Now Reading... (or Recently Finished)

[freydis]

I just started Reading "Winkie" by Clifford Chase.... talk about bizarre

Isn't it, though?

One of the weirdest books I've ever read.....

[mrs~chi~vious]

Isn't it, though?

One of the weirdest books I've ever read.....

I <3 wierd stuff, so I will have to pick it up.

I have been reading "The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet" on and off for awhile now, I just finished Little (Grrrl) Lost by Charles De Lint (even though I found it in the Young Adult section, I was really impressed by it!)

I have to go to "The N3rd3ry" tomorrow to return some books that I checked out previously...I am thinking about picking up the 3rd book the the Vampire series by Ann Rice, but every time I try to read it I get so...blah...with it after awhile.

I saw Chuck P's name on here a few times...I have wanted to pick up some of his books (Fight Club=Like one of my ALL TIME FAV movies!) what do y'all recommend?

I will see if I can find the "weird" book mentioned above too!

my fav past time ever!

[TheOsakaKoneko]

I finished Ban Sensei - it was astonishingly good. Glad I finally made it through a Yoshiya Nobuko book, and anxious for more. Have to make an amazon.co.jp order soon!!

And now for something completely different, Wicked, the original novel by Gregory Maguire. Not entirely convinced yet but it's certainly not bad. I *just* started it like a half hour ago though. I'm not sure how I like the writing style, and I'm not a huge huge fan of the play as much as a lot of people I know, but still, I like the style of the play (lots of steampunk-y influences ftw), and I was given this book as a present some years back, so I figured, why not? Hopefully it will prove to be surprisingly entertaining.

[Troy Spiral (13)]

Currently Reading:

Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking by Thomas E. Kida

This is awesome stuff. This Should be required reading for everyone over the age of about 14.

If everyone on the planet read this book, along with Carl Sagan's classic The Demon Haunted World we'd have a much better place.

There are other books that cover similar topics, but Kidas seems to be very straightforward, and Sagan's... well its just a gem, and a really well written book to boot. Sagan seems almost incapable of writing a bad sentence, Kida meanwhile seems to have distilled down the last 20 years of rational thought books and written it all down in a VERY easy to grasp way.

Hell even just the first 3 chapters would be good enough to set a lot of the poor reasoning many of us all do straight. Once one is old enough to read these sorts of ideas, they should be the skeleton on which our lifelong learning is the framed.

[Raev]

The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills, by Charles Bukowski

[hunhee]

The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills, by Charles Bukowski

Out of the beat poets.. Bukowski is definitely one of my favs.

[Raev]

Out of the beat poets.. Bukowski is definitely one of my favs.

I <heart3 that you know who Bukowski is. ^ ^

[hunhee]

I

*averts eyes to the ground* I may or may not have picked up a book in my time..

[Raev]

While physical beauty is a nice thing, I find a well read woman nearly irresistible.

Looks fade much faster than the mind.

[Homicidalheathen]

I am sneaking a peak at K's fathers day gift...one of them...from the soon to be extinct borders...cheap stuff this week!

Its a huge glossy of trees

! !!!

We love tree's.

here is a sample of what its like

http://www.the-tree.org.uk/EnchantedForest/wyrd4.htm

The "Magnetism" of Trees

You may have breathed a sign of relief to read that scientists have reported recently that the ozone hole has become a tiny bit smaller in recent years. But there is no peace for the wicked!

The magnetosphere is our only effective protective shield against hard particle radiation from the Sun and the cosmos. And now it seems clear that the strength of this magnetic field has been decreasing in parallel with global deforestation! Humanity started taking measurements in 1838 and the intensity of our planet's magnetic field has dropped 10% since then.

Find out why hugging

trees makes sense!

The influence of Forests on the Earth's magnetic field

I read about this and other facts in Fred Hageneder's excellent book "The Spirit of Trees - science, symbiosis and inspiration" (Floris books, 2000) in his chapter on "Trees, electricity and magnetism."

Electricity and magnetism is an extremely complicated and far-reaching subject. We use these forces every day in all sorts of gadgets, machinery and transport. But even before that was the case, electricity and magnetism were vital forces in the physiology of our own bodies, as they are in all living beings, including plants.

I do not possess the technical know-how to write competently on this topic, but I shall attempt to give you a basic idea of the issues involved with the help of quotes from Hageneder's book, because I feel they need to be brought to the attention of a much wider public.

"Electrical events occur everywhere because the electrical charge is incorporated in atoms and is thereby responsible for most of the physical and chemical properties of all atoms and molecules. The physical bodies of trees like those of humans are electromagnetic phenomena." (Hageneder)

"The electromagnetic fields of huge forests affect the outer core of the Earth, which has a very high electrical conductibility. Through the tidal drag of the Earth's crust the core spins somewhat faster. The electromagnetic influence of the forests is conducted through magnetic fields in the core where it induces electrical currents, thus in turn creating magnetic fields. In this way the vegetation has a charging effect on the Earth's magnetic fields. This becomes evident by the correlation between the density of vegetation and the declination of the Earth's magnetic field. The declination, or deviation between the magnetic pole and the rotation pole, should theoretically be a simple, mathematically calculable figure. But in reality it is very different from that. What is noticeable is that in the great forests of the earth, the deviation is zero, the compass needle pointing to the true north." (Rainer Fisher, 1994, translated by Fred Hageneder).

Theory (above) and reality (below) of the declination in the Earth's magnetic field

(Figure 10 from "The Spirit of the Trees, science, symbiosis and inspiration")

For a long time there was no satisfactory scientific explanation of how it was possible that these electrical currents were set in motion, but the German magnetic field research scientist Rainer Fisher noted that the simplest reason: the effect of countless parallel vegetable electrical conductors had been completely overlooked. The surface of the Earth has a negative electrical charge and the ionosphere has a positive charge (although this is reversed during a thunderstorm). Thus plants and trees "continually discharge to the air electrical tension voltage between the earth and the ionosphere", because of their sap flow.

"Previous theories of Earth's self-maintaining field contain central contradictions. A simple law of physics states that every magnet has its highest intensity at its poles and its lowest at its equator, but this is not the case with Earth." (Hageneder)

In Antarctica's South Pole, where there is virtually no vegetation the law holds true, but not for the North Pole or the Equator. The highest intensity in the North hemisphere is found in two points: One above the last extensive forest areas of Canada (2.500 km south of the magnetic pole) and one above the huge forest of Siberia. The lowest intensity of the magnetic field should be found at the Equator. But this is not the case above the tropical rain forests, but instead "at a latitude of 35° South, where most continents and their vegetation end."

This means that significant deforestation and clear-felling practices contribute to the decline of The Earth's magnetic field. This magnetic field and the magnetosphere create our only effective protective shield against hard particle radiation from the Sun an the cosmos.

There are probably also many other functions which the Earth's magnetic field fulfills.

Another interesting observation made by Hageneder is that above the poles there are deep gorges in the magnetic field where the greatest amount of cosmic radiation enters, some of which is visible as the northern lights.

Tree health and electricity

+ diagnosing and treating a tree with a car battery

Hageneder also draws attention to scientific research done in the field of the connection between electricity and the vitality of trees.

The bio-electrical field of trees have daily and annual rhythms and react sensitively to physiological activity, changes of light and darkness, the airs' electricity, the Earth's magnetic field, the phases of the moon and the eleven year solar cycle.

Within the framework of these 'external' influences, each tree species and subspecies has its own characteristic 'electro-dynamic force field pattern'.

"An extensive series of field studies between 1969 and 1990, by the Czech scientist, Vladimir Rajda, revealed that the measurement of trees' geo-phyto-electrical currents (GPEC) made it possible to determine the health of trees with great precision. This is because electrical currents reflect the biochemical metabolism of the tree so closely that the two phenomena can be understood as a biophysical unity." (Hageneder)

Twenty years of research and measuring the electrical currents in phloem and cambium layers of various tree species led Rajda to the conclusion that plants are capable of auto-regulating their electrical currents, partly because each tree species shows individual characteristics and the source of the electrical currents within the tree seems to be the living being itself.

"The electrical currents form an energetic bridge between the inorganic nutrients of the soil and living plants. The optimum supply ensures perfect health, resistance and growth. A damaged tree, on the other hand, reveals a significant decrease in the intensity of electrical current before any visual signs of illness appear. This is then followed by a decrease in water uptake and nutrient supply. The electrical currents decrease further, while the electrical resistance of the tree increases enormously. The balanced distribution of plant nutrients collapses. For example, in Oak, there is a deficiency of magnesium, potassium, nitrogen, calcium, copper, zinc and phosphorus, while manganese can be found in excess. Following a period of undernourishment the tree is too weak to keep parasites at bay.

Rajda actually managed to heal plants with medium damage by raising their electrical currents back to normal levels - with the help of car batteries! However, exact control is necessary, as exceeding the natural value of a species (as reached in high summer) will directly damage or destroy plant organs." (Hageneder)

Hageneder notes that in this context tree hugging no longer seems so ridiculous. We are living beings with an 'electrical charge' too. When we hug a tree a real energy exchange is in fact unavoidable. In embracing it, we are only a matter of millimeters of centimeters away from the electrically active layers of xylem and phloem in the tree.

Electrical charge affect photosynthesis

Other interesting physiological plant research was done in the Soviet Union in the mid 1970's.

It was always thought that photosynthesis (the manufacturing of food by plants from water and carbon dioxide, taken from the air, powered by sunlight) was dependent on four things: light, temperature, moisture and nutrition. The Soviet research showed that there was a fifth factor, which is the electrical charge of the air.

Remember that the surface of the Earth has a negative electrical charge and the ionosphere has a positive charge, as noted above:

"The Russian surveys showed that the photosynthesis of plants is stimulated by an increasing negative charge of the soil, but slows down with the charge inversion present during thunderstorms. (Storm clouds have a strong negative charge on their lower side, which forces the Earth below to take on a positive charge.) (Hageneder)

Source:

Fred Hageneder "The Spirit of Trees - science, symbiosis and inspiration" (Floris books, 2000)

Edited June 12, 2008 by Homicidalheathen

[Enishi]

I'm currently reading through "To Green Angel Tower", the final two-part volume of the trilogy Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Its quite good, though I do think the author goes overboard with his descriptions.

[freydis]

I'm finishing up "Grotesque" by Natsuo Kirino. Honestly, this woman never ceases to blow my mind. She takes these subjects that could be horriffic themselves (murder and such) and makes the real horror story the characters themselves. Stunning, stunning writer.

[amalthea23]

Arthur and George. I didn't think I'd like it, but so far, it's pretty good.

http://www.julianbarnes.com/bib/arthur&george.html

[Guest Megalicious]

His Dark Material book one and two, I am starting the third tonight.

[amalthea23]

I just finished "Water for Elephants." It was really good.

[brandywine0880]

Just finished "The Funhouse" by Dean Koontz. There were monsters, it was rad. Tonight I began "Black Order" by James Rollins. There's supposed to be Nazi's, gold and anthrax.

[Scales]

I finished Neil Strauss's "The Game." in a couple nights.

I expected this book to be superficial, whereas that's just the start of a very interesting story. To me it has a lot of sociological value and undertones of hacker culture. What makes it most interesting is that the motives are more about power and acceptance then sex, which become corrosive to the individuals in the book over time.

EDIT: As far as the ending's value, I think it's good on a level of growth on part of the writer; I don't care as much about where the characters stand at present though since they let went with being superficial to begin with by manipulating people and then unconsciously punishing themselves for it since they felt it was wrong.

I'll prolly start reading Old Curiosity Shop by Dickens sometime next.

Edited July 11, 2008 by Scales

[chEmo]

Jurgen Habermas and the Unfinished Project of Modernity: Critical Essays on the Philosophical Discourse of Modernity.

Quite a good read, actualy. It gets into the Romantic purification of aesthetics. Very Goth.

[MyViolentMachine]

Finished: Configuring Windows Vista Client

Up Next: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Fun...

[mrs~chi~vious]

Finished: Configuring Windows Vista Client

Up Next: Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory

Fun...

That sounds like what my husband is reading...he is into C++ and other programming books.

After I get used to my new schedule (Mids at the Diner) I am going to pick up Kushel's Chosen again, by Jaqueline Carey!

That series is EXCELLENT! And I highly recommend it!

Quite the page turner, with several plot twists, religious intrigue, romantic entanglements, and the really randy bits are just extra added fun! For those who like historical fiction, I highly recommend it. For those of you who don't...see previous line about it being randy!

MCV

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

going through and reading some of the awesome poetry that is in "Your Creations" section

[SuZQZ]

Just finished Smashed, Squashed, Splattered, Chewed, Chunked and Spewed by Lance Carbuncle and have started on The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore.

[Guest Megalicious]

A Bio on Albert Einstein and I'm fucking blown away that he actually received his Noble Prize for The photoelectric effect. I just had always assumed it was for the special and general theory of relativity.

[TitsMcGee]

Right now I'm half way through "The Last Vampire" by T.M. Wright. It's a very interesting book to say the least. I can't wait to get some free time to finish it.

[peelingchrome]

The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli