Environmental Friendly Products shop

Saw in the Chinese newspaper that there is this shop in China town that sells all sorts of environmental friendly products. Name of the shop 'Choose'. Address : 26A Sago Stgreet. Tel: 63230651.

The Holographic Universe

In the early school days, we had been taught that there was a one to one correspondence between an image the eye see and how that image was represented in the brain. In other words, when we see a tree, there is really a tree physically out there, outside our body and its image is present in our mind. Now scientists are telling us that the above is wrong. What are ‘outside’ are actually a bunch of interference pattern / waveforms which can be represented in a frequency domain (through Fourier transform). These frequencies are filtered and converted by many parts of the brain before they appear as familiar objects ( eg. Trees, mountains, cups, bowls … ) that make up our world. If such is that case, can we say that the physical world that we always perceive is just an illusion? If the external world is unreal, then what is real? What is reality? Well, this book provides some insights into this issue. Besides telling us that our brains mathematically construct objective reality (the physical world) by interpreting frequencies seen through the eyes and other senses, scientists also came out with another radical conclusion --- space and time are also ‘Unreal’, they are constructed by our Mind.

Coming to the topic of the Hologram, this book explains the principles behind the creation of a hologram. This eventually led scientist to discover that the human mind and vision function using holographic principles. Moreover, scientists also believe that the Universe is structured like a hologram and we human beings, are also part of the hologram. It's interesting that two top scientists from two entirely different fields, a neurologist and a physicist both arrived at the conclusion that the Universe is holographic in nature through their own researches. The book then went on to use the holographic principles to explain many other phenomenon, paranormal human experiences and unsolved puzzles that Science could not explain.

Although this book was published in 1991, it was still a very popular read based on the comments submitted at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Holographic-Universe-Michael-Talbot/dp/0060922583/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241935295&sr=8-1 ). The book summarized findings of many experiments and research throughout the world that are relevant to the subject on Holographic Universe. You do not have to be very knowledgeable in Science or proficient in Mathematics to understand this book’s contents. The author is very clear in his explanation and the laying down of research findings. Surprisingly, this book also provides some insights into the meaning of life and existence, based on the outcome of many researches of people with paranormal experiences and the findings of top scientists. These insights and some of the discoveries on the secret of the Universe can form the basis for World peace and harmony if all people understand them.

This is one of the most interesting and mind-blowing piece of Scientific work that I have come across.

Reference :

Michael Talbot, The Holographic Universe, 1991, Harper Perennial, USA.

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This book is available in some bookstores in Singapore as well as in some National Library branches.

Other links :

http://www.amazon.com/Holographic-Universe-Michael-Talbot/dp/0060922583/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241935295&sr=8-1

Youtube videos related to the Holographic Universe :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnvM_YAwX4I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpbEhSxfxeY (interview with Michael Talbot - part 1)

The Human Body User Manual Book 2 - The Path of Healing

This book is a sequence to the top selling book - The Human Body User Manual ( http://www.54md.com/book/catalog_5.html ). In Book 2, the author will explain more in depth some principles of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). Interestingly he compared the relationship between the main human organs (according to TCM principles) with principles of management in the business world. He gave examples of how a company became successful by following certain principles (Relationship between the main human organs according to TCM) and how a company failed when it went against these principles.
That is a also a very interesting section dealing with emotions and health. According to TCM, different emotions affect different main internal organs and the functions of these main internal organs will also in turn affect our emotions.
Here is a short section I attempt to translate and share with all :
Heat stroke / cold drinks
As a result of heavy workload after a vigorous workout or exercise, the human heart need to continuously dissipate the resulting heat. This causes the body to sweat profusely to dissipate the heat. After the over-heated heart gradually return to normal temperature, the sweating will then gradually stop. During this process, the body has a self-regulated control system which is able to sense the temperature in various parts of the body and determine if the heat has already dissipated from the body. If now one gulps down a few mouthful of cold drink or goes straight into an air-conditioned environment or uses cold water to wash any part of the skin, the mouth / throat / skin area will experience a sudden strong cooling sensation. This sensation will swiftly reaches the brain, causing it to wrongly ascertain that the body has cooled dwon and signals the body to stop all acts of dissipating the body heat (sweating). Many people have this similar experience. When one sweats profusely and gulps down some cold drinks, sweating stops rapidly. The above mentioned explains this experience.
The cooling sensation only comes from the mouth / skin but if fools the brain into believing that the whole body has cooled down and stopped all heat dissipating processes. At this moment, the heart is still under high temperature, the muscles on the surface of the heart may subsequently get over-heated and injured as a result, leading to myocarditis (inflamation of the myocardium, the muscular part of the heart). In serious cases, the affected person may immediately faint while in less serious cases, the affected may show symptons of heat stroke.
Traditionally, the Chinese perceive cold drinks as harmful to health, especially if one takes cold drinks immediately after a vigorous exercise and the body is still very warm. The surface of the heart may be injured as a result of taking cold drinks. An injured heart will seriously impair its functions, causing problems in blood circulation and metabolism, leading to obesity.
This book is not available for downloading but some of its content are featured on the author's blog at :

http://alexwu2300.blogspot.com/

You will find many interesting items on Health at his blog.

Reference / Book links :
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/china/chinafile.php?item=CN10110374
http://www.books.com.tw/exep/prod/booksfile.php?item=0010400035

Human Body User Manual (Traditional Chinese Medicine)

This is a Chinese book that discusses some basic principles of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) in a revolutionary and scientific way that is easily understood by the layman. Most of time the author uses the analogy of a computer system to explain TCM concerpts. Here are just a few points which I gathered from this book.

* The Human body is an extremely intelligent system, many times more powerful than the computer system, especially in the management of resources and it's ability to transform one type of resouces to another type to meet the daily needs of our body system. For example, the book explains why people with diabetes lose a lot of weight during the initial period. It is a tranformation of one kind of resource inside the body to another in order to meet the deficiency of resouces in other areas. More detailed info are contained in the book.

* Sometimes, in coping with the heavy energy / resource needs of the body (eg stressful lifestyles), the body does not have the enough resources to clean up the waste and other toxic substances residing in the body. When one goes on a long vacation with plenty of rest, the body now have the resources to start a major 'spring cleaning' and a lot of waste and other toxic substances start discharging out of the body through the blood streams. If one goes for health screening (eg. blood test) during this period, the blood results may show 'unhealthy' signs. As such, it is important to take into account which period of time when one goes for a health check. Hence normal blood test results do not necessary mean that a person is healthy and vice versa. More detailed info are contained in the book.

* The illnesses in the internal main organs often manifest as symptoms in other external organs. Every often, people took Western medicines to relieve and suppress the symptoms instead of finding the exact causes. In the long run, this may harm the body. In TCM, it is essential to identify the exact cause of the an illness and the treatment of this illness may not be at the location where the symptoms occur after the cause of illness is identified. More interesting examples and info are found in the book.

* The book also discusses the different approach between Western Medicine and TCM.

* The book also provides simple tips / exercises in maintaining a healthy body.

You can download the book at :

http://www.54md.com/book/catalog_5.html

Not to worry, there are no copyright issues with downloading the book. As mentioned in the last few pages of the book under the Interview section, the author made the softcopy of the book freely available on the web for quite some time before the hardcopy prints were out. His intention was pure as he wished to benefit more people. He was indeed surprised that the circulation of his softcopy book created a surge in the sales of the hardcopy prints!

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Here is something I heard about (not from the book) and which I like to share. In Western culture, terms like 消毒，消灭，杀菌 etc are often used. In ancient Chinese culture, terms like 解毒，化解 are often used. From this you can see two different approaches towards the treatment of diseases and in a broader sense, attitudes towards Life. Very often, as we seen throughout history, the more human attempt to kill viruses, pests etc, the more resistant the viruses, pests etc behave towards the antibiotics. The viruses may also mutate in such a way that antibiotics become ineffective in such situations. If you watch Chinese films, you will come across the word 解毒药，but certainly not the word 消毒药or 杀毒药. Being able to neutralize the poison / viruses is the approach in ancient Chinese culture.

In the resolution of human conflicts around the world, the use of vengeful means usually lead to more disastrous results in the future. Hope that all conflicts can be resolved using peaceful means.

Swing Arm Exercise

This is the story I thus have heard :
The ancient famous Greek philosopher (not sure if it is Socrates) taught his students to swing their arms as a form of exercise daily. In the beginning all students followed their teacher's advice. After one month, only three students practised the swing arms exercise daily. After one year, only one student (not sure if it was Plato) continued with this swing arms exercise and became the best student of the Greek philosopher.
The actual name of the philosopher and student aside, one can derive a number of 'moral of the story' from is mentioned above. For example, what makes a good student, persistence leads to success etc etc.
Moral of the story aside, here is a simple swing arm exercise I read about recently :
Youtube videos :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEp5Wh6AcWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjtfUmzM2Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c80I01HKAvM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7kEvs0Ww6w

Other links :

http://www.lapislazuli.org/TradCh/magazine/200811/20081105.html

http://www.meimen.org/health/wonder/wonder-main.html (menu items on the left)

The Most Beautiful Smile

I had to hold back my tears when I first heard this story; I find it quite touching.
If you are more proficient in Chinese, please skip my poor translation and view the original, Chinese version : http://www.dfg.hk/gb/jtjy/qzp/38-zuimei.htm

Here's my simple translation of the story :

On 8 Mar 2008, at the TV programme, 'China Mothers', the list of China's ten most outstanding mothers was announced. The stories of these mothers were also shared and the utmost motherly virtues of Xiong Li touched the hearts of all in China.

Xiong Li was from XianTaoShi in the province of Hubei and was a performer of the local Huagu folk art. She was then 28 years old. On the Dec of 2006, she was six months pregnant and was travelling home after a performance. Unfortunately, a terrible accident happened. A cargo truck, loaded with high temperature alkali collided violently with the passenger vehicle which Xiong Li was travelling in. The heavy impact from the collision caused the alkali to spurt from the cargo truck and Xiong Li's whole body was splashed with the dangerous alkali.

During the collision, Xiong Li had sub-consciously used both her hands to hold her abdomen area tightly. Her face, back and four limbs suffered from serious burns and there was a bone fracture in her right leg. She suffered the worst injury among all passengers. When the medical team arrived and gently moved away both her hands, they found a distinct mark in the shape of two palms on the abdomen area where no signs of burn was observed.

After examination by medical professionals, they concluded that substantial amount of antibiotics were required to control the ensuing infection and skin grafting were also necessary for Xiong Li's treatment. In this way, her looks might recover and she might be able to resume her performance in the future. However, the use of antibiotics and anaesthetic would cause a miscarriage. Xiong Li's family members decided to save the adult first. After Xiong Li regained her consciousness, she knew of her family's decision and with tears in her eyes, she pleaded, "I don't want to use medicines, I can't bear to lose my child!"

From that day onwards, in the period of the subsequent 37 days and nights, and without the use of any anaesthetic, Xiong Li suffered great pain that was beyond description. The doctors carried out conservative treatment methods that would not yield any side effects. In addition, they also came up with a plan to protect the baby. In the first operation, the doctors would use the surgery knife to slice away her burnt, decaying skin in small pieces. When the chief doctor asked her if she wanted the anaesthetic, she shook her head and replied, "As long I do not die of pain on the surgical bed, just let it pain."

During that night of operation, under extreme degree of excruciating pains, Xiong Li strongly used her teeth to hold onto the pillow. She bit till her lips started to bleed. Looking at the pain-killer medicine that was easily within her reach, her defense against the pain almost crumble. Xiong Li's hushand was by her side and could no longer bear to watch her. He pleaded with the doctor to give her the pain-killer jab. Suddenly, there seem to be an outburst of energy connecting mother and the unborn child, and Xiong Li vigorously shook her head to refuse the jab.

Without the use of medicine, the multiple small and big wounds on Xiong Li's body started to fester and deteriorate, the wound on her leg had even deepened to the bone area. Whenever the nurse came to nurse her wounds, she had to force herself to hold back her tears.

At the end of Jan 2007, Xiong Li suffered from high fever of 40 Degrees Celcius and the baby's heart beat quickened. The doctors conducted an emergency examination of her condition and came up with a plan for induced birth. On 2nd Feb, Xiong Li smoothly gave birth to a 2.7 kg child. That day was exactly 37 days after Xiong Li was warded to the hospital for serious burns.

After giving birth, Xiong Li received extensive skin grafting treatment and her condition was under control. However, as a result of serious infections, the wounds left an indelible mark on her face.

On the year of 2007, Xiong Li received the title of "Ten Most Outstanding Mothers who Touched the Hearts of Hubei Province".

A student from Wuhan University was deeply touched. In the student's letter to Xiong Li, it said, "The merciless accident had presented you with a totally different kind of stage. Previously, you were a shinning star on stage. After the accident, fate had mercilessly forced you into the dark corners of life. You have made the choice of facing the fate of disfigurement in order to play the Greatest role in the stage of life - the role of a Mother."

The relationship between mother and child is a deep one. The coming of a new life in a mother's body signals the start of a life journey between two closely-knitted hearts. Nurturing this new and tender life is a mother's Heavenly duty. How can we bear to simply abandon it with all sorts of reasons? Furthermore, there are many young mothers who do things impulsively, or due to the concerns of looks and figures, or consider it troublesome to bring up a child; have eventually chosen abortion. After reading Xiong Li's story, we should seriously reflect and exercise the greatest caution in our deeds.

The greatest career belongs to that of a mother. Great sages, virtuous and wise men and women in History are the result of virtuous mothers who play an important role in the nurturing and education of their child. Hence, mothers contribute greatly to the peace and stability of the nation. The accomplishment and success of all other careers that women undertake are not able to replace their role and accomplishment in nurturing their child. At the juncture between life and death, Xiong Li had sub-consciously used her hands to shielf her abdomen area instead of her face. From that moment onwards, she persisted in holding onto her initial decision and choice of keeping her baby instead of returning to the stage as a performer.

On one hand, we see many career-minded women going after careers in our modern times. On the other hand, we see Xiong Li, using her virtuous love to carry out the decision and choice that had been made by mothers since ancient times and mothers in the future. Although she had lost her good looks, her haggard and weary face still showed signs of loving smile when she looked at her dear baby. Radiance of pure motherly virtues emitted from her smile, that was indeed the most beautiful smile on Earth!

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Original Chinese version : http://www.dfg.hk/gb/jtjy/qzp/38-zuimei.htm

News link : http://news.sina.com.cn/s/p/2007-05-18/150613020805.shtml