What I Learned Today

[lumberjim]

well. i learned a doozie just this very moment. jinx, as is so often the case, opened my eyes to something:

male lactation. springing frm a conversation about my itchy left nipple. joking that i might have padget's disease (something else i learned today) Padgets disease is a type of skin cancer that begins with itchy nipples, or something. i said, well i don't have mammaries, so......but aparently that is untrue. i DO have mammaries. we all do.

maybe i'm stupid, but i honestly did not know this. maggie knows, i'm sure. apparently juju does too.

Male lactation

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The phenomenon of male lactation in humans has become more common in recent years due to the use of medications that stimulate a human male's mammary glands. Though human males have nipples, it is not so often understood that they also have mammary glands. Ordinarily the mammary tissue is low in volume and cannot be noticed. Under the appropriate hormonal stimulus -- the hormonal stimulus that nature provides to human females when they become pregnant and give birth -- the mammary glands of human males can also produce milk. The volume of milk produced is low relative to that of a lactating female.

Male lactation is most commonly caused by hormonal treatments given to men suffering from prostate cancer. Female hormones are used to retard the production of cancerous prostate tissue, but the same hormones also stimulate the mammary glands. Male-to-female transsexuals may also produce milk due to the hormones they take to reshape their bodies. Extreme stress combined with demanding physical activity and a shortage of food has also been known to cause male lactation. The phenomenon was first studied in survivors of the liberated Nazi concentration camps after World War II. Some American POWs returning from the Korean and Vietnam Wars also experienced male lactation.

It is also possible for males (and females) to induce lactation through constant massage and simulated 'sucking' of the nipple over a long period of time (months).

The phenomenon of male lactation occurs in some non-human species, and the lactating males may assist in the nursing of their infants. One species of fruit bat (Dyacopterus spadiceus) is notable for this reason. According to several sources, male lactation and even nursing have occasionally been observed in humans.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Today I learned if I start procrastinating and rationalizing why I should wait to shovel the snow, God will shut off my power and not turn it back on for an hour and a half after I'm done shoveling.

[elSicomoro]

Today I learned that Dick Cheney really is evil.

[wolf]

Today I learned that you can drop a Lexmark printer three feet and have it survive.

[Kozmique]

I just learned that so-called female circumcision, a practice in effect in parts of Africa and the Middle East, is far more horrible than its euphemistic title would suggest. I'm anti-circumcision in either sex anyway, but I always thought that in females it meant cutting off the hood of the clitoris, or even the entire thing. Turns out that's a luxury reserved for females of the higher classes. In poor rural and/or nomadic tribes it involves cutting off the clitoris and labia and then sewing the edges of the wound together to create a tiny aperture for blood and urine to pass through. In the higher classes they use anesthesia and needles with linen thread; the poorest classes just hold it all together with thorns until it passes for being healed. Many women have infections from the procedure or incur them later because all the waste gets trapped inside. Sometimes a woman's menstrual blood will back up and create a solid mass. The resultant swelling is mistaken for pregnacy and the woman is murdered to save the family's honor. In any case, before she can even have sex the scar has to be cut open and lots of women who make it without dying of blood loss or infection will die in childbirth.

[Brett's Honey]

That female circumcision is the hardest thing I've ever watched on TV. The older women hold the screaming young uns down while one of the elders butchers her. And then, she gets thorns shoved through the tender, raw remaining flesh. On the wedding night, the husband cuts an opening that he considers just the right size for his pleasure, and then runs around waving the bloodied knife to show proof that his bride was "pure". But when baby time comes, usually right about nine months later, it is frequently discovered that the new husband's "just right sized" opening turns out to not be the right size for a baby's head to come through without ripping and tearing the young girl, many die giving birth to their first child. For sure - some traditions do NOT need to be taught and carried on to the younger generations.

[Brett's Honey]

What I learned today is that if you start doing extra little things at work, that very quickly these little chores somehow become "Your job" or "Your Duty, then they very quickly become Your Responsibility.

[bluecuracao]

Originally Posted by Brett's Honey

What I learned today is that if you start doing extra little things at work, that very quickly these little chores somehow become "Your job" or "Your Duty, then they very quickly become Your Responsibility.

To quote Bob Newhart on SNL: "Stop It!"

Seriously, just stop it, dear.

[Sundae]

My first ever boyfriend lives in the same city as me (70 miles from where we both lived originally) and is Director of the annual Comedy Festival.

Maybe next year when I'm not double the weight he knew me at, I'll get in contact!

[Granola Goddess]

Originally Posted by wolf

Today I learned that you can drop a Lexmark printer three feet and have it survive.

How true is that! I've been trying to do that with my antique IBM computer!

[Maui Nick]

I learned what a boong is (Aussie slang).

And I learned about Boong-Ga Boong-Ga!

I'm not certain I'm better off with either piece of knowledge.

[BrianR]

Today I learned what happens when I forget to check on my heating oil level.

Brrrrr!

Brian

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by bluecuracao

To quote Bob Newhart on SNL: "Stop It!"

"...or I'll bury you alive in a box."

A true classic.

[Trilby]

Today, I learned why Timor was so important to 18th century sailors. Seems that due to geological weirdness, Timor was the ONLY place in Monsoon Asia where you could dry your sails out and repair them. Has something to do with how the island is and how the rains fall, etc., but it made Timor very important. Now, not so much.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

My first ever boyfriend lives in the same city as me (70 miles from where we both lived originally) and is Director of the annual Comedy Festival.

Maybe next year when I'm not double the weight he knew me at, I'll get in contact!

He may be deeper than that, you know? A few years of maturity can make physical attributes take a backseat to spiritual and psychological attributes in the eye of the beholder. Well, that, and an offer of uninhibited, no-commitment sex...