Tag: Pique the Geek

Milk, in its human form, has  been the foundation of nutrition for hominid infants for millions of years.  In the past few millenia, animals have been domesticated for milk and meat.  Many of them are ruminants, but not all are.  The camel and the horse are notable exceptions, highly regarded in several cultures for their milk.

In the western world, kine (aka cattle), (Bos) are almost exclusively used for providing milk in useful quantities.  As a matter of fact, in the United States this is such an important agricultural industry that entire sets of laws and price supports have been enacted.

This essay looks into the the issue of milk that is produced with Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), (also called Bovine Somatotropin (BST))and will likely prove to be controversial.  This is an important issue, and I will attempt to give it a fair treatment, but remember that many folks have already made up their minds without considering the actual data, and it is difficult to make folks who have already made decisions based on emotion to see logic.  With that said, here we go.

There is a lot of attention regarding the topic of trans fats, but hardly anyone outside of chemists and biochemists really understands what a trans fat actually is.  This evening we will discuss what they are, whence they come, and some health aspects of them.

This is a controversial subject (not as controversial as high fructose corn sweetener), in that the medical community is not completely in unison with the interpretation of the data from studies.  However, the case is more clear than with high fructose corn sweetener.

There is a lot of attention regarding the topic of trans fats, but hardly anyone outside of chemists and biochemists really understands what a trans fat actually is.  This evening we will discuss what they are, whence they come, and some health aspects of them.

This is a controversial subject (not as controversial as high fructose corn sweetener), in that the medical community is not completely in unison with the interpretation of the data from studies.  However, the case is more clear than with high fructose corn sweetener.

This is likely to be a hotly debated essay.  The subject of High Fructose Corn Sweetener (HFCS) is extremely controversial, with a spectrum of advocates ranging from those who articulate that is nothing but poison in any amount, to those who articulate that is nothing but safe.  I believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle.

We will examine first the chemistry of sugars, then the use of added sugars in processed foods, then some of the political and economic causes, and finally have an open forum.  I hope that everyone will contribute.

Back in the days when energy was not understood, but after the Aristotelian ideas of the elements were being shot down, folks became interested with why fire “works”.  That is not in the least odd, since fire has been simultaneously our best friend and our worst enemy.

Without fire, food would be rather indigestible, especially meats and starchy things.  With the heat from fire, those become much better sources of digestible nutrition.  With fire, our living structures become comfortable, and without it chillingly cold and very harsh.

But fire has its own way of doing things.  Uncontrolled, it is one of most destructive natural, or human created, forces.  But it is NOT an element.  Neither is Earth, Air, nor Water.

LSD is essentially unique in that there were a group of people who actively advocated its universal use.  There are several reasons for that in my knowledge, and probably others of which I am oblivious.

There were several folks who were instrumental in promoting LSD as a panacea for the troubles of the planet, or that it would make other positive changes.  In at least a couple of cases, their interaction just caused the authorities to react more harshly to the wide use of the drug.  We will explore some of them this evening.

Our journey now is ending.  This is the final installment on the Drugs of Abuse subseries of Pique the Geek.  This one will be a bit different, and will likely take a long time to read, if you listen to the music that I have chosen for it.

LSD is a uniquely 1960s substance, even though it was known before then.  Dr. Albert Hofmann first synthesized it in 1938 or so, but sort of forgot about it until 1943.  By the way, Dr. Hofmann died this year at the age of 100 years, so that material certainly did not kill him.

This is such a complex topic that it has taken several weeks for me to decide how to divide it into understandable chunks, and then how to present them.  The manner in which I finally decided may not be the best, but hopefully it will make some sense.  With a topic this complex, it will take two or more installments to complete.  We shall begin with the science and history this evening.

Since yesterday was Independence Day and many of us saw a fireworks display, shot off our own fireworks, or both, I thought it would be timely to describe how fireworks actually work.  All fireworks have one thing in common:  they give off heat from some sort of chemical reaction.

Most fireworks also give off light, and most also emit some sort of sound.  Notable exceptions to this are sparklers which have little sound, smoke “bombs”, and the large set pieces that display shapes like an American flag or some such.  We shall focus on the ones that give off light and sound.

Since tomorrow is Independence Day and many folks will be displaying fireworks, I thought that this would be appropriate.  Amateur use of fireworks sends many people to the Emergency Department every year, and if I can reduce the number of calls there my work is well done.

Many of you do not realize that I am a Certified Ammunition Handler, bestowed by the United States Army.  I received that certification whilst I was directing the research and development of defensive and less than lethal pyrotechnic devices several years ago.  I also understand the chemistry and physics of explosives.

There are two main classes of explosives, low explosives and high explosives.  Most fireworks are in the former category, but there are exceptions.

Well, only one installment in this subseries after this one, but it will be special.  Tonight we will explore this class of drugs, what they do, and how they work.

This class of drugs also includes LSD, but that material is so culturally important that it will have a post of its own.  Thinking about it, it may deserve two posts, so there may be two installment after this one.  We will have to see.

Sorry that I did not post last night.  I have been tending to more important family things.  I promise that I will post the next installment this coming Sunday.  I am getting a very intrusive signal from PC Tools Antivirus.  It will not let me go.  I suggest that you not go to that site.

Warmest regards,

Doc

The psychedelic amphetamines (and I include mescaline here, although it is a methyl group away from being a true amphetamine) are many and widely encountered in what are almost always now illicit settings.  They (except for mescaline) are synthetic drugs, not found in nature.

These drugs are “true” psychedelics as opposed to the oddballs described here last week.  Many of the oddballs are dissociatives, and the true psychedelics work by a completely different mechanism.