the sausage.

  For the past few years, I have not watched many games.  Yet i can read a box score and tell the flow of any game.  The statistics belie the story - a short summary and some of the derivative accounts and doc is a happy camper.  I can also have a bit o bragging rights - Portland Trailbazers have 10 in a row.  Mebbe they can even make the playoffs.  I remember when they never missed the playoffs - the days of way back when.


   I do enjoy fake sports - fantasy version.  Kudos to Yahoo! for free access with performance statistics - it is competition by reading stats.  The object is to collect trophies - win, place and show - i am about 75%.  It's becomes a matter of using the cues and knowing when outliers are relevant.  Most people couldn't even tell you what an outlier is, as they reject information that doesn't support their conclusions.  Thus logic misleads them.  Your basis set must be defined in truth - even if others do not believe your truth - the statistics are measurements that speak for themselves.  Over time, they accumulate.  You have to be able to see patterns in the manner of growth, and hence need to have many games to look over.

  This philosophy can be applied to real life learning experience.  When you do things for the first time, you find that there are two regular possibilities - it works or it doesn't work for you.  If it works, let's call it charmed, when it doesn't work, let's call it strange.  Charmed and Strange are names of quarks in physics, most because physicists are strange and wish they were charmed.  These tend to be dual sides of the same coin - the next time you repeat the task, you get the opposite flow.  This is duality in action - a yin to go with a yang.  The two together bring the full experience, but you can only observe one side at a time.

  Time allows changes that provide different options in similar circumstance.  We get more chances to reenforce good decisions and move on from bad ones.  Given objective and subjective logic, plus the experience of familiarity - we eventually get good at making decisions in areas that we pay attention to.  If we are out of practice, it takes awhile to rekindle our observance, but we get back there.  It is like bowling or bicycling - do it again and it comes back quick.  But you have to have spent the initial time learning and learning well.

  There is a big difference between hitting a curveball and choosing a career.  The batter has put in 18 years or more facing all sorts of pitching to get his stoke down and seeing the ball in flight.  And still the ultimate action with each swing is random.  Imagine if we could accept scores in the school of life that were based on true and random experience; instead of a contrived 90% for an A, 80% for a B, etc. rigidity.  Real learning doesn't need a score, except to see that we can repeat what is known correctly as we progress forward (or backward or sideways as life is not progressional, even though it seems directional).

  Nuff said for today - remember, cooperative competition - and a party of thanks afterwards.

  Namaste' ... doc

November 24, 2013

On the Nature of Water: viii) Creating Solutions

   Dissolving. Water is as water does. Water is wet – it likes water. Materials dissolve in water up to the limit of their solubility. Ionic compounds are called acids. bases and salts. Acids and bases are generally completely soluble in water. Some salts dissolve in water readily, other salts have a very limited solubility. The Ksp is the solubility product constant – which is defined mathematically as a means of organizing solution effects.

    The solution is made up of a solute that is dissolved in a solvent. A known amount of solute is added to a fixed volume of water (or other solvent) to provide a concentration value in grams per liter. Depending on the identity of the chemical species involved – the grams can be converted to moles and the basis set configured to a one to one molecular basis. Moles are grams per formula weight. Let's prepare a liter of one Molar solution of sodium hydroxide as an example. 
 
    First things we do is collect our equipment that we will need in the lab. We will need several types of glass containers – a large beaker for mixing, a volumetric flask for holding exactly one liter – one thousand milliliters, a final container. We might ask ourselves if we really need a whole liter of caustic solution and consider making less solution. We will need a glass stirring rod, a small funnel, a dropper and must have rubber gloves and safety glasses. A box of baking soda will serve as spill protection and running cold water should be available on demand. The reagent water for the solution is a gallon of bottled distilled water. We will need a balance to weigh the sodium hydroxide – NaOH. The form that we choose is called red devil lye and is an off-the-shelf drain cleaner at the local farm cooperative. Lye will cause caustic burns – handle with care.

    The formula weight of NaOH can be looked up quickly using the periodic table. Sodium weighs 23, oxygen weighs 16 and the hydrogen weighs one – our three atoms together weigh 40 atomic mass units. Thus one mole of sodium hydroxide contains 40 grams and when added to a liter of water makes a 1M solution. Sodium hydroxide is a flaked powder – a mask might be appropriate if you have NaOH in your breathing space. The solution we are preparing here is a strong base – it is similar to strong acids, but works at the opposite end of the pH scale. Please handle with caution and store in a safe location away from children and pets (I know, I was a child once!)

    Turn on your electronic balance or isolate your beam scale. Glove and mask up and use a scupula or a tablespoon to handle the NaOH. Place the beaker (400 ml or larger) onto the balance and get an accurate weight in grams. This is your tare value – the weight of the empty container. Add 40 grams to this value – or set the beam to tare plus 40 and weigh the sodium hydroxide directly into the beaker. NaOH ends to be hygroscopic and will pick up moisture from the air, so work with focus when handling. Cap the container and set aside – add distilled water carefully to the white powder in he beaker and stir with the glass rod to dissolve. 
 
    The amount of water used to dissolve the solid here should be about 200 ml – the solid will go into solution readily – be cautious about any splashing. After the material is dissolved – pour the solution through the funnel into the one liter volumetric flash. This container is designed to make very exact solutions and should not be used as a storage vessel. The glass is carefully calibrated to hold a certain volume at a given temperature – the variance is not germane to the scale hat we are working with here. This is a 'to contain' device – volumetric glassware also comes in 'to deliver' forms, like burets and pipettes. Chemists like their glass toys – which tend to be fragile, take good care.

    Take some of the distilled water and rinse the beaker that held the sodium hydroxide and add this rinse to the volumetric flask. For good quantitative work, we might wish to use more rinses – once the rinsing is done – distilled water can be added to the vol flask up to the line on the neck. Use the dropper to add water as you get close – the accuracy and precision of future tests may depend on your precise methods of making a proper solution. 
 
    When mixing up solutions of acids, it is generally good protocol to add the solute to the solvent. Water tends to spit when added to concentrated acids – the more you think you know about chemistry – the less you end to use your safety gear – this is a mistake. Have confidence in your ability and always use your safety gear – it is there to protect you if you need it – just don't plan to need it.

    Once the volumetric flask is full – put in the stopper and mix by inversion. The entire solution should be uniformly dissolved, then transferred to the storage container, again with the assistance of the funnel. Realize that the 1M NaOH solution is caustic – any spill should be neutralized with acid or sodium bicarbonate. The solution should be handled with care and neutralized with acid before discarding (unless you wish to unplug your drain – which is why you generally purchase this stuff.)

    All ionic solutions of acids, bases and salts can be prepared in this fashion. If you are stocking a qualitative lab with test solutions, you will need small amounts of a variety of chemicals on a one molar basis. To make the solution, you need to be able to calculate the number of grams per mole of the chemical involved and have the appropriate glass on hand to make the dilution. Materials that are not soluble in water will not make solutions. Here are some ways of altering the solubility, using heat or other appropriate reagents that will promote the desired chemistry.

    For instance – the element iodine is not terribly soluble in water. However, tincture of iodine is prepared by adding potassium iodide to the water – creating the soluble molecular form KI3 . This material – available as Lugol's solution is very useful for purifying drinking water and disinfecting small abrasions. The KI3 dissociates to K+ and I3- ions – which now can dissolve the non-polar iodine in the polar solvent water.  Doc will have 2% Lugol's Iodine available for sale after the new year.

    Ah, the little tricks of the trade. You don't find too many older chemists these days, because the toxicity of so many chemicals was revealed after the fact of common use – the regular folk hardly notice chemistry in action since cars made of plastic and fiberglass don't rust. The chemistry of solutions is a colorful field – the measurement of amounts is known as quantitative analysis. This field relies on breaking substances down to their component parts and telling us what is there.  

Namaste' ...  doc

November 23, 2013

A Hermit's Mode of Day-to-Day

   Live simple, eat well.  Start your day with a glass of water - structured water if available.  Groundwater from wells is much better than municipal water as an opening source - structuring the water is a process treatment.  The Schauberger method involves moving the water in swirling spirals - there are many different structurers and we are learning more about it daily.
   I usually get up, shower and have a large hot beverage - earl grey tea or coffee.  I will acquire data and play chess, then take period of time for reflection.  Some days, I will reflect with blogger open and set a post in motion, other days i will write in my daily journal  The priority was on writing through the summer - right now I am in reflection mode and focusing on mechanisms that are different in scope and scale from what we handle now.
   When I come up for air, it is breakfast time.  Preferred choices are yogurt, granola, bananas and blackberries or eggs, in omelet form with cheese, veggies of some sort and a slice of Dave's seed bread toast.  Morning backgammon commences while listening to music and discussing the bizarrity of the past day.
   Then comes deep thought time - where work gets accomplishes on ether theory or practice.  Doc is currently developing analytical capability for the production of hemp oil.  Colorado legalized the substance, while the Feds didn't quite get the message.  In the words of Tull : I hope you don't mind if we sit this one out.  There is no question that marijuana is major medicine and threatens the big pharma monopoly on pumping you full of drugs.  
   For doc - smoking pot is mind clearing, not a problem unless manual dexterity is required.  Work leads to afternoon backgammon and 4:20.  I use all break times to dive into the 5D-GFP chat room - because i enjoy the music and the love of family that i don't have as a hermit at home.  A late day outdoor earthing session gets my feet planted on firm ground.
   Evening brings dinner - homemade crockpot vegetable soup - using only the finest organic ingredients and structured water ; and the Daily Colbert as we laugh at the farce that has become the news.  A documentary or a movie follows and off to bed - usually by 9:00.  Franklin supposedly talks about early to bed and early to rise making a man healthy, wealthy and wise.  I wonder if wealthy can be removed from the monetary setting and placed more into spiritual context.
   No medications, no pharma, only clean herbs and supplements.  In cooking, my four bases are tumeric, paprika, basil and oregano.  Oil is either coconut or extra-virgin olive oil.  Onions and garlic are major ingredients of nearly everything.  I find it amazing that coffee, wine, chocolate and nuts are all proven good snacks.  They were my habits for years, even before i knew of the medical benefit.
  Be High on Life , Enjoy   Namaste'  ...  doc

November 22, 2013

On the Nature of Water: vii) Water Treatment

    Flush. Swirl. Swoosh – bye. Ever wonder where that goldfish ended up when you were 12 years old? Indoor plumbing is something that we have all gotten used to – the day of the outhouse is over … for the moment. The sewer systems use water as the great sweeper – the idea that the solution to pollution is dilution really caught on during the post WWII era. We flush and run and rarely give thanks for the notion of a hot shower in the morning.
 
   The municipal waste treatment plants dot the rivers in place just before every hamlet. The residents count on this cleansing process to bring them cool, clear water – bacteria and odor free. The chemical treatments of the water remain out of sight and out of mind – until the process breaks down and we get yuck. Lets cover some of the standard processes of waste-water treatment.
 
   The first process is filtration. This is accomplished by having screens on the collection port – which keeps the larger stiff like branches, rocks and fish out of the water intake system. A smaller set of screens may be behind the larger ones – screen mesh size dictates how much small material can be removed. There is always some material that gets through – the test for total suspended solids tells us that amount. The test is rather simple – pour a liter of water through a dry, carefully weighed filter paper, in a Buchner funnel using a side-arm filter flask and a water aspirator. The pressure pulls the water through the paper and the solid materials are measured by weighing the filter paper again, after it is dry.

    Water is routinely tested for basic physical parameters. The clarity of the liquid is measured as turbidity. A small sample is placed in a cell in a light box with a carefully measured path-length. The light is measured and compared to a path that has a cell with cloudiness, but no water. The comparators are made from a gel which has known n.t.u – nephalometric turbidity units. The standards are purchased in sealed vials and run at the same time as the samples.

    The pH and Conductivity are also measured. The pH is a measure of the acidity of water – placed on a logarithmic scale with units between one and fourteen. Seven is considered neutral and desirable, lower numbers imply that the water is acidic – higher numbers correspond to basic. River and stream waters tend to average about pH 7.3 – the actual pH is a function of the type of land that the water runs through. Conductivity is a measure of the ionic conductance through the solution – which increases as a function of salt dissolved. The more conductivity, the more percentage of salt in the water. The ocean is composed of salt water – natural water runs the gamut of values, depending on the solubility of the salts of the earth.

    The conductivity can be related to the total dissolved solids. To measure total dissolved solids requires taking a liter of water to complete dryness and weighing the residues. The combination of both the suspended solids and the dissolved solids together make the total solids of the material. High turbidity increases TSS without affecting TDS. Usually, salts dissolved in the water will not have much effect.

    However – hard water is material that has a lot of dissolved calcium and magnesium salts, which can cause problems with washers and water heaters by causing scale. Scale happens when precipitates come out of solution to take up solid capacity within the containers, plumbing or pipes. Some people use water filters to remove this scale, the medium being either activated carbon, sand or an ion-exchange resin. These filters have a limited capacity based on their size and have to be monitored for break-through, at which time a new filter can be substituted for the old one.

    Sometimes – municipal water systems will use flocculation and sedimentation in large tanks to clean up the water. This process involves mixing a chemical with the water that adsorbs the other materials hat are caught in the solution. Lime is a typical flocculant. The tank water is stirred with lime then allowed to settle – the water is then decanted off the solid lime, which has all the impurities adhered to the surface. The settling is important – the flocculant would otherwise plug the flow pipes. The size of the tanks are over thousands of gallons – there is an economy of scale in treating large batches of water, when continuous flow methods are not available.

    The temperature of the water is also a water quality parameter. Fish tend to be very sensitive to temperature change. Hot water also tends to dissolve more materials than colder water, but really – the temperature of running water only varies when the inputs are either direct sun/shade or a large industrial system. Many times – the water released by factories is not controlled locally. The waterways are used as waste carriers and the industries are 'permitted' to use the rivers as sewers because 'that is the way things have always been done'. This is not cool, but try complaining and you get to be a target. The Erie River near Pittsburgh once caught fire from the additional waste additions. Don't get me started on acid mine drainage.

    Another fairly important test is for fecal coliform. This is the live bacterial material found in animal poop – as expressed in the form of e-coli. E-coli is the biggest evil on the planet – killing unsuspecting patrons of unsanitary restaurants. Only it is not – it is common stomach bacteria that comes in many forms and rarely lives outside of stomachs for very long. Finding e-coli in water systems is a big red flag – but it is always found in natural water systems, where animals haven't figured out indoor plumbing. One cow pattie is fine for nailing a farmer whose fields have run off, yet the municipal systems tend to put out poor quality water, while getting a pass.

    The EPA with its clean water act is more responsible for polluted waters than anyone – it gives permission to pollute up to certain levels to people that own the system – George Carlin style. Don't kid yourself – the water game is a game of control just like the back-story to the movie Chinatown implies. If you own the water rights, you still have to service the government that insists that you buy the water however they deliver it. It comes with residual chlorine at the end of the tap. Thus, in the Monsane whirled, the way to mitigate for coliform seems to be to add a bigger toxin to kill the coliform – mask the problem and poison you. It helps to aerate municipal tap-water for about an hour before drinking – or boil the water to remove the volatile impurities.

    We have not even begun the rant on fluoridation, but alas – our essay space has expired for another day. Keep yourself hydrated with good water. 

Namaste' ... doc  

PS - Doc cannot control when the paragraph is bold or not bold.  There is no ulterior motive in the print style.

November 21, 2013

Of Elenin and Ison

Internal messenger
Checking how the clock ticks
As external changes occur
In relative blink of an eye
Prophesy relates
Undeniable visibility
Surrounding celestial events
When comets soar the skies

lemme howdt  2013   cc



November 20, 2013

On the Nature of Water: vi) Bug Zone

    The watershed calls and brings us outside, to the places where water runs intermittently. The spring rain brings new pathways down the side of each hill, as surface water replenishment creates different challenges to those of the past winter. In Oregon, we have watershed councils, where interest groups work together to 'manage' the land for the betterment of all. The Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers (PUR) watershed council works by the consensus of its 18 members with the goal of restoring fish passage to the local upstream rivers near the headwaters of the North Umpqua and South Umpqua Rivers.

    Consensus is a tough thing for humans to grip. One player can hold up the entire process, so the caveats are that we stay away from the controversial issues like timber cutting and farm field management where land ownership rights should trump the big picture – we replaced undersized culverts and monitored water quality in the 1990's and 2000's decades. The success of seeing fish in streams that had been cut off by the roadway system for 50 years was the simple joy that served as payment for the work.

    The PUR water quality monitoring program started off as a means of getting volunteers to appreciate the watershed for the context of life that it brings into community. The federal land management agencies – the BLM and USFS – which have many scientists on-board conducting projects that define the management parameters, sponsored a program under the Rural School Funding Act of 2000 that brought an aquatic entomologist to the Umpqua. The local zoo, Wildlife Safari, a drive-through theme park on nearly a hectare of land was the sponsoring location, a place where high school students and general community members were invited to spend in-depth time in … The Bug Zone.

    Crawling insects have a life underwater that spans about a year, before they turn inside themselves and reform as flying insects with a lifespan measured in days. The community of insects in a stream is an indicator of the water quality of that particular stream. If the stream is full of caddisflies and mayflies, then he water is relatively clean, whereas if only beetles and black fly larvae are present, then Houston, we have a problem. These bugs all live under the water and on top of the land – the 'benthic' environment. The idea was to spend five Saturday mornings in May learning about the water and then help the PUR and agencies – federal, state and local – have a clearer understanding of the little picture.

    The total Bug Zone group ran about 25 people – seventeen students from six local high schools signed up, along with seven adult community members. The key members of the group included three PhD's – the entomologist, a retired agricultural extension professor and this chemist, a physicist that should have had two more, a high school teacher and two retired folks – Donna the Bug Lady and Creepy Claude. These two served as conduits – individuals who have lived the life and enjoyed listening to the kids explain what they knew, without having the overburdened educated spin. Real people. Both knew the topics from years of experience – and are good friends in addition to community volunteers. The agencies also allowed their staff scientists to participate. Nancy of the BLM served as the group sponsor and her project to dive the rivers of the Umpqua for population counts could afford the help – trained high-school interns for the next 2-3 years.

    The first day of Bug Zone was introductions and slides of the little buggers in their home environment. The 17 students were mostly freshmen and sophomores – 14 to 16 year olds who needed a ride and parental permissions. There was one senior – Marvin, who didn't care about the science much – he wanted to be able to tie more effective flies, for fishing. The North Umpqua River is some of the best fly fishing space in the world – picturesque and awesome. By teaching younger students, the agencies could train volunteers to help with the monitoring tasks and research projects.

    The support data for each site would include weather and chemistry water quality monitoring – students could specialize in a facet of the work after they had been through the whole concept once.

    The second week was more indoor work, with the introduction to the equipment – the D-frame nets and heavy brushes that would be used to collect the samples in the field. The process involves dressing up in wetsuits and boots and getting into the river, to take eight samples of stream bottom, one foot at a time. One person holds down the net, while the second person sweeps everything that comes off the ground into the net. Depending on how fast the water is flowing, this is considerable work. There is a patchwork grid for where to take the samples, over an 800 yard area, such that no significant damage is done to the bug populations – the process does not return the critters back after they are counted.

    The samples are combined into a 5-gallon bucket for each site, with large rocks and detritus being removed on site – after removal of the bugs which are put back into the bucket. We returned to the zoo – where the magnifiers and lights helped us pour out the samples and collect the bugs with tweezers. Here are weighs of cutting the sample volume down in the lab – but catching the bugs hiding in the sample is very much like seeing the pictures develop in the dots once you stare at them long enough.

    By the third week, the group had paired down to 13 – the guys who were in it because of the girls chose to opt out when they saw the amount of work. The idea that week five would be a filmed demonstration project staged in a stream in a local park away from the zoo, with a group BBQ was enough enticement to keep coherence through the events. A tracking system for evaluating participation was developed to help justify the funding – after all – we were learning the basics of how to teach and learn once again, by taking bright, self-selected high school students and providing them with a focus.

    We all learned how to key out the insects – to count the number of spikes in the tail and the placement of gills and so forth. The sub-groups reported back to the main group and we developed patience while slogging through applications of the sciences the kids had book-learned. Amy, Katie, Marvin and Aurora were awesome in their enthusiasm, the videos of week five might make it to You-Tube someday. We were joined by members of the PUR and selected agency invites and had the youth dressed for action in waders. Great fun was had by all with depthful learning experience in many arenas.

    That summer, nine students collected bugs with Nancy from 13 sites, with Donna and doc leading the picking and sorting and counting project. Over the summer the kids got to counting and the data was submitted to the ARIMS data base. The data check came back at 83% and a few of the kids were disappointed. “We did better than that” said one that knew. Turns out that when the errata sheet came back, the score was up to 96% and the data was found to be good. Five of the kids kept volunteering until they graduated and only two of the original 13 did not choose to go to college.

    The process of immersion – where youth can appreciate learning with their teachers, mentors and friends – is a completely different spin on education value from today's school prison mentality. Allowing the student's interest toward research directed learning provides a sense of fitting in with the scheme of things on a whole bigger picture, not being told that it is there in vague uncertain terms. 
 
    Oh – one footnote. Two of the kids were diving with Nancy two years hence, when they found a new species of mussel in the South Umpqua River. There is nothing quite like being on the cutting edge to motivate a teenager to seek the good life.

Namaste' Doc 041713

November 18, 2013

On the Nature of Water - v) Phase Change

   We briefly mentioned the Water Cycle in the previous essay. At the Gaia scale, earth is a water planet. We know water in each of its single phases – solid, liquid and gas in a way beyond the common substance. We know also that there are some interesting thermodynamic properties of water that change as a function of temperature and pressure, and to a very limited extent, volume. The volume of water makes a highly interesting case study – as the volume near the freezing point is not the linear response that we might expect.

    Let us arbitrarily walk the water phase diagram from the cold side to the hot. We will start at -10oC for a start – the C refers to degrees on the Celcius scale, measured in centigrade units. This scale is different from the Fahrenheit scale that we use in the United States and the absolute temperature scale measured in Kelvin units. The three scales measure the exact same phenomenon, but have different range and utility. Centigrade is a base ten metric scale that has set points at 0oC for the freezing point of water and 100oC for the boiling point. This corresponds to 32oF and 212oF on the Fahrenheit scale – with an algebraic formula of F = 9/5C + 32 for the conversion. This places arbitrary measurement systems in conflict – a rite of passage in science. 
 
    The Kelvin scale is an offset of the Celsius scale to set the absolute zero at -273oC, such that the temperature measurement fit the same thermodynamic parameters as used in the calculations of entropy and enthalpy – giving absolute temperature rather than being relative to our earthly temperature frame. Absolute temperature 0 K is where all molecular motion theoretically stops.

    At absolute zero – the mass is extrapolated to a zero point and all packing is tight, close and regular. There is no vibration, no movement relative to other molecules – the lattice is continuous forever. As we climb by adding heat, we see the atoms wiggle, but there is not enough force to move them – the hydrogen atoms each bridging two oxygen atoms, the tetrahedral oxygen surrounded by four hydrogen atoms. One pyramid up, another down, about a central plane. The location of the molecule in space is fixed by the arrangement of each molecule to other molecules also held fixed – the bonding is extremely regular.

    Back to water, now as a molecular solid at minus ten degrees C. The bonding here is still very regular and tightly packed. If the water droplets have a confirmed border, the alignment can be seen as a stacking process from the interior, moving out from being fixed at a point of nucleation, a physical center. The first water molecule holds rigid as the molecular motion is constrained, and the molecules closer to this center are held tight – the ones further off are led less tight. The molecules are attracted to each other by polar forces between the negative oxygen end of one water to the positive hydrogen end of the next water – as the temperature has climbed – the molecules begin to vibrate. They cannot move out of the lattice – no translations or rotations are allowed.

    The vibration does not have enough energy contained at this point to break any of the hydrogen bonds. The actual chemical bonds of water do not break until we use enough energy to get hydrolysis of the water – the chemical breaking down of water to the component gases hydrogen and oxygen. This happens at an electrode in a contained system – when in nature it can take the form of creating ozone via lightning bolt. Hydrogen bonds hold water molecules together and are not like atomic bonds between elements.

    Things that are dissolved in water disrupt the lattice of molecules and cause freezing point depression and boiling point elevation. The pressure is also a factor – but for solids and liquids, the volume is consistent and pressure is not a factor. There are several different ice phases that have different unit cell packing, but the ice we know in the form of cubes has a regular structure similar to our current description. The surface starts to melt as we approach zero degrees C (32 degrees F), due to the bending and stretching of the individual water atoms. These modes can be controlled by frequency to vibrate in tandem and these characteristic frequencies tend to be harmonics of the bond lengths and angles.

    Liquid water forms as the ice melts. The temperature remains at zero C until all of the ice has melted to water. The ice is less dense than the water at zero C and floats on the top of the liquid water surface. This is odd for a liquid, but make the fish very happy, as they can reside under the ice in a lake or pond and live perfectly well. If ice froze in a solid mass from bottom to top, then we would have frozen fish in history and empty oceans today. Water has a minimum volume at 4oC, as the molecules slowly rotate their conformation when not fixed directly to the next water's atoms. 
 
    In the rising temperature liquid, the water molecules can traverse past each other using rotational and translational energy provided by the energy as measured at higher temperature. The water on the top surface exchanges molecules with the air – each temperature has a dynamic equilibrium value where the evaporation off the surface is equal to the landing rate on the surface – when there is more energy present, the temperature goes up and there is always excitement of chaos caused by increased molecular motion.

    Water has three individual modes of vibration – the bond angle bending, the symmetrical stretch of the two O-H bonds and the asymmetric stretch of the same bonds. These modes have an infrared frequency vibration that is shifted when water is bound to a metal atom or an organic molecule that is not water. This phenomena is concentration dependent and can be washed out in dilute solution. As concentration increases, the direction of water is mitigated by what the water contains and the vibrations begin to take on characteristic frequencies of the substances dissolved in the water, rather than the spectrum of the water itself.

    In liquid water, we tend to get translational and rotational phenomena along with or vibrational energy. Hot water spins the atoms around relative to each other and passing molecules cause friction, which generates more heat as heat is added. The temperature rise is consistent with energy input – one gram of liquid water increases one degree Celcius of temperature in the heat measurement called a calorie. This is one thousandth of a Calorie – the unit that we measure food energy content as a function of weight. People spend too much time watching their caloric intake rather than exercising and using the energy of their food content. Drinking water is a way of keeping hydrated and allowing your internal systems to balance themselves.

    Evaporation occurs at the air-water interface on any surface. This is counterbalanced by condensation – where the air is saturated with water to the point where the gas condenses and rain falls, as a function of temperature. When the air contains moisture and the light hits it from behind, a prism of color is generated – creating the rainbows that thrill us with their appearance. This is a diffraction of white light into components in the visible region of the spectrum – the narrow band that contains the drummer whose beat we march to on the current scale. The rainbow is a non-discriminatory form of sorting and separating – it holds no value judgment except for that occasional pot of gold at the end.

    When water reaches the boiling point, the molecules on the surface leave at a rate where they are not replaced in an equilibrium exchange. Evaporation occurs at a rate proportional to the added heat and the temperature remains at 100oC (212oF) until all of the water is turned to steam. The contained steam then rises in temperature and the hot gaseous water holds enough energy to do significant work. The steam engine was a crucial invention in modern progress – as we transverse the reversal of the fossil fuel energy bonus, we will likely once again make use of all our water – not as a trash and sewage receptacle, but rather as an integral resource in the operating system of climate regulation for the populations of Gaia.

    The water of earth is the blood fluid of a larger conscious creature that operates on a different scale than we currently imagine. If the entire scale of everything is mapped to a concrete form – the very largest things and the infinitely smallest things are all the same things – as above, so below. Imagine a giant mobius strip that runs in a cyclic loop, embedded within another mobius strip with a larger loop, etc. – radiating in waves from a central infinity – a small crossing on a scale of one alongside a massive crossing on a scale of all, as one.

Namaste' ...  doc 04/16/13

November 17, 2013

Physics Quest: What really is the Very Big

   When we believe as above, so below, we sense a dichotomy in approach that is inconsistent with the theme.  In the past two centuries, we have taken everything apart with the microscope, and begun looking at smaller and smaller things.  The big picture has always been rocks in space.  The theory of how the earth rotates around the sun was the center of argument four centuries ago - it is time to consider another revision of the theory.

   The following videos are wordless, with Russian and English subtitles.  The graphics are on a zoom function - you will have to orient to the scale of changes on a very big screen.  Try to take the picture as fractal rather than linear - we are probably looking at 20 to 30 orders of magnitude.  Remember also - that our picture is clouded by the lack of resolution upon expansion of scale.  The big rock idea holds firm from the video perspective - doc does not agree.  



   These videos are way cool.  Spirals are all over and matter moves through space as waves.  The game to be played here is to determine what the big picture looks like as if we were bigger and using a microscope, rather than smaller and using a telescope.  The crux of the problem is to envision emergent behavior and construct the creator perspective of the very very large.  We have either 64 or 96 orders of magnitude to play with - imagine 32 orders smaller than human as string or quanta - the imagination of the scope of thought here is large.  Enjoy!

namaste'  ...  doc

hint:  0  1  1  2  3  5  8  13  21  34  55  89  144  233  477  610

November 16, 2013

On the Nature of Water - iv) Fractal Scales

     It is raining again, which I guess is par for the course in Southern Oregon. It rains so often in the spring that we call a light drizzle Oregon sunshine. It is good for the morel mushrooms and the plants – a bit cold for planting anything beyond greens – but the greenhouse is full of plants. The light catalyzed reaction between carbon dioxide and water is the essential step of photosynthesis, the chemical reaction that builds plant material. I like the weigh chemistry explains things in discrete relationships between small numbers of atoms in small molecules.

    Now small is a relative term – as we discussed previously water is a very small molecule, even in relation to atoms of other elements. When we discuss the topic of organic chemistry, the chemistry of living things involving the HONC elements, there is a three order of magnitude sized jump between the scale of the water molecules and the chemical system. Just to be clear on what three orders of magnitude is – go get a salt shaker and shake out a single grain into your hand. This is what we call a new fractal reality – the physical constants are consistent, but the manifestation do not have to be contiguous. In fact – only 12.5% of the there there is the same as the here here. (for simple math – 100/2 = 50/2 = 25/2 = 12.5) This is also the scale difference of the Mandelbrot zoom – close to 10%.

    Water is a clever molecule, and has learned to gang up to have access to all of the various fractal scales. The water uses the blood stream to get around and deliver dissolved solids to the organs that house the proteins and enzymes that are the next pair of fractal scale. We discussed how water solvates the surfaces of bio-molecules like proteins and enzymes. We can see where water serves as a carrier for ions that serve as the active sites of the synthesis process between amino acids and nucleic acids building blocks that form layers of surface. The surfaces can be hydrophilic and like water or hydrophobic and repel water – the water doesn't care because it can talk to the brother water molecules and create a swarm.

    When we go from the fractal layer of organs to animals – the whole collection of being relies on the collection of water molecules being replenished from outside, so that the water can exchange being and not wear out in the function – a single molecule can only take so much bending and stretching before the elasticity is gone and it before it becomes a crabby archaic relic ready for a retirement beach in a warmer climate. Water molecules and people think the same, as people are made up of mostly water molecules. There is no reason to believe that we are in control of our water – the water knows that the regulatory system works the other weigh around. Ask your plumbing who is in charge when you cannot go. Just try out running water.

    We tend to like our running water, so much that we have municipal water districts to govern the use of local water. Water rights are a big thing because the supplies of fresh water are limited compared to salt water. The water cycle on the earth is a very big picture of how water works on a sense of scale – with evaporative heating of surfaces causes the water to let loose from the partners and go for a new individual ride into the biological system of choice – where it operates as an individual and as part of a whole on a fractal scale. Thus – every intelligence source is working with water at some scale or another and water is really the seat of consciousness – the director of all things physical in the world. Architecture by great spirit – art upon water. Most of the time though, just another drop in the ocean statistically.

    I like water – from my shower in the morning to the pot that boils my coffee. As a little kid, I liked to high dive – until I got sense by scaring myself shirtless. The ocean was the beach growing up near the Jersey shore, but west coast ocean front is for surfing and diving – wet-suit water. The lakes and rivers are for fishing and water skiing and playing – watching their rise and fall based on last winter's snow-pack and this summers temperatures. I am in awe of natural springs, where geothermal activity heats underground water enough to soak away all troubles – as long as the drive is to get there.

    The ground water that feeds the underground aquifers is being fract to within an inch of its life. Fracking is the latest way to squeeze out oil and gas to get that last bit to keep running the empire into the ground. Everything has been commoditized – bought and sold for monetary gain that the water had no say in creating. Water exchanges electron pairs with other water freely as a conduit of information, so ubiquitous that it occurs instantaneously – our quantum mechanics is only the most recent explanation on our scale for how water acts as a medium to shift concepts in time and place. Is it not interesting that there is suddenly great interest in water on Mars and in deep space? This is a solar system of water planets that manifest in a variety of forms.

    What if the planets represent the nuclei of a variety of cells of a human-type organism on a very large scale. The spacial arrangements of physical space as we imagine it should be the same: as above, so below. Why does every picture of deep space look exactly like deeper space, when we know that complexity increases with size in biological organs. In fact, the governance of Fibonacci based natural resource systems occurs at the base where two ones exist, the individual and the whole. Each mus be mastered in a yin/yang balance to be comfortable in your own skin – you know who you are and feel your place in the world of things.

    Nature exists with water as the currency. Each living thing takes as much water as it needs for self and returns its excess water back to the system for processing. This is the same thing that humans do with water – we clean it by a variety of methods that meet certain standards before we discharge it back into the stream for the next user to play the same game. Each of us receives a water bill for the processing cost of using our water as a drain and sewage system instead of a life support partner. In Oregon, water rights are assigned to the fish as of 1987 – by a landmark court decision that conformed to the arbitrary right of first come, first served, but only if you claim the right.

    Our life operating system should work like the computer disk operating system dos. The laws are control vehicles to keep the general order and there are specific instructions to operate for each ordered action. The rules are set to enable flow and can be overridden when emergency action is necessary – but otherwise need no enforcement or rigor – the flow is maintained by the mass – more latitude when not busy.

    We are stardust, just add water.   Namaste'  ...  doc 041513

November 15, 2013

Are we there yet?

   Memories of days past bring images of prolonged car rides on vacation to Florida or some other destination resort.  Over time, I learned to drive cross country - taking different weather dependent routes pending the time of year.  After moving west, the distances between things make driving periods essential and these past few years, the I-5 corridor has been a yo-yo string for me.  Drive from Oregon to Colorado and Montana each covered over a thousand miles.  The road is a place to think quietly and watch the whirled go buy.

   The intermix of people always focuses on a conversation about something.  The depth of the talk is proportional to the depth of though placed into the topic.  Reading is a depth level deeper than listening - typical education emphasizes a knowledge base that can be tapped into using a variety of techniques, each with its own bonuses and flaws.  The time spent involved can be multiplied by intensity of focus to give a measurement handle on coverage of the accepted knowledge base.

   Ah, there's the rub.  The term 'accepted' has different meaning in every field.  The idea of continuing education to keep people up on the new knowledge in their field is also a rattrap to sequester them away from really thinking about the mechanism of what is happening by their doing.  That knowledge comes only from the government monopoly of the education system is a laughable myth - except that the sources are carefully controlled to paint a single elaborate picture of reality.  The language we speak is formed by persons who manipulate the meaning of the words.

   This summer in nature without lots of driving, or dealing with people, gave me a different perspective for the use of my thinking time.  I was able to appreciate the vast differences in locale that nature provides as a scenario for life.  The forest duff has a smell and a texture that just calls to us to breathe fresh air and drink clean water.  Our bodies know what is good - i find it funny that my vices of weed, wine, chocolate and coffee all turn out to be very good for the body.  I also feast on organic mushrooms, onions, garlic, herbs and spices - whole foods that give me integrated strength to be fit.

   Not to mention sunshine.  The vitamin D produced when UV reacts with structured water in a cellular environment is awesome.  Vitamin C and co-enzyme Q also act as supplemental anti-oxidants to keep the process of creating the body's internal climate running.  Health is a state of mind - keeping open to weighing many different variables and metrics to determine what combination works well and by all means - be open to something better.  Change is coming; keep a handle on the criteria offered by contrasts of duality ending, like light and dark.  Be of your own alignment, consistent in thought and deed.  And share the love, feel the energy and glow in the new day.

   By the weigh - we are almost there.

   Namaste' ...  doc

November 14, 2013

On the Nature of Water: iii Measurement in Water

    First – a word from our sponsors. The Oregon Natural Resources Research Institute is working diligently to form a new conception of everyday life, with the application of the scientific method of questioning everything we know, without assumption. ONRRI will work in tandem with the Organization for the Advancement of Knowledge to provide direct support to communities that are growing food on a local scale – in order to ease the transition from global scale back to local scale. OAK and ONRRI can be found on-line through NWETI.com – the Northwest Education and Training Institute. NWETI provides on-line classrooms to teachers and students who wish to prioritize learning by gaining common knowledge, as opposed to the current school system which illuminates relationships by sequestering information in the hands of a few.

    Now back to water. Water does not live in a democracy – each water molecule is created equal, but undergoes a change of perspective that is completely different when bound to a biological system, rather than hanging out with his buddies in a bulk water system. Looking at the solution from he perspective of an individual water molecule, we will explore the nature of change in different environments to foster the idea of the ubiquity of possibilities of what change can bring.

    As we discussed before, water bonded in water with other water molecules will have an average HOH bond angle of 109o and an oxygen-hydrogen bond length of roughly one point five angstrom units.  The exact length is a measured average of many individual measurements and changes constantly with vibrations. 

   The essential parameters of a water molecule are the HOH bond angle and the length of the two OH bonds. These bonds have a symmetric stretching mode – both hydrogen atoms far away from the oxygen together and near the oxygen together. There is also an asymmetric stretching mode, which has two identical pairs of possibility – left hydrogen near, right hydrogen far and left hydrogen far, right hydrogen near. These stretches produce characteristic frequencies in the Infrared Range (IR) of the electromagnetic spectrum. A Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) is an essential laboratory tool for qualitative analysis of chemical elements – very high on the current wish list for the ONRRI lab. FLIR is a flight oriented infrared scanning technique used to orient airplanes.

    When water is attracted to ions – it shifts the wavelength of the vibration of the water molecule. The whole idea of spectroscopy is to measure the changes in spectra at different wavelengths and correlate it to changes in the physical environment of the atoms involved. When the solution color is in the visible region of the spectrum, you can use a different type of spectrometer – the UV-Vis , ultraviolet/visible light spectrophotometer– in order to hone in on the wavelengths produced between 200 – 800 nanometers. Cary makes the workhorse instrument – the Spec 20, that is a fixture in every high school chemistry lab in the land. If the tools of chemistry sequestered at the schools could be made available for general use, then people could learn hands-on that chemistry is just a means of measurement.
 
   So let's get back to our water solution and let's now populate the solution with ions. Since Dr. Lenny worked in a Nickel mine – let's use the Ni2+ ion as the example. Nickel weighs 60 amu and is a transition metal – number 28 in the periodic table. The periodic table is the collection of all elements placed into a categorical form that allows for the prediction of chemical behaviors based on composition. It is a basic tool for understanding the language – each element has a symbol, a number and a weight that make the calculations easier to handle. Chemistry involves a lot of simple calculations like addition and subtraction, multiplication and division. More complex math can be very useful – but is not really necessary to being able to collect the information. We will try to avoid all math in this series, but realize that the numbers do have meanings beyond the scope of this simplified vision of water.

    Nickel ions form a green colored solution with six water molecules that have a square planar geometry. [Ni(H2O)6]2+ . The oxygen of each water are oriented toward the central nickel atom, four in a plane about the circumference of the nickel – then one on top and one on bottom. The hydrogen atoms are oriented outward from the center – with the oxygen of other water molecules in the solution towards the center and the hydrogen arrayed outward. Recall that the weight of the nickel ion is about the same as three water atoms. The hydration sphere of the hexa-aquo nickel complex depends on the temperature – but is likely five or six hundred levels deep – each level fits more molecules around those connected – so we have a sphere that is nearly 500 amu when two deep – you can see where the actual weight of solvated ions adds up real quickly.

    Nickel forms a red compound with dimethylglyoxime. The formula is known to be Ni(dmg)2. By adding the nickel containing solution to a dmg solution, we can quantitatively precipitate the nickel and know exactly how much we had in solution. We can also measure the concentration of a solution and correlate it with the peak maximum of the red color in a Cary spectrophotometer.

    The term aqueous solution is used to designate a solution that is based in water. Free ions in solution always have counter-ions in that solution to balance the charge. Thus the nickel started as NiSO4 or NiCl2 and the reaction with diglyme is a substitution type reaction. There are many different metals that form cations in solution – the whole world of coordination chemistry is a study of these types of systems.

    When you consider the forces of polarity on the micro-sphere scale – they appear to work the same way as the forces of polarity on the human scale. Like attracts like in the form of polar compounds like polar solvents – ionic compounds dissolve in aqueous solution. The concentration of the solution is a measure of the stuff dissolved in the water – this involves converting the chemicals into moles, such that each chemical has it's molecular weight factored into the chemistry equation.

    Water does a lot more outside of the chemistry lab than it does inside the lab. In the next nature of water episode, we will explore the place where we find water. The differences between lakes and streams and oceans and rivers will be explored with a large grain of salt, in terms of what the water is composed with and how the water thinks of itself. 

Namaste'  ...  doc 04/11/13

November 13, 2013

How to Change

   We all have control issues.  Life is a balance between doing what we wish to do and doing what we have to do.  The fine lines between these items are often blurred by the ego - we are supposed to make ourselves look good and save face whenever possible.  We know how things should get done, and the shortcuts that will get us there looking like the work has been done without doing the work.  It might make us look good, but we know its not all right.  We do not have to be illusionists to get the job done.

  The thyme has come to stop the pretense.  The entire global infrastructure is a house of cards built on a foundation of, well other cards.  Gradually lower cards have been removed to build the upper decks and suddenly the structure sways in the wind.  The space is transparent - we can read through any lies or untruths.  The jig is up and the minions have their pants down.  So the way to go is the weigh; let's go.

  First, assess the immediate situation.  Start making plans to gather all the scattered parts and get the log books ready to keep track of the personal events and spectacular imagery.  Remain here in the now with eyes wide open - evaluating criteria about how things are never quite what they seem.  Consult your angels and higher self and allow them to guide you through the journey - surrender to their wisdom.  Our knowledge is based upon what others wanted us to know - time will now reveal some items that were somehow left outside the picture frame.

   To be conscious, we think that we have to think.  In meditation, we place our thinking aside to just be.  To be or not to be is an awful dreary question - we are so that we be until we expire.  We each learn how to be differently and attempt to help each other to be, but since we all disagree on the mechanisms of how to be, it ends up in a cesspool of emotional desire and a lack of self control, especially when our hearts and minds differ in their immediate desires.

   Time is a framework that we have built to guide each other in the forward process called progress.  The entire processional is a charade made to make us feel self-important as our liberties are ameliorated into a control system for other to get their weigh.  We can see through that illusion - the game is over and love wins.  The light shines bright and the game is just a game.  Shuffle up and deal the next round, but wait ... some people have not tossed in their cards from the last game and they are stuck in a vortex between yesterday and tomorrow.  This plugs the crink in the hourglass and the current illusion persists.  Let it go.

   The now is an eye in the midst of the storm.  Others believe that that eye is in the pyramid - what we know is enough to prevent us from really knowing what we don't know.  Dig deep enough and it is all the same.  Expand vast enough and it is all the same.  Remain here in the now and guess what - it becomes different because even though as above, so below, we find that we cannot get there from here.  But when we are there, the illusion attempts to wheedle us to come back and be in that comfort zone of dissolving corn-pone reality - complete with GMO corn chips and high fructose corn syrup sodas and everything else a misdirected corny reminder of a time misremembered.

   Interesting to note that the people stay the same and rotate roles, just like Cloud Atlas.  The Matrix runs via a Source Code that presents a Timescape for being.  When we lose consciousness, our reality dissolves into a reducing environment that recoils the springs and resets the body for another round of dealing with tomorrow.  When it misses and times out - Groundhogs Day.  When we are asleep and not here - we are on the ships, bringing in the light and the love.  Which is real?  

   The weigh is under our individual control - and each individual is part of the sovereign unity of the whole.  We get to splice our individual strands together to weave a new fabric of reality as the old cloth ebbs and flows aweigh.  The sea of tomorrow is full of water - how the water aligns is the creator.  We are all source - the water of earth is the same water of earth as it has always been - as above : earth ; so below : heart .  Just be, watch and practice your weigh, your way.

namaste'  ...  doc