Thursday, April 5, 2012

Daydreaming is good for you!

Although it has been derided in the past as infantile, neurotic or failing to be mentally disciplined, neurologists have discovered that daydreaming - and more specifically, wandering mind - is vital for certain brain functions. They've found that a wandering mind can be protective and even help you stay on course for longer term goals. 

A wandering mind helps the brain unfocus from repetitive, menial tasks. For example, driving down an empty highway, or jobs where the only requirement is to push a button at a certain time. There's also an 'incubation effect,' that happens when the mind wanders. If you're doing your homework and you can't think of how to answer a question; your get distracted and your mind wanders, your brain still processes the information and may come up with the answer later. 

It's not all good, of course. If your mind wanders while you're reading a book, you'll probably not get any information from it. If you let yourself daydream too much on a highway, you'll get into an accident. However, their studies found that for creative tasks, people need their mind to wander; however, they also need to have enough awareness to catch the creative ideas before they leave the mind.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Elephants heard the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami coming

When the 2004 tsunami struck coasts along the Indian Ocean, it was not a sixth sense that made elephants run for the hills, often carrying unsuspecting tourists on their backs to safety. It was because they heard the tsunami coming.

A tsunami is a very long water wave, its wavelength hundreds of miles long in the deep ocean. But in shallow water near land the wavelength shortens. The tsunami waves produce waves in the atmosphere of the same wavelength, which happens to be the wavelength of very low-frequency sound (called infra-sound).

It is too low in frequency for humans to hear, but the elephants can hear these sound waves. And in 2004 when they heard a thundering roar coming from the sea, they ran the other way as fast as they could. Anyone for establishing an Elephant Tsunami Warning System? For more Ocean facts check out Dr. Bruce Parker's book: The Power of the Sea


Monday, April 2, 2012

A new £2000 procedure TATTOOS a buzz cut into bald men!

Going bald upsets men more than bankruptcy or bachelorhood.

But now there’s a cure set to save them money and heartache - by tattooing ‘hair’ on.

HIS (Hair-Ink-Skin) Hair has launched an innovative new technique to disguise baldness - using a unique form of tattoos.

And it has become so popular that bookings have soared by 20 per cent in the past 12 months.























Celebrity Hairdresser, Adee Phelan, who officially opened the company’s newest clinic in Manchester, is one of dozens of customers to have had the new procedure, known as MHT (micro hair technique) scalp pigmentation
.
It gives the appearance of a short, cropped ‘buzz’ hair - cut by applying different shades of specifically blended pigments to the scalp to replicate the size, shape and density of micro hairs. 
TV stylist Adee, whose clients have included David Beckham, Kerry Katona, Elizabeth Jagger, Sarah Harding and the England Football team, said: 'I was 24 when I started losing my hair. I got behind the product because I know it looks good.

'Going bald didn’t particularly bother me but there are guys out there who are literally suicidal about it' 
'Stars like Wayne Rooney, tweeting about having a hair transplant, have really helped the cause and encouraged people to face it head-on.
'But not everybody has £25,000 to spend and this is a great affordable alternative.'
The technique, which costs an average of £2,000, was developed by Ian Watson, who founded HIS Hair after he developed alopecia in his mid-twenties, following the tragic death of his 32 year-old brother Paul, from cancer.
In desperation, he asked Paul’s widow, Ranbir Rai-Watson to find the finest pen she could get to draw dots onto his scalp, hoping to emulate the look of a ‘cropped’ haircut.
The ink came off in the shower but Ian, now 42, and mother of one Ranbir, 41, knew their ‘crazy idea’ could become a successful business concept.
After years of intensive research, they began honing the MHT technique alongside some of the world’s best hair loss experts, as well as semi-permanent make-up artists in Harley Street, London and Melbourne, Australia.
And a decade later the Birmingham-based company is opening clinics across Europe and the US. 
Said Adee: “The crop will always be fashionable.

The revolutionary equipment used for the treatment

'This is a great permanent, non-surgical option that can disguise everything from male- pattern
baldness to receding hair lines and scars on your head.

'I thought losing my hair didn’t bother me but even I felt younger and more confident afterwards.
'And it looks so natural, most people don’t even know I’ve had it done.'

According to statistics 10 million men in the UK currently suffer from hair loss -with 50 per cent affected by male patterned baldness by the age of 50.

A quarter go bald as young as 30 and by 60 as many as two-thirds are showing signs of it.
For many its more traumatic than going bust - or never finding the love of their life.

And British men will worry about its onset more than anyone else in Europe, even though 75 per cent believe there’s nothing they can do about it. (Source)

Sunday, April 1, 2012

In Japan they have square watermelons.

Japan appears to have cornered the market on square-shaped fruit.

Farmers in the southern Japanese town of Zentsuji have figured out how to grow their watermelons so they turn out square.

It's not a fad. The technique actually has practical applications. "The reason they're doing this in Japan is because of lack of space," said Samantha Winters of the National Watermelon Promotion Board in Orlando, Florida.

A fat, round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator, and the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves.

But clever Japanese farmers have solved this dilemma by forcing their watermelons to grow into a square shape. Farmers insert the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

The square boxes are the exact dimensions of Japanese refrigerators, allowing full-grown watermelons to fit conveniently and precisely onto refrigerator shelves.

But cubic fruit comes with a caveat: Each square watermelon costs 10,000 yen, the equivalent of about $82. Regular watermelons in Japan cost from $15 to $25 each.

At $82 apiece, Winters said she didn't know if there would be a market for square-grown watermelons in the United States.

"I think that's a pretty expensive watermelon," she said. "Maybe they give them as gifts. Maybe it says something for the gift-fruit market, perhaps."

But Winters also said that there does appear to be a growing U.S. market for watermelon that is more refrigerator-friendly. She said the industry is hearing from consumers that size matters.

"Our growers grow round, seedless melons in various sizes," she said. "And that's one reason why we grow the smaller watermelons ... so they'll fit into a refrigerator."

Winters added that so-called fresh-cut watermelon is widely available at U.S. groceries, another possible solution to a crisis created by oversized melons.

A recipe on the board's website calls for half-inch watermelon squares for use in martinis.

"You can find two-inch cubes" in groceries, Winters said. "They have watermelon that's cut in quarters and halves. And you can find clamshell containers with fresh-cut watermelon in there as well." Watermelon also can be pureed and poured into ice-cube trays for freezing.

So it seems U.S. watermelon lovers will have to settle for fresh-cut for now, and the $82, square watermelon won't be showing up at American groceries anytime soon.  (Source)