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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
Pick out one of the facts from 200 OMG Facts You Didn’t Know… Until Now  . Write a story, poem, rant, monologue, or opinion about it. ~ "Blogging Circle of Friends " Wow, some of these are really interesting! I can't limit myself to just one!  A study from Harvard University finds that having no friends can be just as deadly as smoking. Both effect levels of a blood-clotting protein.Holy shit! That's kind of mind-blowing. And scary.   Adult cats only meow at humans, not other cats. Kittens meow to their mother but once they get a little older, cats no longer meow to other cats.Ha! That's so weird. I think my kittens still meow at each other. They're about 6 months old.  The same brain cycles that occur when asleep, still happen when you’re awake, but in smaller sections. Meaning, parts of your brain are always “falling asleep.”I don't know what to say about this one, but it's quite interesting. I wonder how that works in practical terms.  The Roman – Persian wars are the longest in history, lasting over 680 years. They began in 54 BC and ended in 628 AD.That's so sad. Did they even know what they were still fighting about/for by the end of it? And there would have been multiple generations of families that had never known peace.  Bi-weekly has two different definitions: twice a week, or once every two weeks.This infuriates me. It's so stupid! It's the same with bi-annually, right?  Chewing gum boosts mental proficiency and is considered a better test aid than caffeine – but nobody knows why.Really?! How fascinating. I wish I'd known that in high school.  When you exercise, the burned fat metabolizes to become carbon dioxide, water, and energy. Meaning: you exhale the fat that you lose.Ohhh. That's kinda cool and kinda creepy. You're breathing fat!   The highest recorded fall without a parachute happened in 1972 at 33,333 ft. The victim, Vesna Vulović was in the hospital for 16 months after the fall.Wait, someone survived a fall from 33,333 ft without a parachute???? That's insane! I had to Google this to find out more. Apparently she was a flight attendant, and the fall took place inside an aeroplane that crashed after a bomb went off in the baggage compartment. So she wasn't freefalling through the sky, she was trapped in an aeroplane falling from the sky. She suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae, two broken legs, broken ribs and a fractured pelvis. Wow. She was happy to go back to being a flight attendant but they worried she'd attract too much attention so they gave her a desk job. She died aged 66, and it says she struggled with survivor guilt towards the end.  There exists a plankton, Dinoflagellates, which if consumed, reverses your feeling of hot and cold – as well as hallucinations. Symptoms can last from weeks to years.Woah! That's so cool! And interesting. And weird. And, I imagine if you actually ingested one accidentally, terrifying. A man with severe OCD and a phobia of germs attempted to commit suicide with a gun to his head. Instead of killing him, the bullet eliminated his mental illness without any other damage.No. Way.  How is that possible???? Charlie ~  , I still don't recommend it! The United States Department of Agriculture says the official definition of a sandwich is: “at least 35% cooked meat and no more than 50 percent bread”.Well the United States Department of Agriculture can kiss my ass. 99% of the sandwiches I eat don't have any meat in them at all. And they're still fucking sandwiches. The entire world population could fit in Texas allotting 330 square feet per person. The area of Texas is about 262,000 square miles.Whaaat? That's kinda mind blowing considering how some countries live all crammed on top of each other. Bookworms are actual insects that bore holes in books. A major book feeding insect is a paper louse which feeds on microscopic mold in poorly kept books.Huh. I did not know that. That makes me second guess referring to myself as a book worm. A water dropwort is a highly poisonous plant. If it kills you, it can cause you to smile after you die. This is called a sardonic grin.Wait, what? I thought a sardonic grin was kind of like a wry grin. Like, when you're kind of laughing at yourself. I didn't know it was a smile after death! *Mind blown* The Buddha commonly depicted in statues and pictures is a different person entirely. The real Buddha was actually incredibly skinny because of self-deprivation.Then why...? That doesn't make sense! While hunting, stoats go crazy jumping, spinning, and twisting to get a rabbits attention. This hypnotizes the rabbit until the stoat gets close enough to attack.I know some people like that. Roughly 33% of cats are not effected by catnip. The euphoric reaction commonly associated with catnip is hereditary.That explains why none of my cats have ever been interested in it. In 1325, two Italian city states fought over a bucket which resulted in 2,000 deaths. It started when two soldiers stole a bucket from a well from the city center.That is unbelievably sad. One horse can have approximately 15 horsepower. Horsepower is about 746 watts. The term was coined in the late 18th Century.Once again, that doesn't make sense.  Cold showers have more health benefits than hot or warm showers. These include improving circulation, stimulating weight loss, and easing depression.Seriously? That's so weird. Why do we not have cold showers then? Oh yeah, because brrrrrr! Elvis was originally blonde. He started dying his hair black for an edgier look. Sometimes, he would touch it up himself using shoe polish.Whaaaat? The youngest Pope in history was Pope Benedict IX who was 11 years old at the time of election. He is also the only person to have been the Pope more than once.I thought popes were popes for life? I also really struggle to understand how a child can be a leader of a country or religion. They simply don't have the life experience. Neither do some adults, but still, an 11 year old is not a capable ruler of a religion or country. Some shit is fucked up. In 1992, a shipping crate containing 28,000 rubber duckies fell overboard. They washed up around the world for the next 20 years.That's terrible in terms of environmental waste, but awesome in terms of rubber duckies sailing the seas. Medieval chastity belts are a myth. A great majority of examples now existing were made in the 18th and 19th centuries as jokes.That actually makes a LOT of sense. Turkey vultures use defensive vomit to get rid of any disturbing animal. They can propel their vomit up to 10 feet.That....is really gross.  A mason in 1700’s Jerusalem left his wooden ladder behind after doing some work on a church and now it can’t be moved without the agreement & permission of six different Christian leaders.Seriously, sometimes you just have to shake your head at how ridiculous some things get.  Like, don't we have more important things for our religious leaders to concern themselves with? Scientists discovered sharks that are living in an active underwater volcano. Divers cannot investigate because they would get burns from the acidity and heat.Now THAT is interesting!! They've clearly adapted to their environment. I wonder what kind of adaptions they have and how they assist or hinder them beyond the volcano... Space suits take 5,000 hours to make, costs 1 million dollars, weighs about 110 pounds, and has 11 layers of material.A million dollars per suit??? Wow. I guess the weight is mostly irrelevant though, right? And you'd want it to be carefully made when it's the only thing between you and death... More than 90% of survivors of the 9/11 terror attacks delayed evacuation to save their work, shut down computers, change shoes, or visit the bathroom.Really?? They're lucky to be alive then. Did they think it was a drill? I wonder how many of those killed delayed for similar reasons but delayed just that bit too long... There is a geocache on the International Space Station placed in 2008. It has since been visited four times by other astronauts.Is geocaching a big thing then? I thought it was kind of a fad that had died out. A bit like Pokemon Go I guess, although I still have that app and play it every now and then. What's the point of the exercise? Just to say you got to a certain place? Is it a kind of 'tick the box' exercise to try and say you've been to a certain number of places? I wonder how many there are in NZ. I googled geocaching and found '15 reasons to love geocaching'. They are (allegedly!):  You'll find that discovery, exploration and adventure still exist in the real world It gets you outside It's a great way to stay healthy while having fun It's fun for the whole family You can see the world And experience new places like a local Or discover places you never knew existed right in your own neighbourhood You can learn fun facts about Planet Earth And help give back too You will be delighted by the work of artists and engineers And you can make the best of friends You might even fall in love It will stretch you to your limits - physically and mentally But also guide you to moments of peace and serenity You'll have stories to last a lifetimeSo basically it's an excuse to get off your ass and go wandering about your country (and any other country you may visit). Which is the same reason I play Pokemon Go. It's like a rural version of Pokemon Go (although I know it's not just rural). Interesting. The website tells me that there are '3,859 geocaches around Auckland'. That a LOT. Scrappy-Doo, widely considered to be one of the most hated characters in fiction, has not appeared in an animated Scooby-Doo production since 1988 due to audience backlash.Really? Out of all of the fictional villains out there, the most hated is Scrappy-Doo? That's so fucking ridiculous, I don't even know where to start. In Ancient Greece, throwing an apple to a woman was a symbolic declaration of love, and to catch it was to show acceptance of that love.Imagine if you accidentally dropped it!  Chocolate can help stop tooth decay. Specifically, parts of the cocoa bean can thwart mouth bacteria, even more.Whaaaat?  Dogs can be allergic to humans – specifically, their dander. While being treated for this allergy, it can take up to 12 months for a dog to recover.Again, whaaat? I wonder if our dog is allergic to us rather than grass as we thought! The world’s smallest mammal, a Bumblebee Bat, weights about the same as a U.S. dime. Native to Myanmar and Thailand, these bats are endangered.Awwww... They sound so cute!! |
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