You may not know it, but plants get scared sometimes. When this happens, a plant sends chemical signals, not only to itself, but to other plants near it. Plants use their root systems to send a warning signal, and this causes a change in plant hormone levels, so it is possible for plants to be stressed out.

Plants are amazing things and not just the subject of bored people who sit around and listen to the grass grow. Some people even feel that plants have a sense of vision. Despite the knowledge that plants are far more complicated than once thought, I'm afraid we will still keep eating plants. We are backed into a corner when it comes to food.

When people get stressed out, their cortisol hormone levels also change. Normally, cortisol is present in the body, but under stress, the level of cortisol skyrockets. Chronic stress maintains that high level of cortisol, which level in turn, causes negative health effects. One of these is called "belly fat". This means exactly what it says. Somehow cortisol, which thinks in "cave man" terms, makes fat practically out of thin air and creates a little pooch so that you will have a reservoir of fuel for fighting that T-Rex attacking you. Although the T-Rex is extinct, cortisol is blissfully unaware of fashion trends in the 21st century.

Animals can also feel stressed. Not surprisingly, their bodies also produce cortisol in response to stressful events. These events can be one-time events like an attack or chronic stress from situations live living in a laboratory which is not a normal way to live.

Many might say "Define normal", but you already know that solitary confinement, medical experiments, and living in cages is not normal for plants, people, or animals. If you set your mind to it, you can think of a lot of other things which shouldn't happen to living creatures.

Old books sometimes contain very interesting material. For instance, I checked out Egypt Observed by Henri Gougaud.

Of course, it's obvious that many of the structures built by the ancient Egyptians were incredibly beautiful when first built, and they retain much of their original beauty. But here are the kinds of things I also noticed. First of all, the temple of Djoser was built of six steps in six stages. If I do the math, that means every stage yielded a step. Why does this cause my neurons to go on the fritz? They should never have told me that.

I wonder about how you say that name, D-j-o-s-e-r? Surely, the Egyptians weren't any better at saying two hard consonants together at the beginning of a word such as Djoser than I am. Can you imagine how relieved I was to learn the pronunciation is Zoser? Another question, though: In the discussion of the Pyramid of Djoser, it states that "deep crypts were hollowed out of living rock" (51). Living rock is different from dead rock? I'm still working on this one, since I haven't figured out how there could be rock that continues to increase its mass in the middle of the desert sand.

The name Ptahhotp is another matter. It seems to require extreme dexterity of consonant pronunciation. 

Have you noticed how important a new baby's name is? Baby books gave lists of popular baby names and a brief description of its origin, but now you need to read pages and pages of history about the name and do some numerology to determine if the name is a good one. Otherwise, your offspring may doubt you for giving them a less than auspicious name.

In Egypt, the Apis bull was worshipped, embalmed, and put in sarcophagi that sometimes weighed sixty tons. Apis worship was adopted by the Greeks and Romans at a later date. "Special spots" on the white hide of cattle drawings indicated a bull. (53). The sacred bulls spent their lives in bliss amidst a "harem of cows".

The most surprising thing in the book was the description of the village of Siwa:

"Custom ordains that the sexes be rigorously separated from the age of puberty. The women live as recluses, and at night the men leave the village. Until quite recently, marriages between boys were recognized in civil law- everything was, and still is, ordered so that children should not proliferate...for they could not feed too large a population" (106).

Time goes by, and the more things change, the more they stay the same.