Castilleja affinis
October 17, 2009
This photo of Indian paintbrush, Castilleja affinis [1] was taken on June 18, 2007, just off the trail on the eastern slope of Creyke Point, East Sooke Regional Park looking out towards Campbell Cove (48°19′34.17 N, 123°37′50.38). The bright orange, showy parts of Indian paintbrush, Castilleja affinis, are actually bracts (modified leaves), with a flower inside each bract. Many members of the Orobanchaceae are photosynthetic root parasites (hemiparasites), such as Indian paintbrush. Paintbrushes Castilleja along with the rare Henderson’s checker-mallow (Sidalcea hendersonii), sweet gale (Myrica gale), sedges (Carex sp) and shooting stars (Dodecatheon sp) are among the rare plants of the tidal area of Metchosin.
Kingdom: Plantae > Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants > Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants > Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants > Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons > Subclass: Asteridae > Order: Scrophulariales > Family: Scrophulariaceae – Figwort family > Genus: Castilleja Mutis ex L. f. – Indian paintbrush > Species: Castilleja affinis Hook. & Arn. – coast Indian paintbrush > Subspecies Castilleja affinis Hook. & Arn. > ssp affinis
Notes
1. Thank you to Mark J. Egger from the Herbarium at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle for drawing my attention to my errors in classification which I have hopefully corrected. As an enthusiast – not a professional – I am always grateful to learn more about plant taxonomy.
Chuang, T. I. ; L. R. Heckard. 1991. “Generic realignment and synopsis of subtribe Castillejinae (Scrophulariaceae – Tribe Pediculareae).” Systematic Botany 16: 644–666.
Tank, David C.; Egger, J. Mark; Olmstead, Richard G. 2009. “Phylogenetic Classification of Subtribe Castillejinae (Orobanchaceae).” Systematic Botany. 34:1:182-197.
Egger, Mark J. 2009-03-13. “A New Species of Castilleja (Orobanchaceae) from Trujillo, Venezuela.” Brittonia. 61:1:44-5. Biomedical and Life Sciences. www.springerlink.com/content/n36p945m508747nl
see http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/reviewers_query?one=T&name=Mark+Egger
Mark Egger says:
This is not C. coccinea (which is not found west of the Rocky Mountains), but rather the somewhat similar west coast species, Castilleja affinis. This is the nominate form, var. affinis. C. affinis has a much longer corolla and especially corolla beak, and the secondary calyx clefts are relatively deep in C. affinis, rather than very shallow to non-existant in C. coccinea. Also, as you may have heard, Castilleja and other root-hemiparasitic Scrophs are now classified in the Orobanchaceae, based on both morphology and numerous recent molecular studies.
Genus: Castilleja; Family: Scrophulariaceae; Castilleja coccinea; bright orange; Indian paintbrush; snapdragon family; 3-lobed, scarlet tipped bracks all but hide the small 2-lipped greenish-yellow flowers;
Uploaded by ocean.flynn on 18 Jun 07, 3.17PM MDT.
Curriculum Vitae 2009-10-14
October 14, 2009
C. V. (October 2009)
Maureen Flynn-Burhoe
Email: ocean.flynn@gmail.com
SUMMARY
This thoroughly bilingual candidate offers unique skills in combining Web 2.0 technologies with visual arts, teaching and research. Successful teaching experiences in the fields of visual arts, sociology, Inuit studies, human rights, contemporary social theory and qualitative methodologies include seven years in R. P. Congo, ten years at the National Gallery of Canada as contract art educator and nine terms as contract lecturer for Carleton University. This includes contract lecturing in First Nations Education Authorities, Nunavut Arctic College and the National Gallery of Canada’s Education Division. At the National Gallery of Canada (1990-2000) she was frequently requested for VIP tours of the Gallery’s entire collection from European to contemporary with a specialty in Inuit art. This candidate has exceptional interpersonal skills with a natural and nurtured ability to spot, draw out and encourage skills and strengths in others. This highly creative individual has sustained visual arts production while working as educator and researcher and as graduate student. This candidate is passionate about the potential of visual arts to contribute to an inclusive public curriculum. She has been featured in CBC radio and television interviews and invited to give public talks, customized tours of museum exhibitions and slide shows in Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto and Charlottetown. She has also been guest lecturer in university courses in Social Psychology, Sociology of Education, Anthropology, Canadian Studies and Art History at Carleton University, St. Paul’s University, University of Ottawa and the Inuit Art Foundation. An unswerving commitment to providing a forum for First Nations, Inuit and African-Canadian teachers, learners and researchers has led to the hosting of countless student-authored web sites offering cultural and/or generation specific local knowledge. These student-authored web pages are complemented by her shareable web-based resources. Her sophisticated use of technology which includes proficiency in Internet and Web 2.0 tools such as HTML, and software such as ToolBook authoring software, Adobe PhotoShop Creative Suite, EndNote bibliographic database, has facilitated the production and sharing of teaching, learning and research tools for the classroom and beyond. Years of teaching experience have led to the development of a radical but highly effective technology-intense, media-intense, student-centred participatory pedagogy. She is frequently asked by students for references for employment and graduate studies by former students who recognize her sincerity in encouraging students to reach their full potential. This candidate is a team player who encourages the sharing of knowledge-based resources.
PERSONAL
Birthplace: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Citizenship: Canadian.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Sociology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON. “The missing archives of the Inuit art knowledge community” [Memory Work: A Critical Examination of How Distorted Histories of Benign Colonialism Shape-Shifted into Inuit Art History]. 1999-2005 Completed course work, two Comprehensive exams with distinction. Leave of absence/attrition since 2005.
M. A. Canadian Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, 1995.CD-ROM. Interactive Multimedia. “Symbols of womanhood in the work of Inuit artist, Jessie Oonark.” This was the first MA at Carleton submitted on a CD-ROM.
B. A. Visual Arts. Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi. 1982.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2002-3 Sessional Lecturer: Nunavut Arctic College, Iqaluit, Nunavut. 2001 Sessional Lecturer: Off-Campus Aboriginal Program, Carleton University. Fort Frances Seven Generations Education Authority; Moose Cree Education Authority; Akwesasne Education Centre. 1995-2003 Facilitator with Cultural Industries Training Program, Bridging program for Inuit students offered by Inuit Art Foundation. Taught thirteen week introductory Inuit art courses to Inuit students. 1990-2000 Contract art educator with National Gallery of Canada. Gallery talks, designing and facilitating workshops, theme tours of collection. Developed an innovative, inclusive approach to the permanent collection by integrating African Canadian, First Nations, Inuit culture and history. 1998 Supervisor Directed Readings: Inuit Art. Carleton University.
2003-4 Contract Lecturer: Carleton University, Ottawa, ON. Power and Everyday Life.
2002-3 Sessional Lecturer: Nunavut Arctic College, Iqaluit, Nunavut. This was a pilot project in which this candidate was the primary on-site Carleton connection responsible for preparing, promoting and presenting Nunavut-specific introductory Human Rights and Sociology courses. The success of this project led to an agreement signed between Nunavut Arctic College and Carleton University’s Centre for Initiatives in Education. Provided letters of recommendation for one Inuit student who consequently was accepted into the Kennedy School of Governance, Harvard University with a Fulbright scholarship and completed his MA in 2005.
2001 Sessional Lecturer: Off-Campus Aboriginal Program, Carleton University.Fort Frances Seven Generations Education Authority; Moose Cree Education Authority; Akwesasne Education Centre. 1995-2003 Facilitator with Cultural Industries Training Program,Bridging program for Inuit students offered by Inuit Art Foundation. Taught thirteen week introductory Inuit art courses to Inuit students.
90-20 Contract art educator with National Gallery of CanadaGallery talks, designing and facilitating workshops, theme tours of collection. Developed an innovative, inclusive approach to the permanent collection by integrating African Canadian, First Nations, Inuit culture and history.
1998 Supervisor Directed Readings: Inuit Art. Carleton University.
1997-8 Consultant for Canadian Teachers Federation.Prepared extensive bibliographic resource list on African-Canadian history for 1996-7 Mathieu da Costa award project.
1997 Lecturer Carleton University’s Art History, teaching Inuit Art 11.314.
1990-5 Golden Lake First Nations: informal art classes.Provided material for and facilitated art classes at Golden Lake Makwa Centre c. 6 – 10 classes a year. Worked with community members to raise funds and organize bus trips to Ottawa to visit museums. Maintained contact and interest in Golden Lake activities particularly those organised through Addiction counsellor Irvin Sarasin.83-89 Art educator Lycée Charlemagne, Pointe-Noire, R.P.Congo.
86-89 Art educator Scuola Matteo, Pointe-Noire, R.P. Congo.
89-91 ESL facilitator. Caron Language School, Vanier, ON.
66-7 Animator/Interpretor. Confederation Centre Art Gallery. Charlottetown, PEI.Student Summer Employment.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2004-5 Research Assistant to Professor Donna Patrick, Carleton University. Urban Inuit Research Project
1994-5 Research Assistant to Professor Marion Jackson, Carleton University. African Canadian Visual Artists.
1994 (Summer) Practicum: Teaching and Learning Centre.Developed a model of how graduate students might assist instructors in the use of interactive multimedia applications. Focus: Preparation of material for an interactive multimedia application (CD-ROM) that could be used as support material for Professor Jackson’s Inuit Art Course (Art History 11.314).
1993 (Summer) Practicum: National Gallery Inuit Art Curatorial Section.Assisted Inuit Art Curator, Marie Routledge in preparation for exhibition From the Centre: The Drawings of Luke Anguhadluq.
PUBLICATIONS
Ejesiak, Kirt; Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen. Chapter 14: “Animal Rights” (2007:444-5) in Vaughn, Lewis. 2007. Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. W.W. Norton & Company.
2001 “Reviews: Saqiyuq.” Inuit Art Quarterly.16. no.3. (Fall).
1999 “Shape-shifting and other points of convergence: Inuit art and digital technologies.”Art Libraries Journal. London: Fall.
1999 “Jessie Oonark: Woman in the Centre.” Inuit Art Quarterly. 14. no. 2. (Summer).
1998 “Dance to the Drum: In Celebration.” Inuit Art Quarterly. 13. no. 3 (Fall).
1998 “CD Rom: The Process behind the Creation of “Woman in the Centre”womenspace. 34. (Fall). e-version: www.womenspace.ca/vol34k.html
1996 “Shamanism in Inuit Art”. Inuit Art Quarterly.11. no.1. (Spring).
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCES
2001 “Reflections from the field of cyberspace: practical, ethical and relational issues in Internet based research.” (co-presented with Andrea Doucet.) 18th Qualitatives Conference. McMaster University. May 17-9, 2001.
2000 “Risks and Rights: Imaging the Seal Hunt, a Web-based Project”.17th Qualitatives Conference. University of New Brunswick. May 18-21, 2000.
1998 “IMM: Oonark.” Women’s Studies, Women’s Equality and the NewCommunications Technology. Canadian Women’s Studies Association. Université d’Ottawa, May 30.
1996 “A study of the symbols of womanhood in the work of Jessie Oonarkusing interactive multimedia as a method of exploration,” 10th Inuit Studies Conference, Memorial University of Newfoundland, August 16, 1996.
OTHER PRESENTATIONS
2000 “Le rôle de l’art dans la société canadienne”. Mini-cours.Institut d’études canadiennes. Université d’Ottawa. 5 mai.
1996 “New Media and Inuit Art,” QAGGIT 1996, Inuit Art Foundation, Carleton University.
WWWS DEVELOPED
2000 “Risks and Rights: Imaging the Sealhunt.”"www.carleton.ca/~mflynnbu/nasiq. Launched 17th Qualitatives Conference. University of New Brunswick. May 18-21, 2000.
1999 “Inuitartwebliography.”www.carleton.ca/inuitartwebliography.Launched Fall Qaggit 1999. Inuit Art Foundation. Ottawa.
EXHIBITIONS
One-Woman Exhibitions:
1999 “Reflexivité: Double Vision”* July, 1999, Pilar Shepherd Gallery, Charlottetown, PEI.
1999 “Reflexivité: Double Vision”* March 18 – April 7, Baha’i Centre, Ottawa, Ontario.
1992 “Commemoration” June 11 – June 28, 1992. Galerie Intersection, Ottawa, Ontario.
1982 “Papiergraph-Photopapier”.* April, 1982. La corporation des métiers d’art, Chicoutimi, Québec.
SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
Web 2.0 (delicious, digg, Flickr, wordpress, gather, blogspot, Picasa, HTML, ToolBook 5.0, an authoring software package for creating interactive multimedia applications, FoxPro, database (RQBE: Relational Query by Example) includes image management capacity, EndNote, (package for creating bibliographies), Deskscan, Adobe PhotoShop, Corel Draw, WordPerfect 8, MS Word, PowerPoint, ATLAS-TI.
LANGUAGES
Bilingual English-French. Lecture at University level in French. Beginner level courses in Inuktitut (1999). Beginner level self-study courses in Kicongo. (1983)
This portion is in the process of being integrated with the above:
1997-8 Consultant for Canadian Teachers Federation. Prepared extensive bibliographic resource list on African-Canadian history for 1996-7 Mathieu da Costa award project.
1997 Winter and Fall sessions. Lecturer Carleton University’s Art History, teaching Inuit Art 11.314.
1990-5 As volunteer provided material for and facilitated informal art classes for pre-youth of Golden Lake First Nations at held at Golden Lake Makwa Centre c. 6 – 10 classes a year. Worked with community members to raise funds and organize bus trips to Ottawa to visit museums. Maintained contact and interest in Golden Lake activities particularly those organized through addiction counselor Irvin Sarasin. Rhonda Amikons, a student from this group of pre-youth went on to complete her studies in North Bay in the visual arts.
1994 (Summer) Practicum: Teaching and Learning Centre. Developed a model of how graduate students might assist instructors in the use of interactive multimedia applications. Focus: Preparation of material for an interactive multimedia application (CD-ROM) that could be used as support material for Professor Jackson’s Inuit Art Course (Art History 11.314).
1993 (Summer) Practicum: National Gallery Inuit Art Curatorial Section. Assisted Inuit Art Curator, Marie Routledge in preparation for exhibition From the Centre: The Drawings of Luke Anguhadluq.
1986 (Fall) Learning Problems. McGill University, Montreal. Focus: The learning process: reaching learners with various learning problems. (Selected field work and course work).
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2005 Status of Women Canada: Contracted to research and submit report on Structural Changes that Impacted on Women’s Lives since 1995.
2005 Prepared illustrated timeline of Mi’kmaq social history.
2004-5 Research Assistant to Professor Donna Patrick, Carleton University. Urban Inuit Research Project
1994-5 Research Assistant to Professor Marion Jackson, Carleton University.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2001 “Reviews: Saqiyuq.” Inuit Art Quarterly. 16:3.
1999 “Shape-shifting and other points of convergence: Inuit art and digital technologies.” Art Libraries Journal. London: Fall.
1999 “Jessie Oonark: Woman in the Centre.” Inuit Art Quarterly. 14. no. 2. (Summer).
1998 “Dance to the Drum: In Celebration.” Inuit Art Quarterly. 13. no. 3 (Fall).
1998 “CD Rom: The Process behind the Creation of “Woman in the Centre” womenspace. 34. (Fall). e-version: www.womenspace.ca/vol34k.html
1996 “Shamanism in Inuit Art”. Inuit Art Quarterly. 11. no.1. (Spring).
SELECTED CO-AUTHORED PUBLICATIONS
2005 Ejesiak, Kirt & Flynn-Burhoe, Maureen (2005) Animal Rights vs Inuit Rights. Boston Globe/World News Network. Boston.
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONFERENCES
2001 “Reflections from the field of cyberspace: practical, ethical and relational issues in Internet based research.” (co-presented with Andrea Doucet.) 18th Qualitatives Conference. McMaster University. May 17-9, 2001.
2000 “Risks and Rights: Imaging the Seal Hunt, a Web-based Project”. 17th Qualitatives Conference. University of New Brunswick. May 18-21, 2000.
1998 “IMM: Oonark.” Women’s Studies, Women’s Equality and the New Communications Technology. Canadian Women’s Studies Association. Université d’Ottawa, May 30.
1996 “A study of the symbols of womanhood in the work of Jessie Oonark using interactive multimedia as a method of exploration,” 10th Inuit Studies Conference, Memorial University of Newfoundland, August 16, 1996.
OTHER PRESENTATIONS
2000 “Le rôle de l’art dans la société canadienne”. Mini-cours. Institut d’études canadiennes. Université d’Ottawa. 5 mai.
1996 “New Media and Inuit Art,” QAGGIT 1996, Inuit Art Foundation, Carleton University.
SELECTED WWWS DEVELOPED
2006 speechless http://oceanflynn.wordpress.com
1999 “Inuitartwebliography.” www.carleton.ca/inuitartwebliography Launched Fall Qaggit 1999. Inuit Art Foundation. Ottawa. Currently being moved to http://inuitartwebliography.blogspot.com
http://inuitartwebliography.blogspot.com/
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
One-Woman Exhibitions:
1999 “Reflexivité: Double Vision”* July, 1999, Pilar Shepherd Gallery, Charlottetown, PEI.
1992 “Commemoration” June 11 – June 28, 1992. Galerie Intersection, Ottawa, Ontario.
1982 “Papiergraph-Photopapier”.* April, 1982. La corporation des métiers d’art, Chicoutimi, Québec.
COLLECTIONS
1997 Canada Council Art Bank
SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
Currently learning Web 2.0 technologies. HTML, Adobe PhotoShop, ToolBook 5.0, an authoring software package for creating interactive multimedia applications, FoxPro, database (RQBE: Relational Query by Example) includes image management capacity, EndNote, (package for creating bibliographies), Deskscan, Corel Draw, WordPerfect 8, MS Word, PowerPoint, ATLAS-TI.
LANGUAGES
Bilingual English-French. Lecture at University level in French.
The Greening of Calgary: more Kinnikinnick please
September 29, 2009
Does the City of Calgary use its own WaterWise Gardening and Planting advice along its bike paths, walking trails and public green spaces within the city? This question arose at the City’s booth at the 2009 EcoLiving Fair held at the Mount Royal University campus, September 26 & 27, 2009. There are lots of native plants in the “Special Protection Natural Areas” around the city but not in these other spaces that now seem to have the ubiquitous Canadian coast-to-coast urban plants. Calgary has such a unique setting and ecosystem with stunning visual potential for planned urban local/native/wild flowers.
Apparently it has been a hard sell for local suppliers such as ALCLA Native Plant Restoration Inc competing against petunias.
WaterWise workshop leaders encourage Calgary gardeners to go ditch-diving for native wild plants. But our ditches have pretty slim picking. The incredibly hardy and year-round attractive and useful Kinnikinnick, aka Bearberry or Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is not easy to find in Calgary in city parks let alone ditches (although robust 3.5″ plugs in ‘deep root trainers’ are available at Bow Point Nursery).
Why is there not more sweetgrass Hierachloe odorata planted ?
Plants that are abundant on the lands of the Tsuu T’ina Nation for example could easily be grown anywhere in Calgary with less cost and maintenance than the urban selections we now have. If the city set the example by changing the aesthetic perhaps private corporations and business owners would include more low-maintenance but high-impact native plant varieties. We would also be encouraging local entrepreneurs who have already begun to shift.
Familiarity with native plants could be much enhanced by having more of them in urban parks-perhaps even labelled as hardy native plants-in urban areas and eventually gardeners would surely be attracted to these healthy alternatives.
There are several local small businesses that market native wild plants while slowly educating the public to a shift in aesthetics towards water-wise planting. Bow Point Nursery, has its own glossary of native plants. Bow Point Nursery is also a reliable place to get Sheep’s Fescue seed and extraordinary lawn grass substitute that can be over-seeded with great results in three years. Laureen Rama was at the EcoLiving Fair with huge bins of Sheep’s Fescue seed and very practical hints. For more info on her services visit Eco-yards. The ALCLA Native Plant Restoration Inc. includes this long list of native plants they have available.
Notes
1. Dorothy Harvie Gardens at the Calgary Zoo use ‘deep root trainers’. Root trainer cell packs for seedlings encourage deep root growth, reducing the risk of stress when planted.
2. Westgro Horticultural Supplies Inc., 1557 Hastings Crescent SE, Calgary, AB T2G 4C8, Canada and Professional Gardener Co Ltd
915 23 Avenue Se, Calgary, AB T2G 1P1 -Telephone : 403-263-4200 both have ‘deep root trainers.’
3. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi – Kinnikinnick – Low mat forming evergreen groundcover. Dark green, leathery leaves, turn red in full sun. Small red berries. Full sun or shade. (Bow Point Nursery glossary).
4. Calgary and Area Native Plant Nurseries and Services: Bow Point Nursery, Springbank, 403-686-4434, www.bowpointnursery.com, for native trees and shrubs, and low-maintenance grass seed. Also for composted soil, compost, wood chip mulch, wooden rounds; ALCLA Native Plant Restoration, 3208 Bearspaw Drive, NW, Calgary, AB, 403-282-6515, www.alclanativeplants.com for native perennial flowers and native grass seed mixes; Wild About Flowers, Turner Valley, 403-933-3903, www.wildaboutflowers.ca for native perennial flowers and native grass mixes; Laureen Rama’s Eco-yards.
5. Calgary-based author and gardener, Donna Balzer’s list of water-wise plant recommendations for Calgary gardens which includes many native plants available on the City of Calgary’s website.
Synaptic Gasp
September 11, 2009
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I have been working on this Adobe Photoshop Image which seems to keep getting larger and larger. I first sketched out the movement I wanted using 2B Pentil on paper. I was working with several images of neural architecture as models but the movement and composition looked like dozens of images I’ve painted and drawn over the years. The I scanned the full-size image on a flat bed scanner. In Adobe Photoshop I inverted the positive/negative aspect under Image > Adjustments > Invert. Under Image>Mode I converted the image from RGB to Greyscale then to RGB again so I could adjust the colours to one I hoped would be easier to paint with. I deleted the background so I could have a transparent layer to work with. I used the Magic Wand tool to delete the spaces between neurons. (Some of this work must feel a little like users of video games where you target and delete). I like to use both the eraser, blurring and cloning tools at this stage with full ranges of Master Diameter and Hardness . I used the starry night wallpaper for the background. I tried to keep Michaelangelo out of this but I kept thinking of the layered image I made recently inspired by Charles Taylor’s response to William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience. Adam looks ridiculous on the neuron branch. I had fun with the shell turned into neuron around the image of Michaelangelo’s depiction of the Creator.
I keep making sketches of close-ups so now I am trying to imagine terminal nerve fibres entwined in neurofilament, proteins at the interface of the downstream end of neuron’s dendritic spine and an excitary synapse. I used Adobe Photoshop’s pattern tool to create the translucid cell membrane encasing the nerves along which electrical impulses flow. I am not satisifed with the detailed synaptic gap so I have started to examine more closely what goes on under the cellular membrane. The synaptic vesicle reminds me of pomegranite seed in some images so I want to play with that a little more. I continue to collect images of synapses and keep track of them on my del.icio.us and my Google customized homepage using .rss feed. I still need to use pencil and paper to understand the relationships. It is strangely relaxing. This type of layered image is never complete. As I learn more about Adobe Photoshop options I will try different tools. (Thank you by the way to the Orton Group. I haven’t tried their suggested tools on any of my work yet but I probably will at some time.)
The synaptic cleft in the human brain reminds me of the gap between the hand of God and Adam in Michaelangelo’s visualization of Creation. My mind is stuck on the image of the gap. That’s the leap of faith between that which we can know and that which is beyond our capacity to know. In the human brain this synaptic gap is so macroscopic no one has ever seen it. But there are amazing images that are somewhat like science fiction as artists attempt to compile scientific data into visualizations of what it might look like. I am not attempting to be a science illustrator. But I think somehow this image will be like a cartography of a way of thinking that resonates more with complex hyperlinkages than with the human brain.
The brain is a supersystem of systems. Each system is composed of an elaborate interconnection of small but macroscopic cortical regions and subcortical nuclei, which are made of microscopic local circuits, which are made of neurons, all of which are connected by synapses (Damasio 1994:30).
Neurons must be triggered by a stimulus to produce nerve impulses, which are waves of electrical charge moving along the nerve fibres. When the neuron receives a stimulus, the electrical charge on the inside of the cell membrane changes from negative to positive. A nerve impulse travels down the fibre to a synaptic knob at its end, triggering the release of chemicals (neurotransmitters) that cross the gap between the neuron and the target cell, stimulating a response in the target (Baggaley 2001:104).
Damasio (1994) describes the neural underpinnings of reason and challenges Cartesian dualisms of mind/body, emotions/reason. Feelings and logical thinking are not like oil and water.
The “body [. . .] represented in the brain [constitutes] an indispensable frame of reference for the neural process that we experience as the mind (Damasio 1994:xvi).”
Our bodies are the ground reference for the construction we make of the world. Our embodied selves construct the ever-present sense of subjectivity, our experience. The body becomes is the instrument through which we construct our most refined thoughts and actions (Damasio 1994:xvi).
Baggaley, Ann, Ed. (2001), “Anatomy of the Human Body,” Human Body, Dorling Kindersley Publishing: NY, p. 104.
Damasio, Antonio R., 1994, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Grosset/Putnam: New York.
Damasio, Hanna, (1994) “Gage’s skull, illustrations” in Damasio, Antonio R., 1994, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, Grosset/Putnam: New York. p. 31-2.
Johnson, Graham, (2005), “The Synapse Revealed,” 23 September 2005, Science Magazine and the National Science Foundation.
The first place winner of the Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge was Graham Johnson from Medical Media, Boulder, Colorado. His image is described on Science Magazine’s web page:
Deep inside the brain, a neuron prepares to transmit a signal to its target. To capture that fleeting moment, Graham Johnson based this elegant drawing on ultra-thin micrographs of sequential brain slices. After scanning a sketch into 3D modeling software, he colored the image and added texture and glowing lighting reminiscent of a scanning electron micrograph.
Uploaded by ocean.flynn on 29 Nov 2006, 9.59AM MDT.
Mapping Dan Brown’s Deception Point (2001)
August 20, 2009
In his novel entitled Deception Point (2001) Dan Brown links scientific publications based on results from NASA, etc to offer fictional scenarios using consultants with various forms of expertise to enhance believability and to pull readers into his imaginary worlds of knowledge and power, corruption and politics and leading edge technological and scientific research.
Using My Google Maps app I am mapping the adventures of Rachel Sexton, daughter of US Presidential candidate, Senator Sedgewick Sexton. Rachel Sexton works for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), Fairfax, Virginia, as a gister, “gisting or data reduction required analyzing complex reports and distilling their essence or gist into concise, single page briefs (Brown 2001-21).”
Selected Timeline
1951-06-19 The parties to the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington on 4 April, 1949, agreed to the NATO Status of Forces Agreement in 1951 allowing members to have forces of one Party may be sent, by arrangement, to serve in the territory of another Party; Bearing in mind that the decision to send them and the conditions under which they will be sent, in so far as such conditions are not laid down by the present Agreement, will continue to be the subject of separate arrangements between the Parties concerned. Under that agreement the RAF Menwith Hill is made available to the US Department of Defense (DoD). RAF Menwith Hill is situated off the A59 Skipton Road, approximately nine miles west of Harrogate in North Yorkshire and occupies about one square mile of moorland. Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) is entitled to possession of the site and retains control over its use and its facilities, though the administration of the base is the responsibility of the US authorities. The base comprises family housing, community facilities and high-technology installations and structures set on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, just outside the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. RAF Menwith Hill works closely with local and national authorities on all matters relating to planning, conservation and the environment. wiki+
1950s Echelon, a global surveillance network, “was set up in Cold War days to provide the US goverment with intelligence data about Russia. One of the main contractors is Raytheon. Lockheed Martin has been involved in writing software for it. Since then it has expanded into a general listening facility, an electronic vacuum cleaner, sucking up the world’s telephone conversations. Information about it’s existence has been reluctantly revealed, prompted by scandals such as the recordings of Princess Diana’s telephone calls by the NSA (Mellor 2004-10-15).” In 1966 the National Security Agency took on responsibility for the U.S. operation of the site, expanding the capabilities to monitor international leased line communications transiting through Britain. The site was then one of the earliest to receive sophisticated early IBM computers, with which NSA automated the labour-intensive watch-list scrutiny of intercepted but unenciphered telex messages. The site is alleged to be part of the ECHELON system, monitoring civilian communications satellites. During the early 1970s Menwith Hill appears to have been made capable of intercepting the downlink of civilian communication satellites, landed over northern Europe, when the first of more than eight large satellite communications dishes were installed.” Brown refers to the NRO/NSA listening post in Menwith Hill as part of the technology that saves the lives of his heroine Rachel and the scientists adrift on ice that has just calved off the Milne Ice Shelf. Rachel thuds out a low tech Morse code using her ice pick hoping the NRO’s Classic Wizard Global Surveillance System and the Cray computers would decipher her pounding and locate them.
mid-1970s SNC meteorites consisting of 12 meteorites led to speculation that the SNC meteorites may have originated from a planet-sized “parent body” in the inner solar system. Since it was first suggested in the mid-1970’s that this parent body may have been the planet Mars, intensive study has not only upheld this radical theory, but also provided a convincing foundation of evidence to support it. Careful study of the nakhlite group of meteorites conducted in the early- and mid-1970s by such workers as Papanastassiou and Wasserburg (1974) demonstrated that the nakhlite meteorites exhibited an anomalously young isochron crystallization age of 1.37 billion years, as determined by the rubidium-strontium [Rb-Sr] dating methodWeisstein 1996-2007.”
1975-1982 “NASA’s Viking Mission to Mars was composed of two spacecraft, Viking 1 and Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander. The primary mission objectives were to obtain high resolution images of the Martian surface, characterize the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface, and search for evidence of life. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975 and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976. The first month of orbit was devoted to imaging the surface to find appropriate landing sites for the Viking Landers. On July 20, 1976 the Viking 1 Lander separated from the Orbiter and touched down at Chryse Planitia (22.48° N, 49.97° W planetographic, 1.5 km below the datum (6.1 mbar) elevation). Viking 2 was launched September 9, 1975 and entered Mars orbit on August 7, 1976. The Viking 2 Lander touched down at Utopia Planitia (47.97° N, 225.74° W, 3 km below the datum elevation) on September 3, 1976. The Orbiters imaged the entire surface of Mars at a resolution of 150 to 300 meters, and selected areas at 8 meters. The lowest periapsis altitude for both Orbiters was 300 km. The Viking 2 Orbiter was powered down on July 25, 1978 after 706 orbits, and the Viking 1 Orbiter on August 17, 1980, after over 1400 orbits. The Orbiter images are available from NSSDC on CD-ROM and as photographic products. These images have been converted to digital image mosaics and maps , and these are also available from NSSDC on CD-ROM. An index giving the latitude and longitude of each Viking Orbiter image is available at the Viking FTP site. The Viking Landers transmitted images of the surface, took surface samples and analyzed them for composition and signs of life, studied atmospheric composition and meteorology, and deployed seismometers. The Viking 2 Lander ended communications on April 11, 1980, and the Viking 1 Lander on November 13, 1982, after transmitting over 1400 images of the two sites. Many of these images are also available from NSSDC online and as photographic products. Further information on the spacecraft, experiments, and data returned from the Viking missions can be found in the September 30, 1977 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research, “Scientific Results of the Viking Project”, vol. 82, no. 28 (Williams 2005).”
1986 “Hydrothermal plumes are created and sustained by the heat of volcanic processes along the Mid-Ocean Ridge system that circles the globe. Hydrothermal systems consists of circulation zones where seawater interacts with rock, thereby changing chemical and physical characteristics of both the seawater and the rock. The altered seawater, called hydrothermal fluid, is injected back into the ocean at hydrothermal vent fields and forms hydrothermal plumes. These plumes are often black or white with the color coming from mineral particles that precipitate rapidly as hot hydrothermal fluids (with temperatures as high as 340oC) mix with cold seawater (usually about 1-2oC) at or just below the vent orifice. “http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/PlumeStudies/plumes-whatis.html NOAA PMEL Vents Program. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Department of Commerce. “What is a hydrothermal plume?“
1989 Squidgygate refers to the pre-1990 telephone conversations between Diana, Princess of Wales and a close friend, James Gilbey, and to the controversy surrounding how those conversations were recorded. A tape recording of a conversation purporting to have taken place between the Princess of Wales and James Gilbey on New Year’s Eve 1989 was submitted by a UK newspaper for technical analysis. Mr Gilbey was supposed to have been using a cellular telephone, and the Princess of Wales to have been on a normal telephone line at Sandringham.
1992 The Sun newspaper publicly revealed the tapes’ existence in an article entitled “Squidgygate”, which is a cultural reference to the American Watergate scandal of the early 1970s.
1984-12-27 ALH 84001, the first meteorite found by a research team of US meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project in the research season of 1984-12-27 in the Allan Hills (-76° 55′ 13.00″, +156° 46′ 25.00″) an especially meteorite-rich area in the Trans-Antarctic Mountains lm of US meteorite hunters from the ANSMET project. In 1996-08 when NASA scientists announced that ALH 84001 might contain evidence for microscopic fossils of Martian bacteria it became a mass media sensation. See also wiki.The meteorite, ALH84001, was discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/marslife.html Its research name indicates that it was the first meteorite found during the 1984 research season in the Allan Hills ALH.
1996 “A group of scientists led by David McKay of NASA’s Johnson Space Center published an article in the 16 August 1996 issue of Science magazine announcing the discovery of evidence for primitive bacterial life on Mars. An examination of a meteorite found in Antarctica and believed to be from Mars shows: 1) hydrocarbons which are the same as breakdown products of dead micro-organisms on Earth, 2) mineral phases consistent with by-products of bacterial activity, and 3) tiny carbonate globules which may be microfossils of the primitive bacteria, all within a few hundred-thousandths of an inch of each other. Based on age dating of the meteorite, the following scenario has been proposed: The original igneous rock solidified within Mars about 4.5 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the formation of the planet. (Based on isotope ages of the igneous component of the meteorite); Between 3.6 and 4 billion years ago the rock was fractured, presumably by meteorite impacts. Water then permeated the cracks, depositing carbonate minerals and allowing primitive bacteria to live in the fractures; About 3.6 billion years ago, the bacteria and their by-products became fossilized in the fractures. (Based on isotope ages of the minerals in the fractures); 16 million years ago, a large meteorite struck Mars, dislodging a large chunk of this rock and ejecting it into space. (Based on the cosmic ray exposure age of the meteorite); 13,000 years ago, the meteorite landed in Antarctica (Williams 2005).” See also “Using scanning electron microscopy and laser mass spectroscopy, a team led by David S. McKay identified polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the meteorite, as well as globules of carbonate and the minerals magnetite and iron sulfide. The carbonate globules are small elongated features resembling similar ones found on Earth which are believed to have formed in association with bacteria. McKay et al. (1996) determined their age to be approximately 3.6 billion years. All the unusual compounds found in the meteorite are associated with bacterial activity on Earth, PAHs with decay products of microorganisms and magnetite and iron sulfide with anaerobic bacteria. However, the presence of these compounds is not necessarily diagnostic for the presence of bacteria. McKay and his coworkers appear to have excluded the possibility that any of their discoveries represent terrestrial contamination, so the constituents they describe presumably must have formed while the meteorite was still on the surface (or shallow subsurface) of Mars. While the reported discoveries are intriguing and consistent with formation through biological activity (especially when taken together), this conclusion requires additional confirmation. It should be recalled that initial experiments on soil samples from one of the Viking landers were heralded as clear evidence of organic material, whereas subsequent laboratory work showed that the observed results could be reproduced with entirely inorganic soil constituents. While the presence of past life on Mars would be a scientific discovery of epic proportions and warrants the closest possible scrutiny, it is premature at this juncture to state that the existence of life on Mars, past or present, has been conclusively demonstrated Weisstein 1996-2007.”
1996 President Clinton and his science and technology adviser, Dr. Jack Gibbons, commented on the announcement by NASA. “This is the product of years of exploration and months of intensive study by some of the world’s most distinguished scientists. Like all discoveries, this one will and should continue to be reviewed, examined and scrutinized. It must be confirmed by other scientists. But clearly, the fact that something of this magnitude is being explored is another vindication of America’s space program and our continuing support for it, even in these tough financial times. I am determined that the American space program will put it’s full intellectual power and technological prowess behind the search for further evidence of life on Mars. First, I have asked Administrator Goldin to ensure that this finding is subject to a methodical process of further peer review and validation. Second, I have asked the Vice President to convene at the White House before the end of the year a bipartisan space summit on the future of America’s space program. A significant purpose of this summit will be to discuss how America should pursue answers to the scientific questions raised by this finding. Third, we are committed to the aggressive plan we have put in place for robotic exploration of Mars. America’s next unmanned mission to Mars is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in November. It will be followed by a second mission in December. I should tell you that the first mission is scheduled to land on Mars on July the 4th, 1997 — Independence Day. It is well worth contemplating how we reached this moment of discovery. More than 4 billion years ago this piece of rock was formed as a part of the original crust of Mars. After billions of years it broke from the surface and began a 16 million year journey through space that would end here on Earth. It arrived in a meteor shower 13,000 years ago. And in 1984 an American scientist on an annual U.S. government mission to search for meteors on Antarctica picked it up and took it to be studied. Appropriately, it was the first rock to be picked up that year — rock number 84001. Today, rock 84001 speaks to us across all those billions of years and millions of miles. It speaks of the possibility of life. If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered. Its implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined. Even as it promises answers to some of our oldest questions, it poses still others even more fundamental. We will continue to listen closely to what it has to say as we continue the search for answers and for knowledge that is as old as humanity itself but essential to our people’s future (Clinton 1996).”
2000-07-05 The European Parliament created a Temporary Committee on the ECHELON Interception System and laid down its mandate as outlined in Chapter 1, 1.3. With a view to fulfilling that mandate, at its constituent meeting of 9 July 2000 the Temporary Committee appointed Gerhard Schmid rapporteur. They acknowledged that the “existence of a global system for intercepting communications, operating by means of cooperation proportionate to their capabilities among the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand under the UKUSA Agreement, [was] no longer in doubt; whereas it seems likely, in view of the evidence and the consistent pattern of statements from a very wide range of individuals and organisations, including American sources, that its name is in fact ECHELON, [and that] the purpose of the system is to intercept, at the very least, private and commercial communications, and not military communications, although the analysis carried out in the report has revealed that the technical capabilities of the system are probably not nearly as extensive as some sections of the media had assumed. [They also were both surprised and worried] that many senior Community figures, including European Commissioners, who gave evidence to the Temporary Committee claimed to be unaware of this phenomenon (EU).”
Notes
1. “The SNC meteorites, so named for the shergottite, nakhlite, and chassigny classes which comprise this group of petrologically similar specimens, consist of 12 meteorites that share a set of similar properties that are highly anomalous compared to other meteoritic samples. The investigation of these characteristic properties has led to speculation that the SNC meteorites may have originated from a planet-sized “parent body” in the inner solar system. Since it was first suggested in the mid-1970’s that this parent body may have been the planet Mars, intensive study has not only upheld this radical theory, but also provided a convincing foundation of evidence to support it. Careful study of the nakhlite group of meteorites conducted in the early- and mid-1970s by such workers as Papanastassiou and Wasserburg (1974) demonstrated that the nakhlite meteorites exhibited an anomalously young isochron crystallization age of 1.37 billion years, as determined by the rubidium-strontium [Rb-Sr] dating method. (At least one SNC meteorite, ALH84001, is much older, with an age of 4.5 billion years.) Weisstein 1996-2007.”
Viking Landers Gas bubbles trapped in one meteorite, EETA79001, have a composition which matches the current martian atmosphere as measured by the Viking Landers, compelling evidence that this meteorite and by association the others, including ALH84001, came from Mars.
ALH84001 discovered in 1984 in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica, is the oldest Martian meteorite. “The original igneous rock solidified within Mars about 4.5 billion years ago, about 100 million years after the formation of the planet. (Based on isotope ages of the igneous component of the meteorite) (MaKay et al 1996). The ALH84001 is distinct from the SNC classification. Various articles in Science magazine reported signs of organic wormy-looking relics, Magnetotactic bacteria were present in Martian meteorite ALH84001. The Martian meteorite stayed for 2 years stay in the Caltech …
Selected Bibliography and Webliography
Clinton, Bill. 1996-08-07. “President Clinton Statement Regarding Mars Meteorite Discovery“. NASA. Retrieved 2006-08-07.
Crenson, Matt. 2006-08-06. “After 10 years, few believe life on Mars.” AP.
http://diversitas.org http://www.uia.be/sites/uia.be/db/db/x.php
Handwerk, Brian. 2005-12-12. “Hydrothermal “Megaplume” Found in Indian Ocean.” National Geographic News.
McKay, David S. Gibson Jr, Everett. K. Thomas-Keprta. 1996-08-16. ”Search for past life on Mars: possible relic biogenic activity in Martian meteorite ALH84001“. Science. sciencemag.org
Mellor, Chris. 2004-10-15. “Want to know the hardware behind Echelon? Uncle Sam using Texas’ SAM.” Techworld.
Weisstein, Eric W. 1996-2007. “SNC Meteors.” Wolfram Science World.
Williams, David R. 2005. “Evidence of Ancient Martian Life in Meteorite ALH84001?” National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC).
Arctic Adventurer: a Flicktion
July 25, 2009
In the few short months that I have spent in Nunavut, two mothers who had become my colleagues and friends, lost youthful sons to suicide. Within a brief period of two months, four youth in a community of less than 1,500 people committed suicide. Almost the entire community attended the funeral. The hall was filled with infants, toddlers, children, youth, adults and elders. The youngest children wove between chairs and family members comfortably a part of community life. Youth dressed in southern street-smart clothing respectfully gave their seats to elders. The shared pain in the room at the loss of their youth through suicide, was suffocating. At the graveside, it was cold and windy. It began to snow. As one mother witnessed the shovel-fulls of sand thudding onto her son’s coffin, another walked quietly alone to another fresh grave nearby. I stood there helpless feeling so overwhelmed I couldn’t move. I know many others felt the same paralysis. How many of us were mothers? How many of us had sons in their twenties?
The family of the young man, colleagues and friends provided support to the parents and to each other. On the return flight home, one man was unusually upbeat and talkative. Perhaps that is his way of dealing with the pain. I didn’t know who he was. He sat behind me. As I left the plane I asked the woman next to me who this man was. To my astonishment it was the *** for Nunavut.
Following the suicides, friends and acquaintances attempted to find ways of absorbing yet another tragedy. Some felt anger at the youth who committed suicide. Many expressed feelings of numbness. Some regretted their own inability to know what to do. They felt guilty for not knowing how to prevent it. Like many others I feel a sense of powerlessness.
November 21, 2003: (I hope things go well with you. I am writing to ask your favour in helping a bit on your recent (and future) expense claims. I know that S.H. is a bit harried, working herself as a full-time instructor as well as the financial manager on this project. I really do not want her — nor is it fair — working as a glorified clerk. Therefore, in her behalf, could you send her a claim that she can file without amendment — that is, typed or in pen, a correct excess baggage sum, and an amended per diem (given kitchen facilities, it should be much less than $70.) working with an actual cost or estimated at around $35 or $40. We are tight on this project, especially as I went the extra mile on the term appointment. Many thanks.)
December 11, 2002: While waiting for my plane at the Iqaluit airport I met a physician-researcher who had just completed a report on the Nunavut Ministry of Health. She told me about a two-hour conversation she had with a man called TNC in a hotel bar in Rankin Inlet. TNC had lost a friend to suicide. He was deeply bothered by his loss. He went to see a nurse. The nurse became very uncomfortable when Tommy mentioned he was depressed and upset by this suicide. She sent him to a Social Worker. The Social Worker was also ill at ease. She called the police. TNC spent the night in jail. They were concerned he might hurt himself. Because the small hamlet had no counselling services, TNC was flown to Yellowknife. He was separated from the only real support system he had — his mother and grandmother in Rankin Inlet. Later on the plane I sat beside a young man GRB. GRB worked for Baffin Correctional Centre. He started there in c.1996. He told me about a millionaire who made his fortune by buying high-end buildings in Iqaluit, then renting them at high rents to the Nunavut Government. GRB loved speed — the speed of the snow machine. His best moments were out on the land with a half a dozen friends on powerful machines. His work bothered him. He felt surrounded by uneducated, untrained fellow-workers — many of whom came from Halifax — who cared little for the young offenders. Many were there because they could earn huge salaries — especially with overtime. Some of them didn’t even have high school education and in Iqaluit they were earning much more than they ever could in the Maritimes. It frustrated him to see how these untrained workers wanted to work by the book to earn points from the supervisors. Sometimes a situation could be diffused before it became violent and ugly. By rigidly following the book, a small incident could escalate into an ugly incident very quickly. GRB came to know the offenders so he knew how to calm things. Increasingly the workers who lacked experience but were older than him, made the situations worse. GRB noticed the most improvement in the youth came through the on-the-land program. Youth would spend a couple of months with the elders. They came back healthier and more confident. He commented on the work of the psychiatrist Dr. Q He said that Dr. Q tried to prevent the worst from happening but he was not really in control of the situation. He was not able to make all the decisions that would be beneficial to the youth. GRB said that Iqaluit youth threatening suicide would be sent to the Youth detention centre. He would be stripped down, showered and then given ‘baby dolls’ to wear before being locked in a safe cell where he could do himself no harm. (What a contrast to the treatment my friend’s son received in Ottawa. )
June 2002: This text will change organically as the flicktion develops.
Uploaded by ocean.flynn on 30 Nov 06, 9.15PM MDT.
