Gleanings of the Week Ending July 5, 2014

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

How Did This Ancient Civilization Avoid War for 2,000 Years? - This article linked well to the Paradoxes of War course I am taking right now….one of those little serendipities of life. There are hints of other cultural norms that were so different from our own that we can’t quite fathom how they worked.

Oklahoma earthquakes induced by wastewater injection by disposal wells, study finds - I saw a story about the Oklahoma earthquakes on the evening news that featured a home owner from Prague, OK whose house had been badly damaged. I have a family connection to the area: my great-grandparents farmed in the area and my one of my grandmother’s first memories was of their house blowing away. They worried about tornadoes rather than earthquakes. I’m glad there are studies being done to understand why the dramatic increase in earthquakes is happening….and help us make better decisions about wastewater disposal.  On the positive side for Oklahoma, at least they had data available that could be used to determine the problem. Now the question is - what action will result? And what about China’s Dirty Pollution Secret: The Boom Poisoned Its Soil and Crops? Both of these instances seem to be cases where the price of ‘development’ is becoming unexpectedly high - and maybe it is going to get higher over time.

Chemist with Visual Flair Answers Burning Food Science Questions - A high school chemistry teach in the UK has a flare for chemistry info graphics. The ones collected in the NPR post are about food but he has others at his open web site: Compound Interest.

Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #69 - I have to include one of these periodically. Which is your favorite? Two near the end are mine: the egret and peacock (and I can't resist including one on my own peacock pictures with this post).

Why Online School? Why Full Time? - A survey to find out why parents and student use online schools full time. The two reasons are “want a change from their local school” and “require or want greater flexibility.”  The survey was of parents of students of Connections Academy, an online school.

Slow media - Sometimes the alternative to ‘fast’ is what we need!

Ancient baby boom holds a lesson in over-population - A case study from the American southwest: farming and food storage resulting in high birth rate until there was a drought which caused the crash.

4 New Energy Maps Show A Lot about Renewables - Wind, solar, biomass and geothermal…the US has a lot of potential.

New study from population and development review finds flaws in mortality projections - There is good news and bad news: The good news is that the decline in cigarette smoking will almost certainly result in longer-living older populations. The bad news is that current public policy around the world has not included that change in mortality projections (i.e. governments are underestimating the number of older people for the next decades…and were already struggling with the shifting demographics).

50 States, 50 Spots Natural Wonders - From CNN. There are a lot of natural wonders is virtually every state I’ve visited….too hard to pick just one…but fun to think about.

Coursera Experience - July 2014

Following the general schedule of the brick and mortar universities that offer courses through Coursera, there were a lot of new starts in June. It made for a grand total of 5 courses on my ‘to do’ list by the end of the month:

The Diversity of Exoplanets (University of Geneva) - The course has provided a good framework for me to understand the news items on the topic….and there are quite a lot of them these days!

Preventing Chronic Pain: A Human Systems Approach (University of Minnesota) - The Systems Biology course I finished last month prepared me for the most technical module of this course!  Since I don’t have chronic pain at this point in my life, I am truly focused on the ‘preventing’ aspect of the curse. The biggest action I’ve taken so far is to broaden the amount and kind of stretching I am doing.

Paradoxes of War (Princeton University) - This course has been thought provoking both from a historical and more general societal context. Since there has been some time sequence to it - we are now in the years of my life and I am appreciating the different perspectives of what happened in the 60s and 70s.

An Introduction to Global Health (University of Copenhagen) - There is so much to be done and, while there have been strides, there are set backs too. The people that are the most vulnerable are in the least healthy situation and their pliant is often impacted by disasters (floods, earthquakes, wars). At the same time, we are facing the reality that many in the developed world had chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) that are sapping medical resources too (and now the NCDs are increasing in the developing world too).

Globalization and You (University of Washington) - The course divides Globalization (political) from globalization (interconnectedness) and encourages students to research how each impacts them directly. I am already behind in the reading and the participation! Strangely enough - a lot of what I’ve been learning in some of my other classes seems feed into this one (the ones that come immediately to mind are Global Health, US Food System, How to change the world).

By the end of the month I should begin to recover. Several courses will end and the only one that will start in July is:

Social Psychology (Wesleyan University) - The course is advertised to focus on ‘research findings that are easy to apply in daily life.’ What a great course to enjoy with air conditioning in August!

Ten Days of Little Celebrations - June 2014

Noticing something worth celebration each day is an easy thing for me to do. The habit of writing it down reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. This month has been full of ‘little celebrations;’ here are my top 10 for June 2014. I’ve categorized them into 4 groups: outdoors, food, and courses and people.

Outdoors

Oak trimming (and discovering the oak marble). Finishing the annual trimming of the oak was worth a celebration but it was made even better this year with the finding of the oak marble. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like tit.

Therapy bush trimming. There is always some to be learned about myself during time spent trimming the bush. I celebrated that it happened this month (and look forward to at least one more time during the summer).

Brookside. We walk around Brookside at least once a month and it is always enjoyable but with the construction going on this summer we are looking for alternatives. I celebrated June’s visit since it will be the last one to Brookside for a few months.

Green tomatoes. My deck garden has gotten off to a reasonably good start. I have 11 tomatoes on two plants! I’m celebrating their progress and hope to report other colors soon (and then move them to the ‘food celebration’ category.

Food

Community Support Agriculture. My first experience with the CSA has been worth celebrating. The fresh veggies are getting eaten.

Watermelon. I didn’t wait for the local melons. The grocery store had a bin and the one I got was excellent.

Kale chips. They taste good - and are nutritious too! Even my husband - not usually big on veggies - liked them.

Courses

Thought provoking classes - The Paradoxes of War class I started this month on Cousera has been very thought provoking….and I am celebrating that I signed up for it.

The survival of people in harsh reality - The Nubians survived harsh climate and the Ancient Egyptians to produce their vibrant culture - that’s the main take away from The Art and Archaeology of Ancient Nubia course that I just finished on Coursera. I am celebrating their accomplishment; they help us realize that the ancient Egyptians were not the only ancient people to apply extreme creativity toward improving their lives.

People

People. There are so many people related celebration days this month that were highlighted by Father’s Day, telephone calls from (and to) family members and meeting new people.