The Brain

The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.
2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.
3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brains memory power pretty darn impressive.
4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you turn off your brain turns on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.
6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.
7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.
8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.
10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails

While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any

It was the 2nd of August, and despite coming off the back of the wettest July in ages, Sandra was going through her own personal dry spell - professionally, romantically and domestically. She needed a change, and that's when she decided to...

take up her sister's offer of a week in a spa in the west. The children would love a week with their grandparents. And her husband would hardly notice she had left. She would have to work on her boss though...

but then again, that might not be so difficult - last year's Christmas party encounter came fleetingly to Sandra's mind, the brief rememberance lasting longer than the dalliance itself. Of course, there had been awkward moments since then, but overall she felt they shared a certain understanding...

...Sometimes when she looked at the children a wave of guilt washed through her and she wished she hadn’t shared those last few glasses of wine with him Apart from guilt, often she got a flush of worry when she looked at her youngest son who, in certain moods, looked remarkably like her boss...

… Her son was a particularly beautiful child. He had straight jet black hair and sallow, almost coffee-coloured skin. Her boss was half Filipino; his mother, originally from Manilla had met his father in London in the ‘swinging 60’s’. Her husband on the other hand came from a long line of big-boned redheads from north Mayo; exotic and good-looking in their own unique way, but very different to her son’s striking good looks. This had always attracted compliments as opposed to any curiosity; “isn’t he blessed with good looks”…”he’ll be a heartbreaker that one”…people would often comment. Sandra’s mind drifted back to thoughts of a relaxing break on the west coast…

A knock on the door made her come to her sense. Glenda, her younger sisterglided in leaving a waft of Chanel Chance following he. Sandra eyed her up enviously: Glenda was well groomed and radiant from her shiny, lustrous hair to her expertly pedicured toes. Her sister would never be seen in public looking anything but her best and ate only cold meat, salad, and smoothies. Sandra pulled her jumper over her hips and vowed that once she’d finished the chocolate éclair that she had in the fridge, she would be on a strict diet until Christmas.

The hardship of watching what she ate made the thought of her break at the health spa all the more sweet. She went upstairs and tossed some necessities into a suitcase: a comfortable tracksuit and a little black dress – why not? You never know who you might meet. But her daydreaming was cut short by the ringing of her mobile: a number flashed up that she hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Hello?” she answered the phone tentatively.
“Hi, is this Sandra?” a deep voice asked. Sandra went cold and clutched the phone even tighter. She allowed her mind drift back to what felt like another lifetime, when, single and completely broke, she’d signed up in desperation to an escort agency.
“H-hi” Sandra stuttered.
“Sandra, it’s Joe here, from Joe’s escort agency. Sorry to have to call you out of the blue like this but we’ve gotten a call from one of your old regulars, Mr Rafferty. He’s moved back to Ireland from the Caymens and has requested your… services again.”
Sandra was just about to protest that she was a happily married mother of three when the image of the rugged, silver-haired Mr Rafferty floated into her consciousness.
“Sorry”, she said “I’m going to Galway for the weekend.”
“No problem” replied Joe, “Mr Rafferty would be more than happy to meet you there.”
Sandra hesitated, then quickly agreed before she could change her mind.

As Sandra replaced the receiver of the phone, a rush of excitement swept through her. It was a feeling that was strange, exciting, yet oddly familiar. She knew that she should have said no, that it was wrong – she knew that she shouldn’t have been excited but this was what

Mayo GAA

Choose Mayo

Choose pain, heartache, depression...choose to place
your faith in false gods adorned with tight shorts,
false tans and braids...chose whether or not to wear
your county colours for fear of ridicule should you be
at the wrong end of another hammering...choose false
hope at the start of each FBD Cup campaign.

Choose Galway as the enemy, Roscommon as an annoyance,
Sligo as soccer heads, Leitrim as your favourite
underdogs...choose to wish Padraig Joyce was born our
side of the border...choose McHale Park as mecca, Tuam
as a hay shed, Hyde as a hell-hole...choose to park in
the old bacon factory, stand under the score board,
watch the girls go by with fake tan dripping from the
night before.

Choose whether to travel up to Croker the day before
or the morning of the big match...choose whether or
not to take home that Tipp girl you met in
Roddys...choose a big mighty fry before the match in
your sisters place...choose too many pints before the
match...choose the Big Tree after the match...choose
to go on the pi$s even though we lost again.

Choose to hope that Maughan finally gets it right,
O’Mahony hangs around if Maughan doesn’t...choose to
forget Holmes but thank him for the league
title...choose to dream about what it would have been
like if we had won in 1996, choose to forget about
1997 and 2004.

Choose to be a Garda, Civil Servant, plasterer,
carpenter, plumber, electrician, teacher,
nurse...choose a flat in Drumcondra, Phibsboro,
Rathmines...choose to buy a house in Ballycullen,
Carpenterstown, Lucan...choose Rody Bolands, the
Portobello, Flannerys, Coppers, McGowans...choose the
Manhattan, Giggs Place for eating.

Choose to leave your place of birth at the tender age
of 17...choose to go to college in Galway, Sligo, UL,
UCD or get the start with the big brother in
Dublin...choose only to return home for Christmas,
Easter, the local town festival, Connacht Championship
fixtures...choose whether or not to apply for a job in
the one local factory and accept half your current
wage in the hope that life will be better than the rat
race in the big smoke.

Choose Cox’s, Rockys, Mantra, Long Necks to
drink...choose Baxter, Volex, Coca Cola to
work...choose Breaffy House, Castlecourt Hotel, Hotel
Westport, Pontoon Bridge, Downhill Hotel to get
married...choose Enniscrone for holidays...choose the
Westhern, The Cannacht Telegraph, the Mayo News, Mis
Whest Radio.

Choose long summer days in the bog, driving a tractor
at 12, going to the local mart as a big day
out...choose your first car a souped up Jap import, on
your mothers insurance, don’t tax it until you are
caught...choose the site your father leaves you and to
build a unimaginatively designed mansion on it.

Choose the two teacher school for primary education,
the big school in town for secondary...choose to go
down town for lunch, play pool in the pub, hope the
convent girls notice you...choose getting a pint in
the local at 16, seeing your father in the local
disco, thinking you scored because you kissed a
girl...choose to stand outside the church at Sunday
mass.

Choose Mayo.