Fun Facts Friday: It's Cat-tastic!!

Nananananana CRAZY CAT WOMAN!!!!


So I've noticed that many-a follower/reader either has a cat or just plain digs them, so I've decided to post some fun facts all about cats wooo hooo! (Did I ever mention that I used to watch Animal Planet growing up...and that I used to take notes on it? Yes I am the epitome of nerddom.)


1.) There are 33 muscles in a cat's ear alone and can rotate each ear (independently) up to 180 degrees. They can also turn in the direction of a sound 10 times faster than even the best Fido.


2.) Cats can hear better than dogs and humans! Their hearing stops at 65 khz and humans' hearing stops at 20 khz.


3.) Cats purr at the same frequency as an idling diesel engine (26 cycles per second) !!!!


4.) Studies have shown that if a cat falls from the 7th floor of a building it is 30% less likely to survive than if it falls off the 20th floor. Apparently, it takes the cat 8 floors to process what is happening and then relax for impact.


5.) Hebrew folklore believes that cats came about because Noah was afraid that rats might eat all the food on the ark. He prayed to God for help. God responded by making the lion sneeze a giant sneeze -- and out came a little cat!


6.) Both large cats (lions and tigers) and domestic cats react to cat nip...of course there are some cats that just don't dig it.


7.) A falling cat will always right itself in a precise order. First the head will rotate, then the spine will twist and the rear legs will align, then the cat will arch its back to lessen the impact of the landing.


8.) Cats aren't nocturnal they're crepuscular which means they're more active at dawn and dusk...like a shark!


9.) A group of kittens is called a KINDLE!!!


10.) In ancient Egypt, entire families would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when the family cat died


Now wasn't that just the cat's meow hehe

Keep Reading
-RRR

Non-Verbal Illiteracy & ME

(Note:This was a really difficult post for me to write...not physically difficult, because for the most part writing comes easily to me, but emotionally I guess. It's like revealing this deep dark secret and I'm worried about what the people around me are going to think of the secret...)


I know a lot about body language now  but that wasn't always the case.

Growing up I literally couldn't read body language or any type of non-verbal cues. It was absoulutely horrible! Something my siblings often say when we're reflecting on the good ol' days is that when I was younger I had an uncanny knack for putting our dad in an even worse mood than he started off in; He'd walk in the door after a long long day at work obviously upset, maybe from losing a patient or for some other reason, and because I couldn't tell that he was upset, I would just charge at him spewing words at a mile a minute. When all he wanted to do was sit down and decompress I'd just keep talking and talking and talking....and as he got more and more irritated it led to the inevitable chorus of "SHUT UP JENNIE" from my entire family. Looking back, I picture myself as a Golden Retriever puppy meets the Energizer bunny...super hyper and all-up-in-your-grill, and I just kept going and going and going... It was not pretty for anyone involved, least of all me. Can you imagine how many friends I had as a kid??...exactly.

As I got older, I'd start to notice some of the more obvious body language cues:
-someone rolling their eyes at you= annoyed
-someone shaking their head at you=annoyed
-someone rubbing their face= annoyed/ at their wits end.

Unfortunately for me, even though I learned that yes, that kid sitting next to me in German class was really annoyed with me, by that time, it was too late to do anything; I had already annoyed him and I had no clue why! It was like I went from living with a blindfold on to living with a pair of horse blinders on. I was still missing half the picture and I didn't know what to do with the half I was seeing. It got to the point where...I didn't want to look around and see the way people were responding to me because I didn't want to see the irritation and not know how to make it go away or to prevent it.

Now, as a 21-year-old college sophomore, the blinders are off (and the contacts are in thank God or I really would be totally blind ;-D) and it's overwhelming...I can see the joy in someone's eyes, the affection in someone's smile, the sadness in the stoop of their shoulders; I can see the good and the bad, but it didn't come easily or cheaply (therapy much?) but after being around people for awhile, it's like I have to recharge. It's draining to have to focus so much of my attention and energy in order to do something that comes naturally and automatically to most people. And I still need to learn what to do with the information I'm getting. A lot of times...I freeze (see the FFF post).


I wish I could say that I'm a regular Cal Lightman and that non-verbal skills are a non-issue for me, but like most aspects of my life, it's a work in progress...


Keep Reading (and commenting ;-))
-RRR

New Blog Stuff!!

Thanks to the advice of an awesome twentysomething blogger named Lynsey (of Lynsey's Blog) I've decided that rather than change my blog name or feel limited to only blogging about certain things, I'm going to start some blog series if you will...
In addition to the utter Randomocity that I impart at irregular intervals (I'm working on making it more regular don't worry) I'm also going to be doing:

Tips on Tuesday:
Every Tuesday I'll be posting a series of tips on some related topic, whether they be cleaning tips, beauty tips, etc

Fun Fact Friday
Because I am truly a nerd, I'm going to be posting some not very well-known facts every Friday. They could be about health, psychology, nature or whatever. (remember the title of the blog haha)

Sunday Confessional:
Yeah I know... A non- alliterative title; I assure you I'm as disappointed as you are lol! As you can prolly tell, Sundays are goig to be a day when I reveal a few things you probably didn't know about me...even if you think you know me :-/ unlike the other series, this series will probably only last for a few weeks



If you have any other suggestions for blog themes or you just want to see me blog about something that I haven't...email me or comment!!!

Oo also, I'm going to be starting a blog for the sole purpose of raising awareness for ALS so keep an eye out for that!