Tuesday, December 1st- World Aids Day.

According to the CDC, around the end of 2007, there were 468,578 people living with AIDS in America.

In 2008, 2.7 million people were newly infected around the world. In that same year, 3.2 million died of AIDS related diseases.

It’s not an American disease, nor is it on the decline.

When a disease such as AIDS is still affecting millions of lives around the world, it’s amazing that individuals still don’t know anything about it.

Here are the results to a randomized survey conducted in Frenship High School, Wolfforth, Texas among 50 people.

Do you know what causes AIDS? ( Yes- 28% | No- 72%)

Do you know how AIDS is spread?(Yes- 86% | No- 14%)

Do you know how to test for AIDS?(Yes- 54% | No- 46%)

Do people of the gay orientation have a higher risk of getting AIDS?( Yes- 48% | No- 52%)

Results:

It was surprising how many people did not  know what causes AIDS. While most knew that sexual intercourse is a way that AIDS is spread, only 14 out of 50 knew that AIDS is actually caused by the HIV virus. Many people thought that sexual intercourse was the only way that AIDS is spread, however, bodily fluids and contact by blood, or semen is also a transfer agent.

Some of the comments to the question “Do you know how to test for AIDS?” were “STD tests” or “Something you can buy and do at home?” A blood test indicates whether an individual has AIDS or not.

The last and most controversial question was split almost evenly, with half saying that gay people were predisposed to AIDS, and half saying no. The answer is, in today’s society, gay people have  the same risk of getting AIDS as non-gay people.

Are you speaking my body language?

Body language is often subtle, but plays a very important role in what you are feeling at that moment!

 

Your Knees and Feet point to where you want to go. It is an unconcious portrayal of your subconcious desires. I know that at the end of a long day, all of our feet are pointing at the door!

Your nose is almost always related to lying. Touching or rubbing it is a sign of rejection, doubt, or lying.

Your hands are behind your head, crossed, and your legs are stretched out in front of you. Hello, cockiness? Doing this shows confidence and superiority.

Steep-ling fingers Mr.Burn’s style is a sign of authority.

And to end on a positive note…

 

Your smile is the most significant body gesture that you can exude! If you look for a crinkling of the outside corner of the eyes, it proves a real smile. The best and most authentic smiles are ones that change your face rapidly, from being small to growing into a broad expression.

Parlez-Vous Francais?

You can’t help but listen to some songs.  You know the type: mainstream, sappy, poppy, the ones with no substance.  As much as I love Jesse McCartney, he has the most sappiest lines ever, honestly. I guess he’s trying to me more “cultural” with his new song, because the lines in  include “Parlez-vous francais?,” and “Konichiwa.”

Anyways, it made me think about languages. Most of the people I know speak more than one language, and if you think about the complexities, it seems impossible to navigate between one meaning and another.

Language is a special kind of code, a set of symbols connected to words and phrases.

Studies have shown that the mother tongue is disassociated with other languages, and that the brain processes them in a different location.

I think people who learn English definitely USE their brain.

Consider THIS:

You may found a lone mouse or a whole set of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses not hice.

If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

TIME magazine’s 50 best inventions..

Includes WOODEN BONES!

“It’s odd to think of putting sticks of wood inside people as a revolutionary medical procedure, but that’s exactly what a group of Italian scientists is working on. They’re using wood — red oak, rattan and sipo work best — to create an artificial bone replacement called carbonated hydroxyapatite. Because of the sponginess of the wood, live bones are expected to grow into the structure faster than with traditional titanium or ceramic implants, decreasing the time it takes to mend a broken bone. The procedure isn’t quite ready for human testing, so sheep are currently testing the artificial bones.

Researchers say that with the bone substitute, which takes approximately one week to process, they can create virtually any size or shape”

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1934027_1934003_1933975,00.html

9 o’ clock is my bedtime.

That title is a lie. I usually sleep at 1:00 AM and wake up for the rest of the day at 7:00 AM.

Everyone, or those individuals with common sense, knows that lack of sleep affects your brain negatively.

Lack of sleep depresses your immune system,  preventing it from working effectively.  If a flu virus is going around, chances are that you’ll catch it! Fatigue is another “side effect” that can affect cognition, memory, and your work.

PLEASE, get atleast 6 hours of sleep. Preferabbly, adults should get atleast 8 hours of sleep and teeangers need 9.

One of the many weird remedies for insomnia or not being able to sleep is to lay on the opposite side of your bed. Hey, whatever works.

Don’t let lack of sleep  eat your brain.

Mmm..brain food.

Heartbreaker heaven.

Here are the world’s future best surgeons and world class heart breakers.

Your heart is one of the most imporant organs in your body. A dissected heart is the closest thing that we can get to understanding the function of this fist-sized organ.

But do pimply-faced high school teenagers REALLY know what they’re talking about when they moan about heart break.  And do those country singers REALLY know what they’re crooning about? YES, I’m talkin’ to you Taylor Swift.

Believe it or not, scientists have actually found a medical condition they describe as the “Broken-Heart” syndrome.   According to the Mayo Clinic, it is a “temporary heart condition brought on by stressful situations, such as the death of a loved one.” It is triggered by a sudden release of stress hormones that negatively affect the heart. “In broken heart syndrome, a part of your heart temporarily enlarges, a condition called cardiomyopathy.” Symptoms include feelings comparable to a heart attack, chest pain, and shortness of breath.

–A “Broken Heart” is treatable and usually takes about a week to recover from. Let’s spread the word!

New Logo?

 

–A reinvention of Grey’s Anatomy. [:

Land of the free because of the Brave

VETERAN’S DAY POST!

–It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you.

 

Freedom is definitely not free.  The price of freedom is paid for by our soldiers, and what a heavy price it is.  Soldiers, along with psychological trauma, have to deal with physical pain while fighting for the common good.

Here are some of the trials of the men who fought in World War I.

 

 

French soldiers; phosgene Gas

 

With the invention of new weapons and new types of warfare, medical trauma during World War I seriously increased. Better rifles and rifle cartridges allowed bullets to more forcefully gouge through bone and bone tissue.  Older weapons such as machine guns were improved. Lesions brought about  by shrapnel, shell, and grenade s  were aimed  to destroy large areas of the body. Infection was a huge problem because dirty clothes often infected these lesions.

 

Chlorine gas released from canisters was first introduced by the Germans.  The gas traveled down to trenches that soldiers would hide in and caused watery eyes and an inflamed Bronchial tract.  Other additional chemicals were also introduced, such as mustard gas. Mustard gas was unnoticeable  at first, but soon caused inflamed eyes, vomiting, and blisters on exposed skin similar to burns which became infected. Diseases such as Typhoid, Tetanus, Malaria, and Typhus also spread through trenches and easy routes of contamination.

 

But probably the most unsanitary and unhygienic medical aspect of World War I was probably the Trench warfare.  Soldiers were to sleep, defecate, and urinate and eat in these trenches, which were on average 6 meters high.  Digging separate holes for fecal matter was disallowed, because it somehow caused trenches to cave in. And so, fecal matter wasn’t even stored away properly. Louse infestation spread diseases through out the trenches and rats were a major problem too. The soldiers couldn’t even light a fire, because the smoke would give them away to the enemy.

 

Disgusting conditions, but that was the price of Freedom.

Autism video sparks controversy

This is my baby cousin

A few months ago, I scared both myself and my Aunt by suggesting to her that vaccines may cause Autism. My baby cousin was about to get his shots at that time. Of course, the vaccines hype has not been proven by scientists. But this situation just emphasizes how the mere subject of Autism is so very controversial. And now, another controversial situation regarding Autism has popped up.

Autism is a neural disorder that sparks impaired social interaction and communication, as well as repetitive behaviors in the people who the disease affects. It is associated strongly with effects that cause birth defects (such as alcohol, environmental stimuli, pollution.) Autism has a strong genetic and hereditary factor, although the cause is still unknown. There is no cure to Autism.

Since the 1990s, along with the prevalence of Autistic individuals in our society due to better diagnoses, there has also been a prevalence of an Autistic culture movement. People in this movement advocate “neurodiversity”–working to accept diversity in neural cognition and accommodating neurodiverse people rather than forcing them to conform to our societal norms.  Tolerance is the key word, and individuals involved with the Autism culture movement say that it is easier to accept insignificant Autistic behaviors, such as hand flapping. SOme members go as far to say that Autism is not a disease, but a difference.

The word “cure” and the phrase “suffering from Autism” seem to be very offensive to most individuals involved in this movement.  Autism is not officially classified as a disease, since scientists do not know the exact cause. Autism is seen as a state of being and not a deficiency in life. And so, a new commercial from the organization Autism Speaks is sparking controversy. The commercial was directed by Academy-award winning director Alfonso Cuaron, who directed the third Harry Potter series, and written by a Grammy-award winning songwriter. The video has an ominous feel, with Autism being portrayed as a terrorist like object that will seek and destroy homes.

Poorly chosen words and phrases which are smattered in the video directly negate the powerful aspect of the video because instead of flaming society to be more active in autism awareness, it is flaming members of the Autistic community with hateful phrases such as ” I[ Autism] will make sure that your marriage fails..” People who disagree with the video have said that the organization that sponsored the video, Autism Speaks, promotes fear and anger as a utensil for fund raising money. proponents of neurodiversity are also angered and distraught with the fact that Autism Speaks does not have a member with autism on their board of directors.

A counter organization, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, with 15 chapters in the United States, has organized protests around the country.  Ari Ne’eman, the president of the group, says, “We don’t want to be portrayed as burdens or objects of self-pity.”

Autism Speaks has acknowledged that the video has hurt a part of their community and has removed the link to that video from their website.

TIME article

I like big butts & I cannot lie.

Every woman has probably felt some sort of inadequacy regarding weight.  According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, about 2/3 of American adults are obese.  The rest of American adults are probably worrying about their weight. It’s a bit like a see-saw.  Some individuals on one end are actually fighting with obesity, others are just obsessed about their weight.

There are many many articles on the internet and on popular magazines about losing weight, and fitting into these.

Skinny Jeans!  and noone wants  muffin tops right?

 

Actually, love handles can be characterized as a “too thick hypodermis.”  The hypodermis consists of mostly adipose (fat) tissue, and its the primary site for the storage of body fat. It  helps  fasten the skin to the underlying surface, provides heat insulation, and absorbs shocks from impacts to the skin.