Facts you do not know about Tattoos

Facts you do not know about Tattoos

Source: By Ricardo Almeida from Campinas, Brasil - Primeira sessão no canela! #anchor #jesus #tattoo, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49955303

What is a tattoo?
A tattoo is: 
1.  Any indelible design, letter, scroll, figure, symbol, or other mark placed with the aid of needles or other instruments; or 
2.  Any design, letter, scroll, figure, symbol done by scarring on or under the skin.

The origin and historical meaning of the word Tattoo is believed to have two deviations as 
follow;
(i)  ta-striking something (Polynesian)
(ii) tatau-to mark something (Tahitian)
The use of  tattoos is recorded to have begun thousands of years ago and its history is as varied and diverse as people who carry them.

The first tattoos were most likely created unintentionally. Someone with a small wound or gash happened to rub it with dirty hand that was covered by soot or ash. Once the wound had healed over the ash then that mark became a permanent condition.

No one can really state just when the history of tattoos all started. The oldest established tattoo was exposed in 1991. It was found on a mummy known as Oetzi, an Iceman dated to be at least 5300 years of age.  His tattoos are comprised of horizontal and vertical lines, and he  had  57  of  them. There’s  a  certain  amount  of  debate  about  the  reason  the  tattoos  are there.

The most common opinion is that the tattoos were designed for curative purposes. Oetzi’s fifty-seven tattoos were located on several joints on the body. The belief is that the tattoos were created at the same time as a form of acupuncture was practiced to relieve painful joints. Other theories range from social position and ritual markings to ethnic marks or just preference.

Source:  By Tatoo: Anton Ivkin, Photograph: Alexander Kuzovlev - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45569905

How is a tattoo done?
A needle, connected to a small machine with tubes containing dye, repeatedly pricks into the skin. Each needle puncture inserts tiny droplets of ink. The process, which may last several hours for a large tattoo, causes a small amount of bleeding.

There are serious health risks associated with tattoos, including:

1. Infection, including HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, staph (including drug-resistant 
Staphylococcus aureus), and tuberculosis,

2. Pain, itching, swelling, tenderness, redness, or tissue injury at the site

3. Allergic reaction to the ink, especially red ink.

4. Formation of thick, overdeveloped scars called keloids

5. Development of nodules of inflamed tissue called granulomas

6. Difficulty having a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan performed, as some tattoo inks contain metals


What should you look for when selecting a tattoo parlor?

1.  The tattooist and parlor should be neat and clean in appearance. 

2.  Patron (client) rights must be displayed. 

3.  There should be hand-washing facilities with running water available for the tattooist to use. 

4.  The staff should be willing and able to answer your questions. 

5.  Tattooists should not work when sick. 

6.  Tattooists must wear gloves when tattooing. 

7.  All equipment should be single service. Eachneedle and tube set should be individually 
packaged, dated, sealed, sterilized, and opened immediately prior to your tattoo. 

8.  A new ink supply should be poured into a disposable container. 

9.  Any razors, needles, ink, plastic trays or containers, gloves, or ointments used in your tattoo application should be discarded after use. 

10.  Appropriate disinfectants should be used to clean the work area after tattoo application.

Amazing Bone Facts

Amazing Bone Facts

Image source: "Human skeleton front en" by LadyofHats Mariana Ruiz Villarreal - Own work. Image renamed from File:Human skeleton front.svg. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_skeleton_front_en.svg#/media/File:Human_skeleton_front_en.svg

What would happen if humans didn't have bones?
You'd be floppy like a beanbag. Could you stand up? Forget it. Could you walk? No way. Without bones you'd be just a puddle of skin and guts on the floor.

Bones have two purposes. Some, like your backbone, provide the structure which enables you to stand erect instead of lying like a puddle on the floor. Other bones protect the delicate, and sometimes soft, insides of your body. Your skull, a series of fused bones, acts like a hard protective helmet for your brain. The bones, or vertebrae, of your spinal column surround your spinal cord, a complex bundle of nerves. Imagine what could happen to your heart and lungs without the protective armor of your rib cage!

How many bones do humans have?
When you were born you had over 300 bones. As you grew, some of these bones began to fuse together. The result? An adult has only 206 bones!

How do my bones move?
With a lot of help. You need muscles to pull on bones so that you can move. Along with muscles and joints, bones are responsible for you being able to move. Your muscles are attached to bones. When muscles contract, the bones to which they are attached act as levers and cause various body parts to move.

You also need joints which provide flexible connections between these bones. Your body has different kinds of joints. Some, such as those in your knees, work like door hinges, enabling you to move back and forth. Those in your neck enable bones to pivot so you can turn your head. Still other joints like the shoulder enable you to move your arms 360 degrees like a shower head.

Are your bones alive?
Absolutely. Bones are made of a mix of hard stuff that gives them strength and tons of living cells which help them grow and repair themselves. Like other cells in your body, the bone cells rely on blood to keep them alive. Blood brings them food and oxygen and takes away waste.

If bones weren't made of living cells, things like broken toes or arms would never mend. But don't worry, they do. That's because your bone cells are busy growing and multiplying to repair the break! How? When you break your toe, blood clots form to close up the space between the broken segments. Then your body mobilizes bone cells to deposit more of the hard stuff to bridge the break.

What's bone marrow?
Many bones are hollow. Their hollowness makes bones strong and light. It' s in the center of many bones that bone marrow makes new red and white blood cells. Red blood cells ensure that oxygen is distributed to all parts of your body and white blood cells ensure you are able to fight germs and disease. Who would have thought that bones make blood!?!

Do all critters have a backbone?
Nope. In fact, some 97% of critters on earth don' t have a backbone or spine.Remarkably enough, of those that do have a backbone, there are lots of similarities: a skull surrounding a brain, a rib cage surrounding a heart, and a jawbone or mouth opening.

Factoids
1. The human hand has 27 bones; your face has 14!

2. The longest bone in your body? Your thigh bone, the femur- it' s about 1/4 of your height. The smallest is the stirrup bone in the ear which can measure 1/10 of an inch.

3. Did you know that humans and giraffes have the same number of bones in their necks? Giraffe neck vertebrae are just much, much longer!

4. You have over 230 moveable and semi-moveable joints in your body.

5. When you lift a glass of milk and take a sip, more than 30 joints move in your fingers, wrist, arm and shoulder.

6. Joints are where bones meet.

7. Throughout life, our bones are being remolded; old bone is broken down (resorption) and new born is formed (formation).

8. During childhood and teenage years, new bone is developed faster then old bone is removed, as a result, bones grow longer and denser.

9. Maximum bone density and strength is reached around age 30.

10. Maximum bone density and strength may never be reached if there is an inadequate amount of calcium in the body.

11. Calcium is not only needed for bone growth, calcium is also needed for other things such as nerve impulses, blood clotting, and muscle contraction.

12. Osteoporosis is a disease of the bones. If maximum bone density is not reached during the bone-building years, osteoporosis is more likely to develop later in life.

13. Osteoporosis can cause bones to become fragile, weak, and prone to fracture.

14. Environmental factors of osteoporosis are: Getting enough calcium, exercising, not smoking, and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption. These factors can be controlled and can help lessen the risk osteoporosis.

15. Genetic factors such as being female, small-boned, and having a family history of osteoporosis, cannot be controlled.

16. The most effective way to build bone mass is weight bearing exercises. Weight bearing exercises are exercises that cause muscles to work against gravity. Examples are: walking, running, dancing, racquet sports, basketball, and soccer.

Interesting Facts About Carrots Part I

Interesting Facts About Carrots Part I

Source: "13-08-31-wien-redaktionstreffen-EuT-by-Bi-frie-037" by Bi-frie (talk) - Own work. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13-08-31-wien-redaktionstreffen-EuT-by-Bi-frie-037.jpg#/media/File:13-08-31-wien-redaktionstreffen-EuT-by-Bi-frie-037.jpg

1. Over 3000 years ago in Asia, carrots were first used for medicine.  These carrots were very different from the carrots we see now - they were purple and yellow!  It wasn’t until 900 BC when carrots were first grown for food in Afghanistan. Purple and yellow carrots didn’t make their way to Western Europe until the 1300’s.

2.  The orange carrot was developed in Holland as a tribute to William of Orange during the Dutch fight for independence.  However, its popularity was likely due to the fact that the new orange carrot was less bitter than the purple and red varieties.

3. To achieve a perfect orange color, carrots should be grown between 60-75°F weather.

4. Carrots are a type of root vegetable - meaning the edible portion of the plant is grown underground.

5. Carrots are related to celery, dill, fennel, parsley, and parsnip.

6. The flower called Queen Anne’s Lace is actually a wild carrot.

7. European ladies would wear lacy carrot flowers in their hair in the 15th century.

8. After the United States, China is the biggest producer of carrots.

9. Half a cup of carrots provides more than one day’s worth of vitamin A.

10. Raw carrots can be eaten plain as a snack or an appetizer, and sliced, chopped, or grated to add to salads. 

11. Slice carrots into carrot sticks and dip in low-fat dressing or other low-fat dip.

12. Carrots can be cooked using many different methods, such as boiling, steaming, roasting, or grilling, and can be eaten as a side dish on their own or cooked with other vegetables.

13. Carrots are the second most popular vegetable in the world after potatoes.

14. Carrots were first grown as a medicine, not for food! 

15. The first carrots were purple and yellow.

25 Interesting Facts about Girls

25 Interesting Facts about Girls

1. The vagina is only as deep as your middle finger.

2. The vagina keeps itself clean and healthy by constantly producing mucus which turns white when it’s exposed to the air.Discharge also prevents the vagina from drying out. Discharge will begin to appear some time before your first period begins.

3. Females can ovulate before they have their period.

4. Cramps and painful periods may be caused by low calcium and magnesium levels.

5. The usual amount of blood lost during a period is between one and six tablespoons(120 ml blood and tissue).

6. Menstrual fluid is mostly made up of water.

7. A lot of girls’ hymen are broken through using a tampon or during active sports such as horse back riding or cycling. Masturbation, too, can break the hymen. There is an opening in the hymen that lets menstrual fluid flow out.

8. The fallopian tubes are about 10 cm long. The egg travels from the ovary to the uterus along these tubes.

9. Girls are born with about 300,000 eggs.

10. Ovary is about the size of a walnut/olive. The uterus is about the size of a pear/clenched fist.

11. The average woman has about 500 periods in her lifetime.

12. If a tampon has absorbed as much as it can and has to be changed within 4 hours, try a tampon with a higher absorbency. If a tampon still has lots of white patches showing when you take it out after about four hours, try a tampon with lower absorbency. Change your tampon every 4-8 hours.

13. PMS symptoms: breast tenderness, feeling swollen or bloated, change in appetite, headaches, acne or skin rash, constipation or diarrhea, abdominal cramps, feeling sad/tired/irritable or clumsy.

14. You get cramps when your uterus contracts (squeezes) slightly to help get rid of most of its lining.

15. If you are taking the birth control pill these five drugs may interfere with its effectiveness: antihistamines, alcohol, analgesics, antacids, antibiotics.

16. A pregnancy test only works 2 weeks after a suspected conception.

17.Girls’ primary school completion rates are below 50 per cent in most poor countries.

18.One in seven girls in developing countries is married before age 15, and 38 per cent are married before age 18.

19. In sub-Saharan Africa, more women than men are living with HIV, and young women 
aged 15–24  years are as much as eight times more likely than men to be HIV positive.

20. Both Barbie and Bratz dolls are so thin, they lack the internal proportions to have bodily organs like kidneys or large intestines; both would lack the 17-22% of body fat necessary for females to menstruate.

21. If Barbie were a real woman, she would be 7'2", weigh 101 pounds, and have a 19” waist and 39FF chest. A real woman with these proportions would be unable to support her upper body and stand up straight.

22. Female characters in children’s cartoon shows are five times more likely to be shown in revealing, skimpy clothing (even when they are animals) and three times more likely to be shown with physically-impossible tiny waists.

23. Eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia used to start in the “tweens” – doctors are now treating them in girls as young as five or six.

24. Three-quarters of female characters in TV situation comedies are underweight; only 1 in 20 is average size. Moreover, female characters that are heavier tend to get made fun of more often, and 80% of the time these negative comments are rewarded with audience laughter.

25. By the time they graduate high school, children will have spent more time watching TV than in the classroom or talking with their parents.

Fun Facts about Hygiene

Fun Facts about Hygiene

1. Hygiea was a Greek goddess of health cleanliness and the moon. Ancient Greek gods apparently worked double shifts.

Hygeia is the personification of health. She was the daughter of Asclepius, the god of medicine, who was the son of Apollo.  Hygeia was associated with the cult of Asclepius.

Hygeia was often pictured holding a cup, (a kylix, or wine-cup), with a snake coiled about her body or arm.  The serpent is a symbol of resurrection; the cup, medicine.  Hygeia’s cup may have been an early inspiration for grail stories.

2. The human body is home to some 1,000 species of bacteria. There are more germs on your body than people in the United States.

3. Antibacterial soap is no more effective at preventing infection than regular soap. After studying over 11,000 children it was found that an overly hygienic environment increases the risk of skin conditions and asthma.

4. Monks in a small religious monastery in India are not allowed to bath any part of their bodies besides their hands and feet. Their religion believes it is wrong to kill any living creature even microorganisms.

5. The word soap comes from this mythological mountain.  When women washed their cloths in the Tiber River, the dirt on the shore was a mixture of fat and wood ash from animal sacrifices coming down from the mountain. They used this as a cleaning agent.

6. Ancient Egyptians and Aztecs rubbed urine on their skin to treat cuts and burns.  Urea is a key chemical in urine.  When urine is in the bladder it is free from fungi and bacteria, so it was possibly cleaner than the water they drank.

7. England’s medieval King Henry IV struck a blow for cleanliness when he required his knights to bath a least once in their lives during their ritual knighthood ceremonies.

8. During the 18th-century, London did not have a sewer system. Toilet water was just dumped out of the windows on to the streets, where it contaminated the city’s water supply.  They did not know at the time that boiling water would help make the water safer to drink. In 1854 there were 616 deaths related to the water supply in London alone. Because of this, is was a common practice to drink alcoholic beverages at every meal and in-between.

9. 5 SECOND RULE
If you drop something on the floor but pick it up in less than four seconds, it will be OK. False. There is no five-second rule when it comes to food on the ground. Bacteria needs no time at all to contaminate food.

10. The first toothbrush was invented in China in 1498. It was made of carved cattle-bone and pig bristles wired into it.  Brushing ones teeth did not become routine in the USA until it was enforced in 1940 on soldiers during World War ll.

11. In 1935, Northern Tissue proudly introduced “splinter-free” toilet paper.  Previous options included tundra moss in North America and  sea sponge from salt water for Romans. Here in the modern West corncobs were used.

12. In 1843, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. campaigned for basic sanitation in hospitals. But this clashed with social ideas of the time concerning upper class citizens like doctors. Charles Meigs, a prominent American physician, retorted, " Doctors are gentlemen, and our hands are always clean".

13. However, up to a quarter of all women giving birth in European and American hospitals in the 17th thru 19th centuries died of an infection spread by unhygienic nurses and doctors.

14. A study by the University of Arizona determined that the TV remote control in hospitals are the worst carriers of bacteria in hospital rooms; worse even than toilet handles. The remote can spread the infection MRSA, which contributes to over 90,000 deaths a year.

15. It is now believed President James Garfield did not die from the bullet fired by Charles Guiteau.

16. Some of the medical team that treated the President were also farmers with manure-stained hands. The wound developed a severe infection that killed him three months later.

17. Hygiene tips do not have to be complicated.  Everyone can practice good hygiene.

18. Soap and water are the simplest form of cleaning. Wash hands all day long, especially before exiting the bathroom, and before meals. When at all possible wash the TV remotes, mouses and keypads between users.

Amazing Facts - Human Body

Amazing Facts - Human Body

1. A human being loses an average of 40 to 100 strands of hair a day. 

2. A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph. 

3. Every time you lick a stamp, you consume 1/10 of a calorie. 

4. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. 

5. A sneeze can exceed the speed of 100 mph. 

6. Every person has a unique tongue print. 

7. According to German researchers, the risk of heart attack is higher on Monday than any other day of the week. 

8. After spending hours working at a computer display, look at a blank piece of white paper. It will probably appear pink. 

9. An average human drinks about 16,000 gallons of water in a lifetime. 

10. A fingernail or toenail takes about 6 months to grow from base to tip. 

11. An average human scalp has 100,000 hairs. 

12. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. 

13. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood, we only have 206 in our bodies. 

14. Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body. If the average man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his lifetime. 

15. By age sixty, most people have lost half of their taste buds. 

16. By the time you turn 70, your heart will have beat some two-and-a-half billion times (figuring on an average of 70 beats per minute). 

17. Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels. 

18. Every human spent half an hour as a single cell. 

19. Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it. 

20. Fingernails grow faster than toenails. 

21. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour-about 1.5 pounds a year. By 70 years of age, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin. 

22. At rest, a person breathes about 14 to 16 times per minute. After exercise it could increase to over 60 times per minute. 

23. New babies at rest breathe between 40 and 50 times per minute. By age five it decreases to around 25 times per minute. 

24. The total surface area of the alveoli (tiny air sacs in the lungs) is the size of a tennis court. 

25. The lungs are the only organ in the body that can float on water. 

26. The lungs produce a detergent-like substance which reduces the surface tension of the fluid lining, allowing air in. 

27. Your heart is about the same size as your fist. 

28. An average adult body contains about five quarts of blood. 

29. All the blood vessels in the body joined end to end would stretch 62,000 miles or two and a half times around the earth. 

30. The heart circulates the body's blood supply about 1,000 times each day.