2003-01-29 - 1:15 p.m.
I woke up this morning and my arm no longer works. Well ok it does, but it bitches a lot about it. I think it very odd that the body seems to hurt twice as hard this morning than it did yesterday. And just think, today I am going back to the gym. Fortunately it is to work on lower body and not upper. Hopefully I will loosen up some before 6 tonight.
So tell me�this is good for me�How?
I got a call from my dad the other day�a call that could potentially turn my world on it�s ear yet again. Go me�I just can�t get over the idea that this year has taken off like a wild horse. It is a fantastic ride so far�but can I hold on?
So the short story is this. My pop has invited me to move to San Francisco�at least for a little while. Perhaps a year or so. But things get better (as if that weren�t enough). He has told me that I am welcome to live in the Victorian he has on the Haight. The third floor flat has recently become vacant, and he is beginning to incorporate it into the 4th floor flat (where he lives). Now if that was not enough�he as told me that while I was there he would take care of my bills while I worked on pursuing an IT degree. He also wants to help me get into shape. He would handle the cooking and what not, as well join me at the gym everyday. And all I would have to do is work my ass of in school and help him work up country fixing up the house, the property, and stuff.
I think that there is more to this offer than he has said also. I think that he wants to pass on to me as much of what he has learned over the years to me�before it is�well too late to do so.
I know�so why aren�t I on a plane to San Francisco right now? I don�t know. Guess part of me is scared to do so. First off, I have ALWAYS lived in Virginia. Second�all my friends live here, and I am not so sure that I will be able to move to California�and then ever want to come back. I just don�t know if I am going to be able to leave everyone behind�Like I said, all my friends, and most of my family lives here. Then there is Casey�I am not sure he can come with me, and even if he could, I am not sure that it would be fair to drag him all the way across the country with me. What do I do with all my stuff? I know that I can�t take it with me�there is no room at my pops. And then there is my biggest concern. What if we are unable to get along long term? I have never spent more than 2-3 weeks with him at any one time. Could I even live with him long term�could he stand to live with me long term?
And then there is the simple fact that things have finally started to take the turn towards better times for me. Life is getting better and better everyday here. I am making new friends, spending more time with old ones�I mean all sorts of things are changing for me�and for the first time in a long time, the changes are for the better.
So many questions to answer�
I know�why aren�t I on that plane to California right now�I fear change? I just don�t know. Fortunately my pop has not put a time limit on this offer, so I have awhile to think about it. Perhaps I will ride things out here for a little while longer and see which direction I am headed�perhaps that will make it easier for me to make a decision.
It has the potential to be a significant life-changing event in my life. There is A LOT of good that could come from this. But why does the idea have me so spooked? Am I about to pass up a once in a lifetime opportunity? If only I could take a peak into the future and see what results my choices would have.
So�Thanks to the SnowCat I have indeed learned something today, and I figured that I would �pass� it along to yall. Remember this is NOT my fault. It is like a train wreck, you don�t wanna look�but you can�t tear your eyes away either.
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FARTS, BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
-What makes farts stink?
The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts.
-Why are stinky farts generally warmer and quieter than regular farts?
Most fart gas comes from swallowed air and consists largely of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the oxygen having been absorbed by the time it reaches the anal opening. These gases are odorless, although they often pick up other (and more odiferous) components on the way through the bowel. They emerge from the anus in fairly large bubbles at body temperature. A person can often achieve a good sound with these voluminous farts, but they are commonly (but not always!) mundane with respect to odor, and don't feel particularly warm. Another major source of fart gas is bacterial action. Bacterial fermentation and digestion processes produce heat as a byproduct as well as various pungent gases. The resulting bubbles! of gas tend to be small, hot, and concentrated with stinky bacterial metabolic products. These emerge as the notorious, warm, SBD (Silent-But-Deadly), often in amounts too small to produce a good sound, but excelling in stench.
-How much gas does a normal person pass per day?
On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts. Whereas it may be difficult for you to determine your daily flatus volume, you can certainly keep track of your daily numerical fart count. You might try this as a science fair project: Keep a journal of everything you eat and a count of your farts. You might make a note of the potency of their odor as well. See if you can discover a relationship between what you eat, how much you fart, and how much they smell. How long does it take fart gas to travel to someone else's nose? Fart travel time depends on atmospheric conditions such as humidity, temperature and wind speed and direction, the molecular weight of the fart particles, and the distance between the fart transmitter and the fart receiver. Farts also disperse (spread out) as they leave the source, and their potency diminishes with dilution. Generally, if the fart is not detected within a few seconds, it will be too dilute for perception and will be lost into the atmosphere forever. Exceptional conditions exist when the fart is released into a small-enclosed area such as an elevator, a small room, or a car. These conditions limit the amount of dilution possible, and the fart may remain in a smellable concentration for a long period of time, until it condenses on the walls.
-Why is there a 13 to 20 second delay between farting and the time it starts to smell?
Actually, the fart stinks immediately upon emergence, but it takes several seconds for the odor to travel to the farter's nostrils. If farts could travel at the speed of sound, we would smell them almost instantly, at the same time we hear them. Is it true that some people never fart? No, not if they're alive. People even fart shortly after death.
-Do men enjoy farts more?
Yes, most men take more pride in it than most women. There is a large variation among individuals in the amount of fart gas produced per day, but the variation does not correlate with gender. I have read that men fart more often than women. If this is true, then women must be saving it up and expelling more gas per fart than men do.
-Do men's farts smell worse than women's farts?
Based on what I have experienced of women's farts, all I can say is that I hope not.
-At what time of day is a gentleman most likely to fart?
A gentleman is mostly likely to fart first thing in the morning, while in the bathroom. This is known as "morning thunder," and if the gentleman gets good resonance, it can be heard throughout the household.
-Why are beans so notorious for making people fart?
Beans contain sugars that we humans cannot digest. When these sugars reach our intestines, the bacteria go wild, have a big feast, and make lots of gas! Other notorious fart-producing foods include corn, bell peppers, cabbage, milk, and raisins. A friend of mine had a dog who was exceptionally fond of apples and turnips. The dog would eat these things and then get prodigious gas. A dog's digestive system is not equipped to handle such vegetable matter, so the dog's bacteria worked overtime to produce remarkable flatulence. (H - Baxter hates healthy stuff - explain why his flatulence is greater than > mine? ;-)
-What things other than diet can make a person fart more than usual?
People who swallow a lot of air fart more than people who don't. This can be cured somewhat by chewing with your mouth closed. Nervous people with fast moving bowels will fart more because less air is absorbed out of the intestines. Some disease conditions can cause excess flatulence. And going up in an airplane or other low-pressure environment can cause the gas inside you to expand and emerge as flatulence.
-Is a fart really just a burp that comes out the wrong end?
No, a burp emerges from the stomach and has a different chemical composition from a fart. Farts have less atmospheric gas content and more bacterial gas content than burps.
-Is it harmful to hold in farts?
There are differences in opinion on this one. Certainly, people have believed for centuries that retaining flatulence is bad for the health. Emperor Claudius even passed a law legalizing farting at banquets out of concern for people's health. There was a widespread belief that a person could be poisoned or catch a disease by retaining farts. Doctors I have spoken to recently have told me that there is no particular harm in holding in farts. Farts will not poison you; they are a natural component of your intestinal contents. The worst thing that can happen is that you may get a stomach ache from the gas pressure. But one doctor suggested that pathological distention of the bowel could result if a person holds in farts too much.
-How long would it be possible to not fart?
As I understand it, a captive fart can escape as soon as the person relaxes. This means that a lot of people who assiduously refrain from farting during the day do so at great length as soon as they fall asleep. Having been on a great many overnight field trips, long bus trips, and transpacific flights, I can personally vouch for the fact that lots of people do fart voluminously as they doze off. So the answer to the question would be, you can refrain from farting as long as you can stay awake!
-Do all people fart in their sleep?
I have not made a scientific study of this, but I don't think all people fart in their sleep. I think mainly those who refuse to fart when they're awake do so when dozing off. For other people, toilet training takes such a strong hold that they let nothing pass their sphincters in sleep. For these people, the gas accumulates in the night and they vent it upon awakening.
-Where do farts go when you hold them in?
How often have you held in a fart, intending to release it at the first appropriate opportunity, only to find that the fart has disappeared when you are ready for it? I asked several doctors where the fart goes. Does it leak out slowly without the person knowing it? Is it absorbed into the bloodstream? What happens to it? The doctors agree that the fart is neither released nor absorbed. It simply migrates back upward into the intestine and comes out later. It is reassuring to know that such farts aren't really lost, just delayed.
- How can one cover up a fart?
There is a company called Fartypants that sells underwear designed to absorb the odor of farts. If you should be caught without your Fartypants, another ploy is to blame the dog or cat, if one should be present, or complain about how the wind must be blowing from the direction of the paper mill. As for the sound... if you are in a large group of people, act oblivious and innocent, or glance quickly at the person next to you, as if you think he/she did it. Other strategies include coughing or suddenly moving your chair so that people think that they misheard the fart. If you are with one other person, you can act as if nothing happened, and the other person may believe he was mistaken in thinking he heard a fart.
-Why is possible to burn farts?
Farts burn because they contain methane (usually) and hydrogen, both of which are flammable gases. (Hydrogen was the same gas that was used in the ill fated Hindenburg dirigible.) Farts tend to burn with a blue or yellow flame.
Now wasn�t that interesting? So�have you learned anything today?
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