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Teen Wolf Episode 3.08 "Visionary"
Last week, we cried over the tragic, untimely and cruel deaths of Erica Reyes and Vernon Boyd. This week, we get insight into the badass family of Hales before the fire killed most of them off.
The episode begins with a flashback of a young Derek running through the woods, chased by hunters. An arrow is fired at him but a young Peter grabs it in the air, and they take off together. Gerard and Chris Argent with multiple other hunters approach a dead body, and Chris orders that they bring the boys back alive and to obey the Code. Derek and Peter hide in the basement of an abandoned house that has a large tree growing through it. Cutting to the present day at Derek's loft, Cora explains to Stiles that they were hiding there for two days, to "hide and heal" as werewolves are taught to do. Stiles doesn't understand how this will help find Derek, who's seemingly gone missing and hasn't been seen since Boyd's death. Cora and Peter both tell Stiles that Derek used to be very different, more like Scott than the brooding sourwolf we know him as. Peter explains that an experience with a girl is what changed Derek's personality, and why his eyes are blue and not yellow (a mystery that has been bugging me since season 1). In the past, a girl named Paige (aptly played by Madison McLaughlin aka Krissy Chambers from Supernatural – I'm feeling some SuperWolf here) is practicing the cello at Beacon Hills High, when she's distracted by some people in the corridor with a basketball, one of them being Derek. She asks them to stop and Derek challenges her, so she scoffs and leaves. Derek follows her and apologizes, asking her name, getting the answer by taking up her challenge – playing an instrument, namely, the triangle.
In the present, Gerard is being interrogated by Scott and Allison, hinting that Deaton could be the Darach; Scott protests, knowing that Deaton would never hurt an innocent. Gerard laughs and Scott demands that he tell them how to beat Deucalion, to which Gerard replies that it cannot be done, and he's tried it before. Allison gets annoyed, and Gerard gives them the advice that Deucalion may have lost his eyes but that he's not blind. In the loft, Stiles is confused about Derek's age in the story, and gets a cryptic response from Peter when he asks what his age is, but finds out that Cora is seventeen… "how [we] would measure in years." Peter continues his story of Derek's romance with Paige, and how they would often meet up in an abandoned distillery outside Beacon Hills. When asked how he knows this, he replies that he used to be Derek's closest friend and confidant – a lie, as the audience can see that in the flashback he was really following them (Peter is a completely unreliable narrator). Derek and Paige leave when they hear people approaching, who turn out to be Kali, Ennis and Deucalion with their own packs. Ennis is angry that the Argents killed one of his own, and Deucalion surprisingly tries to reason with him. Gerard picks up the story from this point, explaining that each member of the current Alpha pack met in Beacon Hills to seek guidance from the respected, legendary and beautiful Talia Hale, who had the rare ability to fully shapeshift into a proper wolf. Talia mentions that it's perfectly within Ennis' right to have a vendetta, but Deucalion begs him not to become a "historical cliché" and that a battle between two powers will never end at an eye for an eye and that it will escalate to all-out war (this peaceful Deucalion is kind of adorable). Ennis doesn't care and claws the revenge spiral into a wall of corrugated iron.
Stiles mentions that they really take the revenge thing to a whole new level, and Cora elaborates that losing a pack member is akin to losing a limb. Peter then tells of how Ennis tried to see his beta's body, but that Deputy Stilinski arrived to try and calm him down. Peter says that he looked at Ennis' situation and saw a profound loss but that Derek saw an opportunity to always be with Paige – nasty unreliable narrator got it around the wrong way. Peter claims that Derek was constantly scared that Paige would find out what he was, but that again is another lie, it was Peter who tried to convince Derek that if Paige found out she'd end their relationship. Peter goes on to plant the seed that Derek should turn Paige so that she won't leave him, although he continues in the present to lie to Stiles and Cora, saying that he was the one who tried to talk Derek out of turning Paige. In the flashback, Gerard and Chris are in the basement where Peter and Derek hid, and notice that the tree has a large Druidic symbol painted on the trunk. Allison asks Gerard why her father knows so much about druids, who explains that one should know thy enemy, and describes the relationships that ancient werewolves had with druids, who the wolves called emissaries. He retells the tale of Lycaon, how when some Greek citizens were turned into wolves by Zeus, the druids helped them to figure out how to shift back and forth between shapes. Cora elaborates and explains that emissaries keep werewolves connected to their humanity and are kept a secret even within the pack, the Alpha being the only one who knows their identity. Peter informs Stiles that Ms. Morrell is the emissary to the Alpha pack.
In another flashback, Deaton is talking to Talia and Deucalion in his Animal Clinic. Deucalion wants to call a truce with Gerard, a chance for peace, but Talia says that Gerard might be the wrong one to approach, as she thinks that he is a complete psychopath who cuts people in half with a broadsword. Deucalion is surprised at how little faith they have in people, saying that Gerard must be worried about the deaths on his own side as well. Deaton then tells the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, and how the scorpion stung the frog and killed them both, but his excuse was that "it was in his nature". At the darkened school, Paige received a note from Derek to meet him there, but Ennis shows up and begins to chase her while Derek sits alone in the locker room, listening. Cora is surprised that Derek would've asked Ennis to turn Paige, but Peter argues that he was the perfect choice since he'd just lost a pack member and would gain favour with Talia. Stiles says that Derek mustn't remember that it was Ennis, and Peter says that if he does remember he hasn't said anything. Peter was also at the school that night listening, when Derek reaches the point where he just can't listen anymore and tries to attack Ennis, who easily holds him down and shows him that Paige is already bitten. Gerard talks about how Deaton arranged the meeting with Deucalion, and how he knew that they were going to be turned on. Scott questions how he knew that Deucalion wasn't going to actually make peace, but Gerard recites the story of the Scorpion and the Turtle – a modified version of the previous tale. He knew that Deucalion's offer of peace was a trap, which was a complete lie. Gerard waited in the distillery with some hunters, and Deucalion states that he hopes he can avoid any volatile conflict. Gerard then opens a valve releasing a white gas that makes both the humans and werewolves fall, and Gerard stabs himself with an antidote. Gerard then kills off his own men, saying that they too believed in peace and that their deaths will be blamed on Deucalion. Peter is finishing the tale of Derek and Paige, and how the bite didn't take with Paige, who was in pain and dying slowly in the basement.
Deucalion crawls out of the distillery in pain while Gerard follows him, he begs him not to hurt him, saying that he had a vision of peace. Gerard mocks him and then stabs him in the eyes with two flash-bang arrows as Deucalion screams. In the basement, Derek takes away as much of Paige's pain he can, and she tells him that she always knew he was different. She knows that she is doing to die and asks him to end it, and with a whispered love and a kiss, he does. Peter tells Stiles that killing and innocent takes a piece of a werewolf's soul, making it darker, showing up in the eyes, turning them from a golden yellow to a cold blue – like his own. Deaton treats Deucalion's injuries but cannot salvage his sight, and Deucalion demands to be left alone. Talia and Deaton leave but his beta Marco remains, attempting to kill him and take alpha status. Deucalion partially transforms and realizes that he can see as a wolf and viciously kills him. Gerard finishes his story and asks Scott to take some of his pain away, when he launches into a speech about forgiveness and doing things differently, which Scott calls total BS on. He says that Gerard's heartbeat never went up or down, indicating that he is an extremely good liar, before he threatens Gerard like a badass and leaves. Cora questions Stiles, who doesn't believe Peter's point of view and talks about unreliable narrators. In the final flashback, young Derek is covered in Paige's blood when his mother finds him. Talia says that she knows what he's done, but she forgives him and that his blue eyes are still beautiful. In the present, Derek returns to the distillery and stares at the spiral that Ennis cut into the wall.
I absolutely adored this episode and I loved the insight into the Hale family's past, I've always been intrigued by them and I'm glad we got to learn more about them. I'm also thoroughly grateful that we finally found out the mystery of the werewolf eye colour, and I hope that we get more flashbacks to the badass Talia Hale or the adorable cardigan-wrapped fluffball that was Deucalion.


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Matt Harvey falls to 0-2 as Mets lose series to Phillies
For the Mets' first weekend at home this season, the schedule- makers served up a piñata, a 25-pack of red velvet cupcakes for the defending National League champions to devour. The Phillies arrived winless, hapless and hopeless, a target as easy and familiar as a warm blanket on a chilly afternoon.
But after Matt Harvey struggled and the lineup showed little punch in the Mets' 5-2 loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, it was hard to distinguish which team has been the darlings of the prognosticators and which has been universally expected to stink.
"Guys are upset when we lose," David Wright said. "But when you look at the big picture of things, we're still trying to get our feet under us at the beginning of the season."
The captain offered perspective, noting that the team is only five games into the season, far from the point of any sweeping declarations. But he didn't sugar coat what has been a poor beginning to a season colored by heightened expectations.
"When the other team outplays you for two straight days, this is going to be the outcome," Wright said. "These last couple of days, they pitched better than us, they hit better than us, they did everything better than us."
Harvey (0-2) delivered his second lackluster outing, allowing three runs and six hits in six innings with only three strikeouts. He kept the Mets close until the sixth, when Odubel Herrera jogged the bases after a two-run shot, his reward for turning on a hanging slider.
"Obviously, the outcome is not ideal," said Harvey, who left trailing 3-0, the owner of a 4.63 ERA. "I made a bad pitch there and it cost us."
Aside from Yoenis Cespedes' two-run blast in the sixth, the Mets' bats continued their slumber. Through five games, they are hitting a major league-low .180 as a team. And for the second straight game, they did nothing against a Phillies bullpen that began the season as an implosion by committee.
"I see us chasing a lot of pitches," said manager Terry Collins, who wondered if the unusual breaks in the Mets' schedule had wreaked havoc on his hitters' timing. "But the ones we're getting, we're not hitting."
Including Saturday night's 1-0 loss, the Mets' scoreless streak reached 15 innings. Cespedes ended that futility in the sixth, homering to left on a changeup from Jeremy Hellickson. It was the 11th pitch of the at-bat, perhaps a signal that the Mets had awakened. But the blast proved to be only a blip, a trace of a heartbeat.
"I realize there's always panic and drama here. It's part of what goes with the territory of being in this town," Collins said of Cespedes, whose first homer of the season came a day after he heard a smattering of boos. "But he's going to be fine."
That idea, the Mets hope, also applies to the rest of the lineup. At least in their clubhouse, they projected that confidence. There were no team meetings in hushed tones, no overturned postgame spreads. Said Wright: "Nobody's throwing the Boston Market around."
But there weren't many smiles, either.
The Phillies went 1-8 in Flushing a year ago, when the Mets stormed to the pennant by fattening up on the dregs of the NL East. To make another trip to the World Series, they must do so again, but they began by dropping two of three against the Phillies, who had been 0-4.
"I don't think anybody in here should feel too worried at this moment," Wright said. "But at the same time, let's win some games so we don't have to continuously keep talking about it."

subset: commoncrawl


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By DAVID BARBOZA, New York Times, October 3, 2007-
SHANGHAI, Oct. 2 — A prominent human rights lawyer in Beijing says he was abducted, beaten and threatened last weekend by a gang of men who demanded that he and his family leave the city.
The lawyer, Li Heping, has gained renown here for his defense of environmental activists, imprisoned lawyers and church leaders, and has also considered representing a member of Falun Gong, the banned religious sect.
Human rights groups say Chinese lawyers, activists and dissidents are often subjected to harassment, beatings or threats of long jail terms for pressing claims that seem to challenge the government and the nation's legal system.
In a telephone interview today, Mr. Li said his abductors did not say why they were beating him.
"I don't know why they did it," Mr. Li said. "They just told me to leave Beijing. They didn't tell me why they did it."
The abduction of Mr. Li, a 37-year-old lawyer, was first reported by Radio Free Asia, a nonprofit group in Washington that broadcasts news to Asian countries in local languages, and that often reports on human rights cases and minority causes in China.
Mr. Li's ordeal began on Sept. 29, on the eve of a national holiday week marking the 58th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and as Shanghai was preparing to play host to the 2007 Special Olympics, the first time the event has taken place in China.
The opening ceremonies, which were held tonight, were attended by President Hu Jintao.
Radio Free Asia officials say they received a tip about the kidnapping on Sunday and then reached Mr. Li, who described his ordeal.
In the telephone interview tonight, Mr. Li said he was followed after leaving his office late Saturday by a group of men who eventually grabbed him, put a bag over his head and drove him to a location where they beat him in a basement, sometimes tormenting him with a high-powered electric rod.
Later, he said, the abductors drove him to another location in the suburbs of Beijing, where they left him and told him that he and his family ought to sell their home and immediately leave Beijing.
Mr. Li, who has a degree from Renmin University of China Law School in Beijing, said he later visited a hospital because he was suffering from hearing loss and swelling in his face.
Doctors told him he may have suffered serious head injuries, he said. Mr. Li also said he reported the incident to the Beijing police, who promised to investigate the matter.
After being released by his abductors, Mr. Li said he returned home to discover that some of his personal belongings were missing, including legal files and his license to practice law.
In a statement released to a human rights group, Mr. Li said: "As a lawyer, I had the chance to experience electric punishment and torture. I was rolling on the ground and they continued laughing and beating me. This torture lasted about four or five hours."
Human Rights in China, a New York based organization, issued a statement by its executive director, Sharon Hom, saying: "As the international community increases its scrutiny of China in the lead-up to the Olympics, it is appalling that this kind of attack on lawyers continue."
The statement went on: "These attacks raise serious concerns about the will and ability of the Chinese government to protect lawyers' personal safety and right to practice law, which are essential elements of a system of rule of law."
– Original report from New York Times: Chinese Lawyer Recounts Abduction


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I have lived, played, or worked in Visual Communication in some way for nearly 30 years, since the days I discovered I had to draw in order to stay sane. I have been through the waves of self-development and technological change and now that I teach these skills to others, I am always looking for ways to give the most high-impact lessons at the right time. Now, as I find myself drawn to physical computing and other modalities, I have to regroup and figure out how to show my students how to engage as beginners.
Once I started teaching at the college level, I taught straight-up web design for a number of years–it taught me process, code, order, and clarity. Now that web design has been tamed rather a lot, I am anxious to find another compelling way into the conundrum of how to show students what is truly possible without overwhelming them from the start. The rub is this: how can I awaken my students to all that is possible without immediately lashing them to the raft of a passing fad or technology? How can I bring together compositional fundamentals, motion, text, space, and time? How do I do this without immediately jumping into a piece of software?
When I was learning, there was not nearly the same pressure to leap into the digital space: my high school did not have computers, my undergrad had common labs that were always in disrepair. We still learned every fundamental process, idea, and concept. In fact, as we had to be scrappy, I dare say we learned them earlier and sooner, but that is perhaps my own folly.
Kinetic Vis Comm
We are beings in motion, bodies that are constantly in flux. It makes sense that messages and moments that weave into this part of our nature are deeply appealing and even seductive.
I look first to the example of the Burma Shave roadside signs (1927-1963): this campaign was a perfect conflation of the new highway system crisscrossing the United States, the freedom of affordable cars, and the wit of cheekily written copy. Taken at face value, the Burma Shave slogans were chuckle worthy. But there is nothing like the thrill of finding the next one when you are driving Route 66: you are involved, you are vested, and in the end it pays off with a laugh. Brilliance!
The MTA has flirted with a similar notion as recently as 2008, although it wanted to exploit the optical illusion that creates persistence of vision.
The same company used the principles for lenticular images and zoetropes to create pieces that animate as you walk by:
There are basic ideas on animation and involvement which we can bring into our lessons right now without learning any new programs, copping to useless gimmicks, or messing with our core instructional objectives. Movement is and always has been a part of art and design and as we struggle with how to place broadcast media (video, film, animation) in our curricula, let's take some time to demystify the core concepts.
Flip Books: So Many Possibilities!
I find the simple flip book to be a marvelous way to lead many students into motion.
It's a natural lead into stop-action animation…
We are designers and artists: within limits, we make profound meaning. This should the philosophy of any assignment we give!
This is just so lovely…
Dynamic Zines*: Book Arts Meet Motion
*This is my own title as I adore the zine and try to keep the word in use as much as possible.
Dynamic zines are books which are activated by the reader by means other than flipping. This sample is a brilliant use of humble materials and the comic book format. I cannot even believe my eyes on this one!
I was able to track down a photo of the piece broken down:
This notion is in no way new to book arts, but since bookmaking in general is seen as a more artisanal activity these days, we forget. Just remember the work by such paper engineers as Carol Barton:
Gears & Mechanics
I'm still trying to find the person who made this one…
This was something I found in relation to the last one, so simple! The motor could easily be a crank…
When is the last time your students knew what the simple machines are? One day with an assignment using gears and they all would.
Shadow Puppets
If it seems silly to be talking about puppets in relation to a design program then I dare say you may be suffering from some inhibitory snobbery. Let your hair down, have some fun! This is storytelling at its most primal, what better lesson can our students learn now? These ideas and methods can be used as introductory lessons, group projects that happen very quickly and get the entire class primed to work at their best level.
Optical Illusions
At City Tech, we require students to take a class called the Psychology of Visual Perception. I have been going over its syllabus to find ways to tie perceptual realities to my teaching.
Pop-ups and other classic maneuvers
I have a lot of thinking on pop-ups in general, especially in tandem with all the ways we could do our die-cutting now…
Paper Prototypes
All of these ideas lead me to thinking about paper prototypes, a wonderful way to meld everything together and begin to launch into phases of actual implementation.
This is from a UX/UI Design Thinking class I taught at City Tech. Teams of students had a day to create and film a key interaction of a site they were redesigning. Every single team reported having immense amounts of fun while finally puzzling through interactions they had never truly considered deeply before. My teams bonded to each other and continued to rely on each other throughout the semester, making for far stronger work.
It's not about the motion so much as the thinking, planning, and work behind the motion. If our students made dynamic pieces such as these more often in their foundation classes, there would be no horrible leap into the technological void, no rush to making them master software when they are still formulating themselves as creators. If we return to the actual phenomenon of perception over time, there are so many lovely ways of working it into classes that are actually meaningful. If we get students over the conceptual thresholds before they encounter coding or programs, they will learn those so much faster. I have done it and seen it time and time again.
What next?
I am writing some lesson and whole class ideas right now. I am hoping to workshop them at the EAT Lab, in classes at the Brooklyn Brainery, and in my formal classes at City Tech and Parsons. I'm also starting a suite of projects which are suing these principles in my own personal research.
I'll be adding to this and expanding my writing on this subject as I develop lessons and courses based on these ideas. Please feel free to comment or email me and dig in yourself!
Animation History and Techniques:
12 Principles of Animation


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Broomfield, Colorado is one of the larger areas in the state. Located at 5,800 feet above sea level, Broomfield is right off the Highway 36 corridor between Denver and Boulder. However, don't get it confused with one of those cities. Broomfield became an official country in 2001 and instantly differed from its neighbor, Boulder. Although it is likely named after broomcorn, Broomfield has a lot more to offer than its namesake suggests. Here are a few of our favorite things to do:
1. Visit Broomfield's Veterans Memorial Museum
Photo courtesy of Daily Camera and available here.
The Broomfield Veterans Museum is a wonderful place for all. That includes veterans, the active military, and the general public. The museum has artifacts and displays to educate the public from all branches of the military, and from every war since the Revolutionary War. Come celebrate the bravery of our veterans here!
2. Go Fishing
Broomfield is full of ways to enjoy the outdoors. One way is the peaceful art of fishing. Popular spots include Ellie's Pond and Standley Lake. The latter spot includes great trails for a run, a hike, or a ride. Broomfield also has places to camp if you're looking to enjoy a night under the stars.
3. Walk With Butterflies at the Butterfly Pavilion
Have you ever held a tarantula or walked amongst 1,600 butterflies? Then the Butterfly Pavilion is the place to go. Fun for all ages, this museum allows you to learn about all kinds of invertebrates and how they live in different environments. Your support helps protect the habitats of these insects.
4. Do Whatever You Want at a Park
Photo courtesy of Broomfield News and can be found here.
Broomfield's parks have countless options for whatever you're in the mood for. From open fields to horseshoe pits to trails and picnic tables, nothing is off-limits. Popular parks include Emerald Park, Midway Park, and Broomfield Community Park.
5. Explore a Wildlife Refuge
Photo courtesy of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge and can be found here.
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a great place for some animal sightings. With lots of user-friendly trails for people of all abilities, the Refuge has striking views of the Front Range. Surrounded by grasslands, woodlands, and wetlands, the area is home to 239 wildlife species like prairie falcons, deer, elk, coyotes, a variety of birds, and the threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Support these animals with your donation and visit.
6. Catch a Concert at the 1st Bank Center
Photo courtesy of Coloradist and is available here.
The 1st Bank Center is one of the largest concert venues in Colorado, hosting artists like Imagine Dragons, Empire of the Sun, Bastille, The Harlem Globetrotters, and the list goes on. Countless events happen here, from sports games to political conventions. Is your favorite band playing? This is one of the best venues to see them!


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Personal Development Really Is Important
Interesting thing talking to the leaders, managers and sales people with all sizes of organizations, the number of people who tell me they do not have time for Personal Development is alarming.
How do they think or feel they are going to get better over time? Opps! That's the real issue – they believe they have all ready arrived. Especially the highly educated left-brained individuals who think they already have all the answers. These people are dangerous to the health of your organization.
Now that is a strong statement – being dangerous to the health of the company – yet, it is true. There are reason for this statement.
First, younger people need more experience to have more choices in their decision making. Yes, more choices or alternatives actually give you more control over situations. The more choices the better the probability that the right decision will be made to improve the outcome. Too many inexperienced and smart people have a fixed opinion in how everything should be or problems solved. Remember the old saying:
"When you are hammer, everything looks like a nail!"
Second, knowledge and information is doubling and tripling at amazing speeds. The current knowledge we possess today can be totally obsolete within a short number of years depending upon the topic. Therefore, we have to learn every year or we actually fall behind others. Maintenance of our current knowledge levels can be overwhelming. Just ask some of the IT people how fast information is doubling.
Third, as we learn more, surprise, we realize there is even more to learn to be an authority or expert in a subject matter. It continually amazes me how often sales people stop learning new sales techniques or methods – even as the buying environment radically changes before their eyes. They continue to use techniques that are outdated and only frustrate the customer or prospect – thus the commodity world of sales!
Finally, personal development is the only plan that really works over time. We enhance our efforts when the development is goal driven – we want improvement or knowledge in certain or new areas. Personal Development is the faster pathway to gaining high self-esteem and the self-confidence needed to perform at higher levels.
Your future success is dependent upon having a continuous personal development plan. Then execute the plan with consistency and discipline. If you need a little motivation to understand why personal development is important – attend the Phoenix Seminar. This three day Personal Development provides all the methods, techniques and skills needed to succeed in life.
Voss Graham
Latest posts by Voss Graham (see all)
- How to Create the Future of Your Business - March 7, 2019
- Voss & Robin Graham Discuss InnerActive Consulting Group - March 4, 2019
- Voss Graham interviews Ron Bonnstetter - February 13, 2019
- Hyper Growth is Great for Your Business Success - February 12, 2019
- As a Leader, Sharing Clarity or Confusion? - February 10, 2019
Tags: Continuous learning, how to improve, Personal Development, Phoenix Seminar


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Fantastic Kayaks have announced today the acquisition of kayakshack.co.uk . This acquisition offers an exciting opportunity for Fantastic Kayaks to strengthen its market share and fullfill its mission to make kayaking more accessable to all people irrespective of age, sex, experience and background.
KayakShack.co.uk was started by Gary Harkness when Gary bought 'Mike the Bike' and started selling kayaks. Well known as Northern Ireland's leading canoe and kayak shop, Kayak Shack specialized in sit on top kayaks, sit in kayaks as well as related gear.


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One of the great documents of the 20th century is the founding deed of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, which directs enormous donations into seeking out the underlying causes of weakness and evil, sacrificing charitable status and tax breaks to allow the financing of those seeking political change. An exemplar of its aims was Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, third son of the mighty Joseph who wrote the deed. His pioneering work on poverty broke the comforting nostrum that the poor were responsible for their own plight. Low wages were shown unquestionably in Seebohm's work to be the underlying cause, but he was not content just to prove this. He followed his father's wishes in taking remedial action, using not only his intelligence and wealth but an admirable enthusiasm for going on the stump. He knew the poor intimately through years of voluntary teaching at York Quakers' adult school and a new accession to his archive at York University shows how well he put his case. Through his family's generosity and the enthusiasm of Frank Field, who carried the same torch in the Low Pay Unit and Child Poverty Action Group, Seebohm's travelling slide lecture is now safely in the Borthwick Institute. Drawing on marketing techniques from Rowntree's chocolate company, it shows how campaigning against poverty can be as satisfying as eating a Kit Kat. The devil's hold on fun is not as unchallenged by the virtuous as we are sometimes inclined to think.
In praise of … Seebohm Rowntree
The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust directs enormous donations into seeking out the underlying causes of weakness and evil


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- Press Release
- Sep 29, 2022
CubeSats on Hold as Station Crew Wraps Up Week with Biomedical Research
The six-person Expedition 40 crew of the International Space Station wrapped up the week Friday with more biomedical research, computer upgrades and some final closeout activities following Monday's Russian spacewalk.
For Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, Friday marked their 150th day in space as they head into the homestretch of their long-duration mission. The trio is scheduled to depart the station aboard their Soyuz TMA-12M spacecraft on Sept. 10 for a parachute-assisted landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan less than 3 ½-hours later.
Their crewmates, Flight Engineers Max Suraev, Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst, are just a little past the halfway point of their 5 ½-month stay aboard the complex, having arrived at the space station on May 28. Suraev will become commander of Expedition 41 when the Soyuz TMA-12M undocks.
In the U.S. segment of the station, the astronauts conducted biomedical studies designed to track the effects of weightlessness on the human body and develop countermeasures to keep the crew healthy.
Wiseman participated in the Sprint experiment, which measures the effectiveness of high-intensity, low-volume exercise training in minimizing the loss of muscle mass and bone density that occurs during spaceflight. With assistance from Swanson, Wiseman conducted an ultrasound scan of his own right thigh and calf. Station crew members currently work out around 2 ½-hours every day, and the Sprint team is looking into ways to reduce that total exercise time while maintaining crew fitness.
Afterward, Wiseman spent some time configuring computers and Ethernet cables for the ground commanded deployment of new software on the Station Support Computers. These computers, which relay information and email to the crew, are being upgraded to operate more efficiently and at a faster rate than ever before.
Gerst meanwhile participated in the Body Measures studies, which collects detailed measurements of the astronauts' bodies before, during and after spaceflight to help researchers understand the magnitude and variability of the changes to body size caused by the exposure to microgravity. Predicting these changes will maximize crew performance, prevent injury and reduce time spent altering or adjusting spacesuits and workstations. The investigation also could help scientists understand the effects of prolonged bed rest, which produces physiological changes similar to those experienced in microgravity. Swanson was again on hand to assist his crewmate with experiment data collection.
Gerst then moved on to a periodic fitness evaluation as he worked out on the station's exercise bike – the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization. Wiseman assisted Gerst by initiating blood pressure and electrocardiogram measurements to give the ground team insight into the crew's cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health.
Afterward, Gerst took a break from his work to answer questions from social media during a televised event inside the Columbus module. The German astronaut discussed life and work aboard the station. When asked what advice he could offer the world thanks to his orbital perspective, Gerst responded, "I don't think I should give advice to anybody, because who would listen to a guy who flew into space just because he flew into space? My approach to this is actually let the people on Earth see the Earth through my eyes. And that's why I tweet so many pictures. …"
Gerst later removed the Facility for Absorption and Surface Tension, or FASTER, from the European Drawer Rack in the Columbus module. FASTER investigated the stability of emulsions with an eye toward developing environmentally friendly products.
Commander Swanson spent the remainder of his day in the Japanese Kibo laboratory relocating a Payload Data Handling unit, while Wiseman wrapped up his work with the computer upgrades.
On the Russian side of the complex, Skvortsov and Artemyev returned Pirs to its normal configuration in the wake of Monday's five-hour, 11-minute spacewalk from the Pirs airlock. During that excursion, Skvortsov and Artemyev manually deployed a Peruvian nanosatellite and installed and retrieved science packages on the station's exterior.
Skvortsov and Artemyev also took some time in the morning to conduct a study of the veins in their lower legs.
Suraev spent much of his morning transferring water from the ISS Progress 56 cargo ship docked to the Pirs docking compartment. The future commander also reconfigured one of the Station Support Computers after it received its new software load.
Later, Suraev performed another session of the Calcium experiment, which examines the causes of the loss of bone density that occurs in a weightless environment. For this study, Russian researchers are looking at the solubility of calcium phosphates and human bone samples in water in space.
Thursday night and early Friday morning there were multiple attempts to continue the deployment of more NanoRacks CubeSats from the deployer mechanism attached to the Japanese robotic arm outside the Kibo module. The attempts were unsuccessful for unspecified reasons. Earlier this week, four pairs of Planet Labs Dove satellites were ejected from their slots on the deployer. No further attempts to eject the deployer's remaining four pairs of CubeSats will be made over the weekend while payload controllers at the Marshall Space Flight Center and Japanese flight controllers at Tsukuba Space Center troubleshoot the issue. Pending the results of that investigation, the team may either attempt another deployment from this set or return the mechanism to the Kibo airlock.
Four clusters of deployers containing a total of 28 Dove nanosatellites and four additional CubeSats were among the nearly 3,300 pounds of science and supplies delivered to the station in July by Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo vehicle.


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I agree with Dawkins that religion's time of dominance now has to pass. But I don't think it's time yet to berate believers as nothing but tiresome fools
Not content with being a mere anti-Christ, Richard Dawkins has now declared himself to be the anti-Santa. (As Dougal from Father Ted would put it.) Dawkins has also informed an audience at the Cheltenham literary festival that a frog couldn't become a prince, not in a million years. Sometimes I wonder if this man really is the evolutionary biologist he claims to be at all …
Except … not really, not any of it. The autobiography-promoting scientist was simply wondering aloud whether filling children's heads with supernatural stories could be damaging to them. He thought not, on balance. But by that point, presumably, journalists had already stopped listening and started typing gratefully. That's the trouble with cultivating a reputation as a controversialist. Controversy is expected from you, the same way water is expected from a tap. And people find controversy refreshing, even life-affirming. Whether one is delighted that one's own unfashionable thoughts have been voiced, or thrilled at the opportunity to rehearse one's own rectitude by pouring scorn on someone else's imbecility, controversy services a human need.
The trouble with controversy, though, is that it tends to polarise people, entrenching views rather than promoting reasoned debate. By accepting the label of "militant atheist", Dawkins sabotages the very thing he professes to want most – a rational perspective on religious belief. I have no religion myself, but I'd no more describe myself as an "atheist" than I would describe myself as an "aunicornist". If I have any spiritual credo at all, it's a belief in the idea that human beings can support each other best by focusing on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us. Lame, I know. But pleasingly non-controversial.
Militant atheism? Militant theism? These are divisive labels, adopted by people spoiling for a fight. And what they have in common, unfortunately, is their militancy. I despair when I hear people claim that "religion causes wars". People cause wars, people who think their own beliefs, ideas, perspectives and needs are at the centre of the universe, or should be. There's a lot of it about. Unsurprisingly.
We are all at the centre of our own universes, our personal perception that a universe exists entirely reliant on the fact that we are in it. For most of us, trying to envisage an infinite universe is overwhelming, as is trying to envisage what's beyond a universe that – even more mind-boggling, in a way – is not infinite. I'm grateful that I live in a time when I can literally ground myself, reminding myself of where I am, on the revolving planet Earth, of which I have seen photographs, within the solar system, revolving around the revolving sun, which I can see, as regular and predictable as the fact that night follows day. So to speak. Simple, basic scientific fact, easy to take for granted. I'm lucky that I live in a time and a culture that knows something of its physical place in the cosmos. Science is a comfort and a balm.
But it is worth thinking about what it must have been like, trying to get by without it. The idea of being a human trying to make sense of existence without such knowledge – life would surely be one long panic attack. Unless, of course, you could console yourself with the idea that making sense of it all was the responsibility of some other all-powerful being, who expected of you nothing more than adherence to a few simple rules. What a great relief that would have been, what a soothing alternative to a long and tortuous nightmare of existential fear. And for many people, it still is. Campaigning rationalists would do well to think a little about the size of the psychological prop they are trying to wrest off people, when they try to wrest away their God. No wonder they sometimes turn so very nasty.
I'm glad that Dawkins is not the scourge of the fairytale that he was briefly made out to be. But I wish he would find a way of championing rational belief that was worthy of a man of his intelligence. "Fairy stories might equip the child to reject supernaturalism when the time comes … Santa Claus again could be a very valuable lesson because the child will learn that there are some things you are told that are not true. Now isn't that a valuable lesson?" he said to the Guardian this week. "Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have had the desired effect in some cases, because after children learn that there is no Santa Claus, mysteriously they go on believing that there is a God," he then went on, less beguilingly.
There's nothing mysterious about it. It's all very well to assert that it's childish or primitive to believe in God. As Dawkins must know, the difference between fairy stories and religious belief is that there comes a time in a person's life when societal consensus deems it no longer seemly to believe in the former. Likewise, no one would find it cute if they moved in with their boyfriend, only to find that come Christmas he was hanging out his stocking and leaving a glass of advocaat for Santa. There is no such consensus over belief in God, far from it. No British prime minister and no US president has thus far agreed with Dawkins that belief in God is silly and irrational. People are not yet ready to hear it, and ramming it down their throats just closes minds rather than opening them.
It's a luxury to have a fine mind that is highly educated. I'm certainly not saying that Dawkins has not earned his privilege – he has. But he is privileged nonetheless. His soul is not tortured. His mind is free. The human condition does not overwhelm him. But his lack of sympathy for those who cling to psychological certainties he does not approve of has no kindness in it, no compassion. It's a shame.
Dawkins has acknowledged that stories do not have to be true to be useful. This is certainly true of religious stories, too. You don't have to believe in God to see the wisdom of the judgment of Solomon or the goodness of the Samaritan. You don't have to believe in God to see that religion has served a purpose, fulfilled a human need, stopped as many going mad as it has made mad. I agree with Dawkins that its time of dominance now has to pass. But I don't think it's quite time yet to berate believers as nothing but tiresome fools. Apart from anything else, there are still too many of them, and some of them are still too powerful. It's easy to be brave when the consequence is a high public profile and continued book sales. Dawkins proselytises from a very safe place. A lot of people still live side by side with militant theists, and it makes them horribly vulnerable. That is no fairy story, made to be brushed aside. That is a fact of life on Earth.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2014


text:
There is a spy among us. He walks with us, he talks with us, he teaches us, and yet we have never realized who this person really is.
Timothy Calver, which in fact is just an alias, goes by his code name "Bald Eagle" on the job.
Calver was recruited into MI6 at the age of 15 when he lived in Oxfordshire, a county in homeland England. His first mission, go to America and infiltrate the public school system in order to recruit students for top secret missions back in England.
Although it took many years, a few which were spent getting a Masters at Washington State University in order to strengthen his new identity, Calver became a teacher at MC in 1999, and his operation was fully-underway.
The plan was simple. He was to become a fun teacher, who never gives students a reason to suspect anything. The more they like him, the better. "Bald Eagle" will update MI6 weekly with new promising candidates.
And once a student shows the necessary skills and actions Calver is looking for, he will pull them aside and give them a play by play.
But the cherry on top is the undercover spy training, which operates under the guise of "convention", a multi-day trip that supposedly is to enhance journalistic skills. Calver takes students on this trip at least once a year. But really, he is introducing new prospects to the art of surveillance.
The reason convention is held in a new city each year is to keep the CIA off the trail of this secret training. Ever since the scandal of 86, CIA and MI6 have had an uneasy relationship with each other. Calver, or "Bald Eagle" teaches these students personally along with another unnamed operative.
Now that his secret is out, we got Calver to sit down in an interview.
"The M16 found me the same way I have been finding these students," Calver said. "My childhood teacher Mr. David Stangard, recruited me, just as I have been."
Now that Calver is discovered, he is unsure about his next plan of action.
"The CIA is most likely after me, but I cannot return home because then the M16 will be after me," Calver said. "My only option is to come forward."
With that said, MC is still undergoing discussion about whether to harbor Calver, or give him to the CIA.
There is a spy among us. He walks with us, he talks with us, he teaches us, and yet we have never realized who this person really is.


text:
Henry Vincenty is the founder of Endoca. Henry has an outdoor hemp grow outside Barcelona Spain. Learn how he is leading the way delivery healing cannabinoids internationally.
Learn more at:
Key Takeaways:
– Henry's background as a scientist and genetic researcher
– Bringing pharmaceutical best practices to cannabinoid science
– The most popular hemp-derived CBD products
– Living off the grid to create the most healthy plants
– Personal development questions
– Google AI assistant calling a hair salon, see video
What are the 5 trends disrupting the cannabis industry right now?
Learn more at https://www.cannainsider.com/trends
Matthew: Hi, I'm Matthew Kind. Every Monday, look for a fresh new episode, where I'll take you behind the scenes and interview the insiders that are shaping the rapidly evolving cannabis industry. Learn more at cannainsider.com, that's cannainsider.com. Now, here's your program.
The hemp and cannabis markets are quickly busting out of individual countries and expanding across the globe. Different from years past, the consumers of new countries that come on board, ending prohibition, increasingly have a sophisticated appetite for well-thought-out products right out of the gate. Here to tell us how his business is helping people around the world with healing cannabinoids is Henry Vincenty, founder of Endoca. Henry, welcome to "CannaInsider."
Henry: Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Matthew: Give us a sense of geography, where are you in the world today?
Henry: I am in Barcelona, in the mountains of Spain, so I'm enjoying the sun today, as always.
Matthew: Good, good. And I'm in Edinburgh, Scotland. And Henry, what is in Endoca on a high level?
Henry: Well, Endoca is a company that provides cannabinoids to the people around the world that are pharmaceutical grade, and, yeah, we're delivering the quantities that is needed, this is basically what we do.
Matthew: Okay. Well, I wanna get into more about the pharmaceutical grade, but first, can you share a little bit about your background and journey, and what you were doing before you started Endoca, and what sparked the need to create Endoca?
Henry: Well, yeah, of course. Of course, it's a small story, but let me try to make it short. So, I think it happened while I was studying genetics in the University of Denmark. And I was traveling in Africa, working on projects to increase the lifespan of people who are living in zoo area. They were suffering from AIDS. And up while implementing the mainstream medicine and the mobile clinics I was building, I saw that the drugs were not providing people with any solution and only making things worse.
So, this took me to another journey, I think, where I would start rising questions about everything that I learned in university and start looking the alternative ways, how we can restore the immune system without the nasty side effect. And at the same time, as I remember correct, there were people marching the streets, they were shouting for legalizing cannabis in America, especially for I saw some banners people were saying that it helps them to overcome AIDS.
So, that really kicked the whole scientific, you know, curiosity in me, and I was like going back to the university and trying to find out what's up and down. And I saw like thousands of articles talking about this and I was saying asking myself, "Why aren't this available to people? That this is so effective that people are marching the streets already and saying it helps them, why isn't available?" And then, I found out it's too complicated.
So, I decided to make CBD available as one of the cannabinoids that can help people, and make it available online so people can get it, and not wait for the governments and pharmaceutical companies to do the trials and wait for 20 years. Because if you have a problem today, you need a solution today, you can't wait for 20 years for some trials to be finished. So, I think that's how the whole thing started.
Matthew: Okay. Yeah, you mentioned that in Africa, you saw that some of the things and solutions that were being tried weren't working, what was not working?
Henry: Well, the whole way of looking at the problem was wrong because symptom treatment is not the solution for people who have AIDS. Now, I don't know, I mean, how many of you knows what AIDS is, but it's an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which is umbrella of 20 other diseases when your immune system is down. So, when I saw that we were giving people nasty chemicals to remove the symptoms, I was like, "Okay, something is wrong here because we're just making it worse."
And even the chemicals we're giving them had the side effects of even, you know, making the immune system even worse. And the solution even was more simple and clear, which was, of course, the nutrients, and vitamins, and minerals that people didn't get because the people in the rural area, their biggest problem was nutrition. They just didn't get the food and the vitamins and minerals, so they were suffering from a total other case than what's like normally understood of AIDS. I think that answers the question, it was more the whole idea of how it was approached, I think it was totally wrong because there was no improvement.
Matthew: Okay. So, the immune system was already compromised, and then, adding nasty chemicals just made things worse.
Henry: Yeah, yeah. And that's what triggered my, like, real curiosity, why are we doing that? I mean, who gave us this knowledge that we should do it like that? I learned that we should do like a little bit different approach, that you should try to restore balance and not, you know, make it worse. So, yeah, that's how it all started.
Matthew: Okay. And so, you went back to the drawing board and you said, "Hey, it looks like hemp and cannabis are having an impact." And did you talk to any of the scientists in Denmark or anything about why solutions were being used that don't work or was no one really asking those questions besides you?
Henry: I think it's not popular to ask these questions in this type of business because it's a big problem, and people, you know, they have this dogmatic thinking of, "This is what we do," and we have solved the problem, and it's actually people's own fault, and I think it's very difficult to talk about it. So, what I did was I was more like interested in, "Okay, how can we understand this?"
So, I spoke with professors, neurologists, and actually, nobody knew too much about it. And that only increased my interest in it even more because that was like, "All right, really, nobody looked into that angle," which I think is kind of the correct angle, is this, how can we restore the body, how can we regulate the immune system that impacts lean and all other things, and how can we restore the body without using chemicals? I think that's a basic question.
Matthew: Yeah, good point. So, why did you focus specifically on CBD? Was it the reach that you felt like you could achieve with a hemp-derived product?
Henry: Well, actually not. Because I was looking at all cannabinoids and I saw that the ones that were most used on the streets were the one called THC, you know, and this is why people were marching the streets. But nobody knew about cannabinoids 10 years ago in that range we know now, so they were like, "Okay, look, cannabis, it helps me, now I just need it." And I tried to get governments to give us license to provide people with different cannabinoids, also THC, but it looked like THC was a very complicated cannabinoid to work with because it has been stigmatized, and it's like people look at it as a drug, especially the governments.
So, I said to myself, "All right, let's give other cannabinoids a chance and make it available to people so they can make a choice. If they want, you know, to go to the streets and buy something that's illegal, or just buy cannabinoid that doesn't make you high but has all the medicinal properties." So, it was more like the approach of how can we make this available today, you know, without doing too much research as we see that people are using it? I mean, 2.5% of the global population is using cannabis today.
So, I was like, "Okay, let's make pharmaceutical grade safe products available to people who need it, and the quantities they needed, and let's see what happens." So, this was how the whole CBD started 10 years ago, it was by making it available and shaking the paradigm that everything is in. Because everybody was thinking of cannabis and THC, this is it, nobody even knew anything about CBD.
Matthew: Gosh. Okay. Now, tell us a little bit about your grow in Spain, how big it is, anything else that might be interesting about it?
Henry: Well, we grow a lot of hectares, it's 1,000 hectares we grow in our company today, this year. In Spain, we have also grow operation, but we're more focused in Spain on the genetic program because we're breeding our own seeds, we have our own gene banks where we're trying to improve the different varieties we have, and then put them to the fields. So, in north Europe, we grow most of the hemp, but in Spain, of course, we do also hemp, but it's mainly the gene bank.
Matthew: Okay, got it. And how many...? I'm trying to remember how many acres are in a hectare. I think it's like a 2.4 acres in 1 hectare. So, for people that aren't familiar with hectare, that's most people in North America, there's 2.4 acres make up 1 hectare. So, now, last time we spoke, Henry, you mentioned that you wanna grow hemp just like corn. What does that mean and why is that important?
Henry: Well, you see, 10 years ago when we made the CBD available and other few cannabinoids, we saw that the demand is huge, and it's actually on a side where I think everybody should have it in their home as a vitamin C and stuff like that. So, if you want to supply the whole world, you have to make solutions that are scalable. I mean, of course, you can make it in your greenhouse and, you know, go with the scissors and do whatever people are doing these days, and be a real artisan. But I think if you wanna have an impact on the world, you have to have it available in big quantities, high quality, and it has to be price efficient.
And right now, the only way you can do that is by growing like our grandparents grew hemp, or corn, and using the equipment that's already there in industry. It's very difficult, you know, to supply the whole world using scissors in a greenhouse, which I see is the kind of a trend right now but I think it would go away, because hemp grow very nicely outdoors like any other crop, and it's a very robust crop. So, I think it is the only way to do it unless you want some special hemp that is, I don't know, in a special flavor, controlled environment, cloned from special plants. I don't know, I think that's a recreational side of it. But if you're looking at it medicinal and, you know, as a large-scale industry, you can't do it in greenhouses, you have to do the outdoor.
Matthew: And how do you feel about the difference of plants grown inside with no natural sunlight versus outside or in a greenhouse?
Henry: Well, I think that outside is what you get. I mean, if you grow anything outdoor, take a tomato, grow it in a greenhouse, and then go and grow in the mountains like we do, you will have different flavor, you'll have different texture, everything will be different, even the vitamin content will be different. So, I think, the most important is always to say, "Okay, how can we do it in the best way as nature intended?" And I didn't see any results here where you can grow in a test tube, or in a greenhouse in a basement better than you do can grow outdoor. I mean, if you look at the complexity of all the molecules inside, there are over 400, you get much better results outdoor.
Matthew: Okay. And tell us a little bit about how you extract the oil from the plants to create your products.
Henry: Well, what we do is we take the hemp we harvest after drying, we put it in big vessels, and we pump CO2 through it. It's big high-pressure vessels, and CO2 is...I mean, as you all know, and it comes from here, we capture it, compress it, and wash it through. And then, what happens is the CO2 will flow out with the cannabinoids and waxes in other plant material that will create an extract, and it will evaporate. And we will reuse the CO2 again and again, so we only lose very little of it. So, you can say it's a very green technology not only to grow hemp, but we use air to extract it.
Matthew: Okay. Was it a learning process when you first started with the extraction, and how to do it, and kinda get the desired outcome that you wanted?
Henry: Well, of course, because I'm not an expert in this area. When I started, I was more studying genetics and how the body works, this was a very tough learning curve but we had to learn it because not many people were doing it.
Matthew: And what delivery methods of CBD are most popular amongst your customers?
Henry: I think the capsules because they don't have this special hempy taste. I mean, people who love hemp, love the drops, but I see capsules as like the number one as, you know, people are used to take capsules in many different forms, vitamins, and other things. So, I think capsule is the most important and most popular right now.
Matthew: Do you see any new delivery methods kind of becoming popular or gaining tractions, like suppositories or anything like that?
Henry: Well, the suppositories are very important for people who have problems eating it or need a very localized solution. If they have a problem, you know, somewhere else, you can't eat it, it's better to put it somewhere else. Now, what I see of the future is we're working a lot on vaporing the cannabinoids, and I see that a lot of trend is going towards instant effect, so we need to vaporize it. And we've been working on technology for a long time, how can we do that without adding nasty chemicals to it? Because right now, all the vapes you can buy, it's always with something in it, and it's not good for your lungs. So, we'll develop some products that we're gonna hopefully send on the market, where you can make cannabinoids without getting any chemicals into your lungs.
Matthew: Okay. You've mentioned you had a pharmaceutical background, what kind of testing do you do on your plants, and on the oils, and so forth?
Henry: Well, we follow general principles of pharmaceutical production, it means from seed to final product, we test everything to make sure that the product is clean and can be consumed by people in hospitals because we sell and we also give to people in hospitals. So, we have a certain...we can say, there are some rules we have to follow, and in the pharmaceutical world, it's all about purity and traceability. So, when we harvest, we know where we harvest it, when we dry, we know when we tried, what time, what temperature.
We test to see if there is any mold or any pesticides that came from maybe other farmers who were using some chemicals that went to our plants, we're testing for all that before we put it into extractor. After extraction, we again test if anything happened on the extraction, something unexpected, where we test for chemicals, for bacteria, for all things that can be tested for. And then, in the end, when we release the product, we again test for the same thing because you never know what happened in between, maybe someone made a spill somewhere we didn't see in the lab. So, we test again for purity, of course, if there is nothing else inside that we want to be there, and then, of course, also for the cannabinoid content. We have to make sure that you get what's on the labels. So, if it says there are 1,500 milligrams, it has to be that because patients are relying on accurate information.
Matthew: Okay. Any other best practices you brought over from the pharmaceutical industry in terms of standards, your facilities, or anything else?
Henry: Well, I think it's the only way to do it. If you produce something that people have to put into their mouth, and if their immune system is not strong, the only way to do it is follow the general pharmaceutical guidelines. I mean, this is where you really play safe and you make sure that whatever you're doing, you're doing the best you can.
Matthew: Okay. Now, we're talking a lot about the immune system and it's really important because a lot of people have immune problems right now. And why do you think there is so many immune system problems in this era? Wasn't that something that generally plagued past generations yet we seem to have a lot of autoimmune difficulties in the population? Why do you think that might be?
Henry: Well, that's a very interesting and a very deep question. Well, if I should answer a bit more superficial on it, I think the biggest problem is that people are not living in homeostasis, not in balance. What it means is they are consuming more energy than they're using and this creates a cascade of reactions in the body. For example, I mean, you eat things that are not good for you. I think, if you did it in small proportions, maybe that will not affect you that much, but when you eat too much of it, and you need every day, you'll have huge problems in your system because your body is created of billions and billions of small factories that react to the surroundings.
And the moment you start doing things in a wrong way that's not giving you the most effective way of living or surviving, or fighting the entropy, because, you know, what we do as humans is we are racing against entropy every day. So, if you don't have the best possible starting point, you start creating a lot of problems. And especially what you eat is, I think, the biggest, biggest problems of what you said because it creates everything from inflammation to nasty problems.
So, I think, what I can say to everybody and if anybody is interested in it, is really look at what you eat, and eat less, and try to eat better. Raw food is, of course, one of the most ideal ways to get out of these problems, but if that's difficult, well, just eat less. I mean, if you can eat one time per day, you will help your body a lot. And, of course, sugars and carbs, it's one of the worst things you can do.
Matthew: Yes. So, you sound like you're pretty clean living out there in Spain, absorbing the sunshine, getting vitamin D.
Henry: Of course, yeah.
Matthew: Good. Good. That makes a lot of sense. Can you tell us about any other cannabinoids that excite you, that you think are on the broad map? I mean, the public was generally engaged with THC first, now they're learning about CBD, is there any other cannabinoids you feel like is gonna capture the public's interests in terms of the benefits they can receive?
Henry: Well, I think that's yet the universe we're exploring right now. What we can see is different cannabinoids have different side effects. I call it side effects because if you don't need the effect, it's a side effect, because when you take THC to fight cancer cells, but you get high, that's a side effect. But sometimes you need it because if somebody has a problem and they can't forget they've problems, sometimes THC will help them because they need to forget the problem. So, you see effect and side effect is really something that can be discussed.
Now, regarding different cannabinoids, well, we have a lot of cannabinoids available, we're testing them out. But what we can see is mainly, they are interacting with your endocannabinoids system and creating homeostasis. Of course, they give you different side effects, no doubt about that, but in general, I mean, if you have a problem and you take a lot of CBD, question is, will CBG, or CBC, or other cannabinoid be better? I don't know, because I always say, take whatever you have available, as long as it comes from hemp or cannabis, I'm sure it's gonna help you to restore the homeostasis because this is what cannabinoids do in general. They go and they bind to your receptors in your body, go through the cell membrane, and they restore the balance, which is the key. It gives you the chance now to get out of the different problems you have. Of course, you need discipline to stop eating sugar or whatever was causing the problem you are having, but to aim and say any other cannabinoid is a wonder, I don't know.
I mean, we have cannabinoids available, we're testing them out, but we've seen, in general, they're working on the same way, creating homeostasis. Yes, you know, CBG is very good for inflammation, you can see that, but I can't prove that it's better than CBD, not yet. I think we will need many years to come before we can say something scientific about it, right now, we just say this and whatever cannabinoids you have available, grab it, use it, you'll not regret it.
Matthew: Yeah, good points, good points. So, you're in Spain, there's a lot of differences between the Danish culture and the Spanish culture. What were some of the things that you noticed when you first moved over there? One of the observations I've had about people from Denmark is they're very good at foreign languages, why do you think that is? Is that because not many people speak Danish?
Henry: I think that's one of the reasons. I mean, if only 5 million people speak Danish, you gotta learn other languages or you'll have communication problems.
Matthew: Yeah, that's a good point. Do you speak Spanish pretty well?
Henry: Well, I'm working on it. I know several of the other languages, but you see in Spain, I'm living in the mountains, off the grid, so I don't need many people besides few scientists and some crazy people in the woods, you know?
Matthew: Okay. What other languages do you speak?
Henry: Well, I speak, of course, English, Danish, I understand Swedish and Norwegian. I've been working on French for some time but I start to forget a lot of it. And then, the Spanish is, of course, something I'm still working on.
Matthew: Do you think Catalonia will separate from the rest of Spain?
Henry: Well, that's a tough one, I don't know, man. But I know that many people will be happy if that happens, especially in the region of Costa Brava and the Catalonia, but I don't know, man, it's difficult to say, you know, politics, it's not something we can predict.
Matthew: Right. Now, the Danish have a strong tradition of bicycling everywhere, do you see a lot of that in Spain, do you miss that from Denmark?
Henry: Well, you know, a lot of people will go by bikes here but the infrastructure is not there. But the beauty thing is, now that I live in the forest, off the grid, I can go by bike every day, nobody bothers me. So, I don't go much to the supermarkets, we are self-sustainable, so we grow everything we need. So, yeah, I enjoy going by bike just almost by myself. But I know it's a problem in the city because they don't have the infrastructure like they do in Denmark.
Matthew: So, you're totally off the grid. Do you produce your own power then like through solar, or do you have electrical setup?
Henry: We produce everything ourselves. Because we think, listen, if you wanna change the world, you gotta start with yourself. And if you can't do it, what can you then do? So, we're trying to do everything in the most balanced way so that we can say, "Hey, at least we did it."
Matthew: Yeah, that's great, to lead by example.
Henry: Exactly.
Matthew: So, tell us a little bit about how you eat because you talked about food, and eating raw, and eating once a day, things people might not be used to hearing about. I know a lot of people in the paleo community or the keto community maybe eat just once a day, but I haven't heard it from a lot of people that are talking about just raw food. Can you tell us a little bit about how you eat?
Henry: Oh, yeah. I mean, of course, you know, you have to have a lot of discipline whenever you wanna change something. And I think the most difficult task as you notice is when you travel, things change a little bit, but if I stay in one place for longer time, I try to eat one meal a day in the evening, limited to like 2,500 calories, because you don't wanna eat too much. And then, eat as much as you can, vegan, so like peanut butter, vitamins and minerals, of course, I take supplements that we sublimate, extracts from blueberries. But mainly stay raw food, raw food is very good, you know, beans and salads, very good for you. Of course, peanut butter is very good source of protein.
And then, if you only eat one time per day, magic happens in your body. I think, if anybody's interested, you should do some research on the subject called intermediate fasting, it's beautiful, it changes everything in your body and makes you much more efficient, and helps you to create homeostasis, so this is where I try all the time. When I'm traveling, it gets messed up because the times always change, so then, you know, it's not that easy. But if you stay one place for a longer time, I think that's one of the best ways to do it.
Matthew: I've definitely tried this and I'm currently just doing 13-hour intermediate fasting. I have an app called Zero, Z-E-R-O, you can get for free on the App Store. And there is something, you know, to taking time to let the body recover. I am not as gangster as you going one meal a day, that's inspiring, I wanna try that to see, I think it would be hard transition. But then, I think, one of the problems is that you have to really eat quite a bit, do it for that one meal, but then your body gets to digest that and it's got this other time.
Some people say that if you're not eating, your body can get rid of cells that have mutated and get them out of the body much quicker, so there's benefits to your body can go into more maintenance mode. Do you think there's anything to that?
Henry: Well, I think there is a lot of things we have to explore, but one thing is for sure, it's very positive, and it looks like this is what our ancestors did, I don't think they had so much food lying around like we have today. And we see from a genetic point of view, I mean, I studied genetics so this was my angle to it, that you can actually change the transcription of your gene code. It means that when you start eating different, and like we say in the regiment of only one time per day, you change everything, you change even your hormone balance. So, for example, if you are male, you can produce more testosterone. It means you can live more, you can become stronger and much faster.
But it's a little bit against the mainstream science, but, I think, you know, in the time yet to come, people will realize that this is what's happening. So, you know, self-discipline, I think, is the key to many successes in the world, and in the life, and I think food is one of the most important things in our day today because nobody looks at it as they should. It's not just, you know, fuel, it is really who you are. So, I believe in this, what you are is what you eat, you know?
Matthew: Yeah. And your study of genetics, are you talking about like epigenetics, that realm of study?
Henry: Well, not only that, it's also just the physics and genetics, where you look at genes and cells, how they are functioning. And the question is, how do we create the best environment for the body, which is a lot of cells with a lot of DNA inside, how do we create the best environment so they can perform in the best way? And this is what genetics is all about. Now, of course, you can go to many branches and study, you know, different angles to it, but I always keep it in a simple main form and looked at how can we really do that?
And I saw that the genes in your body, really, you know, it's not magic or anything, the genes you have in your body react to the environment. And our job is to create the environment so they can perform best way as they are in our body. So, I hope that answers the question.
Matthew: It does. I've asked you a bunch of personal development questions but I just wanna ask you a few more before we close. Is there a book that has had a big impact on your life or your way of thinking that you'd like to share with listeners?
Henry: Well, yeah, I think there are many books, just to say one, it would be discriminating all the others. But, I say, if somebody has time today, maybe they should look at George Orwell, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," because a lot of things are going on around you that was written 100 years ago, I think that's a fun one to start with.
Matthew: That's a good one. You know, also "Brave New World," it looks like China is more of the George Orwell version, and the western world seems more of the Aldous Huxley "Brave New World" kind, where people don't really see what's happening, it's more in the background.
Henry: Yeah, well, that's also part of it. I mean, if you read George Orwell, "Nineteen Eighty-Four," you will see that different countries are mentioned and how they behave is also mentioned. I think we are following the path very well.
Matthew: Yeah. Well, how about, is there a tool, web-based or otherwise, that you consider important to your productivity?
Henry: Yeah. I think AI is one of the things we're spending some time on, and quantum computers, this is what people should really spend their time on.
Matthew: Quantum computing, yeah, that's a big one. In fact, they say that's the new arms race amongst the big powers is quantum computing, you can crack any code with a quantum computer. It's almost hard for the human brain to conceptualize quantum computing as being something they should pay attention to. Why do you pay attention to it, why do you think it's a big theme?
Henry: Because it's like we're going from horse-backings to airplanes and nobody's paying attention. And I'm like, "Guys, it's happening in front of our eyes, it's there, and people are still sitting on horsebacks and saying, 'Nah, it's not there.'" So, I think it's really a topic that we should really all of us pay attention to.
Matthew: Yes. In fact, Google just passed the Turing Test, which is a test I think was created by a scientist in the 50s. It says, "When we can't tell when we're talking or interacting with a computer, that computer will pass the Turing Test." And there's a link, I'll include in the show notes of this interview, which shows Google artificial intelligence calling a hair salon to make an appointment, and the person on the other end has no idea that they're talking to an artificial intelligence.
It's just amazing how the artificial intelligence has little human characteristics, where it says um, and uh, and this little slang words where you really just can't tell it's artificial intelligence. So, there's all these applications that we're just not even gonna know they're gonna happen until boom, they show up. So, I'm with you, I watch that closely as well.
Henry: Good.
Matthew: Now, Henry, if you were to do something totally outside the cannabis or hemp industry just for fun, what would it be?
Henry: Well, I don't know. I mean, I'm not only inside the cannabis industry, I look at other plants and herbs, and looking how they can help humans to solve different problems, so I'm already doing it. We're not just doing cannabinoids from cannabis, we're looking at all different plants in the world that have amazing properties, which we will learn more about in the future.
Matthew: Henry, do you look at ayahuasca?
Henry: Of course. Of course, that's also natural molecules inside that have a lot of potential in our society to solve many problems. So, that's what I'm talking about, well, that's what I'm doing most of my time, besides cannabis, is exploring nature and all the molecules in there, and plants, and how they can give us or help us, human, to create a positive effect.
Matthew: Yes, I agree. And I've heard ayahuasca is getting quite popular in Spain, so...
Henry: Oh, yeah.
Matthew: Cool. Well, Henry, as we close, how can listeners find out more about Endoca, and find your products online and on social media?
Henry: Well, you can go to endoca.com, I mean, endoca.com, and I think everything is there. From there, you can have access to YouTube, Facebook, and all other platforms we have.
Matthew: Okay. Well, Henry, thanks so much for coming on the show today. We'll let you get back to your hot fudge sundae and fried twinkies.
Henry: Yeah, thank you.
Matthew: And keep us updated on everything you're doing, it seems like you're doing a great job, so good luck to you.
Henry: Well, I will. Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
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The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is a reminder of something many good and generous people try to forget: that our salvation was wrought on the wood of the Cross. Sometimes we are so keen to race ahead to the Resurrection that we do not allow Christ's death to register with us as it should. The terrible drying wind that blew over Calvary was the greatest torment, according to Julian of Norwich, who saw the parching of Christ's skin and the great drops of blood falling from his brow, like raindrops from the roof-thatch after a shower of rain. For years I ate my meals beneath a large crucifix which bore the single word, Sitio, I thirst; and somehow, in my mind's eye, the agonizing thirst for our love and the cruel dessication of Christ's flesh became one. Only with the Resurrection would the thirst be ended, the flesh become supple again; but first there was a death to undergo, as violent and painful as any.
This year the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross coincides with Yom Kippur. There is much in that we could reflect on, but perhaps what we most need to be reminded of today is that death and dying are not meaningless nor is sin ultimately triumphant. Death comes to each of us, but none of us knows how we shall approach our last moments. I hope — I pray — for the grace of a good death, one that is a sharing in his death; but I do not presume upon it. For the rest, nothing is lost; nothing is gone for ever. Even our moments of apparent defeat can be transformed by grace into victories. Today our processional cross will be adorned with bay leaves as a sign of Christ's victory, a victory won for all time on the wood of the Cross. In a world where there is so much violence and death is all too common, it is good to remember that.


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After 45 years in the ophthalmic industry, Thomas Bender never thought he would be personally affected by vision loss. So when his vision began to blur, he didn't think it was serious.
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He sought treatment at UCI Health Gavin Herbert Eye Institute. There, retina specialist Dr. Stephanie Lu treated Bender for swelling in the back of his eye, tracking the progress using images of his retina.
After the treatment, Bender said, "With both eyes, I see 20/25. I'm 73 years old. I can even read without any assistance from glasses. I have basically perfect vision."
Consider giving the gift of vision by making a donation to the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute today ›


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REVIEW of I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU by FANNIE FLAGG
Fannie Flagg
Random House
January 1, 2010
The beloved Fannie Flagg is back and at her irresistible and hilarious best in I Still Dream About You, a comic mystery romp through the streets of Birmingham, Alabama, past, present, and future.
Meet Maggie Fortenberry, a still beautiful former Miss Alabama. To others, Maggie's life seems practically perfect—she's lovely, charming, and a successful real estate agent at Red Mountain Realty. Still, Maggie can't help but wonder how she wound up in her present condition. She had been on her hopeful way to becoming Miss America and realizing her childhood dream of someday living in one of the elegant old homes on top of Red Mountain, with the adoring husband and the 2.5 children, but then something unexpected happened and changed everything.
Maggie graduated at the top of her class at charm school, can fold a napkin in more than forty-eight different ways, and can enter and exit a car gracefully, but all the finesse in the world cannot help her now. Since the legendary real estate dynamo Hazel Whisenknott, beloved founder of Red Mountain Realty, died five years ago, business has gone from bad to worse—and the future isn't looking much better. But just when things seem completely hopeless, Maggie suddenly comes up with the perfect plan to solve it all.
As Maggie prepares to put her plan into action, we meet the cast of high-spirited characters around her. To Brenda Peoples, Maggie's best friend and real estate partner, Maggie's life seems easy as pie. Slender Maggie doesn't have to worry about her figure, or about her Weight Watchers sponsor catching her at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop. And Ethel Clipp, Red Mountain's ancient and grumpy office manager with the bright purple hair, thinks the world of Maggie but has absolutely nothing nice to say about their rival Babs "The Beast of Birmingham" Bingington, the unscrupulous estate agent who hates Maggie and is determined to put her out of business.
REVIEW by Sara E. Dykes
I Still Dream About You spins the tale of a former Miss Alabama, Maggie Fortenberry. When the novel begins, Maggie has come to a decision. She has decided to drown herself in the river. Maggie is an aging beauty queen who never really discovered herself. Aging does not appeal to her, and she has made a calm, rational decision on the matter. She spent most of her life utilizing her beauty and developing talents associated with the old Southern way of living, ones that would make Martha Stewart proud. Her dear friend Hazel rescued her and set her on the real estate path, but, now that Hazel is gone, Maggie once again feels passionless. The novel follows Maggie as she makes several attempts to end her life. Somehow, something always gets in the way. Eventually Maggie learns some important life lessons, including that every single day in itself is beautiful no matter what happens.
Maggie takes a few friends (and an enemy) along on her journey. Maggie's best friend, Brenda, is a real estate agent with political ambitions and a penchant for sweets. She desires to be the first African-American female mayor of Birmingham.
Also joining them are Ethel, a hilarious, ranting octogenarian, and Hazel, their gone, but not nearly forgotten leader. Of course, no story would be complete without its antagonist. Babs "The Beast of Birmingham" Bingington rounds out the cast as a ruthless real estate competitor. Her actions put her in the running for another title that begins with "B."
As for the setting, Fannie Flagg does Birmingham justice, trying to incorporate all the great, old things about the city. She also covers the conflict between the image the city maintains because of the horrors there during the 1960s and the struggle to move beyond it, which is as much a part of the city as the physical landmarks.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. This novel made me laugh in just the right parts. Some parts dragged, and I was tempted to stop at one point, but I trudged forward. I am glad of that decision. There also was some repetition, and the cohesion of the subplots was not the best. Nevertheless, I Still Dream About You remains a good story of finding one's self and rediscovering life again.
Sara E. Dykes enjoys reading and writing. The combination of writing about what she reads is only natural to her. Sara is a Georgia licensed attorney, currently residing in Dallas, Texas.