Clarification

Since my last post outed me ask a dork (yeah, like that was a big secret) I got to thinking about the difference between Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks. I always considered myself a dork because I don't think I am smart enough or hygienecally challenged enough to qualify as a nerd (think the boys in Weird Science), and not tech savvy enough to be considered a geek (think Steve Jobs or the IT guy at your work) . In my head, a dork equates to someone who is somewhat socially inept and also really enthusiastic about things that normal people don't really care about much, but not to the point of being an expert in them.

For example, when I was about 14 I watched a documentary about a specific aquatic plant that is an invasive species and has migrated from tropical waters to just about all the oceans on the planet. It turns out the plant was originally harvested and hybridized to serve as decoration in home aquariums. It was really popular because it was easy to maintain and cheap so people all over the world with aquariums bought it. Then when their fish died they dumped it into local waterways and oceans where it took up root and started choking out native species.

Now, as I was writing that last paragraph I had to contain myself and keep it down to one paragraph because I was getting really excited about sharing it, even though I am aware that most people do not share my enthusiasm for the subject of invasive species. I also use it as an example to illustrate that while I probably know more than most people about this particular plant (whose name I can't remember), that isn't really saying much and I am definitely not an expert on it. That is pretty much the essence of a dork in my mind: interested in obscure things and willing to talk about them even if it is not socially acceptable or "the norm."

So when I saw this diagram explaining the differences between Nerds, Dorks, and Geeks, I was surprised to learn that I am actually a Dweeb!

Apparently my intelligence and social ineptitude put me in the Dweeb category. In order to be a Dork I would have to dumb down a little and be more obsessive about things. Unless maybe I am actually obsessive and just don't realize it? You, my faithful readers, will have to tell me what you think. And what you are! (If you fall into one of these categories. I wouldn't want to offend you by assuming that you do.)

In the end though I have decided that whatever category I fall into I will continue to claim myself as a dork. Because I am used to it and because I still don't quite see myself as being any of the others. Anyway, I'm off to learn about giant ground sloths. They used to live in Utah you know. -Dork out.

International Museum of Surgical Science: Because I'm a Dork : )

When I was planning my trip to Chicago this last summer there were three things on my list that I wanted to do: Eat a real Chicago deep dish pizza (because how can you go to Chicago and not do that?), Ride the El (because of my love of the movies "The Fugitive" and "While You Were Sleeping"), and visit the International Museum of Surgical Science (because I am a geek and fascinated by all things medical).

I am happy to report that I managed to cross all three things off my list while I was there, along with a few others. In case you were wondering Chicago Deep Dish is DELICIOUS and you should definitely get it from Lou Malnattis. The two most famous pizza places in Chicago are Ginos and Lou Malnattis and while I only tried Malnattis I can unequivocally say it was the best : ) They will actually ship it frozen to anywhere in the US and I have definitely considered that option since being home. But part of me thinks it would be an affront to pizzadom to freeze such a heavenly dish. (That and I can't quite convince myself to pay $100 to have a pizza shipped. Mostly its the money.)

The El was also pretty cool, as far as transportation goes. I mean, given the option of the El or a bus I would go with the El. And looking from the platform I can see that it would be possible to fall onto the tracks and then be saved from certain doom by having somebody roll you to the side. (The falling in love with your fake fiance's brother and adopting yourself into his family in less than a week and a half..well, that's a stretch. But it still makes for a cute movie so I won't question it.)

And the IMSS? Well, it was pretty cool too. If you are dorky like me and enjoy exhibits of old medical devices and history. I will say that for an International museum it was decidedly small (four stories of a historical house near the shores of Lake Michigan). It's price tag was definitely in keeping with what you would expect of an international museum : )

As a side note, money doesn't work quite the same way in Chicago as it does in other places. You know how Philadelphia is the "city of brotherly love?" I like to think of Chicago as the "city of extortion." You pretty much have to pay for everything. And large amounts. Except when you don't. For example, the zoo is inexplicably free all the time. And while most of the beaches charge an entrance fee, they cut it in half when high amounts of bacteria are found in the water (usually after rainstorms from all the yucky runoff) so you get twice the bacteria at half the price! Also there are some random free beaches and most of the museums in Chicago also have a monthly or weekly free day where you don't have to pay at all. Which, being the cheapskate that I am makes me wonder why you would go on any other day? We certainly didn't so the IMSS was free for us.

I saw a lot of cool things while I was there, like bleeders from the 17th century used for bloodletting, old patent medicine bottles with active ingredient lists containing things like Cocaine and Opium, statues and paintings of medical pioneers like Galen and Hippocrates, an actual iron lung from the not too far gone era when polio was still a serious threat in the US, and a few plastinated bodies from Gunther Van Hagen's Bodies exhibit (which I saw in Salt Lake when it came through a few years ago and would recommend to anyone who is not easily nauseous.)

Since this trip took place in July and I am just now getting around to writing about it there are a lot of things I have forgotten, but I do know that I really enjoyed the IMSS and would recommend stopping by if you are ever in the Chicago area. (Here is the link.) I would also recommend getting one of these from the gift shop they have there:

Plush disease causing organisms!!

Because who wouldn't want to snuggle up to a little Anthrax and Rhinovirus?

Minor Differences

What I *think* I will look like with dreadlocks:

What I *actually* look like with dreadlocks:

Don't worry. I remembered I'm a white girl from suburbia and washed them out : ) But fun for about 20 minutes.

*Also, these were only temporary dreads that I did myself so I didn't spend massive amounts of time or energy on them, in case you were worried.

*And, I kinda like the angle of the first picture of myself. I look like I actually have cheekbones!

Exploding Lakes: Less Fun Than They Should Be

So I was going to write a post complaining about Daylight Saving Time and how I hate the darkness but then I realized that I do that every year and you are probably as sick of hearing about it as I am of having to live with it. And I also promised to write about exploding lakes quite some time ago and as I was reading a little more about them I realized that my first world problems kind of pale in comparison. So I will just say that if you are interested in learning about the cost benefits (or lack thereof) of DST, you can watch this interesting video here.

Now on to the lakes. When you hear the term exploding lake, you might picture something a little like this:

But actually, it looks a little more like this:

Sort of. Those are actually before and after photos of Lake Nyos in Cameroon, one of only three lakes in the world know to have the potential to "explode." There are two others in equatorial Africa and all three are known as limnically active lakes. (That's sciencespeak for "exploding").

What happens in a limnically active lake is that carbon dioxide (CO2) from rotting materials, such as occur at the bottom of a lake, or from another source such as a volcanic vent, dissolves in the deepest coldest layers of the lake. The pressure from all the water on top keeps it there where it builds up and builds up. Eventually the lake gets so saturated with dissolved CO2 that when something disturbs it (like a landslide or an earthquake) it bubbles out of solution and escapes to the surface forming a giant deadly cloud and you get yourself an exploding lake.

This is only known to have happened twice in modern history, both times in the 1980s. The first was at Lake Monoun and the gas cloud that arose from the lake killed 37 villagers and countless livestock in the surrounding area. The second explosion at Lake Nyos was even more deadly, killing between 1,700-1,800 people.

Perhaps the scariest part was that nobody really knew what happened. A giant cloud from the lake descended on the valleys below and everyone in its path lost consciousness. When the survivors awoke they found their neighbors and animals dead and the normally placid blue lake a frothy brown.

The government at first suspected terrorism but the numerous geologists arriving from all over the world put that theory to rest and figured out about the CO2. They also came up with some pretty ingenious solutions to prevent future eruptions. They installed CO2 monitors around the lake attached to alarms and told the villagers that if the alarms ever sounded they needed to get to higher ground as quickly as possible. They also installed a giant straw (basically) in the lake that brings CO2 rich water to the surface so the pressure doesn't keep building up. So far there haven't been any recurrences, though it would likely take quite a while longer for enough CO2 to build up again for another explosion anyway.

You may be wondering what you should do to protect yourself from the body of water nearest to you, but you shouldn't worry. Lakes in areas where the temperature fluctuates throughout the year naturally de-gas themselves. The water at the surface gets colder and heavier and sinks to the bottom, displacing the CO2 saturated water at the bottom and bringing it to the surface where it dissolves into the air. So I guess we should count our blessings that Daylight Saving Time, though annoying, is at least not deadly.

OCD

I was making fun of my mom today because apparently for the past 30+ years of her marriage she has always had to have matching towels for her and my dad. I don't know where I have been all these years but I only recently found out about this quirky little habit of hers when I used one of the new towels she purchased and was informed that I was not to use it again because then she would not have a towel that matched my dads.

I was thinking this was pretty weird but then I started changing my blog background, as you may have noticed. And I spent forever picking out the colors and trying different combinations before I settled on the ones that I did. And only after altering the HTML in blogger did I decide that it still isn't quite right and I am going to have to make more changes.

Which I guess is just to say that I probably shouldn't make fun of my mom's slightly OCD towel issue when I myself have OCD tendencies toward color schemes in blogger. But I still reserve the right to blame her genetics for giving me the OCD tendencies in the first place : )

Also, those posts I told you about are coming, but they just may have to wait until the background is how I want it. Or as close to it as possible. Well see if my OCD wins out again : )

Buddies

Evan and Toby are friends. Even if Toby isn't always sure about this.

Also I promise I will write soon about my trip to Chicago, Exploding Lakes (unrelated), and my new shoes, which are much more interesting than they sound : )

In the meantime I just thought I would let you know I am alive and looking forward to visiting that cute little boy again soon.

Discoveries

So I am probably waaay behind the times here but I have just discovered two awesome new things that I feel the need to share with the world. (My world being kind of small and consisting mainly of the readers of this blog...)

Anyway the first discovery is gummy vitamins for adults! This is great for two reasons. (Well, three if you are an "adult" like me who still has a sweet tooth and likes cheapo candy.) The first reason is that I no longer have to start the day gambling on whether I will yet again gag on a giant horse pill vitamin with a delicious yeast coating. (Really, they should take a cue from Mary Poppins on this one and maybe try a sugar coating. Yeast? Come on!) Instead I just chew on a yummy gummy and swallow it like I do everything else.

The second reason is that a full serving is two gummy vitamins, which is great for me because I no longer have to saw horse pills in half every day. Instead I just take one. See I never take the full dose because really you should be getting the majority of your vitamins and minerals from your diet anyway. But my diet isn't always perfect so I like to take a multivitamin to make up what I miss. So now I just take one gummy vitamin and I'm good to go. No gagging, no chopping, just a little sugar for breakfast. What's not to like : )

The second discovery has to do with that expensive radio/pedometer I purchased a while ago. I still haven't downloaded any music to it because I am cheap and don't want to pay for it but I am also too guilt ridden to download it illegally. But that's ok because now I don't have time for music. I am too busy listening to the Stuff You Should Know podcast!

Some of you may remember a show on the discovery channel called "How It's Made." It was an interesting show detailing how everyday items like bowling balls and snowboards are made. Its only downfall in my opinion was the monotone narration. They needed somebody with a little more oomph to narrate it. Anyway, the show was based on a blog called How Stuff Works that was started by a college professor a few years back. It gradually gained popularity until it was purchased by the Discovery channel and now they produce several podcasts, blogs and the website.

My favorite of these, as I mentioned before, is Stuff You Should Know. It basically consists of two of the site's writers talking about stuff such as how food cravings work (its not your body telling you to get certain nutrients), whether flouridated water is a good idea (maybe not, since flouride is technically a hazardous waste), what happens when you get decapitated (hint, its not as quick an ending as you would think), how fear works, the history of freemasons, and how headhunting worked (that one was a little gross). There are over 300 podcasts already, since they started in 2008, and they release two new ones a week. So I am pretty much set for entertainment for the next little while : )

I think the best part of these podcasts is the chemistry between the two writers. It's pretty much the opposite of the narrator of How It's Made and it makes it really fun to listen to. Anyway, I would highly recommend it and for your convenience the site can be found by clicking here for the blog or here for the general website.

I think if I were wanting to pursue a career as a writer and wasn't opposed to moving to Georgia I might consider applying for a job with them because it would basically involve doing what I already do on this blog only more consistently. (Which is nice for you the reader because if you have a burning question about how something works and I am too slow to answer it you can search for it on their website and chances are they will have a page explaining it.) How cool would it be if your job were to find out about all sorts of interesting stuff and then share it with the world? Awesome.

Anyway, those are my latest discoveries. Hopefully they are as exciting for you as they are for me, though considering my low entertainment threshold I have my doubts. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go learn about how addictions work. I may need help kicking one if these podcasts keep coming : )