"A yawn is more disconcerting than a contradiction" - Mason Cooley

(this is for YOU jacq!)

What causes the noise when you crack a joint?

Your joints can make a variety of sounds: popping, cracking, grinding, and snapping. The joints that "crack" are the knuckles, knees, ankles, back, and neck. There are different reasons why these joints "sound off".

• Escaping gases: Scientists explain that synovial fluid present in your joints acts as a lubricant. The fluid contains the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. When you pop or crack a joint, you stretch the joint capsule. Gas is rapidly released, which forms bubbles. In order to crack the same knuckle again, you have to wait until the gases return to the synovial fluid.
• Movement of joints, tendons and ligaments: When a joint moves, the tendon’s position changes and moves slightly out of place. You may hear a snapping sound as the tendon returns to its original position. In addition, your ligaments may tighten as you move your joints. This commonly occurs in your knee or ankle, and can make a cracking sound.
• Rough surfaces: Arthritic joints make sounds caused by the loss of smooth cartilage and the roughness of the joint surface.

Is joint cracking harmful? If you are feeling pain when your joints pop, than you should seek a health care professional. In terms of knuckle cracking, some studies show that knuckle cracking does not cause serious harm. Other studies show that repetitive knuckle cracking can do some damage to the soft tissue of the joint. It may also lead to a weak grip and a swelling hand.

Lightning!

• The saying "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is false. The Empire State Building is struck by lightning on average 100 times each year, and was once struck 15 times in 15 minutes.
• Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus in the film The Passion of the Christ, is reported to have been struck twice by lightning during shooting. The assistant director Jan Michelini was struck twice.
• Although commonly associated with thunderstorms, lightning strikes can occur on any day, even in the absence of clouds.

Yaaawwn.

Why do we yawn? Why do our eyes water when we yawn? And, Why is yawning contagious?

Some have observed that if you try to stifle or prevent a yawn by clenching your jaws shut, the yawn is unsatisfying. As such, the stretching of jaw and face muscles seems to be necessary for a good yawn.

The yawn reflex is often described as contagious: if one person yawns, this will cause another person to "sympathetically" yawn. The reasons for this are unclear; however, recent research suggests that yawning might be a herd instinct. Other theories suggest that the yawn serves to synchronize mood behavior among gregarious animals, similar to the howling of the wolf pack during a full moon. It signals tiredness to other members of the group in order to synchronize sleeping patterns and periods of activity. It can serve as a warning in displaying large, canine teeth. This phenomenon has been observed among various primates. This threat gesture is a way of maintaining order in that primates' social structure. The contagion of yawning is interspecific (i.e., try yawning in front of your dog). Yawning in public is generally regarded as impolite in the West, but came into fashion in polite French society for a brief period in the late 18th century. Oddly, sometimes sympathetic yawning may be caused by simply looking at a picture of a person or animal yawning, or even seeing the word "yawn".

Uncommon superstitions on yawning:

• The Ancient Greeks believed that yawning was not a sign of boredom, but that a person's soul was trying to escape from its body, so that it may rest with the gods in the skies.
• Counting a person's teeth robs them of one year of life for every tooth counted. This is why some people cover their mouths when they laugh, smile, or yawn.
• If two persons are seen to yawn one after the other, it is said that the one who yawned last bears no malice towards the one who yawned first.
• A number of supposed alien abductees have claimed that after their extraterrestrial experience they stopped yawning. Suggesting that with out the ablility to yawn they do not feel right, or even healthy.
• Some people hold the superstition that when you yawn, someone just walked over your future grave site or the future grave site of your children.

IT IS SO TOTALLY WEIRD. While reading the whole Wikipedia page on yawning, I kept yawning so much I was afraid of going into cardiac arrest. (Too much yawning indicates heart problems, btw.) Esp when I saw the pictures of the animals yawning. HAHA.

Or... maybe because it's already past midnight?

-LIZerlai

p.s. HOW TO continue your lucid dream! (and how to control your dreams, etc)

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You should have a clear purpose for your lucid dreams whenever you go to sleep. In other words, every night you consider what you want to do when you have a lucid dream, and select one thing, or perhaps two or three if you are skilled. Avoid this:

"What am I gonna do what am I gonna do? I wanna fly, walk through walls, eat until my stomach explodes, spy on my neighbours, drive in a car real fast, woooeeey I'm gonna . . ."

You will either end up doing none of these things in your dream or simply wake up from overexcitement.