Naree Pon

Many cultures believe in creatures that seem to be only possible in a myth. Like the Chupacabra in Puerto Rico, the Naree Pon in Thailand is a legend that has been gaining a lot of credibility. The Naree Pon are creatures that are half plant and half animal; they are said to have a small feminine form which makes it easy for them to blend in with the vegetation that surrounds them in the forests of Thailand. The reason they are becoming so credible is because a Thai temple believes to have two of these creatures of which they place on display.

One legend I came across says that the Naree Pon are believed to have been beautiful women that appeared to Buddah as he meditated near a tree. They tried to entice Buddah away from his transcendental state with their charms but when the night came, they would curl back up into a tree to blend in. (nature-phenomena.blogspot.com) Another legend claims that the God Indra created a magical forest as a safe place for a prince and his family to live. In the forest, Indra planted 16 magical NareePon trees for two reasons. The first was to catch anyone who misbehaved and could not control their sexual lust. They would be tempted to make love to the Naree Pon and then immediately fall into a coma. The second reason was to protect the wife of the prince so she would not be bothered by those who misbehaved. (http://kohchangsun.com/2011/03/nari-pon-mystery/)

In the SyFy show, Destination Truth, the team travels to Thailand to investigate these creatures. They arrive at the Thai temple and take photos of these small "Naree Pon" to take back to Los Angeles. When investigating, they travel to different villages and talk to people who truly believe they have seen Naree Pon. In another remote village, a few of the villagers are believed to have been taken by these creatures. The people of the villages are so convinced that they are real that they even tell the team to purchase a certain type of fruit to lure the creatures out of hiding. Although there was no luck in finding them in Thailand, they brought the photos of the Naree Pon from the temple back to LA. The team consulted with a mammologist who believed he was looking at a mummified fetus with plant like features. Without any physical specimens, he can not say for sure, so the Naree Pon will remain a mystery.

Sources: http://www.syfy.com/destinationtruth/episodes

Video of Naree Pon- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqySWUSJV4Y

Chinese Superstitions

China is one of the oldest country in the word. It has over 4000 years of history and culture. During these time, many old myth and belief was passed down. Many of these myth and belief has integrated into daily life of the Chinese people. It has became part of the Chinese culture. Many Chinese choose to believe these myth even thought many foreigner believe it's just superstition. There was an old saying in China. "It's better to believe something exist then it dose not." As many company are going global and are doing business in China. It's very important to know some of belief Chinese believe in.

Here is a list of some popular Chinese belief and superstitions.

• when giving gift in china, never give a clock. giving a clock to someone mean that you want that person to die soon.
• when cleaning, never sweep other person's foot with broom. it means that all the bad luck will be sweep to a person's life.
• if one has a dream of teeth or snow, it indicates that his parents are dead.
• having a house facing the North would bring in ruin to the family. (check my fengshui post)
• if one marries a person who is either three or six years older or younger is bad and it will bring bad luck to the couples. (and the women can't never be older than the man)
• clipping toe-nails or finger-nails at night would bring ghosts to that place.
• if one points at the moon with one’s finger it will make one’s ear tips fall off.
• the number 8 is a lucky number. if look at all the Chinese restaurant number, you will see all of them have some sort of 8. often people pay big sum of money, to have 8 in their phone number, plate.
• the number 4 is considered as unlucky. Hence this number is unacceptable for vehicles and car. It is because the number 4 in Chinese has the pronunciation similar to the word ‘death’.
• the Chinese do not sweep during the New Years because if one does so he will sweep away all tgood fortune. Hence the sweeping on the New Year is to be done the day previous.

Step on a crack break your mother's back?

Everyone has heard the phrase, "Step on a crack and you'll break your mother's back." Mostly it is heard around day cares and younger children, but lately it has become a huge deal in my life. One of my roommates is paranoid about stepping on grates and manholes, she even pushes us to make sure we don't walk on them. Over time I've noticed that she doesn't even step on the cracks in the pavement or on the sidewalk. I asked her about it and she said, that when she was younger her little sister would step on the cracks as a joke, but one day her mom actually slipped and broke her arm. Since then my roommate has been extremely paranoid about the old kindergarten phrase.
So I began to be curious about where the paranoia about cracks and mother's backs came form. From what I found online the superstition goes all the way back to the late 19th century and the early 20th century, back when prejudice and race was a huge issue. The original line supposedly goes, "Step on a crack and your mother will turn black." It was also common belief that if a Caucasian woman would step on a crack she would marry an African American and have an African American baby.
Over time the superstition evolved to just effect children and included that if they stepped on a crack they would be eaten by bears that congregated on the street corner waiting for their lunch. Mostly likely this came about from an annoyed mom whose child kept running away to step on all the cracks. Within the past few decades though the two superstitions melded together, and became what it is today.
http://www.csicop.org/superstition/library/cracks.html

Hitting Small People (Chinese Voodoo)

there are many old chinese traditions. one of them is 打小人. which means hitting small people. another name for it is calling villain hitting. it is popular in southern china, around hong kong and guangdong. hitting small people is a ceremony that is normally perform by old ladies that use "magic" to curse one's enemies. hitting small people is often done in a gloomy place. first the hitter will bring candle and sacrifice to a gloomy place. they will first make a sacrifice to divinities. second, they will write down the name and birthday of the villain. or put photo or clothing or anything belong to the villain on the paper. in many cases, those "villain" are often a person the hitter hates or was hired to hit/curse. and finally, the hitter will place the human shaped paper that represent the villain on a brick and hit it. every time when the paper was hit. the hitter often will curse villain out. some explain of the word the hitter might said are that " hit your head " " hit your dead head" "hit your dead hand" and many other things that might not be appropriated.

a lot of people know this is just superstition. however, many people paid those professional hitter to hit villain for them. often, when a person is mad at their boss or co-worker, they will go to these old ladies and pay them to hit for them. a lot of old ladies make money off hitting villain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOUmGPQtt8g&feature=related

"Exciting" Spider Discoveries

Recently I was looking up information on the brown recluse spider when I stumbled upon an interesting creature and could not believe what I had read.

Most common in South and Central America, there lives a spider with the scientific name phoneutria nigreventer but is more commonly known as the banana spider, or the wandering spider. The banana spider nickname comes from it's tendency to hide in high moisture, dark areas, especially banana leaves. It is referred to as the wandering spider because unlike many other spiders, phoneutria nigreventer hunts at night, walking on the jungle floor rather than making a web to catch its prey. The spider is generally about 4 to 5 inches long, and tends to be very hairy. More stunning than this spider's size is the dangerous effects the venom can have.

If bitten, a human can experience many horrible side effects and possibly death without anti venom. Some effects include loss of muscle control, severe pain and extreme difficulty breathing. However, not all effects are necessarily negative, and scientists have had some exciting discoveries... about 4 hours of excitement to be exact.

The toxin in the spider venom PnTx2-6 is said to give men an erection lasting 4 hours. However, this is symptom is not pleasant and is said to be extremely painful. Currently scientists are working to control the venom and create an erectile dysfunction medication from phoneutria nigreventer's venom.

In the mean time, classmates, I would not encourage you to try to get bitten by random spiders in hopes of awesome effects.

Links:

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/22/6080691-spider-venom-better-than-viagra

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zfzY14l23g

The Monkey Man of Delhi

May of 2001 people reported a 4 foot monkey man with black fur, metal helmet & claws, and three buttons on its chest was attacking people. This goes along with mass hysteria like we looked at in class, especially the case of the Chupacabra. Different reports sat that there was either 2 or 3 deaths or over 15 minor injuries. The fact that this happened in the New Delhi shows how hysteria can affect any region.
The populace was in such a state that the number of fake calls, intentional or not, lead to a shortage of police to respond to all the calls. CNN mentions that “police have blamed the panic on uneducated poor people, many of them superstitious and strong believers in the supernatural”. A Hindu mystic was even beaten to death during this fit mass hysteria.
This was most likely in my opinion either local monkeys which can and will attack people, a single person who did attack a someone in the first case, or a group of people who did it as either a joke or for fun.

Sources:
http://listverse.com/2009/03/16/top-10-bizarre-cases-of-mass-hysteria/
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/05/16/india.monkeyman/

A Vitamin A Day

  A vitamin a day will do you good...True or False?  FALSE.  Most people are under the assumption that a daily vitamin is needed, and this is not true.  Unless directed by a doctor, you should not be taking vitamins.  Most people get the adequate amount of vitamins needed from what they eat a day.  One problem with taking vitamins is that water soluble vitamins taken  in excess are excreted in your urine, and ultimately wastes your money.  The FDA also doesn't regulate the concentration of the vitamin itself.  The FDA actually has no legal standing with vitamins, because they are not considered a drug only a supplement.  Take a look at each bottle and you will see the difference in the amount of vitamin in each tablet.  Taking vitamins can actually hurt you if too much is taken. 
    Ever heard the saying too much of a good thing?  Too much vitamin A can lead to hair loss, liver damage, blurred vision and headaches.  Vitamin B in excess can cause numbness in hands, legs and lead to trouble walking.  Vitamin C in high doses can produce stomachaches and diarrhea.  Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin can cause the buildup of calcium deposits that can interfere with the functioning of muscles, including heart tissue.
   If people understood the risks of vitamins I'm not so sure they would be so willing to take them.  There are also fat soluble vitamins as well as water soluble.  Water soluble is not as harmful because they can be excreted more easily, but not fat soluble.  Fat soluble vitamins in excess will store in the fat and not be excreted. (not good) 
   Next time you go to the pharmacy steer clear of the vitamins unless instructed by a doctor, it could be more harmful than you realize.

 

http://www.vitafaq.com/facts

http://medicine.com.my/wp/?p=5403

http://chemo.net/newpage35.htm

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/DSH/colds.html

Reincarnation

Professor Ian Stevenson lead investigations in reincarnation research considering his findings a possible supplement to our current hereditary and environmental understandings of human behavior and development. He traveled all over the world conducting over 2,500 case studies of people claiming to remember past lives. Many of these cases were of testimonials of children between the ages of three and seven. Numerous cases contain accurately recalled information including: names of family members, location, career, interests, and the way in which they died(relating to their fears). In 35% of the cases there are birth marks or birth defects reflecting the persons death. For example, if someone claimed to have been shot, there would be a birth mark in the location of the injury. Much of his research has been published in peer reviewed scientific journals reflecting his rigorous approach to investigation.
Although the research contains experimental support, it is unscientific to use the evidence gathered as a definitive proof of reincarnation. Occam's razor would suggest simpler explanations of the evidence in regards to the unknowable existence of the soul and life after death. Some of these simpler explanations include: the researchers ability to ask leading questions, the bias of belief in reincarnation, the child attaining the information from other sources, outright fraud, and coincidence. Even if these explanations cannot be attributed to all of these cases and coincidence falls short to statistical analysis, one can never fully explain a physical process by which a soul(if it exists) leaves and enters bodies. In this sense, research in reincarnation will always remain a metaphysical theory and thus be considered pseudoscience.

Draw A Person Test or (DAP) Test

The Draw A Person or DAP test is a test that is used by children who are told to draw a picture of a person. When they do this, the child supposedly puts his thoughts, feelings, and personality in his picture. We have seen examples in class of what can go wrong and whether or not this test can be accurate. This test is most commonly used for children who have been through a traumatic experience. The picture supposedly represents how they are feeling. The test is given and then psychologists study it to try to give meaning to the picture. For example, if a the person in the picture has very broad shoulders, then the person has a problem or is insecure about their "manhood". Big space in the drawing gives the impression that the person is missing something in their life. A small person shows that the person is struggling to find their place in the world. And beady eyes can represent some kind of psychological problem. Basically, almost any kind of person will give an impression that something somewhere is wrong with the individual. We have tried this test in class. We found that some of the descriptions were accurate and others were way off. So i guess this means that it could really be a hit or miss. Others can say the description of the problem is too vague. But we also discussed in class the problem that not all people were meant to be great artists. What if my drawing has beady eyes because I am not good at drawing eyes so they come off as being beady. I personally think that this is not an effective tool unless the drawing actually expresses a traumatic person experience within the picture itself.

2012 Explanations

The year of 2012 is going to be a fascinating year. There are many many predictions of what is to come for the year of 2012. Most are for the doomsday believers. Many speculate that the year of 2012 will be the last as we know it. Skeptics believe that it is just going to be a normal year. There are many explanations as to why the year of 2012 was the target year. There are two main explanations that have surfaced.

The first explanation is the mayans's prediction. They were one of the first to make the calander and their calanders end with the year of 2012. Many believe that they Mayan prediction came from their beliefs that the Mayans had because they were able to look into the skys to make thier predictions. The sun will rise in the center of Leo on December 21, 2012. this will be the first time it has happend since the Ice age. Now this could be a reason as to why they had stopped at the year of 2012. Maybe a catastophic event or maybe because that was the cycle they worked on. After all if you created thousands of clander years, would want to make thousands more?

The second explanation may come from the idea of a major shift in the polar fields. This would destroy the north and south poles and thus create havoc and devestation on earth. One explanation for the change is the thought that there may be a collision with planet X or a near miss which would cause the major polar change. If this is true then there is sufficient reason for there to be concerned. However, they had made this prediction fro 2003, then it was moved to 2010, and now for 2012. I am not saying it won't happen but if it were it would be catestrophic.

Unlucky Number 13

Friday the 13th occurs at least once, but at most three times a year, and is to be believed as a day of bad luck. It happens when the first day of the month begins on a sunday. It's a fear that comes from people who have a fear in the number 13 and a fear of fridays. They say Fridays are unlucky days to start anything new, and they have been considered unlucky since the Medival Times, and Jesues was crusified on a Friday. This is more significant to the Christians because there were 13 people at the last supper, and Jesus was the 13th member to arrive. There are 7-21 million people in the U.S. who have the phobia of Friday the 13th, and change their daily routine for it. There's an estimate that $800-$900 million is lost on this day. There are less accidents on this day because it is known to take more precaution on these Fridays. There is no written evidence that this superstition before the 19th century. It is believed by many people today whether there is proof or not. People change their hours and work days around just avoid any type of contact with driving, working, and starting anything "new" on that day. Some buildings and hotels don't have a 13th floor or a 13th room till today.

The Mystery Behind the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle has been a hot topic for quite some time now. It is a myth that I have heard about but never really understood the story behind it. The idea that planes and boats just magically disappear is intriguing at first but also makes you a bit suspicious when searching for scientific evidence. There are many different stories that have been told about the mysterious Bermuda Triangle disappearances. Many authors have written books about this mystery including Charles Berlitz. The Bermuda Triangle which is also known as the Devils Triangle is a section in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, essentially if you draw a line from Miami to Puerto Rico and then to Bermuda it will form a triangle. A number of boats and airplanes including flight 19(five Navy airplanes on a training mission), have supposedly vanished when passing through this infamous area. Many people have accredited these mysterious vanishing to paranormal activity, UFOs, and alien abductions. But many skeptics have a different viewpoint when explaining the vanishings and attribute it to natural causes. Some of the paranormal explanations are interesting but not too convincing. Some theories point to leftover technology from the legendary continent of Atlantis (which is in the region of the Bermuda Triangle). Others point to alien abductions of the aircrafts and boats (Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg). The natural causes seem to make more sense when examining the disappearances. These causes include human error, storms especially hurricanes, Gulf Stream, and methane hydrates. Human error can come with any horrific event because no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Storms especially hurricanes are common for this area. While most of the time the weather is very nice and ideal for aircrafts and boats sometimes storms can strike out of nowhere. A lot of these disappearances occurred during times when they did not have the advanced technology and radar that we have today. The Gulf Stream is a strong current that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to Florida. Perhaps this is the reason little evidence from these tragedies were found. Methane hydrate is a natural gas that may have been present on the oceanic floors. If Methane eruptions occur it could cause a boat or ship to sink quickly.

In conclusion the mystery of the Bermuda triangle may not be a mystery at all. There are several natural causes that can explain these occurrence rather than alien abductions. A lot of the stories of the Bermuda Triangle have been embellished and exaggerated to make for a better story. But it is clear the Bermuda Triangle mystery is just another myth in American culture.

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm

2012

Many people say that December 21, 2012 will be the end of the world, but what proof do they actually have? There are many different interpretations and the one you hear the most is probably that 2012 will "mark the coming of a new glorius age of wisdom and peace. It will be the Age of the Aquarious at last, with a world full of peace, love, and understanding."

In 1521, Spanish invaders found an empty city left behind by the Mayans, and burnt everyn piece of Mayan literature they could find. Only about three books remained which were not sufficient enough to decode what the Mayans meant by the end of the world, so what awaits us in 2012 remains an open question.

In all actuality, I think that people misinterpret the findings. The Mayan calandar is based to two different calandars: The 365 day solar calandar known as the Haab and the 260 day calandar with 20 periods of 13 days known as the Tzolk'in. The two calandars repeat every 52 years, a period generally known as the calandar round. To desginate periods over the 52 year mark a long count calandar is used in which a base 18 or base 20 tally is applied. So it would be something like this:

1 day = 1 k'in = 0.0.0.0.1

20 days = 1 winal (20 k'in) = 0.0.0.1.0

360 days = 1 tun (18 winal) = 0.0.1.0.0

7,200 days = 1 k'atun (20 tun) = 0.1.0.0.0

144,000 days = 1 b'ak'tun (20 k'atun) = 1.0.0.0.0

The long count of December 21, 2012 would be 12.19.19.17.19 which marks the end of the 13th b'ak'tun and the start of the 14th written as 13.0.0.0.0 so this could just be marking the celebration of the completion of a whole cycle. Also on this day an extremely rare event will take place. The sun will move to and unique spot in the sky and will form perfect alignment in the center of the galaxy with the milky way and the galactic equinox (the axis in which the constellations travel, the line that defines the coordinates in space).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KGg0BWFb-4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar

http://www.exitmundi.nl/Maya.htm

Human Sacrifice

In the Aztec culture human sacrifice was an aspect of the culture for each of the eighteen festivities. This was a normal practice for the mesoamerican and south american cultures. In the Aztec "Legend of the Five Suns", all the gods sacrificed themselves so that mankind could live. Besides just human sacrifice animals and objects were also sacrificed so the Gods would be happy. There are also certain sacrifices that certain god's required to keep them happy and make the people that made the sacrifice go to the after life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice_in_Aztec_culture

Cryptozoology

Oh Cryptozoology! A "science" that has sparked the imagination and interest of millions with its crazy tales of dinosaurs that still roam isolated ares of the earth, giant human-ape neanderthals living in the northwestern United States, supernatural marine species inhabiting small lakes such as Lake Champlain and Loch Ness and many more bewildering myths and legends of so-called "hidden animals" that live dramatically outside of their normal geographic ranges. Cryptozoology is not a recognized branch of zoology and is an example of pseudoscience because it relies heavily on anecdotal evidence, stories and alleged sightings. Most of the science that is involved with cryptozoology is based on superstition and hoaxes to trick the public into believing there are majestic and extraordinory creatures on earth. The reason i believe that cryptozoology has stuck around for so long with such little to no scientific backing is that it allows people to use their imagination that magnificient creatures do exist. Anytime National Geographic, History Channel or Discovery Channel have a special on the Yeti, Big Foot or Chupacabra; I always find myself watching and usually wasting an hour of my life on something i know to be false but wish to be true.

Did we actually go to the moon?

People are always looking for a conspiracy. When people who formulate these conspiracy theories were looking into the Apollo moon landing, they found information that raised questions. From these questions which they never actually looked into an answer for, they concluded that the United States never made it to the moon. All of the mission information was staged so that the US could win the "space race."

One of the biggest questions raised is the fact that there are no stars in any of the pictures. Also, the astronauts even stated to not have seen any stars. This was actually due to that fact that all of the missions took place during the day. The light from the sun is too strong during the day and would prevent the astronauts from seeing the stars. Another question that was raised was about the background in the photos of the landing sight were identical even though they were stated to be in different locations. In actuallity, the backgrounds were just very similar, not the exactly the same. The next idea is that a flag can't wave when there is not any wind. In photos, the flag only seems to look like it is waving because the astronaunts moved it into place. When they relased the flag, it swung back and forth like a pendulum. The last idea is that the astronauts could not have survived the trip because of the radiation. In reality, the astronauts were insulated enough to survive the trip but the slight radiation exposure has cause an early onset of cataracts. All of this goes to show that the United States did infact make it to the moon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mefEKqzq8cg&feature=related

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast23feb_2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories

Bigfoot, a tall tale, or a tall animal?

Ever since I was really young I've been entertained by the myth's of big foot, the lochness monster, and even mothman. These tales have always made me wonder if there are monstrous beasts, prehistoric fish, or a medical experiment gone horribly wrong (mothman.) Even though I had never really investigated I had always believed these tales.

Now, I am just going to focus on Big foot, or maybe you call him sasquatch, it's whatever name tickles your fancy, I prefer big foot. Big foot is supposedly 9 feet tall, that's 3 feet taller than the average 6 foot male, so he's pretty tall, and he's a whopping supposed 300 to 2000 lb. animal. I dont know about you, but I think if he was 2000 lbs, and 9 feet tall, we would've seen him by now, and he'd probably be caught, and placed in some zoo (Hopefully not the bronx zoo, or he may just get lost jk). (My opinion)

The legend of this creature is quite a tale. It goes back to the 1800's. The legend is, that the Native Americans were the first one's to see him, but it ranged from tribe to tribe. One tribe's story was that if you heard or said his name he would come and carry you off, sometimes to be killed. Another tribe said there were cannibalistic wild men that lived on the peak of Mt. St. Helens. Another story is that the Giant (Bigfoot) walked among the Native Americans in Spokane, Washington. Whatever the story he's a quite popular creature. If you just type big foot in the google search box you come up with 14,100,000 results. If you go on http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/ you can recieve a daily newsletter, and email, hear sound recordings, see the Oregon sighting database or even a national sightings database. His sightings aren't limited to Oregon though, they range from state to continents in fact the only continent he's never been reported in is Antarctica. So, it's no wonder, he's famous, he's fast also, either that or has procreated with another species in almost every country. Or maybe there are many more out there!

I don't know about you but, I think if this creature is as big as they say he is, wouldn't he already be found. I mean it would be pretty easy to spot a 9 foot creature, at about 300 to 2000 lbs, and not only to spot him but to see him but to chase him. There's a show on syfy called "fact or faked", and if you watch the episode on big foot, they disprove a video sighting they recieved, but when they go to hunt for the animal, they find something on a thermal scanner, that shows that he was near them , but even though they don't find him they do find a massive footprint that makes me still a skeptic. Now I'm not saying that this show isn't scripted, it's meant to entertain, but I'm still a skeptic.

Even though I'm a skeptic myself, I think people enjoy the tales of bigfoot. They make for good campfire stories, and good stories, to make sure your kid's dont end up in the woods. I think these stories might've been told by the indians to make sure their kids wouldn't wander off into the woods without anybody who is of a better age. It's entertaining to hear these stories, and that's why I think he may not be real. It's easy to say you believe in a 9 foot 300 lb man walking around, and it's fun to tell around a campfire trying to scare a couple of boy scouts. The confidence in the teller of the story also has something to do with it, but whatever the story, or whatever the case, the big man is very famous.

Again, I'm not doubting he's real. There's a heck of a lot of woods out there in the Pine Barrens alone there's 1.1 million acres, and some scientists say we haven't even scratched the surface of all the animals, insects, and fish there are out there. So why not believe the story of big foot, maybe he is a man eating, 300 lb fellow, with big feet, or maybe he's a imaginative made up creature used to keep your kids in line whatever the case, big foot (or sasquatch) is seen everyday, from anywhere like Asia, to the Nj. So, what do you think, fact or fiction?

If you want to join the search for big foot you can go on: http://www.thesearchforbigfoot.com/

If you want to hear about the sightings around the world: http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/

A video on the episode fact or faked with the bigfoot sighting in it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZCYjXW8OaQ&feature=related

ADHD and Food Dye

ADHD has always been an issue within the scientific world. What causes ADHD, how many people have it, what are the symptoms and how do doctors diagnose it? All of these questions seem to have varying answers. In class we discussed how pediatricians diagnose children with having ADHD just in the matter of a short office visit. It seems like everywhere you look every child has “ADHD” and every college student has “ADHD.” The other day the news was on when I was eating breakfast and the topic of ADHD and Food Dye was being discussed. It drew my attention because I wanted to see what else doctors “proved” that causes ADHD. The story was introduced with parents commenting about their daughter saying, “This chaotic amount of energy just bouncing around and you weren’t able to direct” and “Hitting, pinching, hair pulling, kicking, you could see it was an impulse and that she just could not control it.” Does that not sound like every child you have encountered? To me, it sounds like any child after the age of two! The news then talked about how there is a link between food dyes and ADHD but that many experts claim that the studies are flawed because when the children are being observed the people who are observing them do not know if they had food dye or not. This whole ADHD thing seems like bogus to me! http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/03/30/healthwatch-food-dye-and-adhd/ http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/03/30/healthwatch-food-dye-and-adhd/

The Blarney Stone

Kiss the stone and you will receive the gift of eloquence.  This myth doesn't have just one story but quite a few.  Some say the blarney stone has to do with the Queen and a comment she made about a young man's sharp tongue and called it "blarney".  Some say it was Jacob’s Pillow, brought to Ireland by the prophet Jeremiah. Here it became the Lia Fail or ‘Fatal Stone’, used as an oracular throne of Irish kings.  The Blarney Stone is one block of bluestone, the same material as the megaliths of Stonehenge. Some people believe the Blarney Stone is half of the original Stone of Scone upon which the first King of Scots was seated during his coronation in 847. Some say  that part of this stone was presented to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314.  It was his gift to the Irish for supporting the Scots in the Battle of Bannockburn.   Legend also has it that the blarney stone wasn't always in Ireland, it took a trip to Scotland and was later returned.  Whatever the truth is about the blarney stone the outcome is always the same, kiss the stone and be gifted with eloquence.  I myself have never been to Ireland, if I go, I would like to see the castle, but I'm not superstitious enough to kiss the stone. 

http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone

http://www.authenticireland.com/blarney+stone/

http://www.timelessmyths.co.uk/kissing-the-blarney-stone.html

Drink 8 Glasses of water a Day?

Many people today believe you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day or you will suffer chronic dehydration and many other health problems. However, according to scientific american, unless you are at risk for kidney stones or urinary tract infections, drinking large amounts of water is not necessary. That is not to say that drinking water is not healthy, it is just that drinking very large amounts is not really necessary. The misconception of drinking 8 glasses of water a day came from a study in 1947 that stated that people usually consume 8 glasses of water in the food that they eat. Once bottled water came on the scene it misused this to sell water.Personally that seems like a scam to me. When you have water coming from your faucet, but you buy cases of bottled water. If you are exercising or something then you probably need more water than usual. However, drinking 8 extra cups a day is not necessary according to Dr.Valtin a professor from Dartmouth who specializes in kidney research. So only drink what water you need, the 8 cups a day thing is not true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW-5eq77hvg

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/aug/080802.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eight-glasses-water-per-day