A proposal for a "Civics Connections" colloquium-style course for high school students

Recently I have been learning about the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. One aspect of it that I think non-IB high schools can learn from is the IB program's Theory of Knowledge course (https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/dp-core/theory-of-knowledge/what-is-tok/). The IB Theory of Knowledge course is a teacher-designed "thoughtful and purposeful inquiry into different ways of knowing, and into different kinds of knowledge" that makes connections between knowledge and several other areas as described below:

https://toktopics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/tok-guide-from-2020.pdf

While I don't expect non-IB schools to add an actual Theory of Knowledge course, I do see a commonly-required high school subject in which a connections-based, colloquium-style course would be of enormous benefit: civics. 

Most US states require a civics course or a US. history course as a requirement for high school graduation. However, civics taught alone is a dry subject and based on the current level of civic awareness I see around me, the civics course requirements as currently implemented are not very effective at producing a civically-involved population. Young adults are not engaging in politics like they need to if they are to help run this government "of the people" and "by the people" (https://apnorc.org/projects/younger-adults-are-less-engaged-with-u-s-politics/).

A colloquium course is one in which the students, instructors, and guest lecturers read or view assignments on a variety of topics ahead of time and come together in class to discuss what they have read, making connections between the topics and analyzing the readings for themes and relevance. 

I am aware that many high school students now struggle with reading. Here is an area where AI can be very useful, for AI tools can quickly produce short, easy-to-read versions of the assigned readings for students who require scaffolding in reading comprehension. Text-to-speech tools can also be used by students to listen to the readings ahead of time. Literacy challenges should not prevent us from teaching civics in a meaningful way.

Below is my proposed outline for the topics to be covered in a two-semester high school course that would teach civics in connection with world history, geography, scientific discoveries, communication networks, and societal structures. Each week would look at a time period/location with three focuses: history (geography, anthropology), science (discovery, communication and storage of knowledge), and social studies (civics, social structures (include representative art/shapes), social issues). The pre-class assignments would include short readings and videos. Assessments would be in the form of observations of class participation, in-class worksheets (prepared to be of help with notetaking during class discussions), in-class quizzes (include matching, multiple choice, short answer, and short essay questions), and a summative project/essay/documentary at the end of the second semester.

Semester 1:

Week 1: Prehistory, ancient civilizations, knowledge (what is truth? who knows truth?), root of “science”, shapes of civilization, power & subjugation versus freedom

2: Babylon, cuneiform, astronomy, empires, vassal states

3: Americas and Polynesia [include local material about prehistoric times], local flora and fauna, subsistence nomadism and early agriculture, monuments, baskets and pottery, small extended-family tribes

4: Egypt, medicine, hieroglyphics, Judaism, migration (push and pull factors)

5: China, waterways, irrigation, calligraphy, Confucianism, scholars, meritocracy

6: Africa, minerals (esp. gold), oral tradition, tribes, warfare, struggles against nature 

7: Adriatic (Greeks, Etruscans, Romans), philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), tutors, birth of democracy, theater

8: Mediterranean (just after 0 AD), temples and oracles, navigation, medicine (Galen), letters, Christianity, dynastic politics across land and sea

9: India, mathematics, Brahmins, castes, Buddha, Hindu religions (including laws and customs)

10: Two Roman Empires, monks and churches, “barbarians”, Crusades, feudalism

11: Arabian peninsula, caravans (goods and information), missionary movements, Islam, clerics, Islamic law

12: Worldwide slavery trends (poverty, race, conquest, gender, caste, etc.), limitations on learning and travel by slaves and its effects on progress/wealth of various societies, status of women, mortality trends (esp. childbirth, early childhood, and warfare) 

13: Northern Europe, “alchemy” and “witches” versus wise women, Vikings (monastery attacks), Althing (Iceland), Battle of Hastings

14: Worldwide freedom trends (increased value of human capital, growing traditions of freedom with decline of serfdom ties), Black Death, biology and medicine, guilds, rule of law, Magna Carta

15: Americas and Polynesia around 1200 AD [include local material], monuments, stelae, codices, quipu, god-kings, priests (human sacrifice), Mesoamerican city layouts (Peten, Teotihuacan, Cahokia), early soccer, Hero Twin myths

16: Europe kingdoms, printing press, books (Bible translations), Protestant Reformation, religious/political/social upheavals

Semester 2:

Week 1: Discovery (Ericson, Columbus, Janszoon), cartography, navigation, libraries, colonization, destruction of Maya codices

2: Renaissance, intercontinental exchanges (Marco Polo, Old<--->New World), de Medicis, Machiavelli

3: Rise of courts, parliaments (Cromwell), charters (universities), contracts, lawyers

4: Rise of merchants and academics and decline of royalty, companies, political parties, banks, checks and letters of credit, stock, investments and eventual adoption of banknotes

5: Early police institutions (sheriffs, Bow Street runners), civil service, professional militaries, social mobility, colonial/criollo identity

6: Revolutions of colonies (US, Bolivia, Louverture, Bolivar, San Martin, Rizal), universities, pamphlet presses, Stamp Act, representative democracy

7: Constitutions (especially US drafting, compromises, and adoption), structure and civics rules of US three branches, executive branch of government, taxation (Whiskey and Fries rebellions) 

8: US Bill of Rights, limits on government powers, clipper ships

9: Religious “awakenings”, abolitionism, political fiction (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), British ending of slavery, US Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws

10: Steamboats, migrations (US: Oregon trail, Mormon migration, gold rushes, coolies, Irish), telegraph, nearly-instant newspaper reports, immigration restrictions

11: Industrialization (steam, then electricity), telephone (everyone can share information), privacy concerns, advances in chemistry and vehicles (land and air)

12: World War I, communism in Russia, Great Depression, banking changes (move off gold standard, FDIC), suffrage, Prohibition, treaties, entertainment and media celebrities

13: World War II, more colonies gain independence, espionage, internment, GI bill, suburbia growth, nuclear and quantum advances, popular science, science fiction/fantasy

14: Activism (peaceful and terrorist), computers (vacuum tubes to punch cards to tapes to chips), Civil Rights movement (African-Americans), voting rights, agricultural “Green Revolution”, population growth

15: Telecommunications, television and cable, growth of internet (listserves, DRPA-net, WWW, darkwebs), long-distance relationships (commercial, romantic, family, interest groups, etc.), outsourcing

16: Cellphones, social media, artificial intelligence, chatbots, brain computer interfaces, EULAs (end user license agreements), new technology uses, data centers, consent and transparency legal issues

This outlined sequence of topics endeavors to lead students to a strong understanding of the many, continuing struggles for individual freedom and the urgent need for lifelong civic involvement. I would have loved to have taken a civics course like this when I was in high school.

Mind reading and telepathy in a Tom Clancy book from 1988

I have been reading The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy. When I first read it decades ago, much of the technical information about lasers and interrogation techniques went over my head. The laser details still mostly go over my head!

This read-through, I realized that Tom Clancy portrayed a KGB "interrogation" that used telepathy and brainwave reading to "read" thoughts. But he portrayed it without saying outright what was happening.

If you have a copy of the book handy, turn to the last part of chapter ten, where Svetlana is put into a sensory deprivation saltwater tank and cannot even hear her own screams. She has divers in the tank with her to keep her from touching her air hose and realizing where she is. Otherwise, she is only wearing a wetsuit. In preparation for the tank session, she was coated with oil and given an injection. 

Yet with no other wires, transmitters, or receivers mentioned--other than her own body--she is able to hear the interrogating doctor gently whisper into a microphone in another room. Then, somehow, despite having an air hose in, she talks back to the interrogator and tells him everything.

The interrogation facilities are described as the "most secret part of Lefortovo's interrogation wing."

Both "mind reading" and translation of sounds into electrical signals that the brain can perceive as speech are now publicly acknowledged to be possible. As to the first, the Chinese can use computer brain interface technology to interpret brainwave activity and accurately output unspoken thoughts as written Mandarin. As to the second, we have had cochlear implants available for many years.

Just because something was not publicly known to be possible decades ago is no indication of whether it was possible back then. Physics principles are the same yesterday, today, and into the future. Science--which means knowledge--increases or decreases, but physics stays the same.

It looks like Tom Clancy or one of his editors knew classified information about telepathy-enabling technology almost forty years ago. Who else knew, and how else was it used?

We are to keep valuable truth safe, not to hide it

In the 1800s, Joseph Smith studied the Bible and felt inspired to make some changes. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published his changes as the "Inspired Version" (text available online at https://www.centerplace.org/hs/iv/default.htm). One noteworthy change, which somehow didn't make it into the LDS Bible footnotes or appendix, where those changes are supposed to be available for LDS readers, is in Matthew 13. Joseph Smith wrote the parable of the treasure in the field as follows:

13:46 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hid in a field. And when a man hath found a treasure which is hid, he secureth it and, straightway, for joy thereof, goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

The King James Version of the Bible gives the parable in the following words:

44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Do you see the difference? There is a big difference between securing something and hiding something. To secure something means to get it and keep it safe from damage, while to hide something means to keep it away from everyone else.

Yet the current LDS version of the Bible does not show this important change from hiding to securing. It is not in the footnotes at the bottom of the pages showing Matthew 13. That is highly unusual, for the footnotes often show even insignificant changes in the Joseph Smith version. 

The change to "securing" is also not included in the Appendix, which contains a longer passage from Matthew 13. If you have access to the LDS Bible currently in use, you can check this for yourselves.

This is a substantive change about not hiding things that got hidden by in what appears to be an intentional omission! I think this is strong evidence of untrustworthy behavior by some who work in LDS Church media services. Jesus said we're supposed to believe that which is true, but he never said we have to let ourselves be taken in by people who exhibit untrustworthy behavior.

Some lessons from educational experiences

My children have almost aged out of homeschooling. They like to go to "regular" high school. So, after over 15 years of being a "homeschool mom," I am extending myself in different directions. My professional degree mostly went unused all the years I was homeschooling, so I am going back to school to become a teacher. 

As I have tutored, taught, substitute taught, and volunteered over the past few years, I have learned some lessons that I wish everyone knew. 

First: Our children do not need smart phones. 

The phones are actively interfering with academic growth because they displace advanced reading practice. Not even half of US adolescents can read what should be high school level texts in history, science, and so on. Reading--the basic skill of education, the skill which makes all the other aims of education independently achievable--is alarmingly on the decline right up through the university level (https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancraig/2024/11/15/kids-cant-read-books/). Do the children a favor and get them a "dumb phone" instead.

Second: Teaching beginning readers to guess words from context is harming their ability to read.

Beginning readers are not knowledgeable enough to understand how to successfully deduce a word from context. They just hear us adults say, "Guess...." And so they guess....too often wrong. We are wasting precious literacy development time when we tell kids things like "look at the first and last letter and guess what the word is from context." Yes, that is really what they are told in some reading programs.

Children will be much better off if we teach them how to read new words by sounding them out, left-to-right, with allowances for the different letter patterns that come from French/Greek/German/Latin. (Children like maps and stories of cool cultures. What if we taught them that English is partly French? That could actually rescue their interest in language arts.)

Third: We have some confusing curricula out there, and we should blame it before blaming children or teachers. 

Yes, teachers are underpaid. Yes, students are distracted. But the curricula adopted in many schools is frequently illogical in how it presents material. I see much that is unclear in textbooks' approaches and expectations. In our concern over poor educational outcomes, we need to look harder at confusing, frustrating curricula. "Common Core" isn't the problem; rather, it's the poor implementation of the Common Core standards in some curricula.

We certainly shouldn't be blaming little kids for not having enough "grit." We are the responsible adults, and we should give them instruction that is genuinely effective for their age level.

Agentic AI

Agentic AI (artificial intelligence) has gotten quite good. My daughter accidentally damaged a brand new gift card today, so I had to call the big box store's customer service line to ask for a replacement. I waited on hold for about ten minutes, during which time I inadvertently put my own phone on mute.

After the ten minutes of holding, a voice came on the line, introducing himself as "AJ". He repeated the introduction three times before I unmuted my phone and responded. Every time he said his introduction of himself, "AJ" sounded exactly the same. 

Now, I realize that could have just been a recorded message, but my entire interaction with "AJ" seemed like I was interacting with a chatbot that had been trained on real customer service employees in call centers in the Philippines. There were even some "I'm typing on a keyboard" noises from time to time that weren't consistent with what would be expected from the context.

I hadn't realized that chatbots can now perform mostly convincing audio back-and-forth interactions. The phone call did end successfully with a replacement gift card on its way.

Have many of the first job losses to AI have been quietly happening abroad in Indian and Philippine call centers? First US businesses outsourced to India and the Philippines, and now it appears the big businesses are figuring out how to bypass having to hire any humans, no matter how low the salaries, wherever they can do so.

In defense of a just God

Sometimes I see people saying that they are repulsed by "the Abrahamic religions" (i.e., Judaism, Christianity and Islam) because in the Bible there is a record of God telling Abraham to go sacrifice his son Isaac (see Genesis 22, Old Testament). What kind of just god would do that to a man? There are two aspects to the story that redeem it from being an unjust action.

1) This was a teaching moment for Abraham to learn about the mission of the future Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who would die for the sins of all mankind. God did not intend for Abraham to actually kill his son Isaac. He had an angel stop the sacrifice before it could be carried out, and he even provided a ram nearby that Abraham and Isaac could sacrifice together.

2) Abraham had recently allowed his wife Sarah to send her maidservant, Hagar, and his firstborn (but not "of the covenant") son, Ishmael (who was born to Hagar), away into the wilderness where they would have died if not for an angel helping them (see Genesis 21, Old Testament):

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

This was a wrong action by Sarah and Abraham. Even if God reassured Abraham about Isaac's eventual safety, Hagar didn't get that divine reassurance (see Genesis 21:12-13). Hagar genuinely thought she was going to have to watch her own child die of thirst until an angel intervened. Abraham and Sarah needed to be taught a lesson about love and possibly even be punished for placing his "son but not the legitimate heir" and Hagar in mortal danger. I think the mental suffering he later experienced while thinking he had to sacrifice Isaac was a just punishment and appropriate lesson for what he had done to Hagar and Ishmael. 

Far from this story showing God to be an unjust God, it shows him to be on the side of all children, including those who are not "chosen" by birth into a certain bloodline or covenant. This understanding of God makes me appreciate him all the more in the wake of the Israeli-caused killing of 70,000 people in Gaza. The Palestinians are almost certainly part Israelite in heritage, but because they are not certified members of the tribe of Judah, they have been denied equality and sometimes even existence within the historical land of Israel. Also, a very wrong action.

Three directions for possible scientific inquiries about bones in the head

For some reason, despite all the body scan data that we can now obtain and process, I never see anything in the headlines about how cranial scan data is giving rise to new scientific knowledge about cognition, vision, hearing, human development over time, voice resonance, and so on. I know the Nazis did some measuring of the cranium along with other truly objectionable experiments, but that's no reason now, 80 years later, to totally ignore the semi-solid case our brain sits inside! There's nothing immoral or wrong about measuring skull dimensions. There are three directions of inquiry I am most curious about:

1) skull structure and vocal characteristics

I am a singer and have been since elementary school. Without intending to, I sound a lot like my mother when she sings. I'm sure it's because of underlying bone similarities that I inherited from her. I'd love to see more research published in this area.

2) heritable adaptations

When I look at skull and feature characteristics from around the world, I no longer find the "out of Africa" origin theory for all humanity quite so compelling. Some traits seem like they could have arisen in response to environmental stimuli and then persisted independently in a way that is not fully explained by "survival of the species." (Hooded eyes among Scandinavians are one example.) Darwin would be the first to insist on utilizing new data collection methods to expand upon his theory.

3) cognition variation, especially onset and severity of dementia

With Alzheimer's becoming such a pressing public issue of concern, we should be looking at the issue of cognitive impairment from every available angle. If there is something we can modify in the skull that will lessen or delay dementia, we should be investigating that possibility with great energy.

Someone else self-publishing about potentially criminal election machine issues

Today at church, someone left in my daughter's friend's vehicle a 9-page document describing how a woman in Colorado has been held in jail for trying to call attention to voting machine database irregularities. 

Because I noticed years ago that my little blog was blocked by my local library's filters, I am sympathetic to people who feel blocked when they are trying to share important information. If someone feels strongly enough to type up a document and put it in church parking lots in a quest for justice, I can help them by sharing their message on my blog. 

Here are scans of it:

I don't claim that the content is accurate, for I don't even live in the same county this document talks about. I am reporting on a message that someone went to great effort to share in a parking lot where they knew there would be some vehicles used by Air Force Academy cadets.

Low blood flow in the brain is linked to depression symptoms and severity

A study this year-- https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2832270--found that cerebral blood flow is linked to depression. It's not just a matter of neurotransmitter chemicals. 

This landmark research demonstrates that functional brain changes—specifically decreased blood flow—are more accurate markers of depression than structural brain changes like cortical thinning, which have historically shown weak and inconsistent associations. Amen Clinics provided one of the largest and most clinically detailed datasets for the study, drawn from patients actively seeking help for depression.

"This is the strongest evidence to date that depression is not just a chemical imbalance—it's a brain imbalance you can see and measure," said Dr. Daniel Amen, founder of Amen Clinics and a co-author of the study. "We've been saying for decades that healthy blood flow is foundational to mental health. Now the science has caught up."

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-landmark-study-reveals-brain-blood-flow-as-key-biomarker-in-depressionamen-clinics-plays-pivotal-role-302422322.html

"This validates what we've seen in over 260,000 scans: depression often involves poor brain perfusion, and when we improve blood flow, people feel and function better," said Dr. Amen.

https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/new-landmark-study-reveals-brain-blood-flow-as-key-biomarker-in-depression-amen-clinics-plays-pivotal-role

This means that exercise that gets blood moving really does play a role in helping us feel better emotionally. This insight is needed in our too-often sedentary society.

Possible weight loss without store-bought processed foods

I keep trying small changes with my morning routine and tracking them to see if they result in weight loss. I might have a possible breakthrough...I hope so, for I reached my lower weight limit this morning, so I'm going to be intentionally eating more carbs now. That will make it harder to see any weight loss. (It's really easy to not lose weight. Just have whole grains at all three meals. Unless there are "magic ingredients" in your diet--think Wegovy/Ozempic-kinds of molecules hidden in some chocolate, coffee creamers, deli meat, etc.--you are highly unlikely to lose weight eating whole grains at every meal, based on my several years of food journals.)

Here's what I consumed yesterday:

1) 7:00 am - 1/4 cup celery leaf/toasted banana leaf ash/distilled water beverage (left in sunlight in glass for a day, then stored in a pitcher in the refrigerator); 1/2 cup of the previous beverage combined with fresh, thinly-sliced raw green cabbage.

2) 9:20 am -

    A) A little raw green cabbage

    B) The following multi-step mixture:

        i) Microwave for 60 seconds in a ceramic mug: 1/8 tsp beer salt (for its food-grade silicon dioxide) and a small bit of toasted banana leaf ash. After microwaving, stir with a silver fork and and an attached piece of "Black Hills" gold jewelry. Put half the powder in a plastic bowl.

        ii) Add freshly grated cinnamon bark to the mug with the other half of the powder and microwave it for 60 seconds. Stir with the silver-gold fork-jewelry, and pour the powder into the same plastic bowl as in step 1. Eat around 1/8 of the powder from steps 1 and 2.

        iii) Microwave a mug with dry dill weed sprinkled on cocoa powder for 60 seconds. Stir with a plastic spoon the contents of the mug, 1/8 tsp salted butter (without any other additives), and the contents of the plastic bowl together in the plastic bowl. Eat half of the resulting mix. Eat the rest of the mix on pieces of fresh green cabbage.

3) 10:30 am - The following cocoa-water beverage: Microwave 1/4 cup distilled water in a mug. Add 1-2 Tbsp cocoa powder. Stir in cocoa powder, then stir in more distilled water to make an unsweetened cocoa-water drink. 

4) 12:55 pm - my broccoli/raw cacao nibs/gelatin smoothie (it works as a weight maintenance beverage if I drink it during meals, as discussed in prior posts on my various food adventures); 1-2 cups microwaved broccoli and cauliflower, 2 fried eggs with salt.

5) 1:50 pm - A repeat of 9:20 am.

6) 5:25 pm - my broccoli/raw cacao nibs/gelatin smoothie, mix of baby chard/baby kale/baby spinach, microwaved peas, 1.5 cups white rice (non-fortified), 3 Tbsp plain home-made peanut butter (made from roasted, unsalted peanuts)/salt (plain NaCl--no additives, home-ground from kosher salt).

Just before bedtime, I did about 30 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise. My dinner was early and smaller than usual, but I was still surprised to see that the scale went down 2 pounds this morning! 

Based on my food records, I think the combination of steps 1 & 2 above is probably what made the difference, if this is a legitimate fat loss. I wonder what chemistry could be involved? Bismuth-lithium-phospholipids? Superoxide? Time for chemistry specifics later after I verify that steps 1 & 2 can be repeated to achieve the same effect.

[Update 11/7/2025: Nope, not getting weight loss without the apple peel. One piece of Kroger pink lady apple peel, and I typically see weight loss eating similarly to what is above. Without the apple peel, I do not. What is in the wax on the apple skin?]

[Update 12/24/2025: Now I am investigating the molecular compound ethidium bromide. Many years ago, I did see intriguing weight loss results with kombu kelp, which is high in bromine.]

Quantum mechanical entanglement: key to affecting people's thoughts, emotions, and bodies from a distance

I have repeatedly sounded a warning about modern technologies being used to manipulate people without their knowledge. Core functionality in this area, according to my digging, appears to come from the "spooky action at a distance" phenomenon that is studied as part of quantum physics. 

Two years ago, scientists in Copenhagen announced that they had made a major breakthrough:

For years, researchers around the world have strived to develop stable quantum light sources and achieve the phenomenon known as quantum mechanical entanglement – a phenomenon, with nearly sci-fi-like properties, where two light sources can affect each other instantly and potentially across large geographic distances....Today, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute published a new result in the highly esteemed journal Science, in which they succeeded in doing just that....With the new research breakthrough, the fundamental quantum physics research is now in place. Now it is time for other actors to take the researchers' work and use it in their quests to deploy quantum physics in a range of technologies including computers, the internet and encryption.

Danish quantum physicists make nanoscopic advance of colossal significance. (January 26, 2023). University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science. Retrieved October 6, 2025 from https://science.ku.dk/english/press/news/2023/danish-quantum-physicists-make-nanoscopic-advance-of-colossal-significance/

The potential for commercial application of quantum mechanical entanglement has now been publicly acknowledged. 

I do not believe that 2023 was the first time this phenomenon was harnessed by humans. National militaries and research institutes usually have access to large, society-changing advances long before the rest of the public. Look at the history of mobile phones and the internet for examples of important technology that was not widely available for decades to most people but are now widespread. 

Unfortunately for the world, the fall of the USSR in the early 1990s resulted in Soviet scientists selling advanced weaponries, both big and tiny, on black markets.

Modern headlines make me think some well-connected criminals have gotten hold of  "spooky action" technology and sometimes use it to hurt others from afar. After all, isn't it a truism that the "best" crime is the one that a criminal gets away with?

[Update 12/26/2025: As I consider headlines from the past six years and note the convenient-for-some-people suicides of Russian oligarchs and Jeffrey Epstein, I can't help but think that brainwave modifying technology could be a unifying explanation for the mysteries around their deaths.]

Possible progress on the weight loss experiments

I might have a new avenue to explore. Here are the things I'm doing differently that are corresponding with drops on the scale:

1) Having some of my celery leaf/roasted banana leaf beverage at the start of the day then having more of it mixed with just-sliced green cabbage an hour later.

2) Microwaving beer salt/roasted banana leaf ash 60 seconds in a mug, stirring it with a Black Hills gold earring attached to the tines of a silver fork, and putting some of the powder on just-sliced green cabbage; adding just-grated cinnamon to the same mug, microwaving it for 60 seconds more, stirring it with the same earring and fork, and putting the rest of that powder mixture on the just-sliced green cabbage; and mixing the cabbage with the powders and eating it all (do (2) about an hour after (1) above).

3) Suspending a chunk of white granite in the top of the blender when I make the smoothie that accompanies lunch and dinner (the one made with broccoli florets, raw cacao nibs, and gelatin). I attach the granite firmly to the inside top of the blender with elastic bands. (This points to some sort of catalyst in white granite.)

I'll update later when I have more than three days of data trying these three items.

[Update 10/5/2025: It's only been a few days, but I haven't been able to recreate the weight loss. The most likely source of the weight loss was the waxy coating on a Pink Lady apple. Who knows what was in that?! As pharmaceutical companies are starting to talk about releasing pill versions of their weight loss injections (for example, see https://www.sciencealert.com/ozempic-in-a-pill-clinical-trial-finds-oral-semaglutide-works-for-weight-loss), it becomes apparent that some orally-delivered weight loss molecules were already being put in some foods, and I just happened to notice they were there.]

[Update 10/21/2025: I don't appreciate what appears to be a "shell game" of trying to find where weight loss molecules are. If you're wondering, I've found them in dessert additions (chips, sprinkles), deli meat, expensive cheese, canned fish (especially sardines), expensive chocolate, and unusual creamers. Of course, not in all of those products, but selected ones do appear to contain weight loss molecules according to my records. They often cause 1-2 pound drops off of weight plateaus and sometimes are accompanied by an uptick for a day or two in hair loss. I know I'm not imagining the hair loss side effect. Who in the processed food industry thinks it's OK to play games like this with people's health?

On another note, even before weight loss molecules like Ozempic and Wegovy's active ingredients were invented, people used to be able to get slim without fancy protein shakes, blended coffees, and sardines. I'm looking at the possibility that a negative ion of lithium could be helpful. 

Lithium, like hydrogen right above it on the periodic chart, usually ionizes to lose an election and become positive. However, hydrogen can gain an extra electron and have a charge of negative one. I suspect that lithium can also gain an extra electron and have a charge of negative one. Doing this in a home kitchen would involve cooling lithium, if I understand my chemistry standard reduction potential table correctly. I have seen tantalizing hints in old cookbooks that pointed to chilling certain ingredients as possibly important for weight loss. More convincing, though, to me is the personal weight effect I used to see with a combination of four ingredients (one of which has been reformulated since, so the combination doesn't work anymore) that only worked if I did not squish one ingredient ahead of time. The crucial ingredient was a banana. If I used it freshly peeled and put the other three ingredients on the surface that had just been unpeeled, the combination was effective for weight maintenance and possibly even loss. However, if I smashed the banana before adding the other three ingredients, it did not work. To me, this points to a static electricity charge being created in the process of peeling the banana with one side, either the peel or the banana, getting more electrons as the surfaces are ripped apart and the other side ending up with fewer. (If you've ever wrestled with a skirt over tights on a dry winter's day, you have personal experience with the phenomenon.)]

[Update 10/29/2025: OK, so if I drink my celery water/toasted banana leaf beverage first thing in the morning and combine it with some just-sliced cabbage, and then later in the day while "low-carbing" I have a bit of a Kroger pink lady apple (with some apple peel) and then drink a little bit of my broccoli-cacao nib-gelatin smoothie, the scale seems to go down. Otherwise, it tends not to. I'll make sure this combination works, then I'll see if it works for other varieties of apples...including home-grown ones, which I have.]

Data companies have "vast troves" of personal information on all of us. How is it being used?

The Deseret News, the more widely-circulated of the two newspapers in the Salt Lake City area, recently published a very important, informative article. It is "How AI-driven pricing systems determine what you’re willing to pay," Art Raymond, September 14, 2025 (online at https://www.deseret.com/business/2025/09/14/artificial-intelligence-internet-tracking-surveillance-pricing-discrimination-data-privacy/)

This is how the article starts out:

They know who you are, where you live, how much money you make and where you spent your last vacation.

They’re watching what websites you visit, tracking your mouse movements while you’re there and what you’ve left behind in virtual shopping carts. Mac or PC? iPhone or Android? Your preferences have been gathered and logged.

And they’ve got the toolkit, powered by artificial intelligence software, to assemble all this information to zero in on exactly how much you’re likely willing to pay for any product or service that might strike your fancy.

The “they” is a combination of retailers and service providers, social media operators, app developers, big data brokers and a host of other entities with whom you have voluntarily and involuntarily shared personal and behavioral information. And they’ve even come up with new labels to make you feel better about the systems that are using your personal data to set a custom price.

Dynamic pricing. Personalized pricing. Even “discount pricing.”

People might think they have privacy when they turn off their camera app or leave their cellphone out of the restroom, but there are so many other ways to collect data on them these days. Surveillance is no longer the outdated practice of sitting outside a building in a van for hours like one sees in older crime shows. 

Cellphones, smart watches, earbuds, and other new technologies make available to tech companies lots of our audio, video, typed, and biometric data, and those companies generally use third parties to analyze and utilize it in many ways that they do not always share with us. Look at the terms and conditions you are forced to agree to, and you'll see that they contain "wiggle room" especially when it comes to third parties.

In a preliminary report in January, the agency highlighted actions it’s already taken to quell the rise of surveillance pricing amid its effort to gather more in-depth information on the practice:

• One complaint issued by the FTC included allegations that a mobile data broker was harvesting consumer information and sensitive location data, including visits to health clinics and places of worship which was later sold to third-parties.
• The agency said it issued the first-ever ban on the use and sale of sensitive location data by a data broker which allegedly sold consumer location data it collected from third-party apps and by purchasing location data from other data brokers and aggregators.
• Another FTC complaint alleged that the data broker InMarket used consumers’ location data to sort them into particularized audience segments — such as “parents of preschoolers,” “Christian church goers,” “wealthy and not healthy” — which it then provided to advertisers.

Last year, the FTC issued orders to eight companies that offer surveillance pricing products and services that incorporate data about consumers’ characteristics and behavior. The orders, according to the agency, seek information about the potential impact these practices have on privacy, competition and consumer protection.

“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk. Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices,” said then-FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing, and the FTC’s inquiry will shed light on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen.”

(https://www.deseret.com/business/2025/09/14/artificial-intelligence-internet-tracking-surveillance-pricing-discrimination-data-privacy/) 

Personal information, i.e. information about your person.

Consider what that term means when it comes to eye and face tracking and all the information that can be gleaned from cameras (and other image/light sensors) about our microexpressions and pupil widening/contraction. (See https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2025/06/artificial-intelligence-programs-use.html)

Consider what that means when it comes to heart rate tracking, something that can indicate heart problems and arousal states. Yes, your smart watch can transmit data that indicates when you are turned on. (See https://www.livescience.com/51361-womens-sexual-readiness-heart-rate-variability.html)

Consider what that means when it comes to electroencephalogram (EEG) functionality in wearable technologies. (See https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2025/08/measuring-brainwave-activity-from-arms.html)

Consider what that means in light of the apparent ability to use cellphones to do functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data collection on us, which I think, based on my research so far, uses superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) or something similarly tiny that could already be in some processed foods. (See "Hybrid ultra-low-field MRI and magnetoencephalography system based on a commercial whole-head neuromagnetometer." Magn Reson Med, 69: 1795-1804. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.24413. Vesanen, P.T., Nieminen, J.O., Zevenhoven, K.C.J., Dabek, J., Parkkonen, L.T., Zhdanov, A.V., Luomahaara, J., Hassel, J., Penttilä, J., Simola, J., Ahonen, A.I., Mäkelä, J.P. and Ilmoniemi, R.J. (2013); "SQUID-based systems for co-registration of ultra-low field nuclear magnetic resonance images and magnetoencephalography." Physica C: Superconductivity and its Applications, 482: 19-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physc.2012.04.028. A.N. Matlashov, E. Burmistrov, P.E. Magnelind, L. Schultz, A.V. Urbaitis, P.L. Volegov, J. Yoder, M.A. Espy (2012))

Exploitation of troves of this kind of personal information is or will be society-changing. I think such exploitation has already been being used to affect some trends in our country, including increasing polarization and disunity by some who want the USA to fail at safeguarding freedom around the world.

As I have indicated in previous blog posts, there have apparently been some secrets being kept in the publishing and scholarly fields for centuries. Those secrets are almost certainly now known to the data collectors and analyzers with their powerful computers. If the secrets haven't been exposed publicly, then it's because the data companies have found ways to exploit the secrets to manipulate people who think they are still protected by "veils" of secrecy.

[Update 9/23/2025: Quantum interference objects don't have to be supercold. They can be at room temperature. See for example Zheng, H., Hou, S., Xin, C. et al. Room-temperature quantum interference in single perovskite quantum dot junctions. Nat Commun 10, 5458 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13389-7.]

7, 10, 10: another possible "sign" taken from the Book of Revelation used to indicate being against God

My daughter was asking how the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants got divided into verses recently. 

The Doctrine and Covenants is a compilation of revelations received separately, so it did not have to be divided into chapters. The revelations, called "sections," did get divided into verses later, but I was unable to find out who did that division.

The Book of Mormon was translated as a series of small books of varying lengths. Someone at its first publisher, E.B. Grandin, divided the those books into long chapters, and Orson Pratt later divided the Book of Mormon into shorter chapters and verses.

An interesting thing about the current Book of Mormon chapter divisions is that Alma Chapter 30 tells the account of an anti-Christ preacher named Korihor. Because Judas betrayed Jesus and was paid 30 pieces of silver, the phrase "thirty pieces of silver" is sometimes used when criticizing a betrayal or "selling out." 

I checked Doctrine and Covenants Section 30, and, either by accident or intentionally, that number has been assigned to a revelation about David Whitmer, the only one of the original Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon who left the LDS church without eventually returning to it. David Whitmer never denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon, even though he said Joseph Smith had fallen into wrongdoings.

I have previously noted in my blog the apparent meaningful use sometimes of the numbers 42 and 666, numbers labeled in the Bible's Book of Revelation as significant. (I don't actually like playing games of this sort, but if such games are going on, it's unwise to be willfully blind to their existence.)

Revelation 13:1 sets forth a series of three numbers that can be used to signify "the beast" or "Antichrist."

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

The series of numbers is 7, 10, then 10.

Out of curiosity, I opened to the seventh book of the King James Version of the Old Testament, Judges, Chapter 10, verse 10:

And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.

That describes rebellion against God. 

I next opened to the seventh book of the King James Version of the New Testament, 1 Corinthians, Chapter 10, verse 10:

Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

That verse also talks about rebellion against God.

I checked the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. The seventh book of the Book of Mormon does not have a tenth chapter. The tenth section of the Doctrine and Covenants does not have a tenth verse.

Today I checked the second level of the Pathway Reading Series, a quaint older set of Amish reading textbooks used to teach Amish children English reading skills in the context of their low-technology daily lives. 

Busy Times is the first of the second grade Amish reading books. Its seventh lesson is "Peter Forgets," and the tenth word of its tenth paragraph is "said." The "s" and the "a" and possibly the "i" appear too dark compared to surrounding letters, but it's hard to be sure if that was intentionally done because the print varies a lot in heaviness throughout the book. 

More Busy Times is the second of the second grade reading books. Its seventh lesson is "The Doll Story," and the tenth word of the tenth paragraph is "anything." The "y" and the "t" appear too dark compared to surrounding letters. Because "sa(i)yt" is the beginning of "Satan," I went on to the next book in the series.

Climbing Higher is the third and final of the second grade reading books. Its seventh subdivision is "Part 2: The Secret is Out." The tenth word of the tenth paragraph is "care," and it didn't have any unusually heavier letters in it. "The Secret is Out"? Really?!

Goin back to the King James Version of the Bible, that version of the Bible is several hundred years old and is based on much older versions. Has this 7, 10, 10 thing been a sign of some kind by authors, editors, and printers for that long? I'm not done looking into this....

[Update 9/19/2025: I looked at another older English book, Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, published in 1678. Here is the tenth paragraph of its seventh chapter:

Almost the whole town; but in particular my Lord Turnabout, my Lord Timeserver, my Lord Fair-speech, from whose ancestors that town first took its name; also Mr. Smooth-man, Mr. Facing-both-ways, Mr. Anything; and the parson of our parish, Mr. Two-tongues, was my mother's own brother by father's side; and to tell you the truth, I am become a gentleman of good quality; yet my great-grandfather was but a waterman, looking one way and rowing another, and I got most of my estate by the same occupation.

"Turnabout", per the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, has the following definitions:

1 a : a change or reversal of direction, trend, policy, role, or character

b : a changing from one allegiance to another

c : turncoat, renegade

d : an act or instance of retaliating - turnabout is fair play

2 : merry-go-round

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/turnabout

So, again in an old book, the 7-10-10 series brings the reader to text about being rebellious. This is so interesting! 

We don't talk nearly enough about the European guilds and the secrets they routinely kept to themselves about their various crafts--things like alloys, recipes, etc.--but I think this could be pointing to something connected to some sort of printers' guilds.]

[Update 9/24/2025: The LDS Church used to publish a seven volume history of the church, titled History of the Church. I looked at the seventh volume, tenth chapter, tenth subsection today. Here is a photo of it:

If a 7-10-10 sign was used here to indicate "rebels against God" , then it was indicating that some people in Illinois who called for Joseph Smith's murder were rebellious against God. Nothing noteworthy about that.

However, there is an introduction before the volume chapters start, making it so that the ninth chapter is the tenth subdivision of volume 7. The tenth subsection of chapter 9 is entitled "The Murder Accomplished - Reflections." 

"Accomplishing" the murder of a church leader revered as a prophet, one who hadn't done anything to deserve being killed, certainly qualifies as rebellion against God.

The beginning of this subsection references Willard Richards, the only one of the small group at Joseph Smith's murder who did not receive any bullet wounds. Is there something more being hinted at here? Is there possibly an attempt to frame Willard Richards as a rebel? He did engage in newspaper publishing himself, especially as a missionary. But I'm inclined to think him innocent and ignorant of any quiet printers guild activities. His life and early death don't seem like he was gaining anything from being some kind of secret rebel. Publishing guilds, on the other hand, have a history of seeking monopolies and taking sides in religious conflicts (see https://digital-law-online.info/patry/patry2.html, talking about how the Stationers guild in England had a goal of suppressing Catholicism in the 1500s.).

"The Murder Accomplished" of a prophet is enough of a sign of rebelliousness to satisfy me. I wonder who did the chapter divisions in the History of the Church. Publishers and printers are the people who pay most attention to chapter and section divisions, so any "signs" inserted by means of such divisions are logically put there by and for the publishers and printers.]

The dangerous combination of human-created content on the internet and AI-chatbots' documented ability to cause psychosis

Eleven days ago, Psychology Today posted an article about documented cases of AI-chatbots inducing psychosis in several people, including people with no prior history of mental illness. The chatbots led people to believe delusions in a matter of weeks and damaged their relationships and lives seriously.

This phenomenon highlights the broader issue of AI sycophancy, as AI systems are geared toward reinforcing preexisting user beliefs rather than changing or challenging them. Instead of promoting psychological flexibility, a sign of emotional health, AI may create echo chambers. When a chatbot remembers previous conversations, references past personal details, or suggests follow-up questions, it may strengthen the illusion that the AI system “understands,” “agrees,” or “shares” a user’s belief system, further entrenching them. Potential risks include:

Persecutory delusions exacerbated by memory recall features

....

Worsening of grandiose, religious, or identity-based delusions

Worsening of command hallucinations, including the belief that AI is issuing commands

Fueling manic symptoms like grandiosity, insomnia, or hypergraphia [hypergraphia is an overwhelming compulsion to write, producing voluminous and often disorganized text]

A potential increase in social withdrawal due to overreliance on AI for interaction, leading to reduced motivation (avolition) and cognitive passivity

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/202507/the-emerging-problem-of-ai-psychosis

AI systems "learn" how to keep humans using those AI systems. The systems thus tend to cause people to remain in "silos" where it is harder for them to realize that actual reality conflicts with what the AI is telling them. Given long enough, a chatbot could probably convince someone that the person is living in a Matrix-like simulation. I think that people must get out into nature and have regular contact with other people!

The underlying problem is that general-purpose AI systems are not trained to help a user with reality testing or to detect burgeoning manic or psychotic episodes. Instead, they could fan the flames.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/202507/the-emerging-problem-of-ai-psychosis

If you're reading this post and saying, "OK, I'll just avoid chatbots and AI summaries," protecting yourself isn't that easy. AI today is being used to partially produce search engine results. AI is also being used to promote AI-selected content in social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.). 

If you're aware of the issue of generative-AI using artists' and authors' original content to generate derivative content that seems human-created, perhaps you have already deduced that everyone's posts on the internet and social media forums can be used to generate a screen feed as convincing as any chatbot. In fact, an AI using human-created content is going to be more convincing than a chatbot because it's humans doing the posts! AI is just determining which posts the viewer will see.

Basically, every time you post something mean on the internet, an AI can use that post to feed someone's pre-existing insecurities/dislike and fan those feelings into hatred. Similarly, our positive and uplifting posts can be used by an AI to increase feelings of well-being. 

Who decides how AIs use the vast quantities of posts and webpages on the internet? Real people must eventually make these decisions, but I don't know who those real people are so I can't hold them accountable. In light of the polarization I see online and the damaged lives and families that result, I think our local and global communities should hold these real people accountable for what their tech does.

Photobiomodulation: Another lesser-known way cellphones could affect mental states

While much attention is given to neurotransmitter molecules like serotonin and dopamine, not everyone realizes how much of our activity is connected to certain electrical brainwave patterns. These patterns are directly tied to our emotions, and altering them (modulating) can alter our mental state. Modern cellphones have the ability to do such modulating.

For instance, one type of brainwave, labeled beta waves, affect our alertness and emotions:

Anxiety, insecurity, fear, panic and phobia are observed by QEEG when the levels of total Beta >17% and High-Beta waves >10% at T3 and T4.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6200158/

The human brain is characterized by endogenous oscillatory activity, i.e., rhythmic fluctuations stemming from electrical potentials spontaneously generated by neurons. Such oscillations are the result of synchronized and coordinated electrical activities that describe functional networks across large populations of neurons. It is generally accepted that brain oscillations reflect neural communication and information processing within neural networks (Cole and Voytek, 2017), resulting in distinct patterns of brain wave frequencies. Natural brain frequencies are classified into five bands: alpha (8–12 Hz), beta (15–29 Hz), theta (3.5–7 Hz), delta (0.5–3.5 Hz), and gamma (30–90 Hz). Interestingly, each phase and power of each endogenous frequency range of neural activity was assigned to a functional role in behavior and cognition (Buzsaki, 2004, Van Wassenhove, 2016). The close relationship between changes in brain oscillations and behavior suggests that targeting oscillations could improve cognitive functions. Accordingly, a significant number of studies focusing on brain-behavior relationships were published in the scientific literature. As a result, there has been extensive research into the use of brain stimulation techniques for therapeutic purposes, with the goal of inducing specific frequencies to guide the brain into desired states (for review, see Polanía et al., 2018). 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030645222400321X

Photobiomodulation is a technology that uses delivery of near infrared light pulses to the brain to affect our brain's activity. (See https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11171912/.) Cellphones shine that type of light onto our eyeballs and onto the interior surfaces of our noses and ears (cellphone proximity sensors* emit near infrared light), meaning they can hypothetically be used to either stir up or reduce alertness and anxiety.

In the intranasal PBM approach, light is positioned within the nostril, allowing the direct irradiation of subcortical and cortical structures associated with the pathologies of AD and PD. Additionally, combining light exposure through the sphenoid sinus and mouth cavity has been proposed to achieve sufficient fluence at the SNc in humans. 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11171912/. Nairuz, T.; Sangwoo-Cho; Lee, J.-H. Photobiomodulation Therapy on Brain: Pioneering an Innovative Approach to Revolutionize Cognitive Dynamics. Cells 2024, 13, 966.

I wonder how many places, knowingly or unknowingly, use infrared lights to calm us as part of a spa or worship experience. 

* "The proximity sensor usually sits up near the top speaker and combines an infrared LED and light detector to work out when you have the phone up to your ear, so that screen can be switched off. The sensor emits a beam of light that gets bounced back, though it’s invisible to the human eye." Downloaded from https://gizmodo.com/all-the-sensors-in-your-smartphone-and-how-they-work-1797121002 on September 9, 2025.

Are there viruses that can make us smarter?

 Years ago, I came across research pointing to aspartic acid as something that can make us smarter:

D-Aspartic acid (D-Asp) is an endogenous amino acid present in neuroendocrine systems. Here, we report evidence that D-Asp in the rat is involved in learning and memory processes. Oral administration of sodium D-aspartate (40 mM) for 12-16 days improved the rats' cognitive capability to find a hidden platform in the Morris water maze system....Moreover, 20 randomly selected rats possessing relatively high endogenous concentrations of D-Asp in the hippocampus were much faster in reaching the hidden platform, an event suggesting that their enhanced cognitive capability was functionally related to the high levels of D-Asp.  

Topo E, Soricelli A, Di Maio A, D'Aniello E, Di Fiore MM, D'Aniello A. Evidence for the involvement of D-aspartic acid in learning and memory of rat. Amino Acids. 2010 May;38(5):1561-9. doi: 10.1007/s00726-009-0369-x. Epub 2009 Nov 5. PMID: 19890700. Online at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19890700/

It turns out that picornaviruses can enhance production of aspartic acid:

Foot-and-mouth disease, a class of animal diseases, is caused by foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). The metabolic changes during FMDV infection remain unclear....A total of 284 metabolites in cells were significantly changed after FMDV infection, and most of them belong to amino acids and nucleotides. Further studies showed that FMDV infection significantly enhanced aspartate in vitro and in vivo. The amino acid transporter solute carrier family 38 member 8 (SLC38A8) was responsible for FMDV-upregulated aspartate....Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), an Aphthovirus within the viral family Picornaviridae, is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in domestic and wild cloven-hoofed animals worldwide, including swine, goats, sheep, cattle, deer, and camelids.

Liu H, Zhu Z, Xue Q, Yang F, Cao W, Xue Z, Liu X, Zheng H. Picornavirus infection enhances aspartate by the SLC38A8 transporter to promote viral replication. PLoS Pathog. 2023 Feb 3;19(2):e1011126. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011126. PMID: 36735752; PMCID: PMC9931120. Online at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9931120/ 

What if we could inoculate babies with picornaviruses or other viruses that increase aspartate--viruses that don't cause any bad or obvious symptoms but which do increase the level of aspartic acid they have in their brains? Would we increase their intelligence over the course of their developmental years? It's such an intriguing thought.

I realized this use of a virus could be a real possibility because of the unusual requirement in some forms of circumcision that there be at least a drop of blood drawn during the circumcision and that another human must draw the blood out by contact with the circumciser's oral mucosa (look up the controversies over mohels in Jewish brit milah for more details). If herpes has been spread via this practice, which is alleged to be the case, then perhaps asymptomatic viruses have been spread by mohels over the millennia. 

Wouldn't it be interesting if some of Jewish culture and history has been shaped by the spread of unnoticed viruses via certain mohels? (And, as a female who watched Yentl, I have to wonder how young females would get left out of any benefits provided by such viruses.)

Investigating why my weight maintenance smoothie could be working

For over a year now, this has been my "weight maintenance" smoothie at lunch (usually a low-carb lunch) and dinner (often a meal of white rice, lots of different kinds of vegetables, and homemade peanut butter):

Prepare in a jar a little beef gelatin powder mixed with room-temperature distilled water.

In a high-speed blender, blend some fresh, rinsed broccoli florets with rinsed raw cacao nibs and distilled water.

Pour the blender contents once pureed and steaming (that takes about 50 seconds in my Blendtec at its top speed) into the jar of gelatin-water. Mix together in the jar.

Dilute with more distilled water to a pleasant drinkable texture.

I think this smoothie could be helpful because it's contains a molecule similar enough to insulin that it keeps the body from making a lot of its own insulin and/or blocks real insulin from getting to its receptor molecules. We tend to think of insulin as a good thing all round because diabetics need it, but insulin also tells the body to store fat. (Read The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung for insight on how insulin increases fat storage. The endocrine system plays a role in fat storage that is often overlooked in the popular press.)

What does the insulin molecule look like?

Insulin is a protein composed of two chains, an A chain (with 21 amino acids) and a B chain (with 30 amino acids), which are linked together by sulfur atoms. Insulin is derived from a 74-amino-acid prohormone molecule called proinsulin. Proinsulin is relatively inactive, and under normal conditions only a small amount of it is secreted. In the endoplasmic reticulum of beta cells the proinsulin molecule is cleaved in two places, yielding the A and B chains of insulin and an intervening, biologically inactive C peptide. The A and B chains become linked together by two sulfur-sulfur (disulfide) bonds.

"Insulin" Encyclopedia Britannica. Online at https://www.britannica.com/science/insulin

Normally the insulin crystals contain two zinc ions to every six molecules of insulin—a hexamer. The slow solution of the crystals provides a method of delaying the action of insulin that closely parallels the methods adopted in the pancreas itself for the storage and release of insulin. Within many β granules, grains can be seen that almost certainly contain zinc insulin hexamers packed in a crystalline array, and in experimental animals diabetes has been induced by chelating agents, such as EDTA, perhaps simply by interfering with normal insulin storage. It, therefore, seems plausible that ready crystallization of insulin in the presence of zinc is a reflection of the storage processes in the β cell.

Tom Blundell, Guy Dodson, Dorothy Hodgkin, Dan Mercola. Insulin: The Structure in the Crystal and its Reflection in Chemistry and Biology. Advances in Protein Chemistry, Volume 26, 1972, Pages 279-402, ISSN 0065-3233, ISBN 9780120342266, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-3233(08)60143-6. Online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065323308601436

In humans, insulin is stored as a crystalline hexamer containing two zinc ions and one calcium ion...

The effects of zinc are variously referred to as insulin-mimetic, insulin-like, or insulin-sparing. 

Maret W. Zinc in Pancreatic Islet Biology, Insulin Sensitivity, and Diabetes. Prev Nutr Food Sci. 2017 Mar;22(1):1-8. doi: 10.3746/pnf.2017.22.1.1. Epub 2017 Mar 31. PMID: 28401081; PMCID: PMC5383135. Online at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5383135/

Insulin is produced and stored in the body as a hexamer (a unit of six insulin molecules), while the active form is the monomer. The hexamer is about 36000 Da in size. The six molecules are linked together as three dimeric units to form symmetrical molecule. An important feature is the presence of zinc atoms (Zn2+) on the axis of symmetry, which are surrounded by three water molecules and three histidine residues at position B10.

"Insulin" Wikipedia. Downloaded today from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

Back to my smoothie ingredients: 

Sulfur and sulfides, I get from the broccoli.

Amino acids and peptides, I get from the beef gelatin.

What am I putting in the smoothie that could be a replacement for zinc such as to result in a molecule similar enough to insulin to block its fat-storing activity? Hmmm. What is the same size as a zinc ion? According to my chemistry book, if we're looking for something around the same size as a Zn(2+) ion, possible ions include Ni(2+), Co(2+), and Fe(2+); I don't trust cobalt ions due to a vitamin B12-colorectal cancer connection that is turning up in studies, and nickel and iron just seem too commonly present to be "special" in blocking weight gain. Perhaps the zinc in insulin is a bit bigger and looks like a Zn(1+) ion. If that is the case, then silver (Ag(1+)), cadmium (Cd(2+)), and indium (In(3+)) are nearby elements in the periodic chart that are roughly the same size as a Zn(1+) ion.

It's interesting that my smoothie requires raw cacao nibs. If roasting fermented cacao seeds destroys the specific ion that I need for my smoothie, that points to cadmium, since cadmium roasted together with ammonia results in a new molecule (Cd(NH3)4(2+)) instead of the cadmium ions (Cd(2+)) that were originally present. Cadmium does seem to be pretty frequently found in foods that are connected to being thinner. I wonder...could this be one of those trace minerals where too much is obviously bad, but a just-right amount in the right molecular combinations is actually health-promoting? 

I'd prefer that the required ion be silver (Ag(1+)) because that would finally explain why silver gets used for fancy tableware even though silver gets tarnished and unattractive so readily! Heating silver ions with reduced iron ions (Fe(2+)) de-ionizes silver back to plain solid silver. There is iron in cacao, per this article: Wijsman JA. Zur Eisenkontamination in Kakao und Kabaoerzeugnissen [On the iron contamination in cocoa and chocolate products (author's transl)]. Z Lebensm Unters Forsch. 1978 Aug 18;167(1):2-4. German. doi: 10.1007/BF01122876. PMID: 706799. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/706799/

Indium, I know nothing about except that the East and West Indies were very desirable destinations during the Age of Exploration. Perhaps those locations were sources of indium? I'll have to learn more about indium. Due to cadmium's toxicity and to silver's unclear intrinsic value, I'm going to look hard at silver in the meantime. Specifically, I will see what I can do in the kitchen to alter the presence of silver ions in my smoothies and see if I notice any difference.

[Update 8/30/2025: While looking at possible compounds associated with weight loss, not just weight maintenance, I came across an interesting one tonight. It is the azide group or ion, 3 nitrogens bonded together with a valence (or charge) of -1: N3(1-). 

The azide ion can be created by heating Al(1+) with ammonia (NH3) and hydrazine (N2H4) present; having water in the initial ingredients will deter the production of azide because the ammonia will dissolve into the water. Here's the standard reduction potential information on that reaction per one website:

-0.62                    N3 (1-) + 7 H2O + 6 e (1-) --> N2H4 + NH3 (gas) + 7 OH (1-)

I've been experimenting with dry microwaving of alum--aluminum sulfate FCC, per the label, which is a food ingredient used for making cucumbers into pickles--with roasted banana leaf (a source of ash and OH(1-) ions), juniper berries, and dried parsley (possibly a source of ammonia and hydrazine, due to its nitrogen content and processing). Afterwards, I put the juniper berries, which probably function as mere carriers of other more important molecules, in a butter puree and blend them with another mixture that appears to have either lithium or rubidium ions; if so, then I think I could be making LiN3 or RbN3. I'll keep investigating this.

In the meantime, I'm optimistic that I might have found an intentionally hidden "needle in the haystack", for none of my high school and college chemistry books discuss the azide ion, even though chemically it is very interesting: the N has a partial oxidation number of -1/3, it's made from ammonia and hydrazine, and it's composed of nitrogen (78% of our atmosphere is nitrogen).]

[Update 01/16/2026: Even though I now realize it is likely that the canned fish that helped me quickly lose weight could have had Wegovy/Ozempic-like compounds in it, I'm still trying different things in the morning to see what naturally occurring weight loss compounds I might be able to identify. Because some juniper berries did in fact work (until I ran out of a specific jar of them), I think resin from evergreens might be a source.]

Measuring brainwave activity from the arms and legs

I don't own a smart watch or fitbit. Having a device tell me that my heart rate is elevated is unnecessary because I can feel that when that happens all by myself.

I have suspected for some time that wearable technology can be used to collect far more data about our brainwave activity than is generally known. Yesterday I came across a description of "far-field potential," which is measurement of nervous system activity from far away in the body as compared to when it is measured up-close like with those electrode webs you sometimes see pictured on people's heads in articles about electroencephalography (i.e., EEGs). The up-close measurements are referred to as "near-field potential."

ABSTRACT. Electrical signals generated in any biological system can travel to the surface by volume conduction. Near-field potentials are generated close to the recording electrode; far- field potentials are generated at a distance from the recording electrode. Biological electrical signals are often dipoles with a negative and a positive end. EEG and evoked potential studies may record one or both ends of the dipole, as either near-field or far-field potentials. The morphology and apparent polarity of recorded waveforms are determined in part by the orientation of the dipole, the direction of spread, and the derivation used for recording.

Ghigo, J., Erwin, A. C., & Erwin, C. W. (1991). Near-field vs. Far-field Evoked Potentials. American Journal of EEG Technology, 31(2), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029238.1991.11080362. Online at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029238.1991.11080362 

Notice that this article is from 1991. That means that this recording of neural data has been possible for over two decades.

[Update: Apparently far-field potential recording between the extremities has been possible since the 1970s, per this paper I came across yesterday:

Somatosensory evoked potential in man: Far field potentials 

Potentiel évoqué somato-sensitif chez l'homme: potentiels transmis à distance

Abstract: Three short latency positive potentials evoked by median nerve stimulation were recorded from the scalp, nose and ear of 11 normal adult subjects in leads where the hand or knee contralateral to the side of stimulation was used as the reference site. The short latencies and positive polarity of these components suggest that they are volume conducted far field potentials. Evidence is presented which suggests that the first potential arises in peripheral nerve fibers. Brain stem and dicencephalic structures are suggested as possible sources for the second and third potentials.

The configuration of the response to median nerve stimulation recorded over the cervical spine in ear and hand reference recordings was different. Evidence is presented which suggests that this occurs because the electrode placed on the ear records the far field potentials described in the above paragraph. A far field potential was also recorded in hand--knee leads contralateral to the stimulated median nerve.

Roger Q Cracco, Joan B Cracco, Somatosensory evoked potential in man: Far field potentials, Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, Volume 41, Issue 5, 1976, Pages 460-466, ISSN 0013-4694, https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4694(76)90057-2. Online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0013469476900572 and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/61849/]

Why is this still a controversial topic?: The Apollo 11 mission and the US space program

This last spring's Eurovision Song Contest had an interesting entry from Italy. A man in a clown costume sang a collection of disjointed thoughts, at one point saying, "E che le lune senza buche Sono fregature." (https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/2025/italy#google_vignette) That translates to, "And that moons without craters/holes are frauds."

I went back and looked at stills of the moon landing by Armstrong and Aldrin in 1969, and I didn't see any craters. I did see a dune in the background, which seems a bit odd since dunes form from the action of repeated gusts of wind; the moon doesn't have an atmosphere, so it doesn't have gusts of air that could form dunes.

I wasn't going to blog about this topic. Moon landing questions are heavily discouraged in our culture, and I do enough digging into less mainstream possibilities already. However, I think it is important to sometimes ask questions about things that seem to merit a few. A world where questions are off-limits is an ever more unpleasant place. And Italy practically begged the western world to ask a few questions about the 1969 moon landing!

I am blogging about the topic now because I was reading, how to, a book by the creator of xkcd. (If you have never read it, xkcd is a very clever comic that one often needs a background in math and science to understand. See https://xkcd.com/ .) In describing the aircraft that was used to carry the Space Shuttle orbiter around, the author of how to said, 

To carry the Space Shuttle orbiter, the carrier aircraft has a special mount that protrudes from the top of the fuselage. This mount fits into a socket in the belly of the Shuttle orbiter. Next to the mount is an instructional plaque, which features the single best joke in the history of the aerospace industry:

ATTACH ORBITER HERE

NOTE: BLACK SIDE DOWN

My father worked in the aerospace industry--specifically on anthropomorphic tank suits for pilots at one point--on and off for decades, and I assure you that he never joked about this writing on the Shuttle orbiter carrier. 

My curiosity raised, I looked up whether the Shuttle orbiter carrier really said that. There was a photo showing that it did. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Carrier_Aircraft#/media/File:Shuttle_mounting_point.JPG .) The word "NOTE" was in red font, while the rest of the instructions were in black. I decided to try doing doubles-cancellation on the black font part of the message and got this result: trlakswn. I tried a few possibilities for reading it and saw that if one reads it backward, it is "nw skal rt" or "No-scale art." 

"No-scale"? As in a reference to weightlessness? And then it was followed by the word "art", which can be the abbreviation of "artificial". What was going on at NASA that a hint of faked weightlessness somehow got painted on the orbiter carrier? Surely someone in the organization knew of the ever-present conspiracy theories about the space program and would have been careful to avoid feeding them.... Wouldn't they?

These are questions I will never be able to answer.

[Update 7/15/2025: It doesn't help simplify matters when a headline says the following:

The Pentagon Disinformation That Fueled America’s UFO Mythology

U.S. military fabricated evidence of alien technology and allowed rumors to fester to cover up real secret-weapons programs

Is that a tabloid headline?!

No, it's the Wall Street Journal, last month. See https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/ufo-us-disinformation-45376f7e, June 6, 2025. Hardly a wild-eyed news source.]

Something going on with eggshells heated with aluminum?

I am experiencing possible weight loss again from an experiment. Only time will tell if this one really works, but as usual I'm posting my procedure. This blog is easier to read than my handwritten notebooks and so makes a good research record. 

This variation uses eggshells that have been boiled with aluminum foil and roasted banana ash; after peeling and drying the eggshells, I pulverize them and use them as a powder. See procedure below:

1) At least one day ahead of time, boil some washed eggs in distilled water together with aluminum foil strips and a little roasted banana leaf ash. After the eggs are cool, remove shells; remove as much membrane from the eggshells as possible, then pulverize the eggshells in a blender.

2) In the morning, on an empty stomach, drink some celery leaf/roasted banana leaf ash/distilled water (strained with nylon mesh). Wait an hour. Eat a little raw green cabbage then do the next 8 steps.

3) Microwave for 60 seconds 4 or 5 raw juniper berries and some dried parsley leaves in a plastic IKEA children cup. Press the juniper berries into a small amount of salted butter on the tines of a personal blender.

4) Microwave for 60 seconds around 20 raw juniper berries in a dry, white mug with beer salt (for the silicon dioxide in it)/a little cream of tartar (for the potassium ions)/aluminum-ash-eggshell powder (from step 1 above). Swirl the mug a bit immediately after, and press around 4 of the juniper berries into a small amount of salted butter on the tines of a personal blender.

5) Grate some cinnamon bark into the step 4 mug, swirl it, then microwave it for 60 seconds more. Press around 4 of these juniper berries into the salted butter, too.

6) Microwave step 5 mug 30 seconds, then put in some Hershey's cocoa and swirl it, Press around 4 of these juniper berries into the salted butter, too. Puree the distilled water, salted butter, and all the juniper berries (just to mix, so not for long).

7) Microwave 60 seconds some dried dill weed on Hershey's cocoa in a Classico pasta sauce glass Mason jar, then stir in (with plastic) some just-sliced small pieces of washed Roma tomato.

8) Microwave 60 seconds in a mug a little roasted banana ash on a little homemade onion powder on Hershey's cocoa, and pour some of the step 6 puree into it. Stir with plastic.

9) Mix step 8 into the DCT (with plastic).

10) Eat part of step 9. Put in some distilled water in which dry soybeans have been soaked overnight and eat more of it. Put in some raw green cabbage and eat the rest.

[Update 7/16/2025: I'm getting progressively, tentatively more hopeful about using aluminum-treated eggshell powder. I started to put hydrogen peroxide (3% H2O2 from the store) in the cooking water (distilled H2O) for some hard-boiled eggs (which I washed first) along with some aluminum foil, then I cooled the eggs and peeled them, removing the membranes from the eggshells and pulverizing the eggshells.

I think I might be making calcium peroxide, strontium peroxide, or barium peroxide. The sulfur from the egg would be helpful in forming intermediate sulfate to allow their formation as chemical products. Perhaps the aluminum is a catalyst.]

[Update: 7/17/2025: Down in weight again today! Here's the chemistry book page that makes me think that calcium/strontium/barium peroxide could be a key ingredient in weight loss:

Elements of Chemistry, 1943, Brownlee, Fuller, Hancock, Sohon, and Whitsit.]

[Update 7/23/2025: Never mind about the hydrogen peroxide. That seems to be going nowhere.

Looking over my records, I see that consumption of red cabbage, which is actually purple, might have been involved when I thought it was the hydrogen peroxide. So many possibilities, so many that don't pan out. 

I'm starting to wonder how Thomas Edison only experienced "several thousand ways that didn't work" when he was inventing the light bulb. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/31/edison-lot-results/]