week five

inert gas of the week:

not a lot to choose from. i guess stability is kind of a rare thing around here...

"tell me is it the crack of the pool balls, neon buzzin', telephone's ringin it's your second cousin..."  - tom waits

and just why do neon signs buzz? if it's not a collection of glow in the dark florescent bees, then what is it? actually, most of the new ones don't buzz any more and many of them aren't made of neon.  but - different inert gases make different colors when trapped in glass tubing and illuminated by a few thousand volts of electricity.  neon and helium are still the most common gases in "neon" lights, but the tubes can be filled with mixtures of inert gases to make different colors.

check out the colors of neon, argon, helium, krypton and xenon: (thanks wikipedia.) 

neon itself has the atomic number 10 and an atomic mass of 20.1797. it is the fifth most common element in the universe, but relatively rare here on earth. random and amazing facts about neon are its boiling point, -410 degrees fahrenheit, and that it's the least reactive of all the elements. maybe we could make a homeopathic tincture of this and sell it as a spiritual tonic? or at least drop some in the water of world leaders everywhere.

colors in my kitchen:

red beet. orange sweet potato. yellow onion. white cauliflower. green avocado. yellow sunburst squash. red apples. blueberries. red strawberries. yellow bananas. green nori. brown almond butter.  i tend to eat in cycles, eating the same few things over and over again for a month or two until i get tired of them and then start eating something else. like, beautiful fresh organic apples and raw organic almond butter - my favorite breakfast right now. i'm so into this, i've been considering buying a used champion juicer to make my own almond butter. and! - frozen banana creme (made of championed frozen bananas). with dark chocolate sauce it's the best thing ever. also in love with steamed cabbage right now, but sadly, there's none in the kitchen at the moment. most of the things in packages don't seem to have much color. tan or brown. except maybe yellowish mustard and sauerkraut, green microalgae and veggie burgers, pink raspberry kombucha... oh yeah, don't forget white mint galactica coconut bliss!! yum!

links?: 

what's funny about What is important about the color of minerals? is that they don't really talk about what's important. or at least, what seems important to me, which is the healing properties offered by these minerals which are related to their colors. it's well known that different stones are helpful for activating and healing different chakras according to color. it's also a practice in chinese feng shui to use crystals, often chosen by color, to magnify the strength of particular elements. stones are one aspect of the diverse natural world which is open and ready to share healing gifts with us if we open to it.