The Western alphabet

The Western alphabet, which is used in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Australia and New Zealand as well as in other countries, originated in the Middle East. The people who gave the world this alphabet were the Phoenicians, a people who established colonies all over the Mediterranean, including Carthage in Africa and Gades in Spain. In their alphabet, the letters were represented by little pictures which represented sounds. The Phoenician A was aleph, which means "bull". and it was made from a little picture of a bull's head. The letter B was beth which meant "house", and showed the round-roofed buildings which you can still see today in Syria.

The Phoenicians had contact with another nation of sailors, the Greeks, with whom they fought and traded. The Greeks also started to use the Phoenician alphabet. They changed the names so aleph and beth became alpha and beta. The shapes of the letters are the same but they have been turned sideways. Of course, the first two letters of the alphabet give it its name. Over the years there have been changes. Latin developed an alphabet with some different letters to the Greeks, and other letters have been added since. But really westerners are using the same system of writing which has served them so well for thousands of years.

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Alternative medicine

         Alternative medicine is, by definition, an alternative to something else: modern, Western medicine. But the term ‘alternative’ can be misleading, even off-putting for some people. Few practitioners of homeopathy, acupuncture, herbalism and the like regard their therapies as complete substitutes for modern medicine. Rather, they consider their disciplines as supplementary to orthodox medicine. The problem is that many doctors refuse even to recognize ‘natural’ or alternative medicine, to do so calls for a radically different view of health, illness and cure. But whatever doctors may think, the demand for alternative forms of medical therapy is stronger than ever before, as the limitations of modern medical science become more widely understood.

         Alternative therapies are often dismissed by orthodox medicine because they are sometimes administered by people with no formal medical training. But, in comparison with many traditional therapies, western medicine as we know it today is a very recent phenomenon. Until only 150 years ago, herbal medicine and simple inorganic compounds were the most effective treatments available. Despite the medical establishment’s intolerant attitude, alternative therapies are being accepted by more and more doctors, and the World Health Organization has agreed to promote the integration of proven, valuable, ‘alternative’ knowledge and skills in western medicine

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How a Volcano Really Works

     As it rises, the pressure of the rock around and above it becomes less and less. At a certain point, that pressure drops so low that it cannot keep the rock balloon solid any more. The balloon melts. It becomes an underground liquid that we call magma - a liquid imprisoned in an underground chamber of the solid rock around it.

       Ordinary steam, heated to only 212° f  (100 °C), can drive a locomotive. Now try to imagine the power of super-steam, heated to 3000°F (nearly 2000 °C).

       Early explanations for the awesome power of volcanoes involved stories of gods and giants. But today we have a much better idea of what makes a volcano erupt.

       Magma is more than a liquid rock. It also contains gas. Most of the gas is super hot steam - super-steam heated to thousands of degrees, steam so hot that it glows. Other gases include carbon dioxide (the gas that makes the bubbles in soft drinks,) and gases containing sulphur. But the main gas is super-steam. And now that the balloon is liquid, the super-steam can escape.

       The super-steam and other gases bubble out from the magma. Pressure builds up in the magma chamber. enormous amounts of pressure. Something has to give. A weak area of rock in the ground cracks or a plug in the mouth of the volcano gives way. The magma explodes out into the air. The volcano is erupting.

       Deep in the Earth, a region of very hot rock starts to rise. It is as hot as lava, but it is not yet a liquid. The gigantic pressure of the Earth all around it keeps it solid. Nevertheless, it slowly pushes its way up through  the slightly  cooler rock around it. It is a balloon of solid rock, lifting up slower than a snail's pace toward the earth surface.

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