Friday, December 14, 2018


Negotiation and Mediation Concepts and Terminology  by John Wade   Negative intimacy is the psychological state of enjoying the conflict (colloquially, a "conflict junkie" or "resentnik").  Someone who is negatively intimate will undermine settlement, and continue the conflict at almost any cost.  It gives him/her a meaning to life.  Find other mediation terms at https://www.mediate.com/articles/bondV2sept99.cfm  Resentnik has been used at least since 1994.

The English suffix -nik is of Slavic origin.  It approximately corresponds to the suffix "-er" and nearly always denotes an agent noun (that is, it describes a person related to the thing, state, habit, or action described by the word to which the suffix is attached).  In the cases where a native English language coinage may occur, the "-nik"-word often bears an ironic connotation.  The suffix existed in English in a dormant state for a long time, in borrowed terms.  An example is raskolnik, recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary as known since 1723.  There have been two main waves of the introduction of this suffix into English language.  The first was driven by Yinglish words contributed by Yiddish speakers from Eastern Europe.  The second surge was observed after the launch of the first Sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-nik

Utopia (Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia) is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535) published in 1516 in Latin.  The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.  The original name was even longer:  Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia.  This translates, "A truly golden little book, no less beneficial than entertaining, of a republic's best state and of the new island Utopia".  "Utopia" is derived from the Greek prefix "ou-" (οὐ), meaning "not", and topos (τόπος), "place", with the suffix -iā (-ία) that is typical of toponyms; hence the name literally means "nowhere", emphasizing its fictionality.  In early modern EnglishUtopia was spelled "Utopie", which is today rendered Utopy in some editions.  A common misunderstanding has that "Utopia" is derived from eu- (eὐ), "good", and "topos", such that it would literally translate as "good place".  In English, Utopia is pronounced exactly as Eutopia (the latter word, in Greek Εὐτοπία [Eutopiā], meaning “good place,” contains the prefix εὐ- [eu-], "good", with which the οὐ of Utopia has come to be confused in the English pronunciation).  This is something that More himself addresses in an addendum to his book Wherfore not Utopie, but rather rightely my name is Eutopie, a place of felicitie.  Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book)

Quinine  The original antimalarial agent, quinine took its name from the Peruvian Indian word "kina" meaning "bark of the tree" referring to the cinchona tree.  From this tree, quinine was first obtained  The Peruvian Indians called it "the fever tree."  Quinine, a large and complex molecule, is the most important alkaloid found in cinchona bark.  Until World War I, it was the only effective treatment for malaria.  In fact, quinine was the first chemical compound to be successfully used to treat an infectious disease.  Quinine was isolated in crystalline form in 1820 by J.B. Caventou and P.J. Pelletier.  In one of the classical achievements of synthetic organic chemistry, R.B. Woodward and W. Doering first made synthetic quinine in 1944.  Quinine acts by interfering with the growth and reproduction of the Plasmodium, the malarial parasite that lives within the victim's red blood cells.  Quinine causes the parasites to disappear from the blood and the symptoms of the disease are thereby alleviated.  However, when quinine treatment ends, many patients relapse.  They suffer another attack of malaria due to the failure of quinine to kill the malarial parasites in cells of the body other than the red blood cells.  These parasites persist and, after a time, they reinvade the red blood cells and precipitate the relapse.  Since quinine does not permanently cure malaria, better drugs were sought.  A number were discovered that replaced quinine during and after World War II.  Some of these drugs (such as chloroquine and chloroguanide) are more effective than quinine in suppressing the growth of the blood forms of the malarial parasite.  Others (such as primaquine and pyrimethamine) act upon both the blood and tissue phases of the parasite, producing a complete cure and preventing a relapse.  Quinine has been used outside of malaria as a remedy for fever and pain and to treat and prevent leg cramps.  Prolonged administration of quinine may produce toxic symptoms such as deafness, disturbances in vision, skin rashes, and digestive upsets.  https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=5178

Sleep, a meditative eight-hour contemporary classical symphony, is performed overnight while the audience is tucked in and preferably sleeping.  That’s right, Max Richter actually wants people to sleep through his concert.  Sleep was released in 2015 as a set of eight albums alongside a condensed From Sleep standalone album.  Despite being an enormous feat to pull off, Richter chooses to perform the full eight-hour version, and intersperses occasional Sleep performances with those for his latest album, Three Worlds:  Music from Woolf Works, which comprises his composition for Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor’s lauded Woolf Works.  Richter, who was born in West Germany but grew up in England, is also building a fine resume in film and TV score work.  Recent works include his music for Hostiles, starring Christian Bale; the Matthew McConaughey-starring White Boy Rick; and for Mary Queen of Scots, which stars Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie.  These pieces join his hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to HBO’s The Leftovers.  https://www.sxsw.com/world/profile/2018/exploring-science-sleep-max-richter/

This might very well be the ultimate lullaby.  Right at the start of the 2018 SXSW Music Festival, Max Richter's eight-hour composition Sleep was performed overnight to an audience tucked into 150 beds.  The audience slept, dreamed and sometimes snored through this trance-inducing experience.  Link to 11:51 video at https://www.npr.org/2018/03/17/589337022/south-x-lullaby-max-richter

Will tonic water prevent nighttime leg cramps?  Q.  It's been suggested that drinking 2 to 3 ounces of tonic water before bedtime can prevent leg cramps at night.  Is that true?  A.  Tonic water—and the quinine it contains—have been promoted for preventing leg cramps for decades despite the lack of evidence that they are effective.  Quinine is FDA-approved only for treating malaria and is sold with a warning against using it to treat leg cramps or muscle pain, because it increases the risk of bleeding and heart rhythm disturbances.  Tonic water contains no more than 83 mg of quinine per liter—a much lower concentration than the 500 to 1,000 mg in the therapeutic dose of quinine tablets.  Drinking a few ounces of tonic water shouldn't be harmful, but it isn't likely to prevent your leg cramps.  There are a few other things you can do, however.  Because cramps are often caused by dehydration, make sure to get enough fluids.  But avoid caffeinated and alcoholic beverages, which are dehydrating.  (Don't mix gin with that tonic!)  Stretching during the day or before bed may also help prevent them.  Once a cramp starts, getting out of bed and standing on the affected leg may abort it.  Using ice or heat and gently massaging the affected muscle may provide some relief.  Hope Ricciotti, M.D., and Hye-Chun Hur, M.D., M.P.H. Editors in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch

We set out to create a vibrant pearl barley salad with a balance of sweetness, tang, and nuttiness.  First, we had to find a consistent cooking method for the barley.  We turned to what we call the “pasta method,” in which we simply boil the grains until tender.  Inspired by the flavors of Egypt, we incorporated toasty pistachios, tangy pomegranate molasses, and bright cilantro, all balanced by warm spices and golden raisins.  Salty feta cheese, pungent scallions, and pomegranate seeds adorned the dish for a colorful composed salad with dynamic flavors and textures.  Find recipe at https://thecookscook.com/recipes/egyptian-barley-salad/  Thank you, Muse reader!

How to Open a Pesky Pistachio Nut by TechShopJim   Grab a discarded pistachio nut shell half, and stick the top of the small end into the partially-opened pistachio.  With the shell top inserted into the crack, twist the shell half like you would turn a screwdriver.  Clockwise or counterclockwise directions both work.  As you twist, the shell will separate with a loud report as if by magic.  https://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Open-a-Pesky-Pistachio-Nut/  A small screwdriver works just as well if not better in opening pistachios.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  December 14, 2018  Issue 2004   348th day of the year

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