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Blog archive

May 2025

April 2025

March 2025

About Senior Solutions
03/28/2025

Building a Bridge With Journey House, A Home Base for Former Foster Youth
03/28/2025

Come for the Knitting, Stay for the Conversation... and the Cookies
03/28/2025

Creating Safe and Smart Spaces with Home Technology
03/28/2025

Finding Joy in My Role on The Pasadena Village Board
03/28/2025

I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!
03/28/2025

Managing Anxiety
03/28/2025

Message from Our President: Keeping Pasadena Village Strong Together
03/28/2025

My Favorite Easter Gift
03/28/2025

The Hidden History of Black Women in WWII
03/28/2025

Urinary Tract Infection – Watch Out!
03/28/2025

Volunteer Coordinator and Blade-Runner
03/28/2025

Continuing Commitment to Combating Racism
03/26/2025

Goodbye and Keep Cold by Robert Frost
03/13/2025

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
03/13/2025

Racism is Not Genetic
03/11/2025

Bill Gould, The First
03/07/2025

THIS IS A CHAPTER, NOT MY WHOLE STORY
03/07/2025

Dramatic Flair: Villagers Share their Digital Art
03/03/2025

Empowering Senior LGBTQ+ Caregivers
03/03/2025

A Life Never Anticipated
03/02/2025

Eaton Fire Changes Life
03/02/2025

February 2025

Commemorating Black History Month 2025
02/28/2025

Transportation at the Pasadena Village
02/28/2025

A Look at Proposition 19
02/27/2025

Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Pasadena Village Board and Its Role
02/27/2025

Beyond and Within the Village: The Power of One
02/27/2025

Celebrating Black Voices
02/27/2025

Creatively Supporting Our Village Community
02/27/2025

Decluttering: More Than The Name Implies
02/27/2025

Hidden Gems of Forest Lawn Museum
02/27/2025

LA River Walk
02/27/2025

Message from the President
02/27/2025

Phoenix Rising
02/27/2025

1619 Conversations with West African Art
02/25/2025

The Party Line
02/24/2025

Bluebird by Charles Bukowski
02/17/2025

Dreams by Langston Hughes
02/17/2025

Haiku - Four by Fritzie
02/17/2025

Haikus - Nine by Virginia
02/17/2025

Wind and Fire
02/17/2025

Partnerships Amplify Relief Efforts
02/07/2025

Another Community Giving Back
02/05/2025

Diary of Disaster Response
02/05/2025

Eaton Fire: A Community United in Loss and Recovery
02/05/2025

Healing Powers of Creative Energy
02/05/2025

Living the Mission
02/05/2025

Message from the President: Honoring Black History Month
02/05/2025

Surviving and Thriving: Elder Health Considerations After the Fires
02/05/2025

Treasure Hunting in The Ashes
02/05/2025

Villager's Stories
02/05/2025

A Beginning of Healing
02/03/2025

Hectic Evacuation From Eaton Canyon Fire
02/02/2025

Hurricanes and Fires are Different Monsters
02/02/2025

January 2025

Science: Telescopes, Columbian Exchange

By Bob Snodgrass
Posted: 10/16/2021
Tags:
I also get the Wilson center emails and have attended two of their webinars, which were policy focused. Tonight I will zoom into the von Karman lecture at CalTech which relates to the advantages of infra-red telescopes, a subject very interesting to me.

There’s also a very interesting article about evidence for human tobacco use 12,000 yrs ago in what is now Utah, . The second may require a subscription- for those wanting it I can email a copy of the original paper.

This inevitably brings up the question which was more important for prehistoric humans, tobacco or cannabis? It’s interesting to me to think of the so-called Columbian exchange:  Tomatoes, potatoes, corn, chocolate and many other foods changed the European diet forever. Asia had no spicy peppers before Columbus, and they became important. Tobacco was a commercially important import to Europe. It's use was initially frowned on but it soon grew in use and importance.    Spaniards brought cannabis plants to South America.


The oldest real evidence for cannabis use is in ancient china, 6-8,000 years ago. It probably originated in China where hemp was used extensively for rope, clothing, shoes and sometimes parts of walls. Hindu culture acquired cannabis from China and soon incorporated its use into religious rituals. In the Atharva Veda, for instance, cannabis is lauded for being a cure to illnesses, and also for fighting off demons.


So the Americas gave potatoes, chocolate and tobacco to the old world and got diseases, cannabis and sugar in return.


European diseases were acquired from hogs, cattle, and chickens. These diseases passed back and forth between Europeans and animals, because they lived close to each other. Both developed immunities. Amerindians had no immunities. They had no similar diseases that developed with animals, because Native Americans had no similar relationship with animals.

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