Why Refined Sugar Destroys You The Danger of Sugar White sugar is a refined product which has been depleted of everything of value, only energy remains. For the body to digest and metabolise it, however, all the vitamins and minerals of the original natural plant source are needed. When you ingest refined sugar (or any other refined product), the body must take all these nutrients somewhere else. It takes it from other food, provided there is any surplus of nutrients there.…
Seppuku, Ritual Suicide The most spectacular cultural expression of suicide is probably that of the Samurai of Old Japan. (Below detail from *Seppuku Suicide*, a print (1900-1910) by Tomioka Eisen.) Most people have heard of *Harakiri*, or ***Seppuku***, ritual suicide, committed for the purpose of preserving one's honour as a warrior, and required in certain circumstances. Sometimes voluntary, sometimes ordered from an overlord, this was a part of *Bushido*, the code of the…
The Number 666 & The Essence of the Beast I. Let us take a look at 666 - *"****the number of the beast****"*, and at what it might really mean. The first mention of it is in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible. Chapter 13 tells us about a seven-headed beast, and it ends.. *Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.* There has been a…
Small & Big Cats in Japan Domestic Cats The upper class in Japan had domestic cats as early as 1000 years ago and common people soon followed suit. There are cats in folklore and mythology and there are shrines dedicated to cat gods. Cats also populate Japanese literature and art. In Japan, cats are considered to give good luck. A figurine of a beckoning cat, ***maneki-neko*** [招き猫], is believed to provide especially positive results. Even today maneki-neko can be found all…
Fear & Self-Control It is a common misunderstanding that a brave man is a man without fear. That is not true. Such a man is a fool; in a war he would be the first soldier to die. The brave man is afraid, but defeats his fear, doing what he has to do anyway. Being afraid makes him careful and intensifies his sensory perception; his mind becomes clearer, his concentration stronger, and his reflexes faster. Both mind and body are in a state of increased awareness and…
The Knights Templar & The Circular Number Nine **The Knights Templar** There is a legend about the Order of the Knights Templar and the number nine. Guillaume de Tyre (c.1130-1185), who wrote some 50 years after the events he relates, says that for nine years there were only nine knights, and no new candidates were accepted ["*Cumique iam annis noven in eo fuissent proposito, non nisi novem errant*"]. This is not true (unless the order was founded earlier than we believe),…
Two tricks based on the circularity of 9 *This post is inspired by the response to my previous article,* *The Knights Templar & The Circular Number Nine* *, which generated comments about number 9 far beyond the original context. And numbers are fun!* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/the-knights-templar-the-circular-number-nine-c7d05c93 Two tricks - Write down a 3 or 4 digit number. Make it random. - Change the order of the digits to create another number. - Subtract the…
Two forms of Arabic Numerals *In a previous article,* *The Knights Templar & The Circular Number Nine**, I mentioned "Arabic numerals". While I think most readers understand to what I refer, it is strictly not correct, because there are two forms of Arabic numerals, a Western type and an Eastern type. Let's clear that up.* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/the-knights-templar-the-circular-number-nine-c7d05c93 Western-Arabic and Eastern-Arabic Numerals There are two systems of…
Leo & Scorpio *In this article Leo has nothing to do with anything real about factual lions. Neither has Scorpio anything to do with real scorpions. Leo and Scorpio in this article symbolise two different personalities, and the symbolism is inspired by the Zodiac. The astrological connection is merely inspirational though, this is not an interpretation of astrology.* **Human Aesthetics as a Function of the Impression of Wealth** It is peculiar how fashion in looks has so…
Walk or Die! I have often said *“****if you stop walking, you die****”*, and that is literally true. There are ways to compensate some aspects of forced lack of walking (necessary if you for some reason cannot walk), but hardly anything can really replace it or offer the same benefits. No matter if you exercise in other ways or not, no matter if you are 4 years old or 104, walking remains your most important physical activity and the only one you must never stop doing. This…
Aka-e - Japanese Colour Magic ***Aka-e*** are Japanese woodblock prints where red is the dominating colour. Red prints were believed to protect against smallpox and were used as talismans. The idea is based on the old tale that says, if a smallpox patient is dressed in red the disease will be mild. The demon (or god) they believed to cause the disease, ***Hōsō-Kami****,* would like the red and be inclined to treat its wearer kindly. Red was thus applied in other ways as…
Why are Number 13 & Friday the 13th Associated with Bad Luck? Thirteen Do you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number thirteen? Surprisingly many people do. But why is thirteen special? One reason might be that it is the number of lunar months in a year; astronomical facts usually play a role in shaping special numbers. It doesn't give it any character though. Thirteen is often associated with bad luck (although some cultures consider it as lucky, as we will see…
Taxicab Numbers & The Hardy-Ramanujan Number Numbers which are the smallest number expressible as the sum of two positive cubes in n distinct ways are called ***taxicab numbers***. This quite peculiar name is a result of a story, probably a true story, involving mathematicians G. H. Hardy and the great Srinivasa Ramanujan. Hardy describes when he visited Ramanujan in India: *"I remember once going to see him when he was ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and…
Do not try to bring down fever, it might be your best friend Fever is a widely misunderstood phenomenon. It is not a function of disease, it is a function of your immune system combatting disease. Think about that: ***It is a system of defence!*** Once this is understood, it goes without saying that bringing down fever is a bad idea - mostly. Yet it is a widespread practice, almost an obsession. Unless the fever rises to a level where in itself it is life threatening, it…
The Kappa - A Dangerous Fellow A ***kappa*** (河童- river child) is a Japanese folkloristic being mainly inhabiting rivers and ponds. It goes under many different names: *kawatarō, kawako, suiko,* etc. and is an amphibious or reptilian ***yōkai***, a sort of demon. (Above: Kappa, by ***Hokusai***) The kappa is green and human-like, of a child's size, with slimy or scaly skin, webbed thumbless hands and feet and a turtle-like shell. A peculiarity is a depression in its skull,…
If You're Never Ill,You're Ill Indeed *(As a result of the interest in my recent article about the* *benefits of fever**, I decided to post this, which - in a way - relates to the same theme.)* There is an old saying: One disease, long life; no disease, short life. I think it is Chinese originally. But what does it mean? Is it good to be ill? Mostly, it requires at least one serious illness for an individual to realise that one has actively to care for one's health. As long…
Crows, Ravens & Tengu Crows and ravens are closely related birds of the family Corvus. In myth and legend the distinction is not always clear. Ravens, however, being bigger and more ominous looking, occur more frequently than crows. (Above: ***Kyōsai*** - *Crow on a Snowy Plum Branch)* A raven is sometimes seen as a bad omen, a representative of evil powers, as a mediate step between life and death, or even as a ghost of a dead individual, possibly a murdered one. But it can…
Antibiotics & Side-Effects of Antibiotics Here we will look at the known side-effects of antibiotics. But before that, I want to clarify a point from before. Yesterday I wrote about the immune system and I think what I wrote there about antibiotics might have caused a misunderstanding in some circles. I did not say that one should never take antibiotics. Neither did I deny that antibiotics is a valuable tool in the arsenal of medicine. What I said was three things:…
Sagi Musume - The Heron Maiden The Heron Maiden (Sagi Musume) is a character in a Japanese folk tale, and often a motive in pictorial art and theatre. Briefly, this is the story: *A young man finds a wounded heron, which he takes home and tends until it is healed. When it is, it flies away.* *After some time, the man meets a girl, falls in love with her and they get married. They are happy, and to earn a living the wife weaves a precious brocade which the husband sells. But…
Amicable & Social Numbers **Amicable Numbers** According to an anecdote, Pythagoras once defined a friend as the other self, as 220 is to 284. Indeed, these numbers are related in a special way, and such a pair is called "amicable". This relation was known before Pythagoras's time. In Genesis 32:14, one can learn that Jacob sent his brother Esau "two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams." At this time he had a special reason to show his…
Perfect & Multiperfect Numbers St. Augustine was born in 354 AD, in Thagaste (now Souk Ahras), in Numidia; and he died Bishop of Hippo (in Numidia) in 430. As the most important of the church fathers, he built the theoretical foundation for the Roman Church. His most important works are "De civitate Dei" (412-426), and "Confessiones" (397-400) - in English known as "City of God", and "Confessions". He claimed that God created the world in 6 days, because 6 is a perfect…
What Coffee does to You Often coffee is said to raise blood pressure. Studies show that the effect is very slight and temporary, or none at all. Neither is it dehydrating the body. It is as hydrating as water, and not more diuretic. The most interesting part is that coffee can be beneficial. The caffeine increases alertness and in moderate amounts it can improve fine motor control. It boosts learning abilities and powers of reasoning, and it improves performance and…
Coffee: Plants & the Function of Caffeine *(Given the attention my* *article about coffee* *generated, I decided to continue on that theme and make it a series, of which this is article no. 2 of 4.)* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/what-coffee-does-to-you-1a943e2e **Arabica & Robusta** The coffee fruits, which are actually berries, come from one of two main branches of the coffee plant, Arabica or Robusta. Most ordinary coffee is from Arabica, which is cultivated in, for…
History of Coffee *(This is article no. 3 of 4 in a my series about coffee.)* "No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness." (Sheikh Abd-al-Kadir) I. Coffee, Medicine or Religious Beverage? Originally coffee was rare, and the Arabs considered it a religious beverage. Medical properties were also ascribed to it. Later that changed and it has been seen as a vice, damaging the health. Many health freaks still today condemn it as harmful, while…
Shôki - The Demon Queller Shōki, in China called Zhōng Kuí (or Chung Kwei), was a demon killer, or one might say demon queller, who was considered to protect against demons and disease. Originally he comes from Chinese Taoism, but he turns up in Japanese art as early as in the 12th century. However, his popularity in Japan culminated during the Edo period (1603-1867) and ukiyo-e; he was a common motive in the woodblock prints of that era. The demon queller is usually…
Do You Drink Much Coffee? I Bet You Can't Beat These Enthusiasts! *(This is the 4th and last article of my currently ongoing series about coffee. You find links to articles 1-3 at the bottom of the page.)* During its heydays, in France especially, but also in Germany, coffee was consumed in huge amounts by certain individuals. French novelist Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) is said to have died by overconsumption of coffee. That is probably untrue, but the fact remains; he…
To Revive an Extinct Dinosaur - Is it at all Possible? Steven Spielberg's film, Jurassic Park, builds on a quite thrilling idea: ***that DNA from an extinct dinosaur can be found in a mosquito preserved in amber. This DNA could then be used to recreate the species.*** While theoretically possible, it has been practically impossible to obtain DNA from an extinct dinosaur species so far. The idea with preservation in amber has its merits, amber definitely has preservative…
The Goldbach Conjecture Since Andrew Wiles and Richard Taylor were finally able to devise a proof of Fermat's last Theorem in the mid-1990s, the most famous unsolved mathematical problem might very well be proving the Goldbach conjecture. It was proposed by Russian mathematician Christian Goldbach (1690-1764) in a correspondence with Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) in 1742. Goldbach claimed that ***every number greater than 2 is an aggregate of three prime numbers***. The modern…
How Can We Know Anything about Dinosaurs? **How to Gain Knowledge about Dinosaurs** Apart from birds, dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. What we have are mainly footprints and petrified bones, how can we really know anything about them? Since we cannot go back in time to study them, we must rely on deductions and inductions based on the various remnants. Although birds have changed and differ from classical dinosaurs in certain ways, our knowledge of birds…
Use Communities Efficiently Articles published here are soon drowned in the sheer amount of new material. It doesn't mean that they are not interesting any longer, just that they disappear from view. It is also difficult to find posts about specific topics without digging through a huge amount of texts about other things, things that may not even interest you. It just takes too much time. The categories for posting are so limited that the system is useless except for very…
My Available Writings at Read.Cash *This article has been replaced with "**Index over my articles at Read.cash**."* https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/index-over-my-articles-at-read-cash-5f7c1e34
Beware of Being Normal, it can Be Worse than You Think! When you hear someone say "that is normal" or "that is not normal", what do you feel then? Do you get a sense that what is normal is good and what is not normal is bad? Let us take one example from medicine: It is a common misconception that blood pressure rising slightly by age is acceptable. This is wrong. In fact it is a sign of disease and should be seen as a warning sign. But the medical establishment is not…
Zatoichi – A Samurai Hero ***Zatoichi*** is a blind wanderer, gambler and masseur in Edo period Japan. However, that is a facade; in reality, he is a master swordsman. The stories about him are a mix of action and romanticism, sometimes with a dose of philosophy. https://read.cash/@Mictorrani/emperor-shogun-the-edo-period-and-ukiyo-e-e5e67d4c This is not a legend in the sense that it would be based on real figure from the past; Zatoichi is a fictitious character in…
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