Friday, November 4, 2011

Random Post Friday

November 3rd, 2011

            Well here is the second “Random Post Friday,” I think the first post was a resounding success and I think everyone, including myself learned a little bit. In case you did not see the comment that Jobro posted after doing some quick googling I will summarize it quickly. The basic question last week if you remember was how are clocks on computers and cell phones always correct even when they have been turned off for a long time. The answer that Jobro gave to us was that computers and cell phones have a very tiny battery, like a watch battery, that is continually charged by the larger battery that both electronics have. Since this small battery is only running a clock it can run for incredibly long periods of time just like any watch battery. So that is the basic answer, did I get it all right Jobro?
            That now leads us to this week’s new post and this week has to do with hair, and no it does not have to do with the lack of hair on my head, at least not blatantly. So I have been thinking that there must be multiple different types of hair on your body because it seems to me that there are only two places on the body where the hair never stops growing and that is a beard and the hair on top of your head. What I mean by never stops growing is there is no limit as to how long it can grow. As far as I am concerned all the rest of the hair on your body reaches a certain limit where it does not really grow anymore such as your leg, arm, chest, back, or anywhere else you might have hair. I am certain that there is this limit because I have never had to get an arm hair cut or a leg hair cut it just seems to stop growing at a certain point. So, I am interested in how does this hair know that it needs to stop growing. I mean really how does it do that? That is some intelligent hair if you ask me. What also interests me is this limit the same for all people or are there different lengths for every person and if there are different lengths for every person are there people out there that have to cut their arm and leg hair because their personal limit is just too long and they look like a werewolf (think Robin Williams). I would like to meet someone who has to cut their body hair every 2 months or so, do they exist?
            Besides all of those questions, I am also wondering if there are different types of hair, ones that have a growth limit and ones that do not have a growth limit. If there are these two different types of hair couldn’t you theoretically get a hair transplant of all growth limit hairs on your head and then never have to get a haircut (I think science has progressed this far...), saving you what I calculate to be thousands of dollars over a lifetime? And with that, couldn’t it also go the other way and you could have hair transplants of non-growth limit hair all over your body? Now why you would want that, I am not sure but I think that there are some weird people out there so you never know. The real benefit of this would be to get a beard transplant of growth limit hair that you would then never have to trim or shave as long as you wanted a beard that looked like arm or leg hair. I think there are some interesting routes of hair science that could be studied here and so to those hair scientists out there at Rogaine, Just for Men Hair club, and whatever other company employs hair scientists I just want to say “You are welcome for this brilliant idea and good luck!”   

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Clock is ticking...

November 2nd, 2011
            Well today was Day of the Dead and it is a very important day down here in all of Central America. Now if you have ever heard of Day of the Dead you most likely know the Mexican version of it (It is really the only version that gets any publicity…), as far as I know it is not celebrated like that in any other Latin American country. The Mexican celebration of Day of the Dead involves entire families going to visit their loved ones grave sites, and with them they bring decorations, lots of food, and candles to spend the night with them. It is a very big deal as far as I know; here it is not such a big deal. However, the people here do celebrate this day by going to the cemetery and bringing flowers to decorate the gravesites and cleaning up the grave/cemetery. I did not get a chance to head out to the cemetery today (maybe next year) but I was told that it looked really nice and clean and lots of flowers. Besides that tradition there was also a mass to celebrate this day, actually this week is a bit of a marathon of masses. Yesterday was All Saints day, today was All Soul’s Day, and tomorrow is Christ the King. The church was decorated really nicely with lots of purple all over and there were a lot of people that came. At the beginning of the mass someone read a list of all the names of those who have died, the list was really long and probably took around 10 minutes to read all of the names.
            The priest, my guy Fr. Henry, gave an interesting sermon in which he brought up the fact that we should all want to die because it means that we will be in heaven with Jesus and God. This point really struck me as interesting and at the same time confusing, I get that we want to be in heaven with Jesus and God. Of course, there is no arguing that previous point. But where I get a little confused is this: I know that God has a plan for me here on earth and I know He is working through me to better this world. So why then do I want to die and stop doing these good works? I guess the simple answer that I have arrived at is that it all has to do with God’s plan once again. All I need to do is trust in that plan and when it is my time, it is my time. It seems like a pretty nonchalant approach to life but really I think it just means that you have put all of your trust in God because He has the ultimate plan.
            With that being said, why then are people afraid to die? I think a lot of it of course has to do with the fact that they do not want to leave their friends and family. I think another large part of it has to do with the fact that they feel as though they have more work/more things to do in this world and they have not yet done all that they want to do (what better excuse then to not put off that thing that you have been wanting to do for the longest time? Go do it!). However, I suspect that a little bit of it also has to do with the fact that there is some unknown in death. We do not know for complete certainty what comes after we die for the simple fact that no one who has even died has lived to tell about it. I think that unknown scares us, especially us Americans, we always want to know what to expect, what is going to happen next. The solution to this conundrum for me is simple, and it once again has to do with faith. I am proud to say that I have absolute faith that when I breathe my last and God calls me up to heaven, I know exactly what is going to happen but until that day I am going to do my absolute best to enjoy every single second that I have. I think you should do the same; after all, the clock is ticking on us all…

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween

Happy Halloween to all, hope you enjoy this day and take advantage of the candy and fun! Halloween is not celebrated here in Honduras and when I have tried to explain it I have gotten very odd looks and lots of questions, it just does not make sense to people who did not grow up with it. When you think about it, it actually is a very odd holiday... but enjoy anyways!