Interesting Facts- Can't get to the medicine cabinet? That's okay, go to your garden!

random picture of beach

Sorry everyone that I didn't post yesterday! I happen to be at a hotel by the beach and everyone is using the same internet connection. So my connection happened to be very, very slow.

Anyways, as most fantasy authors realize, if you're writing a novel where it's based in a century before the 20th century, they probably didn't have the kind of medical equipment or medicine as we do now. So what is one to do if your characters don't have our medicine today or they don't have their own special plants? Well one simple answer is herbs. Yep, its been known for centuries that all different kinds of plants have some kind of medical use.

Aloe vera (ignore the random flower in the back ground)

The aloe vera plant is one common plant that can be used to help burns and grown in your own house. If you've never used this plant but you get one, simply break off one of the leaves and put the sap on the burn area. Of course it isn't as nice as running cold water on it, but if you can't get to any kind of burn cream, this plant is nice.

So today I will share some uses for commonly found plants that your characters may use. Note: Do NOT try to use these yourself without consulting a doctor. I have no evidence if these plants and it's uses will actually work so don't use them yourself.

• Lavender- This pretty purple plant is commonly used in aromatherapy. While in ealierr times it was used for mental health issues, it now can be found to be used for conditions such as restlessness, anxiety, and insomnia. NCCAM- Lavender , Lavender 
• Garlic- This commonly used herb is used as a flavoring for many things such as garlic bread. It has been shown that it can help with issues such as blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart problems. NCCAM- Garlic, Garlic
• Ginger- Can commonly be found with cooking and in cold and flu and anti-nausea medicene as an extract. Some studies have shown that it is useful for motion sickness.
• Flaxseed (oil)- This is commonly used as a laxative and can be used to for hot flashes or breast pain. NCCAM- Flaxseed, Flaxseed
• Saw Palmetto- Probably not a commonly known herb. Anyways, this can be used to help prevent prostate cancer. NCCAM- Saw Palmetto, Saw Palmetto
• Rosemary- This plant which, like Lavender, can be found in some aromatherapy products, and has been used in shampoos to help fight dandruff. Rosemary
• Dandelion- Although pretty, this plant that takes over every yard in my town during the spring and early summer, is actually a weed. Although used in salads, some people are allergic to this plant. In earlier times it was used to help kidney and liver problems although there is no scientific evidence of this plant having any kind of medical use. NCCAM- Dandelion, Dandelion
• Red clover- This pretty flowering plant, can be seen growing in my grandma's yard. In earlier times, red clover was used for whooping cough and asthma, although there is not enough scientific evidence to determine whether or not red clover is health beneficial. Currently, some use it to help with cramps that come with women's periods. NCCAM- Red Clover, Red Clover
• Cinnamon- This spice is commonly used in food and other ediable things. While it is certainly tasteful, it could help with digestive problems. It is also said to help get fight the flu, common cold, and headaches. Cinnamon

There are just a few examples. But once again, don't try any herbs as medicene unless you have talked to your doctor first or you actually know they work. 

Resources/More information

MedlinePlus- Herbal remedies 

Index of Medicinal Herbs

Healing Spices

NCCAM- Herbs at a Glance

(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research)

MedlinePlus- Herbs

So, do you know of any uses for herbs and spices? Do you have a book where your characters need/could use herbs and spices for something other to make a meal tasty? Do you use real herbs or do you make up your own? 

Sincerely,

Peony

Interesting Facts- Incas are More Alike Us than We Realize (part 2)

So Sunday I posted a long post about Aztecs (Read it here), and today I'm forcing you all to learn about Incas now. Unfortantly, I won't have a post about the Mayans because I haven't done enough research on them. But one day I will!

Anyways, the Incas were interesting people. They believed that the original Incas started out as children of gods who came out of this cave. And according to this legend, they then went on to conquer other native peoples. The people who became part of the Inca's empire weren't actually called Incas (just like how the Aztecs called themselves Mexicas). The only person who was called Inca, was the Emperor and the actual noble people. The emperor was actually called the Sapa Inca  or just the Inca. While the other nobles were called that, only they could be called Incas if they were descended from the first Incas.

Like the Mayans and the Aztecs, the Incas had the concept of zero too. In fact, their system of goverment was based off of numbers. You see, every 10 households was governed by a head figure. These leaders of ten, reported then to the heads of fifty households, and then they all reported to heads who governed prefects of 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and then finally, 10,000 households! Those those who governed over households larger than fifty, their postion happened to be hereditary.


Unlike us, the Incas did not have money. Instead everything was bought through time. This was called the Mit'a which means that it was a tax placed on the people. To pay for this tax you had to spend a certain amount of time doing something. For example, you could spend a year in the army, or repairing roads. In exchange, the government provided everything the people needed, kinda like a welfare system.

Every town or city had storage houses where things like rations went to the widowed, orphans, or disabled people every day, and food and stuff went to everyone else during times of strife or during a catastrophe, like if there was a earthquake. And for the army, there was a storage house where things like armor and weapons were held in towns so that where ever the army was, they were well equiped. They also even had runners to bring messages, much like our pony express.

Not only did the government provide this, but for every marriaged couple, the government gave them enough land to support themselves and any extended family memebers they may have. But before they could work on their own land, the general people had to work on the land of the Emperor and the nobles before they could work on their own. The Emperor even began the planting season by breaking the ground with a golden plow, although after that, he never really did anything to grow food.

Common people also owed a certain amount of cloth to the government because cloth was very valuable. Interestingly enough, even though the government provided for them, people who were disabled or had issues could only marry people who had the same problem as them. For example. only blind people could marry other blind people.


One of the most interesting things about the Incas is that they had a special group of women called Chosen Women. An Acllacuna was the school where girls (ten years old) were selected from all over the Inca empire to be trained as Chosen Women. They were selected based on beauty and social rank. Being trained by older Chosen Women, the girls learned things such as dyeing, weaving, singing and dancing, they preformed religious rites, and they had to make clothes for the emperor. After a certain amount of time (usually three years) they were sent to Cuzco to the Festival of the Sun where the Emperor would decide what happened to them.

 If they weren't selected as a concubine they could be married off to a nobleman or "married" to a diety. If a man spent time with a Chosen Woman both partners could be killed and the village from where the Chosen Woman came from destoryed. But if the Emperor spent a night with one, a temple guard would be sent to the Emperor and ask him if he had indeed spent time with a Chosen Woman. If he said yes then all would be forgiven.

An Acllahuasi was the house where Chosen Women stayed. And a Mamaconas was a Chosen Woman who had been selected by the Emperor as either a concubine or a priestess. Chosen women were expected to be publically moral and lead a good example for other women. They were treated as queens and ladies, leading great and fantastic lives which were filled with pleasure and amusement. the people and lords loved them and they were very esteemed and highly regarded. So much were they respected that commoners would never look them in the eyes.

The Incas are famous for their writing system, known as the quipu. The quipu is a system of strings and knots that represent something. These strings could only be read by the person who created them. Because of this, scribes were very powerful people since they could lie about their quipus. And with this great power, the Sapa Inca had investigators who came around to make sure that the quipu makers didn't lie about what they "wrote" about. And because only the person who made a quipu could understand what it said, people today have no idea what the which still exist mean. There is some ideas going around but no one is really sure.

The Incas were great builders. One of their most famous cities is Machu Picchu. Anyways, the Incas buildings were so well put together that they could withstand earthquakes and a knife couldn't even be put between the stones. The stones were uncut and fitted together naturally so that if there was an earthquake, the stones would rumble together and not fall apart. When looking at one building built by the Incas, the researchers discovered that each stone had a small indent or mark so that they would fit together like a puzzle.

Resources:
Aztecs: Reign of Blood and Splendor by Time-Life Books and Dale M. Brown
Incas Lords of Gold and Glory by Time-Life Books and Dale. M. Brown

So, did you learn anything? Do you think the Incas are interesting?

Sincerely,
Peony

In The News- Orange Goo and First Things.

Dear Readers, this is going to be a really short post tonight. I'm sorry about that. For one thing, even though I have two news articles to talk to you about, I'm waaayy too tired to be awake...much less writing a blog post. So if something doesn't read right or something is just plain messed up as you read this...I'm probably really really tired.

Second thing, according to Yahoo! News, a mysterious orange goo washed up on the shore of one Alaska town and freaked everyone out. At first people thought it was some kind of pollution, but upon further inspection, they discovered it to be either small crustacean eggs or embryos. The orange coloring can be explained because of a lipid droplet in the middle. So if you're wondering, yes this is natural! The orange goo is reportedly sticky but powdery when it's dried.

And the best part?

They know the goo are eggs, but they don't know what creature the eggs are. Great right? So for all we know it's either, something weird concerning fish...or eggs from an alien species intent on invading our planet....

Maybe not, but you never know.

On the other piece of news, Keiko Fukuda is now the first woman to ever achieve a tenth degree black belt. Which just so happens to be the highest rank in the martial art, Judo. Fukuda can now proudly say that she is one of the only four living pople to have earned the tenth-degree black belt. Apparently, only sixteen people have ever gotten this far.

And I bet none of them are as old as this bright 98-year-old lady. Anyways, she's been doing Judo since 1935 and is the only student alive to have learned under Judo's founder, Kano Jihuro. Not only is this woman destroying boundries placed on women, but she also gave up normal traditions (things like marrying) to persue her life's dream . And I'd say that this is a pretty good lesson. It may have taken her over sixty years to have earned this honor, but she never gave up. Even when things weren't looking the best.

According to this Yahoo! article:

Fukodo said she approached Judo and her life with the intent to "be gentle, kind and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically." Fukuda says this kind of beauty is decidedly not external. "A compassionate soul is inner beauty," she explained to the paper. "I believe this is true beauty...All my life this has been my dream."

Dream realized, the 98-year-old Sensei Keiko Fukuda continues to teach Judo three times a week at a woman's dojo.

The other neat thing, she's still teaching, at 98 years old. So what do I think? I think good for her for pursuing her's life's dream even if it wasn't what others wanted her to do. And for never giving up. Also, and she's still living her dream even when she's old. 

Resources:
98 year old woman becomes the first to earn the highest honor in Judo.

So, do you know of anyone else who has ever achieved something no one else did? And have you ever heard of anything like this mysterious goo? What do you think the eggs are?

Sincerely,
Peony

Writing Tips- Character Sheets

There are plenty of ways to create your characters but as I'm sure we all know, a good character is a well developed one. If anything the author or yourself should know a lot about the protagonist of the story. We should know them inside out and sometimes learning even the little things about them is good. Some of it may not all go into the story, but the more you know about your character, the more real he/she/it will seem.

Character sheets, I've found, are very helpful for developing characters. One book I read recommend you fill one out after you've completed the story, but I find that filling them out as you write is very helpful. Not only is it good for learning more about them, but it's good for keeping facts straight. How many siblings does your character have? What's his eye color? His fears, his wants, his goals, etc.

I've found many examples of character sheets over the years since I've started writing, but one of the most useful I've found is one from Gaia.online (sure it's game site but you can talk to people on it and stuff). I've listed it for you below to use and I've also posted the link to the page where it's found.


Full name of Character:
Reason, meaning or purpose behind the name:
Nickname:
Reason for nickname:
Race:
Occupation/class:
Social class:
Physical Appearance:
Age:
How old they appear:
Eye Color:
Glasses or contacts?
Hair color length and style:
Weight and height:
Type of body (build):
Skin tone and type (i.e., harry, slimy, scaly, oily, fair, burns easily):
Shape of face:
Distinguishing marks (dimples, moles, scars, birthmarks, etc.):
Predominant feature:
Is s/he healthy?
If not, why not? Or why are they healthy?
Do they look healthy? Why/why not?

Favorites:
Char’s favorite color:
Least favorite, why?
Music?
Least favorite music, why?
Food:
Literature:
Expressions:
Expletives (curse):
Mode of transport:
Hobbies:
How do they spend a rainy day?
Personality:
Are they a daredevil or cautious?
Do they act the same alone as when with someone?
Habits:
Drinks:
How much:
Greatest Strength:
Greatest Weakness:
Soft spot:
Is their soft spot obvious, why/why not:
If not, how do they hide it:
Biggest Vulnerability:
Background:
Hometown:
Type of childhood:
First Memory:
Most important child hood event that still effects him/her:
Why?
Education:
Religion:
Finances:
Family:
Mother:
Relationship with her:
Father:
Relationship with him:
Siblings, How many, relationship with each:
Children of siblings:
Other extended family:
Close? Why or why not:
Attitude:
Most at ease when:
Most ill at ease when:
Priorities:
Philosophies:
How they feel about themselves:
Past failure they would be embarrassed to admit:
Why?
If granted one wish what would it be, why?
Traits:
Optimist or pessimist? Why?
Introvert or extrovert? Why?
Drives and motives:
Talents:
Extremely skilled at:
Extremely unskilled at:
Good characteristics:
Character flaws:
Mannerisms:
Peculiarities:
Biggest regret:
Minor regrets:
Biggest accomplishment:
Minor accomplishments:
Darkest secret:
Does anyone know?
How did they find out:
Self-perception:
One word they would use to describe themselves:
One paragraph of how they would describe themselves:
What do they consider their best physical characteristic and why:
The worst one? Why?
Are they realistic assessments?
If not, why not?
How they think others preserve them:
What four things would they most like to change about themselves:
Why?
If they were changed would they be the same person, why/why not:
Would changing of number 1 make them more happy? Why/why not:
Interaction with other people:
How do they relate to others:
How are they perceived by strangers:
Friends:
Wife/husband/lover:
The Hero/Heroin:
How do they view the Hero/Heroine:
First impression of the char:
why?
What happens to change this perception:
What do people like most about this char:
What do they dislike most about them:
Goals:
Immediate:
Long term:
How do they plan to accomplish them:
How will others be effected by this:
Problems/Crisis:
How do they react in a crisis:
How do they face problems:
Kind of problems they usually run into:
How they react to new problems:
How they react to change:
General:
Favorite clothing, why:
Least favorite, why:
Jewelry:
Other accessories:
Drives:
Where do they live:
Where do they want to live:
Spending habits, why:
What do they do too much of, why:
Most prized possession, why:
People they secretly admire, why:
Person they are most influenced by, why:
Most important person in their life before story starts, why:
How do they spend the week just before the story starts:

Gaia Online- Character Sheet

So, have you ever used character sheets? Do you find them useful? What the best one that you've ever used?

Sincerely,

Peony

Interesting Facts- Scoliosis

I orginally was going to blog about weird hobbies and collections, but I didn't exactly find what I was looking for. So I decided that you would all like to learn about this condition. I'm sure you've probably gotten tests and screening at school for this and you may even know someone who has this problem.

So what is Scoliosis exactly?
Scoliosis (pronounced: sko-lee-oh-sis) is a condition where a person's spine is curved as either a "S" or a "C". The word itself comes from a greek word that means crooked. Which is a good way to describe someone's spine if they have this problem. 


Did you know that every 3 out of 100 people have scoliosis? And it is more likely to affect girls than boys? Although no one is sure what causes this condition, doctors and scientists do know that you are more likely to get this if someone in your family also has it. When the doctors aren't sure why someone has this it is called Idiopathic Scoliosis. 


In some cases you can tell if someone has scoliosis. People, like me (yes I have this, but we'll talk about this later), may tilt to the left or right or lean to the side. In my case, my spine caused me to have one shoulder higher than the other and one of my legs was longer than the other. If the doctors aren't sure you have this condition they may x-ray your spine to make sure. 


Most cases are not servere but sometimes they are. If the spine continues to curve or twist too much it can lead to breathing problems, heart function, and may cause pain later on in life. In 7th grade when we talked to my doctor about this he calmly told me that if I didn't get spinal fusion (one of the surgeries you can get if your spine is bad) I wouldn't live past forty because my spine would get so bad. By then I was already have breathing problems. 


For some people who have scoliosis but their isn't bad, they may get a back brace. I never wore one, but I looked at them a couple of times. Some people who have back braces do not have to wear them all the time, they may only wear them at night, while other must wear them for most of the day. While a back brace will never get rid of scoliosis, it can prevent it from curving even more and prevent surgery. Often times, your spine will straighten out on its own by the time you are done growing. 


About my own Scoliosis problem 
I was nine years old when we first found out I had scoliosis. My doctors think I got it from my dad who had it as a child but out grew it. The doctors decided not to do anything at the time and monitor my back from time to time. When I was in seventh grade my spine had significantly curved. My upper back had a 65 degree curve while my lower back had a 73 degree curve. The only solution was to get spinal fusion. 


Spinal fusion is when during a long surgery (mine was nine hours) doctors place metal rods on either side of the spine to help correct and prevent the spine from getting worse. During mine they had to take out a rib (yes they grow back) to get to part of my spine through my side, remove some disks, and screwed in screws to hold the rods in place. The surgery didn't fully correct the scoliosis though, I ended up having a 32 degree curve at my lower spine and a 29 degree curve at the top. 


I ended up having to be in the hospital for a week where my only memories are fuzzy and weird (lets just say that I had so much pain medication that I, at times, thought that ceiling was moving, I once was moved to a beach house, I watched The Wizard of Oz which I hadn't, and I have no memory whatsoever of my pastor coming in- and he came twice). Sitting up and walking was hard at first but eventually I was able to. 


When I finally was able to come home, I was out of school for a whole month and spent most of the time on my couch or in my bed reading or watching TV. It was extremely boring and uncomfortable. Lets just say that I ended up failing my math class that quarter because I couldn't catch up on the homework. Thirty problems every day no odds or evens and a teacher who complains that I should have known how to do the homework. 


Anyways, four years later I am able to do everything (well most everything) except for tackle football (there goes my dream of getting into the NFL as the only female player...actually not really). I have a scar running down my spine and another one branching off from that and wrapping around my waist. I can't touch my toes, lift anything over fifty pounds, and my back makes the prefect excuse not to go on roller coasters...which I have never liked. Besides that I still sometimes have breathing problems, and my back gets this weird tingling feeling when I sleep or when I'm not wearing much (like a swimsuit). I also have a little white dot on both my arms from where I had IVs in. 


To say the least, surgery isn't all that scary since most of the time you're not awake (I got one of those face masks and they let me choose what flavor of lip balm to apply...yes lip balm...it makes the mask smell good when they turn on the gas. If you ever have a mask don't get the strawberry-banana lip balm!). The worst part was being bored afterwards and the medicene. It tasted really bad so my aunt got the idea to put it in apple juice and ever since then I can't drink apple juice cause I'll get the same gross taste. 


In my view, I was lucky. My doctor met a girl who was around her early teens who's spine had a 123 degree curve. No lie. They were only able to correct it to 75 degrees. And he also told me that one of his patients who got surgery, she was able to go onto the nationals in acrobatics even after hers. 


Resources
Scoliosis
Fast Facts about Scoliosis
Scoliosis Directory

So, do you have scoliosis or do you know anyone with it? Did they/you have to get a brace or surgery at all?

Sincerely,
Peony