Blog/October 2012/Oct 12th

Oct 12th (See this week's devar torah)

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Hi, again!

The sukkah came down, as did the temperatures. Fall is in the air, somewhere; we are still waiting for rain here in Maale Adummim, but it should be coming soon. A "white elephant" was removed from our midst, and we're easing back into what passes for "normality" for us.

Sarah's eyes were bothering her, so we got her a new eyeglass prescription and new glasses and new contact lenses. The new 'specs look good on her, and we hope the new lenses are more comfortable for her. She needs 'em in good shape, 'cause she's starting school next week!

Daniela's trying to find ways to deal with a classroom full of first-graders. They have lots of energy and little attention-span, so it's quite a challenge for her to overcome. Hopefully she'll develop her own teaching style which helps channel the kid's energy in a positive way.

We finally "got rid" of our piano. I mentioned before that we were trying to give it on a long-term loan so we would have more room in our salon. This week we finally did get it removed to a loving home, and now we have room to live in our living room.

Yesterday Esther and I went to IKEA in Rishon Lezion.The trip to the general area was very easy, and we could see the big IKEA sign from the highway and from the surface streets near it. But we had the devil of a time actually getting into the IKEA parking lot. It was like one of those rat-maze intelligence tests. Eventually we made it, and then we had to walk through the entire IKEA store. We left home at 19:20, and didn't get back home until 23:20. That was way, way too long a trip to get some not-so-cheap accessories for the house. I un-recommend IKEA Israel. Plus, my knee hurts from all the walking. <grrr>

For some reason, I've been asked by a number of people about "earthing", which is essentially the idea that keeping our bodies in electrical contact with the Earth provides health benefits (and conversely, the usual insulation from same causes various maladies). Maybe it's because I posted a link to "Dr" Mercola's article on the topic, two weeks ago. In any case, I would like to address this subject briefly, as a public-service.

Let's start with Mercola's assertion: "You are an electrical being -- your body regularly produces positive charges, which can oxidize and harm you if it is excessive". Several points: (1) you are an electrical being, (2) your body produces positive charges, (3) those charges can oxidize and harm you and (4) those charges can be excessive.

A bit of basic science will come in handy here. As far as chemistry is concerned, we are ultimately composed of atoms. Atoms consist of a "nucleus" containing positively charged particles (called "protons"), and electrically neutral particles (called "neutrons"). This positively charged nucleus is surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged particles (called "electrons"). Chemical reactions all take place at the "electron" level of the atoms. In the "normal" state, atoms have equal numbers of electrons and protons, making the atoms electrically neutral. When an extra electron is added to an atom, it becomes negatively charged and is called a "negative ion". Conversely, when an electron is removed it becomes positively charged and is called a "positive ion".

So at the most basic level, Mercola is correct: we are "electrical beings" in the sense that the chemistry of our bodies (and indeed, of everything in the universe) is driven by electrical interactions between atoms.

However, the overall net charge of your body is zero. If it weren't, you would spark every time you touched something else (because electrons would "jump" from where there were too many to where there were too few, which is what "electrical current" is). Your body produces positive and negative ions in equal quantities.

While some ions can be harmful, most are absolutely crucial to the proper functioning of your body. Sodium (Na+) and chlorine (Cl-), which together make table-salt -- are fundamental to the operation of your body; sodium is not harmful in and of itself, it is in fact critically important!

So from a cursory knowledge of chemistry we can see that "Dr" Mercola's sentence quoted above is misleading and inaccurate, and one who wishes to safeguard his health should adopt an appropriately skeptical attitude to anything the man says.

Some of Sarah's friends will be staying with us this week. We'll ply them with: Mediterranean baked bass, chicken soup, curried lamb stew, crispy baked chicken, basmati rice, potato kugel, beet salad, salatim, meatball tcholent, rugelach and honey-cake

Until next week,
shabbat shalom!

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