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Issue 850
SNIPPETZ GETS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER REGARDING HEART DISEASE by Lindsey Harrison “Awareness about heart disease has got to be raised.” – Vinnie Jones, British actor If you’ve been reading Snippetz for a while, you have probably noticed that we typically find a way to make light of just about any topic. That is, in part, in an effort to make our magazine fun, light-hearted and enjoyable. While the topic of heart disease is far from fun to discuss and should never be taken light-hearted (pardon the pun, if there is one), we will strive to make this issue just as enjoyable as all our others. We know, that’s a tall order but we think we’re up to the challenge. Just think of this as our way of warning you about the dangers of heart disease because we want to keep you around to read more Snippetz issues for many years to come. In that respect, we’re really doing you all a huge favor and for that, we expect your eternal gratitude . . . or at least for you to recommend our amazing magazine to every single one of your friends and family. Either one is fine with us. So, enjoy! WHAT IS HEART DISEASE? When you hear the phrase “heart disease,” if you’re anything like us at Snippetz, you probably don’t know exactly what that means. Admittedly, it is a vague term. But considering February is American Heart Month, we figured there’s no time like the present to rid that phrase of its mystery. Of course, this is just a general overview so if you have additional questions, it would be best to consult your physician!! As you can probably imagine, “heart disease” refers to various types of heart conditions, the most common of which is coronary artery disease. CAD is caused by hardening and narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, due to a buildup of cholesterol and other materials on the arteries’ inner walls. This other material is usually just called plaque. If left untreated, CAD can lead to weakening of the heart itself, which in turn can result in heart failure and arrhythmias (an irregular heartbeat). Other types of heart disease involve the heart’s valves or how effectively the heart pumps blood throughout the body. Some types of heart disease are inherited and others are brought on by behaviors we develop over the course of our lives. Certain things can contribute to heart disease more than others. For instance, smoking, lack of exercise and a poor diet all increase a person’s risk of developing heart disease. Now, most of us already know that those things are bad for your overall health, so it’s probably no surprise that they would be linked with heart disease. HEART DISEASE STATISTICS *The following statistics apply to the United States only, unless otherwise noted. Coronary artery disease, sometimes called coronary heart disease depending on the source, accounts for over 370,000 deaths each year. In fact, it is the leading cause of death in both men and women annually. If you add up all the deaths caused by every single type of cancer known to man, heart disease still claims more lives. It accounts for about 40 percent of all the deaths every year. In terms of expense, heart disease costs $316.4 billion each year to treat. Sadly, more than 32,000 babies are born with some type of heart defect, which could go undetected for years. And even more depressing is the fact that those heart defects are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths. Annually, about 2,300 heart transplants are performed to address some form of heart disease or defect. Interestingly, a transplanted heart averages about 100-110 beats per minute, while a normal healthy heart averages about 70 beats per minute. A transplanted heart also takes longer to increase its beats per minute in response to exercise. About 30 percent of the deaths caused each year by heart disease occur in people who are smokers. Second-hand smoke increases a non-smoker’s risk for developing coronary artery disease by 25 percent. That percent rises to as high as 70 percent if the non-smoker lives with someone who smokes. STRANGE BUT TRUE HEART DISEASE SNIPPETZ If you haven’t already ascertained that heart disease is a big deal, something not to be ignored or taken lightly, then we don’t know what will get through to you. But if you have figured that all out, we thoughts we’d move away from the depressing statistics and onto some more interesting facts (or Snippetz, if you will) about heart disease.
THE GOOD NEWS! While heart disease sometimes cannot be avoided, for those of us who were not born with either a congenital issue or some other sort of genetic link to heart disease, there are things that can be done to reduce the risk of developing heart disease. For instance, one study indicated that women who sleep five hours or less per night have a higher likelihood of developing heart disease than those who manage to get a full eight hours. Moral of the story? Sleep more. Of course, that’s just one way to reduce your risk. You can also increase your intake of heart-healthy foods, such as salmon, oatmeal, ground flaxseed, kidney or black beans, walnuts, almonds, red wine (yippee!!), tuna, blueberries and brown rice. If you smoke (or use another form of tobacco), quit. That can also reduce your risk of developing heart disease. In fact, for a smoker who quits, their risk of heart disease is lowered to nearly that of a non-smoker in just 15 years. Getting at least 30 minutes of exercise every day can also help reduce your risk, even if it’s just walking at a brisk pace around your neighborhood. Managing your weight is also key to helping reduce your risk of heart disease. While a body mass index measurement can help you determine what your ideal weight is, it’s an imperfect measurement. Talking to your doctor can help you determine what is healthy for you personally. Finally, managing your stress is integral to reducing your risk. Typically, we cope with stress in unhealthy ways, like smoking, drinking or overeating, all of which increase our risk of developing heart disease. That’s where exercise can come into play. Or if that isn’t up your alley, meditation and other relaxation exercises may be just what the doctor ordered! Issue 851
SNIPPETZ GETS ANIMATED ABOUT THE HISTORY OF ANIMATION by Lindsey Harrison “Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn.” – Norman McLaren, Scottish artist Saturday mornings from the past are probably some of the best memories many of us have. If you are young enough to be among those of us who woke up at the butt-crack of dawn and dragged your blanket downstairs to watch cartoons, you certainly know what we’re talking about. If you are of the older generation, those mornings are likely still great memories because your kids left you alone and you actually got to sleep in for like, a minute. Either way, there’s one thing people in both scenarios can be grateful for and that’s cartoons. More specifically, animation because without that, there are no cartoons. And that is a travesty of the worst kind. You’re probably asking yourself, how did animation come about? Where did it start and how did it evolve into what it is today? To answer those questions, Snippetz went back to the drawing board and looked at the sketchy history of animation. Luckily for you, we’ve compiled our findings (in abbreviated form, of course because history is long) into this nifty article, so you don’t have to do anything except sit back and enjoy the show! ANI-WHAT NOW? While most of us consider animation to be mainly hand-drawn images, there are actually several different forms of animation. We’ve broken them down for you below: Stop-motion animation: this type of animation involves the use of models to create a moving scene. Each model is moved a very slight amount, the frame is shot (similar to just taking a regular photograph) and then the model is moved again for the next shot. Probably one of the best examples of stop-motion animation is Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Rather than being drawn, the characters were molded out of clay and positioned time and again to achieve the illusion that they were moving on their own when the frames were put together and projected at a very fast rate, roughly 24 frames per second. The movie itself runs for 76 minutes, but every minute of action in the film took about a week to shoot. In all, the film took 3 years to complete. Hand-drawn animation: hand-drawn animation is probably the oldest form of animation because it didn’t require the use of any technology. In fact, think about the flip books that we all used to make as kids. You draw one image, like a person, on one page. On the next page, you draw the same person, but you alter its stance or position in some small way. After drawing out a multitude of continuous images like this, you can then flip through the pages quickly and the image appears to move. That’s animation in a nutshell. Computer-generated imagery: this type of animation is certainly the newest of the bunch. It requires the use of a computer to construct the images you see, allowing for a larger range of imagery, including 3-dimensional images. Although it may seem that this type of animation would be the easiest, consider the following: the character Sully from the movie Monsters Inc. had more than 2.3 million (yes, MILLION) hairs on his body. Each hair had to be individually rendered and this took about 11-12 hours PER FRAME to create. Not so easy, huh? IN THE BEGINNING . . . If you’re like most people, you probably think of animation in terms of Bugs Bunny cartoons or like, 99 percent of Disney movies. But the fact is that animation has been around MUCH longer than that. Perhaps not in the way that we think of it today, but regardless, animation is not a new thing. In fact, animation or the attempt to create movement from a static image, has been around since the paleolithic period. Some of the most primitive, but effective, methods of creating animation were the phenakistiscope, zoetrope, flip book (as we mentioned above and developed in 1868) and the praxinoscope. No, we don’t expect you to know what those are which is why we’re going to explain them better for you right now!
Animation evolved even further when Charles-Émile Reynaud developed a new way to create movement through the use of a transparent strip of colorful, hand-painted images. The strip had perforations to help it wind and unwind onto two spools. He patented his invention in 1888. MODERN ANIMATION We’ll use the term “modern” a bit loosely here, because hand-drawn animation, which took the form of feature-length films, kicked off in 1914. Prior to this, most animations were short films; but Gertie the Dinosaur changed all that by running 70 minutes long and was projected at 14 frames per second. The film was released in 1917 in a theater in South America and was the first commercially-profitable animated film. Sadly, the only copy ever made was burned in a house fire. Perhaps that’s why many people point to Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as the first feature-length animated film, which was released in 1937. There is, however, one distinction that separates the two films: Gertie the Dinosaur combined live-action footage with hand-drawn animation, while Snow White was entirely hand-drawn. Let’s not forget the cartoons that soon made their way onto television screens around the country. In 1951, color T.V. made its appearance in the United States, and in 1958, Hanna-Barbera released the first half-hour T.V. show that used only animation: The Huckleberry Hound Show. Between then and 1995, when CGI (computer-generated imagery) really took hold in the world of animation, hand-drawn cartoons were the star of the show. Cartoon drawings went through many style phases, including thick outline, thin outline, caricature, etc. Eventually, CGI made its way into portions of hand-drawn animation films, like Walt Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin. But 1995 truly marks the start of the CGI era, with Pixar’s first fully CGI film, Toy Story. Since then, even Saturday morning cartoons have moved away from typical hand-drawn animation to be primarily CGI. Good, bad, or otherwise, we have entered a new era of animation and we can’t wait to see where it takes us! Issue 852
SEEING DOUBLE? YOU'VE ENTERED THE WORLD OF THE DOPPELGäNGERS by Lindsey Harrison “On a winter night I hear the Easter bell: I knock on graves and quicken the dead, Until at last in a grave I see – myself.” – Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet Has anyone ever told you that you look just like someone else they know or possibly even a famous person? Sometimes that can be flattering and other times, you scratch your head and wonder what drug that person is taking. If you really think about it, there are only so many combinations of eye, mouth, nose and face shapes that can exist, so it comes as no surprise when we see someone who looks familiar. It can certainly be a bit unnerving if the resemblance is extremely close. But today, we’re not really talking about looking like someone; we’re talking doppelgängers, and trust us, there is a difference. You’ve probably heard that term before and have a general understanding of what a doppelgänger is, but Snippetz is here to tell you, there’s way more to the story than what you think! So, kick back and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and take a walk with us through the world of “double-walkers” a.k.a. doppelgängers. WHAT IS A DOPPELGÄNGER? According to legend, doppelgängers are an identical – sort of spectral – version of a person, but in sort of an ominous way. They are not the twin of the person they resemble and supposedly, they don’t just resemble the person. It’s more like the person has another soul that manifests itself in an identical apparition-like body, creating the effect that the person is in two places at one time. Now, the creepy part about doppelgängers is that they are often described as very pale, almost bloodless. Imagine seeing a pasty-white version of yourself, only this time, it wasn’t just your reflection in the mirror after being cooped up inside all winter. This time, the pale “you” is out walking around like it’s no big deal. You may encounter your doppelgänger in just about any situation and legend has it that such an experience is frequently a bad omen. Some say a doppelgänger warns of impending danger or death for its counterpart, while others say they can foretell the future. Or maybe they just show up because they can, which is yet another theory about the nature of their appearances. There is also debate about who can actually see a doppelgänger. Can only the person whom the doppelgänger belongs to see it? Maybe. It depends on who you ask. If you believe some of the accounts we’ll be bringing you later on, then the answer is no. And some even say that doppelgängers don’t have a reflection or cast shadows. Sounds kinda like a vampire to us, but that’s a whole other topic, isn’t it? One theory that belongs to the infamous Sigmund Freud is that doppelgängers actually represent a person’s denial of their mortality. People can supposedly see these projections of themselves until they give up that denial. But again, that theory doesn’t exactly paint doppelgängers in a wonderful light, does it? DOPPELGÄNGERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY Whether or not you personally believe in the existence of doppelgängers, they have been reported by people, including historical figures, for centuries. Naturally, that piqued our interest, so we decided one of the best ways to relate the story of the doppelgänger was to do it through the eyes of the people who (supposedly) lived it! Queen Elizabeth I Queen Elizabeth I was born to King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and was the last monarch of the Tudor family. The Virgin Queen (nicknamed as such because she never married) claimed to have seen her doppelgänger laid up in her bed, wrinkled and pale. She reported that the figure was laid out almost like you would prepare a corpse for burial. In her words, it was “pallid, shivered and wan.” Of course, many of us would likely chock that up to advanced age and stress, but shortly after her experience, Queen Elizabeth I died on March 24, 1603. Coincidence? Maybe. Abraham Lincoln Known as “Honest Abe,” it might seem strange that a man with such a reputation would openly admit that he saw what he believed to be his doppelgänger. Or maybe it’s an indication that he really did see his doppelgänger! Either way, Lincoln related his experience by saying that, on the night of his first election for President, he laid down on his couch to rest for a moment and happened to look over at a nearby mirror. In it, he saw his reflection but also another “Lincoln” face next to it. That one appeared “five shades” paler and ghost-like, he claimed. Lincoln said he saw the doppelgänger two other times and when his wife found out, she was petrified. She believed it was a sign that he wouldn’t survive his second term as president, which actually came true, when John Wilkes Booth murdered him at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865. Freaky. Percy Bysshe Shelley Perhaps lesser known than the other two, Percy Bysshe Shelley (husband of “Frankenstein” author Mary Shelley) was a renowned English poet who also claimed to have seen his doppelgänger several times. During one encounter, Shelley claimed his doppelgänger asked, “How long do you mean to be content?” Ominous, no doubt. But stranger still was the claim that on one occasion, his doppelgänger pointed toward a body of water. Shelley drowned shortly thereafter, on July 8, 1822. Sir Frederick Carne Rasch As a member of British Parliament, Sir Frederick Carne Rasch was expected to attend various events, including a certain debate that he had looked forward to attending. However, he got the flu and was stuck at home. That apparently didn’t stop his doppelgänger from making an appearance. Several other members of Parliament reported seeing him and even attempting to speak to him. When Sir Frederick returned to work, his fellow members reportedly poked and prodded him to see if he was real. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe The German writer, poet and politician, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe claimed to have seen his doppelgänger as he rode down a footpath after leaving a friend’s house. The doppelgänger was wearing different clothes than what Goethe was wearing at the time but that didn’t bother him much; at least not until about 8 years later. At that time, he was riding down the same footpath as before and realized he was wearing the exact clothing he had seen on his doppelgänger years before. Emilie Sagée Probably the most notorious case of doppelgänger activity comes from Latvia in 1845, where a French teacher named Emilie Sagée worked at an all-girls school. Students frequently reported seeing her in multiple places at one time, which was weird enough. But Sagée’s doppelgänger apparently decided to show itself one day while the teacher was writing on the blackboard. The apparition appeared next to the teacher and was moving in tandem with Sagée as she wrote. Yet another time, a young girl reported seeing Sagée’s doppelgänger in the mirror while the real Sagée was working on the dress the girl was wearing. Because of events like this, parents began pulling their girls out of the school. Sagée admitted that her doppelgänger had caused the same reaction at many jobs before, causing her to change positions 19 times in 16 years. Yup. That’ll do it. Issue 853
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY ABOUT HOWARD HUGHES by Lindsey Harrison “Every man has his price, or a guy like me couldn’t exist.” – Howard Hughes, American businessman At some point in our lives, we all reach the age where we are allowed to say and do certain things that we never could have gotten away with when we were younger. It’s the whole, “Whatever, I do what I want,” mentality. No, not the toddler version where you throw yourself on the ground and scream until your mom finally gives in or gives you a good swat on you butt. We’re talking the attitude that older folks adopt that lets them say whatever they want, whenever they want and the rest of us just shrug our shoulders. But there is another time when eccentric, outlandish behavior is generally acceptable and that’s when you are filthy, stinking rich. Money does some really strange things to people and billionaire Howard Hughes was no exception to the rule. What makes him so interesting, however, is that he lived out his off-the-wall life in spectacularly successful and interesting fashion, even involving himself in America’s military affairs of the time. Naturally, we at Snippetz wanted to know more so we did some investigating to find out what there was to know about the bizarre billionaire, Howard Hughes. Keep reading, you’re gonna love what we found! EARLY LIFE Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born on Dec. 24, 1905 to Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., in Humble, Texas. The senior Hughes was a very successful inventor and businessman, making much of his fortune in the oil industry with the invention of a drill bit that made it possible to reach oil in places where it was previously inaccessible. Young Howard Hughes, Jr. was something of an inventor himself. At 11 years old, he built Houston’s first “wireless” radio transmitter and eventually became one of the first licensed ham radio operators in the city. He was recognized by the local newspaper as being the first boy in Houston to have a “motorized” bicycle, which (naturally) he built on his own, using parts and pieces of his father’s steam engine. Hughes showed an aptitude for engineering, mathematics, mechanics, and aeronautics, but also found great success from his work in the entertainment industry. Hughes didn’t have the typical struggles of the aspiring actor or aspiring screenwriter, though. His mother died in 1922 and his father died in 1924, leaving Howard 75 percent of the Hughes’ family fortune. So, when he met and married Ella Botts Rice in 1925, the couple had little to worry about when they packed up and moved to Los Angeles, so Howard could pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. A SUCCESS IN HIS OWN RIGHT While it certainly helped that Howard Hughes Sr. had left his son with a “comfortable” amount of money, Howard Hughes Jr. didn’t squander his family’s fortune and do nothing on his own to support himself and his wife. Upon arrival in L.A., Hughes went to work and produced his first film, Everybody’s Acting, in 1927 and his second, Two Arabian Knights, in 1928. Both did well, and Two Arabian Knights even earned the first Academy Award for Best Director of a comedy picture. Hughes followed up those films with a string of equally successful films, including the following: The Racket (1928), Hell’s Angels (1930), The Front Page (1931), Scarface (1932), and The Outlaw (1943). But Hughes never let go of his earlier passion with all things involving flying. In fact, in 1932, Howard created the Hughes Aircraft Company. During most of the next decade, Hughes himself piloted various airplanes and even set some world air speed records. It was also during this time that he built the infamous Spruce Goose (formerly known as the H-4 Hercules). Truly, Howard Hughes was the epitome of the philanthropist, managing to be successful in just about everything he tried! Howard’s eccentricities started becoming apparent during the late 1940s and early 1950s, including his requirement that all employees working for RKO brand of companies (of which he was partial owner) be thoroughly investigated to determine their political affiliations. Hughes was ardently anti-communist and wanted everyone else around him to be as well. It wasn’t unheard of for Howard to halt production of a film if his ideals weren’t upheld or presented in his desired fashion. And let’s not forget that Howard also bought a hotel to keep from getting kicked out of it while staying in Las Vegas. There really is so much more we could go into about Hughes, but it would literally take up this entire magazine! SPRUCE GOOSE So, we’ve learned quite a few things about Howard Hughes that we didn’t know before. One thing most people have heard of his Hughes’s Spruce Goose, but how much do you really know? Well, the Spruce Goose was actually the result of a contract between the War Production Board and Hughes to build a “flying boat” for use during World War II to transport troops and various equipment across the Atlantic Ocean. At the time, seafaring boats were extremely vulnerable to the German U-boats that quietly waited beneath the surface of the ocean. Originally, the project was vehemently opposed by the U.S. military for its use of extremely important resources that could have been of use elsewhere. Henry Kaiser, who partnered with Hughes on the contract, backed out of the project after conflicts between himself and Howard, so Hughes continued work on the H-4 Hercules himself. Unfortunately, the vessel wasn’t finished until after WWII ended. The H-4 Hercules was the largest aircraft made of wood and had the largest wingspan of any aircraft at the time. It only flew one time, for one mile, piloted by Hughes himself on Nov. 2, 1947. The aircraft earned the nickname the Spruce Goose from its critics because it was made from wood, although it was birch, not spruce. HOWARD HUGHES SNIPPETZ
Issue 854
SNIPPETZ KNOWS WE AREN'T SAINTS... BUT THESE PEOPLE ARE! by Lindsey Harrison “Saints were saints because they acted with loving kindness whether they felt like it or not.” – Dan Millman, American author Have you ever considered the fact that all our patron saints were real live people at one point in time? Many of us probably have this elevated idea that saints were larger than life, entities that didn’t fit the mold of a normal human being. While that is partially right, the fact remains that these people were, well, just people. For all you know, you’re sitting next to a future saint right now. Or maybe YOU are a future saint. Who knows? Considering March is one of the months were people across the nation (and in other parts of the world, too) actively celebrate a patron saint – St. Patrick, for those of you who didn’t know – we at Snippetz thought it might be fun to uncover some interesting facts about patron saints in general, and also about more specific patron saints. We’ve chosen a handful that have a special meaning to us but are in no way considered more important than any others; we just don’t have space to cover them all. Enjoy! FIRST THINGS FIRST Let’s clear up what a patron saint actually is. According to the dictionary (and depending on what version you read), a patron saint is essentially a saint from whom a person claims special protection or prayers. They are the protecting and guiding saint of a person or a place. Alright, check. We got that. Now, how does someone become a patron saint? Well, the answer lies in the practice of adopting patron saints in the first place. Back in the Roman Empire, the first public churches that were built were typically built over the grave of a martyr. Side note – a martyr is someone who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion. Once that church was built, it was usually named after that martyr and the martyr was then believed (and expected) to act as an intercessor between the people who worshipped there and God. “But Snippetz, that doesn’t explain how a patron saint is chosen.” Relax and keep reading. As time progressed people began to dedicate churches to other men and women whom they considered holy but who were not martyrs. These holy people are generally chosen because they have a connection to that particular place. Maybe one day Snippetz will be the patron saint of Monument . . . just food for thought. As we mentioned before, patron saints were thought to act as an intercessor between people and God. One source said a patron saint was like having a friend praying to God on your behalf constantly, which makes sense since so many patron saints are said to look out for certain people, like ones who are sick or ones who are in a certain profession. SNIPPETZ’S SAINTS Here are some examples of patron saints that we at Snippetz feel a connection to and wanted to discuss because we do what we want. St. Patrick Before he was St. Patrick, he was just Patrick, a Romano-British Christian missionary who lived during the century A.D. 400, although the actual dates of his birth and death are highly debated. Patrick was an ordinary man; more of a boy, really because he was just 16 years old when he was supposedly captured by Irish pirates and forced into slavery in Ireland. Patrick was enslaved for six years but managed to escape and went back to his native Great Britain. There, he became a cleric and decided to take his knowledge of Christianity back to the place in which he had been a slave. Some legends state Patrick used a shamrock, which has three leaves, as a way to describe the Holy Trinity to the people of Ireland, leading to the connection between the shamrock and St. Patrick’s Day. Other legends say he chased all the snakes out of Ireland. Another theory claims that some actions attributed to St. Patrick were actually executed by another Patrick who lived around the same time. St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, which is supposedly the date of his death. St. Peregrine Peregrine Laziosi was born in the later half of the 13th century and as a saint, represents a cause very near and dear to all of our hearts here at Snippetz – we’ll get to that in a second. Peregrine was born to an affluent family and lived a comfortable life. He made one key mistake at 18 years old when he attacked St. Philip Benizi, who had come to Peregrine’s village to try to help the community which was deeply divided, religiously speaking. Luckily, when Peregrine realized his mistake and asked St. Philip for forgiveness, he received it and changed his life completely. Peregrine went on to be an ordained priest, known for his work and devotion to the sick and poor. After having a vision about Christ on the cross, he realized the cancer that had plagued him was cured. Thus, Peregrine is the patron saint of cancer patients. St. Peregrine’s feast is celebrated on May 4. St. Francis de Sales (see photo above) Francis de Sales was born on Aug. 21, 1567 and died on Dec. 28, 1622. He was part of the noble Sales family of France and received a very privileged education. Much of his early life was spent in schools and universities, where he threw himself into his studies, mainly focusing on rhetoric and humanities. His studies would lead him down a dark path however, when Francis attended a theological discussion about predestination. That discussion led him to the conclusion that he was damned to Hell. Francis was overwhelmed with despair at the idea and even made himself physically ill with worry. After a nearly three-year battle with his demons, Francis went to a parish in Paris (say that three times fast) and prayed before a statue of Our Lady of Good Deliverance. After that, he dedicated himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary and devoted his life to writing and teaching about Christianity. Francis lived a full life and achieved much before his death, including earning his doctorate in law and theology. He was canonized by Pope Alexander VII in 1665 and declared the patron saint of writers and journalists in 1923 by Pope Pius XI. The feast of St. Francis de Sales is celebrated on Jan. 24. St. Valentine You’re probably wondering why we’re even mentioning St. Valentine in this article since it’s pretty obvious that he is the patron saint of love or romance. But in that assumption, you are completely wrong. True, Valentine’s Day has become a day to celebrate love. But the real Valentine, the man behind the legend, is NOT the patron saint of love and actually may have been two different people whose lives intertwined in history to create a story that is only part true. Valentinus was a man who possibly lived during the third century and died around A.D. 270. But his true identity has been called into question for literally centuries, starting in about A.D. 496. Because so much confusion surrounds his (or their?) life (or lives?), it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what Valentinus did to earn a spot at the Saint’s table. One thing is for certain: St. Valentine is the patron saint of many things, none of which is love or romance, specifically. St. Valentine is the patron said of beekeepers and epilepsy. He is also the patron saint of plague victims, fainting and traveling. The only real connection to the Valentine’s Day that we all celebrate on Feb. 14 is that he is also the patron saint of engaged couples and happy marriages. That’s quite the work load! Issue 855
SNIPPETZ INVESTIGATES THE ORIGINS OF BIZARRE BODY BEHAVIOR by Lindsey Harrison “The human body is strange and flawed and unpredictable. The human body has many secrets, and it does not divulge them to anyone, except those who have learned to wait.” – Paul Auster, American author To say the human body is strange, flawed and unpredictable is an understatement at the very least. More accurately, the human body is like an obnoxious frat boy. Playing tricks on you just for the fun of it, not terribly reliable, and just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it does something stupid to make you wonder why you’re not dead yet. OK, maybe that’s a bit dramatic but you get the idea. Our bodies are just plain weird. In order to digest food, everything we eat has to pass through about 25 feet – yes, FEET – of intestines. Looking at the average person, it doesn’t seem possible that there could be 25 feet of intestines inside their body but it’s true! While that is certainly weird enough, there are times when our bodies do things all on their own, outside of our control, that can be baffling to say the least. Snippetz got to thinking: would it be interesting to investigate some of this “bizarre body behavior?” We thought so and now you get to see what we found! GOOSEBUMPS Whether you call them goose pimples, goose flesh or goosebumps, everyone knows exactly what you mean and can relate to how it feels when these curious little bumps appear on their body. The interesting thing is that we get goosebumps when we’re cold, but we also get them when we are afraid, have a sudden shock or some other similarly intense emotion. So, what do the cold, being afraid, and all those other strong emotions have in common? They all elicit a sympathetic nervous system response, which in this case just so happens to be the constriction of the muscles at the base of the hair follicles, causing the hair to stand up. What in the world does that actually do to help us, because anything our bodies do on their own has to be for some purpose, right? Piloerection, which is a dirty-sounding but scientific term for goosebumps, functioned to create insulation in mammals by trapping the warm air against their skin. Even though it doesn’t exactly help us nowadays what with most of us being fairly hairless in the grand scheme of things, the response our bodies have to the cold still produces the same reaction. As to how goosebumps became known as goosebumps, the logical explanation is that, when you pluck the feathers from a goose (or really any bird), fleshy bumps remain on the bird’s skin. Hence: goosebumps. STOMACH BUTTERFLIES Yet another random response to increased sympathetic nervous system activity in the form of releasing hormones, butterflies in your stomach often occur in relation to fight-or-flight situations. Muscle tension increases as the adrenalin and cortisol hormones infiltrate the body, which makes sense if you consider muscle tension is integral to fighting and flying. Anyway, the stomach muscles are particularly sensitive to that type of muscle tension, which may explain the “butterfly” feeling you get. But let’s not forget that many people report feeling butterflies in their stomachs when they are attracted to someone or may be falling in love with them. What’s up with that? There’s no fight or flight situation there. The answer may be that the central lobe of the brain, which apparently is still very mysterious as to its functions, perceives what is happening in your gut. That central lobe becomes highly active when people are around someone they are attracted to or in love with, and if the butterfly feeling comes as an increase in hormonal release, then it makes sense that the central lobe would also suddenly become very aware of what was going on in the stomach at that time. Neat, right? FALLING WHILE ASLEEP As you slowly drift off into sleep, have you ever had the sensation that you were falling and suddenly jolted yourself awake? If so, then you know how disconcerting that feeling is. But why does it happen so often and how come most people describe it in the same manner? The technical term for this feeling is called a hypnic jerk and it is a normal reaction to things such as caffeine, anxiety or dreaming. Many people – about 70 percent – report having felt a hypnic jerk as they are falling into the first stages of sleep, and it’s really just an involuntary muscle twitch or spasm. Some people theorize our bodies experience this type of muscle twitch at the moment we are falling asleep because of the natural “down-shifting” of our bodies and minds as we drift off. Everything drops, like your breathing rate, your heartrate, your body temperature, etc. so maybe that “drop” results in a feeling of being dropped. Perhaps? Another theory suggests it happens as a final opportunity for us to check our environment before fully falling asleep, a theory that depends on the hypnic jerk as being an evolutionary development to keep us humans safe. We may never know the true origin of the hypnic jerk but “rest” assured, it is a very real thing! EYELID TWITCHING What possible purpose could a twitchy eyelid serve? If we run with the evolutionary theory for this type of bizarre body behavior, it certainly doesn’t fit the mold. Scientifically speaking, a twitchy eyelid is called “myokymia.” Sometimes the cause of the myokymia is easy to determine: stress, sleep deprivation, alcohol, caffeine, or even plain old eye strain. The good thing is that almost every kind of sudden-onset myokymia is not a symptom of a more serious medical problem. There are some serious conditions that can cause myokymia however, so don’t use this article to diagnosis anything in yourself or someone else. The interesting thing about myokymia is that, for many years, superstition went right along with the condition. Really, that should come as no surprise because eyes have always been central to superstition, e.g. the evil eye that has several meanings but mostly as a symbol to ward off harm. Anyway, it’s probably also no surprise that a twitchy eye means something very specific (superstition-wise) depending on which eye it happens to. For example, if your right eye twitches, it means you are going to hear good news, but if it’s your left eye, it means you’re going to hear bad news. Or if your right eye twitches, someone is speaking well of you, but if it’s your left eye, someone is talking trash about you. Those are just two superstitious interpretations, though. If you consider the Chinese Almanac, however, the time of day makes a difference in what a twitchy eyelid means. For instance, if it occurs between: 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., you are going to be invited to a party 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., someone is thinking about you (really, it seems like they might be dreaming about you) 3 a.m. and 5 a.m., a happy event is headed your way 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., everything is going well 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., you may incur a slight injury 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., an argument could be in your future 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., look out for an impending disaster 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., a minor joyful experience will happen soon 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., you are thinking of someone you love 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., you will be having visitors soon 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., a big gathering is in your future 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., you are headed for trouble in court Issue 856
IF YOU'RE GONNA HOARD... HOARD SNIPPETZ MAGAZINE by Lindsey Harrison “The belongings people accumulate throughout their lives will always own them. People seem to think if they had more they’d be happier or freer, but their possessions only chain them to the earth.” – Sarah Noffke, author While sitting in your generally clean living room, surrounded by items that are most likely not trash, it may be hard to envision how it would feel to live life as a hoarder. For some of us, that reality isn’t so hard to believe; messes can pile up on kitchen tables and counter tops, spill out of closets and from underneath beds. Often, that level of clutter goes hand-in-hand with having kids. Somehow, they can’t ever manage to put something back in the same place twice and God forbid they throw away the wrapper from their fruit snacks instead of leaving it on the arm of the couch. Grrr. Sorry. Anyway, hoarding: it’s not pretty, it’s not fun and unfortunately, there are lots of people around the world who are dealing with it, either as a hoarder themselves or through living with one. Snippetz decided it was high time we cleared the air and uncovered the truth about hoarding; you might be surprised by what we’ve found! HOARDING VERSUS BEING MESSY Just because you have a ton of things doesn’t mean you’re a hoarder. Many of us call ourselves hoarders simply because we find it difficult to maintain an organized home or because it’s hard to part with certain possessions, even when we don’t ever use them. But the truth is, those of us in that situation are likely not hoarders. Hoarding, generally referred to as compulsive hoarding disorder, is actually a very specific disorder with very specific behaviors as defined by the International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Foundation: A hoarder collects and keeps lots of items, even if those items appear to have little or no use or value to most people A hoarder allows those items to clutter up living spaces and pile up in rooms, making it difficult for that person to use those rooms as they were intended A hoarder feels distress or experiences problems in their day-to-day activities because of the items they have hoarded Now, we’re not pointing fingers at people and saying that you must be a hoarder if you happen to collect things that other people don’t necessarily find value in. How many people really find value in shot glasses from each of the fifty states? Unless you have another problem – i.e. a drinking problem – there’s probably not much you can do with a ton of shot glasses other than to display them as a collection. But that brings us to another distinction that determines if someone is a hoarder: a hoarder seldom wants to display their items, which are often kept in disarray, while a collector usually proudly displays their collection and keeps it well organized. As usual, we at Snippetz do not pretend to have the ability or the authority to diagnose someone based on the research we’ve done, so don’t run up to your messy aunt and tell her she must be a hoarder. That won’t do any good and we are not responsible for any subsequent rifts you create in your family. But we can relay information so you are better educated and that’s the goal of this article. HOARDING BY THE NUMBERS According to the International OCD Foundation, hoarding behavior can emerge in a person’s teenage years, but the average age of a person who seeks out help for hoarding is 50 years old. Although there is no exact number, estimates indicate that as many as 1.4 million Americans suffer from serious hoarding behavior. The OCD Collaborative Genetics Study recently reported that there may be a genetic link between hoarders. The study suggests that a region of chromosome 14 is linked with compulsive hoarding behavior and families with hoarders often share traits in that region. Additionally, 50 percent of hoarders grow up with a family member who hoards. About 75 percent of hoarders engage in excessive buying practices. Some hoarders engage in animal hoarding, where they keep a large number of animals they are unable to properly care for. Most animal hoarders do not realize they are causing harm to the animals. In these instances, about 78 percent of the homes are heavily littered with garbage and 45 percent have “profuse” amounts of urine or feces in the living spaces. STRANGE FINDS IN HOARDERS’ HOMES We all have some pretty strange things in our homes. Don’t lie, you know it’s true. For instance, if someone were to come to a certain writer’s house, they’d find super tiny rubber bands in every room in that house. Why? Because a certain writer has braces and those rubber bands were necessary for the orthodontic treatment said writer is undergoing. Why were they all over the house, you ask? Not sure really, but that’s the situation. Anyway, if someone were sent to your house, they’d likely find something you might be a bit embarrassed by. Maybe you have a collection of snake skins your pet boa constrictor has shed that you don’t want anyone to know about. Gross. Or maybe you have an old to-go coffee cup that has fallen under your bed and collected about 3 years of dust. Who knows? But one thing we do know is that you are bound to find something interesting in a hoarder’s home. Here are some of the more unusual ones: A hoarder in Hanover, Illinois, collected stray cats . . . dead or alive. She owned about 50 live cats and had another 75-100 dead ones cooling in her refrigerator and freezer. A hoarder in Freestone County, Texas, ran a “fresh egg” business where she sold eggs fresh from the chickens she owned. However, she wasn’t always able to sell all the eggs and ended up with a home filled with eggs in various stages of growth: some were relatively fresh while others were growing embryos. Oh, and during cleanup, the cleaning crew found dead chicken parts in the engine of her car. FAMOUS HOARDERS Probably some of the most famous hoarders in American history are Homer and Langley Collyer, who lived in their brownstone on Fifth Avenue in Harlem, New York, their entire lives. Back in the early 1900s, Harlem was an affluent neighborhood, which stood in stark contrast to the absolute disaster that was hidden inside the Collyer’s brownstone. Initially, the home was tidy, but as the brothers grew up and their parents tragically passed on, Homer and Langley became hermits. The went dumpster diving on the regular, usually at night. By the time they both passed away in 1947, their home had to be cleaned out and more than 100 tons (FYI, 1 ton = 2,000 pounds, so 100 tons = 200,000 pounds) of shoes, suitcases, phonebooks and newspapers, among other things, were removed. Consequently, their house is no longer standing but the Collyer Brothers Park was created in its place. Another affluent New York family, consisting of Edith Bouvier Beale and her mother, Edith Ewing Bouvier (relatives of Jackie Onassis), found themselves in the spotlight for hoarding in the 1970s. They became the subject of a documentary film called “Grey Gardens” that went behind the scenes of their 28-room mansion. Apparently, only three rooms were usable because the others were filled with garbage and hundreds of cats, raccoons and opossums. The mansion cost $32,000 to clean and Jackie-O footed the bill. How nice. Issue 857
SNIPPETZ FANS THE FLAMES OF "FAHRENHEIT 451" WRITER, RAY BRADBURY by Lindsey Harrison “The answer I found is you stay away from the people who make fun of you, and you join these ad hoc groups who understand your craziness.” – Ray Bradbury, American writer For many of us, the struggle to fit in was one we fought starting at a young age. We wanted our peers to like us and we didn’t want to stand out as weird, unusual or strange in any way. Eventually, pretty much all of us outgrow the desire to be like everyone else and embrace the chance to be ourselves. Perhaps that means we stop caring about what other people think and dye our hair teal. Or maybe it means that we finally take the plunge and pursue our love of painting, even though we may or may not have any sort of artistic skills or training whatsoever. Whatever that transformation looks like, it is certainly liberating and worth every minute of self-doubt or second-guessing. Every once in a while, a unique character comes along who never has to go through that transformation because they are unapologetically themselves right from the start. Ray Bradbury is one such person. While his name might not be immediately familiar to everyone, chances are that we’ve all encountered something that Bradbury has influenced in one way or another. Knowing that, is it really any wonder at all that we at Snippetz wanted to learn more about this interesting man? It shouldn’t be . . . so, read on! EARLY LIFE Ray Douglas Bradbury was born on Aug. 22, 1220 to Leonard and Ester Bradbury, in Waukegan, Illinois. He learned at an early age that writing was his passion and made the decision that he would become a professional writer at the age of about 12 or 13. When asked what prompted him to choose writing at such a young age, Bradbury said it was a way to “live forever” through his stories. The Bradbury family moved several times during Ray’s youth and it was during this time that he encountered a carnival entertainer named Mr. Electrico in 1932. The magician stunned the young boy by touching him on the nose with an electrified sword which made Ray’s hair stand on end. Mr. Electrico then yelled, “Live forever!” Something was spurred inside him and Ray said it was from that day on that he made the conscious decision to write every single day of his life. Rumors even claim that, had Bradbury not become a writer, he would’ve chosen to become a magician. Eventually, the Bradburys settled in Los Angeles in 1934. There, he attended high school and became active in the poetry and drama clubs. That same year, Ray met and befriended radio star George Burns, who actually hired the young man to write for his “Burns and Allen” show. That was Bradbury’s first paid writing gig and the jumping off point for his literary career. JUST KEEP WRITING, JUST KEEP WRITING You might think that for a man who eventually had such a prolific career as a writer, Ray Bradbury must have gotten a top-notch postsecondary education. Go ahead, admit it. But you’re dead wrong because Bradbury actually didn’t attend college at all after high school. Instead, he spent time earning money by selling newspapers and used the local library to educate himself. He said, “Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.” Clearly, his approach worked. Bradbury has his first story published called “Hollerbochen’s Dilemma,” which was printed in the January 1938 issue of Forrest J. Alerman’s magazine, “Imagination!” However, that wasn’t the first story he ever sold. In fact, Bradbury sold his first story, “The Lake,” at age 22, for $13.75. As fate would have it, Ray was able to focus entirely on writing after he was rejected by the United States military during World War II, based on his poor eyesight. If ever there was a display of using whatever you have at your disposal to achieve your dreams, the story behind Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” is it. Whether it was because he didn’t own a typewriter or because he simply wanted the atmosphere afforded by a library, Bradbury decided to take advantage of a study room at the University of California Los Angeles’s Powell Library, where typewriters were available to rent for $.10 per half hour. It was there that he wrote “The Fireman,” a futuristic dystopian story about burning books, which would go onto to become “Fahrenheit 451” when it was published later on. Although Bradbury has many accolades and accomplishments to his name, “Fahrenheit 451,” written in 1953, and his first novel, “The Martian Chronicles” certainly top that list as far as popularity is concerned. “The Martian Chronicles” was actually a collection of short stories he had written all tied together as a novel in 1949. Four years before he wrote “Fahrenheit 451” on a rented typewriter at UCLA, Bradbury used that same perseverance when he realized his short stories about Mars needed to become a novel if they were ever going to be picked up by a publishing house. In fact, Ray stayed up writing one night in the room he was renting at a YMCA in New York to create the outline for “The Martian Chronicles,” which he presented to an editor at Doubleday. Bradbury received a $750 advancement for his book, which he completed when he returned to L.A. RAY BRADBURY SNIPPETZ
Issue 858 - 4/9/2018
SNIPPETZ SINKS OUR TEETH INTO THE EVOLUTION OF DENTISTRY by Lindsey Harrison 
“Happiness is your dentist telling you it won’t hurt and then having him catch his hand in the drill.”
– Johnny Carson, American comedian Oral hygiene is essential to overall health, even if maintaining it is less than pleasant. Less than pleasant? Let’s be real: maintaining oral hygiene is miserable, especially the part that includes regular visits to the dentist. Of all the medical experts we have to visit, the dentist is probably our second-least favorite. The first? The proctologist. Sorry to all the dentists and proctologists out there, but it’s true. Anyway, the thing we don’t realize in this day and age is that we have it relatively easy when it comes to dental treatments. Sure, we still have the metal picks and drills and needles and such, but we also have Novocain and nitrous oxide. Simple things like that make dental appointments significantly less painful and stress-inducing. Perhaps all we need is a good dose of perspective to truly appreciate how good we have it and what better way to gain that perspective than to learn all about the evolution of dentistry. Snippetz has the good, the bad and the ugly right here, so sit back and enjoy! ANCIENT DENTISTRY Imagine being a prehistoric human with a toothache. There were no dentists to go to with comfy dental chairs and T.V.s set up to entertain you while your mouth was worked on. There were no x-rays to pinpoint problems in your teeth that couldn’t be readily seen by the naked eye and, as we mentioned before, there was no super-effective numbing agents available to make the process go more smoothly. Although little is known about prehistoric dental practices, research indicates that dentistry was of some importance to even the Neanderthals that lived 130,000 years ago, after the discovery of rudimentary dental tools were discovered. What did those tools look like? Well, for instance, instead of an electric drill, bow drills may have been employed to clean out decay. That makes for a pretty picture, doesn’t it? Someone just standing over you, pulling this bow back and forth while the drill bit grinds away at your tooth. And forget those pretty white fillings we get today. Back then, research indicates bees wax was often used to fill cavities. About 20 years ago, a pair of incisors were discovered in Tuscany that had signs of dental work on them. The teeth, dated to between 13,000 and 12,740 years ago, showed large pits that provided clear evidence of a procedure having been conducted on them, and the reigning theory is that sharpened stones were used to dig and scrape away the decay. Packed inside those pits was hair, vegetable fibers and bitumen, a sticky substance that would have helped keep the “filling,” a.k.a. the hair and vegetable fibers, in place. FYI, bitumen is one of the substances used to resurface asphalt roads. NOT-SO-ANCIENT DENTISTRY You’re probably thinking, OK that was waaaaay back then. Surely dental practices evolved in the more modern times. Well, sort of. While the practice of dentistry may have evolved somewhat, it still wasn’t considered important enough for any one person to specialize in. In general, if you had an issue with your teeth, you went to your local barber. As strange as that sounds, it sort of makes sense when you consider how precise barbers have to be with their tools, namely a straight razor. It was a bloody experience, but it was a common practice from the Middle Ages up until the 1840s or so. Yet another reason to be grateful for modern dentistry! Horace Wells, a dentist who we really should all be thanking in our prayers each night, started using nitrous oxide in the 1840s as a way to anesthetize his patients after seeing a live demonstration that proved its efficacy. The demonstration, conducted by an apothecary clerk named Samuel Cooley, involved Cooley inhaling the nitrous oxide, at which point he became a bit “loopy.” Later, Cooley noted that he had bruises and abrasions on his knees that he had apparently obtained during this “loopy” time, but had no memory of how they got there. After seeing that demonstration, what did Wells do? He did what anyone would do and promptly tried the gas on himself. He asked a colleague to rip out one of his teeth while he was under the influence of the gas and when the effects wore off, Wells claimed he didn’t experience any pain from the procedure. Wells went on to perform a procedure on another person using nitrous oxide, but the demonstration was considered a failure because the patient cried out in pain. The door was opened for another dentist, William Morton, to step in and try his hand at conducting a dental procedure using another form of anesthesia, namely ether. The American Dental Association credits Morton with the first successful public demonstration using anesthesia, probably because his patient didn’t scream! It took about 50 years for the advent of Novocain to finally take hold in the world of dentistry. A German chemist named Alfred Einhorn created the local anesthetic called procaine, which is now the Novocain we all have come to know and love. Since then, dentistry has made leaps and bounds in how it is handled, and while seeing the dentist is still not our No. 1 choice of fun things to do on a Friday afternoon, we can certainly appreciate how cushy our experiences are in comparison! DENTISTRY SNIPPETZ
Issue 859
SCIENCE: FACT OR FICTION? SNIPPETZ SAYS, YOU BE THE JUDGE! by Lindsey Harrison “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” – Mark Twain, American author For a lot of us, science is sort of considered the be-all, end-all when it comes to the truth. If science can prove something, it must be true. Fair enough; but what happens during the time between proving that something is true and relaying that information to the world? Think of the old game, “Telephone,” where you whispered a phrase into a friend’s ear and they whispered in another person’s ear and so on, until finally the last person had to say what they heard. Remember how hilarious some of those end phrases could be? Well, the unfortunate thing is that facts (and really any information at all) can be distorted in just the same way. Whether you believe that distortion is intentional or not, it happens. And it happens even to knowledge we routinely call “scientific facts.” So, that got us at Snippetz thinking: how factual are those scientific facts? Are we all just spreading scientific fiction around? Get ready for a heavy dose of truth about scientific facts . . . and fiction. Here’s how this is going to work: we’re going to present you with a statement that is either a scientific fact or scientific fiction. Can YOU decide which is which (without cheating)? Let’s kick things off with the human body: THE HUMAN BODY Even a moderate sunburn can damage blood vessels in the skin so badly that healing can take up to 15 months. – FACT. According to the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors, the redness from a sunburn usually appears about 8-24 hours after exposure. But the tanning portion, when the melanocytes – special cells in your skin – produce more melanin usually starts 2-3 days after exposure and lasts up to 10 months. That’s because the skin has been photochemically damaged and needs to heal. Realistically, you would need to avoid sun exposure for over a year to allow the healing process to finish. Human saliva contains nothing but the bacteria and germs from eating, drinking, and putting things into our mouths. – FICTION. Human saliva actually contains a painkiller called opiorphin. This chemical is six times more powerful than morphine. So, all those times that you got a papercut and stuck your finger in your mouth, perhaps it was because you instinctually knew it would help lessen the pain. Or maybe you’re just a big old baby. It can take up to a minute for a red blood cell to make a complete circuit through your body. – FICTION. Unless you’re on the road to dying, in which case you should probably be more concerned about staying alive than timing your red blood cells, it takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to complete a circuit through your body. Looking at someone you love or are physically attracted to can cause your pupils to dilate. – FACT. According to a study conducted by psychologist Eckhard Hess in 1965, people’s pupils dilate when they are attracted to a person but also tend to view a person with larger pupils as more attractive. In fact, Italian women during the Middle Ages used belladonna to dilate their eyes to make themselves more attractive. However, it’s poisonous so that’s a bit of a drawback. THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF ANIMALS Playing the AC/DC songs “Back in Black” and “Shook Me All Night Long” can cause a shark to be less aggressive. – FACT. You might assume that sharks would be calmed by some Kenny G or Sade, but it turns out, they like AC/DC. Apparently, they like the low frequency pulsing sounds that are found in heavy metal music. The researcher who discovered this interesting fact said the sharks became much more inquisitive and investigative, rather than aggressive. Looks like a waterproof boombox may be your best against a shark attack . . . but please, don’t try it on our account! Gorillas and potatoes have more chromosomes than humans. – FACT. Both gorillas and potatoes have two more chromosomes than humans do. This doesn’t mean they are more closely related to each other than humans and gorillas are or that they are smarter than humans. But let’s be real: there are some people out there who make you question whether or not they truly are smarter than a potato. Just like most other animals, an octopus has one heart. – FICTION. For some reason, these amazing animals need three – yes, THREE – hearts. One pumps blood throughout its body and the other two pump blood through its gills. If you want to say that someone has a lot of heart, it’d probably be easier just to call them an octopus (get it?). RANDOM SCIENCE FACTS OR FICTIONS
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