Tag Archives: Ever Wondered

Nov 03 2012
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Health

Dry and Cracked Nails!

I recently noticed that my nails were dry despite the fact that I constantly apply hand cream. They used to be in a better condition when I was taking a hair, skin and nail vitamin. I initially was taking it to strengthen my hair and it did just that. So, I stopped taking it. Little did I know that my nails needed those vitamins, too :/ As a result, they look unhealthy and really dry. I googled the causes and some solutions for this problem and found a dermatologist, Dr.Cynthia Bailey, that wrote about this issue. Here are some of the important parts of what she wrote:

Exposing your hands to harsh soaps, cleaning products, and solvents can affect the natural oils in ones nails. Those oils act as a glue that holds the nail layers together. At first your nails begin to ‘fray’ on the edges, and then they start becoming brittle. Eventually the layers split. Nail hardeners make this worse because the alcohols, formaldehyde and other chemicals in the nail hardeners really dry out your natural oils. Crazy fact: nail hardeners actually contain more of these chemicals than nail polishes! It’s these chemicals that make the nails feel harder at first, but- whammo- after a few weeks the splitting is worse than ever.

Vitamin supplements formulated specifically for nail growth may help improve their condition. It’s important to know that many of the ingredients in these supplements are lavishly present in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, natural oils, beans and fish. Eating a rich, nutritious diet is key to supporting healthy nails and vitamin supplements should be used in addition to, not in place of a healthy diet.

Your fingernails grow slowly, about 1mm per month.  As you age, the growth slows down even more. This means it will take several months for the dry and split portion of your nails to grow out. Depending on the condition of the rest of your existing nails, it could take as long as a year for proper nail care, good diet and your vitamin supplements to stop the nail splitting, so hang in there and don’t give up.

Tricks to Treat Cracked and Splitting Fingernails:

  1. Hydrate and add oils. Use creams, oils and ointments on your nails everyday after they’ve been wet.The best hydrating ingredients for nails are shea butter, jojoba oil, or avocado oil. The thicker the cream the better, and oils or ointments are best. The trick is to use something that stays put for awhile and doesn’t just rub off right away. Don’t forget that applying moisturizers to dry nails is a waste of time. It’s better to moisturize your skin and nails immediately after water exposure.
  2. Clip and file your nails when they’re wet. Clipping and filing dry nails makes the splits worse so always do it after water exposure. Towel off the water and then use sharp nail clippers to trim your nails, followed by gently filing the edges. Also very gently buff the nail edges to keep the splitting layers from catching on things and progressing down the nail.
  3. Wear gloves when you do rough work or get your hands into harsh chemicals. Obviously you want to protect your brittle and splitting nails from the things that make them worse.
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Oct 31 2012
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Ever Wondered

Number of Continents on Earth

A couple of days ago, I was asked about the number and names of the continents on Earth. There were 30 other people with me, but only one was able to answer correctly. I was only able to name 6 and I really thought they were the only ones. I felt dumb when it turned out that there are actually 7 continents. I forgot that Antarctica is a continent too. Most of the group were able to name 5 of them. That really struck my attention because this should be common knowledge, but very few people know it accurately. The continents that people mostly forgot were Antarctica and Australia. Some even thought that North and South America are one continent.

Here’s the list of all the continents just in case you forgot them too!

Africa

Antarctica

Asia

Australia

Europe

North America

South America

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Sep 22 2012
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Ever Wondered

Ever Wondered – Expiration Dates

Knowing if cosmetics are expired is a trick that I recently learned. I used to think that the date on the product is the time span of which the product was made and when I should stop using it. Sometimes it would be two years. My sister then taught me something I never really noticed. On all cosmetics there’s a sign resembling an open pot with a number written on it. That number is usually in months and it signifies how long the product would last after you opened it for the first time. The symbol is called the period-after-opening symbol or PAO symbol.

I learned that very few people actually know about it. This is a problem that no one cares about, but I think it’s important. For example, many people in supermarkets want to smell the shampoo, so they start opening up different bottles in order to get a whiff. That automatically means that the product would expire after let’s say a year even though it says that should last 4 years without being opened. That means whoever buys that bottle of shampoo wouldn’t know that it has been already opened and that’s unfair for the customer. I used to be guilty of doing that, but I stopped doing that the second I found out. I think everyone should, unless you’re actually willing to buy all the bottles you opened.

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Jul 26 2012
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Ever Wondered

Ever Wondered – Why People Hate Comic Sans?

Comic Sans. The ever disputed and hated font between designers and computer users worldwide. Why all this hatred? In 1994 , Vincent Connare designed the font for it to be used solely for comic book speech bubbles. He found that Times New Roman shouldn’t be used in comic books and that’s why he made it. He does presume a solid argument, but it’s popularity is torture. It was used in Microsoft Bob, Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, Windows 95 Plus, and Windows 95. It was eventually included in Microsoft Publisher and Internet Explorer (link). Whenever I see a logo or sign that uses Comic Sans, I assume two things, the person who made this is clearly naive, or a kid choose the font. I won’t deny it, but I used to like using Comic Sans as a kid, but then I realized how stupid it is. The way its designed is targeted for a young audience and not for it to be used by everyone. I’m not a designer, but after reading this article I realized how bad the font is. For your own sake, please don’t use this font.. unless forced by a higher authority!

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Jul 09 2012
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Ever Wondered

Creeped Out

Ever had a number that keeps on haunting you? I don’t believe in superstitions, but there’s something that is really creeping me out! It used to happen a lot around 2 years ago, but now it’s much less. Every time I look at a clock/watch it’s 9:11. Sometimes its am and other times pm. It doesn’t matter because what’s important are those freaky numbers. I really don’t have anything else to say except why does it happen? I do check the time throughout the day, but I would always look at the time when its 9:11. The numbers in this order mean a lot of things.
911- Emergency Hotline in America
9/11- Destruction of the twin towers
9/11- My brothers wedding
9:11- ?

20120709-102422.jpg

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Feb 11 2012
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Ever Wondered

Ever Wondered – The Jim Twins

Jim Lewis and Jim Springer first met February 9, 1979, after 39 years of being separated. Both had been adopted by separate families in Ohio, and had grown up within 45 miles of each other. Both men were six feet tall and weighed 180 pounds. Growing up, they’d both had dogs named Toy and taken family vacations in St. Pete Beach in Florida. As young men, they’d both married women named Linda, and then divorced them. Their second wives were both named Betty. They named their sons James Alan and James Allan. They’d both served as part-time sheriffs, enjoyed home carpentry projects, suffered severe headaches, smoked Salem cigarettes, and drank Miller Lite beer. Although they wore their hair differently they had the same crooked smile, their voices were indistinguishable, and they both admitted to leaving love notes around the house for their wives. Some skeptics later claimed that such details were exaggerated or that coincidences were just coincidences. Their differences, more apparent now since some time has passed, are more subtle.

These parallels made them perfect candidates for behavioral research. Dr. Thomas Bouchard of University of Minnesota studied the personalities and attitudes of the twin Jims, and the results were very similar. When they looked at the data on twins’ intelligence, Bouchard’s team reached a controversial conclusion: for people raised in the same culture with the same opportunities, differences in IQ reflected differences in inheritance rather than in training or education. That suggests the strong influence of heredity. This contradicts the behaviorists’ beliefs that our brains were blank slates waiting to be inscribed by experience.

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Jan 19 2012
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Ever Wondered

Less or Fewer?

I never realized that there’s a huge difference in the usage of the words LESS and FEWER until I read a post that stated otherwise. The usage of the two words is nearly always mixed up because their meanings are very similar.

Fewer is appropriate when writing or speaking about plural nouns; so you have fewer marbles and teeth and rugs. Less is appropriate when writing about units of measurement, singular nouns, or count nouns so great that it makes individual increases meaningless. So you’ll write about less water, less than X kilograms of something, and less money. This last case is a little tricky, as you could easily talk about having fewer bills or coins. The idea is that when you’re comparing vague or uncounted, collective things, it’s usually appropriate to use “less,” while when comparing countable finite items, “fewer” is better. I have used those words incorrectly so many times that it became interesting to see how many times I used them correctly.

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Dec 18 2011
3 Comments
Ever Wondered

Improve Your Beauty Sleep

The beauty sleep concept is not a myth. People deprived of sleep for long periods appear less attractive and more unhealthy than those who are well rested. Sleep is essential to keep you physically and mentally healthy. Here are some ways to help you get the sleep you need. (LINK)

No TV right before bed. It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep.

Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

Wear socks to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of the body. A study has shown that this reduces night wakings. (mentioned in a previous post)

Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on the body to be awoken suddenly.

Put your work away at least one hour (but preferably two or more) before bed. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow’s deadlines.

Read a pleasure, slow-paced book. That you’ve read before. If you’ve read the book before hand it’ll help you be able to put down the book and know what’s going to happen next. Don’t read anything stimulating as this may have the opposite effect.

Keep your bed for sleeping. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and to think of the bed as a place to sleep.

Keep a journal. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful to write down your thoughts before bed.

Get to bed as early as possible. Our systems, do a majority of their recharging/recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health.

Remove the clock from view. It will only add to your worry when constantly staring at it.

Don’t drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will reduce the likelihood of needing to get up and go to the bathroom or at least minimize the frequency.

Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. When body temperature is raised in the late evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating sleep.

Don’t change your bedtime. You should go to bed, and wake up, at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.

Go to the bathroom right before bed. This will reduce the chances that you’ll wake up to go in the middle of the night.

Make sure you are exercising regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday can help you fall asleep. However, don’t exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake. Studies show exercising in the morning is the best if you can do it.

Stay healthy. Being overweight (underweight) can increase the risk of sleep apnea, which will prevent a restful night’s sleep.

Avoid caffeine. In some people, caffeine is not metabolized efficiently and therefore they can feel the effects long after consuming it. So an afternoon cup of coffee/tea will keep some people from falling asleep.

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Nov 25 2011
2 Comments
Ever Wondered

Ever Wondered..

.. why nuts are important to your daily diet?

All nuts are high in the B vitamins, which are necessary for metabolism and cell growth. Nuts are also good sources of heart healthy fats and antioxidants, making them the ideal food for preventing heart disease and cancer. But some nuts are better than others. Here’s a list of the healthiest nuts:

  • Almonds help stabilize blood sugar, have high calcium content, and are the least acid forming. It also provides half your daily vitamin E—more than any other nut.
  • Brazil nuts contain omega-3 fatty acids and high levels of the mineral selenium that may help prevent breast cancer.
  • Cashews are high in magnesium (second only to almonds) that can help build strong bones and have more carbohydrates and a lower fat content than most other nuts. They are often inexpensive relative to other nuts.
  • Hazelnuts are a good source of quality protein. Vitamin E and beta-sitosterol in hazelnuts contribute to heart health and fight cancer.
  • Macadamia nuts are high in fat, though nearly all of it is monounsaturated. They are a good source of thiamine and contain small amounts of phosphorous, selenium, calcium and potassium.
  • Walnuts have high levels of vitamin E and an ideal ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids (1:5). These fatty acids have anti-inflammatory properties, protect heart health and guard against arthritis.
  • Pecans also have high vitamin E content and regular consumption may help decrease LDL (bad) cholesterol levels.
  • Pine nuts are actually the seeds of pine trees and contain large amounts of thiamine (vitamin B1) and protein. If you are trying to lose weight a substance in pine nuts may act as an appetite suppressant.
  • Pistachios have lots of calcium, magnesium and vitamin A, as well as fiber and iron.

Link

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Sep 19 2011
6 Comments
Technology

Overcharging & Killing Your Battery

I hate overcharging my phone/laptop/iPod! It always happens to me, so I wanted to find out if I should stop!

Overcharging your electronic device occurs when the charger keeps the battery at a temperature that is warm to touch (body temperature) while in ready condition. By leaving a charger overnight, what happens is that the battery would be done charging after a few hours. If you keep charging it AFTER that, then the battery actually gets wasted and depleted to make sure it stays charged. It does not affect the life span other than potentially destroying the battery. Damage to the battery from overcharging would only occur in the very unlikely event of a malfunction of the charging system.

I should stop doing this.

LINK to a previous post about charging electronics!

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