I do not think there is one person in this class that has not eaten a stale chip. I know I will look in the cabinet, reach in for a snack, grab a chip bag down, and when I bite in the chip has a stale taste I’m wicked disappointed. The word stale has been in my vocabulary for as long as I can remember; I have just accepted it, but truly I have no idea why chips go stale in the air and not in the bag that they are in. There is air in the bag isn’t there?

            Well the answer is: Nitrogen. The article I said pointed out that if you think of feeling a chip bag, you think of it feeling inflated, similarly to a balloon. This is because chip bags are actually not filled with air but nitrogen gas! The nitrogen gas is actually what keeps the chips from going stale. Oxygen cannot do the trick because it is very reactive and when it is combined with other molecules it can cause chemical reactions. Nitrogen is the opposite being very stable and unreactive. When a food reacts with oxygen it is said to oxidize quickly and these nitrogen atmospheres can prevent that from happening. Something that should be mentioned though is that air is not just oxygen but actually 78% nitrogen gas! So don’t worry opening those chips, nitrogen gas is all around us.

            I am taking the class English 181b which is an adventure lit class offered at Penn State where we venture to places that connect with what we our learning in class. Our latest field trip was to the State College sewage treatment plant, University Joint Association, where we were given a tour by the manger, Art, and spoken to about how the plant works.

            I will fully admit that I was nervous about going; I fully admit to being a girly girl and spending an hour or so touring the place where all people’s waste from this area goes sounded smelly and unfortunate. Now I am not going to lie, it smelled, not unbearably, but I actually found the tour very engaging, the sewage treatment plant is actually doing many high tech things.

            The first building we ventured into was where the sewage water was being filter through these tubes (each tube worth about $1,000) that had a sort of microfiber inside of them that cleaned/strained the water that went through it. In the back of the room there is a computer set up that monitors all the machines in the plant and actually controls all of them. During our tour we were shown how they monitor how clean the tubes are, that there number on the screen when said 15 must be changed. When he was showing us the middle section was showing the number 14 so he said that meant tomorrow they would need to be changed (meaning almost $90,000 worth of new equipment would be used tomorrow). This is not all that the water goes through he said it also is it with ultraviolet light to separate the particles and previously to what we were seeing it had already been strained between solids and liquids and went through machines that used processes such as light and chlorine to separate the water (this is clear because it went from mucky brown water to clear).

            One could tell that Art was very proud of what they were doing at the plant. During the beginning of the tour he was prefacing what he was going to show us and he said that the plant is allotted 9 million gallons but due to regulation they are only allowed to dump 7 gallons into the river. They needed to figure out what to do with the rest of the of the waste they had. This is when they hired engineers to create a way to turn this waste into water that could be used to within the community. Currently the plant’s water they produce is feeding the stream at the bottom of their property as well as the wetlands on their property and that’s not all. The water is being used in local hotels pools and for dishes and laundry machines. He also spoke of a few other different places using their water lines for example the gold course uses their water to water the courses grass.

            Since this is before I had seen anything the plant does my first thought was I am never, ever swimming in that pool. As we went through the tour though I saw how clean this water really was getting; he even said that it is actually cleaner than the water we actually use in State College, but it is plain and simple that people just cannot get past that it is poop water and therefore do not want it to be classified as drinking water.

            When I shower or do the dishes or use the restroom to me that water and the waste I am producing was just gone. I never thought about the fact that it had to go somewhere, and that it was someone’s problem to deal with. Even if I had though I now I could have never guessed how much science has gone into making our sewage benefit the environment and be safe to reuse. Art said that they even have 2 million fresh gallons of water stored in case of emergencies, such as if the fire department needed to pull water from it.

            He walked us down to the river that their water was feeding to and gallons and gallons of water was being pours into it, which opposed to the wetlands where it was almost just a constant trickle feeding into it. There plans for the future is to expand, apparently there is a stream next to IHOP that goes dry during the summer season, last year people had to save the trout in it because there was not enough water for them to survive, and they want to pipe and keep that stream active. In that direction they also want to create a wetland with their excess water; he says everything they are doing is in attempt to give back to the community and environment.

            The thing I thought that was really interesting that he was that through looking at the sewage in State College he can actually infer life at State College. He said Christmas day is the day when sewage produced is the lowest; he also said that breaks he can tell how many people left because the numbers drastically drop. Laughing he said he can even tell when it was a particularly fun night at Penn State! How weird that our sewage is telling our story!!

I am one of the few people who can say that they have never seen an original Disney movie. Did your jaw drop just like many of the other people I tell this to? Now you’re confused and you want to know what I mean by “original” because clearly I MUST have seen the Lion King, Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Peter Pan, Snow White and if not those then Tangled. Well you may have to sit down because no I have not seen any of those movies. My mom hates cartoons, always has, and when my older sister was born she sucked it up and tried showing them to her. According to my mom my older sister hated them and would cry, so she got what she wanted anyway which meant not watching cartoons. When I was born two and half years later my sister’s hatred for cartoon had not changed (she’s twenty two and still hates them) so there was no reason to show them to me.

People always ask me how is it possible that I have never been exposed to any of the movies and that’s the thing I have been exposed to them. I can look at a character (for the most part) and tell someone which movie that character is from, but I cannot name the dwarfs from Snow White for the life of me. I mean it is funny because now that I am older and I hear all the ways Disney movies are actually bad for children to watch I am glad the way I grew up. I think that people who grew up with the movies cannot admit that they can do harm, but I get to have an outsiders view which is pretty unique.

It is easy to find sites that can point out bad things about Disney movies. Still in denial that Disney movies are bad because I will list some things that kids observe from them:

�      Importance of social status

�      Historical Inaccuracies

�      Beauty is thinness

�      Sexual harassment is acceptable

�      Ugly is immoral

�      Beauty is moral

�      Gender stereotypes 

Above are just a few examples that overlapped on multiple sites. Since I never watched Disney movies though I am more curious about what I could have missed from not watching them. In the article Disney Princesses Have Mixed Effects on Children it summarizes Sarah Coyne’s findings from her research on the topic at hand. Coyne, inspired by her 3 year old daughter, predicted with her research team that, “higher levels of Disney princess exposure would lead to more female gender stereotyping, higher levels of pro-social behavior, worse body image and lower aggression.” 

The study took three preschools, three hundred and seven kinds total, and tested them as well as their teachers and parents trying to understand as much as they could the child’s tendency and exposure to Disney culture. A strange result occurred, everything matched the teams’ hypothesis except their assumption about body image. Those more exposed to princess lifestyle most were actually more likely to have better body image. The data had definitely shown that the negative of producing gender stereotyping but the positives were pro-social behaviors and better body image as well as lower aggression.

What I found was interesting was Coyne’s comments on how when speaking to the children about Disney princesses they are very real to the kids. This realization of hers is exactly why I think when those kids, who almost think a Disney characters like real people from their past, are not inclined to believe that Disney can be bad. Coyne’s recommendation is to watch princess shows in moderation, there are positive effects she states but the negatives are there to and in order to reduce them moderation is key.

            A comment on an observation Coyne made in the article had me thinking there may have been a flaw in the study. She said that kids who watched princess movies seemed to be kinder; I then thought of the fact that she never spoke of splitting up genders in this study, which I would be curious to see their groupings they made off of their observations of who watched princess movies because I’m assuming it would be split majority boys versus girls. If this is true boys and girls have very different aggression/social behaviors at that age and therefore their findings could have been more because of gender than princesses influences. 

No matter how old I get I cannot stop the habit of biting my fingernails. I have tried everything over the years: fake nails, polish, nasty tasting polish, and different products that all just ended up in the trash. My parents even tried reward techniques; my mom finds the habit really gross saying she would pay me to stop. When that did not work they even tried the opposite approach insulting my nails, telling me people did not find it attractive. Nothing worked. I would even get to a point where my nails had grown out and without thinking about it I would just bite them down.

In an article about nail biting it talks about how nail biting is over looked and how experts are classifying it as an addiction/mental disorder, an addiction that is even harder to get past than cigarettes. Decisions have been made to change the classification of nail biting from a simple habit to instead will be a form of OCD according to The American Psychiatric Association and will be in the upcoming issue of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

When compared to other disorders that are characterized within OCD such as repetitive hand washing and hair pulling, so nail biting fits right in with those. What people need to understand though is that even with this new classification it is a disorder that is not impairing, therefore not very serious medically. Not everyone who bites their nails even should classify oneself to the level of OCD, nail biting becomes an issue when it is destructive meaning when one is impairing their hands or are getting repeated infections from biting.

During my research I actually found a correlation between nail biting and the pinworms we discussed at the beginning of the semester. Pinworms are actually not a dirty thing, anyone that has pinworms can spread them on anything they touch: literally anything from couches, to blankets, to towels, ext. No matter how clean a child, children most commonly get pinworms, is the eggs live up to two weeks so if they catch one under their fingernails and stick that finger in their mouth, they will get pinworms. The unfortunate thing about pinworms is that they are even contagious to oneself, if one is also a nail biter (or even just puts ones finger in his/her mouth) one can give themselves pinworm all over again. If a child was getting pinworms over and over again from nail biting this becomes an example of nail biting being destructive.

TLC’s show My Strange Addiction featured someone who is a nail biter and has been for 35 years. They bite their nails without the willpower to stop even after blood is drawn; they keep biting through the pain. That episode was in 2011 but actually is not the first time TLC has touched on nail biting in 2009 TLC printed an article in InTouch reporting on a study done by Dr. Jon Grant on the effectiveness of N-Acetyl Cysteine when used to treat skin picking and nail biting. After using the product Dr. Grant reported that 56% of the tested subjects had prominent reduction of symptoms. This was a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of NAC that was funded by a donor-funded Research Grant Program within TLC.

NAC is an amino acid, which affects the levels of glutamate within the brain, therefore making it easier for people to control unwanted behaviors. This knowledge is why Dr. Grant chose to test NAC on nail biting for he believes that glutamate modulators have the capability to help with disorders, addictions, and compulsions. This study produced results in favor of Dr. Grant’s hypothesis (56% improvement of subjects on NAC, 16% improvement on subjects on placebo), which in this field in science is actually rather exciting. This study is actually among the first studies that focus on glutamate’s effect on compulsive behaviors as opposed to serotonin.  The hope is that from this study doors will open allowing them to expand with a larger subject pool and high dosages.

People like myself (though I am not as bad as the person on the TLC episode) are struggling to stop biting their nails. A study where 44% still do not see significant effects from the drug does not make me want to jump up and go buy the product. Clearly though 56% of people having an effect shows that there is a hope and a reason for more research. 

            I have been thinking recently of starting the work out video series Insanity. See I have a gym membership I just never seem to get myself to make the trek all the way to the White Building. I guess this issue relates a lot to this classes issue with attendance. I know my own attendance record is not the best, for me personally it is because of three different reasons: I am unlucky and have not missed one class that does not have a quiz, I only have one class on Tuesday and Thursday’s and the timing of this class is really awkwardly placed in the middle of the day, and sometimes personal things come up that I have no control over. One of my absences was due to the fact that I was recently hit by a car while I was driving in State College some weeks ago and had to miss a couple of classes, my online class my teacher did not know the difference I did the work and handed it in but with this class I missed a quiz because I was at the dealership. Now Andrew is wicked nice and allows us many chances to redeem ourselves for missed classes so I know it is not his system at all (just so I am clear)! My point is related back to my want to do the workout video, convenience.

            Though I am not sure if I am completely sold on the idea that convenience insures that people will do better because with convenience comes laziness. See with an online class one does not have to be in class at a certain time but they do have to make sure they do the work. The reason I keep putting off purchasing the workout videos is I fear they will sit on my desk and collect desk. And even if I get myself to do it, how long will I follow the DVDs till the day I don’t have time then one day turns into forever? That is what some people do with online classes, they put off the work once and it turns into being put off indefinitely. So basically I want to know if it is worth it for me to buy these workout videos? I mean, it is said to be the #1 workout video in America.

            First off for those who do not know what Insanity is, it is a 60-day workout video set that total is around $150. With purchasing Insanity one receives workout videos for month one and two as well as a calendar, nutrient plan, two-bonus workout DVDs, online support, and if one is not satisfied there is a 60-day money back guarantee (basically meaning you could do the program then send it back and receive your money back). It sounds like it is worth it, but am I going to be any better at getting myself to do this workout than getting myself to go to the gym?

            Normally I would make sure to use only scholarly sites for this though I wanted to first read peoples comments for Insanity  They seem to bring up points I had not thought about: must follow the diet or count calories along with the video, it is not a magic pill it is very hard work, what happens after 60-days are up, and lastly there is a competitor P90x worth looking into. I was waiting for the catch and following the diet seems to be the key. In that message board many people told their stories of how the first month they did not change their diet and saw no results but then the second month when they discovered to make sure to follow the diet they dropped average 17 lbs. From the reviews of both sites I get the idea that through these peoples trials when Insanity is done correctly results are real. 

            The article entitled Gym Workouts vs. Home Workouts: The Pros and Cons it gives a look into both sides for those like myself thinking of switching routines.

Gym Workout: 

Pros:

-Better Equipment

-Collective Energy and Community

-Discipline

Cons:

-Time Commitment

-Germs

-Price

Home Workout:

Pros:

-Privacy

-Save Time

-Save Money

-Get a Better Workout 

Cons:

-Distractions

-Equipment Investment

-Missing Community

            Truly it seems that in order to get insanity and it to be beneficial it depends on oneself. There is actually a psychology behind working out, a book titles Self-determination Theory and the Psychology of Exercise was written explaining a theory explaining exercise behavior. The book looks into exercise motivation and behavior plus how they relate to outcomes. I am unable to read the full text since it asks for purchase but what is most interesting about this research is that it seems the end goal is that through understanding what it takes for self-motivation the practice of exercise will be bettered. Bringing this back to our classes attendance there seems to be two things I relate to the choice of workout: one must realize what is best for them whether it is timing of class, it being online, ext. and there is a psychology behind self-motivation. With the books theory they believe with even further research they can predict behaviors, which will enable them to create prevention or better solutions.

          Andrew spoke in class about research he did on the validity of doctors telling patients to take the medication they are prescribed until the end of their given dosage. When the research was completed and the findings were composed into an article, Andrew and his team began to send out for publication. With his class at the time, he shared the exciting news with plans to update them as his team went through the process of publication: sharing ended up being a little over eager though for Andrew had not expected the string of rejection letters from publishing companies and that his class would end before seeing publication. It was not until more that a year later that Andrew’s article was finally published, the class which he had shared the news with was already well into their summers. Still Andrew did not find complete satisfaction, the views of the publication can be tracked and apparently, though the views were higher in comparison to other articles, the views were low in comparison to his other publications.

            As I was listening to Andrew share with the class the above process I found myself curious to see what his personal feelings towards the rejection were. In high school in my senior humanities class we had a wall of rejection where students could put up their college rejection letters. Personally I never posted anything on the wall of rejection; I was always in awe at those who were able to and would watch them go up and pin their rejection letter up and sit back down. When I saw Andrew pull up the slide of the blown up rejection letter he received I found myself thinking back to those moments, found myself watching his face and reactions, curious to see if this rejection still took a toll on him. My high teacher, Ms. Malcolm, like Andrew had posted her rejection letter to Duke University she had kept. At the time I had thought she was still bitter about it, living in the past. When she showed it to us it’s almost like you could see the teenager who opened that letter by the reaction that quickly passed on her face. Andrew said in his blog that he likes seeing “the whites of students eyes” during the study reviews he holds and basing what he teaches off of those reactions; I guess just like him observing his students we observe our teachers/professors. He seemed to still hold the passion my high school teacher held about her reaction but something I heard a couple weeks ago made me come to a different conclusion.

            My graphic design professor was teaching us the correct way to critique each others work, he said: giving a creative person a compliment it can be restricting to them, almost as if you are boxing in their ideas because now they feel the need to keep proving your statement correct. I thought this was interesting because never would I have thought a compliment could be a bad thing but after hearing that examples seemed to be everywhere. The classic example is the people who were popular in high school (accepted/complimented) that can be the highest point of their lives but those who were unpopular (rejected) work harder to disprove that and end up creating a great life for themselves. Then I began to hypothesis (opposite of what I had felt about Ms. Malcolm’s reaction previously) that rejections have a more positive effect long-term than compliments.

            I realize that to me it seemed obvious that rejection can make one upset my point may be mute if it is not proven. The American Psychological Association published a study, which is not available in full text without purchase, that I was able to read the general abstract of. The study compared to what I wrote about above, the effects of rejection, by, “examin[ing] children’s spontaneous use of behavioral emotion regulation (ER) strategies and their effects on subsequent mood change in response to an in vivo peer rejection manipulation.” The study did this by creating a video games based on the TV show survivor and randomized groups of 10 to 13 year olds, 186 total participants, to be either peer rejected (kicked out of the game) or non-rejected. They studied the moods of the participants after they were rejected or accepted, more than one third, 38%, showed a worsening in state mood after rejection. Honestly, this is a lower result than I expected, though still moving there is an effect, and had me modifying my hypothesis to being rejected from something of importance (harder or perhaps impossible to truly test though).

            Looking back to class the other day, a student raised their hand and asked Andrew if he had ever been published in Nature magazine, one of the most prestigious ones, and he responded every 4 or 5 years, this is even a lot more often than other professors, well disregarding the one in the “easy field” to get published in. I felt after he responded to this question one could tell it felt good to say he is not always rejected; Andrew is a man who has already achieved great things so with this rejection, though it hurt, this is not a be-all-end-all rejection. When he tells us he was rejected he can still prove himself to us, and to himself, by stating his previous achievements. This then makes me think back to Ms. Malcolm, she as well can put her rejection letter on the wall with the knowledge that she is where she is in life without that degree she wanted. My hypothesis with this new thought process now changes: A rejection from something of importance to those who have reached a point of success in life, mainly adults, produces a different emotional outcome than rejection does to those who are in earlier stage of life, referring to children and young adults.

            Unfortunately, this most likely cannot be proven due to its in ability to be completely controlled or monitored. Though I believe this observation is substantial I believe because though it is not proven it does not seem to be disproven. Within my research I also found studies on reducing the emotion behind rejection, perhaps explaining why some moods do not fall after rejection, and one way was to get an explanation behind being rejected (similar to the concept of successful people being able to justify it). I think this post just gives a different look into how we get to where we are in life. 

I have never truly understood what the obsession with taking selfies by yourself…Honestly why do I want to upload a photo by myself I’d rather have my friends in it! I think it is especially strange when the picture ends up looking nothing like the person in real life. But  according to this site about women there are 7 valid reason for these uploads.

Number One: Show off your assets

Unlike a group photo you have control. One can control the lighting, the angle, what they’re wearing, how their face looks, and whatever else to make them shine in the social media world. 

Number Two: Watch out world, here I am!

Posting selfies shows that you are comfortable with yourself and how you look and okay to flaunt it with a solo pic.

Number Three: Photoshop

No matter what you look like in this age you can do some simple clicks to make yourself look better; you don’t want pimples in your photo use a filter that flatters you best. If you’re the photographer you have the power of editing in your hands.

Number Four: It’s Art

Selfies can be fun to take! You can get crafty with them where your selfie becomes almost like an art project.

Number Five: Profile Pictures

Social media sites were invited in a way for one to show case themselves. So someone with a selfie in their profile is actually doing it right, instead of people having to search through tags or group photos they can match a person name to face right away. This also seems to help people match ones name to face better.

Number Six: Online Dating

You want to show yourself off the the online world of single people so you want to make sure you are looking your best.

Number Seven: Sexy Can I

Taking a selfie allows you to also be as revealing as you want. No one said you have to post them so you could take sexy photos for you or the person you’re in a serious relationship with. You may be surprised by how hot you can be when you’re the center of attention in your own photo.

Image found: http://www.j-14.com/posts/20-hilarious-photos-of-stars-caught-taking-selfies-16808/photos/selfie-9-7629

Recently the discussion of why we find people attractive has come up a lot in my friend group. We all know a little about hormones and that stuff about how you can be attracted to someone by their smell. Half the time we all are annoyed that we cannot control who we like. One thing we all agree on though is that for some reason when someone is taken they seem more attractive. A friend of mine even brought up that before you even know the guy has a girl friend they just seemed more attractive. 

Why do woman pursue taken men?

Interestingly in an article I found, the article seemed to think that women can find a taken man more attractive because they have been “pre-screened”. Basically can be explained in a way of buying a car a brand new model on the market (single guy) may look all shiny and new but it is the unknown, there are no ratings and no way to know if it is safe and reliable. On the other hand the classic models that are top picked (the guy in the relationship) have already been tested, rated, and proven to be a good choice so consumers mainly pick this. So a woman looks at a taken man as someone who is already proven to be a good choice. 

Another point was made that female often like to stay within their comfort zones and that when pursuing a taken man one can control the situation, do it on their terms. Meaning the man does not pose as a threat as single man can. A taken man will not get too clingy since he already has a relationship and also will not pressure a woman to get serious before they are ready, since they themselves are not immediately ready. 

Why do men cheat?

The saying is joked around my apartment a lot: Even if there’s a goalie it doesn’t mean you cannot score. Basically references even if the person is taken it does not mean you cannot “have your way with them”. A single person can joke about that or even pursue that want because in some ways they are not doing wrong because they do not have a commitment. That cannot be said for the cheater though; they, with knowledge that it is not the proper thing to do, are breaking a trust they have with another person. Should every woman be worried there is a cheater inside their man?

Cosmo is always good for looking into topics like this. So according to Cosmopolitan Magazine there are four main reasons guys cheat. First, the woman they are currently dating has become to familiar to them. Guys like getting to know their significant other but unlike romance movies and books passion can simmer down over time, mystery is lost. So a man’s eye can wander to new mysterious things such as what other woman are like without clothes on. 

The next thing is the classic reason, peer pressure. If a guys buddy is getting two chicks at once with no consequences, that guy is going to start contemplating doing the same. The article uses example such as the Jackass movies to prove their point, point understood. Guys also use sex as an ego boost, if their down or having a bad day they may hit a bar and try and attract a woman if a girl bites their line then their ego is lifted a little. He’s proving to himself he can still attract someone.

Lastly, after time of knowing someone you learn their quirks and annoying habits and one adopts and changes to be as best compatible for each other as they can. Sometimes a guy finds it easier to find someone new who does not know their bad habits then change for their current relationship. 

So it seems that simple things can bring a man to cheat…I guess what goes around comes around. 

Image Found: http://mizthunderthighs.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/why-do-men-cheat/

I have been rooming with my roommate now since last year and she is not your average sleeper. Early on we learned she slept talk. I am someone who constantly stays up late and often did homework last year at 3 in the morning while she slept. While I was up it was funny that she would wake up randomly talk gibberish! I remember after THON she woke up and started talking about how if she did not get ready fast she wouldn’t make it to the floor in time. Even funnier was that if one wanted to they can respond to her and she will answer for a while until eventually she stops or the words just no longer come out in english. This year something has changed though.. For one I am no longer a freshman and am a little more serious about school work so I try and go to bed at a normal time. Though for the most part it is the volume and frequency of her night talks. Last year without prompting they were quiet mummers, so when they assumably happened while we were both sleeping it did not wake me. But not this year. 

Image Link

This weekend was the most amazing football game that I have ever been to! So do I kind of hate the idea of throwing science into it? Yes, but I seem to be now constantly looking at things and thinking, “wow that would be an interesting blog post!”.