manumise
PRONUNCIATION:
(MAN-yuh-myz) 
MEANING:
verb tr.: To free from slavery, servitude, or restraint.
2023/11/30
2023/11/29
Todays Thought
Write on my gravestone: "Infidel, Traitor" -- infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people.
-Wendell Phillips, human rights activist and attorney (29 Nov 1811-1884)
2023/11/28
The Supreme Court case seeking to shut down wealth taxes before they even exist
The Supreme Court case seeking to shut down wealth taxes before they even exist
A SCOTUS case aiming to protect rich people from taxes could lead to chaos for the federal government’s finances.
2023/11/24
Todays Thought
People rarely win wars; governments rarely lose them.
-Arundhati Roy, author (b. 24 Nov 1961)
2023/11/22
When Sir Walter Scott met Robert Burns
The Meeting of Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott at Sciennes Hill House
A celebrated painting by Charles Martin Hardie of that famous encounter in Sciennes Hill House fancifully adds several other celebrated men to the scene – James Hutton, father of geology; Joseph Black, the chemist and physician who discovered carbon dioxide; Wealth of Nations author Adam Smith; playwright John “Douglas” Home and Professor Dugald Stewart, the philosopher who influenced the entire Scottish Enlightenment movement.
It is unlikely they were all in the room at the time Scott met Burns, but it could have happened. Oh to have been a fly on that wall…
2023/11/21
What’s normal for the body and brain as we age? An expert weighs in.
What’s normal for the body and brain as we age? An expert weighs in.
- Older people often present with different symptoms than younger people when they become ill. For instance, a senior having a heart attack may be short of breath or confused, rather than complain of chest pain. Similarly, an older person with pneumonia may fall or have little appetite instead of having a fever and cough.
- Older people often react differently than younger people to medications. Because of changes in body composition and liver, kidney and gut function, older adults are more sensitive to medications and often need lower doses. This includes medications that someone may have taken for years. It also applies to alcohol.
- Older people have reduced energy reserves. With advancing age, hearts become less efficient, lungs transfer less oxygen to the blood, more protein is needed for muscle synthesis, and muscle mass and strength decrease. The result: Older people tend to have less energy than in the past, even as they need more energy to perform everyday tasks. Hunger and thirst decline. People’s senses of taste and smell diminish, lessening food’s appeal. Loss of appetite becomes more common, and seniors tend to feel full after eating less food. The risk of dehydration increases.
- Cognition slows. Older adults process information more slowly and work harder to learn new information. Multitasking becomes more difficult, and reaction times grow slower. Problems finding words, especially nouns, are typical. Cognitive changes related to medications and illness are more frequent. These changes are normal and do not signify the onset of dementia.
- The musculoskeletal system is less flexible. Spines shorten as the disks that separate the vertebrae become harder and more compressed; older adults typically lose 1 to 3 inches in height as this happens. Balance is compromised because of changes in the inner ear, the brain and the vestibular system (a complex system that regulates balance and a person’s sense of orientation in space). Muscles weaken in the legs, hips and buttocks, and range of motion in joints contracts. Tendons and ligaments aren’t as strong, and falls and fractures are more frequent as bones become more brittle.
- Eyesight and hearing change. Older people need much more light to read than younger people. It’s harder for them to see the outlines of objects or distinguish between similar colors as color and contrast perception diminishes. With changes to the cornea, lens and fluid within the eye, it takes longer to adjust to sunlight as well as darkness.
- Because of accumulated damage to hair cells in the inner ear, it’s harder to hear, especially at high frequencies. It’s also harder to understand speech that’s rapid and loaded with information or that occurs in noisy environments.
- Sleep becomes fragmented. It takes longer for older people to fall asleep, and they sleep more lightly, awakening more in the night.
This is by no means a complete list of the physiological changes that occur as we grow older. And it leaves out the many ways people can adapt to their new normal, something Leipzig spends a great deal of time discussing.
A partial list of Leipzig’s recommended adaptations, organized roughly by the topics above:
- Don’t ignore sudden changes in functioning; seek medical attention.
- At every doctor’s visit, ask why you’re taking medications, whether doses are appropriate and whether medications can be stopped.
- Be physically active.
- Make sure you eat enough protein. Drink liquids even when you aren’t thirsty.
- Cut down on multitasking and work at your own pace.
- Do balance and resistance exercises.
- Have your eyes checked every year.
- Get hearing aids if you’re straining to participate in conversations.
- Don’t exercise, drink alcohol or eat a heavy meal within two to three hours of bedtime.
“Never say never,” Leipzig said. “There is almost always something that can be done to improve your situation as you grow older, if you’re willing to do it.”
Todays Thought
Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do.
-Voltaire, philosopher (21 Nov 1694-1778)
2023/11/18
Omaha's rainbow house
Omaha's rainbow house
When he was looking for his next project, he asked his three daughters: 5-year-old Cecilia, 7-year-old Louise and 9-year-old Josephine. They suggested he go with a rainbow design.
“It brought me back to a conversation I had with (a property owner) on that block that used some derogatory words and that didn’t sit well,” he told USA TODAY Friday morning.
2023/11/13
Todays Thought
Everybody, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.
-Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (13 Nov 1850-1894)
2023/11/12
Todays Thought
To the artist there is never anything ugly in nature.
-Auguste Rodin, sculptor (12 Nov 1840-1917)
2023/11/10
Todays Thought
It is criminal to steal a purse, daring to steal a fortune, a mark of greatness to steal a crown. The blame diminishes as the guilt increases.
-Johan Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, poet and dramatist (10 Nov 1759-1805)
2023/11/09
Todays Thought
In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
-Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (9 Nov 1934-1996)
2023/11/08
“We used to do that”
When electricity came along, there was a swath of industries that were trapped in an old way of thinking. The only ones that thrived were able to walk away from what they used to do and eagerly embrace something new.
When the internet was young, the major book publishers had everything they needed to create a dominant search engine. After all, they were in the business of organizing the world’s information. With just one exception, they didn’t even consider it. That’s because they believed that their job was to sell books to bookstores.
This is even more urgent for individuals. What you were trained to do, what you did yesterday… that’s a gift from your past, not an obligation. Beginning the analysis with, “what I used to do was…” is a great way to open the door to what you’re going to do tomorrow.
2023/11/07
Understanding Consciousness Goes Beyond Exploring Brain Chemistry
Understanding Consciousness Goes Beyond Exploring Brain Chemistry
The science of consciousness has not lived up to expectations.
Over the summer, the neuroscientist Christof Koch conceded defeat on his 25-year bet with the philosopher David Chalmers, a lost wager that the science of consciousness would be all wrapped up by now. In September, over 100 consciousness researchers signed a public letter condemning one of the most popular theories of consciousness—the integrated information theory—as pseudoscience. This in turn prompted strong responses from other researchers in the field. Despite decades of research, there’s little sign of consensus on consciousness, with several rival theories still in contention.
Your consciousness is what it’s like to be you. It’s your experiences of color and sound and smell; your feelings of pain, joy, excitement or tiredness. It’s what makes you a thinking, sentient being rather than an unfeeling mechanism.
Todays Thought
Don't wait for the Last Judgment. It takes place every day.
-Albert Camus, writer and philosopher (7 Nov 1913-1960)
2023/11/05
An 'Unimaginable' Virus Named Gorgon Was Found Buried in a Massachusetts Forest
An 'Unimaginable' Virus Named Gorgon Was Found Buried in a Massachusetts Forest
Back in 2018, scientists from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) made an unexpected discovery in Harvard Forest—a roughly six-square-mile area west of Boston. While trying to understand how microbes reacted to warming soil due to climate change, the researchers stumbled upon a collection of “giant” viruses many times larger than typical viral specimens.
How big, you ask? Well, where viruses—like Covid-19, for example—might measure anywhere from 50 to 140 nanometers in width, the discoveries from Harvard Forest measured up to 635 nanometers.
Guy Fawkes Day
Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot….
2023/11/03
2023/11/02
Todays Thought
Our cemeteries are full of people who prayed to live.
-Annie Laurie Gaylor, freethinker and activist (b. 2 Nov 1955)
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