A Capite Ad Calcem

Diseased Liberalism

2008-05-26T11:58:00.003-05:00

I have hardly looked at my blog in the last year. It is quite obvious that I stopped posting just prior to final exams before I graduated. Within days of graduating, I moved to Cincinnati and started a new job. I did not have the internet for months, and then it was dial-up until last week. I will now post.

I married a wonderful lady about four weeks ago, and now I live in my own house, and pay taxes, and do the real-world thing parents’ talk about. It’s not very exciting. To me, the most fulfilling part is that I can do pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want, for whatever reason I want (or for no reason at all). My only constraints, in descending order of importance, are my limited financial means, religious requirements, and law.

These are indeed substantial restrains. I cannot afford many of the things I want, but I can afford many of the things I do. Traditional Roman Catholicism actually provides an abundance of freedom to a normal individual, but it does restrict some activities, requires that I do certain things on certain days, and pray. Most of these things I want to do anyway. Law attempts to restrict my activities to a large degree. Fortunately, law is one of the easiest restrictions to escape (as long as you don’t break any big laws like failing to pay your taxes or murdering a postman). I regularly exceed the speed limits, buy wine for my nineteen-year-old wife, and scrape leaded paint.

I can definitely see why various thinkers, most of them heretics, like Friedrich Nietzsche found this “freedom” so intoxicating. I must confess that simply doing something like purchasing mesquite charcoal rather that the regular kind is thrilling in a small way simply because my father, my church, and my wife have absolutely no say in the matter. The state has even erected legal structures that permit this consumer choice. It is sweet that I purchased charcoal which I hope will impart a delicious flavor to my London Broil (recipe here), but sweeter knowing that I have the power to make such decisions, and I even take wicked delight in knowing that if somebody told me to do otherwise, I could (and would) dismiss them with TAKE a HIKE!

The human will is a funny thing. God gave lions big teeth, claws, and powerful muscles. He gave humans a will. It is what makes humans (and other things with wills) a powerful influence in the world. Angels, having a stronger and better-informed will due to their great intellects, are more powerful than humans. When one exercises their will, even on a small or trivial thing, it empowers. Sometimes, exercising the will leads to pride, especially if the person perceives the fruits of their action, directed by their will, as good. It is therefore important to always temper feelings of accomplishment (the result of good action) with the recognition that circumstances, which are arranged by God, often play a larger role in most accomplishment than the human will does.

Action is rightly related to the will. Exercise of the will leads to human action, which leads to some accomplishment (good or bad), which is also influenced by circumstance and the talents of that particular human. When a person perceives sensation as being directed by their will they will fall prey to liberalism. This is due to a false relationship—that of sensation and the will—and it leads to endless contradiction and misery. Sensation now becomes the primary task of the will. It now becomes abundantly clear why liberalism has always been associated with drug abuse, sexual fetishes and deviance, and placing all problems into the framework of a disease. Drug abuse is perhaps the simplest association to demonstrate. The will directs the ingestion of some substance that results in prompt sensory pleasure. Sexual abuses are a little bit more difficult and complicated, but are essentially the same—the will directs some activity that results in immediate sensory pleasure, but results in no lasting accomplishment. In both cases it is the lack of accomplishment that is problematic. Rightly prescribed medicines accomplish good outcomes like the curing a malady. Rightly ordered sex accomplishes the begetting of children. The reason why liberalism is bad is because it focuses on the sensory pleasure rather than accomplishment. Libertarianism on the other hand focuses exclusively on action (right or wrong) and usually ignores circumstance. This is why famous libertarians like Ayn Rand found drug abusers weak and pathetic (you can’t accomplish much while high), and this is why too many libertarians the that the ends justifies the means. The traditional, conservative standpoint is the soundest—that the will directs action, which should be for good, and it recognizes that circumstances (a.k.a. reality) play a role. The traditional, conservative standpoint does not operate in a vacuum like Rand’s syllogisms, and it does not place sensation as the pinnacle of human achievement.

The third liberal association, placing all problems into the framework of “disease” is all to common but warrants definition. I remember humorously the movie West Side Story when one of the youths tells Officer Krumpke the reason why he is a delinquent is because he suffers from a “social disease.” Of course he learned this phrase from the presumably liberal psychologist. This framework accommodates the inherent contradiction of liberalism. Since liberals believe that sensation is the goal, but are often unable to achieve it because individual circumstances thwart it, they turn to the state to provide the action, and blame it on some invented disease. Is this not perverse? They direct the state to accomplish things that individuals should because they believe that individuals cannot accomplish the necessary things because they are deprived of the sensation they need. It’s mind-bendingly contradictory and silly, but it is alarmingly common. Let’s take welfare as an example. An individual cannot obtain the goods and housing they need to be sensorarily satisfied, so the state gives (action) money to this individual that it took (more action) from other people, who rightly earned it though their own individual human work (action). It’s an individual problem with a social solution. It should be like this: an individual cannot obtain the goods and housing they need to be sensorarily satisfied, so they use their will to earn money (action) to satisfy their needs, or consign themselves to being unfulfilled. An individual problem with an individual solution. And no public theft (a.k.a. taxes) is involved. The “diseased” invention merely makes the silly liberal system seem more palatable to the sound-minded. Oh, certainly the individual that is on welfare cannot help themselves because society doesn’t give them what they need to accomplish things! The sad fact is that they will never accomplish anything because of liberalism.

Millimeters Matter!

2007-05-02T18:48:00.001-05:00

Environmental Enrichment and Hebbian Pathways

2007-04-28T09:39:00.000-05:00

Research in environmental enrichment began in 1949 with Dr. Hebb’s investigation with two groups of rats. Rats raised in his “impoverished” laboratory setting performed worse in detour and maze problems than rats raised as pets by his two daughters. While this initial investigation was very crude, it opened the door for more controlled studies in environmental enrichment and impoverishment and its impact on learning and the brain.

By 1964 Bennett et al. securely established that rats reared in an enriched environment are faster learners than their littermates raised in relative isolation. The early “enriched” environments usually were large cages that featured toys, running wheels, and other objects, and they were cohabitated by other rats. The control rats were raised in smaller cages, alone, with no objects. Rosenzweig and Bennett reviewed literature in the area in 1996, again confirming their earlier hypothesis. It was not clear then, or now, what the particular elements of the environment made it enriched, and it was not clear weather the greater physical activity of the rats in the enriched environment contributed to their higher performance in problem solving and learning.

As late as 2000 van Praag et al. in a comprehensive review could not find any isolated variables that contributed to making an environment “enriched” for animals ranging from drosophila, to rats, to humans; though they did confirm that neither observing and enriched environment without being able to participate in it (TV rat) nor social interaction alone could explain the effects of enriched environments. They did discover a confounding variable. The interaction between the environment and neural development goes both ways since neural developments effect the animal’s perception of the environment. It is not simply the environment impressing itself upon the brain. In higher animals, it is certainly possible that factors like motivation play a substantial role in the effect of an enriched environment, and the effects of voluntary physical activity are still unknown. Clearly, isolating the specific factors in an enriched environment would be greatly beneficial to the advancement of research in the area and clear up confusion.

Diamond and Hopson at the University of California (the same university that Bennet et al. made their landmark discoveries) have suggested some factors that create an enriched environment for children in their book, Magic Trees of the Mind (1999), though none of these factors have been experimentally verified. They come simply from clinical experience, surveys, and interviews (mostly anecdotal and poorly controlled).

According to Diamond and Hopson, enriched environments…

∑ Include a steady source of positive emotional support

∑ Provide a nutritious diet with enough protein, vitamins, minerals and calories

∑ Stimulate all the senses (but not all at once)

∑ Have an atmosphere free of undue pressure and stress but suffused with a degree of
pleasurable intensity

∑ Present a series of novel challenges that are neither too easy nor too difficult for the stage of development

∑ Allow for social interaction for a significant percentage of activities

∑ Promote the development of a broad range of skills and interests that are mental, aesthetic, social and emotional

∑ Give the child an opportunity to choose many of his or her own activities

∑ Give the child a change to assess the results of his or her efforts and to modify them

∑ Offer an enjoyable atmosphere that promotes exploration and the fun of learning

∑ Above all, allow the child to be an active participant rather than a passive observer.

These factors echo the observations posed in the review article. Motivation, choosing activities, being active rather than passive, social interaction, and stimulation all seem important. Nutrition is obviously important and will not be discussed further. A point that seems to be overlooked is the assessment of physical effort. Diamond and Hopson do not discus physical activity’s impact on learning.

Empirically verifying the particular factors that contribute to an enriched environment would surely be helpful. It could advise parents on weather or not to purchase Baby Einstein videos for their children, or which particular educational video would be best (though it has already been established that participation is necessary in an enriched environment. TV babies will probably do no better than TV rats). This information would be very valuable to educators, too. Arranging classrooms and curriculums may be enhanced by knowledge of enrichment’s impact on learning. Perhaps simple changes in the classroom could elicit great improvements in learning.

The best way to understand the improved performance of individuals in enhanced environments is to decipher a biological mechanism, rather than simply correlating performance and factors in an enriched environment because correlation will never be able to distinguish the interaction between the environment and neural development.

In 1949 Hebb proposed that learning and memory are based on the strengthening of synapses that occurs when pre- and postsynaptic neurons are simultaneously active. Either the pre synaptic neuron or the postsynaptic neuron (or both) changes in such a way that the activation of one cell becomes more likely to cause the other to fire. Recently, neuroscientists have amassed data showing that Hebb was somewhat correct, and the maxim “cells the fire together, wire together” has become a common colloquial term (Schwartz and Begley, 2002). This can provide the biological framework for understanding enrichment’s impact on the individual.

Dr. Kandel, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, earned his share of the medal by investigating the “cells that fire together, wire together” maxim as it relates to learning in the humble Aplysia californica, the sea snail. He found that sensitized neurons had undergone long-lasting change: when excited (by touch), they discharge more neurotransmitter than do neurons that have not undergone sensitization. They also found that after periods of stimulation, certain reflex actions could be enhanced for a period of time. These stimuli modulate secondary messenger molecules like cAMP, which has been found to stimulate the formation of neural connections (Schwartz and Begley, 2002).

Enriched environments should have particular features, which can be directly linked to neural sensitization. In the case of the Aplysia, this was accomplished by simply spraying a jet of water onto its soft body tissues. Obviously different things in an enriched environment will simulate humans, but since both humans and Aplysia share similar neuronal and secondary messenger systems, it is likely that the Hebian conception of neural learning will apply to both. The task is now to demonstrate what environmental elements sensitize human neurons.

Enrichment has been linked to an increase in brain weight and dendritic branching (Pacteau et al., 1989) and improving cortical synaptic plasticity (Wainwright et al., 1993) in rats, both of which are conceptually Hebbian mechanisms. If it could be demonstrated that particular elements in an enriched environment influence these quantifiable physiological measures, then hard, empirical evidence would exist for developing enriched environments for humans.

Physiological measures of neuronal neuronal activity used on rats (which involved destruction of the animal) cannot be carried out on humans. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) uses alterations in brain hemodynamics to infer changes in neural activity by measuring small changes in deoxyhemoglobin within the brain’s vasculature, allowing non-invasive analysis of single-neuronal activity. The relation between fMRI and physiological measurements (such as Clark-style polographic microelectrodes inserted into the brain) is well substantiated in cats (Thompson et al., 2003), which are more closely related to humans than rats, though BOLD has not been substantiated in primates to date.

An experiment could test this by correlating specific features of the environment (for example, social interaction) to BOLD fMRI measurements and problem solving measures. It is known that the effects of an impoverished environment can be demonstrated rapidly (within a day or two) in humans, and normal humans make a rapid recovery once they are reintroduced to a normal environment (Heron 1957), so these experiments can be conducted rather safely.
An experiment is therefore proposed. A group of human subjects will be placed in environments with defined, controllable elements of enrichment for short periods of time (perhaps a day or two). They will then be compared to a group of human subjects (control 1), which were simply allowed to go about their daily lives normally with BOLD fMRI and pencil and paper problem solving tests. Another group would be placed in an impoverished environment similar to Heron’s 1957 experiment and compared in the same way. By varying the elements of enrichment, particular elements could be isolated to give an accurate picture of what really results in enrichments. Also, pedometers or heart-rate monitors could be placed on the subjects to approximate physical activity to determine if it is a variable.

A plausible hypothesis would be that elements in the enriched environment that causes “arousal,” would provide stimulation for the Hebbian pathway (which can be monitored using BOLD fMRI) and result in better problem solving scores. Schwartz and Begley suggested this “arousal hypothesis” in 2002. A contrary finding would be if no evidence for the Hebbian pathways was found, or if the neuronal activity was highly irregular in different individuals.

References:

Bennett, E. L., Diamond, M. C., Krech, D. and Rosenzweig, M. R. (1964) Chemical and Anatomical Plasticity in the Brain. Science. 146: 610-619

Diamond, M. C. and Hopson, J. L. (1999) Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence. New York. Penguin.

Hebb, D. O. (1949) The Organization of Behavior. New York. Wiley.

Heron, W. (1957, January) Pathology of Boredom. Scientific American. 52-56

Pacteau, C., Einon, D. and Sinden, J. (1989) Early Rearing Environment and Dorsal Hippocampal Ibotenic Acid Lesions: Long-Term Influences on Spatial Learning and Alteration in the Rat. Behavioral Brain Research. 34: 79-96

Rozenzweig, M. R. and Bennett, E. L. (1996) Psychobiology of plasticity: effects of training and experience on brain and behavior. Behavioral Brain Research. 78: 57-65

Schwartz, J. M. and Begley, S. (2002) The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. New York. HarperCollins.

Thompson, J. K., Peterson, M. R. and Freeman, R. D. (2003) Single-Neuron Activity and Tissue Oxygenation in the Cerebral Cortex. Science. 299: 1070-1072

Van Praag, H., Kempermann, G. and Gage, F. H. (2000) Neural Consequences of Environmental Enrichment. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 1:191-198

Wainwright, P. E. et al. (1993) Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Cortical Depth and Morris-maze Performance in B6D2F2 Mice Exposed Prenatally to Ethanol. Neurobehavioral Toxicology and Teratology. 15: 11-20

Baptizing in Beer

2007-04-27T09:05:00.000-05:00

"Since as we have learned from your report, it sometimes happens because of the scarcity of water, that infants of your lands are baptized in beer, we reply to you in the tenor of those present that, since according to evangelical doctrine it is necessary "to be reborn from water and the Holy Ghost" (John III:5) they are not to be considered rightly baptized who are baptized in beer."

-Cum sicut ex, Pope Gregory IX to Archbishop Sigurd of Norway, 13c

I find it funny that beer was more available than water in Norway in the 13th century.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse

2007-04-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major anxiety disorder with a community-based prevalence of 8% of adults in the Unites States. It is common among survivors of rape, military combat and captivity, and ethnically or politically motivated internment and genocide (DSM-IV-TR, p 466).

Though such figures imply no causality, 35% percent of men with PTSD demonstrate substance abuse/dependency compared to 15% of men without PTSD, and 28% of women with PTSD demonstrate substance abuse/dependency compared to 14% without PTSD (Kessler, 1995). There is a certainly a correlation between PTSD and substance abuse that is significant and worth investigating.

There is a significant statistical association between substance-related and other psychiatric disorders in the general, and 16 clinical populations (indicated by odds ratio greater than one) suggest that these disorders may be casually related to one another (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p. 5; DSM-IV-TR # 309.81). Substance abuse has an odds ratio of approximately three (Hasin and Nunes, 1998, p. 1-30; DSM-IV-TR p. 465).

Two major survey studies indicate that PTSD is frequently co-morbid with substance abuse and dependency. The National Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Study (NVVRS) showed that veterans with PTSD also met the criteria for substance abuse (20%) and dependency (75%), which is considerably higher than the typical population or even the typical Vietnam veteran population (Kulka et al., 1990). Furthermore, the NVVRS showed that veterans exposed to high war zone stress had twice the rate of PTSD (Jordan et al., 1991). The Center for Disease Control also conducted a study that showed 39% of Vietnam veterans with PTSD were also substance abusers/dependent (Heath Status of Vietnam Veterans, 1989).

PTSD is not just “combat fatigue” or “shell-shock.” It is observed in different types of people, all of which have been exposed to trauma, but its manifestations are significantly different in children, who will not be considered further in this discussion. It is found with great frequency among women, usually victims of sexual assault (Breslau et al., 1991). These women also frequently demonstrate co-morbid substance abuse/dependency.

Clearly the relationship between substance abuse/dependency and PTSD is important and impacts a broad community, making it a highly relevant topic for development. Furthermore, because of PTSD’s symptoms, conventional substance abuse/dependency programs my not work as well as they would on a person without PTSD. Therefore treatment strategies are greatly impacted, and the entire approach of treatment is positioned differently. Unlike a typical co-morbid situation, where both problems can be treated independently, co-morbid PTSD and substance/abuse must be approached uniquely.

It is important to realize that there is no drug preference for those who meet PTSD criteria. One investigator hypothesized that a special relationship existed between narcotic use and PTSD since the dominant theory of the relationship between PTSD and substance abuse/dependency is the self-medication hypothesis. In testing his narcotic preference hypothesis, the investigator found that there was no particular drug preference for PTSD substance abusers. In fact there was marked variability, some preferring marijuana, others alcohol and others still preferring narcotics, hallucinogens and other drugs (Robins, 1975). This suggests that the self-medication hypothesis may not be as useful as thought since drugs that would assuage anxiety and other unpleasant PTSD symptoms (narcotics) should be preferred over drugs which wont be as useful.

Indeed, the relationship between PSTD and substance/abuse dependency is unclear. As mentioned earlier, the dominant hypothesis is the self-medication hypothesis. Essentially, this hypothesis states that PTSD is a primary disorder and that drugs are taken to assuage the uncomfortable anxiety-related symptoms of the psychiatric disorder (Khantzian, 1985) (Lehman et al., 1989). Substance abuse among trauma survivors may represent attempts at avoidance of negative memories and affective responses (Follette, 1998). Sometimes this is called “tension-reduction.” A particular investigator emphasized the importance of the euphoria produced by many drugs such as cocaine, opiates, marijuana, and, to a lesser degree, alcohol. Since a distinguishing (and sometimes anguishing) feature of PSTD is flat affect, these drugs may play a role in helping the PTSD afflicted individual restore feeling and fight numbness (Kosten and Krystal, 1988). One investigator said, “PTSD patients with pronounced avoidance/numbing symptoms may rely more on drug abuse to induce sensations that are otherwise blunted” (McFall et al., 1992, p 361). There is clearly some evidence for the self-medication model, and it is the most common understanding among contemporary psychiatrists.

Other investigators demonstrate that drug use prior to the development of PTSD predict drug abuse/dependency following the development of PTSD more readily than the self-medication hypothesis, which stipulates that PTSD must be primary (Helzer, 1984). This realization seriously undermines the self-medication hypothesis. Also, it has been found that to have significant success in treating PTSD and co-morbid substance abuse/dependency; both PTSD and the substance abuse must be individually treated (Volpiceli, 1987). This may seem obvious, but if PTSD is truly a primary disorder, and is successfully treated, the substance abuse/dependency should clear up. Though it is possible that those with PTSD are simply developing an addiction to the drug. This could explain why they continue to abuse despite successful PTSD treatment. The primary/secondary relationship between PTSD and substance abuse/dependency is unclear (Minkoff, 1989), but successful treatment approaches always tackle both problems together.

There are several treatment approaches for those with co-morbid PTSD and substance abuse/dependency. The most successful ones often take a broad approach targeting both PTSD and substance abuse/dependency by utilizing cognitive-behavior therapies, group therapies and self-help programs.

There tends to be a general recommendation against the use of drugs when treating co-morbid PTSD and substance abuse/dependency (Schnitt 1984), though there are several drugs that can be effectively prescribed for treating PTSD. This is because there is addiction potential with many drugs used to treat PTSD, and substance abusing PTSD patients are more likely to abuse a drug than a typical PTSD patient. Preferred drugs for treatment have minimal addiction potential. The most recommend drugs are the SSRIs: fluoxetine and sertraline (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p26) (Asnis et al., 2004) because of lack of addiction potential (it is actually difficult to keep people on these drugs), good effectiveness and ease of administration (Taylor and Gorman, 1992). Also they are preferred because of lack of toxicity in case of overdose (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p. 27). Higher does doses of these drugs may be required in alcohol abusing/dependency individuals due to hepatic injury resulting in elevated hepatic enzymes (Mason, 1996).

Neuroleptics like chlorpromazine and olanzepine are also used to treat anxiety associated with PTSD (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p 28), but less frequently. Chlorpromazine has anxiety-inducing withdrawal symptoms and other negative side effects, and olanzepine has sedative effects, which lends the drug to possible abuse. For opioid dependence: methadone, buprenorphine, and l-alpha-acetylmethodol (LAAM) are used (Hubbary and Martin, 2001, p. 28) and may be helpful in PTSD patients with narcotics dependence. The new MDMA experimental therapy (Mithoefer, 2006) is vigorously not recommended due to addiction potential in PTSD patients with existing substance use problems.

There are drawbacks to drug therapies in general. To begin with, they all approach the PTSD as primary and drug abuse/dependency as secondary, as suggested by the self-medication model while it has been demonstrated that the primary/secondary relationship is unclear. They also completely overlook the entire substance use problem, which is best approached first (Follette, 1998, p. 231). The use of these drugs will also make it difficult for patients to enter 12-step programs like AA and NA, which have been found to be helpful (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p. 29), because these programs aim for complete sobriety. There is still a dearth of information bearing directly on the functions of alcohol and drug ingestion in relation to PTSD; few studies have attempted to test the self-medication hypothesis directly (Follette et al., 1998, p. 229). It is known however that treating the drug use problem first, followed by PTSD treatments, is more effective than treating PTSD first, followed by drug treatments, or, by simultaneous treatment (Follette et al., 1998, p. 231).

There are alternative theories about the relationship of PTSD and drug abuse/dependency. According to classical conditioning theories of relapse, stimuli that reliably precede administration of alcohol or drugs may come to elicit a variety of possible substance-related conditioned responses (“cravings”). Exposure to these “triggers” and the conditioned emotional and physical response increased the likelihood of substance consumption. Because substance abusing/dependent individuals with PTSD often drink or use drugs in the presence of traumatic reminders, memories, or PTSD symptoms, these trauma-related stimuli may also come to elicit urges to drink or use substances (Rohsenow et al., 1990). Some researchers have investigated this hypothesis in women with some success (Peirce et al., 1996), but it is a fairly unexplored hypothesis that has yielded little in the way of successful treatment strategies.

Another simpler hypothesis is that since anxiety is increased as a symptom of PTSD, that people with normal levels of anxiety sensitivity begin to consume alcohol and other drugs to reduce the anxiety. High anxiety sensitivity has been linked to higher levels of alcohol consumption (Stewart et al., 1995) in people without PTSD, so it is plausible that normal levels of anxiety producing stimuli in an otherwise normal person with PTSD may drive them to substance abuse/dependence. This theory is appealingly simple, and it informs us as to why reducing anxiety-causing fixtures in a PTSD patient’s life can help prevent relapse.
Most recent developments in treatment combine some form of exposure therapy for PTSD with an empirically supported treatment for substance use disorder (Coffey, 2005).

It is vital to begin substance use treatments before the treatment of concurrent PTSD (Follette et al., 1998, p. 231), which seems to undermine the belief that PTSD is a primary diagnoses. Too many problems are encountered during PTSD treatments with substance abusers/dependents unless initial efforts towards sobriety are made. Practitioners have difficulty engaging the patient, drug therapies will probably not be adhered to, and exploration of trauma-related issues may be harmful to the patient who is currently abusing a substance (Reilly, 1994).

A general treatment strategy outlined by Follette et al. (1998, p. 237-243) would include using assessment to direct the treatment process, and assessment should be ongoing. The patient needs to be monitored carefully to detect any trends or events that are creating anxiety or possibly triggering the PTSD symptoms. A therapeutic relationship must be forged between the therapist, the client and any other groups helping the client. People with PTSD often have interpersonal difficulties associated with flat affect and other symptoms of PTSD, so the confrontational style of many self-help groups, particularly those of the 12-step variety, may be problematic. In this case, the therapist should direct the patient into the most appropriate groups, since AA and NA have been found to be helpful (Hubbard and Martin, 2001, p. 29). The next step in the treatment plan is to build motivation and set goals. This may involve different interviewing techniques, and Miller and Rollnick’s method (1991) is recommended by Follette et al (1998). It is based on providing helpful extended discussion of motivation enhancement methods based on five broad principles: (1) express empathy, (2) develop discrepancy (amplify in the client’s mind the discrepancy between current behavior and future goals), (3) avoid argumentation, (4) roll with resistance, and (5) support self-efficacy. Once the interviewing process has been completed, managing exposure to alcohol, drugs, and cues has to be undertaken. This may involve modifying the social environment. Often the spouse can be of great help in this process (Kosten, 1987). Finally implementing relapse prevention methods and training skills for risky situations must be undertaken. A summary of steps for therapy recommendations was published by Follette et al. (1998) on pages 246 and 247.

In conclusion, PTSD co-morbid with substance abuse/dependency is a relevant, but treatable problem. Its etiology and causes are largely unexplained, and the working hypotheses are inadequate, but some effective treatment therapies have emerged empirically. The future holds hope of finding even more effective, specific, treatment approaches, and hopefully a better understanding of the relationship of PTSD and substance abuse/dependency.

References

American Psychiatric Association (2000) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Forth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, D.C. American Psychiatric Association.

American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders
(1989) A Task Force Report of the American Psychiatric Association. Washington, D.C., American Psychiatric Association.

Asnis GM, Kohn SR, Henderson M, Brown NL. (2004) SSRIs versus Non-SSRIs in Post-
traumatic Stress Disorder: An Update with Recommendations. Drugs. 64(4):383-404

Breslau, N., Davis, G.C., Peterson, E.L., and Schultz, L. (1997) Psychiatric Sequelae of
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Women. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 81-87

Briere, J. (1992) Child abuse trauma: Theory and Treatment of the Lasting Effects.
Newbury Park, CA. Sage Press.

Coffey, S. F., Schumacher, J. A., Brimo, M. L. and Brady, K. T. (2005) Exposure
Therapy for Substance Abusers with PTSD. Behavior Modification, 29:1, 10-38

Hasin, D. S. and Nunes, E. V. (1998) Comorbidity of Alcohol, Drug, and Psychiatric
Disorders: Epidemiology. Dual Diagnoses in Treatment. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Health Status of Vietnam Veterans. (1989) Volume IV Psychological and
Neuropsychological Evaluation. US Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, Atlanta Georgia, pg 62 in Kofoed, L., Friedman, M. J. and Peck, R. (1993) Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Patients with PTSD. Psychiatric Quarterly. 64:2 151-171

Helzer, J. E. (1984) The Impact of Combat on Later Alcohol Use by Vietnam Veterans.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. 16(2):183-191 in Kofoed, L., Friedman, M. J. and Peck, R. (1993) Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Patients with PTSD. Psychiatric Quarterly. 64:2 151-171

Hubbard, J. R. and Martin, P, R. (eds.) (2001) Substance Abuse in the Mentally and
Physically Disabled. New York. Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Jordan, B. K., Schlenger, W. E., Hough, R. et al. (1991) Lifetime and Current Prevalence
of Specific Psychiatric Disorders Among Vietnam Veterans and Controls. Archives of General Psychiatry 48:207-215 in Kofoed, L., Friedman, M. J. and Peck, R. (1993) Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Patients with PTSD. Psychiatric Quarterly. 64:2 151-171

Follette, V. M., Ruzek, J. I. and Abueg, R. F. (1998) Cognitive-behavioral therapies for
trauma. New York. Guilford Press.

Kessler, R. C., Sonnega, A., Bromet, E., Hughes, M. and Nelson, C. B. (1995)
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52, 1048-1060

Khantzian, E. J. (1985) The Self-Medication Hypothesis of Addictive Disorders: Focus
on Heroin and Cocaine Dependence. The American Journal of Psychiatry 142:1259-1264

Kosten, T. R. and Krystal, J (1988) Biological Mechanisms in Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder Relevance for Substance Abuse. Recent Developments in Alcoholism 6:49-68

Kulka, R. A., Schlenger, W.E., Fairbank, J. A. et al. (1990) Trauma and the Vietnam War
Generation. New York. Bruner-Mazel 117-126 in Kofoed, L., Friedman, M. J. and Peck, R. (1993) Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Patients with PTSD. Psychiatric Quarterly. 64:2 151-171

Lehman, A.F., Myers, P. and Corty, E. (1989) Assessment and Classification of Patients
with Psychiatric and Substance Abuse Syndromes. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 40:1019-1025

Mason, B. J. (1996) Dosing Issues in the Pharmacotherapy of Alcoholism. Alcohol
Clinical Experience Research 20:10A-16A

McFall, M. E., Mackay, P. W. and Donovan, D. M. (1992) Combat-related Posttraumatic
Stress Disorder and Severity of substance abuse in Vietnam Veterans. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 53, 357-363

Miller, W. R. and Rollnick, S. (1991) Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to
Change Addictive Behavior. New York. Guilford Press.

Minkoff, K. (1989) An Integrated Treatment Model for Dual Diagnoses of Psychosis and
Addiction. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 40:1031-1036.

Mithoefer, M. C. (2006) Phase II clinical trial testing the safety and efficacy of
3,4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy in subjects with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. FDA Study # 63-384. Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. Accessed 17 April 2007 http://www.maps.org/mdma/protocol/index.html

Peirce, J. M., Brown, J. M., Long, P. J. Nixon, S. J., Borrell, G. K. and Holloway, F. A.
(1996) Comorbidity and Subjective reactivity to meaningful cues in Female Methadone Maintenance Patients. Paper presented at annual meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, New York. (Reported in Follette et al., 1998.)

Reilly, P. M., Clark, H. W., Shopshire, M. S., Lewis, E. W. and Sorensen, D. J. (1994)
Anger Management and Temper Control: Critical Components of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Abuse Treatment. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 26, 401-407

Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Davis, D. H. (1975) Narcotics Use in Southeast Asia and
Afterwards. Archives of General Psychiatry 32:955-961 in Kofoed, L., Friedman, M. J. and Peck, R. (1993) Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in Patients with PTSD. Psychiatric Quarterly. 64:2 151-171

Roshenow, D. J., Childress, A. R., Monti, P. M., Niaura, R. S. and Abrams, D. B. (1990)
Cue Reactivity in Addictive behaviors: Theoretical and Treatment Implications. International Journal of Addictions, 25, 957-993 (in Follette et al., 1998, p 229)

Schnitt J. M. and Nocks, J. J. (1984) Alcoholism Treatment of Vietnam Veterans with
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 1:179-189

Stewart, S. H. and Zeitlin, S. B. (1995) Anxiety Sensitivity and Alcohol Use Motives.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 9, 229-240

Taylor, L. and Gorman, J. (1992) Theoretical and Therapeutic Considerations for the
Anxiety Disorders. Psychiatric Quarterly. 63:319-342

Volpicelli, J. R. (1987) Uncontrollable Events and Alcohol Drinking. British Journal of
Addiction. 82:381-392

My First New Car

2007-04-20T20:39:00.000-05:00

Is really sweet.

It is a fire-engine-red 2007 Ford Mustang V6 with a five-speed standard shift.

Forty years ago, my father’s first new car was a candy-apple red 1967 Ford Mustang V6 with a three-speed standard shift.

I will post something substansial when I have become more aquainted with my yet unamed 'stang.

Cell Phones are Killing Bees

2007-04-15T14:59:00.000-05:00

Those that know me personally know that I am not fond of cell phones or their effects on our minds, behavior and social customs. Now they are actually imperilling our survival. The lovable honey bee's navigation is apparently disrupted be cell phones.

Honey bees pollinate a tremendous amount of the food we eat. Agraculture in most of the world will collapse if their populations decreae too much.

The paper regarding this can be obtained, but it is in German, which I cannot read. If somebody would like to translate it, that would be splendid. The abstract is in English, so a summary is avaiable at least.

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Of Alcoholics and Psychologists

2007-04-11T10:55:00.000-05:00

I am the only Molecular Biology and Psychology double major at my school. It is an unusual combination, and a combination that exposes me to the two forks of secularism. One is secularism’s bedrock—materialism. All of contemporary study in biology is materialistic; however, it is not so preoccupied with it (save Dr. Richard Dawkins). You can be a fruitful biologist without ever considering the philosophical underpinnings of the discipline. You can be a fruitful biologist weather or not you believe in spiritual things.

Psychology is another matter entirely. Contemporary psychology (believe it or not psychology grew out of Christian moral philosophy in the 19th century) is the enemy of any and all institutions that are epistemologically based on tradition. Psychology is the enemy of the spiritual. It seeks to explain away our humanness weather it claims to or not. This is why I am always taken aback when religious people accost me for being a molecular biology major. They hardly know that they have far more to fear from psychology. Molecular biology explains away the spritual while pyschology attacks it, and it does far more practical damage through its tenticles of feminism, sex-education and the like.

Let me give you an example. There are several methods for treating alcohol abuse and dependancy. One method, the least effective one, is to simply give an alcoholic a hard time, berate them, say they are weak and demand that they “quit.” This is a method that has been employed throughout time by many unhappy spouses (usually wives), friends and parents who were justifiably upset with the alcoholic’s behavior. Another, better, method that arose in the 1940s and 1950s to respond to the tide of alcoholic G.I.s coming back from WWII was Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA is the organization that stated the familiar twelve-step program.

STEP#1: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable."

The founders of AA were Christians, though they never made a big deal about it. As you will see, Christianity is intimately intertwined with the epistemology and principles of AA. This first step is analogous to the Christians admission that he is powerless over sin. The first step is to overcome denial and pride.

STEP#2: "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

This step is analogous to the Christians' belief in God and that only He can save man from sin.

STEP#3: "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him."

This is analogous to handing your life over to Gods care. This is the action end of step #2.

STEP#4: "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves."

This is analogous to the examination of conscious conducted by Christians to prepare for confession.

STEP#5: "Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

This is the confession of sins.

STEP#6: "Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character."

This is analogous to having God’s grace come into your life.

STEP#7: "Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings."

This is analogous to prayer among other things.

STEP#8: "Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all."

While this step is a bit out of order, it is analogous to penance or preparing amending your sins.

STEP#9: "Made direct amends
such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

Amending sins.

STEP#10: "Continued to take a personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."

Spiritual warfare continues.

STEP#11: "Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out."

Piety.

STEP#12: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles."

Evangelization.

It continues to amaze me that professional psychologists complain about AA and convince their students that it is useless at best and is mostly harmful.

Their complaints are usually the following:

1. It is a religion
2. It is provincial/non-professional
3. It is sexist

The first criticism has always baffled me, and it accurately demonstrates most psychologists’ beliefs. Religion is a pejorative. No explanation of why being a religion makes AA bad is ever given. Religions are just bad. So being a religion, or religious, is bad. One of the most appealing features to me about AA is the fact that it is like a religion in that it is an institution based on traditions. When AA started, people contributed methods and techniques and approaches that worked. They compiled these into what is now known as the “Big Book,” which is sort of like a AA holy book in that people consult it, quote it and go to in when there are disputes over a matter. They do not believe it to be inspired. The root of AA is a belief in a God (or higher power) that can heal you. From there, the twelve steps developed into a full-blown quasi-sacramental system. At each step a practical action is taken and God helps you. This is effective psychologically because addictions are often not a matter of will power. People are so hopelessly addicted that the really need a higher power to overcome it, even if that higher power is nothing more than the AA group meetings. AA denies that it is a religion or religious, and AA even insists that the Higher Power can be non-spiritual, but this only arose following external criticism of the organization. It is denying its authentic roots when it does this in order to fit in or appeal to the faithless. Sadly actual religions (like various Christian churches) have done the same thing in the last fifty years.

The second criticism is hardly a criticism. It is basically myopia. Because non-professionals run all AA meetings and some are rather screwy, psychologists, who erect very dehumanizing and rigid standards for everything (think of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual), get in a tizzy. You could criticize parents, friends or even the entire world for being this way. People are fallen. People screw up. Psychologists do too. Criticizing AA for being human is as silly as it sounds, and it shows most professional psychologists’ real colors. They don’t want an effective treatment method to arise that does not involve them getting paid. Psychologists’ own literature says, “AA has been one of the most successful treatment approaches for alcohol problems” (APA Task Force, 1989, p. 1096) and “is a successful adjunct to professional care” (Emrick et al., 1977, p. 120-161). What other explanation is there for their dislike of it? It works well with them and without them. They just down want competition.

If people believed that psychologists’ were really effective at what they did, they would go to them like they go to barber shops. We all have problems of psychological nature just like we all have problems with hair growing too long. Most psychologists get their money from the government either from grants or from the justice system forcing people to go to them.

I find the third criticism of AA almost funny, and it is a classic straw-man argument. Some psychologist who wants to fight the good fight against sexism gets up on a soap box and cherry picks some quotes from the Big Book like “To Wives: nagging and condemning your husband will not help. You are justifiably angry with him, but he needs your support. Do not condemn him.” This isn’t really even sexist, because it follows up the comment stating that sometimes this will apply to husbands with alcoholic wives, but when the Big Book was compiled in the 1950s, before women started acting like men (in this case, for worse) alcoholism was mainly a male problem. Essentially this is sound advice that is derided as “June Cleaver stuff.”

Professional psychologists also have effective, perhaps even more effective, methods for treating alcohol abuse and dependency. In fact a one-two punch of professional help followed by AA or similar organizations seems to be the best. But the fact remains that professionals cost money, and AA is free. Most people never get to the professional until a court forces them to go, and AA, in my opinion, “is doing the most good.”

I am disturbed by my fellow students who harbor irrational and intense animosities against AA and similar organizations like Al-Anon and Narcotics Anonymous, etc. They hate it because it cuts into their future earnings, but more importantly, they hate it because it acknowledges that there is a God, that there is a changeless human nature and that tradition can be an effective engine for human betterment. Psychologists, who get paid to write, would prefer to re-write a Big Book of their own every 25 years with all the “latest research.”

It is frightening that such people will be responsible for helping those of us most in need in the coming years. If you are a materialist, how can you love (or even want to help) the crack junkie wife/child-beater who needs to get over his addiction? There is nothing loveable about this person to a materialist. They are materially awful. But to a religions person they still have a soul and a fingerprint (it may be tiny) of God in them, and that makes them worthwhile.

Citations:

American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders (1989) A Task Force Report of the American Psychiatric Association. Washington, D.C., American Psychiatric Association.

Emrick C., Lassen, C. L. and Edwards, M. T. (1977) Nonprofessional Peers as
Therapeutic Agents in Effective Psychotherapy: A Handbook of Research. New York. Pergamon Press.

Holy Week Hiatus

2007-04-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

I will not be posting until Eastertide. Some excellent, printable images of the Stations of the Cross drawn by my friend.

Tow Worthwhile Videos

2007-03-31T16:05:00.000-05:00

For a 4:45 long vacation:

A biologist's 5:00 vacation

Muzzle-loading

2007-03-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

Muzzle-loaders are technically any projectile launching device that loads and ejects the projectile from the same end. Old fashioned canons, mortars, and old-fashioned long-guns are all examples. A characteristic feature of the muzzle-loading rifle or canon is the ramrod, which is used to push the projectile and propellant into the barrel.

For the purposes of this essay I will be focusing on muzzle-loading rifles that have been used by people for the last 250 years. There are many different types for muzzle-loaders. Some are truly antique, being manufactured hundreds of years ago. These are all side-locks, which have an external hammer that ignites the powder. The oldest side-locks use the Match-lock mechanism.

Such guns are improvements on what was known as a “hand-canon.” Very early hand-held muzzle-loaders were ignited with a piece of fuse placed near hole that led to the powder. Some clever person had the bright idea of fashioning a hammer that clamps a piece of lit fuse. This hammer was connected to a primitive trigger. The result was that he could steady the firearm with both hands and then fire by squeezing his fingers, greatly improving accuracy and reliability. This is the first example of a true “gun.”

Later, the Flint-lock was developed. This was a substantial improvement over the Match-lock. It was more reliable and durable. You no longer had to keep your fuse lit. A loaded gun would be ready for action after simply cocking the hammer. It also freed the pioneer from buying or making his own fuse. Several pieces of flint could be kept and would last through hundreds of shots. The ubiquitous Brown Bess, the backbone of the English Empire, was a Flint-lock

I believe that the golden era of American rifle-making existed during the Flint-lock era. Colonial and pioneer Americans all used Flint-locks, the contemporary guns of the time. Masterful German immigrant gunsmiths (living in Lancaster Pennsylvania, not Kentucky) fashioned what I consider the masterpiece of American muzzle-loading rifles, the Kentucky Rifle. The Kentucky Rifle was uniquely American and suited for the vast, deep woods of the American Frontier. This made range and accuracy far more important to Americans than it ever was to the Europeans, so the Kentucky Rifles were made with unheard of barrel-lengths. Thirty inches is usually a minimum for such guns. The long, carefully rifled barrels squeezed every last drop of energy and accuracy out of the hand-made 50 caliber lead balls available to the American pioneer. The Kentucky Rifle stacked up brilliantly against the smoothbore, shorter British Brown Bess in the Battle of New Orleans (War of 1812) where “Hunters of Kentucky” inflicted brutal casualties with their accurate, long-range guns. It was also important to make the gun as carry-able, durable and handy as possible. Every bit of a Kentucky Rifle is simultaneously beautiful and functional. The Patch-box (on the butt-stock) is a good example. It was an innovation. It allowed for quick access of patches and faster loading times, but it was also beautifully engraved. Most American hunters dulled the shiny brass to prevent reflection of light, but this made the patch box fit the overall ruggedly elegant look of the gun. The stock was extended to almost to the end of the muzzle to make the balancing and steadying of the rifle easier, but it also gave the gun a sleek look that no other gun matches. The Kentucky rifle did away with bulky locks and unnecessary weight, making it lighter, more carry-able, and less likely to snag in dense forests.

Shorter versions of the Kentucky Rifle, like the “Hawken,” were popular with American trappers who needed a more compact, carry-able gun, but even longer versions were made for plains pioneers, which needed to kill large game (buffalo) or Indians from very great distances. Examples include the “Plains Rifle.”

The next innovation in Muzzle-loader design is the percussion cap. This is similar to the modern primer found on a center-fire rifle cartridge, the percussion cap rests on a nipple (essentially a hole leading to the power). When the hammer strikes the percussion cap, it bursts with a little flame in one direction. This flame then ignites the powder. The percussion cap is a more reliable ignition mechanism than the Flint-lock because it does not need to be adjusted carefully before use, and it works better in rain or extreme cold, but a carefully maintained and tuned Flint-lock can approach percussion cap reliability. Many older Flint-lock rifles were fitted with percussion cap ignitions, and many hunters today prefer the percussion cap, but my heart lies with the Flint-lock. As you can see though, the development of different mechanisms has been organic and gradual and traditional. At no point was the old design abandoned; it was simply improved.

A major development (perhaps rupture?) in muzzleloader design was the development of “in-line” ignitions. The vast bulk of new muzzle-loader sales are of the in-line design. This is a modern development that came after the development of breech-loading cartridge rifles, and, in my opinion, they are silly. They are essentially modern single-shot rifles that load from the front (the muzzle) instead of the rear (breech). The people who buy these rifles are trying to hunt during “muzzle-loader only” time, so they get the most unsporting, deadly muzzle-loader they can. They want a “muzzle-loader” that is stainless steel, waterproof, and composite-stocked so it is easy to clean. They want to use modern nitrocellulose powders instead of black powder. They want scopes. They want to be able to kill a Moose from 200 yards instead of having to creep up to 50. They want their rifle to fire even if it is freezing cold, they have not properly maintained their rifle, or if it is raining. This takes the joy out of muzzle-loading. The skill and patience required to operate the gun is lost, and the beauty is lost. I would commend any State for preventing these in-liners from killing everything during “muzzle-loader week,” and for encouraging the true sportsmen, those with side-locks, to maintain their traditions.

For those of you interested in muzzle-loading, I recommend the following links:

The largest muzzle-loading get-together, the Bi-annual National Muzzle-loading Rifle Association meet in Friendship, Indiana, is about 40 miles west of Cincinnati. This is a great place for the whole family. There are lasses clad in bonny vestments from the colonial period to the antebellum era. There are many pies from what I hear. Who doesn’t like pie? And there are muzzle-loaders! Re-enactments, too! Hopefully there won’t be to many in-liners. The meetings are in June and September.

Here is an unsual basic guide to constructing a muzzle-loading rifle written by a model plane hobbiest.

Some rifle manufacturers:

For an American-made, quality and safe replica Hawken try Thompson/Center.

For an Italian-made, quality, and safe Plains style replica (kit also available) try Lyman.

Track of the Wolf in Minnesota is the premier muzzloader kit manufacturer. Their replica and historic guns are of high quality. Their catalog is the source for muzzloading parts and information. I am probably going to buy one of their southpaw Kentuck rifles (since I am left eye dominant and right-handed) in the comming months.

Pecatonica River Long Rifle Supply also makes high-quality stocks and locks for rifles and pistols using the same barrels as Track of the Wolf. They seem competitive and offer more left-handed models, which I appericate greatly.

Connecticut Valley Arms and Traditions, which both use Spanish import barrels, have models known to explode using recommended loads, and I would avoid such guns despite their low price. Certainly never overload such guns. Also, with historical models, make sure that a competent gunsmith examines them before firing. It is better to lose some money than lose a hand or eye.

Don't Mess with this Rabbit

2007-03-09T20:28:00.000-06:00

15-Passenger Van Safety Warnings

2007-03-02T10:16:00.000-06:00

There was a factor I did not consider in my evaluation of the ultimate trad-mobile, and it is a deal breaker for many traditional families. The Dodge Sprinter is a 10-passenger vehicle. This is simply too small for many traditionalist families. There are only two larger vans. Actually, they are not classified as vans, but rather as lightweight busses. This is why the EPA does not test for fuel economy and the NTSB/NHTSA does not test them for rollover or side impact. It is also why whiplash head restraints are not required on such vehicles. These two vehicles are the Chevrolet Express/GMC Savanna and the Ford E-350.

The Ford:

The Chevy:

Both vehicles come in 12 and 15-passenger models and both come in extended lengths; fortunately the Chevy comes in an extended wheelbase. Both have poor rollover performance. If these vehicles take turns at high speeds and are laden behind the rear axel uncontrollable oversteer may occur. The oversteer is implicated in a number of rollover accidents. This is an inherent design flaw in the vehicles, both of which are modified pickup trucks, really.

The rear bench in such vehicles has four seats (as opposed to three). Most people load cargo as far rearward as possible (because it is easier). These factors often create dangerous situations, and I urge traditional families to load cargo and passengers as close to the center as possible and demand that your children to buckle up. Scapulars are not adequate protection!

I do fear that if 15-passanger vans were regulated as SUVs or Passenger Vehicles, instead of busses, they would fail miserably in many safety tests. Unfortunately, I am sure that if they were classified as such, GM and Ford would immediately drop the vehicles rather than redesign safe ones. That’s the American way, sadly. I doubt that it is a co-incidence that after Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler, the 1971 vintage American designed Dodge Ram Van was promptly dropped and replaced with the German designed (and manufactured) Sprinter. The Sprinter is a far safer vehicle that utilizes an advanced adaptive stability control system, numerous airbags, head restrains, and a low center of gravity unibody frame to make the van a safety leader. Unfortunately it has a 10-passenger capacity and a nearly $40,000 sticker making it an unworkable choice for many traditionalist Catholics.

So, there really is no option. Traditional Catholics, volunteer organizations, various churches, college sports teams, etc. will continue to buy Ford and GM 15-passegner vans because of their low initial cost and 33% greater seating capacity.

I will now examine some possible solutions to this problem and propose some remedies for GM and Ford to consider.

1) Extend the wheelbase. GM did this. Ford did not. This saved a bit of money for Ford. Unfortunately it compromises safety considerably. The further the wheels are to the corners, the more stable the vehicle becomes. This is simple physics that should be obvious to anybody who has played with blocks. For this reason alone I recommend that consumers not even consider the Ford van.

2) Install electronic stability control systems. The old Dodge Sprinter was the first to employ this device. It is basically a computer hooked up to some sensors and the breaks. When the sensors detect body roll, the computer makes a particular wheel break to correct the body roll. Since the computer controls a particular wheel and actuates the break caliper precisely, a substantial improvement in stability is achieved. In the last year, Ford and GM have installed electronic stability controls on their vehicles. For this I applaud GM and Ford, and I applaud making it a standard feature so no cheapo will eschew this safety measure. My applause may be unwarranted. Perhaps GM and Ford did it simply to placate the NHTSA or prevent lawsuits.

3) Lower the center of gravity. Instead of pick-up truck frames, GM and Ford might consider unibody designs, which have a lower center of gravity. If the advantages of body-on-frame designs (which are considerable) are found to be too numerous, they should take measures to lower the center of gravity. Some simple ways would be to utilize aluminum sheet metal in the roof instead of steel, to more carefully arrange the undercarriage components and lower the floor, or to reconfigure the engine so that it rests closer to the ground. Maybe switching to compact diesel engines would work (they don't have to meet EPA emissions due to classifcation). GM should consider switch to their compact, high-output Atlas engines. The LL8, a straight-six and the L5R, a straight-five, seem like good candidates, though there would be slight power and torque decreases compared to the current engines. Since the bonnet of the GM vans was extended in 2003, one would think there would be more lenght-room for these engines.

4) Bring interiors up to passenger vehicle standards. This means using high-density foam rubber on wall panels instead of hard plastic. This means sturdier seats. This means seatbelt pretensioners. This means crush zones and a reinforced roof. This means putting head restraints on the rear benches. The lack of head restraints is particularly irksome to me, because this should cost at most $150 and would enormously improve safety.

5) Include in the owner’s manual a comprehensive safety manual. This would include proper towing and trailering methods, proper loading methods, understanding how to handle the vehicle in less-than-ideal situations. Most of the problems with rollover have been attributed to “behavior” according to the NHTSA. In fact, 87 percent of the occupant fatalities associated with roll-over were not wearing seatbelts.

Some consumer advocacy groups, like Public Citizen, have suggested that installing dual rear wheels may be beneficial. This is an option on the Dodge Sprinter cargo van, but not the passenger van. Because of the pickup truck frame used by GM and Ford, a dual wheel would have to be installed under a bonnet like that found on large Pick up trucks.

I find this option undesirable for three reasons. It adds nearly two feet to the width of the vehicle, making it even more unwieldy. It also looks stupid (like training wheels) and will reduce the drag coefficient. It will add traction and additional payload and towing capacity, with is desirable. I think this should be an option on the vehicles. It should not be very expensive to manufacture.

For better or for worse, the NHTSA has been slow to act. The initial studies were conducted in 2000, and the only real improvement has been the addition of electronic stability control systems in the last year. It is important to recognize that haranguing or regulating-into-oblivion Ford and GM will result in the elimination of such vehicles from their lineups, leaving people with more than eight children with the only option of small school-use busses. Seriously. I believe that with some simple ingenuity these venerable vans can be improved substantially, and it irks me that GM and Ford have not taken initiative and corrected the problem already. I recommend that Americans and Canadians urge the manufactures to improve their designs. Below you will find a form letter and proper addresses for GM and Ford. You may also contact the NHTSA or your congressman.

(Photo of dual-wheel van courtesy of Public Citizen, and requests to remove this photo will be immediate heeded. Other images non-copyright and courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

[your name]
[your address]
[your address]

[date]

[Corporation name]
[Address]
[Address]

Dear Sir:

I urge [Corporation name] to consider improving the design of 12 and 15-passenger vans to make them safer. I am sure that you are already aware that the NHTSA has issued public alerts and conducted tests on your vans finding them unsafe due to rollover caused by uncontrollable oversteer. The buyers of such vehicles tend to be large families, churches, private schools, sports teams, and volunteer groups that are seeking high-capacity and low-cost transportation. They also happen to be the type of buyer that is very concerned with safety, and many may purchase the considerably safer Dodge Sprinter despite its higher cost and lower capacity.
I applaud the installment of electronic stability control systems on 12 and 15 passenger vans, [for GM, applaud the extended wheelbase], but much more can be done. A simple measure would be to install head restraints on the rear benches. Designing the vans to have a lower center of gravity may help as well. Finally, dual rear wheels, like those found on the pickup tucks that share platforms with the vans, have been found by a consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, to greatly improve performance (as well as traction, towing capacity, and payload). Making this an optional feature should be considered.
Improving the safety to 12 and 15-passenger vans can provide one avenue for [Corporation name] to improve its image and restore profitability. There are many loyal owners of these large vans who do not want to see production cease due to safety concerns.

Sincerely,

[your signature]

[your name]

Addresses:

General Motors Corporation
P.O. Box 33170
Detroit, MI 48232-5170
USA

Ford Motor Company
Customer Relationship Center
P.O. Box 6248
Dearborn, MI 48126-6248
USA

Ford Motor Company of Canada, Limited
Customer Relationship Centre
P.O. Box 2000
Oakville, Ontario, L6J5E4
Canada

NHTSA Headquarters
400 7th St SW
Washington, DC 20590

To find your congressman

Nature’s Oddities Part 8: The Anglerfish

2007-02-17T08:29:00.000-06:00

The Anglerfish, of order Lophiiformes, deserves special mention as the most fearsome and ugly creature on the planet. If anybody is able to find a more ugly or horrifyingly evil looking creature, please comment with links (this is not at request for a picture of your mother-in-law).

The anglerfish is truly an odd creature. It lives at extreme depths, where over 2,000 PSI of pressure would prevent most aquatic creatures from surviving. There is hardly any light at these depths, so there is no photosynthesis, and scarcely any large autotrophs to provide nutrition for large animals, so animals are almost always carnivores at these depths. An exception to this rule would be the deep-sea tubeworms covered in one of my earlier posts.

The carnivores that live at these depths compete fiercely for the available food because it is so scarce, and they demonstrate some of the most extreme adaptations towards a carnivorous lifestyle. Those fearsome teeth are not for decoration. They are very special pointed teeth that are inclined inwards—to prevent whatever enters from leaving. The enormous jaws of the anglerfish extend around the anterior circumference of its head, and its thin and flexible bones allow it to swallow very large prey. In fact, the Monkfish, another lophiiforme and close relative of the Anglerfish can swallow prey larger than itself, obviously not demonstrating monk-like temperance towards food.

A truly outstanding predatory feature of the anglerfish is its bioluminescent “lure” that it dangles in front of its mouth to attract prey. There is virtually no light at the depths anglerfish live, so their bodies are almost invisible to other fish. The lure, like the tubeworm, uses symbiotic bacteria to function. The chemical reaction involved is quite unique in nature, relying upon an enzyme called luciferase and a photoprotein. The luciferase catalyzes a reaction between the photoprotein and calcium ions. It is unclear how the actual mechanism works, but photons are emitted. This is completely unlike florescence or phosphorescence, where certain materials absorb photons and undergo energetic transitions and occasionally release photons. Bioluminesance requires no incident light.

The most interesting feature of the Anglerfish is the extreme sexual dimorphism demonstrated by the species. When scientists first started catching Anglerfish, they noticed every specimen was female. They wondered, “Where are the males?” It took them a while before they discovered small parasitic organisms living on the female’s body. It turns out these are the boys.

Male anglerfish hatchlings (called fry) have no digestive system, and are unable to feed. Fortunately they are equipped with extraordinarily sensitive olfactory organs (like the male lamprey) that detect female anglerfish pheromones (also like the lamprey). When a male locates a female, he bites into her side and fuses with one of her blood vessels to receive nourishment. This merging of two different adult organisms' body tissues is extremely unusual and largely unexplained.

The male then undergoes gradual atrophy until his body is noting more than a pair of gonads that release sperm in response to hormones in the female’s body indicating egg release. I would like to send a pet Anglerfish (complete with high-pressure aquarium) to every radical feminist in the world. Perhaps reflection upon the plight of the male anglerfish would provide them with enough satisfaction that they would be able to cease their antagonization of men. Also, the not-very-ladylike behavior and appearance of the Anglerfish female will surely provide them a model to strive for.

Jest aside; this is truly remarkable sexual dimorphism. Surely everybody has noticed that roosters look and act a bit differently than chickens, that bulls are different than cows. The Anglerfish takes this to an extreme. Various explanations have been lodged to explain this. One is that Anglerfish, living lonely lives in the depths of the ocean, rarely encounter each other. The infrequency of their encounters makes sexual reproduction costly. Atrophied parasitic males attached to the females solve this “meeting” problem handily. Also, females are not always fertile, making timing the encounter important. Most animals solve this with a breeding season, but there are no seasons in the depths—it’s cold and dark all year. The Anglerfish solves this problem because the male is always available for sex. Actually, he basically is a sex organ. This dimorphism also greatly conserves food. Since food is so scarce down there, why waste much of it on males that cannot generate offspring? It makes a lot more sense to have the female consume almost all the food.

Upon reflecting on the creatures I have described in my canon of oddities, I think I should have titled the series Nature’s Eccentricities. Odd carries a bad connotation, and every creature I have listed is certainly highly successful in its little niche.

The Ultimate Trad-Mobile

2007-02-10T12:40:00.000-06:00

As I was making my journey into traditional Catholicism, I noticed an abundance of patterns. One of the most noticeable to me is the preponderance of large vehicles parked outside the churches on Sunday. They are sometimes GMC/Chevrolet Suburbans, but more often Ford E-series vans or Chevrolet Express vans. Actually the Ford E-series, in “fleet white,” seems to dominate, at least in the parishes where I live.

There are so many that you can almost recognize a traditional parish better by the vans than by any exterior church feature (except maybe the sign if there is one).

In case you haven’t already figured out the reason why there are so many vans, it is because traditional Catholics are significantly more likely to procreate and less likely to use contraceptive measures or birth control. Families of 8-12 are not unusual. It seems that eight is the critical number. Minivans and Suburban have a capacity of seven. Making the transition to the full-length van is a quasi rite-of-passage for some fathers.

The “great white van” has become almost a comical diversion for me. I count the number of them to assess the relative orthodoxy of a parish. While this is surely an inaccurate measure, it is probably better than any other superficial measure. Mission statements, sermons, and the physical appearance of the parishioners can all be wildly misleading. Having a dozen children, on the other hand, is a pretty good indicator that you are at least serious about the faith.

Well, my discussions of the “great white vans” have become experience in the last year. Two of the traditional families I interact with have them. One family has a 12 passenger Ford E-350, and the other has a 12 Passenger E-350 and a Standard Wheelbase E-350 Cargo Van. All three of these vehicles have in excess of 200,000 miles on them. It is not unheard of a great white going well over a quarter-million miles. I am familiar with their abilities, like hauling 10 kids and 500 pounds of firewood, and I am familiar with their annoyances, like behind-the-rear-axel syndrome (BRA)—a strange type of motion sickness that is exacerbated by praying the Rosary.

What the great whites lack in handling, acceleration, elegance, ride-comfort, fuel economy, and comfort they make up in sheer brutish force and stamina. They are like barns on wheels. Sturdy, voluminous, and they can last generations, but they don’t regulate temperature well and are rough and crude.

I have often fantasized that someday I may be blessed with enough children to warrant a great white. In Anthony’s list of life accomplishments, this ranks just above a pilgrimage and just below seeing my children succeed. In any case, I have considered what makes the ultimate great white-trad mobile. The features, performance, and cost—all have been carefully researched and considered. Every conceivable trad-project (like transporting a wood burning stove 500 miles) has been considered.

The ultimate trad-bus is the Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter. Yes it is odd, and yes is it rather pricey, but we are talking about the ULTIMATE here!

The standard wheelbase model seats ten in individual bucket seats (not benches). The extended wheelbase model seats fourteen. Its high roofline allows for easy en-route diaper changes. It’s punchy turbo deisel engine delivers outstanding fuel efficiency. It has a 2-ton payload and a 2.5 ton towing capacity. It has more bed space with the seats removed than a typical pickup. It is considerably safer than its competition. Its turning radius is tighter than many cars, allowing for excellent church-parking lot escape abilities. About it’s only drawback is no available all wheel drive system in the United States. It is particularly annoying to me that Europeans can get 5-speed manual all wheel drive Sprinters and we cannot. Oh well.

(Images are non-copyright and courtesy of Wikipedia.org)

Nature’s Oddities Part 7: Cordyceps

2007-02-09T13:22:00.000-06:00

Respect this fungus! Be thankful that God provided us with a highly robust immune system capable of fighting it. If we were arthropods, we would not be so fortunate.

Here is the fearsome, ingenious, and successful Cordyceps.

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Cordyceps is a genus within the family Ascomycota. Commonly known as ball-sac fungi, they produce their spores in a distinctive sporangium called an ascus (“wineskin” in Greek) that the Cordyceps exploits in the fullest for its diabolical deeds. Other ascomycota, some of the most successful organisms on the planet, include the more friendly (and delicious) yeasts, morels, truffles and Penicillium (used to make cheeses and the antibiotic Penicillin). In fact, I had the distinct privilege to have found an ascomycete last weekend, mistaking it for a Gall Wasp’s abode.

So, how did Cordyceps, the relative of such common relatives make it into Anthony’s cannon of odd creatures? Well, there are a few reasons. For one, Cordyceps is highly infections—more virulent than many other bacteria and viruses. It is so effective that it can wipe out entire colonies of insects. Another reason is its extremely odd and clever behavior.

The genus Cordyceps has hundreds of species and each one parasitizes a particular animal species. This, in itself, is not too impressive. What makes it impressive is how it exploits its victims and its own physiology so ideally. Take the Cordyceps that infects bullet ants (P. clavata), featured in this movie by Sir David Attenborough.

The Cordyceps lands on the ant’s body, and enters throng the ant’s tracheae (breating holes). The innate immune capabilities of the ant are mostly directed towards prokaryotic organisms, like bacteria. They are ill equipped to combat eukaryotic organisms , like Cordyceps. Then the Cordyceps extends its mycelium (the fungal analog to roots) into the ant’s body tissues, absorbing nutrients to fuel its enormous fruiting body. Eventually the ant’s body succumbs to this invasion, but not before the Cordyceps altars its mind in a most beneficial manner. This is why the Cordyceps gets the prize.

Most fungi and plants have quite a bit of trouble distributing their offspring and achieving genetic diversity, since they cannot move. Angiosperms (flowering plants) are experts at manipulating animals, like bees, to spread their pollen around in order to achieve genetic diversity, and they are also experts at tricking animals like birds into distributing their seeds. They hijack animal’s mobility quite ably, but at considerable cost. They must expend enormous amounts of energy and nutrients making pretty flowers, delicious nectar, and nutrient-packed seeds to coax the animals into their plan. The Cordyceps is far more ruthless.

The Cordyceps, after infecting its host’s body, causes behavior changes that direct it to climb upwards. In the jungles, where Cordyceps are most common, this is very important, since the foliage is so dense and choking. Once the ant has climbed to considerable heights, it succumbs to the Cordyceps and dies, securely clamping onto a branch with its mandibles (a behavior ants don’t normally engage in). The Cordyceps then goes on to use every bit of the ant’s body tissues to build an enormous fruiting body that extends from the back of the ants head. In this fruiting body are thousands of spores packed with the characteristic ascus. The Cordyceps ascus is modified in a way to allow it to eject its spores as far away from the fruiting body as possible, so when the fruiting body erupts, at a place high in the trees, the spores are spread far and wide, covering vast distances.

Ants, always clever, have mounted an effective response to the Cordyceps. Ants are very attenuated to each others' behavior, and when one sister sees her sister acting in a way consistent with Cordyceps infection, she takes her sister off, far away from the colony, often at the cost of her own life. “For the greater good” is SOP for ants. Some species, like the infamous fire ant, s. invicta, bury their sisters alive.

Right-to-Carry

2007-01-30T14:32:00.000-06:00

Sorry, I cannot help myself. The NYT has enraged me today.

Read this drivel:

A Day Without Guns...

Now here is a question to ask. Did the crime go up or down after Florida enacted their "craven legislation" enabling citizens to own, carry, and use guns? Of course NYT does not report that. Because crime went down, probably. They certainly DID NOT INCRESE, which would suggest that right-to-carry should proliferate, since it is a liberty and has no demonstrable negative effect on the community at large.

This article, from the libertarian think-tank Cato Institute, indicates that crime went down in Florida. This article says it was unchanged:

Schoolboy’s logic should tell you that banning guns will simply reduce the number of guns in law-abiding peoples’ hands, but will not substantially effect the number of guns in criminals’ hands, since, by definition, criminals BREAK THE LAW. When the average man is unarmed, this is an invitation for an armed criminal to take advantage of him. Police departments are not obligated to protect you. The Supreme Court has ruled this in Castle Rock, CO v. Gonzales, Jessica, et al.

Here is a list of cases where lower courts have ruled similarly:
Bowers v. DeVito, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 686 F.2d 616 (1882)
Cal. Govt. Code Sections 821,845,846
Calogrides v. City of Mobile, 475 So. 2d 560 (S.Ct. Ala. 1985)
Chapman v. City of Philadelphia, 434 A.2d 753 (Sup. Ct. Penn. 1981)
Davidson v. City of Westminster, 32 C.3d 197,185 P.2d 894 (S.Ct. Cal. 1982)
Hartzler v. City of San Jose, App., 120 Cal. Rptr 5 (1975)
Keane v. City of Chicago, 98 Ill App 2d 460 (1968)
Keane v. Chicago, 48 Ill. App. 567 (1977)
Lynch v. N.C. Dept. of Justice, 376 S.E. 2nd 247 (N.C. App. 1989)
Marshall v. Winston, 389 S.E. 2nd 902 (Va. 1990)
Morgan v. District of Columbia, 468 A.2d 1306 (D.C. App. 1983)
Morris v. Musser, 478 A.2d 937 (1984)
Reiff v. City of Philadelphia, 477F. Supp. 1262 (E.D.Pa. 1979)
Riss v. City of New York, 293 N.Y. 2d 897 (1968)
Sapp v. Tallahassee, 348 So.2d 363 (Fla. App. 1977)
Silver v. Minneapolis 170 N.W.2d 206 (Minn, 1969)
Simpson's Food Fair v. Evansvill, 272 N.E.2d 871 (Ind. App.)
Stone v. State 106 Cal.App.3d 924, 165 Cal. Rep 339 (1980)
Warren v. District of Columbia, D.C. App., 444 A.2d 1 (1981)
Weutrich v. Delia, 155 N.J. Super. 324, 326, 382 A.2d 929, 930 (1978)

Currently only two states, Illinois and Wisconsin have no right-to-carry law. Many sates, like New York and California restrict their right-to-carry law to the point it is in reality non-existent.

Right-to-carry laws have been adopted over the last 20 years. If they were SO BAD, one would think the evidence would be all around us. We wouldn’t need PhDs to tell us. The fact is that they have done good or done nothing, and its high time that right-t0-carry comes to Illinois and Wisconsin.

The Superbowl

2007-01-29T16:21:00.000-06:00

Though I often think that Indiana and Illinois should feel like brother-states, given our histories, this weekend Hoosiers are going down.

Football is the best sport. Everybody who disagrees is simply wrong. Why are they wrong?
Here is a short litany of reasons:

1) Football is sporting. It is not just raw force or stamina (like running or boxing). It involves finesse and thinking.

2) Football is a true team sport. People claim the "activity called soccer," Hockey, and Basketball, rugby are team sports, when in fact, they are really a collection of individuals all doing the same boring thing (striking or grabbing an object). Baseball and Football actually involve teammates who have different tasks and abilities to coordinate their activities to achieve a collective goal. This makes them more humane and interesting.

3) Football is tough, masculine, and non-sissy. This cannot be said for soccer, tennis, etc.

4) Football is objective and fair. Some sports, like hockey and soccer have such low scores that the winner of the game is almost arbitrary. A good deal of luck goes into the scoring events in these sports, particularly soccer. In fact, these sports also have high frequencies of ties. In soccer this is resolved with the idiotic shootout, which is basically an exercise in arbitrariness. Hockey is fairer in that it has sudden death.

5) Football is steeped in traditions. Traditions that other sports don’t have. Marching bands do not march for Soccer or Volleyball. Homecoming does not happen for baseball or cross-country. Though I generally condemn cheerleading, at least it is a genuine tradition.

6) Football involved a constellation of abilities. Intelligence, speed, strength, throwing ability, catching ability, tackling ability, stamina, ability to endure extreme weather, etc. No sport compares in the diversity of abilities.
7) Football is played rain or shine in cold and heat.

I am thinking of more, but I need to go to class now.

Humorous Quotations from my friends

2007-01-21T19:18:00.000-06:00

#1: Dirty Joke

Setting: at my friend’s art show:

Quote: “Anthony, I have this great joke for you, but I can’t tell you in mixed company, better wait for Church on Sunday!”

#2: Precious Moments

Setting: Parish Library

“What’s a Precious Moments figurine?”

“A sickeningly saccharine porcelain doll. It’s as cute as Hello Kitty, but without the edginess.”

#3: Thwarting Nature

Setting: Near the door of the catechism classroom

“Contraception is wrong because it thwarts nature.”

“Well that must be wrong, holding your bowels is thwarting nature!

#4: Heresies

Setting: Parish Library

“The strange mixture of communism, radical Islam, lefebvrivism, misogyny, and epicureanism that you adhere to does not make you and authority on Church doctrine!”

#5: Fetishes

Setting: Parish library

“So you are also afflicted by the incurable mantilla fetish?”

#6: Church attendance

Setting: In the narthex after Mass

“Boy! Church attendance was low today.”

“Yea, everybody went to St Mary of the Air Conditioning.”

#7: Parents and children

Setting: after mass

“Now comes the part of the day when the children go to the bar for drinks and their parents have a pizza party.”

#8: The Spirit

Setting: Parish cafe

“So, what kind of Catholic are you? Conservative, liberal, traditionalist?

“I am a sprit of Nicea II Catholic!"

#9: Ecumenism

Setting: Parish library

“So you think you have a better idea of how to convert the Muslims?”

“Yes, all we have to do is send a bottle of Chartreuse to every mosque in America. We'll have them with their backs to the floor proclaiming the infinite wisdom of Holy Mother Church!

#10: Drinking

Setting: Parish library

“You know what they say, where there’s four Catholics, there’s a fifth!”

#11: Piety

Setting: Parish library, after discovering a volume of Encouters with the Eucharistic Heart of [random pious epithet] the Blessed [random pious epithet] Jesus by Sister Mary [pious epithet] Goodnun.

"If one more book written by a very pious nun about piety that pious church ladies buy for their pious children who piously ignore it is left in the library, we are going to have a little bonfire of the vanities."

Christian Manhood

2007-01-17T20:40:00.000-06:00

I am delaying Natures Oddities Part 7: Army Ants to talk about my brother and Christian manhood. My brother is very amusing at times, and some of his behavior today is particularly relevant to things I have been thinking about lately.

I have been reading about Christian manhood and pondering male-female relations in the world, particularly within my little sphere of traditionalist Catholics. My brother epitomizes what one protestant writer indicates is the natural (and perhaps ideal) state of manhood—basically an overgrown boy. This author laments the all-to-common tendency of Christian men to become “nice guys” and he urges them to cultivate a sense of adventure and masculinity. This sounds entirely reasonable. Jesus was not a “nice” guy. Neither was John the Baptist, which is perhaps the model male saint (the Blessed Mother, of course, being the model female saint). St. Joseph, another male model, was a much nicer than John the Baptist, but he was still a tough, humble, and courageous man. He was hardly afflicted by the effete niceness foisted upon men and boys today.

My problem lies with the author’s methods for remedying the problem. He advocated a return to raw adventure. His list included climbing the Rocky Mountains, stalking Bull Moose, and other he-man stuff. Not that anything is wrong with these activities, there isn’t, but artificial adventure seeking does not make a man, no matter how many grizzlies he slays with a bowie knife. Protestants go wrong with this stuff all the time. It is like they are grasping for the answer, but cannot reach it because their legs [intellectual tradition] are too short.

My brother very much enjoys paintballing. He recently purchased a high-performance paintball gun and some pretty impressive accessories. An easy access ammo container bandoleer. A vacuum-sealed sophisticated scope. High-tech gloves and kneepads used by Navy Seals and a camouflage shirt. I noticed him dressing up in his gear and looking at himself in he mirror. When he saw me watching, he said, “I like trying on my stuff.” I replied, “clearly!” He then said, “Check this out.” He proceeded to take his rubber Batman mask and put it on, and then he placed his paintball mask over it. He looked ridiculous because he had batman ears, but his face was covered with a green paintball mask. He said he wanted to wear this outfit this weekend. He said it would be perfect for “team @sshole,” which consists of him and his best friend, known far and wide as highly obnoxious paintballers. Perhaps this would be his disguise. My point is that my brother seems to be a fully actualized man according to the protestant author’s account. He is adventuresome. He is manly. He is even Romantic. He proudly displayed where he had scrawled “Dark Night” on his T-shirt. He thought this would please his girlfriend. But that fact of the matter is this: it’s just plain silly to think this is how to cultivate manhood.

A man does not have to go kill grizzly bears with a bow and arrow, take up paintballing, or sail in the Contiki to be a man. The real, visceral responsibilities of a true man should be more than adequate. Providing for a wife and children. Ensuring their safety. Educating and disciplining his children. Loving his wife and family. Very few men accomplish all of these tasks. A great deal of suffering may accompany any of these duties. There are so many problems that conspire to doom a man who dares to live in this traditional way. His health may fail. His wife or children may be seduced by the influence of society and take him for granted, sapping him of his motivation. Other men will belittle him for not being able to hit the links every weekend, and women will deprecate him for being a dinosaur. Corporations, which are always looking to maximize profits for shareholder, even at the expense of the community, may relocate, merge, or implode, leaving him without a job. Yes, there is much to lose in this world if you live dangerously and be a real man even if you don’t act like a member of the Magnificent Seven.

Come to think of it. That movie proves my point exactly. Look what transpires between Bernardo O’Reilly, aptly played by manly-man Charles Bronson, and thee Mexican boys:

“Can we go with you, Bernardo?”

“No.”

“You like us, don’t you?”

“I guess so.”

“You’re one of us, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’m one of us all right.”

“Take us with you! Please?!”

“No!”

“We’re ashamed to live here. Our fathers are cowards.”

(Here O’Reilly grabs one boy and gives him a richly deserved spank)

“Don’t ever say that again about your fathers. They are not cowards! You think I am brave because I carry a gun. Your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility. For you, your brothers, your sisters and your mothers. This responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them under the ground. Nobody says they have to do it. They do it because they love you and they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm. Working like a mule, with no guarantee what will become of it - this is bravery. That’s why l never even started anything like that.”

Nature’s Oddities Part 6: Giant Asian Hornet

2007-01-11T10:20:00.000-06:00

Vespa mandarinia, also know as the Yak Killer Hornet (which gives you an idea of its sting), is perhaps the most ferocious and excellent killing machine nature has brought to bear. My friends know that I am quite fond of violent and predatory arthropods, particularly giant Amazonian centipedes, camel spiders, and scorpions. I am telling you, none stand a chance against the mandarinia.

30-40 Japanese are killed every year by these hornets, which is close to the annual homicide rate of Japan. Japanese children are warned of their dangers in much the same way American children are warned of “stranger danger.” The world expert on mandarinia, Dr. Masoto Ono, compared their sting to a 15-inch flaming hot nail. But most fearsome of all are their awesome (and that is a word I do not through around lightly) mandibles.

These mandibles are used to crush helpless victims with wanton abandonment. It is not unheard of for a single mandarinia to ruthlessly slaughter an entire hive (usually around 30,000 individuals) of European honeybees, Apis mellifera, which are fairly soldierly critters themselves. Can you imagine one human solider (Rambo, perhaps) subduing an entire army of other soldiers armed only with his fists and teeth? That is the daily life of the mandarinia!

I have seen footage of a honeybee hive being raided by just two mandarinia. All individuals (around 10,000) were killed before the rest of the mandarinia sisters (hives are around one hundred individuals) could arrive. But when they did arrive, they feasted upon the tender larvae and pupae of the honeybees until they became gorged and intoxicated and flew like drunks back to their own hive.

The most remarkable ability of the mandarinia is its adept use of all of its body. It possesses finesse unmatched by any predator I have seen. It makes cougars and even mongooses look clumsy by comparison. It easily dispatches 5-10 attacking honeybees (in a single second) with gentle movements from its legs and swiftly crushes their bodies’ whole between its mandibles. It flies gently left and right with noticeable confidence, and hardly ever has to use its sting. Mandarinia can subdue with ease critters several times their size, including birds and small mammals. The mandarinia is so powerful they seldom are caught in spider webs, but when they do get caught, the spider will probably be defeated. The mandarinia's exoskeleton is armored with chitionous plates so thick many spider fangs cannot penetrate.

I am positive that no scorpion, camel spider, or centipede could stand a chance against a single mandarinia (well, maybe the centipede has a chance). They are too slow and sluggish and simply do not have the firepower. Even insectivorous birds fly with fear when the mandarinia comes out. Often they cannot outrun them however, mandarinia can fly at 25 MPH.

A single mandarinia is formidable, now imagine 20-100 of them fighting in remarkable coordination like a well-trained platoon of soldiers, and you will understand why they deserve a place in the cannon of oddities. The pheromone signaling mechanism used by mandarinia is incredibly sensitive and complex, and is the focus of many Japanese entomologist’s careers. Most of them are trying to figure out ways to trick the mandarinia and keep them out of places where people eat, since mandarinia love sweet drinks, which are popular in Japanese outdoor cafes.

There is only one animal (other than homo sapiens) capable of subduing the mandarinia--the Japanese honeybee, Apis cerana japonica, which is almost identical to the European honeybee. When a mandarinia scout locates the entrance to a honeybee hive, it dances around the entrance secreting a pheromone trail that will summon her sisters. As the pheromone wafts through the air, a few minutes will pass before her battle sisters will arrive, and in the meantime the mandarinia explores the entrance often slaughtering a few hundred bees along the way.

European honeybees immediately attack the mandarinia once she is detected and attack in groups of 1-10, which the mandarinia dispatches as easily as I dispatch M&Ms, and the attack is completely ineffectual. The Japanese honeybee is wiser. It waits for the mandarinia to enter the hive (which is much warmer), and once the mandarinia is completely inside they form a compact ball around the mandarinia. The honeybees do not bother stinging or biting, since it would be useless against the mandarinia. Once the ball of hundreds of honeybees is formed they begin to rapidly pulse their flight muscles and raise their body temperatures to around 117 F. Meanwhile the mandarinia is slaughtering the bees near it at a rate of perhaps five bees every second, so other honeybees need to constantly join the ball for their fallen sisters. Eventually the mandarinia expires from heat exhaustion. Apparently the only weakness of the mandarinia is low heat tolerance (its maximum survivable temperature for more than a few seconds is only 113 F). So after a few minutes and several hundred honeybees, the mandarinia is defeated. Often the mandarinia's sisters start arriving, but turn away from the nest since they cannot find their sister. So, though cooperation and self-sacrifice the honeybees are able to save their colony. This behavior I find remarkable in itself, and I will pick a social insect in next oddities series.

Unlike most people, I feel empathy for insects. In the video about mandarinia I remember quite vividly a close-up of a honeybee that was buried in the ball. Its head had been severed from its thorax and its jaws and antenna were twitching in agony, and at that moment the narrator said in a low voice, “a though heroic sacrifice the honeybees sisters were able to save their hive, but it came with a price.”

In Japan mandarinia are thought to possess magical powers and their bodies are often crushed and added to energy drinks. In rural, backwoods Japan locals make fried hornets and sometimes eat them raw in a sort of hornet sashimi.

Natures Oddities Part 5: The Platypus

2007-01-10T20:34:00.000-06:00

I initially resisted canonizing the Platypus into my nature’s oddities list for two reasons: 1) many people know of the animal 2) it lacks a single outstanding odd feature (like super mucus, super senses, or ability to live in extreme situations).

The platypus instead represents a tremendous assortment of little oddities. It is perhaps the true variety oddball, so strange that the first scientists who examined its pelt thought it was trick by a mischievous “Asian taxidermist.”

The platypus is one of the few mammals that lay eggs. Yes, it does not carry its young in a womb, however it does nurse its young with milk, but even more oddly, it does not have teats. Rather, it secretes milk (along with copius immune boosting chemicals since baby platapi have rudimentary immume function) through patches of its skin. It is one of the few mammals with venom, and the only mammal that delivers its venom in a way other than a bite. The male has a venomous spur on its hind legs, which can incapacitate an adult human due to excruciating pain. The venom is unlike any other venom in the animal world, using defensin-like proteins, which are normally reserved for innate immune functions like killing bacteria.

They have a beak, but growl like a typically-jawed mammal. They have no teeth as adults. Instead they have keratinized (the material fingernails are made of) tufts. They have a reptilian gait, unlike all other mammals. And they swim only with their front legs, and use their rear legs as rudders, another feature shared by no other mammal. They are the only mammals that locate their prey using electroreception. They can detect the electric fields generated by nervous and muscle activity in their prey (shrimps, worms, small crayfish, and other mud-dwelling critters). They have an extremely low body temperature for a mammal 90 F (most mammals are around 100 F). They have ten sex chromosomes, a trait no other animal shares. Most animals have two. They store fat in their tails like Tasmanian devils.

They have few enemies, mostly birds of prey, alligators, and some large lizards. They males are deadbeats, and the mothers roost their (clutches of 4-5 usually) eggs in a simple burrow made just above water. They are semi-aquatic and semi-nocturnal; they cannot make up their mind on anything. They have tremendous energy needs and need to consume around 25% of their body weight daily to survive. Therefore, they spend around 12 hours a day sifting thought the mud with their electroreceptor-laden beaks.

What an odd animal indeed. No wonder the Aussies put her on their 20 cent coin!

Nature’s Oddities Part 4: the Star-Nosed Mole

2007-01-06T19:52:00.000-06:00

Even uglier than the hagfish, the blind star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata spends most of its time tunneling in damp soil looking for food. The star-nosed mole features oversized and extremely powerful forelimbs highly adapted for digging. I has very smooth and dense fur, which makes it a great swimmer and capable of swimming in freezing cold waters (something no other mole accomplishes). It has litters of 4-5, and is a decent parent by mammalian standards.

By far its most remarkable feature is the “star.” This highly modified nose has 22 fleshy, highly vascularized, appendages literally packed with Eimer's organ’s, which are tiny specialized sensory-motor receptors unique to moles. Over 25,000 of these receptors are distributed over the surface of the appendages. This is a remarkable concentration. To make a comparison, I will use the human hand. The density of motor-receptors on the human hand is so low that to match the star’s density, every receptor site on both hands would have to be relocated on to a single patch of skin the size of a fingernail. Yes, the mole’s ability to feel with its star is that much more acute than our ability to feel with our hands.

Even better, the mole utilizes a special neuronal pathway for communicating sensory data from its receptors to its brain that no other animal utilizes for sensory-receptors. It is a very direct and short pathway, which greatly conserves the amount of nervous tissue necessary to get the job done, and it is quite similar to the pathway used by the human eye. This allows the mole to make decisions about what it feels so fast that they approach the limit of neuron’s speed.

As the mole travels through the soil it wiggles its 22 appendages constantly, gathering more sensory data than we can imagine from its star. This constant vigilance, combined with the mole’s rapid decision making ability, allows the mole to be the fastest eater on earth (120 milliseconds to identify and consume individual food items). Not even certain species of fish, with entirely reflexive (no cognitive processing) bite movements, can compare. When the mole encounters a morsel it decides is edible, it rapidly ingests the often-tiny bit of food with its precise, tweezer-like teeth. This remarkably rapid decision-making and ability to grasp tiny bits of food allow the star-nosed mole to utilize food sources most animals its size cannot. See, it’s a principal of biological thermodynamics that larger prey is a more efficient source of food. It takes far less energy, per pound of meat obtained, to subdue a cow that it takes to subdue several hundred rabbits. Each rabbit needs to be chased down and killed. The same principle exists on a smaller scale. Often shrews, rats, and mice overlook critters like nematodes and small worms and invertebrates because tracking, grasping, and ingesting them will consume more energy than the prey’s body will yield through digestion. The star nosed-mole, though, is a master of small prey. It is so efficient and detecting them (with is super sensor nose) and subduing them (with its tweezer teeth) that no other small mammal compares. This has led to enormous success for the star-nose, and its range extends from the swamps of South Carolina all the way to northern Canada.

The star-nose spends almost its entire life several meters below the soil (but always around one meter above the waterline), so it has few natural predators. Sometimes owls, snakes, hawks, and weasel-like mammals prey upon the star nose, but it’s mostly loss of habitat that harms them. Unlike the lamprey and hagfish, which mock (or downright exploit) man’s meddling in the world, the star-nose stands to lose from it.

Explanation for my negligence

2007-01-04T19:20:00.000-06:00

I will be posting a Nature's Oddities article on the Star-Nosed mole soon. I will also be posting some other thoughs, but lately I have been bombarded with so many thoughtful people that I cannot sort through all the wonderful things I want to write about.

A Part of the Whole

2006-12-29T18:50:00.000-06:00

I got into an argument with a friend over what constitutes a “part” of something. She claims that a pre-born baby is part of its mother, and she referred to it as a parasite. I vehemently disagreed, pointing out that if the child is a parasite (which it is) then it most certainly is not part of the mother, and furthermore, it can be nothing other than a human person.

The reason for this is that what defines a human, constitutionally, is the presence of human DNA in our cells. The human constitution has nothing to do with our abilities to reason, dance, or divide. Any “part” of a human (like the head, foot, or duodenum) has the same constitution as the whole (much like all the US states are under the same Constitution of 1787). Things like our clothes, the food in various stages of digestion inside of us, or an unborn baby inside its mother’s womb do not share the same genetic constitution. They have their own constitutions. In fact, that unborn baby is just as substantially human as it’s mother, and it is unique—a feature of each human.

The inability of most scientists to grasp this obvious fact is astounding. So astounding that I think it’s rather a case of the scientists not wanting to believe due to preconceptions (or paradigigms), a phenomenon that has plagued science from the beginning.

Gender Tester

2006-12-29T06:44:00.000-06:00

This is a neat gender testing algorithm developed by one of the computer science professors at my university, the Illinois Institute of Technology.

My scores will disclosed in my next post.

Nature's Oddities Part 3: Giant Tubeworms

2006-12-27T17:06:00.000-06:00

Another oddball from the deep! Even deeper than the hagfish (over 5000 feet), in the thermal vents on the bottom of the pacific ocean, lies large colonies of the Giant (up to 8 feet long) Tubeworm, or Rifita. Pachyptila.

Discovered in 1977 by the unmanned deep sea exploration vessel Alvin (not from Alvin and the Chipmunk’s fame), giant tubeworms prefer to live near “black smokers,” a type of hydrothermal vent on the ocean floor characterized by superheated water rich in dissolved minerals (mostly sulfides) which crystallize to create the black plume that gives “black smokers” their name.

Giant tubeworms exploit lithotrophic bacteria to nourish themselves. Almost all organisms on earth are phototrophic (derive energy from light: plants) or autotrophic (derive energy from organic materials: animals, fungi). Lithotrophic organisms derive their energy directly from inorganic chemical reactions such as the oxidation of hydrogen sulfide (the gas that gives rotten eggs their odor). The bacteria make food for themselves using the energy from these reactions and can synthesize all the amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and other important bio-molecules they need just from hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, oxygen and trace amounts of certain minerals.

The juvenile tubeworm has a primitive mouth and gut and ingests these bacteria, but does not digest them. As it grows and accumulates enough of these symbiotic bacteria, its mouth and gut are lost, making the adult tubeworm the only creature (that I know of at least) where the adult is less morphologically sophisticated than the juvenile. The bacteria take some of the food for themselves, but most of it is passed off to the enormous tubeworms for nourishment.

The tubeworm’s adult body is a veritable Garden of Eden for these bacterial. It’s highly vascularized “plume” near the top of the tubeworm and features the worlds most remarkable hemoglobins in order to capture oxygen (like crack cocaine for these bacteria) that is very difficult in an environment so enriched in sulfur.

The hemoglouins are enormous! Sometimes a hundred globins long (mammals have 2 pair of globins in our hemoglobin), and it is truly a biochemical marvel.

The environment these tubeworms call home would simultaneously boil (752 degrees F), crush (2000 PSI), and poison a human or just about any other creature. The tubeworm’s ability to not only endure, but thrive, in these conditions is incredible. How their tissues can withstand such extreme makes one re-think the capabilities of living things. The first high-strength metal vessels that went to these depths were easily crushed, and none could have hoped to endure the extreme temperatures. Alvin was the first to manage, and it was not developed until the 1965. Russians had been launching people into space by this time. We were only four years away from landing on the moon, but we were just starting to explore the depths of our own rock orbiting the sun!

Nature's Oddities Part 2: The Hagfish

2006-12-25T12:14:00.000-06:00

"Truth must necessarily be stranger than fiction; for fiction is the creation of the human mind and therefore congenial to it."--G. K. Chesterton.

This quote is what inspired my Nature's Oddities series, and the hagfish could not be a better example of Chesterton’s paradox!

The hagfish belongs to the class Myxini, a Latin name that comes from the Greek work myxa, meaning mucus. I also think Myxini would be an excellent name for a Korean-built compact car. Move over Tiburon (shark in Spanish), the Myxini is coming to town!

The hagfish is very primitive, largley unchanged for perhaps 300 million year, but it has a scant fossil record. The first fossil was discovered in Northeastern Illinois (which is a rich palentological area. Braidwood, IL, near the powerplant's cooling lake, is an excellent spleunking place).

The oddness of the hagfish is tremendous, and it has definitely earned its place in my canon of oddball creatures. The hagfish is a vermiform (worm-like) creature found mainly in the Pacific Ocean (both the American and Asian sides), but it is also found in the Atlantic and in Scandinavian fjords. It’s a jawless vertebrate, like its more advanced cousin the lamprey. The hagfish has only a rudimentary skull and no actual vertebra. Unlike other creatures, its mouth horizontally articulates. It lives at depths of up to 4000 feet. It’s hermaphrodic, with both male and female gametes and genitalia, but it’s doubtful that they can self-fertilize (nobody has taken much interest in their reproductive idiosyncrasies, unfortunately). Hagfish are practically blind, and they can coil their body in overhand knots—an ability no snake, eel, lizard has. This ability comes in handy when it wants squirm free of its suffocatingingly think mucus, which it uses for predation, defense, and to keep its skin (which is used to make purses in Korea) healthy.

The hagfish has perhaps the most unusual way to subdue prey. Its extremely slow metabolism allows it to rest, motionless, for months on the ocean bottoms in silt and sand. Usually, only its head, which has a small olfactory opening, mouth, and respiratory opening, is exposed to the seawater. When it senses (by smell and vibration) a suitable victim, it swims into the passing fish though the mouth or gill opening and rapidly secrets its special mucus, which soon suffocates even large, predatory fish. It then eats its victim from the inside out, using its body as temporary shelter. It also feeds upon small annelid worms that live on the ocean floor and dead fish, as well.

Sounds like something out of a space alien movie, but it is indeed real.

Serious (as opposed to whimsical) scientists find the hagfish interesting because it has perhaps the most efficient and remarkable mucus of any creature. Mucus may not interest the average person much, but mucus is indeed important. Without it, any mammal would die from suffocation (it allows for gaseous exchange in the lung; insufficient pulmonary mucus is the primary cause of premature baby mortality). In the ocean, it is critical for keeping the right amount of the right salts inside the fish instead of diffusing into the water. The hagfish, however, has made its living off its mucus, so it is not surprising at all that it is really good at what it does. It is the professional mucus maker! Slimer is a hack by comparison.

Hagfish mucus is made of tiny protein fibrils very similar in structure to collagen (the protein that makes up most connective tissues in the human body, and about 27% of total protein by weight in adults). This alone makes it special, because most mucus is entirely made of mucin, the characteristic carbohydrate of mucus, water, a few salts, and anti-bacterial enzymes.

Another remarkable feature is that hagfish mucus 99.996% seawater, 0.0015% mucin and 0.002% threads. It is approximately 1000x more dilute than mammalian mucus. This is how the hagfish is able to make so much mucus so fast and with so little metabolic effort.

When the fibrils are released from the organism, mucin droplets deposit on them and form cross-links between the fibrils adding strength. Hagfish mucus is also one of the few muci (what the plural of mucus?) that functions in a wide range of temperatures (most muci functions best at body temperature of the organism). The strength, potency, and versatility of hagfish mucus have made it interesting to military and medical researchers. It is an example of the coveted, “space filling gel” which could be used to stop bleeding from massive wounds. Mucus also usually has anti-bacterial function, making it even more useful in this regard. I think it would be much better to develop some sort of weapon that would project slime on an enemy, immobilizing them. I am sure DARPA would abrubtly reject my proposal, but I can dream.

Bardack, D. (1991) First fossil hagfish (Myxinoidea): a record from the Pennsylvanian of Illinois. Science 254:701-703.

Gosline, J. M. et. al. (2005) Composition, morphology and mechanics of hagfish slime. Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 4613-4625

Lazy Bum Catholics

2006-12-24T12:10:00.000-06:00

I am postponing the 2nd installment of Nature’s oddities, the Hagfish, to discuss a very pervasive scandal in the Church.

Cafeteria Catholicism. I normally do not like using pop-Cath phrases like “cafeteria,” but I think it is a good phrase for describing the situation.

Today Deacon Juncer discussed how people were petitioning Cardinal George to commute the Nativity of our Lord to Sunday or somehow invent some way to commute their Sunday obligation to tomorrow. See, last year Christmas fell on a Sunday, so both the Sunday obligation and the Holy Day of the Nativity of our Lord (Christmas) were fulfilled by the same mass. I guess in one short year people became so lazy that they could not bear to go to Mass this morning and tonight or they could not tolerate going to Mass this morning and tomorrow morning. I could tell that MANY people are eschewing today’s mass, since the population of laypeople at St. John Cantius today was very low. This is so disappointing!

If you are a materialist, it is obviously a good deal to go to Church at least. Church is enjoyable, especially if you like music, pageantry, costumes, candles, incense, paintings, socializing. At St. John’s they have a Café that is very reasonably priced ($1 dollar for an enormous cheese Danish that would cost around $3-4 at Starbucks). They don’t even charge admission at Church! It takes one hour. It’s on your day off. Mass is offered at a variety of convenient times. There is ample free parking!

I’ve paid money ($6-9 often) to see nauseating movies like Moulin Rouge. Going to Church is a much better deal by any comparison.

This is why I feel little remorse for those souls that do not go to Church on Sunday or ask ridiculous things of our Cardinal. Why do they even ask? They obviously are going to do whatever they want. By asking they are assuring the sinfulness of their action. At least if they didn’t ask, they could claim ignorance, which unlike in civil law, counts for something.

I’ve heard many honest and genuine Catholics lament these problems, and pass the blame to poor catechesis, I believe this is quite erroneous. I have found many “lazy bum” or “fallen away” type Catholics to have very good knowledge and understanding of the Church, Her teachings, etc. Many even have understandings of philosophy and theology that far surpass my own. Furthermore, information is more available today than it ever has been in the Church’s history. Books are more available and cheaper. The Internet is free, and that Vatican’s website, which can be accessed 24/7/365.25, has all the information you need to be a good Catholic.

I cannot see how even the poorest catechesis can fail to drive home the fact that you have to go to Mass on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation. There are only a handful of essentials to be Catholic. You do not even need to be literate to be a good Catholic. You really only have to follow the rules (Catechism of the Catholic Church), go to Mass on Sunday and Holy Days, know a handful of simple prayers, and give what alms you can. Is this that much to ask for the benefit of eternal salvation and avoidance of eternal hellfire? Not really, but you have to believe in salvation and hellfire.

Even though it is not hard to keep up a façade of being Catholic, it does take a small bit of denial to avoid things like masturbation, fornication, contraception, etc. These are the sins I (and Our Lady of Fatima) believe send the greatest number of people down the road to perdition, especially younger people.

But even here, it’s not that hard to avoid these things. And you’re generally better off materially if you do avoid them. People say it’s hard to avoid these things, and I have had one Psychology professor claim it is impossible, to which I retorted “I am living proof that you are incorrect, Dr. so-and-so.” I cannot understand why people insist on the difficulty of avoiding these sins. But let’s just say they are hard for the sake of argument. In this case, Fear of the Lord should easily overwhelm your desire to commit these sins.

Even if you don’t believe everything the Church says. And even if you don’t believe what the Bible says. Even if you don’t believe that God destroyed entire peoples and struck down people like Onan outright, you should still have some fear. Even the most rudimentary understanding of God (which 80% of Americans claim to have) will necessitate that somehow He created the universe. Even if you don’t believe in the Holy Trinity, you must believe that God is fantastically powerful, because this is necessary to create something as vast, complex, and orderly as the universe. If you don’t then you don’t believe in God. Whatever you are believing in cannot be God. Given that you believe in this fantastically powerful being, wouldn’t it be at least somewhat prudent to be afraid of Him. I am afraid of Doberman Pincers because they are very powerful compared to most animals. I am afraid of Tractor Trailers because they weigh 30-40 tons and could easily crust my 2500 lb Corolla. I am afraid of the Anthrax, even though it a millionth of my size. Doberman Pincers, Tractor Trailers, and Bacillus Anthracis pale in comparison to the power of any being that willed into existence the entire universe!

Now, some people believe that God loves us so much that he could never do anything we wouldn’t enjoy, like sending us to Hell. First off, I want to know where this idea comes from. It is obviously an addition to the rudimentary understanding of God—the necessarily powerful being that created the universe. This idea must come from somewhere, because it is not obvious from the definition of God. If you are willing to add to an understanding of God beyond the obvious, why is He always loving rather than vengeful? This is a question worth asking. If you are to have any integrity, you must examine the source. I suspect that many people get this idea from cherry picking parts of the New Testament or Psalms. They overlook the other parts of the Bible where God is vengeful and destructive. They may be Unitarians or adhere to some other type of therapeutic belief system. In any case, it is simple self-delusion.

Nature’s Oddities Part 1: The Lamprey

2006-12-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

I am opening a new series on odd creatures. Today we will begin with my favorite oddball creature, the lamprey.

Lampreys have an eel-like appearance (but they are not eels!) and a cartilaginous skeleton (like sharks and rays). They have a single olfactory nostril, which is possibly the most sensitive “nose” of all animals. They have strangely shaped circular gills, usually 5 or 7 of them on each side. The most primitive vertebrate, the hagfish (covered tomorrow), does not have a true spine and only very primitive “vertebra”—the bones protecting the spinal nerve. The lamprey is a bit more developed, but still quite unlike all other vertebrates which have fully developed spinal columns, vertebra, and jaws. So in the entire subphyla vertebrata two very primitive groups exist (“jawless” hagfish and lampreys) and many other advanced groups exist (“jawed” mammals, birds, reptiles, and ray-finned fish [the dominant group]).

Here is nice picture of the business end of the lamprey--it’s jawless rasp-like sucker mouth. I am glad I am not a trout!

As you can guess, lampreys are parasitic in their adult life stage. They cling on to a fish and suck their blood, usually killing their host and moving on to a few more before settling down and making babies. I have heard that a single lamprey (which weights only a few ounces) can kill 25 lbs of fish, which makes them quite destructive to fish populations. Interestingly, some fish have a reflexive jerk when you poke them on their lower flanking quarters (the area lampreys usually attack). This is of course to avoid getting stuck by a lamprey. The reflex uses the same type neuronal pathway that humans use when doctors bump our knees. I suggest trying it yourself next time you catch a fish.

Lampreys (and hagfish, probably) have a primordial immune system rather unlike our own. Humans (and almost all other vertebrates) have immune systems that operate using anti-bodies, small molecules secreted by B-lymphocytes that attach to pathogens and other foreign substances in the body. The antibodies cause the pathogens to clump together and flag them for destruction by cytotoxic T cells and phagocytic (cell-eating) cells, like macrophages. Some antibodies damage the pathogens themselves. This is all part of what is known as the “adaptive immune response” since it is an adaptive process. Antibodies are tailored to the pathogen at hand. This is different from the activity of natural killer T cells, which attack any cell without characteristic features (such as MHC receptors) of the organism’s own cells. Natural killer cells do not need antibodies to be raised in order to attack. Lampreys are different in that they have an adaptive immune response with no antibodies.

Antibodies are the hingepin of the entire immune response. This is due to their “hyper variable” region. Antibodies’ hyper variable regions can be adapted to almost any pathogens’ unique surface receptor proteins (called antigens). There are millions of different pathogens that are constantly adapting to avoid selection by antibodies, consequently, antibodies are constantly adapting as well. What allows for the enormous flexibility of the antibody is the many ways genes can recombine to produce different immunologlobin domains (areas of activity) in the hyper variable regions of he antibody. It was long thought that nature had a very limited capacity of arranging these genes in order to achieve this variable nature. The mechanism used was though to be the only one. This was found to be incorrect when the lamprey’s immune system was examined.

Lampreys use an entirely different molecule called a VLR (variable lymphocyte receptor) to do the work of anti-bodies. And this VLR is produced in a completely different way genetically. Where all jawed vertebrates have their antibody genes regulate by the RAG genes from two different sources to generate diversity, lampreys have a very simple “cassette” of VLR genes that are clipped at different regions to produce variability. This may not seem like it is that different. But it is. Let me make an analogy. To make a cake, one baker takes some cake mix and some milk and eggs and combines them in variable amounts to produce different tasting cakes. Another baker chooses to take the cake mix with all the ingredients already combined and remove the unwanted ingredients to make different tasting cakes. It is clear now that the person who combines different ingredients has greater ability to alter the contents of the cake, since he chooses what ingredients to add. This is why the antibody method has been dominant in the world, though the simpler Lamprey system is quiet effective. It is also important to note that there is no clear way for the jawed system to develop from the jawless system. They are completely different mechanisms, but with similar functions. Sort of like the old Macs and PCs before they started doing commercials together.

Lampreys are also an exotic species to the Great Lakes. When the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened, lampreys began to swim down it from the Atlantic (like many primitive fish, lampreys can live in salt and fresh water). They started to spawn (and a single female can produce 10,000-20,000 eggs every year) and were very successful, greatly reducing the fish yields. Since then, war has raged against the Lamprey.

Traditionally we have used pesticides to reduce their numbers. Since Lampreys metamophisize (the only fish that do this!) like many insects (think of butterflies), many of the chemicals that interfere with metamorphosis work in both lampreys and insects. So we already had a well-developed arsenal against them. The problem is that when we dump pesticides into a lake (as opposed to spreading them on a field) the pesticides go where we don’t want them too, killing all sorts of aquatic insects that are crucial to the food chain. We tried to find other chemicals, called lampracides, that target the lamprey more specifically, but after billions of dollars of research between the US and Canadian investigators, we have been rather unsuccessful.

Currently we believe we are beating them by messing up their courtship process. I saw a presentation by the leading researcher in lampreys last year, and he developed a pheromone that was specific to the lamprey that would make the female lampreys try to mate in the wrong places and the wrong way. Lampreys need to line up in an “embrace” before mating in order for the sperm (which is ejected from the male’s body) can be captured by the female’s genitals instead of floating downstream. The male excretes a chemical (called a pheromone) to lead the female to the right position, since adult lampreys are nearly blind. When we mess with this pheromone, we confuse the girls and they don’t get any sperm. Good for us!

We invented “the pill” for the Lamprey. The one problem is that a few do get pregnant. Either the males have an extraordinary abundance of sperm produced or the females are quite fertile. It is also possible that they may still be able to do their dance without the pheromone. In any case, we are selecting for the lampreys that can evade this mechanism, and since they are so prolific, our mechanism will soon be overcome. The war continues.

I pointed out this fact to the professor, and he said that indeed this is a major problem. I think perhaps developing a VLR antagonist (sort of like an allergen to jawed vertebrates) could be developed to kill lampreys. After all, many allergens can be fatal. To my knowledge, nobody has tried this.

This is why I suggest peace as an alternative. Lampreys are considered a delicacy in France, but then again the French eat just about anything. They are enjoyed in England, Portugal, Korea, and Spain as well, which gives me hope that North Americans may learn to love lampreys. Their flesh is very rich and meat-like (because they suck blood) and it has perhaps the highest iron content of any food. For this reason lampreys were very popular for Catholics during fast times. It was like eating “meat” but not! Lamprey pie was a popular Lenten food in northern France. King Henry I was so fond of lampreys that he overate them and died (possibly from Iron poisoning or because they were rotten). I think we should keep our tax monies and start commercial fishing of Lampreys. The American public is so gullible! All that would be necessary would be celebrity endorsements of Lampreys during the super bowl. Suggestions of good celebrates to introduce the lamprey are welcome. I was thinking of Rachel Ray. Her indomitable perkiness may overcome people’s prejudice against the lamprey.

Here is a recipe I found on the internet:

Lamprey Stew with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

by Bob Bennett
Bennett's Bar and Grill, Duluth, MN

For Stew:

3 lamprey cleaned, peeled, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and diced into medium size chunks
1 yellow onion, diced into medium chunks
2 stalks celery, diced into medium chunks
2 cups hearty red wine
2 cups fortified veal stock
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium-size, heavy-gauge stock pot. Add lamprey and vegetables, then sear until vegetables are tender. Add the wine and reduce liquid by two-thirds. Add veal stock and bay leaf, reduce heat and simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Season with salt and pepper and serve on a bed of mashed potatoes as prepared below.

For potatoes:

2 lbs. red new potatoes
2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. minced garlic
3 tbsp. sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes until soft, then drain. Place in a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix with electric hand mixer until smooth. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Some resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamprey

http://www.hhmi.org/news/cooper.html

http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/suppl_1/i307

Cooper, M. D. et. al. (2004) Somatic diversification of variable lymphocyte receptors in the agnathan sea lamprey Nature 430:174-180

(All pictures were taken from government websites [public domain] or from publicly released Wikipedia images)

Decorative LSD Blotter Papers

2006-12-21T16:23:00.000-06:00

One of my friends (his blog: http://www.danielmitsui.com/hieronymus/) is an excellent artist, and he has exposed me to the wonders of icons and patterns. He has only exposed me to the religious kind, however. To my delight I came across some reproductions of decorative LSD Blotter Papers at the lab today. Its truly remarkable how much effort people put into making the papers they “drop acid” with look lovely. Perhaps they stare at them while in their trances. It is clear that different clandestine LSD manufacturers "brand" their acid with their blotter paper patterns. The most common pattern, the "Felix the Cat" pattern originates from a lab in Northern California, for example. It is assumed that LSD blotter paper branding works just like branding with other products. If you had a high you liked with the Felix the Cat brand, you are more likely to purchase it again.

Here are some examples of blotter paper patterns:

Here is the “looking glass” design, which is fairly common content for blotter papers:

Through the Looking Glass was the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. What could be a better work of literature than this for a LSD user? In Wonderland people walk backwards, see things as they have never seen before, and cat’s talk. Alice herself hallucinates when surrounded by teas, mushrooms and smoking insects. Its like an acid dream without the acid. In fact, Lewis Carroll almost certainly dabbled in psychedelic drugs, probably laudanum, a tincture of opium and (usually) alcohol. The name Mad Hatter, another reference to altered states of mind, is really a literal reference to mercury poisoning suffered by hatters in the 19th century since mercury was used to process felt at the time. Sometimes this mercury poisoning (especially when combined with alcohol consumption) leads to Korsakoff’s syndrome. This disease also made its way into art in the movie Memento based on the case study by neurologist Oliver Sacks called the "The Lost Mariner" in the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. What a strange world!

This is my favorite:

Yes…that is the crucified Christ on that blotter paper. And yes…that is a psychedelic insect-eyeball pattern in the background. This depiction of Jesus is very unique in that it clearly shows that He is "high." The aura of light is around his entire body, not just his head. He veins, arteries, and bones seem to be electrified. This all indicates that the artist was quite deliberate and made this drawing for this purpose.

This makes me wonder, “What would Jesus think of this?” After all, LSD is quite destructive to the mind and body, which are dwelling places of the Holy Spirit (and at times for the body and blood of Christ). In fact, at least one Priest I know has likened the tongue as a throne for Christ when we take Eucharist. How ironic that one drops acid on the tongue as well?

Alcohol is also destructive of the mind and body if taken too liberally. Is it a matter of degree? That LSD is simply too potent for reasonable use? Or it is it the fact that it is not culturally acceptable, unlike alcohol which is one of the fruits of western culture. I suppose it is both.
LSD is one of the few drugs that remains in the body permenantly. It also can cause irreovacable brain damage or could cause a user to jump off a bridge after only one dose. It is terribly destructive. To learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

Elephant Youth Gangs

2006-12-20T22:06:00.001-06:00

I was speaking with a friend on Saturday and the topic of Elephant youth gangs came up.

Let me summarize: In some African wildlife preserves severe poaching and elephant habitat destruction depleted the number of mature bull elephants. It turns out that mature bull elephants play a key role in the elephant society, which is highly complex and bears striking resemblance to human society.

Young adolescent male elephants undergo dramatic surges in testosterone as they enter into sexual maturity (like humans). These high hormone levels are linked to aggressive behavior. It is not unknown for male elephants of this age to kill and rape rhinoceroses, for example. They also kill each other and form highly destructive gangs of approximately 30 individuals that go on rampages.

A wise game warden had the clever idea of introducing some mature bull elephants from another preserve to keep the adolescent males in line.

Colin Powell summed it up nicely in a conversation with P. J. O’Rourke: “An elephant gang. And so the gamekeepers didn't know what to do. They didn't want to kill them. And it occurred to some guy, very early one morning he said, "I've got it." They just went and got some older male elephants. They brought two male elephants, adult male elephants in with these teenagers, and within a few months, problem solved. The teenagers didn't know how to act. The male elephants made it clear to them: "Excuse me, boy. This is not what elephants do. We don't go around chomping on rhinoceri."

The analogy between these elephants and the urban youth gangs was so abundantly clear that the story was handled delicately, as you can see from Colin Powell’s gingerly spoken account.

This story is demonstrative of the need for society to preserve its traditional familial institutions. Elephants, which have a much simpler society and have very brief cultural memories (due to their inability to record language) do not tolerate social upheaval well. What would make one think humans can tolerate it much better? In one way our greater intelligence affords us flexibility in coping with change. In another way, our need for education and lengthy rearing period would make us more venerable to social tinkering.

I suppose one could claim that this elephant story is an example of successful social engineering. But this is overlooking the fact that it is not engineering at all; it is restoration. It’s the opposite of engineering. Though, it would certainly be interesting to see the impact of providing the adult female elephants “affordable, quality child care” for their calf and encouraging them to beat down the adolescent males.
The whole story continues to have relevance. The NYT ran a feature article on it in early October:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/magazine/08elephant.html?ei=5070&en=c4fe2178b292ff78&ex=1166763600&pagewanted=all

For more on elephants:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephantidae

A Capite Ad Calcem Manifesto

2006-12-20T19:24:00.000-06:00

The title of this blog translates literally: “from head to foot.” Idiomatically: “from top to bottom” or “from head to toe.” I chose this title because it captures the breath and depth of my blogging topics (at least sometimes). I chose Latin because many English blogger titles have already been taken, and because I think Latin is important.

Like most manifestos, I will state some sweeping generalizations, give my worldview, and state my opinions. I figure it is better to lay them on the line now, so you wont be wondering later.

Generalization 1) Most blogs are really not worthwhile unless you know the person writing it personally

Generalization 2) Most people (like myself) have failed to get blogs up and running

Generalization 3) People read blogs that are self-affirmative. People love echo-chambers. This much is evident from my own links. As you will see, most of the links I have contain ideas similar to or at least from the same cloth as my own.

Generalization 4) Nobody likes to read online diaries of average looking 22-year-old men.

Generalization 5) People like to read things that are provocative and distinctive. People gravitate towards novelty, but too much novelty is distracting. Also, people understand things through their own methods of understanding, which are formed by their culture, education, etc. Completely random and unusual things cannot be understood well, and I will avoid such things.

Worldview: a combination of my religious, political, and social beliefs. It all starts with my religious beliefs, which provide the rational basis to my political and social beliefs as well as a metaphysical and logic system.

Religious:

Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipoténtem,
factórem cæli et terræ,
visibílium ómnium et invisibílium.
Et in unum Dóminum Iesum Christum,
Fílium Dei Unigénitum,
et ex Patre natum ante ómnia sæcula.
Deum de Deo, lumen de lúmine, Deum verum de Deo vero,
génitum, non factum, consubstantiálem Patri:
per quem ómnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos hómines et propter nostram salútem
descéndit de cælis.
Et incarnátus est de Spíritu Sancto
ex María Vírgine, et homo factus est.
Crucifíxus étiam pro nobis sub Póntio Piláto;
passus, et sepúltus est,
et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras,
et ascéndit in cælum, sedet ad déxteram Patris.
Et íterum ventúrus est cum glória,

iudicáre vivos et mórtuos,

cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spíritum Sanctum, Dóminum et vivificántem:
qui ex Patre Filióque procédit.
Qui cum Patre et Fílio simul adorátur et conglorifícatur:
qui locútus est per prophétas.
Et unam, sanctam, cathólicam et apostólicam Ecclésiam.
Confíteor unum baptísma in remissiónem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam ventúri sæculi. Amen.

Politically: I believe that society should be organized in a deliberately traditional manner that recognizes the value of reason. I believe that society should function in a manner that gives priority to the exercise of individual virtue rather than encouraging “individual freedom” or “collective good.” This does not mean that individual freedom or collective good are unimportant, just less important.

Socially: People are responsible for doing good. Good for themselves and for others. This is a major bone of contention for many of those that call themselves “conservative.” Many come from a Hebrew/Roman understanding of good, which boils down the golden rule. In the Hebrew system, it’s because God says so; in Roman, it’s so you can get along. The outcomes are the same. I am much less traditional in that I see Jesus Christ as offering the most perfect ethical system—we are to love our neighbors. Because of this, “just letting people be” is intolerable. If they are harming themselves, good people should take action to stop it. If there are patterns of self-destruction that people often fall into, laws should be made that prevent this self-destruction. The paradox is that by forcing (law) people to be good, you rob them of the fullness of virtue. Therefore, there is a balance, and each issue needs to be approached particularly and locally and traditionally to find that balance.

Particular, local, and traditional are loaded words. Particular constitutes features of the issue that are special and unique. For example, real estate is unlike most property in that it is impossible to move it about, it is subject to weather, it is absolutely necessary for survival, it only exists in physical connection with other pieces of real estate. Each of these features makes analyzing an issue concerning property unique. To ignore them is foolishness.

Local constitutes features of the issue that are related to the location of the issue. The culture, the time, the people. These are just as important as particular features when analyzing a problem, especially if the problem involves humans.

Finally, traditional constitutes looking at a problem using methods and understandings of those who have already analyzed the problem. Humans are naturally traditional. People often say we are “creatures of habit” or “don’t like change.” These are obviously rather crude ways of understanding tradition; tradition is more than habit or preference for the status quo. It involves depth of understanding and it has limits. Reason is the usual limiting factor to tradition.

A final note: I believe in the supernatural and the mysterious. Since there is no way to determine that supernatural phenomena does exist or doesn’t exist due to the limits of our natural world, I choose to believe that the supernatural exists because it explains the unexplainable (though my choice really has nothing to do with the matter). It is clear that over time more and more unexplainable thing are explained using purely natural arguments (such as the development of biological diversity). It is just as clear that as we learn more about the natural world, more unexplainable things are discovered, such as anthropic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle) co-incidences. I still have never heard a convincing argument explaining the existence and origin of the mind, consciousness, or ideas.

Mystery is not superstition. Mystery is acknowledging that some things cannot be explained, but can still be accepted. Mystery is healthy and mature. Adolescence is typified by assuming omniscience and seeking answers to questions that cannot be answered; maturity is typified by awareness of imperfection and knowing how to go about answering questions. I can fully accept that things like the Trinity and Love exist and operate in knowable ways, but that explanations of how they work may never be grasped.

My objectives: to provide blog readers with an interesting, lively, and thoughtful blog with the aforementioned themes woven throughout. Also, expect the occasional ethanol induced post.