Week 5: Religion and God

Laura

RELIGIOUS WAR

What I will say below represents my personal opinion.

I was starting this post and the first thing I did was to make an exact translation from Spanish to English of “Guerra Santa” which is “Holy War” but when I did it, I found that it is not right; the equivalent name is “RELIGIOUS WAR”. It could be not important for most of people; there are many differences between a language and another one; however it is very important for me, because I think the difference between “holy” and “religious” is similar to the difference between GOD and RELIGION.

GOD is a hide explanation of  beauty and of perfection in world, is the reason of nature, the reason of creation and evolution, but It is not observable, it is the way given by the human imagination for finding an answer to questions like: Where did we come from?, Who created us? Second Thermodynamics Law implies that Universe is constantly losing energy, which allows admit that Universe is not eternal, it has a beginning, the moment when entropy was zero…But who or what was the author of that moment? It is GOD.

And…What about religion? Religion could be understood as a cultural way that points a guide for living, a set of practices and beliefs around what is considered Sacred or Divine. Religions in the world have power and influences for controlling the moral and life of billions of people.  

Be careful! You can believe in God, without bellowing to any religion, you can follow certain doctrines but you have to be clear that GOD and RELIGION are not the same, it is your choice.  

In a fast way I will write something about what is Religious War. Religious war is a war justified by religious differences between two or more different religions, or between two or more sects from a same religion. The most famous Religious War is The Crusades which happened in Medieval England between Muslims of the Middle East and Christians; the reason: Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the place where Jesus was born, spent most of His life and was crucified, because of what Jerusalem is the most important place for Christians called “City of God”, on the other hand, Muslims has Jerusalem as Holy Land because Muhammad was there. In conclusion, recaptured Jerusalem was the cause which justified Crusades.  There are other examples of Religious War like French Wars of Religion, Thirty Years War, Milhemet Mitzav.

More information can be found in: http://justsaynotoreligion.com/religious-wars/

Marisol

“¿ God or Matter?”  The scientific explanation of god’s existence.

Frequently scientists have argued, following Hawking, that the origin of the universe was the result of the Big Explosion. If it is to question about the origin of that explosion, it has been explained as a result of a previous explosion. Thus, the universe is the product of several explosions occurred over and over again while the universe expanded or contracted itself, then another universe came out (this is called “Accordion theory”). Nevertheless everything in our physical universe has a beginning, it means that something has had to cause it and the Universe is not an exception. There is an origin of the physical events beyond the finite world.

Aristotle explained that origin long time ago in ancient Greece; he called it “The first engine”.  In the natural world everything is changing constantly that happens because every object is power and act which means that when “a thing” is in power needs of something else to change its properties to act. In addition that “something else” that switches the properties of “The thing” has to be in act likewise; “A cold body warms up because of other body that is already warm, a thing moves because other thing pushes and gives it propelling force…but nothing can carry on the movements indefinitely, thus it must exist a first engine which transmit movement to all natural objects; this engine is not moved by anything else but itself that is why it is eternal, immutable and pure act” Aristotle identified this first engine with God. This prove of God’s existence is explained in Book VIII of Aristotle’s Physic and Book II of his Metaphysics, it is clearly an antecedent of “The prove for movement” founded by Thomas of Aquin.  

In addition to these philosophical assertions, physics, cosmology and specially the thermodynamic laws support the idea of God´s existence.  The universe exists and it’s real so it has to have a beginning, because the universe itself cannot be explained as its origin. The Universe is a contingent entity that has a cause of existence, as all things in the Universe; this is the law of cause and effect.  The law explains that any material effect must have a precedent adequate cause. The material effects without any cause adequate do not exist, plus the causes never happen after the event. It makes nonsense to talk about a cause that comes after the effect or an effect that comes before the cause. This is the reason why scientists say that any material effect has to have a cause adequate (the book didn’t fall down of the table because a fly stood on it that is not an adequate cause)

Three theories are to explain the origin of the Universe 1. The Universe is eternal, has ever existed and will exist forever. 2. The Universe is not eternal but it created itself out of nowhere. 3. The Universe is not eternal and it was creating by something (someone) outside. The three of these explanations deserve to be analyzed. 

Is the universe eternal? Modern science reckons that the Universe is not eternal, it has a beginning and it will have an end. This is proved by the thermodynamic laws, the first law (law of the conservation of energy and matter) says that no matter neither energy can be created or destroy. The second law (law of increased entropy) states that everything is constantly decaying this means that the use of energy is less and less available. The entropy (a measure of causality, disorder or disproportion) is growing of course this means that at some point the universe will destroy itself. The second law points out 1. A beginning: the time when the universe had all the energy available to use, 2. An end: in the future when the energy won’t be available again and the universe will be destroyed. In other words the universe is like a big clock which has been wind up, but soon it will be used up. In conclusion the universe is not eternal because eternal entities have nor a begging neither an end, they do not decay either.

Did the universe come out of nothing? Any material object can’t be created by itself. The universe is the creation not the creator. Supposing that something comes out from nothing is contradictory with the first thermodynamic law.

Was the universe created by someone? The universe is an effect that is why it has to have a cause that must have existed before the universe, be superior of it and have different nature.  Furthermore if there would be a time when nothing existed at all, nothing would have existed ever, since nothing can create anything.  Consequently there had to exist something before everything was created, something that has existed forever.

In conclusion everything that exists is matter or mind, things exist now so something has to be eternal, and in conclusion matter or mind is eternal.  Matter is not eternal, it was proved previously then the mind is eternal.  Moreover matter is contingency it means that depends on something while mind is not contingency or independent, thus universe is contingent and its cause is independent, and so eternal. 

Week 4: Beauty

Laura

GOLDEN RATIO AND MUSIC

‎"Music is a secret exercise in arithmetic of the soul, unaware of its act of counting." --Gottfried Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician.

Is beauty subjective or objective? Is it on the eye of the beholder or is it an absolute truth? There are many ideas around those questions, and the conclusion seems to be the same always: It can work both ways.  An example for each one is shown below. First, subjective, subjectivity can be defined in many ways, however it can be simplified as “in the mind of a subject” so a typical example is that to get that many people agree about aesthetic judgments, is an impossible task; second, objective, objectivity also can be defined of many ways, but it will be defined as "inherent to the object" here. As an example “Caño Cristales” ubicated in Colombia will be used, as it is shown in the image below, its beauty is inherent to itself, it is called the river of 5 colors, and is one of the most beautiful natural places in the world. But... Is there any mathematical way to measure the beauty? And the answer is definitely YES. There is a universal ratio called, “The Golden Ratio”, as Tomas de Aquino said: “Senses are delighted in things with the due proportion”. Scientists agree than a beautiful body has the golden ratio present in many parts, such as Da Vinci showed in The Vitruvian Man. 

On the other hand, music has been an important way of enjoying since many centuries ago. Music is a point where art, science, mathematics, and letters are found; and as it should be guessed a beautiful melody must have the correct proportions, and this is the point where the Golden Ratio enters. But, what is the “Golden Ratio” or “Divine Proportion”?  The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.6180339887; it is found many times in nature, architecture, films, music, etc., as an expression of beauty. Also there is a sequence called FIBONACCI that is shown below, and is closely related to the divine proportion.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 88, 144… 

Each number is the sum of the two before, and the relation between a number and the below is each time closer to the golden ratio.  So Fibonacci is a shown of beauty, an objective beauty measured with the golden ratio, or phi.

Many famous composers used Golden Ratio or Fibonacci sequence in their works, however it is not known if it was conscious or not, but there is a classical example: Bartók in his work “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta” where the rhythm of the xylophone solo opens the third movement based on the Fibonacci  Squence using the rhythm with sequence 1:2:3:5:8:5:3:2:1. He assigned a number to each note 

• DO   1
• RE    2
• MIb  3 
• FA    5
• LAb  8

And there are much more evidence: The fugue is done in 89 compasses, and there is a change in the compass 55. A strange representation of this theme is presented in the image below. 

Finally next video shows an amazing modern composition inspired on Fibonacci sequence.

More information:

http://www.educacion.es/exterior/ad/es/publicaciones/Aula_Abierta2_Musica.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_for_Strings,_Percussion_and_Celesta

http://www.intmath.com/Numbers/mathOfBeauty.php

http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2006/08/its_often_argue.html

http://theblog.philosophytalk.org/2005/03/beauty_and_subj.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibonacci_number

Marisol

BEAUTY - SKIN

The skin is the part of the body that needs more care. Remember that a healthy skin means a nice one. Skin is a main part of a women’s beauty, that’s why we should take care of it in order to look pretty and young.

To eliminate blotches, patches, spots or blemishes apply a little bit of eye drops every 10 minutes during an hour.

If the blemishes are brown, lemon is the solution. You can apply lemon juice two or three times a day, BUT BE CAREFUL because if you expose the area to the sun, the blotches will get worse. Also you can apply lemon juice with a cotton ball just at night, and wash your face with cold water in the morning. Lemon is used as well to white freckles. A more elaborated trick to fight against patches in your face is to dice onion and left them into lemon juice for ten minutes, then take the remaining liquid and apply it on the spots leaving it for fifteen minutes.

¿do you want your face free of black spots? That is as easy as wash you face! To eliminate those horrible black spots just clean you face with a solution of warm water with an aspirin dissolved inside.

Exfoliate your body is easier than you think! Add a soup spoon of sugar into your cosmetic cream and rub it on your skin making little circles, doing so you will eliminate death skin. Salt has the same effect, but in that case the mixture is elaborated with thick salt, olive oil and rosemary.  This last mixture will clean and purify your skin, but it only can be used in your body, because the salt can damage your face.

Plants and fruits are also useful for caring your skin. Open a leave of aloe vera, put it on your skin and leave it. Doing so you will end up with irritations and sun burnt. In case you have dry skin take mangos peel and pass it backwards on your skin, if you rinse the peel before passing you will get a very smooth skin texture.

If you have stretch marks keep in mind that they are very difficult to eliminate, but here I will tell you two homemade creams that can reduced them. 1. Take the peel of five purple beetroot, peel of five peaches and a carrot core. Blend them altogether and apply them on white stretch marks. 2. Apply almond oil after having a shower or aloe vera gel before going to sleep. 

Remember to consume the amount of vitamins recommendable.

Carolina

Week 3: Emergency Situations

Carolina

Laura

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PREPARE FOR AN EARTHQUAKE?

BEFORE…

• In case you have shelves, make sure, they are fastened to the walls.
• Put heavy objects lower in shelves, they could fall down.
• Breakable objects must be in closed cabinets, lower in shelves, such as poisons as pesticides or herbicides.
• Hang objects like pictures or mirrors away from beds or anywhere people sit.
• Identify safe places in each room (What are safe places? Away from glass, under strong furniture, against inside walls)
• Identify safe places outdoor (away from buildings, bridges, trees, electrical lines, etc.)
• Make sure, constantly, about the good conditions of electrical an gas connections, repair them if needed. During the earthquake, if possible, turn off them.
• Have a disaster Kit, it must include at least a flashlight, batteries, battery operate radio, emergency food, drinking water, cash, sturdy shoes, whistle and a compass.
• Make an agreement with your family for select a meeting point, sure.
• Provide a place for your pets.

DURING…

• If you are indoor

Take cover, away form glass that might break, against an indoor wall or beneath a sturdy furniture.
Don’t try to leave! It is the worst thing can be done during an earthquake.

• If you are outdoor

Move away form buildings, bridges, trees, electrical lines. Stay there until the earthquake ends. If there are not empty places closet o you, look for the porch of a nearby house.

• If you are at the cinema, theater, or somewhere like that

Stay calm. If you have not an exit near, snuggle up next to the chair.

• If you are in a moving vehicle

Don’t stop the vehicle next to buildings or over a bridge. Search an empty land. If it is posible, go out the vehicle in an empty place, without buildings, electric lines, trees, etc., near.

AFTER…

• Turn off electrical, gas and water connections.
• Avoid or vacate dangerous areas.
• Make an human inventory.
• Make a rational use of communications.
• If you are trapped. Save your energy, you will need that, until you are rescue; try to cover your nose and mouth with a handkerchief; make a sonorous signal, periodically; control your breath with a soft, slow, and sustained rhythm. In an extreme case, you have to control your dehydration by drinking your own urine.
• Be care if you drive after an earthquake, think about other people.
• Be care if you drink water from the pipeline, that could be contaminated.
• There could be gas leaks, so do not switch on electrical connections, matches or candles.
• Be care with the information flow. Do not spread rumors.
• Put your pets in the place provided for them, they need you.
• Be patient and stay calm.
• Use gloves, and masks, do not touch corpses.

Marisol

How to act in home accidents?

At home there are many places where little kids can get injured: the most dangerous rooms are the bathroom and the kitchen. This guide will help you to know what to do and how to keep calm due this circumstances.

Kitchen is the place at home where the most of the accidents occurred, followed by the bathroom. That is why young children cannot remain alone anytime. The main idea is to prevent and prepare everything at home to be saved against child’s curiosity. Nevertheless, there is always a chance of a mishap that is why it is necessary to know how to behave in these situations and take the better choice.

Be careful with doors and windows:

There are lots of elements that can be insecure for your children, even more when babies start to crawl and discover everything around.  If in spite of your precautionary measures your child gets hurt, pay attention to the advices below:

If your child happens to grippe his/her fingers with a door and these are turning purple: you should wrap some ice into a cloth and place it in the affected area. If you doubt about if there is a fracture, please consult the pediatrician.

If the child hits his/her head, faints or his/her head becomes swell up: in case of lost of consciousness you should not make the kid to be in motion.  Take him/her to the closest emergency centre or call for an ambulance.

If your child takes a butt and burned his/her fingers: in case of any kind of burnt injured you should put something cold in the affected area. If the wound is deep and blisters appear, cover them with lint, and then consult a specialist.

Backyard and kitchen:

 Kitchen is the place where the most common home accidents occurred, precisely because there are too many elements that are risky. In case of any accident follow the instructions below:

If your child takes a knife or some scissors and cuts him/her self:  wash the area with running water, dry with a clean towel and press strongly. In case the bleeding does not cease, keep the compression with the towel and go to the closest medical centre.

If the child manipulates the washing machine and his/her fingers get jammed: put compressions on the area with cold water and remember if you suspect there is a fracture, please consult the specialist.

If the child is bit by a dog, cat or other animal: Clean the wound with abundant water. Depending on the animal that bit him/her (the family’s one or a stranger) the kid has to get vaccinated against rabies.  In any case, the child has to be taken to the hospital.

In the bathroom:

The bathroom is the second most dangerous place for young children, the main causes of accidents in this room are the huge amounts of water managed there and other elements that can be hurtful.  In case of accident please followed the instructions below:

If the child falls down into the WC with his/her head in and his/her foot hanging out: the best thing to do here is prevention. It is not recommendable to leave children alone in places where they can find stagnant water, because it is just necessary 10 centimeters of depth for a child to be drowned. The recommendation here aims for avoiding left the kids alone in places like baths, toilets, swimming pools, water buckets and elements with the same characteristics.  In case an accident like these happens the kid must be taken out of the water and stimulated by touch, then disposed him/her face down on the floor and press hard between his/her shoulder blades intermittently.

The same procedure is done if the child swallows any strange element (even solid). If the color of the kid and the heart rate do not seem to be recovered, you must consult an emergency centre immediately.  If he/she does not respire or his/her pulse is weak, you must begin with resuscitation, do not leave the child alone until emergency services arrives.

Remember to always keep calm, inform yourself about resuscitation and first aid, it is better to be prepared.  If faced with any doubt please consult a doctor.   

Week 2: Food

Marisol

Indian cusine/Curry

Indian cusine is known worldwide given its reputation as being one of the most delicious and elaborated. This kind of food is based on the use of variety of species on its preparation.  One of the most important ingredients in Indian food is curry. Curry is the name provided by occident to the group of food that includes in its preparation spicy species developed in Asia. These dishes were spread over Europe through United Kingdom and the Netherlands by transferring the knowledge acquired in the colonies during the XVIII century.

Curry is a mixture based on different spices used to make sauces, stewed, casserole and to season meat and vegetables. The name curry comes from the word kari (Tamil, India) that is used to describe any kind of dish accompanied with rice. This term means stewed and was adopted by the English language before the arrival of the English merchant to the continent.  Now curry is world known.

There are commercial mixtures such as curry powder denominated garam masala (Hindi). It is used with the majority of dishes that included dry lentils. The mixture of curry usually contains the following species: chili, basil, saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, dry onion, celery, coriander, cumin, curcuma, ginger, mustard, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, pepper and tamarind. The recipe of curry changes from region to region, and its color depends on the ingredients of the mixture.  In the north of India and Pakistan, curry means gravy. 

One of the most famous recipes of curry is: Thai red curry. The recipe is below.

Ingredients:

Oil/ 3-4 tbsp red curry paste/ 400ml coconut milk , plus 250ml milk/ 2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed/ 300g butternut squash , cubed/ 150g green beans/ 12 button mushrooms , halved/ 250g cherry tomatoes/ 4 boneless and skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes or 200g raw peeled prawns/ handful coriander/ fish sauce.

Method:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large saucepan and fry 3-4 tbsp curry paste (depending on how hot you want the curry to be) for a minute until fragrant. Add the coconut milk and milk, stir well and bring to a simmer.
2. Add the potato and butternut squash and cook for about 10 minutes until it is almost tender, add the rest of the veg and thin the sauce with a little water if you need to. Simmer for 5 minutes.
3. For the veggies, transfer half the curry to another pan. For the non-veggies, add the chicken or prawns to the remaining half. Simmer for 3-5 minutes until the chicken or prawns are cooked through and season with fish sauce.
4. Serve both curries with the coriander sprinkled over and steamed jasmine rice.

Carolina


Laura

Much of the food we eat is made from animals, for example chicken and beef, or is product of animals, like milk or eggs. Tipically, we eat meat from animals like cow, lamb or chicken, but there are many cultures which take other animals for food, a famous example is the chinese culture, where there are many animals that are eaten, some of those are shown below.


The Guangzhou Restaurant will be used as example.

Snakes, small, medium or large, with which soup is made.

Beetles, turtles, rabbits, or birds are just a few examples of animals that can be ordered for lunch in China.

Generally speaking exotic Chinese food includes insects, invertabrates, reptiles.

Week1: Advertising

Laura

Subliminal Visual Stimuli

Subliminal Stimuli (“Below Threshold”) are sensory stimuli below threshold for conscious perception. When we speak about “subliminal visión stimuli”, we refer to words or images presented in a way that is unidentifiable for the viewer, for instance, if the image is flashing very fast and concious mind cannot apprehend. Greenwald, a psychology professor, has investigated scientific methods to understand the phenomenon of subliminal activation, statistical methods than allow to know the efect of a subliminal message. One of the most important results is that subliminal messages can be used for diagnosing psychological conditions and monitoring therapeutic effectiveness. The video explains some of the Subliminal Visual Stimuli used in advertising.

Marisol

Until 1970’s publicity field was related to economic and commerce studies only. After some research on the discipline, the emotional component came out as one of the major aspects to be considered when advertising it’s created. The fundamental idea about putting into consideration the emotional aspects of society is that publicity allows people to live or experience new realities, ideal realities or hiperealities. Publicity has been always a mechanism of making dreams true for the mass, which create an ideal of living according to western culture standards. It’s here where the emotional component finds its roots, people find a landscape from reality in the advertising they see, the main point is to avoid falling into individual’s reality and make a “must be” reality possible. Therefore the establishment of a brand is crucial if we are willing to persuade people about a way of life. So publicity has the assignment of building a brand that the consumers will choose by generating pleasurable emotions, this means that the designers have to imagine how costumers will feel about the products that certain company is offering. In addition, publicity´s work consists on creating a bonding relationship between clients and products. The message transmitted by the advert points out to the client’s hearts, to their inner desires and wishes, if the product offered is able to fill those feelings the clients are waiting for, the brand is going to be consolidated and it will be competitive in a free market. Thus, publicity don´t rely anymore on rationality, but on emotions associated to flavor, style and design based on the sensations these goods may cause. In conclusion, new marketing has to deal with the neurological components of emotions, in other words, it has to fulfill symbolically or actually the costumer’s inner desires making people feel comfortable with the brand and so be faithful to the product.

Carolina