Slavery, Human Condition or Capitalism in the Making?

So, seeing that Thanksgiving has once again come up, I decided to do a bit of research on the reason for the season, the three C's: Capitalism, Colonization, and Colonialism. I started by researching North America and then I spread out into all of the Americas. I found out some very interesting things that I knew, but didn't understand the significance of.

My focus was primarily on Spain. After all, Christopher Columbus was Spanish, and his trip was paid for by Spanish royalty. What was interesting, however, was the often times omited fact that Colombus captured slaves during his visit to the New World. 6 slaves, to be exact. In a journal entry on the day of his arrival to the new world, Columbus had the following to say regarding the natives, "They should be good servants .... I, our Lord being pleased, will take hence, at the time of my departure, six natives for your Highnesses."

And Columbus' exploits grew darker after that. On his second trip to the New World, Columbus brought attack dogs. He began to capture the natives, cutting off ears and noses should they resist. Others he had burned alive. Then the sexual slavery trade started.

And Columbus is the most famous Spanish Conquistador, but by no means was he the worst. Every Spaniard that came to South America had conquest and gold on their minds. Even Francisco Pizzaro was famous for his subjugation of the natives. He captured the leader of the Inca in exchange for a room of gold. He got what he wanted. The Spanish also captured Africans and the like as slaves throughout the Spanish Americas.

But, slavery wasn't just a Spanish institution. In the Colonies of the English, slaves were taken even by the first settlers. John Smiths' lieutenant, Thomas Hunt, had captured the famous Native American, Squanto, with the intention of selling him to the Spanish as a slave.

Slavery in America is just one small part of what my research has uncovered. For now, a cig break, then I'll come back and write some more.

Math

If a+b=c is true, then c-b=a and c-a=b.

But...

a+c=b is false.b+c=a is false.
b-c=a is false.
a-c=b is false.

Biology Test?

97% on test. Badass.

Music Theory Homework

My homework?

Write an E major scale, then write 3 relative minors for that scale, then 3 forms of parallel minors to E major. Then I have to write a relative major to the parallel minor of E major.

Then I have to write 4 triads, one major, one minor, one diminished, and one augmented.

Then I have to write a pentatonic scale for D flat in the bass clef, followed by a whole tone scale for F# on the bass clef.

I just HAD to pick the most difficult elective in the curriculum.

MIT Lectures

I love the modern world. 5 years ago, if I wanted to listen in on an MIT lecture about Solid State Chemistry, I would have either needed a bribe, someone elses brain, or a really great vagina. Now, I can youtube MIT lectures. I love it.

The Golgi Apparatus

I am completely fascinated by the Golgi Apparatus, almost as much as the phospholipid bilayer of cell membranes. To think that cells can contain a transportation system that can "ship" chemicals throughout the body, and that the body actually depends on its function is kind of amazing.

If you ever needed a method to transport something throughout a body through applications of nanobots, this would be your local UPS office.

More later, dinner is ready.

Unified Theory of Everything

Either x=1 or x=0

There is no more or less.

Quantity is the most important factor in all things that exist within the universe, the second being only location of the quantity. One atom of hydrogen isn't really significant, other than it not being stable on its own. Two atoms of hydrogen become stable. Jump up orders of magnitude and you have the hydrogen necessary for life to exist as we know it. Go up a bit bigger, and you have enough hydrogen to prevent life from existing. Add even more hydrogen, and you get a self-contained fusion reaction machine, a hydrogen star. I'm not really sure what happens when you get more hydrogen than that, but the quantity has a direct effect on the properties of the quantity of quantities.

It works in every situation. As for how to apply that knowledge, I think we already have. We just don't call it "The Unified Theory of Everything".

I really don't think the secret of the universe is that simple, but I wouldn't be suprised if it was.

Pass along your Nobel Peace prizes, someone needs a trip to Amsterdam.

Dissection is fun!

Got another opportunity to dissect a pig fetus. This is great stuff, I never get tired of it. Cause of death? Asphyxiation.  I spent the rest of the afternoon taking a peek at the liver, which by this point had turned blue from the dye used to make the arteries more pronounced. My primary focus was the digestive system, however. The sample I obtained had already been chopped up a bit, and apparently someone needs to get a part time job as a butcher because the incisions were horrible.

The esophagus had been punctured, the gallbladder had been accidentally cut out, and the rectum was also punctured. The smell was very lovely. However, what really won the day was the look on my partners face when we got the pig. She was acting all macho and brave before the corpses came out of the bucket. She covered her mouth and almost cried. All of that went away when I brought it to our table and told her that she was feeling emotional about a thing that was no longer living. I told her if she wanted to have sympathy for pigs, she should probably save it for the ones still alive. This one was quite dead, and no amount of crying would bring it back. It actually got her interested in the dissection, which is a good thing... She is utterly clueless with most of the material in the class.

Once again, I was first in line for the sample and the only person with the guts to make a few incisions to get a good look at every part of the anatomy I was interested in. Whoever did the initial dissection had left plenty of muscle tissue attached around the top of the ribcage, so the esophagus wasn't visible. I fixed that. That was when I found out that whoever cut it open had tried to stab their way through first. Then I got around to the liver, and noticed that also, the gallbladder had been removed. I was hoping for a sample of bile, whatever its' condition.

One embarrassing thing to note, however, was my inability to determine the sex of the sample at first. it appeared to have a penis, but no testes. Upon further inspection, there were also no ovaries. So, after making a few choice incisions, I was able to determine that the structure that appeared to be a penis was actually a uterine tube that had somehow been severed from the back of the tube, making it appear to be a penis. The two  separate holes on the inside gave it away.

All in all, a great experience. I will be spending the rest of the weekend looking up chemical composition of some of the organs, possibly starting with the liver. Though if I start with the liver, I may never get around to anything else. I love science.