Category Archives:learn something

WILT #40: Race issues are for all of us

I’ve been around a little, and maybe I don’t know everything, but I strongly believe that race, gender and sexual orientation issues are all of our issues. No group should have to fight for their rights alone. This is all of our world and I want a world where everyone has equal rights.

Visiting the civil rights museum in Memphis was a big thing for me. I already believed this, but after visiting that museum I felt it in my gut, that I will not stand for a country or planet where anyone has to go through anything so awful, or go through it alone. Of course groups should lead their movements and control the movements as they see fit, but they should be willing to get and take as much support as they can from anyone and everyone because this is about US not “them, and them, and we”- it’s “US” as a whole human race.

WILT #39: I have too many tasks on my table at all times

Work on my main etsy store SEO.

Add more items to my main etsy store.

Market my main etsy store – constant. 

Take photos of stuff for my jewelry store (some done).

Work on my Jewelry etsy store.

Work on client stuff (web) –constant. 

Blog schedule for street-fashion.net – constant.

Work on images for blogs on nerdsontheroad.com

Write blogs on nerdsontheroad.com  – constant.

Make more jewelry  – constant.

Sew patches on my coat.

Make runawayrunway.com into a store again, pointlessly. – DELETED

Do something with zombiefreakfest.com? – DELETED

Sew a bag.

Fix my purse’s zipper.

Make tile coasters.

Make business card holders. – Nahhh

Make fiverr gigs no one will buy. – Nahhh

Finish my illustrator classes.

Unfortunately some of these things are in themselves week or month long projects to this is a fucking year of stuff to do, and most of it will NOT pay off. but I have no judge of what to give up on and what to go forth with. I’m thinking this blog is one of the problems but it does help to vent …. maybe…

WILT #38: I can be very close minded

I have these weird hangups where I don’t want to be like other people, like, at all, so I avoid being normal in any way, or liking things I think that “the vast majority” would like.

I have been doing this since I was probably about 15 or so, when I got out of being in a girls home and was essentially on my own. I had had no real influences in my life, no “teen experience” to speak of and I had to learn how to be an adult and be independent at a young age. I decided that most people were stupid, they judged me, they thought they were better that men and I was jealous that most of them had a normal childhood, and I hated them all (almost all), and it sort of stuck.

I also don’t like not knowing things and I despise doing things wrong. I want to know everything and I want to already know it before anyone asks me. I like to learn, but I like to do it in private, so when I know things, people suspect I have always known.

I think weed is stupid
I bought a “weed” muscle rub to see if it would help with my sore neck and shoulders (HUGE step for me, weed is still stupid). 

I think smoking is stupid.
This is still stupid.

I think popular music is stupid.
I listen to a lot of popular music, on satellite radio (without gaging), unlikely to buy any though. 

I think gyms are stupid.
I go to them when they’re convenient now. 

I think food fads and eating excessively “healthy” is stupid.
I drink mate tea and put chia seeds on my soy yogurt. 

I think judging other people is stupid, unless what’s being judged is their willful stupidity, then it’s ok.
I try to judge stupid people less as I think some of them can’t help it.

I think pretty much all religion or metaphysical belief is stupid.
I at least keep it to myself more often. 

I think believing in/being afraid of ghosts is stupid.
Yep, still stupid. 

I think being enthusiastic about learning and admitting I’m stupid about something is stupid. I like to act smug.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be capable of admitting I don’t know things and will absorb quietly and challenge people’s logic. 

I think taking only the main trail on a hike is stupid.
Depends on the hike, but mostly still true if it’s a popular hike. 

I think looking at my phone while watching a movie is stupid.
I do this sometimes – at home, if I’ve seen the movie :(.

I think talking on the phone while driving is stupid.
Still stupid, but I’ll try to look at the screen to my ipod to change the podcast or satellite radio if there’s no cars around. I may be evil.

I think deep water is scary and I feel like my phobia of water is justifiable and not embarrassing. Phobias are legit.

I think being afraid of wild animals is stupid.
I guess I can understand but I hate that people separate animals so much from themselves and don’t consider the psychology or situation an animal is in before acting like ninnys. Then they blame the animal if something goes awry. 

I’m a stubborn person.
Will always be true. 

I have gotten better about a few things over the years, I’m more willing to listen to “popular music” and sometimes like it. I am trying to make up for avoiding “classic” books, as I assumed they were stupid because “everyone liked them” and told me I HAD TO READ THEM (or I would die apparently), and I’m trying. I just really think our culture is lacking and mostly stupid, sorry.

WILT #37: Boudica the Welsh Princess Warrior

Image By http://www.deviantart.com/art/Boudica-438997787

Via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudica

by Happy-Mutt at http://www.deviantart.com/art/Boudica-438997787
by Happy-Mutt at http://www.deviantart.com/art/Boudica-438997787

Boudica’s husband Prasutagus ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome and left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman emperor in his will. However, when he died his will was ignored, and the kingdom was annexed. Boudica was flogged, her daughters raped, and Roman financiers called in their loans.

In AD 60 or 61, when the Roman governor Gaius Suetonius Paulinus was campaigning on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, the Trinovantes, and others in revolt.[2] They destroyed Camulodunum (modern Colchester), earlier the capital of the Trinovantes but at that time a colonia, a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers and site of a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. Upon hearing of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (modern London), the 20-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels’ next target.

The Romans, having concluded that they lacked sufficient numbers to defend the settlement, evacuated and abandoned Londinium. Boudica led 100,000 Iceni, Trinovantes, and others to fight Legio IX Hispana, and burned and destroyed Londinium, and Verulamium (modern-day St Albans).[3][4] An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and British were killed in the three cities by those led by Boudica.[5] Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands, and despite being heavily outnumbered defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street.

The crisis caused the Emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius’ eventual victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province. Boudica then either killed herself, so she would not be captured, or fell ill and died. The extant sources, Tacitus[6] and Cassius Dio, differ.

Interest in these events revived in the English Renaissance and led to Boudica’s fame in the Victorian era.[8] Boudica has remained an important cultural symbol in the United Kingdom. However, the absence of native British literature during the early part of the first millennium means that knowledge of Boudica’s rebellion comes solely from the writings of the Romans.
Tacitus and Cassius Dio agree that Boudica was of royal descent. Dio describes her as “possessed of greater intelligence than often belongs to women.” He also describes her as tall, with tawny hair hanging down to below her waist, a harsh voice and a piercing glare. He notes that she habitually wore a large golden necklace (perhaps a torc), a colourful tunic, and a thick cloak fastened by a brooch.[

Boudicca’s husband, Prasutagus, was the king of the Iceni, a people who inhabited roughly what is now Norfolk. The Iceni initially voluntarily allied with Rome following Claudius’s conquest of Southern Britain AD 43. They were proud of their independence, and had revolted in AD 47 when the then Roman governor Publius Ostorius Scapula planned to disarm all the peoples in the area of Britain under Roman control following a number of local uprisings. Ostorius defeated them and went on to put down other uprisings around Britain.[18] The Iceni remained independent. Tacitus first mentioned Prasutagus when he wrote about Boudica’s rebellion. We do not know whether he became the king after the mentioned defeat of the Iceni. We do not have any record as to whether the Iceni at that point were still Roman allies or had become a client kingdom.

Tacitus wrote “The Icenian king Prasutagus, celebrated for his long prosperity, had named the emperor his heir, together with his two daughters; an act of deference which he thought would place his kingdom and household beyond the risk of injury. The result was contrary — so much so that his kingdom was pillaged by centurions, his household by slaves; as though they had been prizes of war.” He added that Boudica was lashed and her two daughters were raped and that the estates of the leading Iceni men were confiscated.

Cassius Dio wrote: “An excuse for the war was found in the confiscation of the sums of money that Claudius had given to the foremost Britons; for these sums, asDecianus Catus, the procurator of the island maintained, were to be paid back.” He also said that another reasons was “the fact that Seneca, in the hope of receiving a good rate of interest, had lent to the islanders 40,000,000 sesterces that they did not want, and had afterwards called in this loan all at once and had resorted to severe measures in exacting it.”

Tacitus did not say why Prasutagus’ naming the emperor as his heir as well as his daughters was meant to avert the risk of injury. He did not explain why the Romans pillaged the kingdom, why they took the lands of the chiefs or why Boudica was flogged and her daughters were raped. Cassius Dio did not mention any of this. He said that the cause of the rebellion was the decision of the procurator of Britain (the chief financial officer) and Seneca (an advisor of the emperor Nero) to call in Prasutagus’ debts and the harsh measures which were taken to collect them. Tacitus does not mention these events. However, he wrote: “Alarmed by this disaster and by the fury of the province which he had goaded into war by his rapacity, the procurator Catus crossed over into Gaul.”

It has to be noted that this was happening while the governor of Britain, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was away fighting in North Wales. We do not know whether he approved of these actions. We do not know who the centurions who pillaged the kingdom were and who sent them. The text of Cassius Dio seems to suggest that Seneca, who was a private citizen, was responsible for the violence. It is unlikely that a legion was sent to land of the Iceni as two of them were fighting at the island of Anglesey and the other two were stationed at their garrisons. Tacitus said that “It was against the veterans that their hatred was most intense. For these new settlers in the colony of Camulodunum drove people out of their houses, ejected them from their farms, called them captives and slaves …” [22] This could raise the possibility that it was the retired veterans (who were no longer subject to military discipline) who might have been called on to or hired to intervene in the kingdom of the Iceni and may help to account for the extent of the violence and abuse.

Boudica’s uprising

In AD 60 or 61, while the current governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign against the island of Mona (modern Anglesey) in the north of Wales, which was a refuge for British rebels and a stronghold of the druids, the Iceni conspired with their neighbours the Trinovantes, amongst others, to revolt. Boudica was chosen as their leader. According to Tacitus, they drew inspiration from the example of Arminius, the prince of the Cherusci who had driven the Romans out of Germany in AD 9, and their own ancestors who had driven Julius Caesar from Britain.[23] Dio says that at the outset Boudica employed a form of divination, releasing a hare from the folds of her dress and interpreting the direction in which it ran, and invoked Andraste, a British goddess of victory.

The rebels’ first target was Camulodunum (Colchester), the former Trinovantian capital and, at that time, a Roman colonia. The Roman veterans who had been settled there mistreated the locals and a temple to the former emperor Claudius had been erected there at local expense, making the city a focus for resentment. The Roman inhabitants sought reinforcements from the procurator, Catus Decianus, but he sent only two hundred auxiliary troops. Boudica’s army fell on the poorly defended city and destroyed it, besieging the last defenders in the temple for two days before it fell. Archaeologists have shown that the city was methodically demolished.[24] The future governor Quintus Petillius Cerialis, then commanding the Legio IX Hispana, attempted to relieve the city, but suffered an overwhelming defeat. His infantry was wiped out—only the commander and some of his cavalry escaped. The location of this famous destruction of the Legio IX is now claimed by some to be the village of Great Wratting, in Suffolk, which lies in the Stour Valley on the Icknield Way West of Colchester, and by a village in Essex.[25] After this defeat, Catus Decianus fled to Gaul.

When news of the rebellion reached him, Suetonius hurried along Watling Street through hostile territory to Londinium. Londinium was a relatively new settlement, founded after the conquest of AD 43, but it had grown to be a thriving commercial centre with a population of travellers, traders, and, probably, Roman officials. Suetonius considered giving battle there, but considering his lack of numbers and chastened by Petillius’s defeat, decided to sacrifice the city to save the province.

Alarmed by this disaster and by the fury of the province which he had goaded into war by his rapacity, the procurator Catus crossed over into Gaul. Suetonius, however, with wonderful resolution, marched amidst a hostile population to Londinium, which, though undistinguished by the name of a colony, was much frequented by a number of merchants and trading vessels. Uncertain whether he should choose it as a seat of war, as he looked round on his scanty force of soldiers, and remembered with what a serious warning the rashness of Petilius had been punished, he resolved to save the province at the cost of a single town. Nor did the tears and weeping of the people, as they implored his aid, deter him from giving the signal of departure and receiving into his army all who would go with him. Those who were chained to the spot by the weakness of their sex, or the infirmity of age, or the attractions of the place, were cut off by the enemy. — Tacitus[5]

Londinium was abandoned to the rebels who burnt it down, slaughtering anyone who had not evacuated with Suetonius. Archaeology shows a thick red layer of burnt debris covering coins and pottery dating before AD 60 within the bounds of Roman Londinium;[26] whilst Roman-era skulls found in the Walbrook in 2013 were potentially linked to victims of the rebels.[27] Verulamium (St Albans) was next to be destroyed.

In the three settlements destroyed, between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed. Tacitus says that the Britons had no interest in taking or selling prisoners, only in slaughter bygibbet, fire, or cross. Dio’s account gives more detail; that the noblest women were impaled on spikes and had their breasts cut off and sewn to their mouths, “to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour” in sacred places, particularly the groves of Andraste.

WILT #35: The Story of Raju and the Lunar Eclipse

One of my favorite mythological takes on the eclipse is the Hindu god Rahu — or Phra Rahu as he’s known in Thailand. He’s not the oldest eclipse deity, but his story and iconography are wondrously gruesome.

Fall of an Asura
He was once a proud Asura, a demigod of immense power and hunger. Seeking immortality (for demigods are but another realm in the Wheel of Samsara), Rahu drank the divine nectar known as Amrita. Before the drought could pass his throat, however, all-powerful Vishnu decapitated him for his transgression.

(Wikimedia Commons)(Wikimedia Commons)

The power of the nectar made his disembodied head immortal, and so this cleaved and fallen god continually seeks his revenge on the two planetary deities who ratted him out to Big Vish: the sun and moon.

As such, ravenous Rahu regularly ascends into the sky and attempts to swallow the sun or moon. But since he’s disembodied, his meals fall back out again — an escape route if you will.

In Thailand, Phra Rahu iconography sees the powerful entity sliced in half at the stomach rather than beheaded, but it still amounts to the same digestive scenario.

Rahu, Science and Religion
I know what you’re wondering: How is there possible room for discussion on science here? Surely science arises and simply wipes away our tales of disembodied gods and swallowed moons.

For starters, there has always been less conflict between science and Hinduism, due in some part to distinct linguist differences between teleological and causative whys. As professor Varadaraja V. Raman, author of “Truth and Tension in Science and Religion” points out, There’s the “Why do I exist?” that a biologist can answer and then there’s the “Why do I exist?” that a priest answers.
We see the opposite in the sixth-century Hunduism. As scientist Rajesh Kochhar discusses in “Rahu and Ketu in mythological and ‘astronomological’ contexts,” treatment of the disembodied Rahu actually evolved with the scientific knowledge of the time.Also, in today’s world we increasingly see an attempt to protect set-in-stone religious stories from the ever-evolving story that science gives us. Heaven forbid new findings force us to reconsider ancient Babylonian cosmology.

Two millennia ago, Indian stargazers divided the cosmos into seven geocentric planets (graha) and then set aside calamitous phenomena like meteors, comets and eclipses, classified as utpata. So on one hand you had cyclical order and on the other ominous chaos.

But of course eclipses follow a pattern as well. And in 499 CE, the great Indian mathematician-astronomer Aryabhata introduced a mathematical theory of eclipses that pretty much nailed it: just our two lunar nodes, Earth shadows and moon shadows. No demons required.

And so Rahu received something of a promotion, along with his headless body known as the entity Ketu. Instead of chaotic utpata, they were upgraded to ordered graha. While not actual planets, they took on the distinction of “shadow planets.”

For a full explanation of how these two lunar nodes factor into eclipses, read “How Solar Eclipses Work” and “How Lunar Eclipses Work.”

Devotion to Rahu
Who would pray to a god of darkness like Phra Rahu?

Eight Black OfferingsEight Black Offerings

A lot of people, actually.

You’ll find temples to the cleaved Asura throughout the Hindu world, where the devoted seek his favor in order to dodge life’s many chaotic misfortunes — our own personal utpatas.

In Thailand, devotion to Phra Rahu takes the form of eight black offerings (black rice, blackened chicken, etc.), which is also the title I gave a short horror fiction collection I wrote, thematically presented as an offering to Rahu.

What can I say? I picked up a little Phra Rahu amulet while traveling in Thailand several years ago and the entity intrigued me.

And to be honest, he’s always haunted me a little.

Rahu and Unicron?
On one final note, I’d like to point out an irresistible comparison between Hindu cosmology and the “Transformers” TV show.

I know, I know. Bear with me.

Just as Rahu lost his body in his quest for greatness, so too does the giant, planet-eating robot Unicron. After the 1986 Transformers movie, he was reduced to an orbiting, sentient head.

Was Unicron a take on Rahu? I can find no definitive answer, but the characterwas designed by Filipino illustrator Floro Dery.

I have no idea to what degree Hindu cosmology played into his imagination when he created Unicron,  but I can’t help but notice the similarities.

WILT #34: Why I’m Not a Morning Person but I am a Martian Candidate

I am Not a Morning Person. I’ve been able to get up for school and jobs, historically, but I don’t have to any more since I work for myself and that only enables me further. I don’t think it’s something I can change though. I love sleep, I love staying up late and I love to dream as long as I can.

I found this article on howstuffworks.com about sleep patterns and the history of humans and the dark in a podcast by “Stuff to blow your mind” a show I listen to regularly. Having an abnormal circadian clock actually has its benefits though because NASA is looking for people like us!

For years, researchers have been amassing evidence that abnormal circadian rhythms have some pretty worrisome effects. Not only can they result in poor sleep, but also are related to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health. And to make matters worse, a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that evolution actually tends to weed out individuals with genetic mutations that throw their master body clocks out of kilter.

If you’ve got a circadian rhythm abnormality, this all might seem like pretty depressing news. But don’t worry! There’s also an upside, according to one of the scientists involved in the study: If you’ve got ambitions of joining NASA and exploring or even terraforming another planet, you may be unusually well qualified. But more on that later — first, let’s dig into the findings of that new research.

Read the whole article and see some cool videos here: http://now.howstuffworks.com/2016/02/03/mars-circadian-rhythms

WILT #33: City Bans Animal Rights Protesters from Lawfully Protesting

City of Sherwood bows to corporate interests; bans residential picketing to shut down No New Animal Lab protests

Sherwood, OROn Tuesday night, the Sherwood City Council declared a “state of emergency” in order to pass (and have go into immediate effect) Oregon’s first ordinance that bans targeted residential picketing, as well as a new stricter noise ordinance. The state of emergency? Public protests on a public street about an issue of public concern, i.e. protest activity that was constitutionally lawful…but contrary to corporate interests and the desire to live in a privileged bubble. Although it is possible for jurisdictions to enact targeted residential picketing ordinances that will be upheld as constitutional when content-neutral and leaving open alternative channels of communication, the actions of the Sherwood City Council are clearly directed at the No New Animal Lab campaign and part of a web of attempts to completely shut down protest activity.

 

For the last year, people have protested under the banner of “No New Animal Lab” in a Sherwood neighborhood outside the residence of a Skanska USA executive. Skanska is a multinational, multibillion dollar corporation that is contracted to build a new underground animal laboratory at the University of Washington in which thousands of animals–including primates, rabbits, and dogs–would be buried, tortured, and killed. This proposed animal lab has been the subject of a lawsuit against the UW Regents for their illegal approval of construction, as well as sparked international protest–including civil disobedience, marches of hundreds of people, and protests against Skanska in over a dozen U.S. cities as well as in Finland and Sweden.

 

The movement is determined to stop the construction of the animal lab, and it has a growing momentum of inspiration and action. Pushback from Skanska was predictable–the move of a corporation desperate to save its crafted image of responsibility and sustainability. In the last few weeks, that pushback has centered around Washington County–specifically affluent areas of Sherwood and Beaverton, where Skanska executives out of the corporation’s Portland office live.

 

Just a few weeks ago, those executives filed injunctions known as SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) against five individuals and “No New Animal Lab” for alleged residential protest activity. In response, with representation from the Civil Liberties Defense Center, No New Animal Lab filed an anti-SLAPP motion to ask the court to dismiss the injunctions on the basis that the alleged protest activity is protected by the First Amendment. The hearing on the anti-SLAPP motion is scheduled for February 23 at the Washington County Courthouse.

 

The pairing of the filing of the SLAPPs and the passing of a targeted residential picketing ordinance within just a few weeks of each other illustrate a clear attempt by Skanska to exploit legal proceedings from multiple angles in order to chill the exercising of free speech and the right to assemble, and to escape public accountability. The irony of this targeted legislation though is that it does not criminalize residential protest; it merely states that such protests cannot be targeted at specific homes–here, the home of a Skanska corporate executive–effectively distributing protest pressure over a wider residential area.

 

“Skanska and its executives surely hope that convincing city councils to pass ordinances to shut down protests will shield them from the pressure of dissent, but the fate of thousands of animals cannot be so easily brushed aside,” says a spokesperson for No New Animal Lab. “It is a privileged view of the world to believe that a public protest outside of wealthy home to hold corporate executives accountable for their desire to profit off the suffering of animals constitutes a state of emergency.”

###

About the No New Animal Lab Campaign:
No New Animal Lab was born out of the University of Washington (UW) Regents’ vote to approve construction of a new underground animal lab on the University’s Seattle campus. The campaign targets UW and Skanska utilizing a diversity of tactics meant to pressure leadership and decision makers. No New Animal Lab is at the forefront of a resurgent animal rights movement, emerging from decades of political repression to rebuild grassroots networks and resist institutions and corporations that abuse animals — and to shut them down. In less than a year, the campaign has grown from an impromptu disruption at a UW Board of Regents meeting to the largest US animal liberation campaign in recent years. The campaign has included a successful lawsuit against UW, mass marches, office protests, home demonstrations, direct actions, and a recent outreach tour of 30 U.S. cities. Contact: No New Animal Lab, info@nonewanimallab.com

 

WILT #32: Hairy Wood Peckers Eat Seeds

I have a bird feeder outside all winter and all day long every day, it’s visited by birds. Mostly I get Stellar Jays, I’ve gone from two to about ten or more visiting every day. When they take a break I get a bunch of little birds, Chickadees, Thrush and a yet to be identified small bird with a red head (not a cardinal).

Today I got a wood pecker, which is apparently as opportunistic as any other bird and will eat bird seeds as well. He’s a bit of an antisocial and likes to chase everyone else away. I love it. His movements are way different from the other birds and he has so much personality, and now I know, I can lure him to lunch and get videos of him!

After looking at tons of pics of woodpeckers I settled on him being a Hairy Woodpecker. Here’s a video of him and his cohorts ravaging my feeder.

WILT #31: How a Thermostat Works

We have a guest for the next month and were spending time today getting their room ready. We turned up the heat, a previously unheated room, and waited for it to warm up, but it seemed to vary and the thermostat would say it was cold in the room but the gas fireplace wouldn’t come on. We messed with the stove a bit, checked all its wires, which were all only going to the thermostat as the fireplace has no internal fan.

Essentially while messing around with it, we removed the thermostat from the wall and the thing conveniently turned on. We replaced the batteries in the thermostat, checked all the connections and put it back on the wall where it started working better ever since.

I didn’t learn “much” about thermostats til I read about them later but it got me curious. I found a little article on Howstuffworks.com on how digital and non-digital thermostats work.

Digital thermostats use a simple device called a thermistor to measure temperature. This is a resistor which allowselectrical resistance changes with temperature. The microcontroller in a digital thermostat can measure the resistance and convert that number to an actual temperature reading.

A digital thermostat can do a few things that a regular mechanical thermostat cannot. One of the most useful features of a digital thermostat is programmable settings. In the winter, you can program it to automatically turn up the heat for an hour or two in the morning while you get ready for work, turn down the heat until you get home, turn up the heat in the evening and then turn down the heat while you sleep. This is a great money-saving feature because you can simply turn down the heat when it isn’t needed.

WILT #30: Sign Language Alphabet Refresher

We were sitting at a bar today, having a beer and lunch, when I started to examine the beer labels under a layer of lacquer on the table, as I always do at this bar. I noticed a label for Left Hand Brewing that had 4 hands making sign language symbols. Logically, they read “left” but I suddenly remembered how well I used to know the sign language alphabet (not much more) and no longer remembered much. I could rattle the whole thing off in elementary school, in my geeky attempt at impressing people, something I’ve never managed to do once, and at some point I almost entirely forgot it.

I was taught it as a young kid, I believe in school, but I did have to learn some sign language songs in church as well. We also learned braille and some basic morse code, to what purpose I don’t know but I always thought it was the coolest stuff to know.

I tried to remember the alphabet, hoping for some muscle memory, and I got pretty close on some and were sure about a few, but I eventually looked up a guide because it was bothering me so much. Once I saw the alphabet it came back to me pretty quick and I was able to rattle it off for my boyfriend, in yet another attempt at impressing someone. It may have sort of worked, for the first time ever.

 

 

WILT #29: Tears of Sadness Contain Pain Killers

Listening to podcasts the other day I choose at random with no time to be picky and ended up with an interesting one from Stuff to Blow Your Mind about crying. They talked about not only the biological purpose and benefits of tears, but also a little bit of history on crying, like a time when crying in public would be as bad as pissing your pants. I found it especially interesting that tears of sadness or pain actually contain stress relieving and pain relieving qualities.

Most people feel better after a good cry, but some people, usually people who have trouble with emotions to begin with, might feel worse. It’s a worthwhile listen! – http://www.stufftoblowyourmind.com/podcasts/cry-me-a-river/

Emotional tears have special health benefits. Biochemist and “tear expert” Dr. William Frey at the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis discovered that reflex tears are 98% water, whereas emotional tears also contain stress hormones which get excreted from the body through crying. After studying the composition of tears, Dr. Frey found that emotional tears shed these hormones and other toxins which accumulate during stress. Additional studies also suggest that crying stimulates the production of endorphins, our body’s natural pain killer and “feel-good” hormones.”