This week I've decided to be a "copycat" and
implement an idea that I enjoy on another blog. The other blog is written by a
50 year old woman, Lois Field, who is a minimalist and has downsized to 300
square feet of living space. Her blog has a similar title to mine. Hers is
"Living Simply Free." Our focus is very different in many ways and
similar in a few." Lois also deals with Muscular Dystrophy that she was
born with. She calls her regular Friday post "Friday Faves." During
the week she collects assorted information and blog posts from others that she
really found valuable and shares them with her readers on Friday.
I also find, receive, read and discover all kinds of
interesting and useful information throughout the week. I often want to write
about much of it, but I simply can't make the time to do it all. So, I'm
copying the "Friday Faves" idea and I'm going to begin collecting the
information during the week and on Fridays (I know, today is actually Saturday,
I have to build this into my schedule) I'm going to post the URL's with a short
description of what the piece is about. I'm calling my series "Friday
Finds." I'll share what I find with you and if you're interested you can
go to the sites yourself and read or view the info.
I hope you find this useful. I certainly have and I wish I
had thought of copying the idea sooner. A lot of really great info has passed
and you haven't benefited from it.
This first week will be fairly short as far as URL's to
check out, however, I received an interesting email from an old college friend
about the human body. It's long, but it's basically in numbered bullet points.
I learned some amazing things about this aging hulk I'm using to haul my
essence around.
But, first, here are some Web sites I hope you'll find
useful, if not fascinating in some cases.
This information was posted by Trent on his "The
Simple Dollar" blog. Since we're now officially in the holiday season and
one of my 12 Steps for Living Free is economizing, this is some excellent
information. I can't say how much you'll save, but becoming a more savvy
shopper and using tips and technology like this can help make your holiday
season (and any time during the year, realistically) a more joyful time for all. You save money and can
either save some money or stretch what money you have in your holiday budget a
lot further.
Courtney Carver is an expert in doing more and being more
with less. She writes the "Be More With Less" blog. In this post she
describes a formula she uses for decluttering. You can use this in your home,
apartment, office, garage or any other space you occupy. In this post, Courtney
has a load of tips on freeing up more space and reducing stress by eliminating
stuff you don't need. It's really amazing how some of these ideas are.
Marelisa Fabrega is the author of the "Daring To
Live Fully" blog and always has some interesting concepts on doing just
that. In this post she describes how we can live fuller, happier lives just
doing something for today. Often when we look at a job, project, book or other
challenge we may face in life, we'll take a negative approach and decide we
can't do something. Marelisa shows you how you can do it, "just for
today."
So, there are three interesting blog posts that I believe
you'll find useful in your daily lives and especially in your pursuit of living
free and happier. These are just starters. As I get more organized, I'll be
providing more and more useful information in this series.
Now, as promised earlier, here is the article my friend
emailed me. I found some of it very fascinating.
50 facts about your body....
The
Human Body is a treasure trove of mysteries, one that still confounds
doctors and scientists about the details of its working. It's not an
overstatement to say that every part of your body is a miracle.
Here
are fifty facts about your body, some of which will leave you
stunned...or...
1. It's
possible for your body to survive without a surprisingly large fraction of its
internal organs. Even if you lose your stomach, your spleen, 75% of
your liver, 80% of your intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every
organ from your pelvic and groin area, you wouldn't be very healthy, but you
would live.
2.
During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming
pools. Actually, Saliva is more important than you realize. If your saliva
cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
3.
The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the
male sperm. The egg is actually the only cell in the body that is visible by
the naked eye.
4.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue and the hardest bone is
the jawbone.
5.
Human feet have 52 bones, accounting for one quarter of all the human body's
bones.
6.
Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat
a day.
7.
The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades. The reason
it doesn't eat away at your stomach is that the cells of your stomach
wall renew themselves so frequently that you get a new stomach lining every
three to four days.
8.
The human lungs contain approximately 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi) of airways
and 300 to 500 million hollow cavities, having a total surface area of
about 70 square meters, roughly the same area as one side of a tennis
court. Furthermore, if all of the capillaries that surround the
lung cavities were unwound and laid end to end, they would extend for about 992
kilometers. Also, your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make
room for your heart.
9.
Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph, while coughs clock in at about
60 mph.
10.
Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water
to a boil.
11.
Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long.
12.
Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. It protects the
delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans
and lubricates the ear canal.
13.
Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins, who smell
the same.
14.
Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. This is why one out of
every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born
15.
A baby's head is one-quarter of its total length, but by the age of 25
will only be one-eighth of its total length. This is because people's heads
grow at a much slower rate than the rest of their bodies.
16.
Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206.
Some of the bones, like skull bones, get fused into each other, bringing down
the total number.
17.
It's not possible to tickle yourself. This is because when you attempt to
tickle yourself you are totally aware of the exact time and manner in which the
tickling will occur, unlike when someone else tickles you.
18.
Less than one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. This means that two out
of three people cannot see perfectly.
19.
Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. But if you are a woman, you are
a better smeller than men, and will remain a better smeller throughout your
life.
20.The
human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels.
21.
The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are
frogs, worms and potted plants. Scientists have no idea why this is so, but
attribute it to the growing imbalance of hormones in the body during
pregnancy.
22.
The life span of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. Every day the average
person loses 60-100 strands of hair. But don't worry, you must lose over 50% of
your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone.
23.The
human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as an encyclopedia.
Your
brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream, and is itself made
up of 80% water. Though it interprets pain signals from the rest of the body,
the brain itself cannot feel pain.
24.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that can't repair
itself.
25.
Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop
growing.
26.
By 60 years of age, 60% of men and 40% of women will snore.
27.
We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening, because during
normal activities during the day, the cartilage in our knees and other areas
slowly compress.
28.
The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb, even
while you are sleeping. In fact, the brain is much more active at night than
during the day.
29.
Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour.
Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. Information travels at
different speeds within different types of neurons.
30.
It is a fact that people who dream more often and more vividly, on an average
have a higher Intelligence Quotient.
31.
The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger.
32.
Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. This is true for men
as well as women.
33.
There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a
chimpanzee.
34.
A human fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months.
35.By
the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds.
36.
About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. But don't worry, a
majority of these are harmless or even helpful bacteria.
37.
The colder the room you sleep in, the higher the chances are that you'll have a
bad dream.
38.
Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny
capillaries just below the skin.
39.Three
hundred million cells die in the human body every minute.
40.
Like fingerprints, every individual has an unique tongue print that can be used
for identification.
41.
A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it has been
decapitated.
42.
It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown.
43.
Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. Provided there is
water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food
depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people,
however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after
only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone
without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but
stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was
doing.
44.The
most common blood type in the world is Type O. The rarest blood type, A-H or
Bombay blood, due to the location of its discovery, has been found in fewer
than hundred people since it was discovered
45.
Every human spent about half an hour after being conceived, as a single cell.
Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the
components of a tiny embryo.
46.
Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people
do.
47.
Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren't.
48.
Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints.
49.
Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears.
50.
The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet in the
air.
51.
Here is one more amazing thing the human body can do: If you remove half
of your liver, it will grow back to the same size (it has memory) within 4 to 6
weeks. And, if they removed half, part of your liver is
transplanted into another person, that half a liver will grow back to the same
size as the donors liver in 6 to 8 weeks in the recipient.
Surprise! You actually had a bonus, a 51st fact you probably
didn't know. I hope you gained a useful idea somewhere in this batch of
information. Next week I'll expand the offering. Let me know what you think.
