Month: June 2016

Jason Robertson: Chinese Medicine Practitioner

Jason Robertson
Phill B, Jason Roberson, & Pres. Tim

Although a Chinese Medicine practitioner has proposed a full body transplant, Jason Robertson’s immersion into this discipline has not embraced such a concept. His is a traditional form which he practices and teaches. He traces his pathway to dedication in both the language and the concepts to years spent in both of the Chinas and in San Francisco. His mentor, Wang Ju-Yi, has been both teacher and inspiration.

Although there is an herbal branch of Chinese Medicine, the preponderant technique is that of acupuncture. There are some 30,000 acupuncturists in the US, 1300 in the Seattle area, and three accredited local schools. The local society is named East Asian Medical Practitioners. The scope of the process includes: clinical history, acupuncture, advice, supplemental advice, and herbal therapies. Within this mix is the connection of signs and symptoms, clues, and patterns of disease.

The evolution of the art (actually a very old one) was expedited during the Cultural Revolution of the ’60s. Mao Tse-Tung approved of sending “barefoot doctors” into the hinterlands to administer to the masses. Subsequently, the techniques came to the larger cities, particularly Beijing. Wang was one of these.

The sequence of events, as practiced by Wang, is first to check the pulse, then to ask questions, laying on of hands to palpate acupuncture channels while running the thumb along limbs and torso, determining the effect on organs, and at times slapping the contralateral limb to direct attention away from the site of the acupuncture. The effect, it is postulated, is mediated by channels toward the target organ. It has been found that acupuncture increases the oxygen levels at the sites. A very narrow-gauge needle is used. 10-15 needle pricks are generally given per hour.

Observation: A student must keenly prick up his/her ears as the instructor makes his points, lest said student be needled by classmates at not having been too sharp, the motto being, “Get on the stick.”

 

Teen Feed!

Jaime_Teen FeedTeen Feed0001Obstacles to success can be poor eyesight, poor hearing, poor reading skills, and poor nutrition. June 2nd we heard from those who help lighten these burdens. Janine Kennedy, of Teen Feed, informed us of another dimension in aiding the young and vulnerable. Teen Feed creates a family for those, age 13-25, who have been forced onto the streets.

And here are the facts:

  • The incidence of homelessness is rising sharply. An estimated 800-900 kids are sleeping in an insecure location
  • Youth of color are a large part of those served.
  • Home abuse and addiction are among the major factors causing this homelessness.
  • Teen Feed affects their lives in subtle and social ways.
  • Kids’ needs, which cannot be directly met, can be referred to places where help is available.
  • They can be gotten into housing and into school.
  • Too many kids are jailed, some via outdated truancy laws.
  • Until recently, the older homeless have looked after the young homeless. The former have been evacuated, leaving the young unprotected.
  • Bringing them in is superior to treating them on the streets.
  • They sit at tables with mature adult volunteers who can hear their stories and potentially connect them to services.
  • Runaways are difficult to deal with. If they come in for help, it is then available to them.
  • There is no ID requirement to enter into the system.
  • In winter, socks and camping gear are provided.
  • When sitting and eating with other adults with their children, sometimes can be beneficial when they see normal relations.
  • Because of previous trauma, they are candidates for mental illness. The process can be stopped between 18 and 24.
  • Outreach teams include formerly homeless youths. They know where the kids hide.
  • Volunteers can sit at a table or organize a meal team. These teams prepare, cook, and serves the kids.
  • Allies clean up, share basic needs, and are a source of peer relationships.
  • Teen Feed provides IDs and directs the kids to medical care facilities.
  • Some of the kids do not want to be found, in that they escaped from foster care and do not want to be sent back to it.
  • Outlets from trauma include art and other similar pursuits
  • Donors at all levels provide funding and their time.
  • There are a few employees, many volunteers.

Comment: Anyone who saves one life has done a heroic deed. Those who save many are truly blessed.

 

Shawn Bills, State Director for Senator Patty Murray

IMG_8189Shawn Bills, State Director for Senator Patty Murray, provided a view into her legislative activities.

She was first elected in 1992. He has been with her for the past 12 years. He mentioned the fact that she commutes to D.C. from WA every week, and does not stay there to participate in talk shows. The speaker pointed to the Senator’s bipartisan efforts at compromise, which have been effective, to wit:

  • In 2013, when the government headed toward shutdown, she and Rep. Paul Ryan, in a spirit of mutual trust, worked out a compromise to defuse the crisis. It is to be noted that in this, as in other endeavors, Sen. Murray worked with legislators from the opposite party.
  • A similar cooperation occurred with a Georgia Republican.
  • She and Ryan, on the Budget Committee, created a commission to review federal policy, which led to data-driven methods.
  • As head Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, she has jurisdiction over many of these issues.
  • With Senator Lamar Alexander, she helped to right the K-12, No-Child-Left-Behind issue.
  • As was reiterated, Sen. Murray continues to work with people of different views both at home and across the aisle in Congress.
  • The NIH funding has been a project of Murray, Blount, and Alexander. The House has passed it and it is before the Senate.
  • Alexander and Murray have campaigned for funding for research and response vis a vis the Zika virus. As a result, an amount of $1.1 billion has been allocated.
  • Her interest in veterans’ affairs has been active. She is the first female chair of the Veterans’ Committee. Having met resistance in her effort to aid injured veterans begin anew and start their families, she got it through.
  • Her other interests include clean energy, climate change, wildfire control, recreational access, and bringing business to the state.
  • She decries the gridlock that has denied Judge Garland a Senate hearing.

In summary: A comprehensive, if slightly partisan, summary of his employer’s activities.

Professors Dan Schwartz and David Ginger, of the UW Clean Energy Institute

20160512_083332Professors Dan Schwartz and David Ginger, of the UW Clean Energy Institute, took us into the future in regard to solar power and related resources.

Focused on clean energy throughout the world, they spoke of a $17 trillion international commitment. Solar energy is in itself cheap, but factories cost too much. The UW facility is planned to lower the cost.

These are the facts:

  • Climate change is a worse threat than international terrorism.
  • 20,000 premature annual US deaths are due to the use of fossil fuels.
  • The distribution of energy is critical to society as regards health and the economy.
  • The world population is growing. Global lifestyles are becoming increasingly similar to those in North America. World energy use is going up.
  • The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is involved in the Institute.
  • US energy consumption is huge.
  • It is cheaper to burn off natural gas than to capture it.
  • The dream is to convert sunlight to clean electricity quickly and economically.
  • Solar energy has the largest technical possibility of all renewable sources.
  • Other sources such as wind and hydroelectric should by no means be ignored
  • A solar farm can supply not only electricity, but also heating and lighting. In Kenya, it is being used for light to facilitate education.
  • Solar is growing exponentially.
  • Renewable energy is projected to keep up with US demand.
  • The challenges include storage, grid infrastructure and information systems, and bringing down costs.
  • We need to make new materials to enable this technology.
  • Some of these are organic polymer inks; carbon and nitrogen based materials; hybrid peroxkites, a crystalline structure.
  • The various efficiency of materials in solar cells were considered.

Comment: The world has awakened to the damage done by the use of fossil fuels. The undertaking by this group and others is part of the race to reverse the drastic changes afoot. If this is ever accomplished–and everything depends upon it–it will not occur