Interesting Fact 48: Shocking and a Puppy

During Stanley Milgram's famous obedience study, he discovered that subjects would willingly deliver a painful shock to a partner if an authority figure demanded it of them.  Most disturbingly, two-thirds of subjects continued to shock the victim beyond levels they believed to be lethal.

Shortly after Milgram reported his findings, two skeptical researchers repeated the experiment with a live puppy to ensure that the subjects had not realized Milgram's ruse and simply played along.  Much to their horror, twenty of the twenty-six test subjects shocked the puppy up to the maximum voltage

All of the subjects who refused to shock the puppy were men.  Every woman in the experiment agreed to deliver the shocks.

-"The Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time"
The Museum of Hoaxes

Interesting Fact 47: Dog Saliva

Dog saliva contains lysozyme, an enzyme that destroys harmful bacteria.

-Nicole Adams, "Why Would a Dog Lick the Pads of Their Feet?"
June 28, 2010

A Rant: Cliche and Quote

What is it with mediocre quotes people keep repeating over and over, as if it's something new?  Or like they are the only people to have said them and assume no one else has?  Then there are the cliches such as: "Everything happens for a reason."  "
It's all annoying.
It makes me wonder if the common thought process is unwilling to evolve, in the everyday person.
Then again, some cliches can come in handy with stories.  But, I stress SOME, depending on the content.

Ugh.  I'm out.

Fading Away

I've noticed the trend going on.  It seems the farther and farther I've gone from the land of television, I'm beginning to fail in understanding other people's point of view.  It just doesn't make sense.

Jeremy Jay - Nite Nite

Sharing is Caring 23: Beach House - D.A.R.L.I.N.G.

I was listening to this as I was writing a pretty creepy scene. Somehow it made the scene much more creepy. Good times.

Interesting Fact 46: A Hanging

A Woodstock, Ontario structure is adorned with the death mask of Thomas Cook (as a warning to would-be criminals), who was hanged at the building - a former jail and courthouse - in 1862 for beating his wife to death.  The executioner accidentally made the hanging rope too long and Cook was decapitated, his head apparently rolling into the crowd of onlookers.

-Rue Morgue

Sharing is Caring 22: Deerhunter - It Never Stops (album version)

Rejection!: 3

Another letter in the pile.  Stings every time.  Oh well, keep moving.

Rejection!: 3

Another letter in the pile.  Stings every time.  Oh well, keep moving.

Interesting Fact 45: Association of the Dead

Indian officials declared Lal Bahri legally dead in 1976, despite his repeated insistence he was still very much alive.  It took him eighteen years to convince them otherwise, during which time he founded the Association of the Dead for individuals with similar problems.

- Plight of the Living Dead, Time July 19, 1999

Waiting Around...Well, Not So Much.

Not sure where to send my manuscripts out.  Most of the magazines I send them too are closed until Sept. 1st, which isn't too far off.  However, it bugs me that I have to wait.  Then again, I'm not just sitting around typing here, I'm working on other stories.  Anyway, I'm only rambling.  I'm off.

Interesting Fact 44: Blowing Smoke Up One's Ass

In the 1700s, smoke enemas were a popular medical procedure for resuscitating victims of drowning.  The doctor inserted a rectal tube connected to a fumigator into the anus and forced smoke towards the rectum.  Doctors believed the warmth of the smoke promoted respiration, but skepticism about the procedure gave rise to the phrase, "blowing smoke up one's ass."

- Micky Z "22 Weird & Somewhat Useful Bicycle Facts for Staying Green on 2 Wheels"

Interesting Fact 43:Queen Bee and the Honeybee Sex Slave

A newborn queen bee immediately kills all of the other hatched and unhatched queens in the hive.
-Liza Lentini - "20 Thinks You Didn't Know About...Bees," Discover magazine, March, 2007.

In a honeybee hive, drones do not collect nectar or do any work of any kind.  Their sole responsibility is to mate with the queen.
- L. Patricia Kite, Insect Facts and Folklore