study notes 1/3-7/2011

This is how I look for hours every day.

The week is spread before me in joyful anticipation. I spent the morning organizing my study schedule. Absolutely loving how these little maps keep me moving forward without stress.

Update: would babysitting my angelic granddaughter 5 hours per day be considered a side track. Maybe, but what a wonderful blessing.

Update: It's only Wednesday and I've finished everything on the list for this week except 52 pages in Durrant and 1 ch. of anatomy. I start studying around 8 and go to 11 each day. My desire to accomplish this goal is very high as is my desire to be a great grammy. It seems on a good week, I can do both. We'll see what happens during a face plant week. But hurray!

Whatever Happened to Penny Candy + Bluestockings Economics-The wage/price spiral is a result, not a cause of inflation. Inflation is caused by printing more money. the level of wages and prices cannot rise unless someone creates more money. Wage/price controls never work because they don't stop the money supply from increasing. Large increases in the supply of money are always followed by a rise in wages and prices, while large decreases in the supply of money are always followed by a fall in wages and prices.

The socialist/communist idea of taking from each according to ability and giving according to need cannot work. Highly productive individuals are and have always been the minority. The less productive are the majority. After some time, the high producers tire of pulling the low producers along. The high producers become low producers. Who wants to work hard if it gets them nowhere? Authorities institute punitive, compulsory labor laws. Socialism is a living death for all except the authorities and their pets. A better plan is liberty and enterprise, where each person is free to chose and responsible for those decisions. Highly productive and enterprising individuals get ahead and employ those not so willing to take risks. Of course those that take the risks get further ahead than those that do not, but that is the payoff for taking risks.

Runaway inflation is hyperinflation, where priced rise rapidly, every few hours.  Depression is the correction period following an inflation and usually includes a lot of business failures and unemployment. Recession is the beginning of a depression that never went all the way.  Deflation is a decrease in the amount of money and usually causes depression and falling prices.  The business cycle is the see-saw activity of government inflating and deflating the money supply.

Roots of American Order-"Someone said, 'The dead writers are remote from us, because we know so much more than they did.' Precisely, and they are that which we know." T.S. Elliot  Aristotle and Plato believed there existed not real dividing line between politics and ethics. The community of friendship advocated by Aristotle is an American ideal--reconciling of the classes and interests an objective of both. Aristotle's praise of the middle class was a kind of endorsement of American society. America was held together by a religious bond stronger than any the Greeks or Romans had known; by a Christian faith that worked on individual and family, rather than through a state cult.

Memmler's Human Body in Health and Disease-I'm still in the review stage of my learning with this book and took only a small portion of time reviewing my 2 chapters this week.

A Basic History of the United States Vol. 1/Clarence Carson-Recent history is not more important than the distant past, because it is impossible to tell how one got somewhere without knowing where one came from. All events and circumstances play a part in future events and circumstances, culturally, religiously, ethically, and so on. Long past events hint at what will happen in the future. The colonial period lasted some 169 years or approximately eight generations from the first English settlement to American independence.

People are considered civilized, when they subscribe to order. Usually, those considered civilized have some type of city at their center.  Civilizations throughout history rise, decline, decay, and disappear. This has been evident with Greek, Roman, Persian, Aztec, and other traceable civilizations. In the Middle Ages a high civilization did exist, as evident in the writings of Dante and Assisi and the building of great cathedrals. It was the time of the first reformation. The Renaissance paved the way for the second Reformation, because this was the time of individualism. People learned to speak Greek and read original Greek manuscripts. Later editions of original works may become corrupted. Classes tended to disappear on some levels during this time in Europe, because of the growth of trade and cities. Living in towns, men were freed from serfdom. Trade often brought wealth and independence.  Because men saw themselves as individuals instead of parts of larger groups, they were free to explore new worlds and discover new things. Also religious reformation caused great contentions among citizens, thus providing colonists for newly discovered lands. Columbus was a success. Although he has been much maligned in late years, he did much for the expansion of civilization. True, like his Spanish royal sponsors, he wanted wealth. But unlike them, he sailed unknown waters for a higher purpose to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right or wrong, he succeeded in the latter. Although it wasn't his goal, he found lands that were rich in culture, plants, and natural resources much more valuable than gold.

The Five Thousand Year Leap-According to Samuel Adams, one way to identify a true friend of liberty is to identify one who promotes civic virtue and only votes for wise, virtuous people. "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." Proverbs 29:2  The founders wanted citizens to qualify themselves for public office with public virtue backed by private virtue or natural aristocracy, an aristocracy of virtue, talent, and patriotism. The founder's view of the whole subject of politics was best put into words by Cicero: "For there is really no other occupation in which human virtue approaches more closely the august function of the gods than founding new States or preserving those already in existence." Benjamin Franklin described the biggest weakness that tempt people in public office, money. Franklin prophesied what would most likely happen to paid public officials over time; they would oppress the people with high taxes. "There is scarce a king in a hundred who would not, if he could, follow the example of Pharaoh--get first all the people's money, then all their lands, and then make them and their children servants forever. The founders' efforts to prevent public offices from become monetary attractions was to keep the salaries low and to encourage gratis public service.

The Story of Civilization Volumes 1-11 by Durrant (Durrant is not recommended for young people, since the world view is on the atheist side. Adults who have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ will not be harmed by the thorns among the roses here. The writing style is delightful this time through. The first two times I read it, I could not concentrate at all. This time it flows melodically and makes me laugh. So far the first 20 pages don't offer anything new except entertainment. Because I need to read 54 pages per day, this is really great.

The development of civilization is presented in an atheistic world view. Since I am a Christian, I do not agree with the author's scheme of evolution of these institution. The Biblical tradition of the family from the creation of Adam and Eve is my truth, whereas Mr. Durrant's examples drawn from primitive societies, is speculation. Does this guy really believe all this negative stuff about marriage? If so why was he married to the same woman for 70ish years. Did he really believe that monogamy was and is slavery? I tire of Mr. Durrant's conclusions with very little evidence at the beginning of this book and will be glad to get to the real history parts based on original documents and not speculation.

Botany in a Day

Botanists and scientists use Latin for naming plants, because it is not an evolving language. A single initial in front of a species name (Example: E. angustifolia) indicates an abbreviation of the genus name. The abbreviation spp (Example Pinus spp.) is used to indicate species plural. An herbalist uses the classifications of subfamily or tribe if the family is especially large or its members are sufficiently distinct.

Different habitats support different life forms. Changes in climate and other changes make conditions suitable for different forms. 90% of plants associate with fungus in the soil.  80% of plants could not survive without this relationship. Earth is covered with 2/3 water and 1/3 land.  Land contains twice as many plant species as the ocean.

Mosses and liverworts are in the Bryophyta division. One medicinal use of a plant from this division is club moss spores or vegetable sulfur. This waxy, water-repellant, sooling substance is soothing to diaper rashes, bed sores, and herpes eruptions.

Pine, cycad, cypress, ginko, and sequoia are some plants in the Naked Seed division. Their seeds are slightly exposed to the air and are fertilized by pollen landing directly on their surface. Flowering plants have an ovary and become “enclosed seed plants.” Some plants produce fruits for seed transportation.

             

The dicotyledonous class has the largest number of species.  Aster is the most advanced dicot plant family.   

           

When attempting to identify a plant, it is important to determine if it is in the Composite (Aster) family first. The aster family is the largest family of flowering plants in the northern latitudes. Important details to write down in order to identify a plant later are: division of the plant kingdom, monocot or dicot, aster or not, and flower profile. Flower parts always occur in rings, and always in the same order.  Flower parts in the order they occur are sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils.It is possible to have sepals and no petals in a plant.

5.  Botanists and Herbalists use plant keys to correctly identify plants in the field.  Pay special attention to the plant you are trying to identify and note the flower parts, leaf configuration, and color.  Determine the family and compare with example members.  

Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. Club moss of the fern division have homeostatic properties. Horsetail produces fertile grass joints and infertile horse tails. 3 medicinal actions of Horsetail include diuretic, astringent, and nutritional (calcium.) Cones, needle leaves, and resinous are words used to describe the Pinaceae family. Most pines are expectorant. Dr. Christopher uses, Juniper, a member of the Cypress, in his kidney bladder combination. Juniper's medicinal action is diuretic.