Biology Week Three: Genetic Evolution

 "“99.4% of the most critical DNA sites are identical in human and chimp genes"

It doesn't surprise me that we are connected that closely with another animal through the lens of our DNA. What was interesting to me about this article was how important our use of language is. If we reclassify an animal then we're changing its rights? Even though nothing has actually changed about the animal. It's just a change in how we're choosing to label and classify this animal. Language has always tripped me out but when it is used as a means of control and exclusion/inclusion it becomes so skewed and can almost seem like complete nonsense. Some one else in class also brought up the point that it's pretty disgusting how once we label something to be "more human" then we all of a sudden will treat them better? Yikes. Also, we aren't even treating most humans right let alone monkeys and other animals who aren't in our specific scientific classification. Yikes to it all, really. I also find it odd that somehow we can now validate our connection to another animal because of how we are related through our DNA. What about all the other ways we are related and connected? Like through the planet, and through energy, and experience, and life?

Learning about prokaryotes and Eukaryotes is fun. I'm very interested in bacteria and viruses too. In this day we are definitely facing the "side effects" of the use of antibiotics and who knows where it's going to go from here.

• The last laugh may be yours. You have spent three and a half billion years practicing chemical warfare. Humans thought that antibiotics would end infectious diseases, but the overuse of drugs has resulted in the selection of drug resistant bacteria. They didn't realize that this was only the first battle, and now the war is ready to begin.
• Humans think this is their era. A more truthful statement would be that we all live in the age of bacteria.

I can relate to this because of my Auto Immune Disease. Many people believe the use of antibiotics  is a big contributor to the rise in Auto Immune Disease. I couldn't agree more. If only Westerner's could understand the concept of Yin and Yang and opposites, maybe they would have thought to study the good bacteria as well, instead of just focusing on getting rid of the bad. Whoops!

On the topic of today's discussions, is anyone as scared as I am for the backlash we may face from meat made from genetically engineered DNA and printers? I don't think I'm ready for this world people!

Physics Week Three: Synchronicity

Wow. I really liked this weeks class. I can't stop thinking about all the different fragments of concepts we learned. It almost felt like a form of church for me at times because there was something so spiritually uplifting to learn about the concept of quantum entanglement. I'm sure this theory is no where near the "truth" of the universe and/or life, but none the less, it's something scientists have noticed, therefore it is a truth... and it's contradictory to other ways Westerners' have looked at the world. Amen! We need people to expand their minds! Just thinking of my very western atheist brother-n-law explaining something like synchronicity and connectivity makes me so happy. Even though he's viewing it in a completely different manner than I am, he's acknowledging a concept very skewed from the way he usually looks at things.
Synchronicity is constantly coming up in my life, every day. And to think about this happening on a quantum level is so beautiful!!! The fact that two electrons can stay connected forever, as far a distant we could think, and still be connected!?! This brings such a comforting feeling to me and almost gets me choked up. We are all forever connected and time and space can't really take that away. WOW.

"It was a principle that Jung felt gave conclusive evidence for his concepts of archetypes and the collective unconscious in that it was descriptive of a governing dynamic that underlies the whole of human experience and history – social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual."

 The thing is, why do we need to label these concepts or feel the need to box up ideas into what "the truth" is. I obviously love learning about these concepts, but at the same time no one will ever really know. And why should we? Is that really the point of experience? Also, although someone put this concept to words and are testing it, a lot of us know this already because we experience it! None the less, it's nice to try and wrap my head around some of the ideas of synchronicity and connectivity.

Biology Week Two: EVO-DEVO

Evo-Devo is going to be the name of my next band... and I'm playing synth... ok fine, not really but I can already hear it.
Evo-Devo in biological terms has to do with how evolution and development interact with each other in determining how development evolved. Personally, I think they need to get a historian in there too. Especially when it comes to peoples. Western Science sometimes misses big "answers" to their questions because they aren't including other studies of life. When studying humans, history must be taken account.

Darwinism is a rather simple theory, I suppose. It's just hard to see if you're not looking on a big time line spanning many many years. After our talk in class, I'm beginning to think I have the body type that is being weeded out. Eh, that's fine. I'm not too worried about it. Change is bound to happen and IS happening at all times. I've always been extremely sensitive to this modern world anyway. I hope I don't pass on these troubles to my children but EVO DEVO is telling me I probably will... as long as they have sweet synth skills tho, I'll know I've done my job.

Physics Week Two: Quantum Physics

The Uncertainty Principle, which in quantum physics is a variety of qualities relating to particles that have a fundamental limit to the precision of measurement. To me, this can be related to all life. There's only so much you can know, about anything. There is always going to be uncertainty. A lot of people seem to think that if you can see it or test something over and over and over with the same results, that somehow you've found "fact". But that fact has many different truths and no one is capable of seeing them all. I like that there's a bit of Western science that can admit to not being able to understand the whole concept.

Causality gets me tripped out sometimes... usually I end up taking it too far. The world is just so full of infinite possibilities... and in the same thought I can ponder on the limits we have as well. Cause and effect, time, forwards and backwards, space... I could go on and on and get no where just the same.

YESSSSS, the Universe is SO WEIRD. Every time I think I get something figured out, it turns out I wrong and was basing things off my assumptions. I love that the Universe is weird. Can't imagine it any other way. I love all the definitions I found online for the word. Inspires me to be more free in my own weird ways!

Physics Week One: The Meaning Of Time

Answers to quiz...

1. How did I get here?

Long story short, acupuncture changed my life on many different levels. It's really given me the tools to get back to the Source. Without this deep connection to something bigger I don't think I would be able to be on such a strong track to healing myself. At least not to the extent that I am. Because acupuncture can bring you back to something deeper inside yourself, I think it can benefit many people, on so many different scales. This is why I am in school to become an acupuncturist and doctor of TCM.

2. What do I think about physics, honestly?

I think physics can be a fun and interesting science, as long as the teacher and the people around me can acknowledge that it is ONE way to come closer to understanding the "whys" behind the way this world works and not THE way.

3. Have you ever experienced time speeding up or slowing down?

YES!! All the time! We named many examples in class, all of which I could relate too. Time is an arbitrary thing in many ways, because how can you measure something that's infinite?

Biology Week One: The Biological World

Hmmm, a bio. Well, my name is Emily and I am 29 year old student here at ACCHS. Before this venture, I was working on film down in LA. I love film and it will always be a part of my world and the way I express myself. I have always wanted to be a healer and to help others, but I couldn't figure out the correct medium to go about that. Film was working, but it wasn't getting close enough to the source of helping that I needed. It was also very counterproductive for my health. After experiencing the amazing benefits of acupuncture I realized this would be the perfect way for me to help others.
I hope to one day help families heal from both physical and emotional trauma here in Oakland. Although I see myself traveling a lot, before hand, to gain as much knowledge as possible in the area of medicine, both ancient traditions and modern theories. I feel it's important to help heal families as a whole so certain cycles can be broken ie poverty, abuse, etc.
Acupuncture gave me a new found freedom inside myself. So many of us are trapped inside our own walls and without freedom we can not get further towards inner peace. Because of this, I'd also like to volunteer a lot of my time inside the walls of prisons and jails, offering my services to both the inmates and their families who are on the outside.
I look forward to my four years here at ACCHS!!! Education is a privilege and a blessing.


We didn't talk about the article titled Moon Phases Tied to Sleep Cycles in class but I wanted to comment on it anyway, because this current full moon we just had was intense for me. It's funny that these scientists need "proof" that the moon effects us and our sleep patterns when the proof is right here in our experience. Or, at least it is in my own experience. I am sure, hundreds of years back the moon had an even stronger effect on us as a people. Back then, we were more on cycle with the planet in general. We ate with seasons, slept more or less depending on the length of daylight, and didn't have artificial light blocking our melatonin. But still, even these days, I sometimes don't even have to look up to know it's a full moon. I can feel it in my body and emotions in more ways than one.