Bodily Functions And Perceptions

A 10 year old boy has proved that humans actually do have some remarkable powers of recovery if given a chance. He developed a brain tumour and surgeons were forced to remove a great part of his brain in order to remove the tumour.

 

Human Mega Brains Are Possible

 

In all he lost a third of the right hemisphere (the side which deals with visual processing, sights and sounds). His prognosis was for a restricted recovery.

But after 3 years, he was now able function normally and even wants to be a neurologist. Studies by Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania have shown that his brain has reorganised itself, and those functions that should have been removed or impaired are now being carried out by sections of his brain that wouldn't have normally done so.

 

Get Yer Kit On

A nudist bather who 'accidentally' strayed on to a non nudist beach in Brighton England, was driven off by bathers with homophobic abuse, and by being struck by a rock. I recall having seen certain older men accidentally 'exposing themselves' in public places in the past, so I take his 'accident' with a certain amount of scepticism. 

 

However this reminded me of a trip to Bulgaria, where under communism many of the beaches were nudist tolerant (physical socialism and all that), but since the advent of capitalism, the beaches have basically reverted to general euro-tourism, and non nudist. But some older Bulgarians very much resent this change. 

 

Anyway I was on a beach surrounded by tourists, when three ladies of an older vintage arrived in swimming costumes .... they were locals. They then caused something of a minor stir, by proceeding to strip stark naked and lay outstretched on the beach. 

 

As this was immediately behind me, and above my head when laying back, I looked very firmly out to sea!!

Man Fridays
 
It appears that watching all these iron man TV shows about men who can survive in the wilds. Bear Grylls, Ed Stafford and the somewhat more rotund Ray Mears, have infected the average paunchy male Brit with an inflated sense of their own survivalist skills. 

 

Bear Grylls Survival Book

A recent survey has found that one in five (20 per cent) men questioned, said that they reckoned that they could survive in the wild for over two weeks, by hunting and building a shelter. I doubt if the majority could last even 2 days, if they found themselves dropped into a wilderness area with no resources ... we all like to think we are exceptional, but in reality most of us really aren't. 

And to prove the prove the point ..... Its usually cold at night in Wales, even in the middle of summer ... and Welsh lakes near Snowdonia such as Llyn Tegid are bloody freezing at any time of the day and year. So when a man and a woman who had been drinking with friends, blew up a plastic Kayak and paddled off, while not having life jackets, or phones, and then weren't seen again by their friends, the  police were called, and a full search and rescue mission had to be launched, with police and helicopters. 

 

The couple were found that night, alive, but shivering with cold and perched on the kayak after apparently getting disorientated and lost.  .... just a few hours reduced them to wrecks. A police officer said "Its hard to comprehend the stupidity of some people."

 

Not So Jolly Fat People
 
I've noted on a number of occasions before, that being obese or even morbidly obese, is gaining some sort of social acceptance as being some sort of normal, with an estimated 12 million obese people living in the UK and one fifth of the world’s population expected to be obese in the next decade, the fatties appear to be the next big thing. 

 

So you get TV adverts with morbidly obese women advertising deodorants and other feminine sanitary  products or clothing etc, all normalising people who should really get off their fat arses and exercise/diet for their own well being. 

 

Then there are TV shows such as The 18-30 Stone Holiday, But instead of dieting, they just party and  organise even more plus-size events around the country, where they can surround themselves with like sized people for jollies .... well they try to. In July 2021 one such Plus-size event was organised for a Marks Tey hotel in Colchester, Essex, England which is part of the Best Western hotel chain. 

 

It was advertised as being a "weekend for plus-size party animals!" However the organiser was accidentally sent an internal email sent by the hotel, which indicated that the guests were not "the clientèle they want to attract". She was not amused and complained that the hotel chain was displaying "fatphobia" and that she had "used the tag-line 'plus-size party animals' since day one and we have never had a problem with it." 

 

The hotel apologised and said the bosses at the hotel had objected to the "party animals," and not the guests sizes.

 

Not Learning From Experience

Single 40 some thing's, who were last decades 30 some-thing's etc, are still as sexually reckless as they were in their earlier incarnations. A study of the sexual habits of 2,000 over 40's by Well Pharmacy, found that almost half are still having unprotected sex. They continue to ignore the risks of catching sexually transmitted infections (STI's). 

 

A third said that they ignored contraception as they were no longer worried about pregnancy. This is a false belief as 3 percent had actually had an unplanned pregnancy, and 2 per cent had caught an STI since turning 40. Lets face it .... they aren't going to change when they are 50 some thing's.

Hair To Die For

Harvard university have found that in a pool of 308 people aged 18-70 (mixed men and women), the majority in both groups would be prepared to sacrifice 7 to 9 percent of their lives to keep a full head of hair .... this equates to them losing up to 7.5 years for their hair.

 

The Devils Waterfall

Sometimes you come across reports, that open a world you hadn't been aware of before you read them. I had never considered the possibility that women's periods or menstrual cycles had slang names. 

 

However I am informed via a study again on the Heavy Periods information website Wear White Again, that the British have at least 254 ways to refer to this biological event .... these include the terms. 'Aunt Flo', 'Red Wedding', and 'Devils Waterfall'. 

 

However what's perhaps more disturbing is that at least one in five women don't actually know where the menstrual blood comes from.

 

Portsmouth Prudes

Nude portraits of four women were removed from an art exhibition in the Cathedral in Portsmouth after complaints. You have to wonder about the mentality of the complainants  ..... I would have told them to sod off but I guess wit so few active Christians in the UK they can't afford to lose a few more.