New Speed Record in Rock Climbing at Yosemite

( 2:43 and 33 seconds )

Plant Sitting

A schoolmate just dropped off 17 potted plants that are to stay with me for the summer. He is going to Minnesota to stay with his girlfriend and then to a Buddhist retreat, and returning to Portland in time for school in September. I volunteered for plant duty; I love plants and did not especially want to go buy anymore...though I did buy a basil plant for a dollar at the coop the other day. I think he was happy to find a good summer home for his babies. They have just been drenched in cold water and are rejoicing in the bright sun of my porch.
( D's plants, a list: )

Ron Paul on our Current Economic and Military Situation

I don't think the TV guy has much of a clue, but maybe you do.
Thanks to rinku for keeping me up to date.

BJ Lawson, candidate for congress in NC

BJ has been kicking some ass in NC. Here we have another Ron Paul Republican striving to take the word "change" away from the democrats, for whom the change in store is a changing of the guard (admittedly much needed), but not a change in the way our nation does business......so I sent him a little bit of money. $29 to be exact. Even if you are a Democrat and plan to support Obama for president, it is in your best interests to seed congress with people who will bring forward the discussion that will end this era of corporate domination of our government. Please put a few of your own dollars toward grassroots candidates like BJ. I suggest $29. It is time our democracy started working again.
Here's where you can donate: https://www.lawsonforcongress.com/donate/
( more on BJ )

The Cat Chronicles: Storms, Drumming, Hands

Kitten is passed out on the couch. I have never seen her sprawl exactly there and like that before....she seems to be getting more comfortable. She does not have to hide from the little canine anymore. She is exhausted from last night's excitement. I closed the door to the Crow's Nest last night while she was still out prowling. She could come into that room, but no farther, and she could not get to me. The idea was that I wanted to sleep all night and wake up without her stomping on me and muttering me awake.
( mental download )

Jacksonian Epilepsy

-- = aka Jacksonian siezure or march
--named for the guy who figured it out
--involves progression of the location of the seizure in the brain --> a "march" of motor presentation
--initiated with abnormal electrical activity in primary motor cortex
--why this kind is unique: it travels through the primary motor cortex in a succession, affecting the corresponding muscles, often beginning with the fingers
--felt as tingling in fingers, then hand
--moves more proximal
--S/Sx: head/eye movements, tingling, numbness, smacking lips, muscle contractions

Sunshine and Vitamin D

( notes tapped for black book 2012 )

Microbiology Review: WORMS

(  there are three types of parasitic worms, here I have covered only the ones in the board review book, assimilated into black book 2012 )

The Revolution: A Manifesto

I've started book #2 of the summer. It is a joy to read Ron Paul. He is so matter of fact about what has happened in our nation, how politics has become formulaic and false. His first chapter is about foreign policy, drawing a distinction between isolationism and noninterventionism. He is a good writer, a clear thinker. He quotes figures from an early American history book, and pulls together bits of history about our interactions in the world to paint a picture and allow you to draw your own conclusions. Part of the glory of America, for the first 130 years, was that we did not bother other nations. We were open and friendly, but we did not take anything that was not ours, and we did not position our military all over the world. We were glad to trade. Other nations respected America--our nation shone as a beacon of freedom and egalitarianism.
( noninterventionism )