Today I Learned

[Undertoad]

Every time you take a leak? That's overkill!

[SteveDallas]

I can't be too safe.

[glatt]

Oxytocin. Holy shit. Do we even have any control over what we do?

Saw this MIT student video on FB this morning.


This hormone controls so much of our behavior. It has a lot of female physical stuff it does around childbirth, but the interesting thing is the emotional trust, bonding, and generosity it causes in both men and women. And the hormone is produced when we witness others bonding or we are among friends or are physically touched. It totally manipulates our behavior, for example, it's probably responsible for us being monogamous. It increases our generosity and ability to interact with others. It even aids in wound healing by reducing inflammation. So having someone emotionally supporting you as you heal really does make a difference.

It's even a dessert topping and a floor polish.

How have I never heard of this hormone before?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Oxycontin is the antidote.

[Clodfobble]

Minifobette took prescription oxytocin for about three years. Made a massive difference for her in both sociability and speech.

[Griff]

Today I learned that if you go to a pretty involved kid's CPSE meeting clean-shaven and prepared, people around the table will start asking you to apply for positions that are not posted yet so they can staff the room the kid needs...

[Clodfobble]

Nice! (Assuming you want one of these positions?)

[Griff]

I'm not sure. I really like what I'm doing now and my current administrator is very hands-off. A district job is mo money and they do have kids that need my skill set but I'd be jumping into a bit of an unknown administratively and it is a troubled district so who knows what kinds of shake-ups are coming... so bottom line, I don't know. I need to find out what the retirement implications would be as well.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Heads, you're part of an earnest attempt at improving the district system.
Tails, you're the sacrificial lamb to protect cronies when the shit hits the fan.

It sounded before like you don't have much job security where you are now.
Mo money is nice.
Will the district let you wear a cape?

[Gravdigr]

And after that, I saw this next one in the 'Related Videos':

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Heads, you're part of an earnest attempt at improving the district system. Could be. They have a long way to go against the tide. It looks like the top down Common Core approach stands in opposition to the education of children, especially urban kids who start out behind.
Tails, you're the sacrificial lamb to protect cronies when the shit hits the fan. Last hired first fired.

It sounded before like you don't have much job security where you are now. I smell a strike in the district's future as well. Right now, I'm part of the only highly functional classroom team in the department, so I have more security than most. Our "business model is sketchy though.
Mo money is nice. Not being bothered by administrators is nice as well. Right now I have that but it could change.
Will the district let you wear a cape? You're thinking of the English Department.

[fargon]

Today I learned that beavers teeth are strengthened with iron, and I wondered how. So Keryx found this: http://learnsomethingneweachday.word...ted-with-iron/

[DanaC]

Oxytocin is fascinating.

[Gravdigr]

Today I learned that the jackalope is not a mythical creature.

from Wired:

Fantastically Wrong: The Disturbing Reality That Spawned the Mythical Jackalope

I know!

[glatt]

That picture of the bunny infected with the shopes papilloma virus reminds me of the guy in India with the weird growth on his hands.



And then reading through that thread of the guy with the hands, I see Kitsune made the same connection.

Both are caused by a papilloma virus. One is shopes papilloma and the other is human papilloma. And there's a vaccine for the human kind.