R u the Energuy? December 29, 2008

Very interactive game with a great purpose from the canadians!

How to play: Pull the Energuy by the wrist. Point up, down, left, right throughout the 5 rooms and click on objects you think are not energy efficient. For every correct answer you get (20 in total), the Energuy performs a little dance, move, somersault etc. Pull him harder and he can even fall down or hit the ceiling!

Scoring: Show how environmentally-minded you are within 2 minutes. Then on the results page, mouseover each object you found to learn how it can save you money!

If you have a desperate eye on your monthly bills like me, this provides you some great tips on how to save energy ($$). Start with little tweeks in our daily lives, and live in a greener world.

Why We Love (TIME Mag) January 25, 2008

We have all fallen in love or will fall in love at some point in our lives. Whether the relationship eventually works out or goes in the drain, there is no doubt that we once had a special feeling for this someone. Ever wonder why humans work like that?

TIME Magazine had a great article that covers some scientific explanations of why humans fall in love, and to some extent, how.

I’ve just recently been in a relationship myself. About 3+ months ago, I broke up with an ex after being together for 4 years, and got together with a guy I just met over the Internet (in World of Warcraft, to be specific). The previous relationship for me had been just fine. 4 years is not a short period of time, so we pretty much ironed out/cooled off from the ugly quarrels we used to have. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary. He would, routinely call me every morning before he goes to work. *We were on different time zones. I can’t even remember what we talked about those days anymore. We’re no longer head over heels for each other, on days that we don’t talk, I don’t even know if I missed him. But I would still tell him everything. That was perhaps what was called “companionate love”. But I guess I was greedy. I wanted more affection, and the strong urge of wanting to be with someone. ‘Cause it’s a great feeling, the feeling of loving and being loved back. I became really attracted to the new guy online. What started off as “friendship” quickly ignited into “love”. And by quickly, I mean roughly 2 weeks. It’s strange, isn’t it? For someone who I haven’t seen before, love could be so strong.

…Or is it?

“It’s not that we fall in love with such people because they’re immensely attractive. It’s that they seem immensely attractive because we’ve fallen in love with them.”
- Psychologist Arthur Aron of the State University of New York at Stony Brook

But my new internet long-distance relationship didn’t last long. Broke up just recently. And I was devastated.

Fisher sees the dangers of maladaptive love in fMRI studies she’s conducting of people who have been rejected by a lover and can’t shake the pain. In these subjects, as with all people in love, there is activity in the caudate nucleus, but it’s specifically in a part that’s adjacent to a brain region associated with addiction. If the two areas indeed overlap, as Fisher suspects, that helps explain why telling a jilted lover that it’s time to move on can be fruitless—as fruitless as admonishing a drunk to put a cork in the bottle.

I really want to take an fMRI of my brain. *Bet there’s a huge overlap in my case. Don’t know if this is ethically right for me, but I am addicted to love.* It’s intriguing to see how the brain works in love, scientific explanations for something so emotional and irrational.

I always remember this from my Social Psychology class back in college. Humans are strange, almost as if lying to ourselves, making ourselves believe in what we want/choose to believe in. Self-justification. Surely, at least a third of my devastation came from self-justifying why I threw away a 4-yr-old relationship for this one. And surely, another third has got to be love. The last third…*shame on me* I think I was just trying to get hold of whatever I can. Being 23, (not too old BUT) I really want to settle down, preferably with someone I love. Another selfish reason. Whatever it is, it’s always the MIND that’s making things up.

“You think someone made you feel good, but really it’s your brain that made you feel good.”
- Psychologist and sex researcher Jim Pfaus of Concordia University in Montreal

All in all, whether it is self-justification or not doesn’t quite matter to me. Afterall, it’s happiness and learning how to be contented with that happiness given to you that is important.

I love you.
And I know it has never been truer than it is now.

Sweat and sex. October 29, 2007

Someone claimed that he finds female who smell good attractive, I heard. Hmm not surprisingly, most people do like things with fragrant smell, like flowers and fruits, and we try to simulate similar kind of fragrance on our body with flavored shampoo, body lotion, perfume etc. Personally, I find fruity-flavored hygiene products too strong. My best choice would be lightly fragrant cucumber, green tea, tulips and so on. [Discussion: What is your favorite shampoo fragrance?] So if you find people who smell good attractive, no biggie.

But a sweaty body odor? Eeeeewww. I actually read somewhere long time ago about the smell of male sweat turns females on. I haven’t experimented it myself because the thought of it just tends to gross me out. So to this day, I still cannot make sense of that statement. I mean, if I can’t even stand my own sweaty odor, why would I be able to stand another person’s sweaty odor and even like it?

Apparently, one article states, “male sweat contains a compound [pheromones] capable of lightening a woman’s mood and heightening her sexual arousal.” In the article, there is a short description of a study carried out at University of Northumbria (Newcastle, UK). It says that 2 groups of female students were asked to rate the attractive of guys shown in photos. Results show that females in the second group, where a cloth soaked in male sweat is present, rated the males in the photos to be more attractive.

Sounds weird? The following article suggests why this is true:

…The olfactory bulb at the top (inside) of the nose feeds directly into the old brain limbic system, which is the most primitive part of the brain. This is where the emotions, sexual responses and body language are initiated. That is why odors can evoke powerful basic instinctual emotions.

Pheromones are chemical molecules produced by insects, animals and humans…For the most part, these chemicals are used to stimulate sexual interest in the opposite sex.

…women were attracted to clothing that was worn by males with a very different immune system than their own. Presumably, this difference in immune systems allows the male and female to combine their defenses and give their offspring the best chances for survival. This research was repeated in the U.S. and Brazil with similar results.

…the human sweat smell is a natural, animal-like, musky aroma which can be emotionally stimulating and sexually attractive. To many men and women the smell of clean skin and a little fresh sweat is the most powerful turn-on.

There is historical evidence for the use of sweat to attract a mate. Once when Napoleon Bonaparte was returning home from a long period of warring he sent a message ahead to Josephine: “Home in three days. Don’t wash.” Old English folk tales passed down over many generations told young men how to seduce a young woman with his own sweat. The ’secret’ was to place a clean linen handkerchief under his clean arm pit while he danced and twirled the young lady making her dizzy. After the dance, as she recovered, he was to fan her and dab her perspiring forehead with his pheromone saturated handkerchief. The results reportedly were guaranteed to be rewarding.