Sept. 1, 2010 - 1:44 AM (Tuesday night, Wednesday morning)
Here are the things I thought about today. I was thinking first about tweeting them, then I realized I would be disappointed if I received no feedback. So, rather than post them there hoping someone will read and respond, I'll post them here knowing that no one will.

1) Nose hair trimmers
2) "Il faut savoir quand d'arrêter."
3) Evaporation
4) Grateful
5) Self Control vs. Self Discipline

Here we go!

1) - Nose Hair Trimmers.
Let me first point out that I refer not to the devices sold at The Sharper Image (if those stores still exist...) that I'd be too afraid to ever use, but to people who choose to trim their own nose hair.

The reason we have hair in our nostrils is to protect us from inhaling dangerous things into our bodies. Cilia traps some of the things that would be dangerous if they had direct access to our lungs. This is why if our noses are stuffy/clogged we always clean them by expelling the gunk OUT rather than sucking it back in.

So. My concern here is for Nose Hair Trimmers. If people deliberately remove body hair that is there for the sole purpose of protection, do they suffer more from that loss of protection?

When you think about it, a lot of our evolutionary developments are no longer necessary in the modern world - we still have hair on our bodies, despite the fact that we can keep warm in the winter with clothes. If women shave their legs, it doesn't affect their ability to survive.

It seems as if the nasal system has somehow eluded easy protection by artificial means - people still have allergies like crazy. Especially here in East Tennessee. I think this place has been the worst on my sinuses than anywhere I have ever lived.
This is just an assumption, but I think that if I were to remove my nose hair I'd probably feel worse than I do now.

This also makes me wonder, though, about resistances and such... a long time ago I heard from someone that since humans are using antibacterial hand soap all the time we're almost never exposed to those types of germs anymore, thus our immune systems are down and if a bug ever shows up that can beat the soap, we're all in trouble.

So, based on that logic, wouldn't it be good for a person to be exposed to all of the "foreign" particles for at least some part of their life? Just so that the body can acclimate itself with what's out there and make sure it's capable of beating it... I don't want to try this, though.

I don't know how many people trim their nose hair, though I have a feeling that much fewer admit to it than actually do it.

This postulation came to me today while at work, I was squinting while spraying screens; I was counting on my eyelashes to keep my eyes free of chemicals that are apparently strong enough to remove nail polish (among other things). Also, my eyebrows usually keep sweat from dripping into my eyes, also protecting them. I wonder what humans would have looked like had we evolved with another sense as the "primary" one.

2) - Il faut savoir quand d'arrêter.
This is a line my terrible French teacher in high school (Koehler, not Kalfus) used against me when I was thinking and questioning more than she'd have liked me to.
You have to know when to stop.
Anyway, I was thinking about this today in terms of life... How many people at my age (almost 25) have real "adult" jobs? Jobs that they could have the rest of their lives? Do they know that they'll be with these jobs forever, or do they have delusions they'll leave and go off to some other success?
I can't imagine ever being at a point where I'd be willing to stop. Stop looking for happiness? Stop wondering if there's something better out there? Why? What's the point?
Why would someone say "You know, I think this is as good as life is going to possibly get for me, so I think I'll stop trying to enjoy life any more than I do now,"?
I just don't get it. Why stop?
In terms of French class, sure, I suppose I was being disruptive (though my questions were legitimate and relevant), but seriously... where would we be as a society, as HUMAN BEINGS, if we just "stopped"? I am pretty sure it's not in our nature to do that.
I don't plan on it.
Note: This rule doesn't really apply in situations like being a contestant on "Deal or No Deal".

3) - Evaporation.
Why do we sweat salt water? I sweat a lot. And so I taste like salt. What is the purpose of expelling salt in sweat? Is it a byproduct that we don't need in our bodies? Or is it a nutrient that I'm losing every time I drip with perspiration? Should I eat more salt to make up for that which I've lost, or am I eating too much salt to begin with, so much that it's seeping out of my skin?
Anyway. Just thinking about perspiration, the purpose of it is for the water to get onto the skin so that evaporation can occur and thus cool the body.
So - does salt water take longer to evaporate? I would expect it to, as adding salt will raise the boiling point and lower the freezing point of water - which is probably why there is so much salt water in the world.
If salt water DOES take longer to evaporate, why do we sweat it? If the purpose of sweat is to cool us as it evaporates, wouldn't it be more effective if we perspired something that could evaporate more easily?
I haven't done research on any of this, was just wondering about it.

4) - Grateful
I am kind of saddened by how much people complain about what is wrong with the world/their lives instead of being grateful for what's right about it. I would love to force everyone to feel a bit more gratitude, because I think it makes me happier, but maybe it just creates a stronger complacency.
One thing I am grateful for today is that I don't hear that "Hey There Delilah" song every 5 minutes anymore. GOD, that song was awful. Still is, I just fortunately never hear it anymore. Thanks, Time, for continuing to pass!

5) - Self Control vs. Self Discipline.
Right now I'm exhausted so I'm not going to write much on this.
I always say I'm proud of and grateful for my self control, and I am, but I also realize that I have absolutely NO self discipline. Let me explain how I see the differences.
Self control: this means keeping yourself in check, not acting out loudly or violently, following the rules. Mostly I can do this because (I think) I would really hate to get in trouble. Self control is restraining yourself, holding yourself back from your first/basic instinct to react, usually in a way that might prove to be problematic. You don't do the things that you want to do, and that's self control.
Self discipline: This is more to do with things that you do that you don't want to do - return library books, vacuum, brush teeth, wash dishes, go to the dmv, etc.
I'm not sure what my point is with this, just something I was thinking about. I need to become more self disciplined.

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Anyway, that's all of the stuff I wanted to write about.
I am still thinking about the was/were thing all the time.
There is a word that's been stuck in my head all day, I'm not going to post it because it's... not something you want to think about (the word or what it means), but I'll say it's something you might see on the side of a tube of anti-itch cream. I'm not sure. Anyway, while I was at work today I know I thought of it at least 5 times during each step of cleaning each screen, and I cleaned about 20 screens with 3 steps for each, so that'd be about 300 times, at least. Not to mention all the other times it just popped into my head.
It's a really unproductive way for me to spend my time. Even though I am still getting other stuff done, I should at least be able to use my brain some way that I want to. Oh well. That's all for now.

any thoughts/corrections/marriage proposals can go to skweeds (at) gmail.com