Working myths

The most ancient uses of spices appear to be therapeutic in nature. The use of spices was common in China but tittle, if any, authentic Chinese records exist to confirm this. According to Chinese myths and legends, Shen Nung, the Divine Cultivator, founded Chinese medicine and discovered the curative powers of many herbs. He is said to have described more than 100 plants in a treatise reportedly written in 2700 BC. It has been shown, however, that no written language was available in China at that time. Although some of the herbal uses in the treatise go back several centuries BC, the work seems to have been produced by unknown authors in the first century AD. Other records on the use of cassia and ginger are known to have been written in the fifth and fourth centuries BC, in the latter case by Confucius. 

Throughout the book I have tried to constrain the wonders of imagination inspired by the subject by using simple calculations. Can all of the water on the Earth have been delivered by comets if so, how many comets How do I use molecular spectroscopy to work out what is happening in a giant molecular cloud Calculations form part of the big hard-sell for astrochemistry and they provide a powerful control against myth. I have aimed the book at second-year undergraduates who have had some exposure to quantum mechanics, kinetics, thermodynamics and mathematics but the book could easily be adapted as an introduction to all of these areas for a minor course in chemistry to stand alone. 

These narratives of men, women and children with MCS normalize the fear, loneliness, shame and loss that can torment those with this condition. They provide hope and encouragement desperately needed by others to persevere with MCS. Collectively, they can help others to avoid unnecessary chemical injuries, dispel some of the myths surrounding people with MCS, and bring greater insight and understanding to those who love, live with or work with someone who is chemically sensitive. 

If you believe the myth, you are going to work hard to cram your essay full of evidence of all the wonderful things you do. This method won t succeed for two important reasons. First, the myth is just that, a myth. Admissions directors aren t looking for students who can do it all. Second, you have only got about 500 words. You can t possibly write a great personal essay in that space if you load it up with too much content. Think small. Write about something you are truly interested in or passionate about. Resist the temptation to wow them with too much. 

The scientific basis of our work is elaborately described in The Invisible Landscape. That work represented our considered, composite opinion as of 1975. Since then these ideas have been much revised as the myths and fallacies spun into the fabric of their first conception have been separated out.]... 

There is a myth that taking phenylpropanolamine (Dexatrim s active ingredient) will work. It won t. In fact, Dexatrim is a false positive, and may work against you. The myth may have originated because Dexatrim was claimed to speed metabolism. However, the fact that Dextrim causes a positive makes it useless. 

They (drug workers) probably get the best or the most out of the client that they re working with, because we certainly don t, we get a lot of the superficial stuff and a lot of the stuff that goes with the myths - you know that the first time that they slip up we are just going to snatch those children away from them. 

It is worth repeating that the idea that h.v.t. is inherently more time-consuming than dry-box techniques is a myth with careful experimental planning, a greater degree of reproducibility and a lower level of impurities can be achieved by h.v.t. in a similar, if not shorter, time than that required for dry-box work. It is, however, true that it takes longer to master h.v.t. than to become familar with dry-box techniques. 

Both economic decline and military technology feature in Correlli Barnett s four-volume account of the collapse ofBritish power between the First World War and the Suez crisis of 1956. Barnett used a concept of total strategy which encompassed all factors that he believed to be relevant to a nation s ability to preserve or extend its power education, literature, religion and national myths, for example, as well as armed forces and economic and technological resources. His work may... 

No wonder the Communists paid attention when young Trofim Lysenko declared that the genetics of Mendel s peas and Morgan s fruit flies was incorrect and simply a capitalist plot to exploit the peasants and working class. Lysenko believed that environmental factors determined the performance of plants and that acquired characteristics could be inherited. Having unmasked the evil Western myth of gene-based inheritance, Lysenko promised almost instant improvements in agricultural production. 

His work is not merely a record of facts, but is also full of the legends, myths, and superstitions of the time, often indeed recorded with protests against their absurdity, but often also soberly accepted. This feature, however, is of much human interest in giving an understanding of ancient points of view on many subjects. Taken all in all, the Natural History of Pliny is an extremely valuable compendium of the knowledge of his time, and in scope and comprehensiveness it far exceeds any other work which has come down to us in the domain it covers. 

Today, working until age 65 is more myth than reality. 

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