Peace Poetry & Brain Health Exercises Daily Words - KIMBERLY BURNHAM, PHD, BRAIN HEALTH COACH, AUTHOR & POET

Achrei Mot - Kedoshim Journal Your Journey

4/30/2020

Free Download Kindle eBook [Click on the Amazon Link below] April 30-May 1, 2020 of Achrei Mot - Kedoshim (Leviticus 16-18): Journal Your Journey Through a Year of Torah in Honor of Pearl's Bat Mitvah on April 30, 2020. For a print copy of this book or the book focused on a different parshat contact the author, Kimberly Burnham at NerveWhisperer@gmail.com

Kindle eBook and Print Copy Available on Amazon

Achrei Mot

Life is messy chaotic
after the death
the death of two sons
too close to God
Aaron taught how to come close
safely
what to do to be safe
and close in the presence
for himself, his family, his people
we are called through ritual
to further the survival of our community
-Kimberly Burnham

What Can A Two Month Old See?

4/29/2020

Seeing and Thinking Half As Well As an Elderly Person

kids can at 2 months
eat, sleep, poop and be loved
expectations should be low
lift her head fixate on faces
follow people with her eyes
recognize them a short distance away
babies see light and shades of gray
can’t yet tell objects apart
field of vision is small
a foot from their faces
greater depth of vision comes with time
about 2 months
color vision comes later around 4 or 5 months
can’t test how well babies see color
developing about one million neural connections a second
grow dramatic about 1 percent every day
by 3 months baby’s brain is roughly half
the size of an elderly person’s

Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 29 April 29
a Found Poem from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/parenting/milestones/your-2-month-old.html

Arithmetic By Carl Sandburg

4/29/2020

Arithmetic By Carl Sandburg

Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head.
Arithmetic tells you how many you lose or win if you know how many
you had before you lost or won.
Arithmetic is seven eleven all good children go to heaven--
or five six bundle of sticks.
Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand
to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.
Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice
and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky--
or the answer is wrong and you have to start all over and
try again and see how it comes out this time.
If you take a number and double it and double it again and then
double it a few more times, the number gets bigger and bigger
and goes higher and higher and only arithmetic can tell you
what the number is when you decide to quit doubling.
Arithmetic is where you have to multiply – and you carry
the multiplication table in your head and hope you won’t lose it.
If you have two animal crackers, one good and one bad, and you eat one
and a striped zebra with streaks all over him eats the other,
how many animal crackers will you have if somebody offers you
five six seven and you say No no no and you say Nay nay nay
and you say Nix nix nix?
If you ask your mother for one fried egg for breakfast and she gives you
two fried eggs and you eat both of them, who is better in arithmetic,
you or your mother?

Plants Have Two Color Vision

4/26/2020

Plant Vision

Plants, fungi and bacteria
response to light
constantly adapt
to changes in light
phytochromes
light detection in all vegetation
allows organisms to distinguish between
two colors of light
a primitive two-color vision
light causes reorganization in protein
release of a water molecule
response to light highly collective
enabling phytochrome proteins to translate light
into structural signals
guiding growth and development of plants
fungi and bacteria on Earth

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 26
April 26, 2020

A Found Poem, Words from https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/04/plants-respond-to-light-within-a-fraction-of-a-second/127766

Visit Paris France Virtually

4/26/2020

Here are five video tours of Paris, France. No passport or language skills needed.

Paris Tour for 6th -9th Graders [Link].

Buildings and Art: Paris Catacombs Free Virtual Tour from Home [Link]

Buildings and Art: Eiffel Tour - Tour Eiffel

Buildings and Art: Paris' Sacre Coeur Church in Montmartre Neighborhood [Link]

Art - Petite Galerie [Link].

Palace of Versaille [Link]

Art: The Louvre [Link].

Places: Louvre's Metro Station

Places: Air France Museum [Link].

Yellow Written in Blue

4/23/2020

Color-Word Stroop Task

Do well on the Color-Word Stroop Task
indicates cognitive function
more importantly cognitive flexibility
brain health

You know the test
the one where the word "purple
is written in red
and "red" is written in blue ink

How fast are you?

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge

Brown, the Color of a Singed Beaver

4/21/2020

See the Colors Around You

Look around in Eastern James Bay Cree
there are colors all around

ᐹᔅᒎᓵᐧᐋᓈᑯᓲ "Paaschuusaawaanaakusuu"
it is purple
the color of jam

ᐸᐦᑖᐅᓈᑯᓲ "Pahtaaunaakusuu"
it is brown
it looks like the color of a singed beaver

ᐅᔖᐅᔑᔔ "Ushaaushishuu"
it is yellow
it is a little bit yellow

ᐧᐄᓴᓱᒥᐦᑯᓲ "Wiisasumihkusuu"
it is a flashy,
bright red

ᒥᐦᐧᑳᐱᔅᑳᐤ "Mihkwaapiskaau"
it is stone or metal red

ᒥᐦᐧᑳᔅᑯᓐ "mihkwaaskun"
it is stick-like red

ᐹᔅᒎᓵᐧᐋᓈᑯᓐ "Paaschuusaawaanaakun"
it is purple
the colour of jam

ᐱᒋᔅᑲᓈᑯᓐ "Pichiskanaakun"
it is sky blue

ᒥᐦᑯᔔ "Mihkushuu"
it is pinky-red
it is a little red thing

ᔑᑯᑌᐅᓈᑯᓲ "Shikuteunaakusuu"
it looks orange
the colour of a bakeapple berry

ᐅᑑᒋᒥᐦᑰᓲ "Utuuchimihkuusuu"
it is burgundy-coloured purple
the colour of a bruise

ᐧᐋᐸᔅᒎᒋᓲ "Waapaschuuchisuu"
it is white mud

ᐧᐋᐱᑯᓀᐤ "Waapikuneu"
it has white feathers

ᐧᐋᐱᑌᐅᓲ "Waapiteusuu"
it is faded
it is greyish like a dog

ᐧᐋᓭᒋᓲ "Waasechisuu"
it is white and can be seen from afar
when the sun shines on it

ᐧᐋᓭᔅᑯᓈᑯᓲ "Waaseskunaakusuu"
it is turquoise
the colour of a clear blue sky

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 21
April 21, 2020
Words from http://dict.eastcree.org/Words

The Color of Bruises in Eastern James Bay Cree

4/20/2020

Jam and Bruises

"It is purple" in Chisasibi Cree
of the Eastern Shore of James Bay, Quebec
"Paaschuusaawaanaakusuu"
also means "the color of jam"
and "Paaschuusaawaanaakun" or "ᐹᔅᒎᓵᐧᐋᓈᑯᓐ"

"Utuuchimihkuusuu" or "ᐅᑑᒋᒥᐦᑰᓲ"
means "it is burgundy-coloured purple"
"the color of a bruise"
and ᐅᑑᒋᒥᐦᐧᑳᐤ or "utuuchimihkwaau"

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 20
April 20, 2020
Words from http://dict.eastcree.org/Words

Are Red and Pink More Different Than Light Green and Dark Green?

4/19/2020

Arbitrary Colors

English splits hues into distinct colors
according to lightness
red and pink
orange and brown
objectively no more different from one another
than light green and dark green
or light blue and dark blue

A Russian makes the same red and pink
and orange & brown distinctions
and a further distinction between blue
sinii (dark blue) and goluboi (light blue)

Color Naming More to Do With Thinking Than Seeing

4/18/2020

The Name of Shades of Green

Unnamable colors just beyond the consciousness
see anew relax the rigid perspective
color a visual perception of the observer
not a property of electromagnetic radiation
how we divide and name the colors
more to do with thinking than seeing

The Ova-Himba of Angola or Himba of Northern Namibia
use five color names

"serandu" reds, browns, oranges and some yellows

"dambu" or "ndumbu" a variety of greens, reds, beige, brown and yellows
the term used for a Caucasian person

"zuzu" or "zoozu" describes most dark shades
black, dark red, dark purple, dark blue, etc.
the colors of the falling dusk
or a dark green butterfly

"vapa" is white and some shades of yellow
the light colors of the sunrise
or a yellow cat

"buru" or "mburau" is vivid shades of green and blue
like a blue falcon

it is thought only naming a few colors
increases the time it takes
to distinguish between two similar colors
compared to people whose language separates the colors
like Western languages into eleven or twelve colour or color categories
black, white, red, blue (light blue, dark blue), green, yellow,
orange, brown, pink, gray, and purple

Language influences perception of color
imagine 12 tiles 11 the same color
and one is a different color
choose the one that looks different
11 one shade of green
one tile slightly lighter or darker
to the Western eye very similar
but easy for the Himba who have two completely different words
for different kinds of green

A second test is harder
eleven green tiles and one blue tile
all were "buru" shades of green and blue
not as easy to distinguish for the Himba eye

Other Ovaherero speaking people with more contact with the West
use other names of colors
"oserandu" (red)
"ongara" (yellow)
"ombambi" (brown)
"ondrondu" (black)
"ombapa" (white)
"otjihoni" (orange/brownish and maybe check-patterned or irregularly dotted)
"omblou" (blue) from the Afrikaans word “blou”
"ongrien" (green) from the English “green” for shades of color
the word ondumbe (meaning very or strong or dark)
or the word "ondjere" (meaning light, not so very)
is put behind the name of the color

by Kimberly Burnham Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 18
April 18, 2020

Words from https://www.gondwana-collection.com/blog/how-do-namibian-himbas-see-colour/
and refuted at https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=18237
https://www.artsy.net/show/hakgojae-gallery-hakgojae-design-project-space-kang-han-byul-body-eats-colour
Color Myth https://prezi.com/p/je6_jzrblmqx/legend-of-the-colors/

Blue and Green in Asia

4/17/2020

Blue Asian Apples

In Chinese 青 pronounced qīng in Mandarin
and “ao” in Japanese means both blue and green
blue and green shades of 青
藍 “lán” is blue in Mandarin
綠 “lǜ” is green
both shades of “qīng”

In Japanese 緑 “midori”
green from the verb “midoru”
“to be in leaf, to flourish”
グリーン pronounced “guriin”
derived from the English word green

In Japan traffic lights the same as everywhere
the green light is described as “aoi” blue
because green is a shade of aoi
green apples are 青リンゴ [Ao ringo]
no different than what in English is a green apple

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 17
April 17, 2020

Russian Blue Dividing the Color Spectrum

4/16/2020

Blue, Light Blue, Dark Blue in English and Russian

English and Russian speakers divide
the color spectrum differently
light blue and dark blue are both blue
in English
in Russian
lighter blue is "goluboy” and darker blue is “siniy”
there is no "blue"

English speakers can distinguish between light and dark blues
Russian speakers cannot avoid distinguishing them
and must do so to speak Russian in a conventional manner

Russians are faster if one is "siniy"
and the other "goluboy"
and slower if both are "siniy" or "goluboy"
two words makes it easier to remember
and recognize the distinction
where a color boundary exists in Russian
but not in English.

Two types of memory are better than one
slightly better memory for colors
with readily available names in my own language
remembered color chips in two forms
non-verbal visual image and a verbal label
each memory fallible
two are better than one

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 16
April 16, 2020
Words from https://www.pnas.org/content/104/19/7780

Ghana Weaving Colors and Motifs

4/15/2020

Kente Colors

"Kente" a traditional woven cloth from Ashanti, Ghana
yarns yellow, red, green, blue, black and white
geometric patterns express 300 proverbs and motifs

"Nkyimkyim" literally zigzag
life is not always smooth as a straight line
prudent living a balance between a zig and a zag

Sekan inspired by the practical utility of knives
efficiency, productivity and craftsmanship
symbolize sharpness of mind

"Fahia kotwere’ Agyeman"
literally lean on Agyeman when in financial need
symbolizes hope, faith, sharing and benevolence

"Sika Mpaboa" derived from the top
of native sandals normally worn by royals
and chiefs of Ashanti

"Ekye" literally a hat and hence the saying
the knee never takes the hat when the head is present
symbolizes status and responsibility

"Anintonwi" means eyebrows enhance facial appearance
gives a unique personality to the individual
symbolizes beauty, enhancement, elegance and uniqueness

"Abusuakro ye" literally family unity
the family different individuals bound together
in love, unity and peace "Asomdwoe" in Asante

"Nwotua" literally snail shells
inspired by the texture in black, brown and yellow
become endurance and self-containment

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 15
April 15, 2020

Words from http://www.eajournals.org/wp-content/uploads/Cross-Cultural-Weaves-Potential-for-Ghanaian-Cultural-Identity.pdf

The Color of Coffee, Chocolate, Chestnuts and Snakes

4/14/2020

Chestnut Coffee Color

The Welsh mean what they say when they say
"brown" borrowed from English is brown

In Italian "marrone" is "brown"
but literally "chestnut"

In Persian "ای قهوه" is brown
but literally coffee + of

Chinese describes "brown" with two or three characters
咖啡色 coffee + coffee + color

Danish also combines words to mean brown
"blive brun" is literally to be brown or turn brown

"Owr" in Cornish is translated brown
but also gold and hour

In Qırımtatar tili or Crimean Tatar
"qave renki" means brown, coffee and chestnut

In Paakantyi, an Australian Aboriginal language
"wiḷu-wiḷu" means "brown" and "snake"

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 14
April 14, 2020

Cerulean, the Color of Sky Birds, Sweaters and Magic

4/13/2020

Caerulean, In Search of Good in the Sky

"But what you don't know
that sweater is not just blue
it's not turquoise
it's not lapis
it's actually cerulean"
— Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada

Just the repetition of the words
"cerulean blue" “cerulean blue” is magical
the "Pusher" villain in X-Files episode 17 season 3
repeats "cerulean blue" lulling his victims to do his will

“Cerulean” [səˈruːliən] between azure and a darker sky
strong greenish blue with variations
cobalt chromate a darker greener “cerulean” blue or cobalt turquoise
a paler hue called the "color of the millennium"
"cerulean frost" in a special set of metallic colored Crayola crayons

"Cerulean" in 1590 English from the Latin "Caeruleus"
dark blue, blue, blue-green derives from "Caerulum"
diminutive of "Caelum" heaven and sky

A pigment found in late eighteenth century
blue with copper, cobaltous oxides, azurite and smalt
all in attempts to paint the sky blue
with colors by Swiss chemist Albrecht Höpfner's
“cerulean blue” in 1789 by the German name "Cölinblau"
then in 1860 a Brit, George Rowney's "coeruleum"
cerulean's hue, permanence, opaqueness
shines in Berthe Morisot 's painting
of a blue coat on a woman in her Summer's Day

Repeat after me “cerulean blue” flies in nature
in the Cerulean blue cuckooshrike
Cerulean blue kingfisher, Cerulean blue paradise flycatcher,
a Cerulean blue warbler
and Cerulean-capped manakin, a native of Peru

Now do good in the world

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 13
April 13, 2020

Pompous Purple and Other Translations from Catala

4/12/2020

Bombastic Purple

Computers are odd with language translations
purple for example in Català or Catalan spoken in Spain, France and Italy
"inflat" is translated purple but also
bloated, bombastic, empurpled
grandiloquent, intumescent, over-embellished
pompous, puffy, tumescent
and turgid
hopefully no one ever thinks I am purple

Are Purple, Magenta and Violet the Same Color?

4/11/2020

Purple of the Na'vi

Na'vi is a language
made up for the movie Avatar
two words mean purple, magenta and violet
"ʼom" and "ʼompin"

What is in your mind's eye
if you were making up a language
for a people in a new land
would you have one or two
or three words for purple
magenta and violet

What is the difference if you get to decide
the words of a new language
create by you.

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge Day 11
April 11, 2020

Words at Panlex https://apps.panlex.org/panlinx/ex/17828894

What Color is Amber? Ambergris, Chrysophoron, Jasper, Rosin, Scoopstone, ...?

4/10/2020

The Color of Amber

In the Panlex multilingual dictionary
the word "amber" is translated in many ways
from amber-colored

Ambergris, ambergrease or grey amber
a solid, waxy, flammable substance dull grey or blackish
produced in the digestive system of sperm whales

Auburn to brownish-yellow, the jewel stone called chrysophoron
then gold, golden, golden-brown
and jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz
more colors orange, red,

Rosin also called colophony or Greek pitch
a solid form of resin obtained from pines and conifers

Scoopstone, the amber gathered from seaweed
colors tan, tawny-brown

Umber an earth pigment that contains iron oxide and manganese oxide

Xanthous refers to yellowish, red, auburn or brown hair
finishing up with more colors yellow
yellow-brown, yellowish and yellowish-brown

And that is just in English ...

https://apps.panlex.org/panlinx/ex/338072

Yaha in Eastern Karaboro

4/9/2020

April 9, 2020 Generations Sifting the Red Lights of Yaha

"Yaha" means many things
depending on how you pronounce the A's

In Eastern Karaboro spoken in Burkina Faso
the example sentences tell much about life and feelings

"Yaha" [yãhã́] means red as in "U nayreyãhã par"
he bought a shirt red

"Yaha" [yáhā] means the generation as in "Ma yaha la ta ne, ma n nii n sã ra na?"
are you of my generation to scold me?

"Yahafua" [yáháfuā] means person from same age as in "Nawee yai u u yahafua yigi naambiyɛ"
we have to choose a person of the same age as a friend

"Yaha" [yāhā] means half as in "U ke nguyaha fua kaa"
he grilled half a chicken and he ate

"Yaha" [yàhà] means entrust it to someone as in "N sẽmbua yaha your cĩĩfua ye"
I entrusted a goat to my little brother

"Yaha" [yáhà] means sift as in "U saasege sege, ma pe miy yaha"
she pounded the corn and sifted the flour

"Yaha" [yàhà] means spread out or style a box as in "U nwoŋ yaha"
he put the roof on the hut

"Yaha" [yàhà] means shake a branch or tree as in "U ke ndoho katyigi yaha, kapra n too"
he shook the shea tree, and the fruit fell

"Yaha" [yàhà] means sacrifice as in "U mpar yaha"
he sacrificed and God "Yãhã" [Yãhã̀] ̀

"Yaha" [yàhà] means leave as in "Tɛr u yaha kaha wo"
I left it at home

"Yãhã" [yãhã̀] ̀menas Leprosy as in "Faale na, nawee- busãã pye yãhã ne"
in the past, many people had leprosy

"Yãhã" [yãhã̀] ̄means spin or wander as in "Ke kãnsyũhũ yãhã yãhãyĩŋ na"
the big bird whirls in the sky

"Yãhã di" [Yãhã̀ ̀ dī] means swear as in "U Yãhã di, ma yee woo sẽ pe war gbe ye"
he swore he didn't take the money

"Yãhã gbãã" [yãhã̀ ̀ gbãã] means lightning as in "Yãhã gbãã dye katyingbãŋ gaa wo"
lightning has struck down a large tree

"Yaha le" [yàhà lè] means to shut up as in "Cicar nwo nahafua ma u flaŋ, u ga yaha le"
if the mother of this child console him, he will be silent

"Yãhã wãyihi" [yãhã̀ ̀ wãyíhì] means lightning as in "Naweebusãã n fya yãhã wãyihi na"
a lot of people are afraid of lightning

"Yaha ye" [yàhà yē] means before as in "Ta cĩĩfua tɛr ra yaha ye Gbaafɔ na"
my little brother is gone before me in Banfora

"Yaha ye" [yàhà yē] means front as in "U dyale n yãr u yaha ye cãã laam wo"
his son walks in front of him at market

"Yãhã cãã" [yãhã̀ cã̀ ã́] ̀means clarity and natural light as in "Ma'a ma nwoŋ fenaatɛr yãr, yãhã cãã ga dye."
if you open your house window, clarity will come in

by Kimberly Burnham
Color and Healing Poetry Challenge
From the Upcoming book by Kimberly Burnham, 20 / 20 Seeing Color Around the World, a Daily Vision Health Program

Old Pink

4/8/2020

1.1 Billion Years Old Neon Pink

A pretty pink earth
a sunset
a purple-red hue
the color first made by a living thing
1.1 billion years old
belongs to a cyanobacteria
used in photosynthesis
chlorophyll may very well be green
pinkish pigments result from fossilized porphyrins
in atomic ring around a magnesium ion
to form a chlorophyll molecule
hidden till found a billion years later by scientists
grinding up marine shale
dug out from the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania
this particular batch of bacteria
died all at once and sunk down to the seafloor
isolated from oxygen long enough to fossilize
preserved underground until 10 years ago
a mining company dug it up
pink held against the sunlight
a neon pink

Found Poetry from Giaimo, Cara (July 10, 2018) Found: The First Color Made By a Living Thing It’s 1.1 billion years old, and it’s bright pink. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/first-color-pink-sahara http://mentalfloss.com/article/550918/billion-year-old-rocks-reveal-first-color-ever-produced-living-thing