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Mar 01
7 Comments
By steve
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Why Do I Always Wake Up At 3

Slimer Wakes Me Up at NightWhenever I fall asleep before I’m ready for bed I’ll get up and brush my teeth whenever I wake up. Strangely, this always seems to happen around 3AM.

Why 3AM? I was surprised how many people were asking this exact same question. There are lots of fun explanations, with the most common being that 3AM is the most active time for ghosts. This seemed a fairly logical explanation, but I dug a bit deeper just in case.

Depression was a suggestion, but I don’t think I have that.

“Circadian Rhythms” seemed like a legit answer once I learned they aren’t dependent on what time you go to sleep. It also seemed to coincide with the most interesting bit of info I found…

According to some historians, sleeping through the night is a relatively recent practice in human history. Before the invention of the light bulb, people generally went to bed much earlier, and slept through the night in two four-hour chunks, with a short period (1–2 hours) of wakefulness in the middle of the night. It’s called Segmented Sleep.

So, waking up in the middle of the night might be part of our DNA. Most likely though, I just have a high sensitivity to ghosts. Mmm, I suddenly have a craving for Ecto Cooler.

CategoryWhy it Works Tagged , ,
Feb 27
2 Comments
By steve
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Tree Made More Acorns This Year

We bought our house three years ago and it sits directly under an enormous Oak tree. Up until late this fall, I’d hardly even noticed that it drops acorns. This year was exceptional. It sounded like their was hail beating down on our roof practically non-stop for a month. There was a two inch thick layer of acorns in our front yard, and squirrels seemed to flock from miles to spend the afternoon in our tree.

I researched it online and found that Oaks have what is called a mast year every so often (many plants have mast years, also called bumper crops). It’s a year of extreme acorn production followed by several mild years. Some biologists believe mast years are weather related. Others think it’s an evolutionary survival trait. Low production keeps the squirrel population down. Then one year the trees produce so many nuts the squirrels can’t collect them all. This increases the chance that some of those nuts will become new trees. It also increases the chances that we’ll need a new roof this year.

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Feb 01
1 Comment
By MarthTwain
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Why are feet ticklish?

Okay, this is a great question to ask, you’re all thinking.  Sure, we’re ticklish, but why?

Turns out that Livestrong has some ideas and, as usual, things end up with me looking on Wikipedia.  Things always end up with me and Wikipedia.

Anyways, most likely it’s just a wacky ‘ol survival mechanism.  Like, hey, you have a centipede on your foot.  Or hey, you have a black widow hanging out in your armpit.  These are things that we need to know.

But then Charles Darwin has to throw in his stupid opinion.  We get it Darwin, you came up with evolution.  We get it, you have like … the absolute coolest beard ever.  We don’t stand a chance at that level of awesome-beard.  WE GET IT!  STOP RUBBING IT IN OUR STUPID FACES WITH INFERIOR BEARDS ON THEM!  I mean, the nerve of this guy!  Can you believe it?

Right, tickling.  Darwin thinks that it’s some wacky bonding social thing, like teaching kids to trust their parents while also bonding.  Sure.  I mean, he’s probably right, just check out that glorious beard.

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