Terms with unexpected meanings, part 6

Because my dictionary is dated 1971, I don't think many women were involved in writing/editing it. That probably partly explains the first term with "unexpected meanings" in today's blog post:

* "wife" = noun, "[ME wif, from OE wīf; akin to OHG wīb, woman, wife, ON vīf, woman; perhaps akin to ON veipr head covering--more at WIPE]...." Because "veipr" looks and sounds like viper, or snake, and there's no need to look for sources for "wife" other than the obvious "wif/wīf," this dictionary entry apparently contains an intentional slam on women. So I looked further and turned to the dictionary entry for the noun "wipe," the first definition of which is "1 a (1) BLOW, STRIKE, SWIPE (2) obs: a mark from or as if from a blow b: a harsh sarcastic remark: GIBE, JEER." None of the other definitions of the noun "wipe" mention head coverings. This really does look like someone was sneaking an insult to women into the dictionary.

* "shool": this word sounds just like "shul," which means synagogue. But this word has an "unknown origin" and is defined to be "to drag or scrape along: SHAMBLE, SHUFFLE; to loaf or idle about begging: LOITER, SAUNTER." Doesn't this look like a sneaky slam on religious Jewish people? After the insulting of Christians (see https://www.blogger.com/u/0/blog/post/edit/7919117044428850947/1488006919036740996) and wives (see above), I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to find anti-Jewish insults in this dictionary, too. Still, one hopes for more virtuous behavior on the part of everyone.

* "ovonics" = "a branch of electronics that deals with applications of the Ovshinky effect." And the "Ovshinsky effect" = "the change from an electrically nonconducting to a semiconducting state shown by glasses of special composition upon application of a certain minimum voltage." Glass can become a semiconductor, depending on its composition? That seems like something that should be more widely known in this era of sleek, glass-faced tech devices.

* "magnetostriction" = "the change in the dimensions of a ferromagnetic body caused by a change in its state of magnetization." "Ferromagnetic" = "of or relating to a class of substances characterized by abnormally high magnetic permeability, definite saturation point, and appreciable residual magnetism and hysteresis." Our human bodies are ferromagnetic bodies, so I would like more information about how changes in magnetic fields on and around our body surfaces could affect us internally. Could magnetostriction be used to help treat blood vessel-related issues? That would potentionally be a lot of issues!

* "Zener diode" = "[origin unknown]: a silicon semiconductor device used esp. as a voltage regulator." While the entry says the origin is unknown, there is a dictionary entry for "Zener cards," which are a set of cards with five distinct shapes used to test for extrasensory perception (ESP). If such testing is carried out by having subjects touch silicon buttons, it seems that the tests could be manipulated by using silicon buttons that can effect voltage alterations in the subjects' nerves. (Doesn't it make you think of the scene from Ghostbusters where Peter Venkman is doing ESP testing and shocking the test subject who is not a pretty young woman? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW8Ua49dCYk)

* "optoelectronic" = "being or relating to a device in which light energy and electrical energy are coupled." How are they coupled? Are they coupled in my cell phone and computer monitor screen? Because I spend far too long staring at them, and I'd like to know about all the types of energy being sent my way.

* "numerical control" = "automatic control (as of a machine tool) by a digital computer." "Automatic control...by a digital computer"? In this age of people-manipulating technological algorithms? Doesn't that seem too broad a definition for something that on the surface only seems to be talking about controlling numbers?

* "tylosin" = "[origin unknown]: an antibacterial antibiotic from an actinomycete (Streptomyces fradiae)." I never heard of this antibiotic before. In fact, this 1971 dictionary mentions many antibiotics that never seem to be used in medicine any more. Is that because they aren't patentable and so get crowded out by the revenue-producing formulations of pharmaceutical companies?

* "diacodion": this is listed as a medicine by the dictionary in connection with the prefix "dia-", but I couldn't find any description of what it is or what it is supposed to treat. Online dictionaries say it is merely another name for diacodium, an opiate, but "codium" is defined in this 1971 dictionary as a green algae. (The part of me that wonders whether there are some forgotten "treasures of knowledge" in my old dictionary hopes that this has to do with an obscured-by-time treatment for tuberculosis, since Robert Koch--pronounced "co-"--did a lot of research on tuberculosis and I've lived in places where this illness is still a big problem.)

* "Wankel engine" = "an internal combustion engine developed in Germany that has a rounded triangular rotor functioning as a piston and rotating in a space in the engine and that has only two major moving parts." Why isn't it used for vehicles? It sounds simpler that the internal combustion engines in use presently. Is it less efficient? Less robust? With only two major moving parts, it seems like it would be a more enduring type of motor, not less.

* "worry beads" = "[so called fr. the belief that the fingering releases nervous tension]: a string of beads to be fingered so as to keep one's hands occupied." Yes, the 1970s had "fidgets"! I wonder if they were more effective (and less annoying, speaking as a teacher who sees them used as toys more often than not) than the modern version.

That's all for today!

Terms with unexpected meanings, part 5

Here are some more words that stood out to me as I looked through our big 1971 Webster's Dictionary:

* "patient" = (noun) "archaic: one that suffers, endures, or is victimized." Yes, that really is what is says in the first definition of patient--one that is victimized. I think most people in the health care field would be surprised to see a "patient" defined thus, as they work in health care to help others, not victimize them!

* "trephone" = (noun) "any of various blood substances in the blood serum and body fluids that promote the growth of cells." Why, when our global community researches cancer so diligently, is this word not part of our vocabulary?

* "trephocyte" = "a blood cell found in many invertebrates and concerned primarily with the transport of substances between the body cells." Invertebrates? We don't eat many of those, but we do eat some--squid, octopus, snails, clams, oysters, scallops, etc.--and I'd be interested in knowing what substances trephocytes transport and what health benefits could be obtained by the utilization of trephocyte-containing blood.

* "apoplex" = (transitive verb) "archaic: to strike with apoplexy." Apoplexy is defined as a stroke. A transitive verb is one that a person (or other agent) can do to a second person. If it's possible to strike someone down with a stroke-like illness--which the existence of this verb definition implies--how would one do such a thing? Shouldn't that be investigated?

* "appliance" = (noun) "2: something applied to a purpose or use: as a archaic : DEVICE, MEASURE, STRATAGEM b: a piece of equipment for adapting a tool or machine to a special purpose: ACCESSORY, FIXTURE, APPLIANCE." I never would have thought "stratagem" to be a definition of appliance. To me, appliances are clothes washers and such.

* "-tribe": as an ending, one definition of "-tribe" is "instrument for crushing, compressing, or rubbing." Because electricity can be generating by the use of such instruments (see "triboelectricity", which means the positive and negative charges caused by friction), I'd be interested in knowing whether such instruments are present in my kitchen, my footwear, and my apparel.

* "trifle": not just a British dessert or a small thing, a "trifle" can also be "a pewter of moderate hardness (as of 83 parts tin and 17 parts antimony) used esp. for small utensils." I have been looking at how antimony might get into our food and drinks, and kitchen utensils made with antimony could certainly contribute to that happening.

* "apostate" = "adj [ME, fr. apostate n.] 1: relating to or characterized by apostasy <the child of an ~ ... Catholic--Time> faithless to moral allegiance: RENEGADE <so spoke the ~ angel--John Milton> 2: abandoning or involving the abandonment of any form of allegiance <an ~ and unnatural connection with any foreign power--George Washington>." Why name-drop George Washington here? I didn't think the term apostate was used in connection with revolution, but if that makes George Washington an "apostate" in the eyes of some people in the British Commonwealth, he is still my hero. :)

* "hydromagnetic", introduced in the dictionary in 1971, has two definitions. One is "being a wave in an electrically conducting fluid in a magnetic field," and the other is "MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC," which was previously defined in the main text of the dictionary as "or or relating to phenomena arising from the motion of electrically conducting fluids in the presence of electric and magnetic fields." The second definition appears much broader than and inclusive of the narrower "hydromagnetic" term introduced in 1971; I don't see why it was deemed necessary to create a different, more narrow term. Also, how does magnetohydrodynamics intersect with human biology? After all, we have "electrically conducting fluids in the presence of electric and magnetic fields" throughout our bodies.

* "appendant" has definitions that appear contradictory. One says "annexed or belonging as a right--used in English law of certain ancient immemorial rights in land (as an advowson or common) that are annexed to the land of the person claiming them," while another says "attached as an appendage: ANNEXED." When I go to the definition of "to annex," one of them is "to appropriate esp. by highhanded or or ethically questionably methods: get hold of: make off with; often STEAL." Who knew that boring-sounding contract law terms sometimes are hiding theft underneath their layers of definitions?

* "Sanctified" and "sanctimonious" have somehow been made equivalent in this dictionary, even though they are opposites in the minds of most English speakers. Here's the entry for "sanctimonious": adj [L sanctimonia sanctimony + E -ous] 1: affecting piousness: hypocritically devout: displaying high-mindedness with intent to impress <easy to be ~ about loyalty--C.P. Curtis> <a woman who was religious without being ~ --G.S.Stokes> 2: archaic: possessing sanctity: HOLY, SACRED [synonym] see DEVOUT." (Keep in mind that archaic merely means old, not invalid.) And here is the entry for "sanctified": adj [ME, fr. past part. of sanctifien to sanctify] 1 a: made holy: made free of sin or from the bondage of sin b: set apart to sacred duty or use 2: made to have the air of sanctity: SANCTIMONIOUS." Isn't that odd? 

The last two words in today's post have me wondering--after the dictionary entry I found earlier on "cretin" (see https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2023/01/terms-with-unexpected-meanings-part-2.html)--who were the 1971 Webster's dictionary editors with a deep dislike for religious people?

Science secrets, Jesus, and the leaders who didn't want to share

This week, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are all studying John 2-4 from the Bible. Chapter 3 contains a very interesting account of the visit of Nicodemus, one of the Jewish rulers, to Jesus. Nicodemus came by night, even though Jesus was teaching in the open by day, and basically said to Jesus, "We know you are sent from God because of the miracles you do." Some of the Jewish leaders of his time recognized that Jesus was sent from God and even admitted it to him, but only when no one else was around. Why? Why would they keep quiet their knowledge of a prophet of God?

I encourage everyone to read deeply in John 3, for it reveals that the Jewish elders contemporary with Jesus were keeping valuable science-related secrets for themselves. John 3:8 records Jesus saying to Nicodemus:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

What meaning of wind is Jesus using here? Readers generally assume it means the movement of wind currents, but wind has many meanings. Usually, we can tell where movements of air come from and are going to, so this definition of wind doesn't fit what Jesus is saying. Another meaning of wind, per my big 1971 dictionary, is "a force or agency that carries along or influences." A "force...that...influences" and that makes sounds--I think this is a description of electromagetism. 

Archaeologists have found evidence that people as long ago as the Olmecs in southern Mexico have apparently been aware of the interesting and useful properties of magnets and purposely sought out rocks magnetized by lightning. See this 2019 article from the Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/mesoamerican-sculptures-reveal-early-knowledge-magnetism-180972820/. Combining magnetism with movement and iron rods results in the presence of electrical currents, and the Old Testament contains significant references to iron rod-shaped objects, such as King Saul's javelin. 

The conversation between Jesus and the Jewish ruler goes on in the next few verses:

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

Jesus was talking about earthly things, i.e., what we think of as science, when he described the force that made sounds and didn't have an ascertainable source or terminus. Our technology now allows us to use electromagnetism to produce music, move muscles, and affect our neural networks in both positive and negative ways. Did the Jewish rulers of Jesus' time also have ways in which they used electromagnetism, uses which they preferred to keep hidden? I think so, for in verses 19-21, Jesus says to the Jewish ruler, 

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

In a previous blog post of mine, I mention how Jesus also talked openly about the Jewish leaders having the ability to heal some kinds of mental illness and how they reacted with anger at him. The interactions between Jesus and the Jewish rulers of his time make much more sense when viewed in the context of leaders desperate to keep science-related secrets from the people they controlled.

Terms with unexpected meanings, part 4

Here are some more unexpected or unusual word definitions out of the 1971 Webster's Third New International Dictionary:

* "Situation ethics" = introduced to the dictionary as a new English word in 1971 and defined as "a system of ethics which is based on love and by which acts are judged within their contexts instead of by categorical principles." I typically hear this term used negatively in the sense of moral relativism, but it was originally meant to be a formulation of ethics based on the New Testament commandments to love God and our neighbor.

* "patterning" = "a technique designed to improve damaged neural controls by means of feedback from forced muscular activity imposed in physical therapy." If this was something done in 1971, was it stopped? I know of two young men with brain injuries who could really benefit from less-known techniques to improved damaged neural controls.

* "paralanguage" = "optional vocal effects (as tone of voice) that accompany or modify the phonemes of an utterance and may communicate meaning." What are these optional vocal effects, and can they be produced and manipulated with today's computers in order to add artificial enhancements conveying sincerity or alarm? Do cable news networks, inspirational speakers, and radio programs use them?

* "pemoline" = "a synthetic organic drug that is usually mixed with magnesium hydroxide, is a mild stimulant of the central nervous system, and is used experimentally to improve memory." The definitions I saw on the internet just now said nothing about memory improvement, just that pemoline is no longer used due to "a link" to liver failure; correlation isn't causation, so this brief mention of a link doesn't seem enough reason to completely drop a medication. Given the number of people we have in the world now dealing with dementia, I'd expect to see a little more attention given to a memory enhancer.

* "phytochrome" = "a chromoprotein present in traces in many plants that when activated by red to far-red radiation plays a role in initiating floral and developmental processes." As noted in a previous blog post (https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2023/01/terms-with-unexpected-meanings-part-2.html), "far-red" has contradictory definitions, so "phytochrome" is also going to have different definitions depending on which definition of "far-red" is used.

* "poor-mouth" = (intransitive verb) "to plead poverty as a defense or excuse"; (transitive verb) "to speak disparagingly of." I never heard the first definition before. I think poverty is a perfectly valid defense or excuse in many situations, so I am surprised this term doesn't get used more often.

* "programming" = "the process of instructing or learning by means of an instructional program." Or learning? Who uses the word programming so broadly? Instructing and learning are almost considered antonyms.

* "muti" = "[Zulu umu ti tree, shrub, herb, medicine] Africa: MEDICINE." As a German speaker, this  looks like "mommy" ("Mutti") to me. Since the Zulus lived in areas where Afrikaans, a language similar to German is spoken now, I don't think this is an unfair connection to make. But mommies, great as they are, aren't medicine. They're much better. :)

* "pherentasin" = "a pressor amine present in the blood in severe hypertension." I've never heard of this before, and there seems to be almost no research on it, which is odd considering the number of people on medication for hypertension.

* "mutica" = from Latin, neuter plural of muticus docked "syn[onym] of CETACEA." Why would a Latin word for "being cut off" be a synonym for whales and related aquatic mammals?

Terms with unexpected meanings, part 2

There is so much to learn from studying an old dictionary! Here are some other terms I found interesting recently. I hope you will, too.

* "poop" = one definition is "a short jarring sound; GULP, TOOT." Who ever expected "poop" to be basically equated with "gulp"? (I can tell you what I won't be drinking at 7-11 ever again....)

* "neurohemal organ" = "an organ (as a corpus cardiacum of an insect) that releases stored neurosecretory substances into the blood." This appears to be a broader definition than how the term is used now.

* "lib" =  (noun abbreviations) book; liberal; pound; library, librarian; (transitive verb) to castrate. While this word is now most associated with the women's lib movement in the USA, the original meaning of it, when not used as an abbreviation, was "to castrate." And, yes, castration can be surgical sterilization of men or women. I don't think "women's lib" was meant to be a nice nickname in the minds of some who used it....

* "far-red": this term was given two contradictory definitions in the 1971 dictionary: 1) "lying in the part of the infrared spectrum farthest from the red--used of radiations with wavelengths between 30 and about 1000 microns" and 2) "lying in the part of the infrared spectrum nearest to the red--used of radiations with wavelengths starting at about 0.8 micron." How does one word get defined in two obviously contradictory ways like that?

* "rig": again, this word was given two different-but-related meanings one right after the other within the same definition segment: 1) "the complete station of an amateur radio station" and 2) "a high fidelity sound system." No one would call a radio station and a stereo the same thing, but this definition appears to be doing just that.

* "mi contra fa" = "TRITONE--used in early contrapuntal music as an expression of caution to the musician against the use of dangerous intervals." That's what the dictionary says, dangerous. What is the significance of that? 

* "mhometer" = "an instrument for measuring conductance." I didn't know this was an available measuring device. It seems like we're always indirectly measuring conductance via resistance with an ohmmeter, but conductance is not the same thing as resistance. Shouldn't we measure conductance directly?

* "cretin": you have to see this one to believe it. Apparently, the writers/editors of this dictionary--Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1971--at some point included person(s) with a big grudge against Christians.

[February 3, 2023 update on "cretin": I found a 1977 Webster's dictionary yesterday that claimed an "uncertain" origin for "cretin," and sandwiched it between two very rare words that were defined as "lying" and "deceit." Here's a photo of the excerpt: 

Dictionaries get treated as objective authorities, but they are written by ordinary people who can hold grudges and exhibit varying levels of honesty.]

And there you have today's installment of interesting word definitions. 

Terms with unexpected meanings, part 1

As I look through my 1970s dictionary, I occasionally come across a word that has a definition I didn't know it had. Some of these words are ones that would be used in legal agreements, so it's important for everyone involved in the agreement to be aware of the possible definitions of the words they are using.

Here are some of the alternate definitions that have stood out recently to me:

* "sympathetic" = of or relating to the sympathetic nervous system [this isn't as limited as one might think, for the sympathetic nervous system is archaically--which means "old-fashioned," but not "no-longer-in-use"-- defined as the autonomic nervous system, which in turn is defined as "a part of the vertebrate nervous system that innervates smooth and cardiac muscle and glandular tissues, governs actions that are more or less automatic (as secretion, vasoconstriction, or peristalsis), and consists of the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system."]

* "hype" = (as a noun) deception, put-on; (as a verb) to put on (synonyms--mislead, deceive)

* "happening" = an event or series of events designed to evoke a spontaneous audience reaction to sensory, emotional, or spiritual stimuli: as a: the activities concurrent with or involved in the creation or presentation of a nonrepresentational art object (as an action painting) b: a [usually] unrehearsed stage performance utilizing art objects and sound effects for chance and impromptu results

* "boo" = marijuana

* "hunting" = a self-induced or undesirable oscillation of a variable above and below the desired value in an automatic control system; a continuous attempt by an automatically controlled system to find a desired equilibrium condition

* "ice" = an undercover premium paid to a theater employee for choice theater tickets

* "genetic code" = the self-reproducing record of the specific protein pattern of an organism which is apparently stored in triplets of sequential nucleotides in the nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid and which is transmitted through a series of ribonucleic acids to the cytoplasmic seats of protein synthesis [APPARENTLY?]

* "interrogate" = to give or send out a signal to (as a computer) for triggering an appropriate response [notice that this expands interrogating humans from the usual understanding of just asking us questions to actually triggering responses in us]

A good warning for us all, as we casually click "I accept" for all kinds of agreements these days, is the experience of the indigenous people of New Zealand, who learned that they could be bound by an agreement they didn't know they had made. Look into the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 if you haven't read about it before. The British held the Maori to the English-language version of the treaty, even though the Maori leaders thought they had only agreed to the Maori-language version. Of course, the English-language treaty gave the British more power than than the Maori anticipated.

Pay attention to the first word above, "sympathetic." When most of us read that word, we think of "being nice." However, the world trade agreements currently in force frequently include a contractual duty of countries to "afford sympathetic consideration" to each other. What meaning of sympathetic is being used? Because if it's a meaning that includes the "part of [our] nervous system" that "governs actions that are more or less automatic," there's potential there for exploitation of our "more or less automatic" thinking processes, an abusive exploitation which we supposedly agreed to in the world trade treaties. Definitions matter, and fine print should be scrutinized.

Does vesicle fusion within the process of intraneuron recycling deserve more attention when it comes to researching dementia? Could TRPML1-3 be involved?

Last night I was reading this article--"Pathogenic cascades in lysosomal disease-Why so complex?" (J Inherit Metab Dis. 2009 Apr; 32(2): 181–189; full text online at http://europepmc.org/article/MED/19130290), and it occurred to me that some health problems that we associate with reduced autophagy (i.e., impaired autophagic function), ones such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's, are more likely to be caused by impaired reforming of intra-cell functions than by reduced autophagy per se. I think the reduced autophagy is the body's feedback mechanisms trying to slow down the recycling of cellular parts because something is not working correctly in the recycling process. 

Here's an excerpt from the article that caught my eye:

Lysosomal diseases are also caused by defects in soluble and membrane-associated non-enzyme proteins of late endosomes and lysosomes believed essential for the processes of substrate degradation and egress, as well as vesicle fusion....

Like NPC1 and NPC2 described above, defects in other enigmatic proteins have similarly been linked to lysosomal disease. For example, mutations in the MCOLN1 gene which codes mucolipin-1, a lysosomal membrane TRP (Transient Receptor Potential) family of ion channel, causes mucolipidosis type IV (MLIV) disease (Zeevi, et al., 2007). In spite of its name MLIV has little connection other than historic with MLII/III diseases which are caused by defects in the phosphotransferase enzyme responsible for adding the mannose-6 phosphate moiety to lysosomal enzymes as required for normal targeting to lysosomes. Like NPC1, mucolipin-1 resides in the membrane of late endosomes/lysosomes and while implicated in lysosomal pH control and in membrane fusion/fission events, its function remains essentially unknown. A similar situation exists for many of the proteins implicated in the ten (CLN1-CLN10) so-called neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses, or Batten diseases (Kyttälä, et al., 2006). The CLN3 protein, for example, defects in which cause juvenile Batten disease, may be associated with autophagolysosomes fusion/maturation (Cao, et al., 2006), in lysosomal pH control (Pearce, et al., 1999), or a host of other functions (Rakheja, et al., 2008). Similarly, the CLN6 and CLN8 proteins are believed localized to membranes of the ER and while their absence leads to lysosomal storage, their functional link to lysosomes is unknown (Kyttälä, et al., 2006).

I'm most intrigued by the mucolipin mentioned above. There are now three mucolipins identified, TRPML1, TRPML 2, and TRPML3, as well as promoters and inhibitors of them. It would be interesting to see how they affect intraneuron recycling processes and whether they are involved in the development of dementia.

A synergy between cobalt (including the cobalt in vitamin B12) and hydrogen peroxide appears to elevate risks of developing colorectal cancer

While I was thinking recently about how reverse osmosis filters can elevate the amount of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in our mouths and digestive tracts by removing fluoride F−ions from our drinking water, I thought of a teenage boy I know of who lives in a fluoride-avoiding household with a reverse osmosis filter and who was diagnosed in 2020 with Stage 4 colorectal cancer. He is still alive in 2023, but it's been a hard fight against the cancer.

It is highly unusual for someone his age to have aggressive colorectal cancer. I wondered whether there could be a connection between having more H2O2 in the gastrointestinal tract and his youthful development of colorectal cancer. Here is what I found:

Regarding direct genotoxic mechanisms, [cobalt(II)] induces the formation of reactive oxygen species when combined with hydrogen peroxide in cell-free systems. At high (i.e., millimolar) concentrations, [cobalt(II)] also decreases the fidelity of DNA synthesis.

Beyersmann D, Hartwig A. The genetic toxicology of cobalt. Toxicology Applied Pharmacology 1992;115(1):137-145, ISSN 0041-008X, https://doi.org/10.1016/0041-008X(92)90377-5. Online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0041008X92903775.

Cobalt has already been noted to impair DNA replication and damage DNA (see "Cobalt and nickel impair DNA metabolism by the oxidative stress independent pathway" online at https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/mt/c7mt00231a). Cobalt has been found to be associated with colon cancer (see "Association between heavy metals and colon cancer: an ecological study based on geographical information systems in North-Eastern Iran" online at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33858386/). Taking vitamin B12--the only vitamin that contains cobalt--appears to increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer (see "Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 Supplementation and the Risk of Cancer: Long-term Follow-up of the B Vitamins for the Prevention of Osteoporotic Fractures (B-PROOF) Trial" online at https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-1198; see also "Genetically predicted circulating B vitamins in relation to digestive system cancers" online at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-021-01383-0).

Failure to accurately replicate DNA (i.e., decreased DNA synthesis fidelity) has been found to increase susceptibility to early-onset colorectal cancer, per an interesting 2010 article:

Perhaps the strongest early evidence that increased spontaneous mutation (i.e., mutator phenotype) contributes to human cancer was the discovery that defective mismatch repair (MMR) causes hereditary colon cancer....In the early 1990s, colorectal cancer samples from Lynch syndrome pedigrees (also called hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer or HNPCC) were noted to have microsatellite instability, normal cytogenetics, and were associated with a unique clinical presentation. Two groups simultaneously reported that these families carried mutations in MSH2, the gene encoding one of the primary proteins required for MMR. Shortly thereafter, MLH1, the gene encoding another essential MMR protein, was cloned and found to be mutated in additional Lynch syndrome families. The majority of Lynch syndrome patients inherit a mutation in either MSH2 or MLH1, with a smaller percentage inheriting mutations in PMS2 or MSH6. The wild-type allele is then lost in tumors through LOH or gene silencing. Patients with inherited MMR deficiency are primarily susceptible to early-onset colorectal cancer, but also have an increased risk for extra-intestinal neoplasms. Inherited MMR defects are only responsible for a small number (1–5%) of colorectal cancer cases; thus, most colorectal cancers with MSI (~15% of all colorectal cancer cases) result from acquired defects in MMR, almost exclusively due to MLH1 promoter hypermethylation. MMR defects and MSI are also detected in non-colonic sporadic tumors, most commonly in endometrial, lung and gastric cancer.

Preston BD, Albertson TM, Herr AJ. DNA replication fidelity and cancer. Semin Cancer Biol. 2010 Oct;20(5):281-93. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2010.10.009. Epub 2010 Oct 15. PMID: 20951805; PMCID: PMC2993855. Online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2993855/.

As far as I have heard, the parents of this family encourage the use of vitamins, especially B vitamins. It appears that their desire for clean water and adequate vitamins might have inadvertently contributed to DNA replication issues in their son that could be behind his unusual early-onset colorectal cancer.

Faucets, aerators, and pipes as possible factors in delaying or accelerating dementia

Way back in September of 2016, I was looking at how hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) causes hair to go gray, for a chronically elevated level of H2O2 increases cell death and as we age we have less activity of enzymes that break down H2O2. In February of 2017, I considered whether H2O2 in the mouth was responsible for increased stroke risk as we age. The oxidative stress caused by H2O2 also seems like it could be connected to the development of dementia, as I published in this hypothesis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28915962/.

Here is an update on H2O2 and a new question. 

First, the update: I continue to go gray more slowly than expected. Decades ago, I got into the habit of letting my toothpaste stay in my mouth for extended periods of time while I did other parts of my going-to-bed routine, including reading (which for me can be quite a long time). Many toothpastes rely on sodium fluoride (NaF) as their primary active ingredient, and NaF can help break down H2O2. All of my siblings are going gray faster than I am, including the one with the most similar hair pigmentation. The sibling who is going gray fastest of all avoids fluoridated water, going so far as to have installed a reverse osmosis filter in her home around fifteen years ago. I think simple fluoride F−))))))aions really are helping slow down the death of my hair-pigment-producing cells (the technical name for those cells is melanocytes).

The new question is whether we should be paying more attention to fluoride and fluorine generally when it comes to developing dementia. My elderly mother moved last year from her 1970s home to a newer apartment, and she quickly "went downhill" as far as her memory issues. The older home had older plumbing and faucets, while the new apartment had newer everything. While fluoride in NaF can help break down H2O2, diatomic fluorine molecules (F2) actually can increase the presence of H2O2 by oxidizing water (H2O) to H2O2 where free electrons are present. As we all learn at an early age from shocking each other after scuffling our feet along carpet, friction can cause free electrons to be present, so it appears to merit more investigation as to how pipes, faucets, and especially aerators on faucets are affecting the water that we put into our mouths.

[Update: I think the White House showerheads and other faucet aerators should be examined for whether they create hydrogen peroxide. I was surprised to see how much Trump has NOT grayed over the last four years (as an ex-president) compared with how he visibly aged while president between 2017 and 2021.]

Hidden information in page 307-308 of many books: a key left by editors who are hiding biochemical "needles in haystacks"

I noticed last year that pages 307-308 of many books contain on one page of the pair of pages some imagery--either actual illustrations or written descriptions--resembling an erupting volcano. These pairs of pages then contain words on the different pages that often relate to research I've been doing on nutrition and other ways in which chemistry and physics interact with the human body. The word pairs include dyads like kelp:fur, clanging bells:lulling music, rings:magic, etc. It rather reminds me of the analogy section of the old SAT exams.

I think that some editors intentionally have been hiding important biochemistry-related information and left this pattern as a "key" in older books (newer ones often lack the same pattern, and self-published books for small readership never seem to contain it) to identify themselves to each other. My library is limited. I can only imagine how much information could be found in larger collections of older books, though, using this key.

[Update 4/8/2025: I just came across something that appears to be indicating that trademarked beans are chemically sus (suspicious). Bean cultivars can't be trademarked, but sometimes they bear names that are trademarked for other things; examples of this are the Kona and Black Pearl trademarks. I wonder if this is actually a hit.]

A possible use for silver

Silver, for no apparent reason, has been a valuable metal for a very long time. It doesn't make good jewelry or dishes because of its tendency to quickly tarnish, yet people have traveled the world and enslaved others to get it. Why?

I might have found one little-known use for it: making beauty products. I got the idea from my old dictionary, which included an entry for marrow spoons and noted specifically that they were made from silver. So I took some turkey bones from a recently cooked turkey, simmered them for a while to get all the other turkey matter off them, smashed them open with a kitchen hammer, then cooked them in my slow cooker with distilled water and some old silver spoons. Once the resulting liquid was cooled, I used it to take a bath in. Even diluted with tap water, I could feel instant "moisturizing" effects from my turkey marrow-silver broth. I used the broth on my face for the next week, and I haven't looked that good for years! Very moisturizing with no weird side effects.

What might I have made? Because of the occurrence of rubidium in bone marrow (at least where the animals have been able to eat foods containing rubidium), I am leaning towards having made a rubidium-silver compound. I bought some free-range chicken and am trying the experiment again now to see if that changes my results.

If my current experiment gives good results, that would be ironic, for people spend so much money on beauty products when really they should have been turning their money (i.e., silver) into the beauty products directly.

A little-discussed kind of fish

In all my research on fish, I don't recall coming across mentions of the toxic nature of some wrasse species of fish. Growing up in the USA, like everyone else here, I heard often of the toxicity of pufferfish (fugu), but that wasn't a worry because they only ate it in faraway Japan. However, we have fish living off the US coast that can also cause health problems.

Yesterday, while looking around in my big, old dictionary, I came across a mention of the senorita fish species, which lives off the coast of California. It is part of a group of fish called wrasses, and they can be toxic. Toxic, as in put-you-in-a-coma toxic. Here's one study describing the health effects of the humphead wrasse:

"In addition to the gastrointestinal, neurological and other features that were typical of ciguatera, some subjects developed sinus bradycardia, hypotension, shock, neuropsychiatric features (e.g. mental exhaustion, depression, insomnia and memory loss), other central nervous system symptoms (e.g. coma, convulsions and ataxia) and myocardial ischaemia. Other subjects still experienced residual symptoms 6 months later; these were mainly neurological or neuropsychiatric complaints and skin pruritus."

See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24141055/

My father is a Californian, and I grew up hearing stories from him about how Californians would go catch a fish with their bare hands at night in "grunion fishing" outings. But I never met anyone who'd actually made such an outing, and they seemed mythical with how my dad described them. It's unfortunate that he didn't have more solid, interesting fish stories to tell us.

Newest weight loss hypothesis: Phenylhydroxylamine (or nitrosobenzene) consumed together with a promoter of tyrosinase

Canned fish just isn't working for weight loss the way it used to, so I've gone over my notes and come up with a new weight loss hypothesis: consuming phenylhydroxylamine (or nitrosobenzene) along with a tyrosinase promoter together at the same, modest meal.

I think I have been using my high-speed blender (a Blendtec) to make sulfuric acid from sulfur (H2S in fresh broccoli), acid (in apple cider vinegar), purified water, and cacao nibs (a source of copper and lipids). Then I cool down the steaming mix with room-temperature purified water and pour in celery leaf/toasted banana leaf water (a source of nitrous acid and nitric acid), which combination changes benzoic acid to nitrobenzene. Then into my blender (which I think has exposed zinc at the bottom), I pour some rehydrated beef gelatin (a probable source of ammonia) and all that, combined with a little bit of agar agar (which I think is helping due to chlorine used to bleach it), might be synthesizing phenylhydroxylamine. It's possible that I might also be converting one step further to nitrosobenzene with sodium dichromate since there is some sodium in celery and some chromium in broccoli and/or apple cider vinegar. Then again, maybe I want lithium instead of sodium.Yes, all very complicated, and I'm still working on the details of temperature and amount and sequence of what gets added when, but that's what science is about.

Promoters of tyrosinase include watery extracts of pomelo and grapefruit (which means they might be from the rind or the white tissue in the fruit instead of their juices), capers (this probably depends on how they are preserved, though), and some condensation products of ellagic acid/ellagitannins (I think these condensation products can be made by exposing the ellagitannins to ozone/fluorine gas/certain cobalt compounds; I'm leery of too much cobalt since it seems to be linked to colon cancer). I blogged about tyrosinase back in 2017: https://petticoatgovernment.blogspot.com/2017/11/schizophrenia-tyrosinase-ginseng-and.html. There are many inhibitors of tyrosinase in the modern diet, including wheat. [Update 12/15/2022--I've been testing this hypothesis, and there appears to be something specifically in the zesty part of the rind of grapefruit/pummelo that does actually help with weight loss. Cool!]

I have to keep looking for weight loss methods that don't involve canned fish because so many people I know refuse to eat it. 

[Update 12/21/2022: Because of what I'm seeing happen as I continue to experiment, I'm leaning toward the grapefruit having retained a pesticide or disinfectant (due to the large pores on its rind) and that chemical interacting with something specific that is found in animal gelatin. My focus at present is the first substance possibly being the disinfectant H2SiF6 or H2SiBr6 and the substance in the animal gelatin being lithium. A combination of silica, sulfur, toasted "stuff" (I've been using banana leaves, and I think they have some bromine in them), and celery seem to be essential, and those look like they could form H2SiF6 or H2SiBr6. I think lithium is involved because 1) raw, thoroughly washed tomatoes (a lithium accumulator) seem to help, and 2) NaCl and excessive water (H2O) seem to interfere, pointing to the possible involvement of little Li right between Na and H.]

Experiment: Using a rare earth magnet bead in my navel to influence electromagnetic fields in/around the human body

 A friend who suffered from a messed-up taste of sense and smell after having COVID-19 went to an energy healer for treatment, and she reported afterward that she was basically healed by the treatment.

Clearly western medicine has missed out on benefitting from study of the electromagnetic fields that surround and move through our bodies. While thinking about electrical energy and our bodies, I remembered that magnets can be quite disruptive to electricity, for electricity and magnetism are inseparably connected. I saw a benefit from removing my metal rings, so I decided to try whether magnets could affect me for good or bad in some way, too. 

My experiment involved taking a small rare earth magnet bead and holding it in my navel (i.e., my belly button) with clear, non-conductive plastic tape. I've been doing it for about a week now, and my sleeping patterns have improved in that I find it easier to wake up when the sun rises. Magnetism can influence our circadian rhythms (see "Cryptochrome Mediates Light-Dependent Magnetosensitivity of Drosophila's Circadian Clock" at https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000086). I also feel more "in control" of my thoughts and emotions; for the first few days, I kept noticing that I felt like I was back in the 1980s when it came to how I sensed my environment and myself.

I think that what is going on is that this small, condensed magnet is making its own electromagnetic fields in and around the center of my body (which is mostly water) and those fields are having a small but noticeable disruptive effect on the rest of my body. Because the magnet bead is not held in just one place, the electromagnetic fields it produces are shifting around, too. For a parallel, think about how the Earth's magnetic fields are theorized to be a result of its solid metallic core within a liquid mantle and how the earth's fields shift over time.

My adult daughter is trying this experiment, too, and she might be having similar results. It's too early to be sure, but she did seem less groggy this morning when I woke her, and she's had a hard time waking up early for years. I'll update later with how our experiments are going.

Hypothesis: Increased balance issues and vertigo partially due to ragwort in dairy cow feed

 A few days ago, I noticed an interesting word in my old dictionary: "staggerwort." It was defined as "a ragwort (Senecio aureus)." I turned to "ragwort" and found it defined as "any of several herbs of the genus Senecio; esp tansy ragwort -- see golden ragwort, purple ragwort." 

I looked into ragwort and found that it has several alkaloids, some of which make cattle and horses stagger when they consume ragwort in noticeable quantities. Ragwort alkaloids can make their way into cow milk, and a 2017 study found that heating milk via pasteurization and UHT sterilization left the alkaloids completely intact. (See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28829252/, "Fate of pyrrolizidine alkaloids during processing of milk of cows treated with ragwort" by de Nijs et al.) Even fermentation such as to make yogurt and cheese only partially decreased the amount of the ragwort alkaloids.

My elderly mother, who doesn't eat much these days but still likes her milk and ice cream, has been complaining of a lot of vertigo. Falls in her age group and ethnicity are a very high risk, as high as 1 out of 3 for a serious fall in a given year. The risk of a fall is much higher for Caucasians than for Hispanics/Asians and African-Americans. (See the WHO Global Report on Falls Prevention in Older Age, accessible online at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241563536.) I thought at first this heightened fall risk could be solely due to age-related brain damage, but that doesn't explain why African Americans have a smaller fall risk, for they have a much higher risk of stroke. What does seem to fit the ethnicity differences is milk consumption. Only Caucasians drink a lot of milk into their later years due to their not being lactose intolerant. 

Ragwort alkaloids could easily be in our milk without anybody realizing it because all of our milk (even raw milk, unless one milks the cow herself and carries the milk straight to her kitchen) gets pooled at dairies for processing. They could then contribute to increased balance issues. Dairy milk processing should be reviewed with an eye to limiting the amount of ragwort alkaloids present, especially since many dairy farmers now intentionally try to give their cows a more "natural" diet, which is one that would necessarily increase the cows' ability to access ragwort, an invasive weed in pastures throughout the central and western United States and in many other parts of the world. Further, the addition of new preservatives such as natamycin to our shredded cheese should be checked to make sure the new additives are not also killing off the human gut bacteria that could break down ragwort alkaloids. 

We give so much publicity to other additives like RGBT in our milk, but nature has its own "additives" such as RGWT (i.e., ragwort) that we should also be aware of.

Updated weight loss theory - use of ozone to add oxygen to bismuth/arsenic/antimony-lipids

 As I continue to research and experiment, it seems that I was on the right track with looking at celery for its phospholipase enzymes. I think that a very helpful two-step combination of the following might assist greatly with weight loss:

1) A drink of purified water, celery leaf pieces, some celery stalk pieces, toasted banana leaf, and possibly some agar agar from seaweed. This is for the presence and activity/inactivity of phospholipases that will free phosphates from phospholipids. However, we don't actually want phosphate groups. Instead, we want the elements below phosphorus in the periodic chart. We want bismuth/antimony/arsenic (this last is not ideal....I think it might cause hair loss) bonded to five oxygens within the structure of a phospholipid and then to have those As/Sb/Bi-O5 subunits freed from the lipids down in the digestive tract where they can be taken up via the intestines.

2) Enter the second food that is needed: a source of a bismuth-lipid, antimony-lipid, or arsenolipid that has been oxidized such as to add a fifth oxygen to the bismuth, antimony, or arsenic atom within molecules that have the same structure as phospholipids. Seafood will probably be the most reliable source of bismuth/antimony/arsenic-lipids, while ozonation (i.e., exposure to O3 gas) appears to be the most straightforward way to oxidize those lipids. Because flourine and cobalt can fairly easily help bring O3 into existence, certain uses of fluorine and cobalt can also oxidize those lipids.

Because we don't want the As/Bi/Sb-O5 combination freed from the lipids until after passing through the stomach, these two things above should not be combined in the same dish. They should be eaten/drunk separately.

Home experiments with diamond rings and electromagnetism

 Today I pulled out a clock radio with an extendable wire FM antenna and experimented to see whether running certain kinds of metallic circles along the antenna would affect the FM reception. My engagement ring--made of gold alloy with ten tiny diamonds set into the band--noticeably enhanced the reception (especially the volume) when I rubbed it up and down the FM antenna. And that was through a plastic coating on the antenna.

I grew up with the saying, "The body is a temple." I think we should all start thinking of our bodies as "antennae," too. We have iron constantly pulsating throughout our bodies, and there is plenty of water and electrolytes to help carry electrical charge. Electromagnetic field changes are connected to nearly every process in our body--muscle movement (including our intestines), heart contractions, and neuronal communication, for examples.

Over a year ago, after reading some Amish romance novels and noticing that they never wore wedding rings or any rings, I decided to try going without my rings for a while to see what happened. About two weeks later, I noticed that my thinking was quite a bit clearer. I felt like I had "gotten my brain back." (And then months later when I stopped putting epsom salts--magnesium sulfate--in my laundry loads, my thinking cleared up even more. I don't know whether that was due to not having additional magnesium residue on my clothes or not having additional sulfate on them. But I'm careful to do the extra rinse cycle now on our clothes washer.)

There are so many ways that our adornments, body cleansers, toiletries, and clothes can carry materials that could affect the electromagnetic fields in and around our bodies. I think everyone should experiment with variation and going without of such items (well, not entirely without clothing :) ) to see how they feel after a test period. And everyone should probably avoid tattoos entirely. Getting a tattoo is like permanently painting an antenna, and who knows what any given paint, depending on its metallic or crystalline content, will do to them? If they get a tattoo that is detrimental to their health, they are stuck with it until they can pay to get it removed.

Still Digging Away at Weight Loss Issue - Newest Hypothesis Involves Carbonized Guanine (or perhaps Glycine)

 As I've been tracking successes and failures at losing weight, I keep circling back to the same foods: canned skin-containing fish, cultured dairy products (kefir/yogurt/soft cheese/long-aged cheese), yeast, cocoa beans, and clover. That to me indicates that guanine or a derivative compound of guanine is involved.

My newest hypothesis is that a carbonized form of guanine is required to lose weight quickly. I'm not sure whether that compound is directly responsible or if it is a catalyst to form a compound that is responsible. Either way, it seems a productive street to conduct research on.

My current experiments involve first moderately heating free guanine sources with carbon (thin, one-layer carbon sources, probably a bit like graphene, suspended in something viscous like alginate) and then further combining that compound with phospholipid-like molecules (especially ones that contain arsenic/bismuth/antimony in place of the phosphorus) and an ionic form of either chromium or bromine. Before consuming the result, I prime my digestive system with the phospholipases found in celery stalk and leaves, for the phospholipases can break apart the phospolipid-like molecules; after consumption, I try to avoid bread and other fibers that might "soak up" the target compound before it can be absorbed into the intestines.

[Update 9/15/2022: I focused on guanine-containing foods other than canned fish with the skin and found that guanine doesn't appear to be the molecule I'm looking for. Glycine, which is high in gelatin (which currently seems to be working for me for weight loss) appears to be the more likely fish-skin molecule connected to weight loss. Glycine and guanine sound a lot alike and do appear in the same places, depending on how the food has been processed.]

Hypothesis: An overlooked help for heart arrythmias? Magnetic underclothing?

Today I felt a little stress in my heart muscles as I laid down resting in the afternoon. I happened to have a 8.5"x11" flat magnetic sheet nearby, and I remembered how the heart muscle is controlled by electromagnetic waves and pulses. Out of curiosity, I put the magnet on top of my pillow then laid over it and my pillow to continue reading. The twinges in my heart stopped immediately. Maybe it was the change of position (but position changes hadn't helped earlier), or maybe it was a result of the magnet helping normalize heart muscle contractions. 

I wonder whether anyone has researched and/or published any papers on the use of magnetic underclothing to help treat heart conditions? That seems like a very lucrative, healing possibility for garment manufacturers. They need some good ideas these days. The fashion industry has run out of new clothing shapes these days, based on runway shows.

Microwave apple cider vinegar with yogurt and silicon dioxide to get what? (More weight loss information)

 My most recent experimentation involves microwaving homemade yogurt together with apple cider vinegar and silicon-dioxide-containing stevia for a short time. I mix it together then add some cocoa powder. Last I add a mixture of distilled water, toasted banana leaves, and celery pieces (both stalk and leaves--the leaves appear to be a critical ingredient) that has sat in the sun for a while. 

It seems to be helping me go down in weight quickly.

I'll update on my progress. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what happens when I microwave the apple cider vinegar, silicon dioxide, and homemade yogurt. Is it some kind of chromium-lacto-acetate compound that silicon dioxide helps form via electrolytic change of chromium ions? And is the important part of the cocoa the caffeine or some other xanthine-type molecule? 

So many questions.

The biggest question is....why is a housewife the one publishing about something that has the potential to change the world when it comes to health?

Zinc nitrite? Manganese and aluminum used in canning fish and meat? More weight loss hypotheses.

My most recent working hypothesis for weight loss is that we can use an electronically excited compound of nitrogen and oxygen that is able to bond with a transition metal ion found in much canned fish.

Specifically, by putting celery leaf and stalk pieces in distilled water along with some toasted banana leaf (the toasted leaf provides FeO, a less common form of ferric oxide, via a high-heat reaction of oxalic acid with iron) and setting it in a glass jar in the sunlight (solar radiation provides a broad spectrum of light wavelengths), I think I am making NO2*. Celery leaf is a good source of nitrates and so provides a small nitrogen molecule that can interact with the oxygen (O) atoms produced by solar radiation.

By eating sardines or other canned fish afterwards (but not all brands or flavors work), I am getting either manganese or zinc cations. With the help of bile and likely either 1) the hydrogen cations (i.e., protons) and chloride anions produced by the stomach lining, or 2) bicarbonate ions or other substances secreted into the duodenum, the manganese or zinc anions bond to the NO2* to make either zinc nitrite or manganese nitrite. I haven't decided yet whether my hypothesis uses zinc or manganese to make this unusual compound, but I'm leaning toward zinc because it's an important cofactor in many human enzymes. 

Looking at the table of standard reduction potentials, it appears that the presence of zinc, silicon dioxide, oxidized manganese and oxidized aluminum treated with heat in a closed container permit the formation of zinc cations (Zn 2+) [Update on April 15, 2022: I changed my mind about the possible helpfulness of aluminum. The use of aluminum seems to correspond with rising obesity, particularly in baked goods. I'll avoid it when seeking to make my zinc cations.]. I'm currently playing around with foods and cooking utensils/materials that feature those four things to see if I can get a consistent weight loss effect without having to rely on getting the correct brand of canned fish.

In my previous research on molybdenum, I looked a lot at ways that our bodies can change sulfites and nitrites to sulfates and nitrates. Now I'm focusing on what healthful benefits nitrites might provide when paired with less-examined cations.

[Update on April 15, 2022: I think there is still one more molecule I need. I'm looking currently at cis-hydrogenated-acetoin, since it seems that it would sometimes occur in yogurt and other products made by bacterial fermentation.]

What happens when salt, nitrates, and gold interact in our heated foods?

 I've been curious for some time about when gold might end up in our food and what effect it might have. Today, a Latin-learning daughter and I were talking about the myth of King Midas, who ate off golden dishes but didn't enjoy having golden food or seeing his daughter turn into a golden statue. 

Then there is the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who sent a friend to visit Columbia University with some characters copied off ancient golden plates. The friend found a professor there who reportedly signed off the characters themselves being ancient but then changed his mind and ripped up the certification after hearing that they were copied from golden plates delivered by an angel. Why would talking about golden dishes help trigger a minor freakout by a Columbia professor?

Table manners are a funny thing. People of means--the kind of people likely to purchase and pass down to heirs fancy porcelain dishes with gold around the rims--are taught to never drink their soup right out of the bowl. Instead they are supposed to only use their spoons and carefully tip the bowls away from their faces in order to spoon up the last of their soup. But poor people happily finish off their soup in the obvious, convenient way: they tip the bowl towards themselves and drink the soup right out of the bowl, allowing the warm soup to flow over their inexpensive bowl rims.

Gold is generally non-reactive, but not always.

    Au(s) + 3HNO3(aq) + 4HCl(aq) --> HAuCl4(aq) + 3H2O(l) + 3NO2(g)

This equation in my chemistry textbook indicates that a mixture of salt, acid, and nitrates (found in green leafy vegetables and some preserved meats) will react with the gold in dishes to form a hydrogen-gold-chloride compound. What effect, if any, does that compound have on human health? Is it a beneficial effect or a negative one? Is it one of the reasons for the high value humans put on gold?

Cartilage, Covid, and Vitamin C

Our family is currently having its turn with Covid Omicron, it appears. We did have one child test positive, and our symptoms appear to match reports. I learned something in the past few days about Covid: Vitamin C makes symptoms worse.

To be honest, I'm kind of surprised I didn't suspect this before. It's like there's a halo around Vitamin C. We've all be told for so long that it's so necessary to good health that it feels almost naughty to suggest that sometimes Vitamin C can also do harm. But since everything that goes in our body can do harm or good depending on the circumstances, there's no reason to treat Vitamin C as special.

Why do we take our Vitamin C so seriously? Because it prevents scurvy! Did you know it takes literally months of dietary Vitamin C insufficiency to develop scurvy? Almost no one gets it anymore. You'd have to be living like an 18th century sailor with no access to any produce in order to develop scurvy. So have no fear that going for a week or two avoiding Vitamin C will do you lasting harm.

So...back to Covid. Readers of my blog will note that I've been arguing for years that there is an overlooked cartilage component to respiratory tract viruses causing pneumonia. Vitamin C is a cofactor for cartilage-building enzymes (see https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0945053X01001937), and I think respiratory tract viruses are hijacking cells that help control cartilage production and by so doing increase production of dysfunctional cartilage molecules.

Fresh leafy vegetables are generally good for us. But not during a cold. Stick with drinking boring oat and barley porridge, and put away the elderberry syrup. Try keeping Vitamin C intake minimal for a few days. It's harder than you think. Vitamin C is nearly everywhere in what we consider a "healthy diet." It's even in liver, meaning that your chicken broth might have a dose of it unless you make it yourself and don't include the chicken organs.

Hidden Treasures of Knowledge

 Doctrine and Covenants 89 (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/89?lang=eng), otherwise known as the Word of Wisdom, talks about the then and future existence of conspiring people in our modern era and provides counsel on how to be protected via dietary and moral advice from them. It also promises that people who follow it will be blessed to find hidden treasures of knowledge.

I think I may have found some of them. Here is a summary:

1) Many educated people of Christian heritage have come to reject the divinity of Jesus Christ because they think he did his miracles using a deep knowledge of winemaking. This was a crucial element of Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code, in which it is posited that the vinegar Jesus was given on the cross was made from wine specially fermented to temporarily knock him unconscious and that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross. My college chemistry textbook on page 666 talks about how wine turns into vinegar by being left in oxygen for a while; while this is technically accurate, the process happens far faster in the presence of acetic acid bacteria. "666" is a symbolic number used to mark one's self as being "of the beast" or an anti-Christ; it is taken from Revelation 13:18 in the Bible.

I think the people who have believe this have fallen for a clever ruse, for The Book of Mormon stands as another witness to the world of the divinity of Jesus Christ. While the history of the church that is currently taking The Book of Mormon to the world is still a bit murky, the book itself stands on its own and is testified to by the Holy Ghost, as many earnest seekers of truth have found. A nice thing about God is that he doesn't hide his treasures from those who seek Him.

2) As the 18th century Italian biologist/physicist/physician Luigi Galvani discovered, electrical impulses applied to appendages can affect a body's neurons dramatically. We live in a time when nearly every teenager and adult using a cell phone or smart watch is exposing their hands and wrists to varying electromagnetic fields at close proximity. Frequently they are doing this while using camera-equipped devices that can assess aspects of brain function and stimulation via facial microexpressions and pupil appearance. That means that our technology can now be used to affect our neurons and that computer programs can be written that will fine-tune those effects in various ways such as to foster addiction, anger, depression, paranoia, distraction, and so forth. 

As those old enough to remember having TV antennae will remember, antenna reception can be improved by the addition of spiraling or encircling conductive materials; a metal clothes hanger wrapped around part of the antenna was usually the low-tech hack we would use to improve the picture clarity on our TVs. Wearing or inserting conductive things around parts of our bodies can enhance the effect of varying electromagnetic fields on our neurons. This effect will be easier to achieve in people whose diet includes high levels of iron (iron is easily magnetized and it then interacts with electromagnetic fields, especially when the iron is moving, as the iron-containing blood cells of our body are constantly doing) and ionic potassium.

Again, my college chemistry textbook contains a hint about this. In a section that discusses Napoleon's health issues while on St. Helena, it discusses "Marsh's test" to look for arsenic poison, but the diagram has an unexplained "shiny metallic ring" where there should just be a flat deposit of arsenic.

I think Isaiah 3 in the Bible (which is repeated in 2 Nephi 13 of the Book of Mormon) contains a warning against a wide variety of fancy ornaments and clothing wraps in part because vanity is foolish and in part because such items, depending on their mineral content and shape, can be used to affect our neurons. Even plastic, if tainted with conductive substances, is conductive. After realizing that the Amish have for centuries avoided encircling parts of their body with anything metallic, I stopped wearing rings a few months ago. Within two weeks, my thinking had noticeably become clearer. I recommend a similar experiment to others. 

If I am correct, this points to possible manipulative use for literally millennia of ceremonial jewelry, acoutrements, and clothing by those who are aware of how to harness the possibilities: crowns, bracelets, rings, collars, staffs, scepters, turbans, phylacteries, walking sticks, wristwatches, and so forth. I'm surprised that science fiction hasn't dealt with the topic much. I can promise you'll never read the Old Testament the same again once you start looking for whether ancient Israel might have picked up some knowledge from the Egyptians or Babylonians on the subject.

It also points to possible inappropriate use of such technology to increase the underlying health problems of some people. A recent Nature article (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02714-0) documents that a specific use of "electroacupuncture" on a mouse's hind leg brings down inflammation throughout the mouse's whole body by sending signals to the brain that result in lower inflammation. Now imagine such technology being deployed instead to increase systemic inflammation or disrupt heart or brain electric pulses. 

3) While we all know that some chemicals are dangerous and can make us sick, two common food/drink items appear to have escaped scrutiny. My personal experience, as well as cultural knowledge, indicate that fenugreek (now regularly consumed in the US as a "natural" maple flavoring) can bring on paranoia and delusion, while hops (used to make bitter--as opposed to mild--beer) can increase the tendency to hallucinate or "see what we want to see" ("beer goggles" are more than a running joke). 

In 2020, fenugreek caused me two episodes of paranoia. Interestingly, matzoh crackers imported from Israel seemed to be the deciding food factor in when those episodes ended. Like I said, you'll never read the Old Testament the same again once you start looking for hints of hidden knowledge. Actually, since Jesus notes the close attention paid by the Pharisees to tithes of various herbs, including dill, which some commentators think was fenugreek, you'll likely never read the New Testament quite the same way again, either.

4) While many have heard of "laughing gas," that small gas molecules floating just above the skin's surface can affect whether mosquitoes are attracted to a specific person, and that pheremones can cause some kinds of interhuman reponses, I have never heard anyone talk about what medications can due to influence the gas molecules released on our body's surface. I had an experience right after hugging someone who takes mind-altering prescription medicine where I noticed a sudden change in my thinking. We know that there is a fast passage from the nose to the brain via the olfactory nerve, and in this world of fabric softeners, detergents, essential oils, perfumed-toiletries, air fresheners, e-cigarettes, and incense, we need more information about the potential effects of various gas compounds on our brain function. We also need more information about what gas compounds our bodies are more likely to produce when we consume different substances.

5) Sound frequencies can physically alter structures by creating standing waves where resonance occurs. While we tend to think of our brains as solid "muscles," they are not. Brains are actually rather gelatinous in some places, and in those wobbly areas, resonance can be used to alter structure and thus affect the intensity and directional flow of electromagnetic fields within the brain. Yes, this means that music and anything else producing specific sound wave frequencies can be used to affect our thinking. Not exactly hidden information, but less talked about than it should be in a media-saturated world. 

I think some of the medieval guild craftsmen who constructed churches knew about the ability of sound waves to affect thinking. Again, my chemistry textbook, while talking about Napoleon, threw in a gratuitous comment about how he would have known more about the behavior of tin if he had paid attention to cathedral organ pipes. Adolf Hitler, well-known for having large, rousing rallies in which his amplified voice was carried to his audience, was made the Time "Man of the Year" in 1939 with a magazine cover photo featuring an elaborate set of organ pipes; in counterpoint, when the Russians later battled against Nazi Germany, the Germans called the Russian rocket launchers "Stalinorgel" which translates to "Stalin's organs."

6) Mind-altering chemicals can be delivered via paper. This is often done by prison visitors who attempt to sneak methamphetamine to prisoners. But it can also be done via that free magazine your favorite political organization, college, or church mails to you. Pay attention to who produces your printed materials, especially if it seems like you're getting too much paper (such as with CVS receipts) or if you have other reasons to distrust the paper providers.

7) Videos or .gif's that cause eyes to move rapidly from side to side need to be scrutinized. Such eye movement is used in a relatively new form of psychotherapy called "eye movement desensitization and reprocessing." Too many unaware media consumers can be targeted by those who would use this new field of psychotherapy to "reprocess" their thinking in ways that could be harmful. This field needs scrutiny as soon as possible. Any new technology and treatment can be used for both good and ill.

Still plugging away at the weight loss issue....

Here's why I'm so convinced that there is a way to lose weight fairly quickly and healthily, in case you're wondering why I keep posting hypotheses on this topic: While tracking my food and weight, I personally experienced it, and I feel that I have a duty to try to identify what I was consuming so that others can learn from it and be blessed by it.

When I soaked plain kelp ("kombu" in Japan) purchased from Asian markets in cold water, the water became viscous and brownish green. When I combined the kelp water with some kinds of vitamin pills, some "organic spices," or with a homemade lactofermented yogurt and oat flakes, I experienced an unusual decrease in weight and fat, especially if I also ate canned sardines, grape seed extract, or some imported cheeses.

However, the kelp changed within a year or two. I tried to buy it from the same markets and get the same kinds, but it all no longer made viscous water. The kelp water stayed mostly clear, and the kelp smelled "metallic."

I believe I recreated the "kelp water" by soaking banana leaves with celery stalk slices in sunlight. The liquid became rather viscous. When I drank the liquid dipped out of the banana leaf/celery water throughout the morning and then afterward ate some kinds of canned sardines or foil pouch tuna fish, I again noticeably decreased in weight/fat.

My current thought, based on these experiences, is that there was UDP-apiose (based on an less common sugar molecule) or a closely related molecule released into the kelp water and banana leaf/celery water. I think that a "wild" kind of bacteria (perhaps bacillus subtilis) in my homemade yogurt is helping transform the apiose into a related molecule (perhaps a condensed one incorporating As/Sb/Bi in place of the P in apiofuranosyl-1,2-cyclic-phosphate) that signals the body to use up and reduce fat storage. I think this related molecule might have a more dramatic effect if it contains arsenic/antimony/bismuth, based on the inconsistent results I see from inclusion of diverse brands of spices and supplements or usage of different brands of processed fish. 

Update on 10/20/2021: An alternative hypothesis would be that UDP-apiose (or a related molecule) helps facilitate a fat-utilizing process that is helped along by the presence of propionic acid. Propionic acid would be expected to often be present in the canned fish (as a product of oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids with an uneven number--especially three--of carbons after the double bonds, especially in oil-canned fish high in unsaturated fat), the yogurt (as a product of some fermenting bacteria), and even the occasional chocolate products (again, a product of oxidation of some fatty acids) that I have seen associated with weight loss in me and my family. Propionic acid can activate AMPK, which has been referred to as a "master switch" for weight loss--https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003986119302966. It acts through G-protein coupled receptors (i.e., GPCRs or guanine nucleotide-binding proteins] 41 and 43, indicating a possible nucleotide connection, and UDP-apiose is a nucleotide sugar. I suspect that the UDP-apiose might interact with the GPCRs 41/43--a hypothesis supported by research findings: https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(19)80907-9/fulltext--in such as way as to alter their function when they are activated by propionic acid.