Dogs are awesome

I recently watched a PBS/NOVA DVD on the fascinating connection between dogs and humans. The DVD is called (in full) Dogs Decoded: Understanding the Human-Dog Relationship. I picked up a lot of cool facts on dogs that I will share with you here.

• Dog owners can actually discriminate between six types of dog barks. Scientists found this out by recording dogs in naturally settings (like approaching a guard dog and recording its bark or chaining up a dog and having the owner walk away, leaving the dog whimpering and moaning).


• The gray wolf is the very ancient ancestor of all domestic dogs. How a Great Dane or a Yorkie evolved from a wolf is a mystery unto itself.


• Wolves only bark as a warning.


• Oxytocin - it is released when a mom breast feeds her baby. It is a feel good hormone that can make you bond with a complete stranger (because a baby is that, especially when they are only a few weeks old... if you think about it like that). Oxytocin is also released when dog owners pet their dogs. Petting your dog actually makes you feel better! And dogs get a peak of oxytocin too. Who doesn't love getting affection? It lowers stress and heart rate in both the owner and the dog.


• Owning a dog (and assuming you treat it well) can extend your life


• You are less likely to have a heart attack if you own a dog.


• If you do have a heart attack, you are three to four times more likely to actually survive it!


• Dogs (or wolves, really) may have been domesticated as much as 10,000 years ago.


• Humans can point, which is unique to other animals. Dogs can understand that pointing and follow where you point them to. Chimps, our closest ancestor (and with whom we share a lot of our genetic material), either cannot understand pointing or choose not too.


• Puppies can pick up on pointing as young as six weeks old.


• Dogs can even pick up on the direction of our eyes!

So yeah. There were loads more facts from the dvd, but these are interesting enough. Woof-woof!

Done with exams!

I am done diddly done! (As my mom likes to say.) I am done with exams. I had my Statistics exam on Tuesday, my Psych exam on Wednesday (which took me LESS than a half hour to do, it was so easy!), and finally my History exam today.

This particular history exam had a lot of writing in it. In fact today's exam was all writing! One long essay and 12 short answer questions. I am surprised I have not developed carpal tunnel!

Zach is bellowing and moaning in the other room about something stupid. He is so loud and aggravating! I am getting a headache from him. And I think I can hear him rifling through something on the table - better not be my backpack! He likes to paw through things that do not belong to him. :P

Ah, but now I can hear him stomping up the stairs. He has slammed his door and yes I think he has retired to his inner sanctum where he can play on the computer or on the Gamecube for hours on end. How he managed to pass high school considering the amount of time he spends on video games is beyond me but there it is.

sleepy time

I managed to fall asleep today @ 1730. It was only going to be a little nap I told myself! I did not get up until 2130. So I can either try to go to sleep now or I can try to stay up and study. And I have two more exams to get through!

I am not even into summer vacation yet and I am already screwing up my sleeping schedule. :P

Books

I love reading books. I love looking for books. I love shopping for books. Put me in a mall and the very first place I will go to is the bookstore. I could spend all day in there shopping and scouting for books. Put me in a store like Abercrombie or Hot Topic and I will need to leave after like, 40 minutes. Shopping for clothes does not compare to shopping for books (at least for me).

The one thing I loathe about reading books is having to finish them. Like right now I am in the middle of two decent books. One of them is called CLOCKWORK ANGEL (Book One in The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare - noted fanfiction write and Holly Black/ Stephenie Meyer wannabe) and the other is called WITHER, book one in the Chemical Garden trilogy. Granted, both books are good but not great. As much as I like them I can have a lot of critiques about them (which I go into detail later on, in other posts). But at the same time, I do not want the books to end.

I like the cover jackets of both books (the pictures on the front of the books are really beautiful and well done). I like the worlds these authors have created. I like the characters, even if some of them are total jerks or just plain evil (at least the ones that are developed well enough or seem likeable). I like jumping into another universe and seeing/feeling what these characters feel. Heck, I even like the font! (There is something so peculiar about font. If the font is wrong, I just cannot get into the story. It bugs me!)

I am almost done with Wither - like five chapters away from completion. I am in chapter 4 in the Clockwork Angel. As much as I want to continue on with these stories I do not want it to end either! I know there will be sequels (which I will eagerly devour) that I can wait for... but at the same time I wish the books would stretch on longer. Just for a couple more chapters or about 60 pages more!

I do not want to leave the world I have delved into. I want to know more about the world(s) I am in - why is this the way it is, what made this character this way, what else is within the book the character is reading, what is within their home, what are they wearing, what are they doing? I always want to know more!

But sadly, the books must end and I will have to return them to the library. Hopefully loads of other people will pick up the book and enjoy it for themselves too. And until those sequels come out I will have to sit and wait patiently. As well as pick up other books (lots of other books) to read and enjoy!

damn virus

Hey you.


Bad news. I have a virus on my computer. I have some idea where the virus came from. I found this game website where I played angry birds for awhile, so it might have come from there. Porn websites kept popping up randomly whenever I would go to gossip websites. Don't know how that happens!
But when I logged into my computer this popup kept coming up screaming how I had a virus and I need to fix right away and blahblahblah. Yeah, like I am going to click on that *thing*.


Anyway. My dad is reformatting the computer to erase EVERYTHING off of it. My history, my cookies, everything. =[


So for now I am on a school computer typing this up. I will try to keep this blog updated. But with exams coming down on full force, do not expect too much of me in the next few weeks! Hopefully by the end of May I will be updating my blog more often.

BSing your papers

Can I just say that BSing papers is first used in middle school, developed in high school, and then driven to it's fullest potential during college?


I guess I just did say that. BOOM.