Beginnings and Ends

(All cactus blossom photos were shot in our back yard)

   

1.  For us in the education game, we are approaching the end of the academic year.  Time to celebrate what has been accomplished, do what is yet to done, write reports, give congratulations, graduation, and say farewell. It is touchingly wonderful to see how a random bunch of prospective teachers are transformed in a year’s time from uncertain individuals into a tight group of well trained creative  teachers.  

Education Building ( where we hold our seminars each week ) - Mills College, Oakland

I feel well ‘fed’ by my participation in my classroom visits and weekly seminars where the entire group meets.  My work with each student teacher ends with a final 3 way evaluation meeting between the cooperating teacher (used to be called the Master Teacher), the student teacher, and me… These meetings will all be celebrations of success this year!

Central lawn area - Mills College Oakland

 2.  It is also the season of surprises in our garden - without any great decision to move in that direction I have many cactuses integrated into our garden - they grow nicely in and among other plants. 

This time of year is time that the cacti show their stuff.  When I go out in the morning I look to see which cacti are blooming their big extravagant blossoms. 

Several of them bloom for only one day (or one night) some are designed to be pollinated by bats that come in the night for nectar.

 Their ephemeral bloom just adds to their beauty.  Those pollinated by bees or birds have an exquisite perfume about them too.   My interest in cactus began in Mexico where I saw the marvelous uses the local people used cactus in their home gardens. 

Cactus garden in Oaxaca Mexico

 I really came to appreciate their unique form and features.  Once back home, I noticed one of my neighbors had some cactus in her yard. When I commented on them, she invited me into the back yard where she had a vast collection of mature specimen - some several feet tall.  

She said that I was free to take cuttings or dig up small offshoots of any that I wanted - how could I turn down such an offer?  Now, years later, those cactus have grown into large specimens. 

 One thing people often don’t realize is that cacti actually grow at a steady pace.- and they also send out little side shoots that make sharing easy.   Often people who try to grow them, over water them,  and then they die of rot – they will take a lot of drought!  A  sister in law introduced me to the huge variety of succulent plants - ands gave me a several to get started… 

So as a result I felt like I just gravitated into an arid garden - and I started selecting other plants that complement the cactus and succulents. The effect is a low water, low maintenance (weeds don’t grow if you water very little) - but its filled with a variety of textures, colors, and forms in all the seasons of the year,

2.     Since I spend a lot of time on the freeways travelling to visit my student teachers I have a very eclectic mix of radio stations I listen to.  All of these can also be listened to on line…

KQED - public radio http://www.kqed.org/radio, 

KALW - public radio - San Francisco http://kalw.org 

KKUP - A funky volunteer station - very diverse programming some wonderful - some horrible  http://tunein.com/radio/KKUP-915-s33617,

KZSU - Stanford University  Station - also diverse - some great, some not http://kzsu.stanford.edu, 

My preferred latino music station when I want to practice my Spanish http://recuerdo1003.univision.com/recuerdo-san-francisco,

Not my photo - but some road guy has a weird sense of humor

I want to highlight one weekly show that it the perfect answer to getting stuck in heavy traffic – Its on the Stanford station once a week - but you can stream it from their website… It's a conversation between a Progressive theologian and a Stanford biologist… it’s funny, and often profound…cancelthefun.com Click on a segment to listen on your computer: (Warning the first few minutes on the first segement are just a little silly – but hang in there is gerts good)

Get ready - Here they come!

First lets get a couple of things straight - 70% ( more or less ) of the bacteria living in and on our bodies are harmless and many of them are beneficial.   It is estimated that 500 to 1,000 species of bacteria live in the human gut.     Bacterial cells are much smaller than human cells, and there are at least ten times as many bacteria as human cells in the body.   The mass of microorganisms are estimated to account for 1-3% of your total body mass. (Wikipedia ) Some varieties in your intestines produce needed vitamins. 

Bacteria are really super simply cells - they have very few cell parts - not even a nucleus - their reproduction process is much simpler than other cells.  ...and in this blog we are only talking about bacteria - not other kids of disease causes like virus, prions, and fungus...

But the bad ones are really bad - and the cause of serious diseases and infections.  Through much of history getting a simple cut could turn fatal. Getting 'sick' was mysterious, dangerous, and the doctors had few tricks to deal with them.

Generalized diagram of bacteria

Then in the 20th century along came antibiotics. Antibiotics are made up of secretions produced by living microorganism  (usually bacteria or fungus) that blocks the growth of other microorganisms. There are also antibiotics originally produced by living cells, that are then modified chemically to change the disease fighting properties of the drug.  There are also diseases fighting compounds made completely synthetically in a laboratory - such as the sulfa drugs. 

One of the original antibiotics produced was developed from extracts collected from the mold that grows on citrus fruit or bread mold.  (Even in medieval times some herbalists treated wounds with a poultice of moldy bread – but they had no idea why it worked).

Comparison of sizes - E coli are a rather large bacteria common in the digestive tract

When first developed, these chemicals were considered miracle drugs – wounds, many bacterial illnesses could be treated with a high change of success.  It seemed that the age of death from infection had come to an end.  There were some limitations – Antibiotics work only against bacterial infections – they are useless with fungus or virus diseases.   If you get a cold the doctor tells you to get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids… and perhaps treat the symptoms with aspirin..but not antibiotics!

There are 3 basic shapes for bacteria - long "hot dog shape" like this are called bacilli - the color is due to an artificial dye

The problem is that living things are capable of adapting to most any change we can imagine.  Imagine that out of 10 million bacterial cells an antibiotic is effective – but one bacterium undergoes a natural change in its genetic code.  This mutation can occur due to a random cosmic ray, radiation from the early, heat, chemicals…but it happens and the bacterium survives and divides.  This is true evolution by natural selection happening within a small time period of weeks. The offspring from that bacterium are resistant to the antibiotic – and can divide and produce a resistant population that can be shared with other people.  There are other antibiotics available and being developed.  Sometimes higher doses are more effective on blocking mutations… But always the bacteria are undergoing a normal small rate of mutations – and some of them block the effectiveness of the antibiotic.  Today many of our old standby antibiotics have lost their effectiveness.

Second shape - are little balls called 'cocci'

This is especially a problem if the doctor gives the patient 20 days of antibiotic treatment and the patient stops after 15 days, because he start to feel better.   If he had finished the full treatment the mutant bacteria had a higher chance of being destroyed.  As it is the mutants survived and could be passed on.

In many third world countries antibiotics are sold in sidewalk kiosks – much as we buy aspirin… You get a cold – go buy a few doses of penicillin.  Get venereal disease – take enough drugs to make the symptoms go away – then stop… The result is that every time a patient takes the drug, the overall effectiveness that drug is being reduced for later medical application

The third type are not so common - Spirochetes - the bacteria of human syphilis and the bacteria found in the termite gut

Giving massive amounts of antibiotics to farm animals to keep them alive until they can be sold as meat compounds the problem.  Many bacteria cross species lines – so wide spread use in animals increased the number of resistant mutant forms of bacteria in the world population, and reduces the effectiveness of that antibiotic

This week a report by the WHO (world health organization) stated that the world wide we are losing their power to fight infections.  New effective antibiotics cannot be developed faster than old reliable antibiotics are being lost to normal evolutionary changes through mutation.

Antibiotic resistance is a major threat to public health, says the WHO. It is no longer something to worry about in the future, but is happening now and could affect anybody, anywhere, of whatever age. 

There are  complex visual tests and dye tests to determine the type of bacteria
This is another bacillus with a different dye

Biologists have known about this problem for years - I taught it in my Biology class years ago - but this is the first time that the prestigious WHO has come out with so strong and definite a statement.

This is a world wide problem – not one country – what happens in any country to develop resistant disease organisms will ultimately affect us all The WHO says “No single country even with the best possible policies in place can address this issue alone. We need all countries to get together and discuss and put in practice possible solutions."

Some bacteria have many flagella that beat rhythmically or randomly to produce rather random movement

The WHO said “There have been no new classes of antibiotics for 25 years”.  Research is expensive and not financially feasible for industries alone… government funding is also not adequate to do this work.   WHO: "New antibiotics coming on to the market are not really new," he said. "They are variations of those we already have." That means that bacteria are likely to develop resistance to them that much sooner.

Bacillus with extra long flagella

So how can we implement a serious worldwide effort to diminish the use of antibiotics?

1.Doctors need to be sparing with them and use them only when absolutely necessary.  Patients must understand that antibiotics have no effect on virus diseases and minimize the overall effectiveness of the drug every time they are used…. Don't ask for it!

2.  A worldwide education problem, similar to the AIDS education program in the 1980s must be implemented.  When drugs are available on the street – average people have to get the word too.

3. Buy organic meat clearly labeled with a “no antibiotic” label.

4.  Simple washes your hands after contact with possible sources of bacteria.

5.  Support Federal funding of research to develop new antibiotics… Its possible but its expensive.

6.  Educate yourself on issues of bacterial mutation, evolution, and resistance to antibiotic chemicals

"What the #*?/%#!!"

When I was a student, I worked summers for a mosquito abatement district in the San Joaquin valley.  My daily work put me in contact with workers of all types - and in that world swearing was an art form.  I heard the most creative swear word combinations possible!  I recall one old wino that came to us everyday hoping for a handout. He managed to work some heavy duty swearing into every sentence he used.  

Actually swearing falls into a few predictable categories.

Swear words can be religious - dealing with God, Jesus, Mary, Heaven, and Hell...  I suspect that some of this swearing was originally said as prayers by highly religious people - asking for help in a troubling situation.  Sometimes the holy figure is asked to curse  the person causing the problem.  Historically, I suspect there was a time that this was a attempt to call down a serious curse.  Now, we culturally are not so much into calling curses down on peoples heads.

Other swear words deal with bodily functions - mostly about excrement.  These are curious. I suppose this is to associate something bad with something dirty. This I suspect  is a holdover from childhood when potty talk was considered naughtily ‘bad’  - shocking to parents, adults, and other kids. Also curious that such expletives are found in many cultures and languages.  They are often drawn own with great expression.

Then there are the swear words that deal with sex... An interesting category! Why would you relate sex to swearing about something bad that has happened?  I suspect that most sex swearing is about imposing control over the other person.  Some is about threatening the other person with your power....sometimes they taunt or insult the other person.    Sex swearing often has a strong element of macho challenge about it ( but its also curious that this has been adopted by more and more women today) .

Then there are some very old cultural terms that are simply statements of annoyance.  'Darn', 'Heck', 'Baloney'. Some of these mild terms were adopted by more puritanical folks who felt that the stronger words were not very ‘couth’ or ‘irreligious’... "Gol durn'!

What is interesting to me is why some people swear and others don't.   I grew up in a home where people didn't swear.  I learned all the words at school or working, I’m sure that I experimented with them to be ‘cool’ - but they didn't become part of my life style.  Also I had a profession  (high school science teacher) where active swearing in front of the students was frowned on.

I  became aware that  few of the people that I associate with today swear.  Or at least it has become more specific - I hear constant references to God in teen-talking - (and I suspect it is not a prayer)... But it seems like I hear much less swearing than I once did...(maybe its just the people I hang out with these days).

I think most swearing is simply a habitual response - something that you dont like happens - so you swear... you get angry at someone and you swear... there is no real function to swearing - and not swearing is just as effective in defusing emotion as letting loose with an emotional stream.

I think many people swear because they think it  is expected of them - it is “manly” or “shocking” to swear... it sends the message “dont mess with me because I’m ‘bad’”.  Among more educated people today I hear little swearing -  It is also interesting that very fewer women use ‘heavy duty swearing - Is this because they dont want to communicate what swearing stands for in our culture...  Does women's changing identify in our society affect swearing pattens?

People who swear often say that it is a necessary way to release tension when something 'bad' happens.  I doubt that this is really effective.  People that I know who swear are just as upset after letting loose as they were before - maybe more so... 

Swearing seems to have a long tradition - The Bible warns “ if you mean yes say yes, if you mean no say no... nothing more”  Swear word graffiti is found on the walls of Pompeii, There are explicative in Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Italian... But patterns of swearing seems to rise and fall in common culture.

And then there are those people that say - I save up my swearing for those special situations when I am really upset - then people know that I am seriously annoyed!  Which calls to mind the "cried wolf" effect - if someone swears habitually for every little thing - how are you going to know that a situation  is serious?

So pay attention to the swearing you hear around you - ask yourself why they swear? ...what does it communicate? ...to whom?

Fava Beans and King Snake!

I am in the midst of student teacher evaluation – a  detailed process – so my blog this week is brief…

Biology teachers are marked individuals.  Any time anyone finds an interesting insect, flower, bird or snake his or her first thought is to “take it to Mr. Zlatnik”… of course I love it! – I love seeing what people have found and sometimes I take the organism home to care for it and usually I release it into the wild. 

This week my across-the-street neighbor came to my door late in the afternoon telling me that a maintenance man had found a “big snake” in his truck – He was concerned that the snake might get into the cab of his truck and he wasn't particularly fond of them.  He wanted to kill it. The snake was in the wheel assembly when I looked for it– I poked at it trying to get it to move and it finally did – into the battery space – also well protected.

CALIFORNIA KING SNAKE

Another poke and it moved into the light assembly – the maintenance man  (who spoke primarily Spanish) and I were trying everything – he went to the back of his truck with a steel rod and used that to get the snake to move – it finally dropped to the street – a lovely lively three foot king snake!  I reached out and gently stopped it with my shoe and then reached right behind the snake’s head with one hand and near the tail with the other hand.  I am always amazed by the strength of a snake.   This one was doing its best to escape but I held tight.  If I turned it loose in my yard the dogs would be sure to get it – so I walked it to a vacant area with some wild growing amaryllis   plants – and tossed it into the middle.  The snake quickly scurried away with tales to tell his grandchildren!

FAVA BEAN - The only bean that Europe had before the  time of Columbus

This is the year that I discovered fava beans… they seem to be little known in American home gardens – but are common in England, Spain. Italy, and Mexico… as well as Africa, China, and South America.  They are a delightful vegetable and so easy to grow.  Along about November, before the first rains, I found some seeds in my garage.  I thought – “ OK, this year I am going to try something new – rather than plant a row of fava beans like most people do – I will plant them here and there throughout the garden where ever there is an empty space.  After the first rain – still in the cold months – the seeds sprouted – they didn't do much until the end of January – but I suspect they were creating a root system – With the first ‘little bit warmer’ days – they started growing and by mid April they are fine big bushes – quite attractive in their own right – but now  they are producing great big seed pods with 4-5 big seeds in each – larger than a lima bean.  

Open Fava Pod - seeds are almost an inch long.

We shell them and drop them into a boiling water bath for about 7 minutes… then drain and soak in cool water – drain again – and drouzzle with olive oil and a dash of salt.   They are amazingly tasty.  If you should like to try them next year – you can go to your local Hispanic market and look for dried “Haba” beans – they are large, flattish, and a light brown in color.  Stick them anywhere and they will grow!

Dried Favas as you find them for sale...

The "unthinkable"

 (no images this week)

The hard drive on my computer crashed this week.  When I attempted to load a url from the web it would start to download and it immediately cancelled – over and over again… So I took it in to my repair shop for evaluation.  The answer was the one I did not want to hear – it would be necessary to “wipe the disk” in order to fix it.  Gulp – “Do you have an external hard drive?” – I said that I did. 

They said, “OK – we can fix this and you can reinstall your files.”  Sounded simple. An external hard drive is kind of like a lifeboat to save the crew when a big ocean freighter sinks.  The ship may go down – but the crew and all records can still be safe – out there in a small boat in the big ocean.

Warning: If you have a computer – for goodness sakes – be sure that you purchase a reliable external hard drive! – It is cheap insurance for your valuable files!  You can buy quality back up for about $100.

Sounded simple until I realized how much work was still involved. As new programs and systems come along a computer can become obsolete in the matter of a few years –- it becomes more difficult to do the things you want to do.  So I made the plunge and bought a new iMac.  I hooked up the external hard drive to the new Mac and following advice I went to my ‘utilities file’ – where I found ‘migration assistant’… this showed me the major systems and files in the hard drive and I could choose which ones I wanted to return to my computer.

The installment mostly went like it is supposed to – All my Microsoft Word files, Letters, E-mails, Stored files, Music files – Bingo – they were back in place.

There were still problems to solve – I have to hunt up and down load the operating files for my printer – Some of my subscription programs had to be asked for reinstalled, All of this was tedious, took time, but was all successful. 

Then the sinking discovery– almost my entire collection of photos did not transfer over from the external hand drive – I had something like 2000 photos – some historical family, some from the schools I visit, travel photos, organisms I encounter, items I want to share with my student teachers… Vanished into the thin air–I contacted the ‘1-800 help line’ for my computer and we messed around with no success.  Finally I was able to copy some of the photos from Judy’s computer, and transferred to a thumb drive. I was able to recover about 40% of my collection.  Then in an inspiration I woke up with a flask at 3 AM (when I am most likely to have insightful ideas) and I remembered that I had another external hand drive only a year old and I wondered if it might have the photos.  (Fortunately I go right back to sleep after my 'good idea' moments…)  I found it all dusty in storage and when I plugged it in – there they were… So now I had to go through a slow process of down loading them – there are still duplicates to deal with and files to arrange – but I have them again.  I have learned my lesson – I will make a back up file of valuable photos on a thumb drive.   (I purchased a 16 Gigabyte thumb drive for 10 $!).

I find electronic malfunctions to be unnerving – things are not all working  exactly as I would like but I am well on the way.