Ode to the Psychomolecular Code

Ode to the Psychomolecular Code ...
by Tony Ryals
Franklin, Watson and Crick,
Cracked the gene code - pretty slick,
But yet another code,
Upon which their intellects rode,
Still eluded their scientific mode,
The scientific sages,
Still haven't discovered the source from which
their intellect rages,
Even though it appears certain,
That behind the intellectual curtain,
Another code is working,
Like the gene code - the brain code moves through space,
While relatively sets the pace,
Even for the basket case,
Evolution obeys the rules,
And uses them as tools,
Regardless of societies fools,
The gene code created Einstein's brain,
Crick, Watson and Franklin the same,
But their genes were in a different space,
Which gave to each a different face,
And this also applies to the brain, But this ain't the end of the tale,
Because another code exists that ain't known so well,
Although the genes create the brain,
This ain't the end of the game,
Thus I begin my ode,
To the psychomolecular code,
It's experientially evolved,
Although its separation from the gene code is far from resolved,
Every central nervous system organism,
Has a code that at least approximates human intellectualism,
Lobsters and chickens do,
Dogs and monkeys too,
Although Pavlov's dogs salivated at a bell,
Their gene codes did not predetermine this hypnotic spell,
Sociobiologist Dawkins might account for these poor dogs response with memes,
Which he proposes is the mind's answer to genes,
A meme is to the psychomolecular code,
What the gene is to the genetic code,
That a dog should have memes we should not be surprised,
It's just that the human brain is bigger and more organized,
In the human female estrus has become extinct,
And human female desire is now more brain linked,
So even sex is no longer driven exclusively by instinct,
And this must surely say something even for the human male,
Whose brain often dictates sexual preferences as well,
This is obvious in the male homosexual,
Whose attraction is not only hormonal but also intellectual,
And of the males there are very masculine gays,
So hormones don't determine sexual preference always,
The synthetic organics polluting the land,
Cannot be blamed directly on a genetic strand,
There is no gene code making DDT, Or Dr. Thimann's 2,4-D,
Just a human brain with a university degree,
There once was a doctor named Bateson,
Who said the mind had no time-space in,
His theory was a mess,
And as you might guess,
Einstein had no real place in,
But when he died,
And his mind entropyed,
It dispersed from the space he denied,
And only a year or so later,
His former home in Ben Lomond, California was used to empty a container,
It was malathion - a pesticide,
From the very time-space Dr. Bateson denied,
In Sacramento there's the Bateson building,
Dedicated by Governor Brown who thought it a solar building,
But the solar heated air in it wouldn't move,
Thus the solar heated toxins it couldn't remove,
From the solar heated atmosphere of the Bateson building&
It may have been formaldehyde,
Or another synthetic organic out gassed from the building materials inside,
But the state employees became sick inside,
From the very mind-space Dr. Bateson denied,
But there's still the question of religion,
Which is also probably located in the psychomolecular region,
We have Aryans who call themselves Jews just for politics,
And Asians who are no longer Buddhist but Catholics,
We have Christians of every extraction,
Thanks mainly to Guttenbergís printing press contraption
If Aryans can be Jews,
I guess what this proves,
Is that the genes don't program religion,
If the human brain codes do not become more synchronous with the needs of the gene codes that makes them,
Their very own brain codes may very well bake them,
Herein I end my ode to the psychomolecular code,

Humpty Dumpty SYNDROME

Humpty Dumpty SYNDROME ,  Santa Cruz Express , August 23,1984
 
by Tony Ryals
On a hill overlooking the City of Santa Cruz sits the University of California Santa Cruz campus and a research laboratory named the Thimann Building.The building is named in honor of Dr.Kenneth  Thimann,a UCSC biologist whose synthetic growth hormone,2-4-D,has altered the lives and bioregions of many people,from the forests of the North Western United States to the jungles of Vietnam.
Recently UCSC Chancellor Robert Sinsheimer,a geneticist,warned of the potential dangers of using gene splicing technology for warfare,
The irony of this warning might be missed by his reading audience,unaware that his university's Thimann laboratory was built,at least in part,from the profits of chemical warfare.
Although the US government never officially declared war on either the citizens of Vietnam,or the American youth sent to that country to defend American 'values',both groups and the defoliated jungles of Vietnam were victims of chemical warfare.The synthetic chemicals of agent orange,(i.e,-2-4-D,2-4-5-T and their toxic dioxin by-product),were researched and developed not only through private industry,but also through our educational system.
War was never officially declared either on the citizens of Northern California and the Oregon coastal forests.However these people must mount ongoing political campaigns and protests in an attempt to prevent greedy timber interests from spraying 2-4-D on their homes to kill vegetation growing underneath the timber industry's future harvests.In September 1983 a judge in Nova Scotia,Canada ruled that the spraying of Dr.Thimann's 2-4-D and 2-4-5-T,(i.e.-agent orange),in that regions forests is perfectly legal.The citizens who took the case to court are the losers and must pay over $200,000 in court costs.While the Micmac Indians living in Nova Scotia threaten to protest the spraying of their homes,it's business as usual for Scott Paper and other multi-national timer interests who own the Nova Scotia forests.

Newspaper columnist Jack Anderson has reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency has covered-up evidence of the toxicity and cancer-causing potential of malathion and several other widely used agricultural pesticides.The over-reliance upon toxic chemical pesticides has been promoted and developed by university researchers in cooperation with the petroleum based chemical industry.
UCSC Chancellor Sinsheimer professes concern over the potential use of gene splicing for warfare,yet he ignores the contribution of university education to the training of chemists in the manufacture of toxic chemicals for private industry and the profit-at-any-cost motive.
Seeing the educational system as a modifier and shaper of the human brain,it becomes obvious that the educational system itself was the molder of Dr.Thimann's brain,which then went on to produce 2-4-D.Toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons such as 2-4-D,2-4-5-T,DDT,PCBs and Paraquat are not found in nature.No genes of any organism manufacture these toxic molecules.Human beings learn to manufacture these synthetic molecules through the society's educational system.
Sinsheimer is presently promoting a research and development park on the UCSC campus,The obvious effect of this research and development park would be to more closely link the educational system to private industrial investment and research interests.
One of the candidates for Sinsheimer's university  industrial park might be the semiconductor industry,the ''backbone' technology of our modern computers.The industry,long promoted as ''clean'',is only recently coming under closer environmental scrutiny.Toxic synthetic molecules used in the microchip manufacturing process are finding their way into Santa Clara Valley groundwater drinking supplies.
Scotts Valley now faces the same pollution danger.The chemicals PCE,TCE and TCA have been discovered in the soil near the Watkins-Johnson Company which manufactures furnaces used in the semiconductor business.These chemicals,used for cleaning equipment,are another example of chlorinated-hydrocarbons not synthesized by any organism's genes,but instead by the human brain and a modern chemical education.
Gene splicing is the methodic removal of a specific gene or genes from one organism and placement onto the genetic structure of another organism.It is a pre-planned and premeditated genetic mutation.Those paying the gene splicer's salary may choose to produce a life enhancing molecule or a deadly new organism.
But perhaps we need a new term to describe the mutagenic effects of the scientifically produced chemicals mentioned above on living organisms.These chemicals,interacting with human cells,behave something like a bull in a chinaware shop.The semi-random hacking of a cells internal structure by these synthetic toxins is similar to the disorganization an onion goes through as it is being diced.For this reason we might choose to call this destructive interaction 'gene dicing'.
Like Humpty Dumpty who sat on a wall and had a big fall,we may not be able to put the genetic pieces back together again.We simply have not reached a level of biological expertise to re splice all the genetic pieces back together after they have been 'diced' by the synthetic toxins we are dispersing into the environment.
Einstein may or may not have been correct in claiming that ''God does not play dice with the Universe'' but surely some of our chemists and nuclear engineers are indeed playing dice with the genetic pool.
The dangers of misapplied gene splicing technology that Sinsheimer warns of as well as the manufacture of synthetic organic toxins he doesn't mention may both be caused by an unhealthy educational system.The military and industry alike select their technicians from university stock.To what extent does the university teach students to take moral responsibility for their actions ?
Many geneticists and chemists leaving our universities have gained the skills to produce both life enhancing molecules or toxins. Unfortunately where their talents take them is often only a matter of who is paying their salaries.And as long as their role models are the Thimanns and the Sinsheimers of the academic world,money will take precedence over most other values.
.....................
Tony Ryals is a Santa Cruz environmental activist who specializes in the connection between science and ethics.

political and science rhymes: Civilization

political and science rhymes: Civilization: by Tony Ryals Around the world the ruins lay, Reminders of a better day, Modern man he doesn't heed them, Only for tourism do they ple...

Civilization

 by Tony Ryals

Around the world the ruins lay,
Reminders of a better day,
Modern man he doesn't heed them,
Only for tourism do they please him,
For this he too shall pass away,
And there shall come another day,
Rats and roaches shall have their way,
I dreamt I saw the first creation,
Of humanity's earliest civilization,
From a distance it looked rather nice,
Rather like a paradise,
They carved their stones to tell their tales,
And dug their very first wishing wells,
They sowed their soils they plowed them deep,
So their first harvest they could reap,
And to further increase their population,
They invented irrrigation,
They got their seeds from nature's garden,
And cut the remainder in the bargain,
The said to the rest you have no value,
Uproot yourselves we're going to plow you,
So a little of the biosphere disappeared,
And the civilized said that's good and cheered,
We with big brains and hands shall rule the earth,
We'll till the soil for all it's worth,
We'll build our temples to our gods,
And subdue our neighbors those uncivilized clods,
With our wheat our rye our barley our corn,
A new man has now been born,
And of course they also planted beans,
To complete agricultural man's proteins,
 And so the population grew,
From where other animals and plants did to,
Tigris,Euphrates and the Nile,
Cradles of civilization for a while,
The Tigres and Euphrates silted in,
Somewhere else to begin again,
Go out and multiply said the man on top,
Reproduce until you drop,
And that's just what they've been doing,
While the biosphere they're misconstruing,
Trouble for civilization is still brewing,

Nursery Rhymes - Lyrics, Origins & History!

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Nursery Rhymes Lyrics, Origins and History The history and origins of most nursery rhymes reflect events in history and where available we have included both the meanings, history and origins of everyone's favourite nursery rhymes. Two examples of these types of nursery rhymes history and origins are 'Ring a Ring o Rosies' which refers to the Bubonic plague and 'Remember Remember' nursery rhymes which allude to Guy Fawkes' foiled attempt to blow up the English Houses of Parliament! Many of the words and nursery rhymes lyrics were used to parody the royal and political events of the day, direct dissent would often be punishable by death! Strange how these events in history are still portrayed through children's nursery rhymes, when for most of us the historical events relationship to the nursery rhymes themselves are long forgotten! Help us to maintain our history and heritage through the words and lyrics of old Nursery Rhymes online. Secret Rhyme Origins
Online List of Lost Lyrics of Old Nursery Rhymes   112 Additional Online Nursery Rhymes, History and Origins!
Secret History of Nursery Rhymes List!		Online Rhymes Trivia Quiz!
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt London Bridge is Falling down The Sandman Aiken Drum The Big Ship Sails on the Ally-Ally-oh A Wise Old Owl Nursery Rhyme An Apple a Day lyrics As I was Going to St. Ives lyrics Baa Baa Black Sheep rhyme Christmas is Coming Cry Baby Buntin lyrics Diddle Diddle Dumpling Ding Dong Bell ryme Doctor Foster lyrics For Want of a Nail rhyme Georgie Porgie Nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander lyrics Grand Old Duke of York Hark hark the Dogs do Bark Here is the Church rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle lyrics Hickory Dickory Dock lyrics Horsey Horsey Rhyme Hot Cross Buns rhyme Humpty Dumpty story Hush-a-bye Baby Itsy Bitsy Spider lyrics Jack and Jill went up the Hill lyrics Jack be Nimble rhyme Jack Sprat Ladybug Ladybug rhyme Little Bo-Peep rhyme Little Boy Blue rhyme Little Hen Nursery Rhyme Little Jack Horner lyrics Little Miss Muffet rhyme Little Robin Red breast Little Tommy Tucker rhyme Mary had a Little Lamb lyrics Mary Mary Quite Contrary Mondays Child rhyme Old King Cole lyrics Old Mother Hubbard London Bells Nursery Rhyme		London Bridge is Broken down Lucy Lockett One Two Buckle my Shoe One Two Three Four Five Oranges and Lemons Nursery Rhyme Pease Pudding Hot Rhyme Pat a Cake Pat a Cake Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater Polly put the Kettle on Rhyme Pop goes the Weasel Pussycat, Pussycat rhyme Rain Rain go Away Red Sky at Night lyrics Remember Remember Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross Ring around the Rosy lyrics Rock a Bye Baby rhyme See Saw Marjory Daw rhyme Simple Simon lyrics Sing a Song of Sixpence rhyme Star Light Star Bright lyrics Three Blind Mice Rhyme Three Little Kitten lyrics The Cat, the Rat & Lovell the dog The Elephant Rhyme The Lion and the Unicorn rhyme The North Wind doth Blow The Owl and the Pussycat The Queen of Hearts There was a Crooked Man There was an Old Lady lyrics There was an Old Woman Thirty Days hath September rhyme This is the House that Jack built This Little Piggy lyrics Tom Tom the Pipers son Twinkle Twinkle Little Star rhyme Two Little Dicky Birds rhyme Wee Willie Winkie rhyme What are Little Boys made of lyrics Who Killed Cock Robin lyrics When Adam delved, and Eve span
Lost Lyrics of Old Nursery Rhymes  list of 112 Additional Online Nursery Rhymes, History and Origins!
The Identity of Mother Goose & her Nursery Rhymes! The Chapbooks and the Nursery Rhyme		Secret History of Nursery Rhymes Mother Goose Origins
Famous Speeches	Rhymes Trivia Quiz!	Famous Quotes	Trial By Trivia!
Nursery Rhymes & Origins Most children love being told nursery rhymes. The most popular nursery rhymes are listed here with their origins - perhaps nursery rhymes bring back fond memories of your childhood! Can you remember the tunes to the nursery rhymes? The most popular nursery rhymes are Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Sing a song of sixpence and last but not least Hey diddle diddle! these examples of nursery rhymes have been passed down generation to generation up to thirty times! It's no wonder the historical origins of Nursery Rhymes have become obscure as even though the nursery rhymes lyrics may have changed only slightly over so many re-tellings the English language itself has changed over the last six hundred years as anyone reading Shakespeare for the first time could not fail to notice!
As I was born and bred in London my favourite nursery rhymes are London Bells and its counterpart 'Oranges and Lemons' which recreate the sound of the chimes of many old churches once in London, however now I know the origins of the lyrics for this nursery rhyme the true rhyme meaning and origins of the last sentences are even more sinister than I had imagined as a child. The other is 'Pussycat Pussycat' - every child's dream must once have been 'to go up to London to visit the Queen'. Believe it or not the origins and history of the nursery rhyme 'Hey Diddle Diddle' are fully known and if you want to know what a runcible spoon is - check out the 'Owl and the Pussycat' for the origins and definition of Nursery Rhymes... Knowledge of English History and the English language undoubtedly assisted in the analysis of the lyrics and origins of these nursery rhymes, however we can normally offer little definitive proof other than author names and earliest traceable publication dates of the nursery rhymes.
Educational Resource The contents of www.rhymes.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the referencing protocol suggested for this nursery rhymes site is as follows: Alchin, L.K. Rhymes.org.uk (Nursery Rhymes lyrics and Origins) e.g. Retrieved November 16 2007 from www.rhymes.org.uk Nursery Rhymes - Lyrics and Origins

24 Terrifying, Thoughtful and Absurd Nursery Rhymes for Children

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24 Terrifying, Thoughtful and Absurd Nursery Rhymes for Children

In more repressed times, people were not always allowed to express themselves freely, for fear of persecution. Gossiping, criticizing the government or even talking about current events were often punishable by death. In order to communicate at will, clever rhymes were constructed and passed around to parody public figures and events.
The first nursery rhymes can be traced back to the fourteenth century. While the Bubonic Plaque ravaged England, peasants used a rhyme to spread the word about equality. The "Adam and Eve" rhyme made peasants realize that they were important to the economy and contributed to the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Under the guise of children's entertainment, many rhymes that were encoded with secret messages throughout history have endured the test of time and are still with us today.
Other nursery rhymes don't seem to carry a particular message at all, but convey a macabre sense of humor. They have been so ingrained in us since childhood that we hardly notice that babies are falling from trees, women are held captive or live animals are being cooked. It's only when you stop and absorb the actual words of these catchy, sing-song rhymes that the darkness and absurdity is realized. A handful do not reference historical events at all, but instead seem to convey warnings or common sense wisdom.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the King's Horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
In children's books, Humpty Dumpty is portrayed as a large egg, usually dressed like a little boy. It's a sad story, as he gets busted up and nobody can fix him. However, the real story behind the rhyme dates back to the English Civil War. Humpty was a huge cannon mounted atop a high wall-like church tower. During the Siege of Colchester, The tower was hit by enemy cannon fire and Humpty suffered a great fall. There was no fixing the cannon or the tower, and the Humpty Dumpty rhyme was born.

Ring Around The Rosie

Ring around the rosy
A pocketful of posies
"Ashes, Ashes"
We all fall down!
This rhyme dates back to the Great Plague of London in 1665. The symptoms of bubonic plague included a rosy red ring-shaped rash, which inspired the first line. It was believed that the disease was carried by bad smells, so people frequently carried pockets full of fresh herbs, or "posies." The "ashes, ashes" line is believed to refer to the cremation of the bodies of those who died from the plague.

Baa Baa Blacksheep

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for the master, one for the dame
And one for the little boy who lives down the lane
Baa Baa Black Sheep references the importance of the wool industry to the economy from the Middle Ages until the nineteenth century. The rhyme is also thought to be a political satire of the export tax imposed in Britain in 1275 under the rule of King Edward I.

For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the battle was lost
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail
This simple rhyme is a reminder for children to think of the possible consequences of their actions. It has often been used to illustrate the chain of events that can stem from a single thoughtless action.

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row
This rhyme is a reference to Bloody Mary. The garden refers to growing cemeteries, as she filled them with Protestants. Silver bells and cockle shells were instruments of torture and the maiden was a device used to behead people.

Goosey, Goosey Gander

Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers;
I took him by the left leg,
And threw him down the stairs
While Mother Goose seems like a kind, grandmotherly sort, the gander in this rhyme appears to be quite a bastard. This sixteenth century rhyme is a reminder to children to always say their prayers.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's raining, it's pouring
The old man is snoring
He went to bed and he bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning In this strange nursery rhyme, the man apparently was careless in going to bed and didn't wake up. We can only assume it's a message to be cautious when you're on your way to bed.

Rock-a-Bye, Baby

Rock-a-bye, baby,
In the tree top.
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,
Cradle and al
The American roots of this odd rhyme come from a young pilgrim who saw Native American mothers hanging cradles in trees. When the wind blew, the cradles would rock and the babies in them would sleep.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Peter , Peter , pumpkin-eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her;
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her very well
This nursery rhyme also has it's roots in America, unlike most that started in England. It was a different time back then for women, and for views on divorce, too, which is why this rhyme served to warn young girls about infidelity. Peter's wife was supposedly a harlot, and Peter's remedy for the situation was to kill her and hide her body in a giant pumpkin shell.

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
This rhyme most certainly originated long ago, before PETA existed. It was likely based on a spoof by a court jester who thought it would be hilarious to trick the king by putting live birds into a pie shell. At the time, cooked blackbirds were considered a delicacy and would have been served to the king.

The King Was in his Counting House

The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
This is actually a continuation of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" and refers to what common folk imagined that royalty did all day. The live birds that were put in the pie are back for revenge in this verse.

Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down,
And broke his crown;
And Jill came tumbling after.
This poem originated in France. The characters refer to King Louis XVI, Jack, and his Queen Marie Antoinette, Jill. Jack was beheaded (lost his crown) first, then Jill came tumbling after during the Reign of Terror in 1793.

London Bridge

London Bridge bridge is falling down, down
Falling down down, falling down, down
London Bridge bridge is falling down, down
My fair lady.
Take a key key and lock padlock her up,
Lock padlock her up, lock padlock her up,
Take a key key and lock padlock her up,
My fair lady.
This nursery rhyme refers to the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII of England. Boleyn was accused of adultery and incest and was ultimately executed for treason.

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and wiggled and tiggled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Fancy that to swallow a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog, to swallow a dog;
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow;
She swallowed the cow to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead, of course!
These absurd lyrics were written by Rose Bonne and made popular in 1953 by Burl Ives. A woman who has a relatively small problem makes it progressively worse, which ultimately leads to her death.

Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little doggie had none
or alternatively:

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor daughter a dress.
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so was her daughter, I guess!
This rhyme is reputedly about Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey refused to facilitate a divorce from Queen Katherine of Aragon for King Henry VIII. The King wanted a divorce so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. The doggie and the bone in the rhyme refer to the divorce, the cupboard is a reference to the Catholic Church and Wolsey is Old Mother Hubbard. The divorce was later arranged by Thomas Cramner and resulted in the break with Rome and the formation of the English Protestant church.

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away
Little Miss Muffet was written in the sixteenth century by Dr. Muffet, the stepfather of a small girl named Patience Muffet. Dr. Muffet was an entomologist famous for writing the first scientific catalog of British insects.

Ladybug, Ladybug Fly Away Home

Ladybug, ladybug fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children will burn.
Except for the little one whose name is Ann,
Who hid away in a frying pan
Farmers have long known the beneficial qualities of ladybugs as a natural predator of destructive insects. After harvests and before the fields were burned, this rhyme would be chanted in hopes of the ladybugs surviving and coming back the following year. There is also speculation that this rhyme originated from the Great Fire of London in 1666.

Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy
Born on Monday
Christened on Tuesday
Married on Wednesday
Ill on Thursday
Worse on Friday
Died on Saturday
Buried on Sunday
That is the end of Solomon Grundy.
This rhyme was originally collected by James Orchard Halliwell and published in 1842. Solomon Grundy is more widely known now as a D.C. Comics character.

A Wise Old Owl

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can't we all be like that wise old bird?
This rhyme does not appear to have any hidden historical references, but carries a valuable message that holds true today.

Three Blind Mice

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice
The vicious farmer's wife in this rhyme is believed to refer to Queen Mary I, the daughter of King Henry VIII. Mary, a staunch Catholic, was so well known for her persecution of Protestants that she was given the nickname "Bloody Mary." When three Protestant bishops were convicted of plotting against Mary, she had them burnt at the stake. However, it was mistakenly believed that she had them blinded and dismembered, as is inferred in the rhyme.

Little Bo Peep

Little Bo peep has lost her sheep
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they'll come home,
Bringing their tails behind them.
Little Bo peep fell fast asleep
And dreamt she heard them bleating,
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were all still fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook
Determined for to find them.
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they left their tails behind them.
It happened one day, as Bo peep did stray
Into a meadow hard by,
There she espied their tails side by side
All hung on a tree to dry.
She heaved a sigh, and wiped her eye,
And over the hillocks went rambling,
And tried what she could,
As a shepherdess should,
To tack again each to its lambkin.
Little Bo Peep doesn't seem to refer to anyone or event in history, but is a warning about the consequences of irresponsibility.

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow the cow's in the corn.
But where's the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under a haystack fast asleep.
Will you wake him? No, not I - for if I do, he's sure to cry
Little Boy Blue may refer to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1475-1530). Wolsey was an arrogant and wealthy self-made man and had many enemies in England. After obtaining his degree from Oxford at the age of fifteen, he was dubbed the "Boy Bachelor." The words "come blow your horn" likely refer to his incessant bragging.

The Big Ship Sails

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.
The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
On the last day of September.
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
The deep blue sea, the deep blue sea
We all dip our heads in the deep blue sea
On the last day of September.
The origins of this depressing dirge are unknown. However, there is speculation that it refers to the Manchester Ship canal, which was built for ocean-going ships and opened in 1894. It is the eighth-longest ship canal in the world, and is only slightly shorter than the Panama Canal.

Who killed Cock Robin?

"Who killed Cock Robin?" "I," said the Sparrow,
"With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin."
"Who saw him die?" "I," said the Fly,
"With my little eye, I saw him die."
"Who caught his blood?" "I," said the Fish,
"With my little dish, I caught his blood."
"Who'll make the shroud?" "I," said the Beetle,
"With my thread and needle, I'll make the shroud."
"Who'll dig his grave?" "I," said the Owl,
"With my pick and shovel, I'll dig his grave."
"Who'll be the parson?" "I," said the Rook,
"With my little book, I'll be the parson."
"Who'll be the clerk?" "I," said the Lark,
"If it's not in the dark, I'll be the clerk."
"Who'll carry the link?" "I," said the Linnet,
"I'll fetch it in a minute, I'll carry the link."
"Who'll be chief mourner?" "I," said the Dove,
"I mourn for my love, I'll be chief mourner."
"Who'll carry the coffin?" "I," said the Kite,
"If it's not through the night, I'll carry the coffin."
"Who'll bear the pall? "We," said the Wren,
"Both the cock and the hen, we'll bear the pall."
"Who'll sing a psalm?" "I," said the Thrush,
"As she sat on a bush, I'll sing a psalm."
"Who'll toll the bell?" "I," said the bull,
"Because I can pull, I'll toll the bell."
All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
When they heard the bell toll for poor Cock Robin.
This English folksong is believed to reference the death of Robin Hood and reflects the respect that common folk has for him.

Pop Goes the Weasel

Half a pound of tuppenny rice,
Half a pound of treacle.
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.
Up and down the City road,
In and out the Eagle,
That’s the way the money goes,
Pop! goes the weasel.
This Cockney rhyme dates back to the 1700s. The Cockney community developed a slang all their own because they mistrusted strangers and police. "Pop goes the weasel" was actually slang for "pawn your coat" and the Eagle refers to a pub, said to have been frequented by Charles Dickens. The pub was bought by the Salvation Army in 1883 and all drinking and music stopped.

Salinas de Gortari

Salinas de Gortari...

by Tony Ryals

Born to a U.S. educated Mexican cacique,
They shot their maid when he was only three,
Singing Davy Crockett's got nothing on me,
Salinas, Salinas de Gortari,
King of the wild frontiers,
Friend of the Bush's and trade so free,
Of America, Mexico, Canada - all three,
Writing for the Wall Street Journal to inform humanity,
Stole an election with computer trickery,
Proving computers aren't too trusty,
Salinas, Salinas de Gortari,
King of the wild frontiers,
When things got too hot in Mexico he had to flee,
To cross those northern frontiers where it's so free,
If you have stolen enough money,
I hate to say but the Democrats were wrong,
To listen to the Bush bird's haunting song,
For Americans one job in the U.S. industrial rush,
Is surely worth ten in the Mexican bush,
International bankers get the money,
America gets the oil,
Mexican workers get nothing but toil
Proving once again that Carlos Salinas’ Harvard education,
Was a good investment for international industrialists and the American administration,
But thanks to NAFRA the U.S. - Mexican border don't look like before,
Thanks to NAFTA it looks like a victim of a Third World War,
Salinas, Salinas de Gortari,
King of the wild front-tears,

A Brief History of Coffee

A Brief History of Coffee

by Tony Ryals

Legend has it that a goat herder in northern Africa, perhaps Ethiopia, noticed his goats growing feisty and running around to release this nervous energy after eating plants with a red berry. We now call this plant coffee, after a word borrowed from the Arabs. This was perhaps a 1,000 years ago. While I'm not sure that anyone knows when or how the Arabs evolved from chewing the sweetish red berry and its "beans", or seeds, somewhat later it was transplanted to the Arabian peninsula and methodically cultivated as a cash crop.
During the 1600's, Muslim Turks, who apparently got more than just their religion from the Arab world, brought coffee drinking to the walls of Vienna, Austria. The story goes they were in such a hurry to retreat they left some coffee outside the walls, and either some Austrian educated in the ways of the Turks, or a Turkish trader, taught them how to make the brew.

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Coffee Spreads
Coffee houses later spread through Europe and were for some reason associated with intellectuals and similar social deviants. This, combined with its previous associations with heathen Muslims, who still controlled the market, did not help its social standing with the European establishment.
Some European localities had coffee sniffers, or spies, who brought the law down on anyone daring to roast or sell the evil brew. (Actually, bean is a misnomer because it is not a pod-bearing nitrogen-fixing plant, like legumes, that produce the world’s protein-rich beans). At one time, the controversy was even brought before the pope. Being a coffee drinker himself, he could only defensively reply that anything as good as coffee should at least not be left to the Muslim world alone.

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Coffee in History
Moving along in history, it is said that when the Germans took Paris in 1870, with the help of the Krupp family cannons, the Bismarck set up office in a luxury hotel. He required the staff to confiscate the hotels chicory to insure his, or the hotels, coffee would not be contaminated with the chicory flavor popular with the French, (just as the Arab world has cardamom-flavored coffee).
In Guatemala, the green coffee bean is called "oro" or gold. This is because it has for over a century been a chief generator of foreign currency and something those who harvest it can least afford to consume. When it is consumed, it has been mixed with corn (the Guatemalan equivalent of the Arab cardamom or French chicory coffee). Sometimes even wild beans are added in the public market, giving it a terrible taste.

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Increasing Cultivation
In the 1700s, coffee was introduced to the Americas and Dutch-controlled Indonesia, breaking the Arab monopoly. While coffee is not native to the Americas, it is now the world’s largest producer of coffee. Coffee was introduced to Guatemala in the mid-1800s to replace cochineal dye, which could not compete with the new coal-based dyes produced by the Germans. Co-incidentally, the Germans got in on the ground floor of the Guatemala coffee industry through immigration investment policies introduced by General Justo Rufino Barrios. Barrios and the "liberals" argued that coffee production was more efficient on a larger scale than that of cochineal production and so encouraged large "finca" ownership for coffee production as opposed to smaller "cafetales". While coffee would, in the end, have to be collected together to satisfy the large foreign purchases, this could be done through cooperatives or private retailers. So such an argument, while to the advantage of large growers such as the German investors, is probably not really valid. In fact, small individual growers are the most likely to be able to give the most attention to their plants and least likely to be able to afford pesticides. (A problem, or solution, that didn't exist in the 1800s anyway).

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Caffeine

But highland coffee (which is the specialty coffee and what has made the name "Antigua" as opposed to simply "Guatemalan" famous), demands less and sometimes no pesticide spraying. That is because the highlands, being less tropical than the lowlands, have fewer insects and other pests. Africa evolved at least three species of coffee of which two are commercially cultivated. Cafe Robusta grows at or near sea level in the tropics. The specialty arabicas grow at higher altitudes, or perhaps further from the equator, but not so high or further from the equator to tolerate much freezing. This is probably because caffeine is an alkaloid evolved to defend against insect infestations. It is known that many, if not all, alkaloids were evolved as natural pesticides. However, it is also a fact that many alkaloids including, or particularly, the illegal ones, have pharmaceutical value.
For instance, while it is a fact that cigarette smoke has toxic effects from various molecules produced in burning, the nicotine alkaloid itself has only recently been proven to at least minimally mitigate against Alzheimer’s, and its consequent memory loss effect. Yet, tobacco and its nicotine can also be soaked in water and sprayed on plant leaves as a natural pesticide. Another different molecule, probably an alkaloid, found in tobacco, has at least some minor mitigating effect upon Parkinson's syndrome.
But back to coffee and caffeine-while specialty coffee, or highland coffee, is not decaffeinated, it naturally has less caffeine than lowland robusta. A few highland coffee growers have actually grafted arabica coffee into the rootstock of lowland robusta because the lowland robusta is more resistant to nematodes that attack the roots.
And while some swear at the caffeine alkaloid, others swear by it. Particularly university students cramming for an exam, or some other person doing brainwork. Although it seems bioresearch has found that plants manufacture alkaloids to harm organisms that eat them, generally by mimicking hormones that harm the pest’s cell growth or specialization of its larvae-these same molecules have strange, or different, effects upon the complex human or other central nervous systems.

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Highland "Shade" Coffee
But returning from the wonderful, (or at least strange), world of alkaloids, it is also interesting to note that specialty highland coffee is more acidic than lowland coffee. This seems to be true even when both coffees are of the Arabica species. A recent Anacafe, (Guatemalan Coffee Association), study seems to confirm what I have suspected for years. That is, that acidity and higher sugar content are related. And that highland coffee has a higher sugar content even when the lower altitude coffee is the same Arabica variety. I don't generally put sugar in my coffee and have often thought that highland coffee literally tasted sweeter. I think there is scientific proof for this and the recent Anacafe research seems to confirm it.
Recently interest has grown among coffee drinkers and purchasers as to the importance of shade trees in the "finca" or "cafetal", to migratory birds. This has been due to the interest shown by large growers and international development agencies, (US AID, I believe), to promote the cutting of shade trees to make more room for more coffee per acre or hectare.
Research by Smithsonian Institute has shown that besides providing habitat for migratory birds, the coffee shade tree system is rewarded by having the birds to ear insects. Thus, the birds also reduce the need for pesticides by eating harmful insects. It has also been estimated that open field coffee, even more so on hill and mountainsides, greatly speeds erosion when shade trees are cut. At least 30% more fertilizer must be applied to fincas or cafetales when trees are cut. This could be particularly grave as fertilizer becomes more expensive. And even worse for small growers.
For plants to make oils they must use up some of their sugars. I have had a belief that coffee plants growing in direct sunlight may produce more oil as a response to the stress of direct sunlight. If so, growing highland coffee in direct sunlight might be the equivalent of growing lowland-quality coffee in the highlands in terms of sugar-to-oil ratio. The coffee will convert its sugars to oil. I believe the Anacafe study seems to back that up. The response may have to do with making oil to protect the plant surface from solar radiation damage.
A lower sugar content in robusta, or lowland coffee, may explain why some coffee roasters in Spain and Italy etc. add a small amount of sugar when roasting an espresso bean. To save money, they buy the cheaper, lowland bean, which can be modified, in subtle sweet taste by this method. Although the U.S. coffee consumer is often maligned for having no taste in good coffee, the truth is no culture has been more fanatic about quality over the last 20 years than the U.S. Northwest. All our espresso, or dark, roast has been from the highest quality highland tropics. That is, no sugar even added to roast.
A large selection of highland coffee from around the world has always been available-something generally unheard of unless they've copied this west coast craze. Or, had the misfortune of having it introduced by a large U.S. chain copying these small roasters.

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Doing the Right Thing
Since opening the Tostaduria Antigua several years ago, I have been asked many time why I don't grow my own coffee. My answer is that there are plenty of small growers who have coffee for our needs, and no means of justly marketing that coffee. And buying coffee in small quantity from these people for our needs has provided me, (and our clients), with subtle taste differences that are equal to the best coffee of New Guinea, Colombia, etc.
The differences are probably due to subtle changes in altitude, soil, shade and bean processing from one processor to another. We're probably the only roaster in the world to occasionally have coffee literally from the city limits of Antigua, not to mention from directly off the sides of volcano Pacaya. Although the National Coffee Association has said that coffee should be at least 5,000 feet above sea level to be called "Antigua", so Antigua city limits might be a few feet below the altitude to qualify under its own name. But it is just fine when we get it. Personally, I'll keep an open mind about 3,500 ft. above sea level to where even the micro-climate of Guatemala cuts off growth (6,500 ft. or perhaps higher).
Another unique aspect of our coffee purchases from the small (and yes, poor) coffee grower is lack of water to waste on the conventional coffee processing called "fermentation". For small growers to take their coffee beans to a "beneficio", or coffee processor, is to virtually give away one's coffee, or a few plants in the backyard - hardly worth the effort. The best alternative is to simply spread the red, ripe berry in the sun and let it dry. The berry dries to a black hard shell and most of the fruit sugar is dried on or around the seeds or "beans", making them sweeter yet. This is no doubt the original, or natural, method first used by the water-scarce Arab lands and drunk originally by the Europeans.
And old-fashioned is not always less wise. Central America's largest water polluters are the water-intensive beneficios. (Although modern synthetic organics, such as pesticides, etc. are a growing water polluter here as in the more industrialized nation). Fincas generally have their own beneficios, and perhaps the organic loaded water could be ponded and returned to the soil rather than destroying streams or rivers. However, I love what I came to call zero-water coffee (i.e. the dried bean of the small grower), and think it should become as revered and promoted by those concerned with sound or sustainable coffee production as the shade grown coffee production itself.
To promote and develop sun-dried coffee berries would automatically favor the small grower because they are the producers. They're also the last to be able to export their crop because they depend on the water intensive beneficios to buy their beans for export. And being small and economically disadvantaged, they are least likely to use pesticides. They are naturally organic and they need your help and business. So if you’re concerned about Central America's water, try not to support water-wasters and help make the small amount of zero-water purchases in the U.S. etc. become the majority.

The Two Saint Simons

The Two Saint Simons...

by Tony Ryals

The Two Saint Simons and A Brief History of Coffee were inspired by living for several years in Guatemala and were published in the Guatemala Weekly, June 1996. Tostaduria Antigua is a small coffee roaster in Antigua, Guatemala and has been favorably mentioned in several Guatemala travel guides.

Some time ago I decided to design a T-shirt for Tostaduria Antigua, where we roast coffee in Antigua. As a smug answer to those who ask if we have "decaffeinated" coffee, I decided to make a silk screen with a colored caffeine molecule.
However, the only caffeine molecule I could find was a black line drawing. And that is where San Simon came in. His suit, particularly in photos, is black and white. Somehow my molecule shrank and San Simon dominated the silk screen. (The tiny caffeine molecule is in the cup he holds.)
So I have been looking at the silk-screen for some time now. At first seeing San Simon as a chameleon, looking like a Ladino to increase his chances of survival in a hostile dominant culture.
However, I could not help noting the fact that he was not dressed as a conquistador, for instance, but in the clothes of the industrial era.
The industrial era suit is still worn by businessmen and professionals around the world today.
The "industrial man" perception of San Simon of Guatemala took a bizarre twist after I came upon another "San Simon" of France in a book titled, The Worldly Philosophers, by Robert Heilbroner. When the French "San Simon", (Count Henri de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon), died in the early 1800s, a church, (an "industrial religion"), was founded in his honor.
The European "Saint-Simonian" church had "six departmental churches in France and branches in England and Germany." His "disciples" dressed in shades of blue and wore a special waistcoat that could neither be put on nor taken off, without the help of another. This was to emphasize the dependence of every man upon his brothers. (So, the
church appears to have been male dominated, as is the case of most churches, even today.)
While San Simon of Guatemala is perceived to be a representation of everything from a Mayan god, or warrior, to Judas Iscariot, surprisingly little is said, or known, about his origin. To my knowledge, there are only three of these churches in Guatemala. These churches are located in San Andres Itzapa, near Antigua, Santiago Atitlan on Lake Atitian, and Zunil, near Quetzaltenango.
All are in the Guatemalan highlands, not that far from one another. One rumor is that these images and churches do not date back much more than a century. To my knowledge, at all sites, he may be referred to as either San Simon or Maximon.
Some claim San Simon of Zunil dates to pre-conquest times.
Others attribute his arrival to a Catholic priest who introduced him for his own reasons in 1902. Some claim the "Imon" in "Maximon" is "Simon", but that this Simon is the son of Judas Iscariot! Maddening, but no one ever said religion was logical, did they? And, Judas Iscariot can be seen as a "good guy", if one considers lie was only fulfilling the will of Jesus.
The Santiago Atitlan "mask" of Maximon, which looks little like the "industrial man" image so apparent in San Andres Itzapa, actually took an unplanned pilgrimage to France in the 1950s (home of the European San Simon), when he was stolen by a Catholic priest. He was then sold to an anthropologist who donated him to the French Museum of Man.
The French refused to return him to Santiago Atitlan for 26 years (in 1978), and then only on the condition that the Santiago cofradia make them a copy of the original. If he is an "incarnation" of the French San Simon, why did not some French anthropologist recognize the similarities between the two?
Well, the primitivist version of Maximon, although perhaps seen by its worshippers as a Mayan god in disguise as a wealthy Ladino, clearly does not have the "industrial man" characteristics of the San Andres Itzapa image. And if the museum billed him as "Maximon," a possible "French connection", may well have been lost to them.
But the strange conflicts between the Catholic church and both Saint-Simons is an odd coincidence, at least. Count Henri de Rouvroy de Saint-Simon was a born aristocrat turned democrat. As a boy, his father had him thrown in jail for refusing to go to Communion. Later he fought in the American Revolutionary War and won the Order of Cincinatus. From there he traveled to Mexico to promote unsuccessfully the construction of a canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that would have pre-dated the Panama Canal.
Returning finally to France in the 1790s, just in time for the French Revolution, he made a small fortune speculating in church property. He then decided to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge, and never having been married, he marries on a three-year contract. He also finances a large number of French intellectuals and sets a goal of knowing everything he can about everything. However, between the marriage and the intellectuals, his church speculation profits disappear and he is left impoverished.
In desperation, San Simon pleads for a sponsor for his own intellectual pursuits and writes, "It is the passion for knowledge and the public welfare, the desire to find a peaceful means of ending the frightful crisis, which engages all European Society which has brought me to this state of distress..."
In 1823 he shot himself in despair, but lived 2 more years. Upon his death he gathered his disciples and said, "Remember that in order to do great things one must be impassioned!" Ironic that a man in pursuit of knowledge and human equality should become the source of a new and mystical religion. But, such was the life and death of the French Saint-Simon.
Although Saint-Simon may have spent up to a decade in Mexico in the 1780s, I have no idea what he did there. If there is more than a coincidence between the European Saint-Simonian Church and the Guatemalan San Simon, I believe it would date to the later 1800s, at its earliest. This is when the Guatemalan government first promoted European, and particularly, German settlements.
Of course, one cannot discard the possibility that the promotion of Saint-Simon was perhaps an inside job. The person, or persons, with the most credibility, and least chance of being persecuted for introducing San Simon to Mayan villages, would be a Catholic priest, or priests. And for the Maya themselves, repressed by a Hispanic-Catholic dominant culture for years, San Simon could have represented a vehicle for passive resistance.
The Guatemalan Saint-Simonian worship might be seen as a form of cargo cult. But, rather than worshipping the consumer objects of industrial man, as did some people in the Pacific earlier in this century, the early day Saint-Simonians worshipped a man who symbolized that wealth, or access to that wealth.
And, his industrial era suit could be as much at home in a European Saint-Simonian church of the last century, as it is in a Mayan village today- Just as mysterious is (he fact that the San Andres Itzapa San Simon wore a military uniform for some time during the 1980s. Was this just some neurotic military-industrial complex, or the chameleon effect?
Mayan and Hispanic Guatemalans who first adored San Simoninan earlier era, (say 100 years ago), may have been reacting to the great changes of outside influences, and the newly industrialized nations and era, knocking at their door since Spanish independence. Just as, coincidentally, the European members of the Saint-Simonian church were reacting to the coming of industrialism to Europe.

Organic-Inorganic Co-evolution

Organic-Inorganic Co-evolution ...

by Tony Ryals

Before life made a cell it must have occurred,
Carbon and minerals wrote their first word,
It was the basis of the biospheric revolution,
Organic-inorganic co-evolution,
From the simplest life-form viral,
To the most complex evolutionary spiral,
Dances within a watery solution,
Using the elements of organic-inorganic co-evolution
Even the genetic strand has the phosphorous mineral in its carbon configuration
Phosphorous holds not only the key to energy transformation,
And life's respiration
But is also essential to store life's genetic information,
And eventually human intellectualization,
And what would be chlorophyll,
Without magnesium its carbon bonds to fill,
Without the magnesium impetus,
There'd be no photosynthesis,
And what would be the enzyme nitrogenase,
Without molybdenum to fill its carbonaceous space,
Nitrogenase would lack the inspiration,
To perform prokaryotic nitrogen fixation
Without molybdenum fertilization,
And long before hemoglobin came along
Other iron-containing heme groups sang their son&
Before these iron-carbon molecules evolved for respiration,
They protected oxygen-sensitive molecules from oxidation,
After photosynthesis led to oxygen's liberation,
There'd be no vitamin B-12 or cobalamin,
If cobalt hadn't co-evolved with carbon
To make this vitamin,
And what to the biosphere would it have meant,
If selenium hadn't evolved with carbon
to form an anti-oxidant,
Molybdenum calcium iron and sulfur,
Chromium magnesium potassium copper,
Liebig's law of the minimum,
And law of the maximum
You can't have too much and you can't have too little,
You must be somewhere in the middle,
Copper in feed lots makes pigs grow fast,
But then their copper-loaded excrement poisons the grass,
Can't survive the future without respecting the biosphere's past,
The traces of life are in your head,
Bacteria will use them when you're dead.

The Two Nutrient Pools of Life

The Two Nutrient Pools of Life...

by Tony Ryals

Ode to the two nutrient pools of life,
In which we swim and toil and strife,
A marriage of carbon and nitrogen from the gases of the air,
With phosphorous, potassium and traces from the earth's mineral layer,
Water moving between them both,
These two nutrient pools to betroth,
Through the solar energy fusion,
Of organic-inorganic co-evolution,
Combining with this water and solar energy,
To form what Schrödinger called negentropy,
Which is to say the life you see,
Carbon and nitrogen from the air and minerals from the sea and soil,
Allowed life to form both coal and oil,
Phosphates and minerals in continuous bio-cycle,
Reducing more carbon like a rider gaining more miles from a single bicycle,
When this life died and was buried by former seas and earth,
To phosphates and oil deposits it gave birth,
Now much of this biogeologic chemical feast,
Lies in North Africa and the Middle East,
Thus multinational interests are increased,
Maybe this is our mark of the beast,
A monkey in a jungle eats a leaf and breathes the oxygen of the air,
Then excretes the organic mineral wastes to the forest floor there,
What photosynthesis united with its alchemical art,
Respiration has now split apart,
Carbon and nitrogen back to the air,
Phosphates and minerals back to the earth's mineral layer,
Man he comes and cuts that tree,
To grow his com far as the eye can see,
Carbon and nitrogen remain available in the air,
But nutrients are lost from the mineral layer,
In not mimicking nature man is anti-biospheric,
But don't tell him-he don't want to hear it,
In ignoring the two nutrient pools of life,
Man is only increasing his own strife,
Maybe agriculture is the devil's bargain,
We expelled ourselves when we cut the garden,
But now we mine the elements of the earth,
By burning oil and not valuing its worth,

The phosphate of our bodies no longer comes from the soil,
But from a phosphate deposit we mine with oil.

Little Bo Peep

Little Bo Peep
by Tony Ryals

Little Be Beep has lost her sheep and don't know where to find them,
Leave them alone,
And they'll come home,
Dragging the pope behind them,

Remember the Alamo

Remember the Alamo...

by Tony Ryals

Remember the Alamo- that's what they said,
When I was just a naive kid,
A bunch of illiterates from Tennessee,
Following a trail down the Mississippi,
Going down to Texas to set it free,
From Santa Anna's tyranny,
And what the yuch,
With any luck,
To introduce black slavery,
Just like in Tennessee,
Make all those white boys rich and free,
With guns on their laps,
Wearing coon skin caps,
Give them any flack,
They'd put a Bowie knife in your back,
Remember the Alamo it made us great,
Remember the Alamo it won our state,
Remember the Alamo it won the war,
Remember the Alamo it made us who we are,
Over a century later they ain't changed so much,
With their state's environment they're still out of touch,
I feel so sorry for Bush's grandchildren,
Who'll have to learn to swim in the water he spit in,
No spotted owls to spot,
No peregrines to see,
In these Americas - this land of the free,
You may know the truth but it won't make you free,
You may know the truth but you won't be able to flee,
Then we'll really be living Newt Gingrich's,
Or Phil Graham's post-industry,
Although we have computer hackers,
We're still controlled by petroleum traffickers,
The Hunts, the Hughes, the wild catters,
And the Bushes,
One of them pulls while the other one pushes,
Oil from the ground as fast as it gushes,
Then having gotten wealthy on this chemical feast,
Invest your oil in the Middle East,
And send your children to fight in the land
Of the Christian beast,
Then there's the Texas bankers and their lawyers-
A motely crowd,
Giving to their churches of which they're so proud,
To their suit ties they are bowed,
Like a bad prayer not over loud,
If the federal government had not bailed them out,
The people of Texas would not have them about,
Giving to the corrupt politicians who shout,
Kill all the commies and kick the socialists out,
But socialism in whose name,
That of the bankers and their comrades again,
Who got overly generous loans,
On desert land dry as bones,
On real estate with dilapidated apartments and homes,
And when it all fell apart they paid nothing back,
Just blame it on ethics - something they lack,
Don't mess with Texas -that's what they say,
But they made it a mess - they like it that way.

William Shockley,Stanford University IQ Test and Dinosaurs

Stanford University  Nobel Prize Winner William Shockley,,Stanford University  IQ Test and Dinosaurs

by Tony Ryals

In the 1970's William Shockley claimed his university's Stanford IQ test,
Proved blacks were inferior and whites were best,
In the 1980's when an Atlanta paper thought he sounded like a Nazi,
He sued them in the name of biology; little biological proof was presented in court,
But he did win a dollar from the paper for his legal tort,
How can a man who challenges the rights of others speech,
Himself be allowed to teach,
Lies about biology,
That puts Stanford on a par with the Church of Scientology,
Nature itself has proven that successful genes don't count on quantity,
Survival is much more dependent on quality,
At a time when dinosaurs and other complex organisms died,
Bacteria with less genes survived and multiplied,
Yes the dinosaurs did have more genes,
But the more adaptable bacteria had the means,
Even Mr. Shockley’s field of electronics that won him a Nobel,
Experienced the same fate as the dinosaurs tale,
His former colleagues at IBM,
Thought Apple and others were just a whim,
And made computers too big to compete with them,
A cell a brain or a computer in operation,
Is no better bigger when it's filled with mis-information,
It's precisely students produced by universities like his,
That has made the world the industrial mess that it is,
Toxic waste dumps lining the nation,
Are greatly a product of Mr. Shockley’s white higher education,
The chlorofluorocarbons colliding with the upper atmosphere's ozone,
Are products of university chemical engineering gone wrong,
Toxic wastes in Silicon Valley,
Are not the products of some drunk in some alley,
Asia has copied the western education of industrialization,
And scoring higher on western IQ tests is the latest sensation,
If Shockley takes his IQ test so seriously,
Asians industrialists are the best men literally,
So Shockley should withdraw the sperm he deposited at the bank,
Thaw it and pour it down the drain until it has sank,
Because in the '80's the Asian industrial man has moved up in rank,
But copying western industrialization by burning more fossil fuels,
Only increases the danger of us all joining the ranks of the fossil fools,
Regardless of or thanks to Stanford-like schools,

Santa Cruz, California

Santa Cruz, California...

by Tony Ryals

It's named for a cross they hung him on,
Though what he did is now unknown,
Then the Romans who strung him up,
Used his religion on the masses like an opiate,
Now we live in a town named for this means of execution,
While our police chief dreams of a final solution,
For those dirty street people and economic confusion,
Lock them up says he and force-feed government-approved drugs to those asses,
While the good people here can put on their sunglasses,
And read the bible, the opiate of the masses.