Year: 2024

  • EPISODE 1061 ACUPUNCTURE

    EPISODE 1061    ACUPUNCTURE


    alan skeoch
    june 2m 2024

    I Never thought my new knee would come to this…acupuncture. But it has and
    the leg is not straight… never be perfect.   
    who among us 80 year olds is perfect?Few if any  so i am in good company,

    I closed my eyes as she opened the packages of sterilized needles.

    “Could you take  picture?{
    “Sure.  You will have to follow exercises.”
    “I have been following exercises since Dec. 12, 2023”
    “Religiously”
    “Well .. not quite.   I have to take time to breathe and  eat my bran flakes…

    the bran flakes cause other things that get in the way of excercises.”

    “Do your best”
    “It has now been 7 months.  I can hobble.”
    “There…needles a re in…now I will hook them up to the power gently”
    “What?”

    “What?”

    That needle some distance up my pant leg is a little discocertrting.

    Did you notice the guy in the corner of the room?

  • – EPISODE 1059: } ESCAPE TO THE THE COTTAGE YOU WILL NEVER OW==ADAMSON HOUSE


    EPISODE 1059: }   ESCAPE TO THE THE COTTAGE YOU WILL NEVER OWN (ADAMSON house and wilderness park in Mississauga)

    alan skeoch
    May 21, 2069

    “Alan, get away from thatt computer “
    “Why?”
    “Join me for a walk around the Adamson House in Mississauga.”
    “I am busy.”
    “Too busy to smell the flowers….too busy to sit on a bench a
    stare across the water of Lake Ontario…too busy to take a break?
    “Help me get my socks on.Marjorie … time to stop typing.”


    “Let’s pretend that we’re together, all alone”

    (remember the  lyrics?)


    “Alan, put down your camera>”
    “No.  I want my readers to enjoy this touch of wilderness/“
    “Alan, there are no readers…entirely imaginary audience…”
    “Not so.  But even if you are right these pictures will give me
    a rest and remind me of you.”


    “Alan, a huge coote just crossed the path…healthy.  No mange.
    Took no notice of  us.  You missed it. “


    “The coyote is watching us…maybe a whole pack of them.”


    “IF WE meet a pack of coyotes we can climb this tree to escape

    NOTE TO READERS:  THIIS IS YOUR PARK …. TAKE HALF AN HOUR TO
    WALK THESE TRAILS.   ADAMSON HOUSE,  

    alan
  • EPISODE 1005 DANDELIONS —RAW LATEX (RUBBER) AND GERMAN WAR INDUSTRY GERMANY 1941-194

    EPISODE 1005   DANDELIONS —RAW LATEX (RUBBER) AND GERMAN WAR INDUSTRY

    GERMANY 1941-1945

    alanskeoch
    January 8,, 2024


    All dandelions ooze latex when picked,  Latex is rubber and
    rubber was needed desperately by German war industry.

    Why?

    A Tank needs 826 pounds of raw rubber’
    A gun carriage needs 409 pounds
    A fighter plane needs146 pounds

    In 1933 a type of dandelion was discovered in Asia that 
    contained more latex than others,  Hitler ordered seed to 
    be collected and planted in farm fields taken from Polish 
    farmers in the early years of World War 
    two. (1941?) This vast planting  was supervised by a jewish botanist whose last name was 
    Bloch I seem to remember.

    Where were these farms?  Planted in the fields surrounding Auswitz.

    The experiment failed because the war outpaced the growing time.

    see pictures below

    ALAN SKEOCH









    The Need:

    Natural rubber sourced from the Para rubber tree faces a plethora of challenges including price instability, geopolitical trade complexities, deforestation restrictions, and disease vulnerabilities. A convenient solution lies in the rubber root dandelion which produces natural rubber comparable to that of the Para rubber tree. However, challenges like yield and impurity levels present obstacles to producing rubber at commercial scale.

    The Technology

    OSU faculty have developed an improved methodology that doubles latex yield and produces a purer rubber product. The extraction is also water based and can readily be incorporated into an industrial-scale latex extraction process, resulting in a highly efficient and sustainable process for obtaining rubber from the rubber dandelion.

    Commercial Applications

    Producing rubber in this way has wide-ranging commercial applications in various industries, including but not limited to:

    • Automotive: durable tires, gaskets, and seals in the automotive sector.
    • Medical: gloves, tubing, and medical devices.
    • Industrial: components like belts, hoses, and conveyor systems.
    • Consumer Products: From footwear to household items and other consumer goods.


    The term latex is often used as a synonym for rubber, but the term actually refers to any liquid medium that holds a suspension of tiny polymer particles. Latex is a natural plant substance, but it can also be manufactured by chemical processes.
    Natural latex is a plant material found most famously in the rubber tree—but it is actually found in almost 10 percent of all plants. For example, opium is actually the dried latex from the opium poppy. Latex is not the same as sap but is a separate substance, created by the plant as protection against insects. Latex in plants is a complex mixture of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins, and gums that coagulates when exposed to the air. Plants use latex to seal themselves after injury, thereby protecting themselves against insects.
  • APOLOGY WHAT A FOOL I WAS… ‘I AM NOT THE EARTH AND SKY”


    APOLOGY   WHAT A FOOL I WAS… ‘I AM NOT THE EARTH AND SKY”

    alan skeoch
    May 19, 2024

    pics taken by Paul and Bryce


    I talked too much at our May 2024 meeting of the   Castlefield Institute and
    would like to apologise for doing so.  My last five months have
      been awful.    I babbled on about health care and left little room for
    others.   16 days experience while Bryce had spent most of his
    life working in hospitals.                                                                                            

    Marjorie arrived late due  to our terrible traffic density.  and we   perched on
    Boulders in Marvi’ s front yard.   Then Marvi, Bryce, Paul got soft chairs for us.
    Neighbours must have thought marvi had been evicted…and had gang connections.

    I asked Bryce about his car which he loved  “Sold it.”  That short comment                            
    is the reason for this apology   Bryce just got back from a world tour 
    and suffered from a a bad bout of Covid 19…both of which were more in line with the ‘civil dicussions’ expected at our meetings.

     Others

    Wilf was not asked about his recent  hospitalization .
    Sam has arthritic shoulders
    that are painful yet he took the time to visit me twice at Trillium bringing
    cookies and gingerale.
    John Myers had a book he wanted to discuss — our reason for meeting
    John Wardle bought a cake for us to eat (without gratitude)

    Milton Israel was absent…why?
    Marvi when asked about her role as a caregiver for John Ricker made 

    pic by Paul Russell *


    the amusing comment that “he was stubborn’.   We missed that chance 
    to discover an amusing facet of John Ricker’s personality,

    Instead  I  interjected with drivel about adult diapers. 

    Sorry

    Which reminded me about a song from My Fair  Lady.

    Eliza (singing):
    What a fool I was, what dominated fool,
    to think that you were the earth and the sky,
    What a fool I was, What an elevated fool,
    What a mutton-headed dote was I!
    No, my reverberated friend,
    you are not the beginning and the end.

    Professor Higgins (speaking):
    You impetant hussy there’s not an idea in your head or a word in your mouth that I haven’t put there.

    Eliza (singing): 
    There’ll be spring every year without you. England still will be here without you.
    There’ll be fruit on the tree. 
    And a shore by the sea. 
    There’ll be crumpets and tea without you.

    Art and music will thrive without you. Somehow Keats will survive without you.
    And there still will be rain on that plain down in Spain, 
    even that will remain without you.
    I can do without you. 

    You, dear friend, who taught so well,
    You can go to Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire. 

    They can still rule with land without you.
    Windsor Castle will stand without you. 
    And without much ado we can all muddle through without you.

    Professor Higgins:
    You brazen hussy, 

    Eliza (singing):
    Wihtout pulling it the tide comes in, 
    without your twirling it the Earth can spin,
    Without your pulling it, the tide comes in 
    Without your twirling it, the earth can spin 
    Without your pushing them, the clouds roll by, 
    If they can do without you, ducky, so can I 
    I shall not feel alone without you 
    I can stand on my own without you 
    So go back in your shell 
    I can do bloody well 
    Without…