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The Acupuncture System and The Liquid Crystalline Collagen Fibres of the Connective Tissues

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The Acupuncture System and The Liquid Crystalline Collagen Fibres of the Connective Tissues

Liquid Crystalline Meridians

Mae-Wan Ho (Ph.D.)Bioelectrodynamics Laboratory,
Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, U.K.
David P. Knight (Ph.D.) Dept. of Biological Sciences,
King Alfred’s College, Winchester SO22 4NR, U.K.

American Journal of Complementary Medicine (in press)

We propose that the acupuncture system and the DC body field detected by Western scientists both inhere in the continuum of liquid crystalline collagen fibres that make up the bulk of the connective tissues. Bound water layers on the collagen fibres provide proton conduction pathways for rapid intercommunication throughout the body, enabling the organism to function as a coherent whole. This liquid crystalline continuum mediates hyperreactivity to allergens and the body’s responsiveness to different forms of subtle energy medicine. It constitutes a “body consciousness” working in tandem with the “brain consciousness” of the nervous system. We review supporting evidence from biochemistry, cell biology, biophysics and neurophysiology, and suggest experiments to test our hypothesis.

Meridians and fields

The meridian theory is a prominent component of traditional Chinese medicine. It was formulated in ancient China with the practice of acupuncture, moxibustion, massage and qigong – an integrated mind-body exercise for controlling and mobilizaing qi (energy) for physical fitness and well-being. The meridians are a complicated system of pathways in which “qi and blood” are said to circulate in the body, thus interconnecting the viscera and limbs, the deeper and superficial layers of the body in a fine meshwork (Yin, 1992). The meridians have effectively guided diagnosis and treatment of diseases by drugs, acupuncture, moxibustion, and massage for thousands of years. Acupuncture is also widely used for pain relief, anaesthesia, and in some cases, for treating psychiatric disturbances (Esser et al, 1976).

Yet, the meridians and their acunpuncture points have no known, straightforward anatomical correlates recognized in western medicine, such as the circulatory system or the nervous system. Attempts continue to be made to establish anatomical and functional connections between acupuncture points and a variety of structures. These include receptors supplied by sensory nerves (Wang and Liu, 1989), tendon organs, encapsulated nerve-endings, extensive neural terminals, vascular network or superficial blood vessels (Gunn, 1976; Pan et al, 1988), veins perforating fascia (Plummer, 1980), and mast cells (Zhai, 1988).

Since the 1970s, there has been growing interest in the electrical characteristics of acupuncture points and in developing instruments for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, as reviewed by Tiller (1982). Such instruments all measure skin conductances and how they change on being stimulated by direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). Measurements of DC skin conductances have provided evidence that acupuncture points and meridians have distinctive electrical properties compared with the surrounding skin. Acupuncture points typically represent local maxima in conductance, elevated by a factor of 10 to 100, compared with the surrounding skin, while acupuncture meridians have the chracteristics of electrical transmission lines (Tiller, 1973; Reichmannis et al, 1976; Becker, 1990).Tiller (1982, 1987)has presented several models to account for the electrical properties of acupuncture points based on charge movements and selective permeability of ions through different layers of the skin.

In the kind of measurement offered by Motoyama (1980), multiple fixed electrodes are positioned over 28 acupuncture points on the hands and feet, while the large reference electrode is attached to the wrist. A direct current is passed through the circuit by a 3V battery. The conductance typically shows a fast decay in microseconds, overlying a slow baseline conductance with a relaxation time of some tens of seconds. Motoyama attributes the fast component to semi-conduction in the dermis, while the slow component is attributed to ion movements and storage across the basal membrane separating the dermis from the epidermis. Tiller (1987) represents the epidermal and dermal layers as two domains in series, each with its capacitance and resistance with very different response (relaxation) times. The fast component is associated with the dermis, the low frequency component, the epidermis. Tiller has further suggested that the fast conductance might be due to H+, as the DC voltage supplied (3V) was sufficient to ionize water. This model identifies the differing electrical properties of the dermis and epidermis, which could account for some, though not all, of the responses of the acupuncture system to electrical stimulation. These responses are often found to correlate with states of disease and health (Becker et al, 1976; Kobayashi, 1985).

According to traditional theory, the acupuncture system is an active circulatory system for mobilizing energy and for intercommunication throughout the body. So, it is unlikely to be completely understood in terms of the passive responses of skin conductances to electrodermal stimulation. The most promising functional correlate of the acupuncture system, as Becker (1990) suggests, is the direct current (DC) electrodynamical field that he and others have detected in the body of all organisms. This DC body field is involved in morphogenesis during development, in wound-healing and regeneration subsequent to injury. The direct currents making up the body field are not due to charged ions but instead depend on a mode of semi-conduction characteristic of solid state systems (Becker, 1961). The acupuncture points, moreover, may act as “booster amplifiers” of the very weak currents that typically flow along the meridians.

According to Becker (1990), the DC body field is not located in the nervous sytem itself, but in “perineural” tissues such as the glial cells in the brain and spinal cord, and the schwann cells encasing the peripheral nerves. This hypothesis would seem to conflict with the suggestion that the DC body field is correlated with the acupuncture system. The acupuncture system is clearly not directly associated with the perineural tissues, although it may have functional interconnections with the central and peripheral nervous system (Gunn, 1976; Wang and Liu, 1989; Pan et al, 1988). Also, an electrodynamical field can be detected in all early embryos and in plants and animals which do not have neural or perineural tissues (Burr and Northrup, 1935). It is likely that the DC field is functionally interconnected with the nervous system, and yet exists, to a large degree, outside the nervous system. In fact, it is widely recognized that under a variety of conditions, the speed of communication in our body is much faster than can be accounted for by the known speed of nerve conduction (see Ho, 1997a), and nerves simply do not reach all parts of our body.

We propose that both the DC electrodynamical field and the acupuncture system have a common anatomical basis. It is the aligned, collagen liquid crystalline continuum in the connective tissues of the body with its layers of structured water molecules supporting rapid semi-conduction of protons. This enables all parts of the body to intercommunicate readily, so the organism can function as a coherent whole. This liquid crystalline continuum may mediate hyperreactivity to allergens and the body’s responsiveness to different forms of subtle energy medicine. Furthermore, it constitutes a “body consciousness” that is functionally interconnected with the “brain consciousness” of the nervous system (Ho, 1997a). We review supporting evidence from biochemistry, cell biology, biophysics and neurophysiology, and suggest experiments to test our hypothesis.

The organism is a liquid crystalline continuum

One requirement for an intercommunication system is a continuum which can carry the signals for intercommunication. For example, a continuum of air, liquid or solid, can all serve as medium for sound and mechanical waves. If the medium is electrically polarizable, it will also transmit polarization waves. Electromagnetic waves are thought to be an exception, as they can travel through empty space. But to this day, physicists are still debating the nature of the vacuum, which carries not only electromagnetic waves but also gravity waves (see Laszlo, 1995). The living organism is a continuum. Not only is the entire cell now known to be mechanically and electrically interconnected in a “solid state” (Clegg and Drost-Hansen, 1991) or “tensegrity system” (Ingber, 1993, 1998); all the cells in the body are in turn interconnected to one another via the connective tissues (Oschman, 1984, 1996).More accurately, perhaps, we recently discovered that the living continuum is liquid crystalline, with all the properties that make liquid crystals ideal for intercommunication (Ho et al, 1996; Ho, 1997a).

Liquid crystals are states or phases of matter in between solid crystals and liquids, hence the term, mesophases. Unlike liquids which have little or no molecular order, liquid crystals have orientational order, and varying degrees of translational order. But unlike solid crystals, liquid crystals are flexible, malleable, and responsive (De Gennes, 1974; Collings, 1990). There are many kinds of liquid crystals, from those which are most like liquids, to ones that most resemble solid crystals. Those that are like liquids can flow in the way water does, and even though all molecules tend to be aligned in one direction, individual molecules can move quite freely and change places with one another while maintaining their common orientation. The ones that resemble solid crystals will have order in all three dimensions, and molecules may even be extensively covalently cross-linked together, but they will remain flexible and responsive.

Liquid crystals typically undergo rapid changes in orientation or phase transitions when exposed to electric (and magnetic) fields – which is why they are widely used in display screens. They also respond to changes in temperature, hydration, shear forces and pressure. Biological liquid crystals carry static electric charges and are therefore also influenced by pH, salt concentration and dielectric constant of the solvent (Collings, 1990; Knight and Feng, 1993).George Gray (1993), who has studied liquid crystals for many years, refers to liquid crystals as “tunable responsive systems”, and as such, ideal for making organisms.

It is already widely recognized that all the major constituents of living organisms may be liquid crystalline (Collings, 1990) – lipids of cellular membranes, DNA, possibly all proteins, especially cytoskeletal proteins, muscle proteins, and proteins in the connective tissues such as collagens and proteoglycans (Bouligand, 1972; Giraud-Guille, 1992; Knight and Feng, 1993). Recent nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) studies of muscles in living human subjects provide evidence of their “liquid-crystalline-like” structure (Kreis and Boesch, 1994). However, very few workers have yet come to grips with the idea that organisms may be essentially liquid crystalline.

The importance of liquid crystals for living organization was actually recognized a long time ago, as pointed out by Joseph Needham (1935).Hardy suggested in 1927 that molecular orientation may be important for living protoplasm, and Peters, two years later, made the explicit link between molecular orientation and liquid crystals. Needham, indeed, proposed that organisms actually are liquid crystalline. But direct evidence for that has only recently been provided by Ho and coworkers ( Ho and Lawrence, 1993; Ho and Saunders, 1994; Ho et al, 1996). who successfully imaged live organisms using an interference colour technique that amplifies weak birefringences typical of biological liquid crystals. They further discover that all organisms so far examined are polarized along the anterior-posterior or oral-adoral axis, so that when that axis is properly aligned, all the tissues in the body are maximally coloured; the colours changing in concert as the organism is rotated from that position. Not only live organisms, but also fresh-frozen or well-fixed sections of the skin, cartilage and tendons, all exhibit the same brilliant interference colours typical of living organisms.

The connective tissues are still regarded by most workers in purely mechanical terms – their functions are to keep the body in shape, to act as packing between the major organs and tissues, to strengthen the wall of arteries, veins, intestines and air passages, and to provide the rigid elements (bony skeleton) for the attachment of muscles. A more enlightened view is that of a global tensegrity system, in which compression elements (bones) are interconnected with tension elements (muscles, tendons and ligaments), and local stimuli invariably lead to global reorganization of the whole (Ingber, 1998).

Actually, connective tissues may also be largely responsible for the rapid intercommunication that enables our body to function effectively as a coherent whole, and are therefore central to our health and well-being.

Collagens and Intercommunication

The clue to the intercommunication function of connective tissues lies in the properties of collagen, which makes up 70% or more of all the protein of the connective tissues. Connective tissues, in turn form the bulk of the body of most multicellular animals. Collagen is therefore the most abundant protein in the animal kingdom (Knight and Feng, 1993).

There are many kinds of collagens, all sharing a general repeating sequence of the tripeptide, (gly-X-Y) – where X and Y are usually proline or hydroxyproline. They also share a molecular structure in which three polypeptide chains are wound around one another in a triple-helix, with the compact amino acid glycine in the central axis of the helix, while the bulky amino-acids proline and hydroxyproline are near the surface (Van der Rest and Garrone, 1991).In the fibrous forms, the triple-helical molecules aggregate head to tail and side-by side into long fibrils, and bundles of fibrils in turn assemble into thicker fibres, and other more complex three-dimensional liquid crystalline structures. Some collagens assemble into sheets constructed from an open, liquid crystalline meshwork of molecules. All these structures are formed by self-assembly, in the sense that they need no specific “instructions” other than certain conditions of pH, ionic strength, temperature and hydration. The process seems to be predominantly driven by hydrophilic interactions due to hydrogen-bonding between water molecules and charged amino-acid side-chains (Leikin et al, 1995).However, the precise mesophase structures resulting from different conditions of self-assembly show endless variations (Zhou et al, 1996; Haffegee et al, 1998). The different kinds of collagen assemblies in different connective tissues are generally well-suited to the mechanical tasks performed by the connective tissue concerned, because they were shaped by the prevailing conditions and the relevant mechanical forces.

Recent studies reveal that collagens are not just materials with mechanical properties. Instead, they have dielectric and electrical conductive properties that make them very sensitive to mechanical pressures, pH, and ionic composition (Leikin et al, 1993, 1995),and to electromagnetic fields. The electrical properties depend, to a large extent, on the bound water molecules in and around the collagen triple-helix. X-ray diffraction studies reveal a cylinder of water surrounding the triple-helix which is hydrogen-bonded to the hydroxyproline side-chains (Bella et al, 1994). Nuclear magnetic resonance studies have provided evidence of three populations of water molecules associated with collagen. These are interstitial water, very tightly bound within the triple helix of the collagen molecule, and strongly interacting with the peptide bonds of the polypeptide chains; bound water, corresponding to the more loosely structured water-cylinder on the surface of the triple helix; and free water filling the spaces between the fibrils and between fibres (Peto and Gillis, 1990).Evidence for bound water in collagen also comes from studies using another popular physical measurement technique, Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectroscopy (Renugopalakrishnan et al, 1989).

Bound water, or vicinal water is a very general phenomenon involving the structuring of water on solid surfaces. It is already known that up to 50 or 60% of the cell water is structured in the enormous “microtrabecular lattice” that fills the entire cell (Clegg and Drost-Hansen, 1991), which gives the cell its “solid-state” like characteristic (see above).

The existence of the ordered network of water molecules, connected by hydrogen bonds, and interspersed within the protein fibrillar matrix of the collagens is especially signicant, as it is expected to support rapid jump conduction of protons – positive electric charges – and this has been confirmed by dielectric measurements (Sasaki, 1984). The conductivity of collagen increases strongly with the amount of water absorbed (from 0.1 to 0.3g/g of dry collagen), in accordance with the power-law relation,

s(f) = XfY

where f is the water content, andX and Y are constants. The value of Y is found to be 5.1 to 5.4, and is a function of the collagen fibrillar structure. These results suggest that continuous chains of ordered water molecules join neighbouring ion-generating sites enabling proton jumps to occur. The high value of the exponential suggests that up to 5 or 6 neighbours may be involved in the jump conduction. Based on these findings, it is estimated that conductivity along the collagen fibres is at least one-hundred time that across the fibre (Pethig, 1996). Measurements have yet to be made to reveal the true extent of anisotropy in conductivity. The increase in conductivity is most marked around 310 K (Jaroszyk and Marzec, 1993), which interestingly, is close to the normal temperature of our body . It is to be noted that the triple-helix of collagens in dilute solutions “melt” at around the same temperature – 40oC (Leikin et al, 1995). Melting may enable the collagen fibres to better realign, and hence increase conductivity. Collagen melting and realignment may be one of contributing factors to the now well-documented health-promoting effects of physical exercise (see Bortz, 1996).

The collagenous liquid crystalline mesophases in the connective tissues, with their associated structured water, therefore, constitutes a semi-conducting, highly responsive network that extends throughout the organism. This network is directly linked to the intracellular matrices of individual cells via proteins that go through the cell membrane. The connective tissues and intracellular matrices, together, form a global tensegrity system (Oschman, 1984; Ingber, 1998), as well as an excitable electrical continuum for rapid intercommunication throughout the body (Ho, 1997a).

Collagen fibre orientation and the acupuncture system

A major factor contributing to the efficiency of intercommunication is the structured, oriented nature of collagen liquid crystalline mesophases in all connective tissues. Each connective tissue has its characteristic orientation of fibrous structures which are clearly related to the mechanical stresses and strains to which the tissue is subject. This same orientation may also be crucial for intercommunication. Collagen alignment has long been recognized to be important in the structure of bone and cartilage. Less well known are the “Langer lines” (Langer, 1978) in the skin, corresponding to predominant orientations of collagen fibres, which are determined, at least in part, by stresses during development and growth (Reihsner et al, 1995).

Collagen fibre alignments in connective tissues providing channels for electrical intercommunication may thus be correlated with the acupuncture system of meridians and points in traditional Chinese medicine, which, as mentioned above, is also related to the DC body field identified by scientists in the West.

As collagen fibres are expected to conduct (positive) electricity preferentially along the fibres due to the bound water, which are predominantly oriented along the fibre axis; it follows that these conduction paths may correspond to acupuncture meridians. By contrast, acupuncture points typically exibit low electrical resistances compared with the surrounding skin, and may therefore correspond to singularities or gaps between collagen fibres, or, where collagen fibres are oriented at right angles to the dermal layer. A number of structures mentioned earlier, which are at or near acupuncture points, have a common feature in that they are located in local gaps in the fascia or collagen fibres (see Meridians and Fields). Actual conducting channels may bear a more subtle relationship to the orientation of the collagen fibres, as conductivity depends predominantly on the layer(s) of bound water on the surface of the collagen molecules rather than the collagens themselves. So-called free water may also take part in proton conduction as the result of induced polarization, particularly as water molecules naturally form hydrogen-bonded networks (Luzar and Chandler, 1996). This would be consistent with the observed increase in conductivity of collagen as hydration increases to a level well beyond the bound water fraction, around 0.15g/g dry weight; and also with the fact that the normal hydration level of tendon is about 65%.

That conductive pathways actually link the entire body is demonstrated by Han Wan and Robert Balaban of the Canadian National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (see Ehrenstein, 1997), who are taking advantage of the variation in conductivity of different layers of tissues in the body to develop a new, non-destructive imaging technique to aid clinical diagnosis.

The correlation between collagen alignment and the acupuncture system could be tested by examining the alignment in skin biopsies at acupuncture points and meridians – with corroborative skin conductance measurements – compared with non-acupuncture, non-merdian areas. In this connection, we have developed a quantitative imaging package based on our interference colour polarizing microscopy that readily plots molecular alignment in sections of the skin and other connective tissues (Knight et al, 1996; Ross et al, 1997).

Collagen alignment in health and injury

If our hypothesis is correct, and patterns of collagen fibre alignment are indeed important for intercommunication, then they would be expected to affect the health of the individuals concerned, and also to be involved in the processes of healing and regeneration.

Electrical injury currents typically flow from skin wounds and sites of amputation, which are found to be involved in healing and regeneration (Becker, 1990). Injury currents themselves constitute evidence that conductive circuits link the entire body, so that cuts result in leakage currents. The leakage currents mobilize cells to migrate to the site of injury to initiate the healing and regenerative processes. It is significant that the immediate injury currents are all positive, as suggestive of proton currents. Only later on, after the regenerating blastema is formed, do the currents reverse to negative (see Becker, 1990).

Since these observations were made, electromagnetic interventions have been widely used for stimulating regeneration or healing, with conflicting results. Part of the problem may have been that the strengths of electromagnetic fields used were far stronger than the endogenous fields. Another important factor which has received little attention may be the orientation of the applied electromagnetic field with respect to the alignment of collagen fibres at the site of injury. If the field orientation is inappropriate, then application of the external field is likely to be ineffective, and may even delay recovery (Watkins et al, 1985).On the basis of the estimated 100-fold difference in electrical conductivity along the fibre compared to that across the fibre, it would be expected that collagens fibres will align in the direction of the applied electric field. Again these experiments should be done to ascertain the optimum conditions for collagen alignments, which may have important implications for healing and regeneration.

Oriented Collagens and Body consciousness

Proteins in liquid crystals have coherent motions, in the first place, because the molecules are aligned, so that not all the degrees of freedom of movement that individual molecules have will be available in the liquid crystal mesophase (Searle and Williams, 1992). Protein motions involve vibrational deformations of peptide bonds, which will generate polarization waves along the proteins, accompanied by proton conduction in the structured water shell. Fröhlich (1980) has predicted that coherent vibrations (or excitations) will result from metabolic pumping in dielectric systems such as organisms, where electromagnetic and electromechanical forces are expected to interact. Liquid crystallinity will make coherent excitations even more likely to happen. Weak signals of mechanical pressure, heat or electricity, may therefore be readily amplified and propagated by a modulation of the proton currents or coherent polarization waves (Mikhailov and Ert, 1996)

The hydrogen-bonded water network of the connective tissues is actually linked to ordered water dipoles in the ion-channels of the cell membrane that allow inorganic ions to pass in and out of the cell (Williams, 1993). There is thus a direct electrical link between distant signals and the intracellular matrix, leading to physiological changes inside the cells, including neurons and glial cells. This electrical channel of intercommunication is in addition to, and coupled with, the mechanical tensegrity interactions of the connective tissue-intracellular matrix continuum mentioned above. Any mechanical deformations of the protein-bound water network will automatically result in electrical disturbances and conversely, electrical disturbances will result in mechanical effects. The new imaging technique that Han and Balaban are developing (see above) depends specifically on detecting ultrasound emissions from mechanoelastic vibrations caused by electrical pulses applied to the tissues.

Proton jump-conduction is a form of semi-conduction in condensed matter, and is much faster than conduction of electrical signals by the nerves. Thus the ‘ground substance’ of the entire body may provide a much better intercom-munication system than the nervous system. Indeed, it is possible that one of the functions of the nervous system is to slow down intercommunication through the ground substance. Lower animals which do not have a nervous system are nonetheless sensitive. At the other end of the evolutionary scale, note the alarming speed with which a hypersensitive response occurs in human beings. There is no doubt that a body consciousness exists prior to the “brain” consciousness associated with the nervous system. This body consciousness also has a memory, as argued in the Section following.

Crystal Memory

Many studies on the conformation (three-dimensional shape) of the collagen triple-helix have shown that subtle changes are correlated with specific biological activities (Fields, 1995). Cells are guided in their growth and movement by contact with collagens, and specific sites are recognized by a host of cell membrane proteins. Mutations altering collagen amino-acid sequences give subtle changes in the conformation (Bella et al, 1994) which are associated with hereditary diseases, such as osteogenesis imperfecta, chondrodysplasias and Ehler-Danlos syndrome. Changes in collagen conformation should alter the bound water. Conformations of proteins are by no means static. All proteins undergo a hierarchy of conformational changes on a range of timescales, and collagens are unlikely to be exceptions. The conformations are clustered in groups of nearly identical energy content, with very low energy barriers between individual members of the group, but separated from other groups by higher energy barriers (see Welch, 1985). Collective changes in conformation (or phase transitions) can readily be triggered, in turn altering the liquid crystalline structure and the bound water network, as dielectric studies on synthetic liquid crystals have documented (Leikin et al, 1993; Wrobel et al, 1988).

As the collagens and bound water form a global network, there will be a certain degree of stability, or resistance to change. This constitutes a memory, which may be further stabilized by cross-linking and other chemical modifications of the collagens. The network will retain tissue memory of previous experiences, but it will also have the capacity to register new experiences, as all connective tissues, including bones, are not only constantly intercommunicating and responsive, but also undergo metabolic turnover like the rest of our body. Memory is thus dynamically distributed in the structured network and the associated, self-reinforcing circuits of proton currents, the sum total of which will be expected to make up the DC body field itself.

Coupled Body and Brain Consciousness

We have argued that a body consciousness possessing all the hallmarks of consciousness – sentience, intercommunication and memory – is distributed throughout the entire body. Brain consciousness associated with the nervous system is embedded in body consciousness and is coupled to it (see also Ho, 1997a,b; 1998). That bound water plays a crucial role in conscious experience is supported by recent evidence that anaesthetics act by replacing and releasing bound water from proteins and membrane interfaces, thus destroying the hydrogen-bonded network that can support proton jump-conduction (Tsukamoto and Oglie, 1995).Significantly, Becker (1990) found that general anaesthesia also leads to the complete attenuation of the DC body field. It would be of interest to study the conductivities of collagen equilibrated with different solvents and anaesthetics. We would predict that collagens equilibrated with anaethetics will show a decrease in conductivity compared to an equivalently hydrated sample.

Although brain and body consciousness are normally coupled to each other, they may decouple under certain circumstances. Surgical patients under general anaesthesia have been known to regain (brain) consciousness of pain, but not the ability to move or to express their distress. In contrast, acupuncture has been successfully used to anaesthesize patients who are fully awake. Further evidence that brain and body consciousness are to some extent independent is Becker’s (1990) observation that during a perceptive event, local changes in the DC field can be measured half a second before sensory signals arrive in the brain. Similarly, Libet et al (1979) produced evidence suggesting that a “readiness potential” precedes the decision of a subject to move an arm or a leg. It appears that the activities in the brain may be preconditioned by the local DC field.

If it is true that brain and body consciousness can decouple from one another, it would be important to develop monitoring systems specific to either of them. For example, acupuncture points may show changes independently of the EEG, and hence, surgical patients whose EEG, or better yet, whose magnetoencephalogram (MEG) measured with the ultrasenstive SQUID magnetometer show wakefulness may yet have acupuncture point(s) electrodermal readings typical of the anaesthetized state. Similarly, patients anaethetized by acupunture should have the appropriate “anaethetized” electrodermal readings even though their EEG or MEG is fully “awake”.

We have proposed that the acupuncture (meridian) system and the DC body field detected by Western scientists both inhere in the continuum of liquid crystalline collagen fibres and the associated layers of bound water that make up the bulk of the connective tissues of the body. Acupunture merdians may be associated with the bound water layers along oriented collagen fibres, which provide proton conduction pathways for rapid intercommunication throughout the body; while acupuncture points may correspond to gaps in the fibres or fibres oriented at right angles to the surface of the skin. The sum total of the electrical and electromechanical activities of the liquid crystalline continuum constitutes a “body consciousness” that works in tandem with the “brain consciousness” of the nervous system. We have reviewed supporting evidence from biochemistry, cell biology, biophysics and neurophysiology, and have suggested the following experiments to test our hypothesis.

  1. Dielectric measurements on oriented samples of collagen fibres, to ascertain the anisotropy of conductivity along and across the fibres (see p. 8).
  2. Dielectric measurements on the conductivities of oriented samples of collagen fibres equilibrated with different anaesthetics, to ascertain the decrease in conductivity compared with samples equilibrated with water (see p. 13).
  3. Examination of collagen fibre alignments in skin biopsies at acupuncture points and meridians – with corroborative skin conductance measurements – compared with non-acupuncture, non-meridian areas. This is to ascertain the association of meridians with oriented fibres and acupoints with gaps or with fibres oriented at right angles to the surface of the skin ( pp. 9-10).
  4. Alignment of collagen fibres in the direction of an applied electric field, predicted from the anisotropy in electrical conductivity along and across the fibre (p. 10).
  5. Simultaneous measurements of EEG/MEG and skin conductances of acupuncture points of patients under chemical anaesthesia to detect correlated and uncorrelated activities between brain and body consciousness (p. 13).
  6. Simultaneous measurements of EEG/MEG and skin conductances of acupuncture points of patients under acupuncture anaesthesia to detect possible uncorrelated activities between brain and body consciousness (p.13).

It is reasonable to conclude that under normal, healthy conditions, body and brain consciousness mutually inform and condition each other, and that the unity of our conscious experience and our state of health depends on the complete coherence of brain and body. Traditional Chinese medicine based on the acupuncture meridian system places the emphasis of health on the coherence of body functions which harmonizes brain to body, which makes perfect sense if one recognizes the brain as part of the body. Western medicine, by contrast, has yet no concept of the whole, and is based, at the very outset, on a Cartesian divide between mind and brain, and brain and body.

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  21. Knight, D.P., S.W. Hu, L.J. Gathercole, M. Rusaöuen-Innocent, M.W. Ho and R. Newton, Molecular orientation in an extruded collagenous composite, the marginal rib of the egg capsule of the dogfish Cyliorhinus canicula: a novel lyotropic liquid crystalline arrangement and how it is defined in the spinneret. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London 351: 1205-1232, 1996.
  22. Kobayashi, T. Early diagnosis of microcancer by cancer check of related acupuncture meridian. American Journal of Acupuncture 13: 63-68, 1985.
  23. Kreis, R., Boesch, C.: Liquid-crystal-like structure of human muscle demonstrated by in vivo observation of direct dipolar coupling in localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Journal of Magnetic Resonance B 104: 189-192, 1994.
  24. Langer, K. On the anatomy and physiology of the skin. British Journal of Plastic Surgery 31: 3-8, 1978.

33, Laszlo, E. The Interconnected Universe, World Scientific, Singapore, 1995.

  1. Leikin, S., V.A. Parsegian, D.C. Rau and R.P. Rand. Hydration forces. Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 44: 369-395, 1993.
  2. Leikin, S., D.C. Rau and V.A. Parsegian. Temperature-favoured assembly of collagen is driven by hydrophilic not hydrophobic interactions. Structural Biology 2: 205-210, 1995.
  3. Libet, B., E.W. Wright, Jr., B. Feinstein and D.K. Pearl. Subjective referral of the timing for a conscious sensory experience. Brain 102: 193-224, 1979.
  4. Luzar, A. and D. Chandler. Hydrogen-bond kinetics in liquid water. Nature 379: 55-57, 1996.
  5. Mikhailov, A.S., Ertl, G.: Nonequilibrium Structures in Condensed Systems. Science 272: 1596-1597, 1996.
  6. Motoyama, H. Electrophysiological and preliminary biochemical studies of skin properties in relation to the acupuncture meridian. International Association for Religion and Parapsychology 6: 1-36, 1980.
  7. Needham, J.Order and Life, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1935.
  8. Oschman, J.L. Structure and properties of ground substances. American Zoologist 24: 199-215, 1984.
  9. Oschman, J.L.: A Biophysical Basis of Acupuncture, Private manuscript, 1993.
  10. Pan, C. and A. Zhao. in Research on Acupuncture, Moxibustion and Acupuncture Anesthesia, Shang, X. (Ed.) Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988.
  11. Peto, S. and P. Gillis. Fiber-to-field angle dependence of proton nuclear magnetic relaxation in collagen. Magnetic Resonance Imaging 8: 703-712, 1990.
  12. Plummer, J.P. Anatomical finding at acupuncture loci. Am. J. Clin. Med. 8: 170-180, 1980.
  13. Reichmannis, M., A.A. Marion and R.O. Becker. D.C. skin conductance variation at acupuncture loci. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 4: 69-72, 1976.
  14. Reihsner, R., B. Balogh and E.J. Menzel. Two-dimensional elastic properties of human skin in terms of an incremental model at the in vivo configuration. Med. Eng. Phy. 17: 304-313, 1995.
  15. Renugopalakrishnan, V., G. Chandrakasan, S. Moore, T.B. Hutson, C.V. Berney and R.S. Bhatnagar. Bound water in collagen. Evidence from Fourier Transform Infrared and Fourier Transform Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopic study. Macromolecules 22: 4121-4124, 1989.
  16. Ross, S., R. Newton, Y.M. Zhou, H. Jaffegee, M.W. Ho, J.P. Bolton and D. Knight. Quantitative image analysis of birefringent biological material. Journal of Microscopy 187: 62-67, 1997.
  17. Sasaki, N.: Dielectric properties of slightly hydrated collagen. time-water content superposition analysis. Biopolymers 23: 1725-1734, 1984.
  18. Searle, M.S. and D.H. Williams. The cost ofconformation rrder: entropy changes in molecular associations. Journal of American Chemical Society 114: 10690-10697, 1992.
  19. Tiller, W.A.: Explanation of electrodermal diagnostic and treatment instruments: Part I. Electrical behavior of human skin. Journal of Holistic Medicine 4: 105-127, 1982.
  20. Tiller, W.A. Some energy field observations of man and nature, in Galaxies of Life, Krippner, S. and D. Rubin (Ed.), New York, Interface, 1973.
  21. Tiller, W.A, What do electrodermal diagnostic acupuncture instruments really measure. American Journal of Acupuncture 15(1), 18-23, 1987.
  22. Tsukamoto, I. and K. Ogli. Effects of anesthetics on the interfacial polarity of membranes – evaluated by Taft’s polarity parameters. Prog. Anesth. Mech. 3: 368-373, 1995.
  23. Van der Rest, M. and R. Garrone. Collagen family of proteins. FASEB 5: 2814-2823, 1991.
  24. Wang, K. and J. Liu. Needling sensation receptor of an acupoint supplied by the median nerve – studies of their electro-{physiological vharacteristics. American Journal of Chinese Medicine 17: 145-155, 1989.
  25. Watkins, J.P., J.A. Auer, S.J. Morgans and S. Gay. Healing of surgically created defects in the equine superficial digitalflexor tendon: effect of pulsing electromagnetic field therapy on collagen-type transformation and tissue morphologic reorganization. American Journal of Veterinary Research 46: 2097-2103, 1985.
  26. Welch, G.R.Organized Multienzyme Systems, Academic Press, Orlando, 1985.
  27. Williams, R.J.P. The history of the proton-driven ATP formation. Bioscience Reports 13: 191-212, 1993.
  28. Wrobel, S., B. Gestblom, E. Noreland and J.S. Doane. Dielectric relaxation of water molecules in different lyotropic structures of nonylphenoxypoly (ethylenoxy) ethanol. Liquid Crystals 3: 825-832, 1988.
  29. Yin, H. Fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Beijing: Foreign Language Press, 1992.
  30. Zhai, N.: Research on the histophysiological relation of mastocytes and meridians (Chinese). Clin. Acupunt. Moxibust. 8: 50-53, 1988.
  31. Zhou, Y.M., R.H. Newton, J; Haffegee, J.Y. Brown, S. Ross, J.P. Bolton and M.W. Ho. Imaging liquid crystalline mesophases in vivo and in vitro: measuring molecular birefringence and order parameter of liquid crystals. Bios Journal, 1996.
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Last reply 2 months ago
MRI scan

Hi guys.
Having a MRI scan this week with contrast.
I have one lesion on spinal cord.
I am worried more our going to be found.
Brain scan no change in two years.
Spinal cord lesion is causing MS hug they told me so spinal cord being scaned.
Still on Rebif. Last Relaspe was January 2018.
Otherwise doing ok.
Just worried about more lesions being detected on spine and MS progressing.
LJl 👩

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2 months ago

@jolea , what will be, will be.

At least they’re keeping an eye on you. 😊

2 months ago

Hello @jolea, don’t forget, if the average person on the street was carted off to have an mri it would show up something or other! Also, people sometimes have lesions but with no physical symptoms. And some have symptoms with no lesions! You can’t tell with this very annoying condition. We can’t alter the course of anything by worrying, but positive thinking and focus does the power of good. All the best 🙂

2 months ago

Thank you guys.
Chin up as always. LJl. 👧

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Kobo Aizawa - Copper edged petit fork, spoon, butterknife

A product that caught our eye recently is this beautifully designed cutlery, with a satin nickel silver coating on fully copper piece. Showing the copper tip as a subtle gesture of Japanese design.They have a beautiful weight and balance, and enhance the pleasure of eating CIBI style.

Size: Petit fork 10.7cm, Tea spoon 12.2cm, Butter knife 14.1cm


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Tap into the soothing power of CBD and relieve your aches and pains with Medix CBD Topical Pain Relief Cream. Derived from raw hemp oil, this newly formulated topical cream utilizes a unique and powerful combination of natural ingredients and CBD to ease pain. From sore muscles to inflammation, just rub a small amount on the affected area to start feeling relief.

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Omega Constellation Globemaster Sedna Gold Co-Axial Master Chronometer
Free Gift

  • $14,999.00
  • $12,499.00
  • Save $2,500

Your Topper Select Pre-Owned Watch is guaranteed by Topper Fine Jewelers for one year. See below for more details.

This watch features a 39mm case and 100m of water resistance. The watch head is in 95% condition due to slight marks on the sides and back of the case. The strap is in 95% condition due to slight wear and creasing and slight marks on the clasp. Originally purchased in May 2018, this watch comes with its inner and outer box, instruction manual, warranty card, hangtag, pictogram card, master chronometer card, and the one-year Topper Pre-Owned Select warranty.

Your Topper Pre-Owned Select Watch is guaranteed by Topper Fine Jewelers. As such, it is warranted against mechanical failure for 12 months from the date of sale. Damage resulting from service provided anywhere other than at Topper Fine Jewelers is not covered and shall void the warranty. Topper Fine Jewelers will have sole discretion to determine if the work for the warranty it provides will be performed "in house" by Topper Fine Jewelers, or if the work will be performed at the facilities of the maker of the watch by their authorized representatives. The limited warranty does not cover bracelets, crystals, batteries, or any damage to the case or movement caused by moisture that might have entered the watch as a result of improper handling, nor does it apply, on a more general basis, if there is evidence of misuse or abuse. Only Topper Fine Jewelers will determine, at its sole discretion, to repair any watch under this warranty.

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be real bee tee white ladies
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Bee Real Tee

Our fan fav Foxtrot Tee takes on Feel Good feels with a metallic gold Bee and the perfect message for who you want to Bee!

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Product Photography Made Easy!

by Samantha Annen Posted on April 01, '15

All the "pop" news have been talking about how important it is to have a well represented social media page with "pretty" pictures. As I browsed through all of Chauette Home's social media page, I quickly realized it could be better. And that's when I waddled (because I am 35 weeks pregnant) into my car, drove to Michaels and picked up a few items to start my new way of taking photos for social media!

What I picked up:

What else is important? NATURAL SUNLIGHT! Ahhh, it's a good day for you photographers if you can get by a window that has natural light, the pictures turn out a lot better and you barely have to touch up your photos!

Next, I just laid the poster board on my really pretty (not) carpet, and started shooting away!

All in all- everything took around 5 minutes per picture! Pretty easy and painless! Good luck!

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© Chauette 2019
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Orvis Battenkill Reel

Article number: 4036
Availability: Out of stock

Simple design and flawless construction make this the perfect click-and-pawl fly reel for nearly any freshwater fishing situation. A minimalist's dream, the all-new Battenkill features a classically styled, yet technically enhanced, four-position click-and-pawl drag system that is adjusted internally and is designed to work in tandem with the palm of your hand on those sizzling, screaming runs.

  • Four-position click-and-pawl drag system
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  • Easily adjustable left- or right-hand retrieve
  • Laser-engraved logos
  • Machined from heavy-duty bar-stock aluminium

  • Battenkill I for line weights 1-3, 2.8 oz., 2¾" diameter
  • Battenkill II for line weights 3-5, 2.9 oz., 3" diameter
  • Battenkill III for line weights 5-7, 3.2 oz., 3¼" diameter
  • Battenkill IV for line weights 7-9, 8.5 oz., 3¾" diameter
  • Battenkill V for line weights 9-11, 9.5 oz., 4" diameter
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Washington (AFP) – Key results in this week’s US elections hung in the balance Thursday, two days after polling, with accusations flying of voter fraud and corruption, as several races appeared headed for recounts.

The Republican challenger in Florida’s closely-fought Senate seat, said he was suing two election officials, as his apparent lead in the contest narrowed.

“The people of Florida deserve fairness and transparency,” Rick Scott told reporters.

“Every Floridian should be concerned there may be rampant fraud happening in Palm Beach and Broward Counties.”

Scott, who is the state’s sitting governor, said he was ordering an official investigation into his own race.

The dramatic announcement prompted a tweet from President Donald Trump alleging a “big corruption scandal” while fellow Republican Marco Rubio accused Democrats of a coordinated effort to “steal the election.”

Florida was also the site of bitterly-fought legal battles in the 2000 presidential election.

Those were halted by the US Supreme Court, and George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes in Florida, giving him the edge in the electoral college and handing him the White House.

Both Scott’s race for the Senate — against Democrat incumbent Bill Nelson — and the state’s governor election appeared headed for mandatory recounts.

Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate for governor in neighboring Georgia was threatening legal action to ensure all votes were counted in her contest.

Another Senate race in southwestern Arizona that was previously called in favor of a Republican candidate was tilting toward the Democrat on Thursday night, official results showed.

The developments looked set to raise partisan tensions to fresh highs 48 hours after polls closed in US midterm elections that saw Democrats seize control of the House of Representatives, while Republicans maintained their grip on the Senate.

– ‘Ready for any outcome’ –

Scott’s lawsuits alleged a lack of transparency over the counting process and asked that further details be made public, as his lead continued to shrink to around 15,000 votes.

President Donald Trump, under fire over his sacking of his attorney general, leapt on the news.

“Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach,” he tweeted. “Florida voted for Rick Scott!”

Rancor was also spilling into governors’ races, where Andrew Gillum in Florida and Stacey Abrams in Georgia were aiming to become the states’ first African-American leaders, but the contests were tilting in favor of their Republican rivals.

Unofficial results show Gillum trailing Ron DeSantis, a Trump-endorsed Republican, by just 38,515 votes out of 8.1 million cast, or 0.47 percentage points.

Since Tuesday’s election, “it has become clear there are many more uncounted ballots than was originally reported,” Gillum spokeswoman Johanna Cervone said, amid reports that ballots had yet to be counted in Democrat-leaning Broward County.

Gillum is “ready for any outcome, including a state-mandated recount,” she added.

State law says a recount is mandatory if the difference in a race is within 0.5 percent. If the margin is within 0.25 percent, as it stood Thursday in the Senate race, a hand recount — slower and more thorough than by machine — is ordered.

– Ballot discrepancies –

Unusual voting discrepancies were also being reported in Broward County.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel said it analyzed voting patterns and found that of Broward ballots already counted, 24,700 residents voted for a governor candidate but did not pick a candidate for Senate.

The unusual pattern appeared in no other Florida county, the newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, Abrams trailed Georgia secretary of state Brian Kemp by 1.3 percent in their governor’s race, but her campaign complained that Kemp proclaimed victory prematurely.

“All the votes haven’t been counted,” Abrams lawyer John Chandler told reporters, adding there were outstanding absentee and provisional ballots.

“We will litigate until we have determined that every person’s vote has been counted,” Chandler said.

Kemp is currently on 50.3 percent of the vote. Under Georgia law if that share falls below 50 percent it would trigger a run-off vote in December, the New York Times reported.

Amid mounting concern over Kemp’s oversight role in elections, Kemp resigned Thursday as secretary of state, but repeated his assertion that he defeated Abrams.

“The votes are not there for her,” he said.

In the Arizona Senate race, meanwhile, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema — currently a congresswoman — had pulled ahead to 932,870 votes against 923,260 for her opponent, Martha McSally, a Republican congresswoman.

A recount appeared possible in the neck-and-neck race that still had outstanding provisional and absentee ballots.

Disclaimer: This story has not been edited by Siliconeer and is published from a syndicated feed. Siliconeer does not assume any liability for the above story. Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Content copyright AFP.


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Food Safety

Revolutionary single-pass wash system

Finished product in distilled water
Left: Flume | Right: Simply Clean®
Cleaner water = cleaner, fresher vegetables

Developed as a way to eliminate water as the media for cross contamination, our patent-pending technology reduces food safety risk while delivering more sanitizing capability with fewer chemicals.

Food Safety Benefits Include

  • Exudate free wash water
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  • Ability to run multiple sanitizers: Effective against broader range of bacteria, including gram positives such as Listeria
  • Customized line settings for commodity specific efficiency and food safety
  • More efficient to clean and sanitize equipment
  • IEH validation


text:
Yealmpton reminiscences

Village life is constantly changing as one generation is succeeded by the next.  It is through the memories of older residents that we can visualise how childhood was enjoyed and everyday life was lived in past years and appreciate how the village has changed over the years to become the one we know today.

Some of the residents of our village of Yealmpton have now agreed to talk of the village of their earlier days and their recollections of past years are presented in these pages.  They bring back happy, and no doubt sometimes nostalgic, stories of days gone by.  To listeners they should add life to the images of Yealmpton otherwise only seen in old photographs and perhaps give the opportunity to reflect on how life can be enjoyed in a simpler way than it is today.

We thank all those who agreed to take part in this project by being interviewed and describing how different life used to be in Yealmpton even only a few years ago.

Our first recording is that of Edna Cawse, who was lived as a child with her parents at Boldventure Farm and is interviewed here by Juliette Lowe.  To hear the recording on Youtube click on the linkbelow, (to return to this page after watching the recording click the white arrow in the blue circle at the top left hand corner of the Youtube site):

The recordings were made as part of the ‘Then and Now’ project of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, commemorating the fifty years since its designation.  The interviews were undertaken by members by members of Yealmpton and Brixton WI; Hazel Brown,  Eileen Chant, Liz Disdale, Juliette Lowe, Lydia Milford, Marianne Millin and Linda Morris.  The team for the recordings project additionally comprised Tim Stone, (Yealmpton Parish Council), Richard Davies, (technical support),  and Chris Burtt, (project co-ordinator).  The project was inspired by members of the AONB, namely Liz Davey and Sarah Scaife, and we particularly thank them for their help and support.


text:
Original SWAT Kats Story

The Storm’s Drawing Nearer

By Kristen Sharpe

  • 1 Chapter
  • 542 Words

A prologue to the remainder of the Technical Difficulties series. A thunderstorm provokes some pondering on Chance’s part.

Read This Story

Author's Notes:

Title: The Storm’s Drawing Nearer
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: April 9, 2001

I couldn’t concentrate on my homework and there was a beautiful electrical storm outside my window. So, as I find storms inspiring, I tried to write. And, out of it came this. It’s little more than a prologue to the coming stories in my “Technical Difficulties Series” as well as the hint of a much-needed follow-up to “Hide N’ Seeker.”

I can’t sleep. Maybe it’s the unbearable heat, so thick I think I could touch it. Maybe it’s the storm I can sense coming.

Whatever. I can’t sleep.

As I slide out of bed, quiet so as not to wake up my friend in the bed against the far wall, a flash of blue lights the room. The storm’s drawing nearer.

I slip out of the room and walk down the narrow hallway to the door that opens on the roof. I disable the security system with fumbling fingers, then twist the lock.

The door nearly flies out of my hand as I open it, caught in a powerful gust of wind. I catch it at the last second and, stepping outside, force it shut behind me.

Then, I just stare out at the view, the wind whipping my short headfur into my eyes. In the distance, across the river, I can see lightning darting over the city. Naked electricity shoots from the purple night sky to meet the waiting rods on top of the skyscrapers. As I watch, the city is briefly silhouetted, black buildings against a background of electric light.

It’s beautiful in a way. But, deadly.

I can feel the electricity prickling through my fur.

Now, I understand what woke me.

There’s a storm brewing.

And, it’s not in the sky.

It’s in the mystery of that mad chase a crazy kat drove my partner and I through months ago. It’s in Dark Kat’s sudden silence after our brief fight over Hard Drive’s fate. It’s in the mental link between my partner and I that I feel growing stronger every day. It’s in our never once speaking of it or what created it. Of nearly forty-eight hours spent inside each others minds. Forty-eight hours of living each others lives.

The first drop of rain plops on my nose.

The storm’s drawing nearer.

In the back of my mind, in that place I’ve almost managed to forget exists, a voice answers my fears. Quiet. Calm. Then, it’s gone. As though it never was. But, I know.

I’ll find Jake only pretending to sleep when I go to crawl back in my bed. He probably won’t be sure what woke him. I never am when his fears wake me.

A fresh gust of wind sprays me with rain.

The storm’s drawing nearer.

I can hear the wall of rain sweeping across the river toward me.

And, I spread my arms wide and wait for it.

Now, don’t go overboard with my hint of the Boys having a mental link. It will return, but they will never be fully telepathic with one another nor will I use it excessively. I’m somewhat obsessed with staying as canon as possible, and I just don’t think telepathic SWAT Kats is something we’d have seen on the show.

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• Just wanted to send you a big thank you for the body painting you did for my husband and his mates for our wedding. I had no idea the boys were planning a Hangover-style wedding and was stunned when I saw them on our wedding day. We had an absolute ball walking the Strip that night!

    Mark and Emma
    Mark and Emma Wedding Party
  • SkinCityPennTellerHoly F*ck! You're good!!!

    Penn Jillette
    Penn Jillette Penn & Teller
  • Ringmaster1I wanted to write and thank you for making the event on Saturday a success. You’re a dream to collaborate with, and the artists you put together to bring the theme to life were wonderful and spot on. Please pass on our sincere appreciation to your entire staff & performing artists. I will definitely recommend Skin City when any opportunities arise. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

    Will Adamson
    Will Adamson oogoog productions
  • SkinCityVegasSuitsThank you again for the cool body painting for the Lady Gaga concert! I must be in 200 Facebook and concert photos! Everyone wanted a picture with me. The Lady Gaga staff pulled me out of the crowd right away and did a photoshoot with me. An online Vegas magazine also did a video interview and photos. MGM security followed me but never stopped me! They just smiled and followed me as I walked around and people took photos. I was grabbed by the Studio 54 staff and they wanted me to go in and walk around! I went in and danced for about 4 or 5 hours, photos, craziness. I don’t think I can experience Vegas the same without being painted! It’s like you are a celebrity but no one knows who you are! I loved it. I think everyone did. I should plan to do one night of each trip in paint! Thank you again!

    Christopher Concert-goer
  • Great experience from start to finish! The artist was very professional and my experience as a first-timer was so much easier because of her. The artwork was outstanding and it lasted the entire night.  I had many photos taken and gave out MANY cards. If this is something you've imagined doing.... I highly suggest doing it .... It was easy to take off the next day too.

    Suzy L.
    Suzy L. Private Client
  • So talented!!! I'm a filmmaker and since we started working with Skin City the quality of our films and music videos has skyrocketed!  They have brought so many of our characters to life in ways far beyond what we thought was possible. Can't recommend enough!

    Mike Thompson
    Mike Thompson Light Forge Studios
  • TestimonialDoubleEagleRobin has worked with us on several photo shoots. We had to work on a very tight schedule, and Robin consistently worked in a very calm manner and provided excellent results in every circumstance. Her work is not only technically professional and of a top standard, but is also beautiful and creative. I recommend her to anyone looking for an artist who not only gets the job done, but puts her whole heart into her work.

    Dave Proctor, Photographer/Owner
    Dave Proctor, Photographer/Owner Double Eagle Studios
  • TestimonialScottMaryHalloweenYour staff and company far exceeded everything we imagined possible. Your commitment to our costumes was over the top and perfect in every way. Thank you and your staff for helping Mary to be comfortable and for the relaxed environment your folks created. They were kind, friendly, courteous, generous and had integrity in all their words. Your staff was amazing! I will be writing on some blogs about how anyone worldwide who needs to get this done should fly to Vegas, and see you first before going to an event.

    Scott and Mary Halloween Clients, 2011
  • I just wanted to sincerely thank you for Friday night’s event. All the models were so friendly and nice, as well as beautiful and helpful. I was very happy with how the paint worked out as well! You took great care of us and I felt you were on top of everything at all times so I didn’t have to worry. Thank you for that. When I’m planning so many events at once it’s truly appreciated to know you don’t have to worry and you’re in good hands.

    Sharon Lone Star Distribution
  • TestimonialCollaboractionRobin doesn’t paint flesh, she makes a new layer of skin that stretches over her subjects like a fever dream and seems to affect their souls. This new skin is detailed, sexy, vibrant and always spectacular. The models she did for our 2004 Carnavale event at the Congress Theatre sent the crowd of over 1000 guests into a roar! Photos of me and the models landed in the pages of multiple Chicago media outlets and are still referenced today. She is a master body painter.

    Anthony Mosely, Artistic Director
    Anthony Mosely, Artistic Director Collaboraction Theatre Company
  • IMG_0059Thank you for the wonderful fun experience of body paint yesterday! We had so much fun! My leopard lasted ALL night absolutely perfect! It didn't rub of at all! It was the most unique epic experience ever! Loved every moment of it! Thank you! It was SO SAD to wash it off! Can't wait to do it again!!

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  • SnakeBabeIn our programs, details are not always available until the day of the performance. As difficult as this is to prepare for, Robin always comes through like a pro and goes beyond any of our expectations. She has proven her ability in the most unpredictable of situations. Her professional attitude and abilities have put her on the top of our list!

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    Steve August, Owner August Entertainment
  • SeonIt would be truly an honor to work with you and your team again. From the word Go, you and your team have all been an Awesome, Professional, Kind, Friendly, Beautiful group of individuals. I have grown from our experiences and cherish you and your friendship. Continued success to the Skin City Family! May God continue to Bless you. Peace and Blessings.

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  • NetFlowNinjaGirlsCisco Live was a blast this year! We had the largest Lancope dinner in the company's history. How did we get so many leads? Three words: NetFlow Ninja Girls! The models at our booth were body painted. We had them professionally airbrushed before the show each day. Took about 3 hours each morning and the effect was quite dramatic. Thanks to everyone for all the hard work and coordination that went into such a massive event!

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  • What a blast… Six, no seven stars! It is a really unique way to spend an afternoon in Vegas… My beauitful wife being painted like a showgirl! The most sensual thing I’ve done with my clothes on… mine at least 😉 Robin and her folks are real professionals and the art quality is amazing. Do something original in Vegas, get painted!

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Fashion Radio: The Word

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY LOVERS! For those of you who don’t know from 2011-2012 I was the cohost of the online radio fashion and pop culture segment, The Fashion Fix. Well the fix lives on thru a new show called The Word, where I and my two amigos @JayUrbanRadio & Stephen Blue Rain will go toe to toe as we chat, debate and agree to disagree about all things fashion. Wanna hear the dirt and get the dish? Click below to hear the teaser …

Click Here To Hear The Whole Show

For more of The Word check out Jason via Twitter @JayUrbanRadio

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Lastwordsofchrist Easter 1012X140

7 Christmas Video Invites for Church

Having a Christmas Eve or Candlelight service? Looking to get the word out to your church to invite neighbors to your Christmas service? We've got a large collection of Christmas videos, but we've pulled together a list of our favorite videos to help get the invite out. Christmas time is a most wonderful time of the year to invite a friend or a neighbor out to church. Use one of these videos to encourage your church congregation this Sunday.


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Post-Arab Spring Tunisia: women’s political participation and political decentralisation

Admira Dini Salim, International Foundation for Electoral Systems
Increasing Women’s Political Participation in Indonesia
Indonesia’s performance on gender equality is lagging. The UNDP Gender Equality Index ranks it 108 out of 187 countries. Civil society continues to fight for change. A lower proportion of women  than men are registered to vote, but turnout is better among women. Despite this, only 23% of voters voted for female candidates in the 2014 elections. Unfortunately, a survey in 2013 showed that if male and female candidates were equally qualified, voters would prefer a male candidate (including female voters). In 2014, 17% of seats in the national parliament were held by women.

cniwbwsumaakyveThe quota system is evolving – at first it was at 30% of candidates that needed to be women (but with no sanctions), after the 2009 election, the election commission added a clause saying that the electoral authorities would announce all parties that didn’t meet the quota. In 2014, working through civil society, the election commission imposed a 1 in 3 quota around gender.

For regional head elections (264 regions) in 2014, female candidates were only 7.5% of candidates. Only 8.5% of female candidates won positions as regional heads or vice.

IFES is working on supporting women to work as election commissioners and in other official positions. The law mandates that 30% of election administrators should be women.

The challenges for women’s political participation are both regulatory and non-regulatory. Regulatory challenges include the lack of enforcement of the quota system, political parties lack of promotion of women as candidates or leaders, discriminatory legislation at the regional level in some areas (for example, in Aceh and other places, there are local regulations that impose curfews on women being out of the house in the evenings, which limits their ability to go to political meetings), and the high costs of elections limit women’s participation. Non-regulatory barriers include social and cultural roles and other factors.

IFES has several programs to improve gender representation, including the Women’s Electoral Leadership Program, She Leads, and the Training of Female Legislators program. These tie in with movements led by local civil society organisations. IFES is thinking about the full election cycles: it’s not just about election day, but about all the stages at which women might be better included.

There are a number of challenges to regulations that could improve women’s participation, including making the 30% quota obligatory and including a strong sanction; offering a subsidy as an incentive for parties to comply with gender quotas; maintaining the open list proportional system to minimize the control by a small political elite in allocating seats in parliament; requiring that female candidates make up 30% of candidates in party lists; and placing women candidates at the top of candidate lists for national, provincial, and regency elections. Civil society is playing an important role in developing and supporting legislation that supports women’s participation in the political system.

Najla Abbes, League of Tunisian Women Voters
Women’s Participation in Political and Public Life: Gains and Challenges

Abbes began by noting that both women and men took to the streets during the revolution. Since 2011, women have been taking part in all levels of elections. However, speaking from her own experience, she notes that the visibility of efforts for women’s rights wasn’t always high, and she began by worrying that women weren’t ready for political participation. But Abbes notes that both men and women were excluded from participation in the democratic process, so everyone will be learning together.

The ‘zipper system’, outlined in Article 16 of the Constitution, requires alternation between men and women in the lists. But at first, only 7% of the top of lists were women. Only one party implemented horizontal and vertical parity, and it was seen as ‘too modern’.

Parity is a great gain, but there’s been an ebb and flow. Abbes notes that Tunisian women get told, “Tunisia is far ahead of the rest of the Arab world, so you should be happy as things are”. But that’s not enough: the requirement of parity is in the Constitution, and it’s important to keep working towards it. Civil society needs to keep working to preserve and extend women’s rights. Part of this work has been pushing for both horizontal and vertical parity to be imposed, and for parties to face sanctions if their lists don’t support parity.

The League of Tunisian Women Voters has been working to support women candidates, including preparing them to participate effectively when elected. They’re also concerned that when women are elected, they’re representing their parties, rather than a ‘women’s agenda’.

Dina Afrianty, Australian Catholic University
Indonesia’s Democracy: Political Decentralisation and Local Women’s Movement
Afrianty’s research suggests that decentralisation has been seen by religious conservatives in Indonesia as an opportunity to return to an Islamic vision of politics. Initial attempts by Islamic political parties to gain power were not successful. After this, many conservative Muslims started to push for conservative interpretations of Islamic law to be incorporated at the local level.

Aceh is currently the only region that is governed by shariah law, with a number of laws brought in at the local level in 2009. These laws have been seen by much of civil society as discriminatory. After the tsunami, when international humanitarian organisations began working in Aceh, more space opened for civil society to voice their opposition. Many organisations from Aceh have pointed to a long history of women’s involvement in leadership in Aceh, including centuries ago when it was a Muslim kingdom, and are engaging in doctrinal debate to offer alternative visions of Islamic law.

Getting more women into power doesn’t necessarily lead to progress. There are several notable examples in Indonesia of women coming into power on platforms that are quite regressive.

Post-Arab Spring Tunisia: local government in Indonesia, a start-up democracy, and the youth

Greg Barton, Alfred Deakin Institute
Indonesian democratic transition: an examination of the vital elements
Barton argues that we can now call Tunisia a successful democratic transition, as elections have been  held with limited violence and instability. There are important parallels with Indonesia, which is democratic (although not without its problems), well-educated and literate, well-connected, globalised, and with a demographic youth bulge. Both countries also have a significant Muslim population, and Islamic movements have made important contributions to civil society.

There’s a tendency, particularly in the West, to overlook religious participation in civil society. In Indonesia, progressive Muslim movements played a key role not only in the resistance to colonialism and formation of alternative institutions, but also in developing opposition to Suharto. Progressive Islamic thought was supported in Reformasi throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Islam became a positive factor: progressive Islamic thought lays a foundation for democratic thinking and social activism.

Civil society, including religious movements, will continue to play a role in Indonesia’s democracy. One key area here is local elections: these are, in many ways, the most relevant to voters, as they are seen to have the greatest impact on their lives. However, challenges continue in this area. Among other issues, only 7% of candidates in the last Indonesian local elections were women.

Innes Ben Youssef, Free Patriots
Tunisian Revolution: a story of start-up democracy
Tunisia is seen as the only success story of the Arab Spring, and there have been many advances, including the successful implementation of a technocratic government to guide the process of forming the constitution.

To ensure democratic transition, it is important to shine a light on decentralisation and local democracy, and focus on the significant role of civil society, especially women and the youth. In order to do that, we need to re-evaluate the role of the state, strengthen local governments, improve the capacities of municipalities, and improve citizen’s participation in local decision-making.

Ghazoua Ltaief, Sawty
Promoting the Inclusion of Youth in Democratic Transitions

Tunisia is a success, a glimmer of hope as it undergoes a continuous transition process, but it still faces challenges. The constitution has set a new path for Tunisia, and the shift to more decentralised government is key to that. There are still many challenges for youth involvement, and many youth feel disappointed in, and disconnected from, politicians.

Sawty is an important part of the democratic process, working in the regions as well a in Tunisia. One of their programs: “Raise Your Voice”, is aimed at increasing youth participation in local government. Through this program, Sawty is working with youth to articulate their problems, and connecting youth with politicians and other decision-makers to try to develop these solutions.

Sawty is also working with broader networks, including the netmed youth network. This project is helping countries in the Mediterranean to develop youth policies in consultation with the youth. Bus Citoyen, another Sawty program, is a bus that travels around regions in Tunisia working on voter education, including why to, and how to, vote.

Ltaief says that despite the challenges, they are still optimistic (because they need to be).

Post-Arab Spring Tunisia, session 2: local government,

I presented in the second session, so my notes are more limited here. Still, two very interesting papers from Belhassen Turki and Therese Pearce Laanela.

cndumdlvuaapimaBelhassen Turki, Tunisian Local Governance Project
Local Democracy and Territorial Reform in Tunisia
Turki’s presentation drew on long experience in developing local government to talk about the Tunisian Local Governance Project, supported by international and Tunisian institutions. He began by discussing Tunisian history with decentralisation and the significant growth in municipalities since 1956, which nevertheless were kept weak before 2011: local government had only 4% of GDP in funding, and had limited autonomy.

The new Tunisian constitution makes specific provision, in Article 131, for local authorities’ role in governance. The Tunisian Local Governance Project aims to enhance the dialogue on decentralisation, provide supporting research, strengthen Tunisian local government and share lessons with other MENA countries.

Therese Pearce Laanela, Australian National University
Trusting Tunisian Elections
While there is a substantial body of knowledge about how to organise elections, there’s a need to ensure that people trust the results. Laanela’s research explores an important issue: what makes people trust public institutions? In order to answer this, it’s necessary to look beyond election day and understand the processes that underpin elections.

A huge amount of work has gone into all elections in Tunisia since 2010, and the country has some important strengths in this area:

  • A strong public service tradition (albeit with some upstream problems with decision-making),
  • A strong pool of talent due to the wide availability of education,
  • State of the art electoral practice (including the vertical and horizontal parity required of party lists, and the monitoring of political financing),
  • International support structures,
  • Strong social cohesion (in that most Tunisians are very proud of their country’s achievements, and want it to succeed), and
  • Elite buy-in.

Elections underpin the societal commitment to manage political change in a stable and inclusive way. A lack of electoral trust is therefore costly and potentially risk, but at the same time trust is elusive and messy, and elections take place during a time of agitation. Trust requires not only ongoing delivery of particular services, but also a sense of common purpose, which requires taking the sense of agitation seriously. There’s a need to understand, and be seen to understand, candidates’ and voters’ anxieties about the process.

In Tunisia, electoral authorities are competent and respectful, but they’re being let down by a failure of politicians to pass the necessary legislation in a timely way. This puts staff at the coalface of running elections at risk of being underprepared. Laanela argues that those involved in Tunisian civil society therefore need to be putting pressure on legislators right now to stay on task and pass vital legislation.

Post-Arab Spring Tunisia, session 3: decentralisation and intercultural practice

Saber Houchati, National Federation of Tunisian Cities
Constitutional Transition, Decentralisation and Local Electoral Processes in Tunisia
This presentation went into more detail about the process of decentralisation currently under way in Tunisia. The 7th chapter of the constitution sets out three levels of elected bodies: municipalities, regions, and districts. Subsidiarity is, Houchati noted again, a key principle of decentralisation. He framed this as based on service delivery: the authority that is near the citizen is responsible for managing services.

As work continues in Tunisia, there are efforts to build administrative and financial autonomy at the local government level. Part of this is the need for local governments still need to consider partnerships and foreign relations (which were previously controlled by a higher level of government). Challenges include low public support and a lack of instruments for participatory democracy, and limited resources. In Tunisia, local governments get only 4% of GDP in funding (compared to Morocco, 11% and Turkey, 20%). Another issue is that many people don’t want to work in the municipalities – they want to work in ministries and other areas.

There were a number of short term measures taken after the revolution to work on developing democracy, including the nomination of special delegations (which means that most services have continue to work throughout the period after 2011), and capacity building of local managers. Shifting to the medium term, there’s been the incorporation of participatory budgets, attention to gender issues, and other attempts to deal with inequality.

Now, there’s a need to work on decentralisation, broad participation, and promoting transparency and communication about the process of decentralisation. This needs to bring together those in government, international experts, and civil society. Civil society has played an important role in managing the dialogue around decentralisation.

Lynda Ford, iGen Foundation
The Role of Local Government in Leading Social, Technological and Entrepreneurial Innovation

Ford notes that Australia has a long multicultural history. Before European settlement, there were more than 160 language groups, and today a high proportion of people living here have at least one parent born oversees. Now, shifting towards an intercultural perspective is useful (in tandem with multiculturalism).

iGen’s Getting Down to Business is a statewide program for young entrepreneurs bringing together those working across a range of areas and backgrounds. Many young people in the program already employ others, including contracting others in supply chain management, the sharing economy, and employing people direct. iGen tries to ensure gender and cultural diversity within this group through specific recruitment strategies.

The program uses a hybrid model of coaching, webinars, mentoring, and networking. Organisers also consider broader ecosystem development (eg. coworking spaces, access to investment).

iGen also run a variety of other programs supporting intercultural connections. They ran the ‘techfugees’ hackathon in Melbourne. Since then, they’ve been working on an ideas incubator to develop projects from the hackathon and seek funding. They’ve also been developing an online magazine to help with practical program and service design and implementation around intercultural practice, and a desktop intercultural training to help people working in local government. An important part of this work involves connecting people in people in local government to international networks.

Post-Arab Spring Tunisia: Decentralisation and Democracy

My notes from the first session, providing a critical understanding of decentralisation, and placing that within the context of Tunisia and Indonesia:

flagFethi Mansouri, Alfred Deakin Institute
The Democratic Process in Tunisia: Conditions for Consolidations and Future Outlook
This paper addresses interconnected issues around democratic transition in the Arab world. There were a number of key structural and historical factors that ushered in the Arab Spring, and there have been different outcomes in Arab countries that have experienced popular uprising.

In the social sciences the notion of ‘Arab exceptionalism’ or ‘democratic deficit’ in the Arab world has predominated. Instead of democratisation, we’ve seen ‘authoritarian upgrading’ in the Arab world.This is a failure to reform, and states instead make key concessions.

In contrast to deterministic assumptions that drive mainstream social science, we should understand the upheavals associated with political transformations as inherently fluid, unpredictable, and not easily ‘theorisable’.

We’re seeing social and economic failures: the Arab Spring erupted in part because of the cumulative failures of successive economic policies, and not just because of the lack of political reforms. In particular, there’s been a “pursuit of an ill-suited neo-liberal approach whilst ignoring many authentic and successful Eastern/Asian models”. This has lead to rising poverty and inequality.

The Arab political landscape is actually highly diverse in terms of political actors, activism, history. Mansouri argues for an understanding of the trajectories of the revolutions from a Gramscian viewpoint, in terms of the strength of pre-existing civil society. Here, we can see three kinds of Arab regimes with regards to revolution:

  • homogenous initiators (states that trigger revolutionary contagions)
  • divided authoritarian states (those that follow the initiators and experience prolonged violence),
  • divided wealthy monarchical regimes (which may be able to avoid, or at least forestall, revolution).

Outcomes are, therefore, considerably different.

Monsouri identifies several key variables in predicting outcomes of democratic transition:

  • civil society,
  • the role of military institutions,
  • religion/politics nexus,
  • and external influences.

The transition towards stable democratic governance is characterised by three key stages:

  • a breakdown of authoritarianism,
  • a transition phase,
  • and the onset of a democratisation process which is supposed to produce stable and ‘democratic rule’.

Tunisia has seen deep ideological polarisation as they move towards this third phase.

Key achievements in Tunisia:

  • Adoption of the new constitution in 2014, which emphasises that Tunisia is a civil state with its legitimacy based in the will of the people, and which establishes freedom of conscience and belief,
  • A focus on gender parity not only in election lists, but also in who’s at the top of lists,
  • Transitional justice continues to be a divisive issue: focuses on key aspects of reconciliation, including how to construct historical memory, and how to engage in reparation and reconciliation.

Tunisia also faces important challenges:

  • lack of a clear and practical plan for improving the economic situation,
  • the rise of extremist violence,
  • growing voter/citizen apathy.

Five years after the revolution, 75% of Tunisians have a negative perceptions of political parties, 67% of Tunisians see political parties as close to them in terms of understanding their needs, and only 53% see political parties as useful for democratisation, 48% think that parties are not useful at all for dealing with local and regional development issues.

Voters want politicians to honour promises, fight social exclusion and poverty, create jobs, and do something about the rising cost of living. Security issues are not on voters’ lists of top issues at the moment. This indicates that dealing with local issues in a decentralised way is vital for establishing democracy in Tunisia.

Mansouri argues that in order to address the challenges Tunisia faces, we need to steer away from deterministic assumptions, incorporate informal processes (including civil society), and be mindful of changing political discourse.

Bligh Grant, The University of Technology Sydney
Decentralisation in the Australian Context: The Promise—and Failure—of the Recent White Paper Experience
This paper focuses on local government, which Grant argues is an eternal issue. We tend to think of Australia’s centre as being ‘hollowed out’ – we focus on the seaboard, and especially the eastern seaboard, in our understandings of Australia. However, it’s important to understand that Australia is a divided sovereignty, and has been since 1901.

We tend to think of Australia as very stable, a western advanced democracy. But Australia has massive socioeconomic disadvantage once you go outside the cities. We need to understand the political fragmentation of Australia. State governments in Australia are very good at looking after the cities. On the other hand, rural areas are often neglected, and there are very strong class divisions in these areas. We should also note that before European colonisation, Australia’s political landscape was highly decentralised.

In Australia, there’s been a recent ‘discussion paper’ released around decentralisation, with suggestions that ended up being canned by the Turnbull government.

All local government people champion the idea of ‘subsidiarity’ (though its specific meaning is contested). There are two key streams in the mainstream understanding of subsidiarity:

  • Deontological (duty-based) meanings: every tier of government has a proper role. This is quite a moral stance.
  • Consequentialist approaches: more economically-based.

Grant and Drew have developed a normative ideal for decentralisation. The Australian federal system is changing. Local governments are becoming larger (in terms of population), and their functional scope is widening. We need to think about the framework in which those shifts are happening.

Vedi Hadiz, The University of Melbourne
Democracy and Decentralisation in Comparative Perspective: Insights for Tunisia

Hadiz argues for a more critical understanding of how support for decentralisation happens, drawing on his research on Indonesia. He notes that when we talk about ‘decentralisation’ we assume we’re talking about the same thing. But we’re not. This is in part because the sources of support are very different. For example, international development agencies think of decentralised local governments as more responsive to the market. Their understanding of ‘decentralisation’ is heavily shaped by neoliberal ideas: the notion that decentralisation creates small, nimble, institutions that can better, more efficiently respond to the market. Civil society organisations support them because they think of them as more democratic and accountable. This is already an important disjuncture.

We often forget there’s another source of support: local elites. We therefore need to understand what the influence of local elites is. Do they have an interest in local accountability and transparency? Or in using the new authority to insulate themselves from civil society? The failure to recognise this third influence means that we often experience ‘unintended consequences’ of decentralisation.

Indonesia has made progress – despite issues, it is a democracy. But Tunisia might learn from some of the problems that Indonesia has experienced, including around decentralisation. Both places have seen demands coming from regions that have thought of themselves as marginalised by centralised authoritarian regimes captured by centralised elites.

In Indonesia, where politically-marginalised regions with considerable resources have made (reasonable) demands for more development, local elites saw decentralisation as an opportunity to move up the ladder in Indonesia. Indonesia has amply demonstrated that those who are best positioned to take advantage of decentralisation are those who already have power.

Two things that Tunisia has going for it: firstly, Indonesia’s authoritarian regime was much more effective in destroying civil society. In contrast, in Tunisia you had functioning trade unions, and Ennahda was able to exist. A stronger (though diverse and contested) civil society is an important resource. Secondly, Tunisia’s military was deliberately kept weak. So hopefully Tunisia will be able to sidestep some of the issue that Indonesia has faced.