Weather changes mood

There are numerous scientific studies that show how weather can affect one’s mood. For one, the condition SAD – Seasonal Affective Disorder can occur for many people between October and April (In the northern hemisphere) which causes your body to release less serotonin – a neurotransmitter responsible for social behavior, appetite, sleep, sexual desire and more - in your body.

Interestingly, the positivity from plentiful sunlight causes us to have higher levels of spending, giving us increased desire to shop more.

Cold temperatures can reduce sensory feedback, making you less capable at various physical tasks and make you feel more lethargic. This makes sense historically if you think about it. Being cold makes you want to hibernate and necessitates storing as much energy as you can.

Rainy weather can make you eat more. With the lack of sun comes the drop in serotonin, which also causes an increase in cravings for sugars. Carbohydrate sugars quickly increase serotonin levels, but not for long, so we quickly grab more food once again.

Rain can also increase pain. With a decrease in atmospheric pressure comes increased flow of bodily fluids, putting pressure on nerves and joints which can be irritating and painful.

Finally, being outside in good weather can not only improve mood, but also memory and open-mindedness.

Organic diets are bad

Source

Around the world, especially Europe and the US, people go for organic diets, terrified by the very safe chemicals involved in mass production, as well as the evil GM crops that cause children to grow four or five legs. Organic sounds great, but it comes with a lot of drawbacks. Some are already known, but recent evidence shows that organic food doesn’t even live up to expectations; it doesn’t taste better, it isn’t healthier and, most importantly, it isn’t better for the planet.

This makes a lot of sense if you think about it. Organic farming takes up MUCH more land to produce much less food. Organic agriculture has been found to use 40% more land than standard farmed foods, producing 25% less food per acre.

Additionally, the ‘natural’ pesticides used by organic farmers has been found to be even more harmful than those used conventionally. This has largely been gotten away with, I suspect, because ‘natural’ pesticides haven’t gone through the same rigorous testing and has managed to slip through the cracks under the nature guise.

There are methods that can be beneficial in organic farming, but for the most part, they just don’t happen.

Gesticulations

Source

Talking with your hands can help you learn. Long ago, what was kind of human couldn’t actually talk. To communicate, the most likely method was using our hands. Nowdays, it seems hand movements are still very closely tied to communication, but there’s more to it than that.

Using your hands as you talk reduces ‘cognitive load’, and watching somebody else explain things with hand waving helps with information retention and comprehension.

Maldives

The Republic of Maldives is an Island country in the Arabian Sea, south of India. It’s highest point is merely 2.4 metres above sea level and so it’s extremely vulnerable to climate change.

It is technically owned by Saudi Arabia and as such, is a highly conservative Muslim nation with many social problems as a consequence.

Following the 2004 tsunami, there was a sharp rise in unemployment, corruption, extremism and drug use, with an alarmingly high percentage of youths now addicted to illegal substances. This correlates with the increase in HIV from the use of unsanitary needles, and the unofficial statistics of how many have HIV may be much higher than 1% of the country.

The capital city is Malé, the most densely populated island on earth. As you can imagine, this can cause certain… pollution issues, some going as far to say the Maldives is a toxic time bomb. The country is ill-prepared for daily waste and recycling; they even lack dustbins and municipal workers. Most trash is dumped or burnt on a separate island.

Source

Think about that last part. There is a separate, artificial island serving as a giant landfill just south of India – Thilafushi. The weirdest part of this all is that 70% of jobs in the country are provided by the waste disposal industry, basically cleaning up their own mess.

Source

The swimming pool smell

The smell you get hit with when you enter a swimming pool area is actually not Chlorine, the substance used to disinfect the water and make it safe to swim in.

It’s actually Chloramines. This is created when Chlorine reacts with various bodily fluids and substances – including pee, sweat and poo.

Chloramine is also the substance that irritates your eyes and makes them burn red. What this means is that when your eyes start to get irritated, it’s a sign that your eyes are swimming in feces and sweat.

So, when you walk into that pool room and get that fresh chlorine smell, it’s actually a sign that there isn’t much chlorine left, due to the abundance of other people’s… crap.

Helium

Helium is the second most abundant substance in the universe, but on earth it is incredibly rare and running out fast. In fact, we may run out of helium in as little as 5 years. This is because helium is typically not created on earth, but is in fact born in stars. Not only this, but it’s lighter than our atmosphere, so any helium that is released from us essentially floats off into space, never to return.

Helium is an incredibly important tool for a variety of medical tools like MRIs and other scientific instruments, including the Large Hadron Collider.

Source

It’s possible that we can effectively mine for helium, as it is somewhat abundant in rocks and such, but up until now there has been no need to begin such an industry of any great size since there has been a plentiful and easy-to-acquire stockpile of the stuff in the US, the number 1 supplier. Once that runs out in 2020, prices will skyrocket, which means new methods of extraction may become economically viable.

Either way, it’s a finite resource that never comes back.

IPA

I always wondered why India was in the name. Did all Indian Pale Ale come from India or what?

Well, during the British colonization of India, beer was kind of a tricky thing to get right. The heat was too much and often caused beer to go bad when imported – no refrigeration, you see. Fermenting in the heat made unpredictable and rather gross beer.

So the story goes that George Hodgson exploited hops and alcohol to create a beer that could survive and thrive in such climates, as well as survive long journeys from England.

Some say that alcohol is what drove mankind into civilsation, due to its safe drinking quality compared to contaminated water and its high caloric content. So, it’s not surprising that we have historically put so much effort into making the stuff.

Source

If you want to expand your mind, join me in this self-learning journey and tag me in it so I can learn even more and tag you back!