Amsterdamn it!

Ahhh, back in humid warm weather! Feels great somewhat after the last sojuorn to the nether land where the nether regions feel it the most (upon the advice of a nephew's friend whom I caught many Christmases ago lighting up a "reefer" by the swimming pool before buffet was served, not knowing that in the future, it's now recommended for medical purposes in my battle with these cells run amok).  This year around I sheepishly told him my predicament after the looong speeches in my honor.. (damnit gee, I'm still alive!) and he laughed.. I could tell he was enjoying the unease at this twist of fate and told me since he became a chef, he now cooks for clients with the "munchies" often and would introduce me. No! I said, it would be embarrassing for me- a known party pooper and a grumpy old curmudgeon at that... and he suggested that I should visit instead this coffee shop since i would be in Europe for the new year. It was that- or go to the rocky mountains high where it is now legal for recreation as well as medical.. He reminded me (of all people ) in manila it's illegal and involves shady characters who swear that the flue curing barns are for ilocos tobacco only (in my opinion tobacco should be illegal). He recommended some DVDs for me to check out in preparation. I guess Cheech and Chong is passe now, apparently replaced by some delinquents called Harold and Kumar. I found the humor juvenile, but it explained a lot about my nephew and his friend's behavior.  Armed with my newfound insights, off I went with a two night gap in my europe itenerary for Amsterdam.

Upon arriving, the city of Amsterdam seemed like a step into an old familiar world with a new perspective. The bustling city modern with an old word charm built upon bones of countless Herring, with quaint windmills that pump water out of the lower than sea level city continuously,  houseboats docked along the canals along with floating docks and buildings. At the center are craft shops, the redlight district and the Grasshopper amongst the other so called coffee shops. Aha! This is it! I was greeted warmly, seated at a table and given a menu. I ordered a brewed coffee, a slice of cheesecake and browsed through the list of what they had to offer. Names like bubblegum, purple haze, artic frost, indigo red, etc... I spotted one curiously labeled called Awan datung, a sativa hybrid from Asia according to the young lady. Hmmmm. Sounds suspiciously familiar, and asked If it was available and could be prepared in a scone instead, as I quit smoking 20 odd years ago. She was happy to oblige and disappeared into the kitchen. Looking around I could'nt help but anthropologize the crowd that patronize this place. A young couple very much in love to my right speaking french, a British hooligan type in a italian fussball jersey looking subdued holding a cigar sized "blunt" joking with a Greek quaffing dortmunder, A middle aged group of artist types and a few solo aside from me reading books, twiddling with their devices, eating ice cream... then the proprietor appeared with a pretty box of freshly baked scones. I finished my cup, paid in cash (I certainly don't want that appearing on my credit card) and headed back to the hotel twenty seven Rizal's past the mermaid to the left. Hmmm.. the scones had a delicate flavour that conveys the feeling of the color green. I knew it was taking effect. Light and pleasant and rather relaxing. I decide to forego my pain medication as I feel fine. In fact I feel GREAT! No clouded mind and nausea as compared to these painkillers I found myself depending on since my diagnosis and no radioactive bombardment of rebel cells, destroying the body abiding cells at the same time. It is never too late to grow my hair long or rather what's left of it. I had several epiphanies on this journey. The medicine men and shamans knew all this before it became science after all,  I thought. Like the time I tried betel nut in my younger adventure years and literally climbed the mountain.

Ok. So I now find myself on the other side. I remember being chided by my nephew on the onset and he really had a good time laughing his way to kingdom come with my stories of my adventure on the phone, saying he really never expected me to turn out so cool, albeit a late Bloomer! I apologized for being so hard on him and for confiscating contraband countless times since he was a teenager, the last time which I flushed down the toilet which ended up clogging the Villa's drainage which cost me thousands of dollars in repairs to tear up the entire septic system! I should've kept it for myself in hindsight, he said. Therefore the title of this post. Amsterdammit!!!

Gilgamesh Epic poem

“Why, O Gish, does thou run about?

The life that thou seekest, thou wilt not find.

When the gods created mankind,

Death they imposed on mankind;

Life they kept in their power.

Thou, O Gish, fill thy belly,

Day and night do thou rejoice,

Daily make a rejoicing!

Day and night a renewal of jollification!

Let thy clothes be clean,

Wash thy head and pour water over thee!

Care for the little one who takes hold of thy hand!

Let the wife rejoice in thy bosom!

“Wherever terror is to be faced,

Thou, forsooth, art in fear of death.

Thy prowess lacks strength.

I will go before thee,

Though thy mouth shouts to me: ‘thou art afraid to approach,’

If I fall, I will establish my name.”

“Thou art young, O Gish, and thy heart carries thee away,

Thou dost not know what thou proposest to do.”

“He is acquainted with the way, he has trodden the road

[to] the entrance of the forest.”

“Do not trust, O Gilgamesh, in thy strength!

Be warned(?) against trusting to thy attack!

The one who goes before will save his companion,84

He who has foresight will save his friend.85

Let Enkidu go before thee.

He knows the roads to the cedar forest;

He is skilled in battle and has seen fight.”

“Who is distinguished among the heroes?"

Who is glorious among men?

[Enkidu] is distinguished among heroes,

[Enkidu] is glorious among men.”

“Lions he attacked

Lions he overcame"

“On reaching the entrance of the mountain at night

I saw lions and was afraid."

"Aruru washed her hands, broke off clay,

threw it on the field

… created Enkidu, the hero, a lofty

offspring of the host of Ninib.”

“Tell me, my friend, tell me, my friend,

The law of the earth which thou hast

experienced, tell me,”

The mournful message comes back:

“I cannot tell thee, my friend, I cannot tell."

The Lasting Forest in portrait

Interpretive portrait of concealed subject by undisclosed artist, 2001. The ones who from above came were paintings as well.

Strategic Future Metals and Rare Earth Elements

(Au)

Through the passage of time, human technological advances have been intertwined with the discovery of metals and the processes of refining them from ore bearing rock. The bronze and iron ages were defined by the ancient art of smelting ore bearing metals such as iron, copper, gold and silver enabling the creation of tools, weapons and fine metalcrafts, among these machines, jewelry and currency. Today, most technological advances come about by the creating of metallic alloys combined with other metals and elements such as adding carbon to iron creating steel, increasing it's strength and chromium, to produce stainless steel.
Ancient metallurgists were also associated with mysticism, being a valuable part of experimentation more akin to and associated with the dark arts. ( big deal, it was called the dark ages, after all.. and war is itself a dark art being -the driving force behind everyday modern technology .

And here we are today holding in our hands such a ubiquitous example of the link between metals, rare earth elements and technology. Palladium, chrome, nickel, gold, copper, titanium, aluminum, lead, steel, tin and Lithium are examples of what goes into the components of your portable Devices.
These are Rare Earth Elements that
are not as rare compared to gold and silver to their relatively recent discovery by scientists in the 1880's. And these are in everything from your smartphone, laptop to the hybrid vehicles and aerospace, medicine, and other advanced technological applications that we take for granted nor give much thought about. They are crucial to defense technology: Radar and sonar, imaging systems, tank engines, smartbombs, computer microchips, batteries, even armour piercing depleted uranium projectiles.

However there is a dark secret contained in the elements used to power all these high-tech gadgets- they are processed in a very toxic industry in which rich nations extract and refine these elements in third world countries and leave a toxic mess that is difficult to dispose of properly. Rare earth elements often exist alongside radioactive elements such as thorium and uranium, raw ore mined by machines separated by complex processes which come out as waste product after extraction and refining using sulfuric acid and vast amounts of water and energy- requiring continuous power enough to supply fifty thousand houses and several Olympic sized swimming pools a day. When the ore is seperated from rock and radioactive elements is dangerous, workers need proper protection to avoid exposure and are stored as tailings in ponds and this radioactive waste has a long half -life span of about fourteen million years for thorium and uranium four and a half BILLION years. Earth is approximately only four Billion years old by comparison. Not to much surprise, most of refining is in countries with weak environmental laws and enforcement, therefore is as cheap as human life can be using exploitation. All of these industries are banned in the first world so they may mine it there but process it elsewhere on the planet. RRE's found in your smartphone/ laptop:
Color touchscreens: Europium, Yttrium, Terebium, Lanthanium, Dysprosium, Praseodymium, Gadolinium,, Glass polishing: Cerium,, Lanthanium, Praseodymium. Batteries: lithium. Circuit boards: neodymium, praseodymium, terbium, dysprosium.. Hybrid car: component sensors- yttrium LED screen: europium, yttrium, cerium. Fuel additives: cerium, lanthanium. Hybrid battery: lanthanium, cerium, zirconium. Electric motors: neodymium supermagnets, lanthanium. Headlight: neodymium, praseodymium, zirconium, tungsten. Engine: neodymium, terbium, disprosium. If you doubt the radiation levels are harmful, just look at Arafat, said to have been assassinated using the radioactive metalloid, polonium.


(Pm) Promethium- named after the Titan Prometheus who brought to the mortals the gift and knowledge of fire for which he was punished by Zeus chained to a rock. (nuclear batteries)

(Sm) Samarium- Named after Vasili Samarsky- Bykhovets who discovered rare earth ore samarsite. (rare earth magnets, lasers, neutron capture, masers)

(Eu) Europium- after the European continent. (red and blue phosphors, lasers, mercury vapor lamps, NMR relaxation)

(Gd) Gadolinium- after Johan Gadolin (rare earth magnets, high refractive index glass, lasers,  garnets, x ray tubes, computer memory microchips, neuron capture, MRI contrast agent, NMR relaxation agent)

(Tb) Terbium- safer the village of Ytterby, Sweden. (green phosphors, lasers, LEDs, flourescent lamps)

(Dy) Dysprosium- from the Greek"dysprositos"; meaning "hard to get" (rare earth magnets, lasers)

(Ho) Holonium- after Stockholm, in Latin " holmia" native city of it's discoverers.

(Er) Eribium- after the village Ytterby, Sweden (lasers, vanadium steel)

(Tm) Thulium- after the mythological land Thule. (portable x ray machines)

(Yb) Ytterbium- the first rare earth ore discovered. named after the Swedish village. (infrared lasers, chemical reducing agent, high temperaature superconductors, LEDs)

(Lu) Lutetium- after luteia, which later became Paris. (PET scan detectors, high refractive index refractive glass)

(La) Lanthanium- from the Greek "lanthanein" meaning to be hidden. (refractive lenses, Flint, hydrogen storage, battery electrodes, camera lenses, fluid catalytic for oil refineries)

(Ce) Cerium- after the dark planet Ceres, Roman agricultural goddess. (chemical oxidizers, polishing powder, yellow color glass and ceramic agent, ferrocerium Flint)

(Pr)Praseodymium- Greek meaning green "prasios" and "didymos".

Gubat Encantada

Oil on canvas early work (1998) by Dominic S. Rubio

Noritake made in Occupied Japan

These contain an unusual story. In1930 in Manila, a gentleman trader had constructed a fortified residential enclave designed and built by Japanese architects and artisans , amongst the laborers employed were a Japanese cook, chauffeur, bonsai artist/ gardener, who upon the outbreak of the second world war suddenly appeared in full military uniforms being Japanese intelligence operatives working for more than a decade under the employ of the gentleman as cover. The enclave was seized and taken over by a high ranking officer of the Japanese imperial navy named Iwabuchi who, during the liberation of Manila by American forces after intense carpet bombing, disobeyed direct orders by the retreating Japanese led by General Yamashita by standing ground instead of heading to the northern Luzon mountains to regroup. The Americans took over the enclave and obtained valuable decryption communique used by the Japanese for sending orders from the Emperor to his feild commanders in the Pacific theatre. When the Japanese surrendered after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, (originally meant for Germany by Einstien) the enclave was returned to the original owner together with sets of Noritake before and after the bomb as war trophies, hence the difference of made in Japan and made in "Occupied Japan" markings on the bottom of the finely crafted ornate gilded ceramics.

Radiation levels also vary, the former registers 500 millirems less, which is just slightly lower than the latter, being just about the range of background radiation. It is understood that the residual radiation dissipated rather quickly after the initial blast and is way less than the 10,000 millirems and more currently measured in post- tsunami Japan in fukushima. Imagine the looks I got obtaining a radiation meter. They are currently used to serve mutant sashimi. Harhar!

Tektites

The last tektite expedition over the weekend saturday November 17, 2012 yeilded three tektites on the tidal surf amongst an ancient limestone coral formation at undisclosed location. One was given to the landowner as a token of appreciation for guidance and wisdom given during the journey.. therefore not included in photograph. The found old five peso coin is shown for scale. By golly, Chicken little was right! Bakaak!

The Black Violin: Superstring theories

Higgs is my Boson Buddy-  there goes my superstring pasta recipe even before I prepare it! When mainstream science catches up faster than expected from the other side, with nary a notion of the effects it may have especially for a specie whose talent for war and destruction is only as great as their hubris and greed, perhaps imperializing even the universe as with the atom before- is great cause for concern for the ones aware of awareness. Beware of those who art aware of the selves awareness. Before you know...  you know it already. Or rather just like tower of powersong the more you know the more that you don't know. Shrodinger cat out of bag soon. Higgs Boson has already been observed, it is literally but a matter of time before they figure out how to measure it once they find the way of observing it from another literal point of view. All will shatter many of us will perish just as in the past which we cannot live in, nor send a message. If I could, I'd reply to mark Twain in the 21st century a hundred late. Perhaps send spectra shield armour, an LRAD and a 2012 glock fmg to Herr A. Roensch using the Glocke. hehe! For serious jokes on the hahaha MATTER, go to higgs jokes forum. What's art got to do about this anyway?!!! Is dark matter collectible? thanks for the violin 5368!

We were crazy even before it became "cool".