Painting the Desert Posts

In many places in the world there are long, straight and featureless roads passing through grasslands, farmlands, and deserts. These stretches are notorious for people nodding off at the wheel, and for vehicle breakdowns where the person does not see another vehicle for days. Both have proven deadly. My idea is to put shady sculptures beside the roads every 20km with a water spout, especially for desert roads. It would help people give their eyes and minds a rest from the road. It would also help people survive if their car breaks down. Also, many people have difficulty explaining where they are on a featureless landscape if they call for help on a mobile. Putting features in is a great way to explain eg. "I'm at the mermaid between the giant .T.v. and the flamingos".
It could be a money earner too! Imagine the tourists taking happy snaps. It would good for the tourist industry in the towns and cities that these roads lead to. To install them, the government can make it a project for arts students, technical college students and even high school students. People have told me they would love to do that for free, just to have their name on it. If the initiative payed for the materials only, there would still be plenty of volunteers.

Rebellious Brain Stem

The emotions that are in the hard-wiring of the brain causes one to think of what survival instincts are active in a fit of rebellion and how that evolve to effect the brain structure.

When you have a "hissy fit" of rebellion it is your hypothalamus and amygdala that are most active. Logically, rebellion is a way of getting to resources (essential to survival, in your primal hard-wiring) that are threatened if co-operation isn't going to satisfy your resource needs. Lets walk through the necessary stages for rebellion to occur instinctively, with and without gaining the loot.

Firstly, through your senses (very animal part of the brain), you must perceive a lack or restricted resources, usually that someone has sway over, but not necessarily. If you are cold, hungry, unsheltered, under fire, or in some way not getting your basic needs met (including sex), and being compliant is unlikely to change that, a set of defiance-for-survival primal triggers in your hypothalamus. You are more likely to "tell someone where to get off" if you are cold, wet, lost and hungry (needs not being met) then if you are warm, dry safe and eating. This includes getting enough social stroking. If a teenager with cold parents gets grounded on a socially important weekend, they are very likely to sneak out for social strokes and sex as a survival instinct.

So basically modern humans take on a "fair" and co-operative based interaction to get needs met, but if basic resources is perceived to be ungainable through the softer (and less energetic) method, at a certain point rebellion kicks in in the fight or flight department, (social, actually resource based"Its unfair"etc) as an alternative way to get needs met.

So the hypothalamus sends a signal to the amydala that homeostasis is inadequate because of the current situation. If we get a hit from the adrenal glands as well (the boss yells at you), it will kick in the defiance-for-survival instinct in rebellion. The irritability when hungry is similar to the feeling of rebellion on a low level. It is the amygdala that causes us to be disgusted with (eg. status quo), and become angry enough to rebel. People are more likely to mob for food then fiber optics. Not only does the amygdala provide us the uncomfortable "red alerts" of disgust and anger as a motivating force, but it controls the fight or flight responses as well. So it works with its close neighbour the hypothalamus to set off the whole fight or slight of hand (passive aggressive) instinct range.

If you look where then hypothalamus, pituarity gland and amygdala are placed in the physical brain, one sees them gather at the top of the brain stem, under the bulk of the brain. It seems to me as a group they are bit of a gate between more conscious thought and brain stem instincts. Where they are is like the frontal lobes if the brain stem were a whole brain. To the brain bulk, the hypothalamus and amygdala are in the more primal hard wired instinct part of the brain. If there was no brain stem, the hypothalamus is at the most instinctive area, and the amygdala is part of the limbic brain, more evolved then the brain stem but still very hard-wired. The limbic system and the stuff at the top of the brain-stem are comparatively like the brain stem. If the brain was a hologram, the limbic/hypothalamus system is the small to the bulk brains big, and big to the brain stem's small.

The hypothalamus is triggered by smell quite profoundly and it could be mentioned here that we smell more then we consciously acknowledge. When we smell a lack in resources it effects us. If we smell others have been eating better then us, or what stage a person is at sexually (resource orientated), it affects our instinctive mood. We may not be conscious of it, it is like the smell of fear, strongly affecting the primal driving force.

Drug addiction is an interesting double link with the rebellious instinct. The hypothalamus is tricked into thinking the drug is an essential to homeostasis, causing the lack of said intoxicant to trigger the rebellious instinct like a positive feedback loop.

Compulsive kleptomania is very much a resource instinct (therefore primal) gone awry. Can't get what you need? Justify it to yourself that "they" are being unfair and then even righteously steal it. The need is met and guilt can washed away with gain and righteousness of fighting the unfairness.

One Liners

I admire old people because they made it to old, and a lot don't.

Rainbow Stir-fry

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice

1/2 cup soup mix (lentils, barley etc.)

handful of seaweed

1 can fish (of choice)

1 small can mushrooms

handful of nuts (cashews are best)

pesto (to taste)

garlic (to taste)

salt (to taste)

mixed herbs

sweet chili sauce (to taste)

lemon pepper (to taste)

lemon or lime juice (to taste)

soy sauce (to taste)

miso (to taste)

olive oil

tomatoes and/or red capsicum (red)

carrots (orange)

corn or squashes (yellow)

bok choy or similar (green)

parsley (green)

Broccoli (green)

maybe eggplant (blue)

red cabbage (purple)

How to:

1. Put rice and soup mix on the boil with a teaspoon of garlic and a large dose of mixed herbs and salt. Add a handful of shredded seaweed (very healthy).

2. After about half an hour, make a sauce in a large frying pan, using water, olive oil, any favorite herbs, garlic, pesto, chili sauce, soy sauce, lemon or lime juice. Tasting is the best way to get it right. You can also improvise with promite (marmite) and peanut butter as thickeners. Add can of fish and can of mushrooms. Add nuts.

3. Chop up vegetables to go in the frying pan (not too hot to retain vitamins). Things with a small surface area goes in first (carrots, eggplant, squashes). This is where aesthetics comes in, so chop the carrots diagonally and halve them. Things that need less cooking like greens, cabbage and capsicum go in second. Miso goes in last as it should not get too hot.

4. As the rice mix should be cooked (try to avoid draining to retain b vitamins), it is ready to be served. Scoop a ladle of rice mix into each bowl, them top it with the frying pan mix (make sure they get enough sauce). It should be filling and attractive in colour and taste.

Eureka! Water fills the Space!

Recycling water is a very sensible idea in this day and age. Firstly, we have less living biomass to bring naturally clean, filtered water. Also, with metropolises bursting at their overfed seams, it is time for the piping of water to be rethought.

The dual pipe system is a very good idea. Household and industrial water is removed and reused (cleaned) as industrial water (after all, industry rarely needs distilled standard water). Clean river and rain water is used for household use. Effluent (toilet) water could be kept on a third system, separate from household water and commercial use. Commercial water that was first used as toilet water is fine, but for something else the future is bringing to us. The small methane gas power generators that will be a standard feature of a house, just like the rainwater tank or the solar power grid. These things are inevitable as the well fed populations of today expand.

Using the recycled effluent water for drinking is unwise as it may still have traces of minerals and antibiotics that contaminate it. Sure, it is probably clean physically, but energetically one cannot be so certain. In homeopathic schools of thought, water retains the vibration of what it has contained. If it has flowed through rivers or fallen as rain, it is fit for consumption. Also, psychologically, having water that is "pure" can really effect public morale.

Also, with cleaning water to reuse for drinking, mistakes can be made. Although it is a slim risk, if it went wrong (old, dirty equipment, wear and tear, human error) the effects could be dire, with huge class actions (legal bills). The costs of maintaining a system to a very high standard so the risks of disaster are lessened and insurance must be taken into account by both governments and private operators who are contemplating using waste water for household use. When times are easy it can look good to do, but what about when times are tough? If there are serious cutbacks on spending in leaner times, could cost saving endanger users?

I think letting recycled flow back into the ground water system is fine. Ponds, pools, lakes, rivers, mires (particularly) will clean the water as it passes through silt and plant life. In the homeopathic sense, it is re-energized by being in nature. If returning it to river systems, deltas are a better choice then rivers flowing inland, because of cases of disaster, but also there are more bogs and swamps, which is one natures ways of causing extremely clean waters.

Rates and taxes (and tax exemptions) could easily arranged to encourage good water use, pay for production costs and even raise revenue for other projects. One can imagine that in the near future laws being passed that the building industry must include a water tank, recycled water pipes, solar panels and methane gas power generators. New suburbs will require water recycling facilities. These are all potential cash cows for governments. At worst, they will pay their way.

Medics With Arms

There is a sad fact that people either are not aware of or ignore. When people are in pain or unwell they can sometimes mistake a helping hand for a threat. Animals do too, as a vet can tell you. The more acutely they are damaged, the more likely to see a threat instead of aide. So jobs like the red cross or ambulance drivers have difficulty with some of the people they are trying to help. Doctors are often the worst patients! I have heard horrible stories both from the media and personal accounts.
Also, during wars or gang fights or personal vendettas, sometimes medics are attacked by bystanders because the people who have injured the patient do not wish them to recover. Humans are territorial hunters by nature, with an ability to be ruthless, a sad fact.
A solution to the dangerous task of helping the injured is to arm medics. Most medics would not like that, because they are the caring type usually, so you can imagine they would only use it in extreme cases. However, in the light of human nature, it could be wise to anyway.
If they had a gun with three shots of tranquillisers, followed with three shots of rubber bullets, it is my belief that in dangerous situations, that could be a life saver, for for the medic, the patient, and the bystanders. In war zones, a second weapon with just pure bullets may be a necessary evil. Medics are not the type to like the idea, but veteran medics are the best type to consult about it, as they are more realistic about the dangers of the job. A rookie probably have stars in their eyes still about being Florence Nightingale reincarnated.

Creative Thinking vs Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is a catch cry and common philosophy throughout society. We often tell ourselves and others to think positively, especially when the chips are down. However, if you have ever tried to edit your thoughts or speech to only think positive thoughts you may have first got tired, then irritated, and then had a hopefully minor explosion of negativity. This is because ignoring the unpleasant doesn't make it go away, even if you try to put a positive spin on it. It will bubble up like a revolution of the downtrodden. In fact, trying to Pollyanna in a volatile situation can actually be dangerous to the person or others (like trying to pat a rabid dog).
Also positive thinking vs negative thinking is very dualistic in it's philosophy (this is good/this is bad), and is judgement based. It is a very black and white (as opposing extremes) in it's scope. You can only be wrong or right. The scope is very limited. Here is an alternative that allows the full spectrum.
The idea is Creative Thinking. If you have a problem to solve, you work beyond the scope of positive and negative, and try to start to look at the full spectrum of options available to come up with a solution. It is the domain of brainstorming. Think of the elements to the objective that are necessary or fixed, and then bring other elements in and out of your thinking until you come up with a solution that makes you feel like it could be beneficial or constructive. You, if you want, are looking for something that works. Or you have the options of leaving it as it is, abstracting because you can, or giving it to someone else etc. The full gamut of possibility is there. It is absolutely necessary in creative thinking to think outside the box, even if the end conclusion is conservative.
If you have difficulty thinking beyond the normal viewpoint (whatever that is for you and yours), look into the ideas behind the Dada art movement. Alternatively, flip a coin while deciding what to do about a current problem, or what to plan to do in the next year. It isn't necessary to do what the coin decides, but it helps to think about it from an angle you may not have looked at from before. Also, imagining you are another person in the situation helps with thinking outside the box in a relevant way.
It is fine also to think in the black and white, positive and negative way as well. But I find it restrictive in the dualism, and two dimensional. I personally prefer the full spectrum of Creative Thinking. It accepts the rainbow of existence, including it's darknesses. And accepting all the elements is a better way to more thoroughly solving the problem.