Feb 3

Inert Gas of the week


Inert gases are non reactive. The most common ones are argon and neon. Today, I will speak about the beautiful, electrifying, classy, and extraterrestrial NEON.

We all know this gas, yet we may only know it for the light that it helps emit. Although neon (ne) is simply a gas with an atomic number of 10 it is special in that it is in many ways otherworldly. Neon is common in the universe, but rare on our lovely and little planet earth. This is due to its lightness and inertness. Although rare, neon can be spotted with the naked eye especially after sunset. Simply walk to your favorite downtown street corner and enjoy!


The colors in my kitchen

We hopefully have all walked the isles of our local farmers markets and seen the beautiful array of colors that fill its stalls. These colors are not only pleasing to the eye but are also beneficial to our mind/body. Chinese medicine, ayurveda, and now modern medicine have all contributed to the science of how these colors effect us and how we can use knowledge of color to help create better health and to aid us with particular ailments. So with that said I looked into my own kitchen to see what colors are there and what which ones are not.

First off I looked in the refrigerator, to see the vegetables and ahh ha there was a gold mind.
Carrots come in a variety of colors. We know the orange one's but there are also white, red and purple. Luckily my local grocery store sells bunches of carrots that contain all of these varieties.

then I saw that i had bak choi, which is green and white, and asparagus, which is a lighter shade of green.

Then i looked in the cabinet.
There I have three types of lentils. French green , red, and mung beans, all have distinct colors.

Then I looked at my rice. I have white jasmine and off white basmati (I don't like brown rice).

So all in all I had a variety of colors in my foods that not only taste good, but that will hopefully provide me with good, prana, qi, vitamins, and minerals.

The world of color . .  .

is fascinating! Its science always strikes me because of its vagueness, impermanence, and deception. It is a great way to describe how we are often mistaken by what we perceive. We live in a world of subjectivity, not objectivity, and it is through our 5 senses and their limitations that we can understand the world. Is there anything that exists that is beyond the 5 senses? Something that can not be detected?And when I say beyond I mean beyond the eye or the ear. And I'm not just talking about human senses but bee eyes and dog ears as well. We all know that what we perceive to be reality is different then the person next to us, and indeed much different then the other beings that share our planet. A dogs auditory experience is much more acute and a bees eyes can detect the world of sight in a completely different way. This article on the color of minerals shows us that it is chemical bonds that are commonly the reason why a substance absorbs or emits certain colors.And with this chemistry has helped us add nuance to how we perceive the world