There are so many things on this planet that we can consider as being “cute”…puppies, bunnies, babies, pinky toes, et cetera. They have all, at one point, gotten us to make googly eyes, or stare in adoration. However, one thing that we haven’t really considered is this: these things all have something in common.

The word cute is actually derived from the word “acute”, meaning perceptive, keen, and shrewd. About 180 years ago, men used this word to describe women and eventually shortened it, or created a slang version, to just…cute. Because it was used to describe women, as a consequence, it sparked a new meaning being aesthetically pleasing or good looking.

Konrad Lorenz, a scientist, began studying the reasoning behind why we find certain people, animals, and objects cute. He found that anything attributed to NEWBORN BABIES (or human offspring)…is considered cute. That is, anything that is small, round, and soft, with a large head and large eyes.

This cuteness then targets our pleasure center, or the Nucleus Accumbens, and gives us the same effect that drugs can, causing the “oohs” and “awws” that we usually attribute to cute things. This is also why a lot of cartoon networks and other companies consider the physicality of their products, to increase sales.

The next time you see a puppy, bunny, pinky toe, or cute baby, it will be easier to understand why they’re so darn adorable…transversely, when you see anything that isn’t cute (probably something that is the opposite, long a pointy)…it should be easier to comprehend your perceptions.

It is difficult to determine where the most dangerous place to live is…because the answer lies is a number of different perceptions. Is it a place on Earth that could not sustain human life? Or is it a place where the most human deaths have occurred? In answering this question, I will give several “dangerous” places to live and you, the reader, can decide for yourself.

In terms of an environment unable to sustain human life, one of the most obvious places is Mount Everest, its peak being one of the coldest places on Earth’s surface. Extreme temperatures here can kill within minutes. The human body cannot sustain heat within our bodies. In fact, during a single day, more than half of our caloric intake is burned from our body’s attempts in trying to warm us. It simply takes too much work. And at the top of Mount Everest’s peak, there is only a third as much breathable air as on sea level. In short, at the top of Mount Everest, we’d die within TWO MINUTES.

Or is the most dangerous place by an active volcano? Being consumed by a pool of molten hot lava would be a HORRIFIC way to go. Lava is liquid rock…Our bodies are made up of mainly water…so when exposed to lava, a miniature eruption would occur. The water mixed with the molten rock would basically create what could be referred to as…fireworks.

To change the pace here, we could also call the most dangerous place on Earth something being attributed to a lot of human deaths. We can first look at the Bubonic Plague’s reign over Europe in the the 1300s. A third of EVERYONE in Europe died due to the infection, which is still existing today actually.

The plague however has not come close to the deaths caused by Malaria. Of all the humans that have EVER existed, it is likely that half of that number have died due to Malaria, which is caused by Plasmosis. Therefore, any place that has a high occurrence of plasmosis in the blood stream…can be called the most dangerous place on Earth.

The number of dangerous places does not stop here, however. There are a veritable plethora of dangerous places on Earth, including places like Somalia, Cabot Cove, Juarez, Mexico, and La Orya, Peru. None can be named the MOST dangerous, however, they could certainly be called places that none of us would be apt to visit.

What if everyone in the world, all 7 billion of us, jumped at once? What would happen? Well, to start, the earth is constantly spinning. As more mass builds toward the center of the earth, it actually spins faster. Therefore, the days get shorter. This could be noted in the earthquake that took place in Japan in 2011. At an alarming magnitude of 8.9, it managed to re-distribute a great array of mass to the center of the earth (as can be seen in the picture below), ultimately causing the days to become a whopping 1.8 MICRO-seconds shorter (a bit of sarcasm…that’s like…not noticeable at all).

So…in a scenario, if we gathered everyone in the world together (all of us could fit into the city of Los Angeles shoulder-to-shoulder) and jumped exactly 30 centimeters high and came back down at once…

…nothing would happen. Sorry to disappoint…

There is a very small possibility that some seismic activity could be created. It wouldn’t be large enough to re-create Japan’s Earthquake of 2011, which was very destructive. However, we could potentially…move the earth. The further we get from the Earth’s center, it actually moves away from us. Despite this, it moves precisely back to the same spot it was when we come back down so…again, nothing would happen.

Good day 🙂

Something I’ve always wondered, and I’m sure we all have, is…why are we ticklish? And to make things more complicated, why do we laugh?

What makes the subject of laughter so mind-baffling is that it seems to be instinctive. Despite having hundreds of different cultures and languages around the world, we all still laugh the same. Babies even laugh before they can talk! Why is this? Is it in human nature? Is it a method of communication? Well…no. One thing I’ve learned in researching for this blog is that people actually study these kinds of things (and humor in its entirety). They’re called gelotologists and they’ve found several different theories explaining these occurrences. You can research them if you’d like…but for the purposes of this blog, we’ll talk about one… the “Incongruity Theory of Humor”.

What this basically says is that we laugh when things surprise us. All jokes seem to start out in such a way that we think we can predict how they’ll end. However, most of them leave us in a stupor because we didn’t expect the outcome, or punch-line, and our reaction is laughter. The start was incongruent, or incompatible, with the ending.

To add to this, every time we are humored, we learn something, which explains why things aren’t usually funny a second time around…because we’ve already learned it (like that fact that “lol” looks like a drowning man flailing his arms in the air).

We all laugh when tickled because it’s also unexpected and creates a tingling sensation in the areas where we are “ticklish”. These areas also seem to be the same on most of us. This is because we are ticklish in our most vulnerable areas, therefore, we feel sensations as a defense mechanism (we learn this as children. This also explains why we cannot tickle ourselves, because we see it coming…it’s expected.

I hope you enjoyed! Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddV6jyDeCKA

Something that has always been a question of mine, seemingly arbitrary, but extremely hard to answer is this, “why is yawning contagious”? Well, the host of “V Sauce”, Michael, explains this occurrence. When we yawn, what’s physically happening is that we’re inhaling air through our mouths and ears and stretching our eardrums. We then enter this process called “pandiculation”, in which we yawn AND stretch our bodies (out stretching our arms, etc.). The reason that we do this is because, through being exhausted and tired, our brain actually heats up. We yawn to cool it off! Our brain uses that air it has filtered through our ears and mouths to cool itself off. Therefore, it has been shown in studies that when we put ice packs on our heads, we have less of a chance at yawning because we’re already cool! This is one way to stop the effects of contagious yawning.

Every species has different reasons for yawning, however. Snakes yawn to readjust jaw alignment. Rats and Mice yawn to scare off predators and because yawning is contagious, big cats yawn to induce yawning in other members of the pride to keep them alert. Humans, however, yawn because we are empathetic. Just as we are happy in the presence of other happy people, we yawn when others yawn. Studies have even shown that children who are socially dysfunctional, such as Autistic children,  yawn less than people who do not have Autism.

Here is the link to the video. I hope you enjoy!

Since autumn is here and winter is almost upon us, I thought it might be a good idea to post cute outfit ideas to endure the cold weather! In these pictures, you’ll notice some similarities to the way that girls dress in State College. The girls here obviously share very similar fashion interests; therefore I tried to appeal to these interests while finding outfits that are suitable for  the weather…courtesy of “Pinterest”!

This first outfit is super simple. I’ve noticed that there have been A LOT of girls wearing leggings and jeggings with boots. I think the look is super cute. Because it is cold, however, one has to wear a sweater or a large shirt to compensate for the lack of adequate clothing on the legs (lol). Therefore, I thought the jeggings with the sweater was super cute. Also, the color choices aren’t too bright for the season. Very neutral colors are perfect for winter and fall. This means it is very popular in these seasons to wear blacks, whites, browns and to add a little color (reds, purples, pinks, et cetera). Adding color can even make this outfit unique. Personally, I’d add a scarf.

I’ve been noticing an increase in the popularity of furs. It IS back in style and I’m not sure if I’m okay with that but…whatever. The best way to wear a fur in my opinion, however, is to wear a very simple outfit (maybe jeans and a sweater or turtleneck) with a fur vest. The fur adds a lot of individuality and also keeps you warm! Honestly, I don’t like this look but…it’s gaining popularity so I thought I’d add it XD Do you guys think she looks okay?

This look is very cute largely because it provides ladies with an excuse to wear skirts when it’s cold out. As long as you wear it with a sweater, you should be fine. Also, I like that the skirt is leather and it’s this really weird, brown color. Pairing a very unique or unusual clothing article with a simple outfit is always a good way to go. I would wear tights or something, though…and boots.

I really just posted this last one as a “Fashion DON’T”. It was actually on “Pinterest” under “outfits to wear in the winter”. Pinterest…you are wrong. I do not, under any circumstances, condone wearing pajamas in the winter if you are going out. It will not be and has never been…attractive.

That is all.

I came across this website, Pinterest.com, which featured A LOT of ideas regarding fashion, including DIY ideas that I simply could not pass up. I’m certainly going to try some of them, including the ones that I’ve copied and pasted below, which I will explain how to make. It never hurts to try new things and after trying a few of these projects, you may come out with something you really like! And the link to the site is: http://pinterest.com/nakishatharp/diy-clothes-ideas/

This was one of my favorite projects I’d seen. Simply take two of your favorite colored T-Shirts and cut four-inch sections out of them. You then sew them together! Make sure that they are about the same size and don’t allow any wrinkles in the skirt. After you’re finished, fit the skirt to your body, match the seams on the left and right sides and sew them together! Also, hemming shouldn’t be necessary because you should be using the already hemmed bottoms of both t-shirts. The sewing could be the hardest part but…practice makes perfect!

I thought this maxi-dress idea was super cute as well and I thought it was really elegant! The woman who made it says it only cost her $9!! The top is an old tank top (the flowers were already there…super cute though) and determine where you want to cut it off.  You then need to buy fabric. This woman bought 2 yards worth and cut a 4-inch wide band and sewed it around her waist, forming a waist-band, which you can see above. She then began on the skirt. She sewed straight across the top of the skirt and pulled the thread through, creating a “bunched” look. She then sewed the side closed and hemmed the bottom. It’s obviously not fitted so you don’t really have to measure the wideness of the skirt before sewing the side closed. And there you have it!

I posted this one simply because I’ve done it before! It’s pretty self-explanatory though. I’d say this is more for people who have no idea how to sew. Simply, put the shirt on without putting onto your shoulders and button it up (third box). Then, tie the sleeves in front of you as if you’re tying a shoe. There you go! Super cute tube top, NOT dress lol.

What not to wear is an American reality show aired on TLC. It is hosted by Stacy London and Clinton Kelly, American fashion consultants, and Carmindy, a renowned makeup artist. The show features participants who have been nominated by friends, family, and sometimes even themselves, because they dress so badly. They are then given $5000 to buy a new wardrobe which must follow the guidelines set by Stacy and Clinton. These guidelines include chic, classy, and sexy looks that are affordable and simple. They are then given a complete makeover (hair and makeup included) and show off their new look to friends and family. In the end, they usually leave with a large number of outfits. In the last episode that I watched (which is in the link below), the woman made out with 37 new outfits, which included 8 shirts, 5 jackets, 6 dresses, and 7 pairs of shoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Qk8qa-EsA (part one)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp5Cm5jl4a4&feature=relmfu (part two)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXIidSDEnV4&feature=relmfu (part three)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5d3wgDgwc8&feature=relmfu (part four)

I just thought that this show represents a lot of smart, cheap purchases that look cute and classy without “breaking the bank”. It is also shot in New York City, fashion capital of the world so…if $5000 gets you 37 outfits there…I could only imagine how many outfits it could produce in Pittsburgh. I’d also just say that $5000 can go a long way at stores and online websites such as Etsy.com because it features hand-made, vintage clothing that are really inexpensive. Sooo…yeahh….What not to wear…good show.

Enjoy the videos J